Literature Reading List

Historical Fiction

• Sigrid Undset
  • Kristin Lavransdatter
  • The Master of Hestviken
  • Gunnar’s Daughter
• Dorothy Dunnett
  • King Hereafter
• Jane Smiley
  • Greenlanders
• Rosalind Laker
  • The House by the Fjord
• Heather Day Gilbert
  • God’s Daughter
• William T. Vollman
  • The Ice-Shirt
• Annemarie Selinko
  • Désirée
• Henrik Ibsen
  • The Vikings of Helgeland (play)
• Stuart W. Mirksy
  • The King of Vinland’s Saga

Historical Fantasy

• Juliet Marillier
  • Wolfskin
  • Foxmask
• Kerstin Ekman
  • The Forest of Hours

Sagas and Tales

• Njal’s Saga (two translations: R. Cook; M. Magnusson & H. Pálsson)
• Sagas of the Icelanders: A Selection (Intro. By Robert Kellogg)
• Grettir’s Saga (trans. Jesse Byock)
• Eyrbyggja Saga (trans. by H. Pálsson & P. Edwards)
• Orkneyinga Saga (trans. H. Pálsson & P. Edwards)
• Saga of the Jómsvíkings (trans. by Lee Hollander)
• Heimskringla by Snorre Sturlason (trans. E. Monsen)
• Vinland Sagas (trans. Keneva Kunz)
• Kristni Saga
• Comic Sagas and Tales from Iceland (Penguin)
• Norwegian Folk Tales (Selected from Peter Christian Asbjörnsen & Jörgen Moe)
• East of the Sun and West of the Moon (illus. by Kay Nielsen)
• Complete Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
• Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (edited by Maria Tatar)
• Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen (based on fairy tale by Gudsbrandsdal)

Mythology and Epic

• Edda by Snorri Sturluson [the Prose Edda]
• Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems (trans. Henry Adams Bellows)
• Poetic Edda: The Heroic Poems (trans. by Henry Adams Bellows)
• Song of the Vikings by Nancy Marie Brown
• Bloodhoof by Gerður Kristný (trans. by Rory McTurk)
• Myths of the Norsemen by Helene A. Guerber
• The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
• Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H. R. (Hilda) Ellis Davidson
• Popular Tales from Norse Mythology by George Webbe Dasent
• Icelandic Folk Legends by Alma Sigmundsdóttir
• Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot (trans. by Francis Magoun)
• Beowulf (trans. by J. R. R. Tolkien; ed. by Christopher Tolkien)
• Beowulf (trans. by Seaumus Heaney)
• The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by J. R. R. Tolkien (ed. by Christopher Tolkien)
• Traditional Epics: A Literary Companion by Guida M. Jackson

 Modern Storytellers

• Halldór Laxness
  • Independent People
• Selma Lagerlöf
  • Saga of Gösta Berling
• Isak Dinesen
  • Winter’s Tales
  • Gothic Tales
  • Babette’s Feast
• Linda Olsson
  • Astrid and Veronika
• Jonas Jonasson
  • The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden
  • The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
• Kerstin Ekman
  • God’s Mercy
• John Ajvide Lindqvist
  • Harbour
• Christina Sunley
  • The Tricking of Freya
• Sofi Oksanen
  • Purge
  • When the Doves Disappeared

 Mystery and Crime Fiction (Nordic Noir)

• Peter Høeg
  • Smilla’s Sense of Snow
• Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
  • The Laughing Policeman
• Kerstin Ekman
  • Blackwater
  • Under the Snow
• Henning Mankell
  • Faceless Killers
  • The Dogs of Riga
• Stieg Larsson
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire
  • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
• Arnaldur Indriðason
  • Jar City
• Yrsa Sigurdardóttir
  • Last Rituals
  • My Soul to Take
  • Ashes to Dust
  • The Day is Dark
  • I Remember You
• Karin Fossum
  • Don’t Look Back
  • Into the Darkness
• Jo Nesbø
  • The Redbreast
• Helene Tursten
  • Detective Inspector Huss