Books from Iceland
48 popular icelandic books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Europe Challenge" were written by authors from Iceland.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
41.
The Atom Station by Halldór Laxness EN
Description:
From the Nobel Prize–winning author of Independent People: A biting satire of post-WWII Iceland caught between superpowers at the dawn of the Nuclear Age. When the Americans make an offer to buy Icelandic land to build an atomic war base, a storm of protest is provoked throughout the country, and it is here that Laxness finds the catalyst for his story. Told by a country girl from the north, the novel follows her experiences upon taking up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. She finds herself in a world very different to that of her upbringing and, marvelling at the ... continue
42.
The Blue Fox : A Novel by Sjón EN
Description:
An elusive fox leads a hunter on a transformative quest, while a naturalist endeavors to build a life for a young woman with Down syndrome whom he rescued from a shipwreck years earlier.
43.
The Darkness : If you like Saga Noren from The Bridge, then you'll love Hulda Hermannsdottir by Ragnar Jónasson EN
Description:
If you love BBC's The Bridge, then you'll love The Darkness . . . ____________ A young woman is found dead on a remote Icelandic beach. She came looking for safety, but instead she found a watery grave. A hasty police investigation determines her death as suicide . . . When Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early retirement, she is told she can investigate one last cold case of her choice - and she knows which one. What she discovers is far darker than suicide . . . And no one is telling Hulda the whole story. When her own colleagues try to put the... continue
44.
45.
The Mist by Ragnor Jonasson EN
Description:
A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Is this the best crime writer in the world today?' The Times 'Triumphant. Chilling, creepy, perceptive, almost unbearably tense' Ian Rankin 'A world-class crime writer' Sunday Times _______ 1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland. The snowstorm should have shut everybody out. But it didn't. The couple should never have let him in. But they did. An unexpected guest, a liar, a killer. Not all will survive the night. And Detective Hulda will be haunted forever . . . FROM THE TWO MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR _______ 'This is Icelandic... continue
46.
The Passion Hymns of Iceland, Being Translations from the Passion-Hymns of Hallgrim Petursson by Hallgrim Peturssonm translated by Charles Pilcher EN
Description:
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute th... continue
47.
The Prose Edda : Tales from Norse Mythology by Snorri Sturluson EN
Description:
Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, The Prose Edda is the source of most of what we know of Norse mythology. Its tales are peopled by giants, dwarves, and elves, superhuman heroes and indomitable warrior queens. Its gods live with the tragic knowledge of their own impending destruction in the cataclysmic battle of Ragnarok. Its time scale spans the eons from the world’s creation to its violent end. This robust new translation captures the magisterial sweep and startling psychological complexity of the Old Icelandic original. For more than seventy years, Penguin has ... continue
48.
The Saga of the Volsungs by author unknown, Jesse L. Byock (translator) EN
Description:
One of the great books of world literature--an unforgettable tale of jealousy, unrequited love, greed, and vengeance. Based on Viking Age poems and composed in thirteenth-century Iceland, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend, and sheer human drama in telling of the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires runic knowledge from one of Odin's Valkyries. Yet the saga is set in a very human world, incorporating oral memories of the fourth and fifth centuries, when Attila the Hun and other warriors fought on the northern frontiers of the Roman empire. In his illuminating... continue