This blog is my place for visiting the “Northern Lights” countries of Scandinavia, including Iceland, by way of my dream reading list. I have books beckoning in each of my categories of literature, history, biography, travel, and food (see my project reading lists for the whole shebang). But my primary focus for two new challenges will be biographies. Happily, the biographies I have in mind fit perfectly with two challenges posted by The Introverted Reader: the 2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge and the 2015 Books in Translation Reading Challenge.
Here is my biography TBR list:
- The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography by Hans Christian Andersen; trans., R. P. Keigwin [Denmark]
- Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness by Paul Binding [Denmark]
- Jean Sibelius by Karl Ekman; trans., Edward Birse [Finland]
- Sibelius: A Composer’s Life and the Awakening of Finland by Glenda Dawn Goss [Finland]
- Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg, Missing Hero of the Holocaust by John Bierman [Sweden]
- Søren Kierkegaard: A Biography by Joakim Garff; trans., Bruce H. Kirmmse [Denmark]
- The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown [Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland]
- Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings by Snorri Sturluson; trans., Erling Monsen and A. H. Smith [Norway]
- Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen; trans., David McDuff [Finland]
Not all these are translations, and it is debatable whether the Heimskringla, which is traditional history in saga form, is quite fact or fiction. But in general, these books will fall into one or the other of the challenges above, or both.
I will surely want to include some literature in my Books in Translation for the year too! Foremost, I want to start my reread of Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (translated by Charles Archer and J. S. Scott).
Finally, all these books are part of my ongoing participation in the Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge, hosted by Mom’s Small Victories, I’m Lost in Books, and Savvy Working Gal.
Northern Lights Reading Project 
That is an ambitious reading list–the bios of Anderson should be rewarding. Good luck on the challenges. It’s nice to have a focused reading plan–sometimes I feel all over the map.
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