Current Pick
Ragnar Jónasson’S The DARKNESS
The Darkness introduces 64-year-old Reykjavik detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir at the end of her career. She is being forced to retire early and given one last ‘cold’ case to work on during her last weeks on the job. She pulls the file on a Russian woman whose body washed up on the shores of Iceland, compelled by the sadness of this untimely death of a young woman looking for asylum. Hulda discovers another young woman disappeared at the same time and as she delves deeper her superiors suggest she turn her last efforts elsewhere. Not to be put off that easily, Hulda is even more determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.
As in all Nordic Noir, the setting becomes like a ‘character’ and the unpredictable stormy weather of the hauntingly bleak but beautiful landscapes of Iceland do much to set the tenor of the intrigue.
Ragnar Jónasson is a Nordic Noir master who has sold over one and a half million books worldwide. Ragnar was born and lives in Reykjavik and besides being an award-winning author works as an investment banker and teaches copyright law at Reykjavik University. Jónasson is famous for his Siglufjörður investigator Ari Thor Arason series and this is the first book introducing Reykjavik detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir. The Darkness is being currently being produced in Iceland as a Nordic Noir television series to be released in 2024.
Ragnar is the co-founder and host of the Iceland Noir literary festival held in November in the depth of winter darkness, celebrating the Nordic Noir genre that has captivated audiences around the world.
We are looking forward to joining online together in celebrating INLNA Nordic Noir November on your own or gathered with your local chapter’s reading club at 3 pm CT Sunday, November 24th.
“THE DARKNESS showcases an author who has reached a new level of maturity. Ragnar Jonasson has always been a superb writer, but there's a precision of plotting - and a willingness to take risks - on display here that elevated this book over the Dark Iceland series for me. I would absolutely hate to spoil the inventiveness that's at work here for readers—it's actually better to go into this one blind in that respect but suffice it to say that Jonasson has pulled out all the stops to make this new series unlike anything you've read before.”
For a great review see Blogger Abby at Crime by the Book.
Sunday, November 24, 2024
1 PM PACIFIC / 2 PM MOUNTAIN / 3 PM CENTRAL / 4 PM EASTERN / 5 PM ATLANTIC
ABOUT INLNA READS
Icelandic heritage and literature go hand-in-hand, with some of the highest literacy rates, Iceland also has an impressive publication rate. The history dates back to 13th century Sagas, the narrative history of the Vikings and early Icelandic settlement, written by Snorri Sturluson.
The Reads Program works to highlight both historical and contemporary works by Icelandic authors though coordinated nationwide book clubs. Reading is a beloved pastime in Iceland and books are popular Christmas gifts. So much so, that Jólabókaflóð, or “Christmas Book Flood” has become a tradition. An official Jólabókaflóð catalog, the Bókatíðindi, or "Book Bulletin," listing out popular books and new releases, is sent to every house in Iceland in November.
A book selection is announced annually in early September, and materials distributed to local clubs for promotion. Clubs may choose to incorporate the Jólabókaflóð tradition and encourage Christmas giving, or use this tradition to help promote the book club to the community. Book club meetings are public and run January through April, but schedules will vary by location based on the sponsoring local club or individual.
2024 INLNA READS PICKS
SARAH TOLMIE’S ALL THE HORSES OF ICELAND
SUNDAY, March 3, 2024
Everyone knows of the horses of Iceland, wild, and small, and free, but few have heard their story. Sarah Tolmie’s All the Horses of Iceland weaves their mystical origin into a saga for the modern age. Filled with the magic and darkened whispers of a people on the cusp of major cultural change, All the Horses of Iceland tells the tale of a Norse trader, his travels through Central Asia, and the ghostly magic that followed him home to the land of fire, stone, and ice. His search for riches will take him from Helmgard, through Khazaria, to the steppes of Mongolia, where he will barter for horses and return with much, much more. All the Horses of Iceland is a delve into the secret, imagined history of Iceland's unusual horses, brought to life by an expert storyteller. (Macmillan)
The Seal Woman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2024
INLNA READS kicks off 2024 with Sally Magnusson’s, The Sealwoman’s Gift, a story of tragedy and courage, loss and hope. This fictional story of Ásta, a pastor’s wife kidnapped from the Westman Islands in Iceland by Barbary pirates and enslaved in northern Algiers, is based on true historical events that happened in 1627. Ásta loses her home, her children, her community and her freedom. This is the story of how she survives through never losing what she carried in her heart and soul: the sagas and folklore of her northern land. Magnusson shows us how ‘the eternal power of story-telling’ strengthens our spirit. This is an inspirational novel for all. This month's feature INLNA club is the ICC of BC, who will guide our discussion. Come out to hear two ICC of BC members talk of their discovery of ancestors who were survivors of the Barbary pirate raid.
2023 INLNA READS PICKS
2022 INLNA READS PICKS
2021 INLNA READS PICKS
For spring 2021, the INLNA Reads selection is the novel Burial Rites written by Hannah Kent. The book is inspired by the true crime story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be publically beheaded in Iceland. Set in the early 19th century on an isolated farm in Northern Iceland, we meet Agnes when she is sent to await execution for the murder of her former master.
Meeting were held February 28, March 28, and April 25, 2021, along with a special event on May 16 where Hildur Rúriks of Wisconsin invited two special guests, Maria Ellingsen and Magnus Ólafsson to join to discuss their experiences with the story.
2019 INLNA READS! PROGRAM BOOK CHOICE: 'INDEPENDENT PEOPLE'
by Halldór Laxness
Penguin Books: A huge, humane revelation of a novel is set in rural Iceland in the early twentieth century, written by the Nobel prize-winner dubbed the 'Tolstoy of the North'. A magnificent portrait of the eerie Icelandic landscape and a man's dogged struggle for independence. Bjartus is a sheep farmer determined to eke a living from a blighted patch of land. Nothing, not merciless weather, nor the First World War, nor his family will come between him and his goal of financial independence. Only Asta Solillja, the child he brings up as his daughter, can pierce his stubborn heart. As she grows up, keen to make her own way in the world, Bjartus' obstinacy threatens to estrange them forever.
New York Review of Books wrote: 'There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life.'
Download the flyer here: Book Club Flyer 2019 Independent People.pdf
2018 INLNA READS! PROGRAM BOOK CHOICE: 'ON THE COLD COASTS'
by Vilborg Davidsdottir (Author), Alda Sigmundsdottir (Translator)
When a fleet of one hundred English ships is caught in a horrible storm off the cold coasts of fifteenth-century Iceland, twenty-five ships are lost. For Ragna, the daughter of a respected family and betrothed to Thorkell, her relationship with one of the seamen washed ashore results in pregnancy. Now barren due to a traumatic childbirth and stigmatized as a fallen woman, she is left with no prospects for marriage when the betrothal is ultimately canceled.
A decade later, Ragna becomes a housekeeper to the new English bishop in North Iceland, where passionate and ambitious Thorkell is a priest and steward. They embark on a fervent but doomed love affair as priests cannot marry and Ragna will not be a concubine. Little does Ragna know but her host, the bishop, is instigating the conflict between the English and Nordic settlers to his own gain, with a devastating impact on his housekeeper. As sweeping as it is intimate, On the Cold Coasts is a powerful, enduring story of love and personal sacrifice.
The World of On the Cold Coasts: The scene is 15th century Iceland. The country, as well as all of Scandinavia, is ruled by a single monarch, King Eric, who resides in Denmark. The king’s archbishop, whose seat is in Nidaros, Norway, has authority over the Icelandic church. The Nordic countries are united in the so-called Kalmar Union, and only merchants from within the Union are permitted to trade with Iceland. Yet not many venture to make the journey from Scandinavia to this distant island in the North Atlantic. Not so the English. Ignoring King Eric’s embargo, about 100 ships sail from England to Iceland each summer, seeking out the abundant fishing grounds. They also trade English flour, ale, wine, boots and other commodities for Icelandic stock fish, woolen cloth and sulphur, which is used for gunpowder in England’s ongoing war with the French. To strengthen their interests, the English persuade the Pope in Rome, the highest authority of the church, to appoint an English bishop in Iceland, to assist in them in trade and other dealings with the natives.
Earlier Selections
2017: “Ivory Vikings” by Nancy Marie Brown
2015: “Saga of Gudrid The Far-Traveler” by Nancy Marie Brown
2013: “The Young Icelander” by Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason
2012: “Independent People” by Halldór Laxness