Nobel Prize in Literature Announced and We Are Out-of-Stock

Scandinavian is all the rage right now, if I might irreverently proclaim.  Beginning with Stieg Larsson, the interest pedalled backwards to find Henning Mankell, around to find Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking) and front and center again to embrace every other Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Finnish crime and mystery writer who ever had the good fortune to be translated into English.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is currently the most borrowed e-book in the New York Public Library system.  (For those who don't want to wait, you can buy the paperback or the Google e-book online at www.booksonfirst.com.)

And now, this year's Nobel Prize Winner for Literature is from Scandinavia is Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, whose fellow countrymen have been waiting for over 50 years for recognition of his literary prowess.  (We also might note that the Nobel Prizes are awarded by a Scandinavian committee, but that's only a Nota Bene, not implying any strange coincidence, except the fact that being Scandinavian is very cool right now.)

Before you click onto www.booksonfirst.com to reserve your copy of either The Sorrow Gondola/Sorgegondolen -- his first published collection of poetry after his stroke in 1990 or try to find 17 Poems, his first book published when he was just 23 years old, know that our wholesaler has been wiped out of stock, so surprising was this award.  Actually, 17 Poems is not in print here in the United States, but after this award and with the coolness factor hardly waning, stay tuned.  You may be able to put it on  your holiday wishlist.

After the Girl Who Enthralled Us

Just like when we were all awaited reading about Harry Potter's next year at Hogwarts and independent booksellers with BookSense as well as a heck of a lot of others began compiling lists of titles to read "While Waiting for the Next Harry Potter Book...," booksellers and readers have begun giving suggestions for alternative Scandinavian authors to read, as we finish the late Stieg Larsson's "Millenium Trilogy," on "the girl who" was named Lisbeth and totally enthralled readers. I was skeptical, but shouldn't have been, if I had reasoned it out.  Swedish and Norwegian crime writers apparently have more in common to offer to fans of Lisbeth and Mikael than Dodie Smith, Eva Ibbotson and Narnia could for young fans of JK Rohlwing's alternative world of wizards and Muggles. Well, I learned something new: Iceland is part of Scandinavia but Denmark is not.

Of course, we have the internationally renowned Mankell Henning, who is indeed also Swedish. His detective character is Kurt Wallander, but his latest book, The Man from Beijing is not of that series. Called a "stand-alone" work, this title begins in a Swedish village, but takes the reader across the globe and over 140 years back and forth in time.

My new find is Karin Fossum who writes of small-village Norway with a stark clarity which I associate with the crisp air of autumn here and what I imagine of the atmosphere of Norway year 'round.