Usually the 3rd Monday of the Month (See dates listed below)
- 7-8 pm
- at Viking Hall
Interested in books that depict historical and cultural aspects of Nordic life, including a few Nordic noir crime novels? If so, you are invited to attend our meetings. Read the book – then come and join in the discussion. Books are selected by our members.
Here are the books and dates for our upcoming meetings:
December 2018 – No meeting
Jan 21, 2019 – The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson – A reluctant centenarian ends up in a nursing home. Still in good health he decides to escape and embarks on a hilarious journey. It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but he has a larger-than-life backstory. Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the 20th century, he has actually played a key role in them.
Feb 25, 2019 – Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller – Eighty-two year old Sheldon, recently widowed, moved to Oslo and witnessed a murder in his apartment complex. This is the last adventure of a man still trying to come to terms with the tragedies of his life. Compelling and sophisticated, it is both a chase through the woods thriller and an emotionally haunting novel about aging and regret.
Mar 18, 2019 – An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen – This play tells the story of one man’s quest to stick to his principles no matter what the cost. The protagonist, Dr. Stockmann, sacrifices everything for his beliefs. The play reveals itself as a sharp examination of the terrible price that society often demands of individuals who stay true to their principles.
Apr 15, 2019 – The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell – A retired navy officer has vanished in a forest near Stockholm. Kurt Wallander is prepared to stay out of the investigation, but the missing man is his daughter’s father-in-law. He finds a complex situation which may involve the secret police and ties back to Cold War espionage. As he pursues the case, he must come to grips with his own troubling situation. He is convinced he is on the threshold of senility. Desperate to live up to the hope that a new granddaughter represents, he is continually haunted by his past. Looking toward the future with profound uncertainty, he has no choice but to come face-to-face with his most intractable adversary: himself.
May 20, 2019 – American by Day by Derek Miller – A gripping and timely novel that follows Sigrid–the detective from Norwegian by Night–from Oslo to the United States on a quest to find her missing brother who is implicated in the mysterious death of a prominent African-American academic. Sigrid is plunged into a United States where race and identity, politics and promise, reverberate in every aspect of daily life.
June, July, August, and December 2019 – No meetings
Books read in the past include:
- Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti
- The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg
- All In by Simona Ahrnstedt
- Nikolai’s Fortune by Solveig Torvik
- The Ship in the Hill by William Sullivan
- Nemesis by Jo Nesbø
- The Half-Drowned King: A Novel by Linnea Hartsuyker
- Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck
- A Treacherous Paradise by Henning Mankell
- The Lion’s Mouth by Anne Hold
- Blackwater by Kristin Ekman
- Red Moon over White Sea by Laila Hietamies
- Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason
- Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
- Kristin Lavransdatter, Book 2 – The Wife by Sigrid Undset
- Kristin Lavransdatter, Book 1 – The Wreath by Sigrid Undset
- Lucifer’s Tears by James Thompson
- Snow Angels by James Thompson
- The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
- Miss Julie by August Strindberg
- The Shetland Bus by David Howarth
- Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie by O. E. Rolvaag
- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
- The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
- A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
- The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
- The Indian Bride by Karin Fossum
- Song of the Vikings by Nancy Marie Brown
- Independent People by Halldór Laxness
- Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
- Pelle the Conqueror: Childhood by Martin Anderson Nexo
- My Mother Gets Married by Moa Martinson
- The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown
- To Siberia by Per Petterson
- The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
- Hannah’s Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson
- Sunpath by Michael Maryk
- Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
- The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
- Unto A Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg
- The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
- The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley
- The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen
- Royal Physician’s Visit by Per Olov Enquist
- Seal Woman by Solveig Eggerz
- God’s Mercy by Kerstin Ekman
- The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness
- The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
