In November, the focus of the 2022 Scandinavian Reading Challenge is books that take place in the 2010s. Below you’ll find some highlights from that time period along with some reading suggestions.
For this decade it was much easier to find reading selections available in English, and there are plenty of books by female authors in translation as well. I marked the ones I’ve read and enjoyed with a star ⭐. Do you have any Scandinavian books that take place during this time period that you recommend or know of? Leave a comment or email me any suggestions. I’d love to hear them.
Some highlights from this decade:
- 22 July 2011 – Terrorist attacks by Anders Breivik: The government quarter in Oslo and a summer camp of the Labour party’s youth movement at Utøya island were the targets, resulting in 77 deaths and 319 wounded.
- 16 October 2013 – Erna Solberg becomes 35th Prime Minister of Norway, second woman to hold office (until 14 October 2021)
- 2015 – European Refugee Crisis: Refugees escaping conflicts or persecution (in particular Syrian Civil War and War in Afghanistan) made their way to Norway as well (Refugees in Norway: The Asylum Process Explained)
Books
🇳🇴 Norway
- Seven Days in August by Brit Bildøen, translated from the Norwegian by Becky Crook (a few years after the 2011 terror attack in Norway’s Utøya Island)
- Long Live the Post Horn! by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Norway in 2012)
- A House in Norway by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Norway in 2014)
- Will and Testament: A Novel by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Norway in 2016, Booksellers’ Prize Winner 2016)
- Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Norway in 2020)
- Winter Stories by Ingvild H. Rishøi, translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Norway in 2014) ⭐
- Everything Is Mine (Clara #1) & Blood Ties (Clara #2) by Ruth Lillegraven, translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley (Psychological thriller, late 2010s, Norway) ⭐
- Dálvi: Six Years in the Arctic Tundra by Laura Galloway (Memoir) ⭐
- See You Tomorrow by Tore Renberg, translated from the Norwegian by Sean Kinsella (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Norway in 2013)
- One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway — and Its Aftermath by Åsne Seierstad, translated from the Norwegian by Sarah Death ⭐
- A Year in the Woods: Twelve Small Journeys into Nature by Torbjørn Ekelund, translated from the Norwegian by Becky L. Crook (Memoir)
- Seasons Quartet (Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer) by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated from the Norwegian by Ingvild Burkey (Essays)
🇸🇪 Sweden
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, translated from the Swedish by Henning Koch (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Sweden in 2012) ⭐
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman, translated from the Swedish by Neil Smith (Contemporary fiction, originally published in Sweden in 2017) ⭐
- In Every Mirror She’s Black: A Novel by Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström (Contemporary fiction, Stockholm) ⭐
- A Nearly Normal Family: A Novel by M.T. Edvardsson, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Lund, Sweden) ⭐
- Quicksand: A Novel by Malin Persson Giolito, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Stockholm, Sweden) ⭐
- What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde, translated from the Swedish by Elizabeth Jane Clark Wessel (originally published in Sweden in 2017)
🇩🇰 Denmark
- The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell (Memoir) ⭐
- The Sound of Language by Amulya Malladi ⭐
- The Copenhagen Affair by Amulya Malladi ⭐
- One of Us Is Sleeping by Josefine Klougart, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken (Originally published in 2012)
- Mirror, Shoulder, Signal: A Novel by Dorthe Nors, translated from the Danish by Misha Hoekstra (Originally published in 2015)
- Often I Am Happy by Jens Christian Grøndahl, translated by the author (Originally published in 2017)
- Justine by Iben Mondrup, translated from the Danish by Kerri A. Pierce (Originally published in 2012)
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1900/1910s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1920s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1930s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1940s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1950s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1960s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1970s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1980s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 1990s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: 2000s
Go to #ScandiReadingChallenge: Multiple Decades or Places
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