100 Best Iceland Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Burial Rites

Hannah Kent

5.0

A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first

2

Independent People

Halldor Laxness, Brad Leithauser

4.9

This magnificent novel—which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature—is at last available to contemporary American readers. Although it is set in the early twentieth century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determinat

Recommended by Alison Wolf.

Alison Wolf

Here are five books with something to say, not just about education but about people – all five make us realise how different our societies are from how they were. Independent People is the book that has just bowled me over in the last couple of years, more than anything else I’ve read. It is incredibly moving, about a poor Icelandic farmer who does not want to be dependent on anyone for anything. And that is his overriding value – a very classic value of small, self-supporting peasant farmers. They have this integrity and courage as well as this drive to independence. It is set in Iceland at a time when it was much poorer. The country has had a miserable history in many ways, but it’s not really about that. The book is great because of the author’s ability to create a world utterly different from ours, with a value system so different but also so totally human. I don’t know why he is not better known – he clearly is not obscure, he did win the Nobel Prize. But why hasn’t the whole of Britain read him? It is long, though – Independent People is for when you have a large chunk of time. [source]

3

The Sagas of Icelanders

Robert Kellogg, Various, Jane Smiley

4.8

In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world’s great literary treasures – as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare.
Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women w

4

Jar City (Inspector Erlendur, #3)

Arnaldur Indriðason

4.8

From Gold Dagger Award--winning author Arnaldur Indridason comes a Reykjavík thriller introducing Inspector Erlendur

When a lonely old man is found dead in his Reykjavík flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl's grave. Inspector Erlendur discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, but not convicted, of an unsolved crime, a rape. Did the

Recommended by Ann Cleeves.

Ann Cleeves

This is Icelandic and it’s the first in the series. Another miserable cop and the backdrop of Iceland which is bleak and rainy or snowy. The cop has a daughter who’s a junkie and he doesn’t see much of his kids. I chose this one because it could only have been set in Iceland, could only have been about Iceland. The plot is all about the human genome discovery and stuff. I won’t go into it but it has these medical and scientific projects going on and the jars are the test-tubes and jars with parts of the body in them. [source]

5

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

Jackson Crawford

4.6

She sees, coming up a second time,
Earth from the ocean, eternally green;
the waterfalls plunge, an eagle soars above them,
over the mountain hunting fish.'

After the terrible conflagration of Ragnarok, the earth rises serenely again from the ocean, and life is renewed. The Poetic Edda begins with The Seeress's Prophecy which recounts the creation of the world, and looks forward to its destruction

6

Silence of the Grave (Inspector Erlendur #4)

Arnaldur Indriðason

4.6

Inspector Erlendur returns in this gripping Icelandic thriller When a skeleton is discovered half-buried in a construction site outside of Reykjavík, Inspector Erlendur finds himself knee-deep in both a crime scene and an archeological dig. Bone by bone, the body is unearthed, and the brutalizing history of a family who lived near the building site comes to light along with it. Was the skeleton a

Cover unavailable

7

The Blue Fox

Sjon, Victoria Cribb

4.6

WINNER OF THE NORDIC LITERARY PRIZE AND NOMINATED FOR THE ICELANDIC LITERATURE PRIZE

The year is 1883. The stark Icelandic winter landscape is the backdrop. We follow the priest, Skugga-Baldur, on his hunt for the enigmatic blue fox. From there we’re then transported to the world of the naturalist Friðrik B. Friðriksson and his charge, Abba, who suffers from Down’s syndrome, and who came to his res

8

Last Rituals

Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Bernard Scudder

4.5

At a university in Reykjavík, the body of a young German student is discovered, his eyes cut out and strange symbols carved into his chest. Police waste no time in making an arrest, but the victim's family isn't convinced that the right man is in custody. They ask Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, an attorney and single mother of two, to investigate. It isn't long before Thóra and her associate, Matthew Reich

9

The Prose Edda

Snorri Sturluson, Jesse L. Byock

4.5

'What was the beginning, or how did things start? What was there before?'

The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all works of Scandinavian literature and our most extensive source for Norse mythology. Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle f

10

Voices (Inspector Erlendur #5)

Arnaldur Indriðason

4.5

11

The Draining Lake (Inspector Erlendur #6)

Arnaldur Indriðason

4.5

12

Hypothermia (Inspector Erlendur #8)

Arnaldur Indridason

4.5

“Indridason fills the void that remains after you've read Stieg Larsson's novels.”- USA Today on Hypothermia
Inspector Erlunder has spent his entire career struggling to evade the ghosts of his past. But ghosts are visiting him, both in the form of a séance attended by a dead woman and also in the reemerging puzzle of two young people who went missing 30 years ago. And there’s the ghost of the dete

13

Arctic Chill (Inspector Erlendur #7)

Arnaldur Indridason

4.5

The Reykjavik police are called on an icy January day to a garden where a body has been found: a young, dark-skinned boy is frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation and soon unearth tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland’s outwardly liberal, multicultural society.

In this new extraordinary thriller from Gold Dagger Award winner

14

Lonely Planet Iceland

Lonely Planet, Alexis Averbuck, et al.

4.5

Lonely Planet Iceland is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Splash around in the Blue Lagoon's geothermal water, catch a glimpse of the celestial Northern Lights, or take a boat trip among the icebergs -all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Iceland and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Plane

15

Snowblind (Dark Iceland #1)

Ragnar Jónasson

4.4

Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed,

16

Outrage (Inspector Erlendur #9)

Arnaldur Indridason

4.4

In a flat near Reykjavik city centre, a young man lies dead in a pool of blood although there are no signs of a break-in or any struggle. A woman's purple shawl, found under the bed, gives off a strong and unusual aroma. A vial of narcotics found in the victim's pocket among other clues soon lead Erlendur's colleagues down a trail of hidden violence and psychological brutality, and of wrongs that

17

The Fish Can Sing

Halldor Laxness

4.4

The Fish Can Sing is one of Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness’s most beloved novels, a poignant coming-of-age tale marked with his peculiar blend of light irony and dark humor.

The orphan Alfgrimur has spent an idyllic childhood sheltered in the simple turf cottage of a generous and eccentric elderly couple. Alfgrimur dreams only of becoming a fisherman like his adoptive grandfather, until he meet

18

Njal's Saga

Anonymous, Robert Cook

4.4

Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior w

19

I Remember You: A Ghost Story

Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Philip Roughton

4.4

I Remember You won the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award and also was nominated for The Glass Key Award.

In this terrifying tale, three friends set to work renovating a rundown house in a remote, totally isolated location. But they soon realize they are not as alone as they thought. Something wants them to leave. Meanwhile, in a nearby town, a young doctor investigating the suicide of an elderly woman

20

Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was

Sjón

4.4

The mesmerising new novel by Iceland's internationally renowned writer Sjón - 'the trickster that makes the world, and he is achingly brilliant' Junot Díaz, 'an extraordinary and original writer' A.S. Byatt.

Winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize

The year is 1918 and in Iceland the erupting volcano Katla can be seen colouring the sky night and day from the streets of Reykjavik. Yet life in the small

Recommended by Dorthe Nors.

Dorthe Nors

He takes the narrative to a completely surprising place, and he does it with such coolness and precision [source]

21

My Soul to Take (Þóra Guðmundsdóttir, #2)

Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Bernard Scudder, Anna Yates

4.4

“American readers first met Icelandic lawyer and investigator Thóra Gudmundsdóttir in Last Rituals. In My Soul to Take, internationally acclaimed author Yrsa Sigurdardóttir plunges her intrepid heroine into even graver peril, in a riveting thriller set against the harsh landscape of Smila’s Sense of Snow territory. A darkly witty and continually surprising suspense tale that places Yrsa Sigurdardó

22

Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland

MOSS Sarah

4.4

Novelist Sarah Moss had a childhood dream of moving to Iceland, sustained by a wild summer there when she was nineteen. In 2009, she saw an advertisement for a job at the University of Iceland and applied on a whim, despite having two young children and a comfortable life in an English cathedral city. The resulting adventure was shaped by Iceland's economic collapse, which halved the value of her

23

The DNA of Parent-Teen Relationships: Discover the Key to Your Teen's Heart (Focus on the Family)

Greg Smalley and Gary Smalley

4.4

24

Furðustrandir (Inspector Erlendur #11)

Arnaldur Indridason and Fabio Teixid

4.3

Published now in twenty-six countries around the world, Inspector Erlendur joins Maigret, Morse, Wallander, and a handful of other world-famous policemen who provide must-reading for suspense fans everywhere.

In this latest puzzle, Inspector Erlendur learns of the baffling story of Matthildur, a local woman who went missing years earlier on the night of a violent storm. A frequent visitor to his bi

25

Ör

Andrew Wesolek, Anne Langley, et al.

4.3

Winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize, Hotel Silence is a delightful and heartwarming new novel from Auour Ava Olafsdottir, a writer who "upends expectations" (New York Times). Told with grace, insight, and humor, this is the story of one man's surprising mid-life adventure of self-discovery that leads him to find a new reason for being.

Jonas Ebeneser is a handy DIY kind of man with a compulsion

26

Reykjavík Nights: Murder in Reykjavík (Inspector Erlendur, #0)

Arnaldur Indridason

4.3

THE LIVING

Erlendur has recently joined the police force as a young officer and immediately sinks into the darkness of Reykjavik's underworld. Working nights, he discovers the city is full of car crashes, robberies, drinkers and fighters. And sometimes an unexplained death.

THE LOST

A homeless man Erlendur knows is found drowned. But few people care. Or when a young woman on her way home from a club

27

Ashes to Dust (Þóra Guðmundsdóttir, #3)

YRSA SIGURDARDOTTIR

4.3

In 1973, a volcanic eruption buried an entire Icelandic village in lava and ash. Now this macabre tourist attraction proves deadly once again—when the discovery of fresh bodies casts a shadow of suspicion onto Markús Magnússon, a man accused of killing his childhood sweetheart. His attorney Þóra Guðmundsdóttir finds that her client has a most inventive story to tell. But the locals seem oddly relu

28

Iceland's Bell

Halldor Laxness, Philip Roughton

4.3

Sometimes grim, sometimes uproarious, and always captivating, Iceland’s Bell by Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness is at once an updating of the traditional Icelandic saga and a caustic social satire. At the close of the 17th century, Iceland is an oppressed Danish colony, suffering from extreme poverty, famine, and plague. A farmer and accused cord-thief named Jon Hreggvidsson makes an improper joke

29

Himnaríki og helvíti

Jón Kalman Stefánsso

4.3

Sagan gerist fyrir meira en hundrað árum, vestur á fjörðum. Strákurinn og Bárður róa um nótt á sexæringi út á víðáttur Djúpsins að leggja lóðir. Þótt peysurnar séu vel þæfðar smýgur heimskautavindur auðveldlega í gegn. Það er stutt á milli lífs og dauða, eiginlega bara ein flík, einn stakkur.

30

Nightblind (Dark Iceland, #2)

Ragnar Jonasson

4.3

Chilling and complex, Nightblind is an extraordinary thriller from an undeniable new talent.

Ari Thor Arason is a local policeman who has an uneasy relationship with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland--where no one locks their doors.

The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by a murder. One of Ari's colleagues is gunned down at point-blank range in

31

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Extraordinary Voyages, #3)

Jules Verne

4.3

The intrepid Professor Liedenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth's very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet's primordial secrets, the geologist--together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, Hans--discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions. Verne's ima

Recommended by Roxana Bitoleanu, Simon Winchester, and Tullis Onstott.

Roxana Bitoleanu

If I have to choose only one non-business book I would pick Jules Verne's "A journey to the center of the earth", as a symbolic journey to the unknown, deep down, just like our personal search for meaning, for our inner driver. [source]

Simon Winchester

A fantastic piece of science fiction – it’s basically about explorers who want to know what’s inside the earth. [source]

Tullis Onstott

The book has just enough science that it seems real. [source]

32

The Greenhouse

Audur Ava Olafsdottir, Brian FitzGibbon

4.3

For Lobbi, the tragic passing of his mother proves to be a profound catalyst. Their shared love of tending rare roses in her greenhouse inspires him to leave his studies behind and travel to a remote village monastery to restore its once fabulous gardens. While transforming the garden under the watchful eye of a cinephile monk, he is surprised by a visit from Anna, a friend of a friend with whom h

33

Black Skies (Inspector Erlendur, #10)

Arnaldur Indridason, Victoria Cribb

4.3

A suspected blackmailer is found murdered in this gripping crime story from the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger winner, Arnaldur Indridason.
Detective Sigurdur Oli is in trouble.
After a school reunion exposes the chasm between his life and those of his much more successful contemporaries, leaving him bitter and resentful, one of his old friends asks him to pay an unofficial visit to a cou

34

Under the Glacier

Halldor Laxness, Magnus Magnusson

4.3

Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness’s Under the Glacier is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, a wryly provocative novel at once earthy and otherworldly. At its outset, the Bishop of Iceland dispatches a young emissary to investigate certain charges against the pastor at Sn?fells Glacier, who, among other things, appears to have given up burying the dead. But once he arrives, the emissary discovers that this

35

Where the Shadows Lie (Fire & Ice, #1)

Michael Ridpath

4.3

Amid Iceland's wild, volcanic landscape, rumours swirl of an eight-hundred-year-old manuscript inscribed with a long-lost saga about a ring of terrible power.

A rediscovered saga alone would be worth a fortune, but, if the rumours can be believed, there is something much more valuable about this one. Something worth killing for. Something that will cost Professor Agnar Haraldsson his life.

Untanglin

36

The Saga of the Volsungs

Jesse L. Byock, Anonymous

4.3

Based on Viking Age poems, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend and sheer human drama. At its heart are the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer who acquires magical knowledge from one of Odin's Valkyries. Yet it is also set in a very human world, incorporating strands from the oral narratives of the fourth and fifth centuries, when Attila the Hun and other warriors fought on th

37

The Little Book of the Icelanders: 50 Miniature Essays on the Quirks and Foibles of the Icelandic People

Alda Sigmundsdottir and Megan Herbert

4.3

Hi, and thank you for your interest in The Little Book of the Icelanders – a collection of 50 miniature essays about the quirks and foibles of the Icelandic people and what it is like to live in their midst.

In 1994, I moved back to Iceland after more than 20 years of living abroad, and ever since I have been in the enviable [to me!] position of being both an insider and an outsider in Icelandic so

38

The Tricking of Freya

Christina Sunley

4.3

A young woman obsessed with uncovering a family secret is drawn into the strange and magical history, language and landscape of Iceland.

Freya Morris grows up in a typical American suburb – but every summer, she enters another realm entirely when she visits her relatives in Gimli, a tiny village in Canada settled by Icelandic immigrants. Here she falls under the spell of her troubled but charming

39

World Light

Halldor Laxness

4.3

As an unloved foster child on a farm in rural Iceland, Olaf Karason has only one consolation: the belief that one day he will be a great poet. The indifference and contempt of most of the people around him only reinforces his sense of destiny, for in Iceland poets are as likely to be scorned as they are to be revered. Over the ensuing years, Olaf comes to lead the paradigmatic poet's life of pover

40

Egil's Saga

Anonymous, Bernard Scudder, Svanhildur Oskarsdottir

4.2

Egil's Saga tells the story of the long and brutal life of tenth-century warrior-poet and farmer Egil Skallagrimsson: a morally ambiguous character who was at once the composer of intricately beautiful poetry, and a physical grotesque capable of staggering brutality. The saga recounts Egil's progression from youthful savagery to mature wisdom as he struggles to avenge his father's exile from Norwa

41

The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

Michael Booth

4.2

Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years and has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their succes

42

Into Oblivion (Inspector Erlendur)

Arnaldur Indridason

4.2

In Into Oblivion, a follow-up to the gritty prequel Reykjavik Nights, Arnaldur Indridason gives devoted fans another glimpse of Erlendur in his early days as a young, budding detective.

It is 1979, a few years after Reykjavik Nights closed, and Erlendur is now a detective, already divorced, and is working for the shadowy Marion Briem. A body of a man has been found in the blue lagoon, which has not

43

The Sealwoman's Gift

Sally Magnusson

4.2

In 1627 Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted some 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife and their three children. Although the raid itself is well documented, little is known about what happened to the women and children afterwards. It was a time when women everywher

44

The Island: Hidden Iceland Series, Book Two

Ragnar Jónasson

4.2

45

Blackout: A Thriller

Ragnar Jonasson

4.2

A huge bestseller in England, France, and Australia, the third book in the Dark Iceland series from a spectacular new crime writer.

"Easily the best yet. Beautifully written and elegantly paced with a plot that only gradually becomes visible, as if the reader had been staring into the freezing fog waiting for shapes to emerge."--The Guardian, UK (Readers' Books of the Year 2016)

"A chiller of a thri

46

Someone to Watch Over Me (Þóra Guðmundsdóttir, #5)

Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Philip Roughton

4.2

A young man with Down's Syndrome has been convicted of burning down his care home and killing five people, but a fellow inmate at his secure psychiatric unit has hired Thora to prove Jakob is innocent. If he didn't do it, who did? And how is the multiple murder connected to the death of Magga, killed in a hit and run on her way to babysit?

47

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

Michael Lewis

4.2

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge.

Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash an

Recommended by Chris Dixon.

48

Laxdæla Saga

Anonymous, Magnus Magnusson, Hermann Palsson

4.2

Written around 1245 by an unknown author, the Laxdaela Saga is an extraordinary tale of conflicting kinships and passionate love, and one of the most compelling works of Icelandic literature. Covering 150 years in the lives of the inhabitants of the community of Laxriverdale, the saga focuses primarily upon the story of Gudrun Osvif's-daughter: a proud, beautiful, vain and desirable figure, who is

49

The Day is Dark (Þóra Guðmundsdóttir, #4)

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

4.2

When all contact is lost with two Icelanders working in a harsh and sparsely populated area on the northeast coast of Greenland, Thóra is hired to investigate. Is there any connection with the disappearance of a woman from the site some months earlier? And why are the locals so hostile?

50

Hjarta mannsins

Jón Kalman Stefánsso

4.2

Í gamalli arabískri læknisbók segir að hjarta mannsins skiptist í tvö hólf, annað heitir hamingja, hitt örvænting. Hólfin eru tvö og þessvegna er hægt að elska tvær manneskjur á sama tíma, líffræðin býður upp á það, krefst þess myndu sumir segja, en samviskan, vitundin, segir okkur allt annað og hversdagurinn getur því verið óbærilega þungfær.

51

Lygi

Yrsa Sigurðardótti

4.2

Fjölskylda snýr heim úr íbúðaskiptum en kemst að því að fólkið sem var í húsinu þeirra er horfið. Lögreglukona rekst á áratuga gamla skýrslu sem tekin var af eiginmanni hennar á barnsaldri og telur það mál hugsanlega skýra tilraun hans til að binda enda á líf sitt. Fernt fer í vinnuferð í Þrídrangavita þangað sem aðeins verður sigið niður í þyrlu: kona, tveir smiðir og ljósmyndari. Nóttina á undan

52

From the Mouth of the Whale

Sjon, Victoria Cribb

4.2

The year is 1635. Iceland is a world darkened by superstition, poverty and cruelty. Men of science marvel over a unicorn’s horn, poor folk worship the Virgin in secret and both books and men are burnt. Jónas Pálmason, a poet and self-taught healer, has been condemned to exile for heretical conduct, having fallen foul of the local magistrate. Banished to a barren island, Jónas recalls his exorcism

53

The Odyssey

Homer

4.2

After enduring the Trojan War, Odysseus begins the treacherous journey home to Ithaca. On the way, he faces ravenous monsters and vengeful gods. But the real battle awaits, as his kingdom is under siege by unruly suitors vying for his wife’s hand—and his son’s head. To reclaim his throne and save his family, Odysseus must rely on his wits…and help from the unpredictable gods.

Homer’s The Odyssey wa

Recommended by Caterina Fake, Ted Turner, Charlotte Higgins, and 3 others.

Ted Turner

Founder/CNN

When I got to college, I was a classics major, and that was mainly the study of Greek - and to a lesser extent Roman - history and culture, and that fascinated me: the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid by Virgil. [source]

Charlotte Higgins

It’s a very easy read, and a completely different world from The Iliad. Whereas The Iliad depicts a militaristic and war-wrecked world, The Odyssey is like a fairytale and it’s fascinatingly complex. It’s told in flashbacks, it has time that’s extended and time that’s compressed, and it’s told from different viewpoints. [source]

Janine di Giovanni

The thing I loved about Ulysses was that he’s so in love with adventure and with love. [source]

54

Harmur englanna

Jón Kalman Stefánsso

4.2

Hafi djöfullinn skapað eitthvað í þessum heimi, fyrir utan peningana, þá er það skafrenningur uppi á fjöllum. Sjálfstætt framhald af Himnaríki og helvíti sem hlaut einróma lof gagnrýnenda og frábærar viðtökur lesenda. Enn ein rósin í hnappagat Jóns Kalmans!

55

Rick Steves Iceland

Rick Steves and Cameron Hewitt

4.2

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Iceland.

Iceland is one of Europe's hottest destinations, and not just because of its geothermal power. Marvel at the epic glaciers and hear the evocative sagas of the early Icelanders while surrounded by the stark landscapes that inspired them. Explore the sleek and modern capital of Reykjavík. Fly over the sp

56

Iceland: Land of the Sagas

Jon Krakauer and David Roberts

4.2

Co-produced by the author of the best-seller, Into Thin Air, a full-color, pictorial survey of the land and people of Iceland chronicles the authors' adventures as newcomers to the country.

57

Rupture

Ragnar Jonasson

4.2

1955. Two young couples move to the uninhabited, isolated fjord of Hedinsfjörður. Their stay ends abruptly when one of the women meets her death in mysterious circumstances. The case is never solved. Fifty years later an old photograph comes to light, and it becomes clear that the couples may not have been alone on the fjord after all…

In nearby Siglufjörður, young policeman Ari Thór tries to piece

58

Konan við 1000°

Hallgrímur Helgason

4.2

“I live here alone in a garage, together with a laptop computer and a hand grenade. It’s pretty cozy.”

And... she’s off. Eighty-year-old Herra Bjornsson, one of the most original narrators in literary history, takes readers along with her on a dazzling ride of a novel that spans the events and locales of the twentieth century. As she lies alone in that garage in the heart of Reykjavik, waiting to

59

The Vinland Sagas

Anonymous

4.2

The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, a

Recommended by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough.

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough

The Vinland Sagas are my favourite. [source]

60

Angels of the Universe

Einar Már Guðmundsson.

4.2

Born on the day Iceland joined NATO, this novel's unstable narrator worries this and other incidental phenomena into a highly complex, hilarious, and tragic cosmology. More interested in David Bowie and the Beatles than the Nordic sagas that shape the lives of the working-class peoples of Reykjavik, Paul retreats into his own fantastic, schizophrenic, painful world. His madness springs from bits o

61

The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days

Alda Sigmundsdottir and Megan Herbert

4.2

Iceland in centuries past was a formidable place to live. Situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the edge of the inhabitable world, the nation was both isolated and abjectly poor. Centuries of colonisation translated into oppression and subjugation from the colonial overlords, and a hostile climate and repeated natural disasters meant that mere survival was a challenge to even the hardiest of souls. In these 50 miniature essays, Alda Sigmundsdottir writes about the Icelanders in centuries past in a light and humourous way, yet never without admiration and respect for the resilience and strength they showed in coping with conditions of adversity that are barely imaginable today. Their ways of interacting with the natural world are described, as are their sometimes tragic, sometimes ingenious, means of dealing with maltreatment and injustice from the church and other rulers. These forms of oppression include a trade monopoly imposed by Denmark that lasted nearly two centuries, a ban on dancing that lasted for a similar length of time, the forced dissolution of households when the breadwinner of the family died, the tyranny of merchants granted exclusive right to trade with the Icelanders, and the dreaded decrees of the Grand Judgement - a court of law that was set up to punish various offenses, real or imagined. Yet it is not only the "big picture" that is described in this book, but also the various smaller aspects that shed light on the daily life of the Icelanders of old. These include their ingenious ways of coping with lack, of preserving food, of finding shelter, of creating or admitting light into their homes, as well as the innumerable and sometimes wacky superstitions attached to various life events, big and small. The hilarious customs of hospitality and visiting are also described, as are some of the sexual activates of Icelanders in the past, their belief in elves and hidden people, sexual interactions with hidden people (!), ways of dealing with grief, interactions with foreigners, and much, much more. Today's Iceland is a modern, cosmopolitan place, with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Yet less than a century ago, this paragon of equality and peace was the poorest society in Europe. The conditions of life described in this book are therefore not very distant from the Icelanders today, and many of the aspects described are still very much reflected in Iceland's unique culture. For example, the harsh climate and isolation of the past meant that there was a serious lack of grains for food. Consequently the Icelanders devised ways to make breads and cakes that used very little flour. The Icelandic "pancake," similar to a French crepe, is still very much a part of traditional Icelandic celebrations, as is the "laufabraud" - a wafer-thin, deep-fried bread that is traditionally eaten at Christmas. The Icelandic language is also rich with throwbacks to the past - for instance the Icelandic word for "windfall" is "hvalreki" which literally means "beached whale" - this because a single beached whale in the old days was usually enough to feed an entire district, or one household for a full year, something that was immensely welcome in a country where food was in short supply. In short, The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days is not only a funny, witty and wise expose on the Icelanders' daily life in the past, it is also essential to understanding the Icelandic national character today.

62

The Silence of the Sea (Þóra Guðmundsdóttir, #6)

Yrsa Sigurdardotti

4.2

An abandoned yacht, a young family missing - chilling crime from the queen of Nordic Noir.
The most chilling novel yet from Yrsa Sigurdardottir, an international bestseller at the height of her powers.

'Mummy dead.' The child's pure treble was uncomfortably clear. It was the last thing Brynjar - and doubtless the others - wanted to hear at that moment. 'Daddy dead.' It got worse. 'Adda dead. Bygga d

63

101 Reykjavik

Hallgrímur Helgaso

4.2

Hlynur Björn is an unemployed 30-something loner, still living with his mum, who spends his days on the Internet, watching satellite TV, and gazing at girls in the pub. But Hlynur's cosy, unthreatening world is shaken when his mother comes out as a lesbian, and her Spanish girlfriend Lolla moves into their home. 101 Reykjavík is a first-person account of a blackly funny and bizarre love triangle,

64

The History of Iceland

Gunnar Karlsson

4.2

Iceland is unique among European societies in having been founded as late as the Viking Age and in having copious written and archaeological sources about its origin. Gunnar Karlsson, that country's premier historian, chronicles the age of the Sagas, consulting them to describe an era without a monarch or central authority. Equating this prosperous time with the golden age of antiquity in world hi

65

Frozen Assets (Officer Gunnhilder, #1)

Quentin Bates

4.1

A body is found floating in the harbor of a rural Icelandic fishing village. Was it an accident, or something more sinister? It's up to Officer Gunnhildur, a sardonic female cop, to find out. Her investigation uncovers a web of corruption connected to Iceland's business and banking communities. Meanwhile, a rookie crime journalist latches onto her, looking for a scoop, and an anonymous blogger is

66

Fish Have No Feet

Jón Kalman Stefánsson

4.1

67

Love Me Like The Stars

Alesia Carter

4.1

68

The Flight of Gemma Hardy

Margot Livesey

4.1

When her widower father drowns at sea, Gemma Hardy is taken from her native Iceland to Scotland to live with her kind uncle and his family. But the death of her doting guardian leaves Gemma under the care of her resentful aunt, and it soon becomes clear that she is nothing more than an unwelcome guest at Yew House. When she receives a scholarship to a private school, ten-year-old Gemma believes sh

69

The Bhagavad Gita

Eknath Easwaran

4.1

Preview Summary

Recommended by Ryan Holiday, Bernard Tan, Bill Liao, and 1 others.

Ryan Holiday

Author

I read The Bhagavad Gita, which is something I wasn’t ready for before, but glad to finally understand. [source]

Bernard Tan

The “Tao Te King” by Lao Tzu probably resonated with me the strongest, but others like the “Art of War” by Sun Tzu, “Bhagavad Gita” or Zen Buddhist scriptures were also real eye-openers, even for a non-religious person like myself. [source]

Bill Liao

The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! [source]

70

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World

Eric Weiner

4.1

Weiner spent a decade as a foreign correspondent reporting from such discontented locales as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. Unhappy people living in profoundly unstable states, he notes, inspire pathos and make for good copy, but not for good karma. So Weiner, admitted grump and self-help book aficionado, undertook a year's research to travel the globe, looking for the "unheralded happy places.

71

Butterflies in November

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, Brian FitzGibbon

4.1

After a day of being dumped - twice - and accidentally killing a goose, the narrator begins to dream of tropical holidays far away from the chaos of her current life. instead, she finds her plans wrecked by her best friend's deaf-mute son, thrust into her reluctant care. But when a shared lottery ticket nets the two of them over 40 million kroner, she and the boy head off on a road trip across ice

72

The Glass Woman

Caroline Lea, Caroline,Lea, Caroline,Lea

4.1

1686, ICELAND. AN ISOLATED, WINDSWEPT LAND HAUNTED BY WITCH TRIALS AND STEEPED IN THE ANCIENT SAGAS.
Betrothed unexpectedly to Jón Eiríksson, Rósa is sent to join her new husband in the remote village of Stykkishólmur. Here, the villagers are wary of outsiders.
But Rósa harbours her own suspicions. Her husband buried his first wife alone in the dead of night. He will not talk of it. Instead he gives

73

The Atom Station

Halldor Laxness

4.1

When the Americans make an offer to buy land in Iceland to build a NATO airbase after the Second World War, a storm of protest is provoked throughout the country. Narrated by a country girl from the north, the novel follows her experiences after she takes up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. Her observations and experiences expose the bourgeois society of the south as

74

Miss Iceland

Audur Ava Olafsdottir

4.1

Iceland in the 1960s. Hekla is a budding female novelist who was born in the remote district of Dalir. After packing her few belongings, including James Joyces's Ulysses and a Remington typewriter, she heads for Reykjavik with a manuscript buried in her bags. There, she intends to become a writer. Sharing an apartment with her childhood and queer friend Jón John, Hekla comes to learn that she will

75

The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning

Hallgrimur Helgason

4.1

With some 66 hits under his belt, Tomislav Bokšić, or Toxic, has a flawless record as hitman for the Croatian mafia in New York. That is, until he kills the wrong guy and is forced to flee the States, leaving behind the life he knows and loves. Suddenly, he finds himself on a plane hurtling toward Reykjavík, Iceland, disguised as an American televangelist named Father Friendly. With no means of es

76

Viking Age Iceland

Jesse L. Byock

4.1

Medieval Iceland was unique amongst Western Europe, with no foreign policy, no defence forces, no king, no lords, no peasants and few battles. It should have been a utopia yet its literature is dominated by brutality and killing. The reasons for this, argues Jesse Byock, lie in the underlying structures and cultural codes of the islands' social order. 'Viking Age Iceland' is an engaging, multi-dis

77

Sumarljós og svo kemur nóttin

Jón Kalman Stefánsson and Karl-Ludwig Wetzi

4.1

Jón Kalman Stefánsson hefur á undanförnum árum skapað persónulegan og seiðandi sagnaheim. Hann heldur áfram að víkka út sagnaheim sinn, að þessu sinni með óvenjulegu sagnasafni. Sögusviðið er smáþorp á Vesturlandi þar sem hver íbúinn á fætur öðrum reikar ráðþrota um villugjörn öngstræti hjartans. Jón Kalman var tilnefndur til Bókmenntaverðlauna Norðurlandaráðs fyrir bækurnar Sumarið bakvið brekkun

78

Operation Napoleon

Arnaldur Indridason, Victoria Cribb

4.1

From the CWA Gold Dagger-winning author of the Reykjavík Murder Mystery series comes an international thriller sweeping from modern Iceland to America and Nazi Germany at the end of World War II. 1945: A German bomber flies over Iceland in a blizzard; the crew have lost their way and eventually crash on the Vatnajökull glacier, the largest in Europe. Puzzlingly, there are both German and American

79

Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Icelandic Stories

Anonymous and Hermann Palsson

4.1

They date from the thirteenth century and fall into two distinct groups. Hrafnkel's Saga, Thorstein the Staff-Struck, and Ale Hood are set in the pastoral society of native Iceland, the homely touch and stark realism giving the incidents a strong feeling of immediacy.

The remaining four -Hreidar the Fool, Halldor Sorrason, Audun´s Story, and Ivar´s Story- were written without first-hand knowledge o

Cover unavailable

80

Smilla's Sense of Snow

Peter Høeg

4.1

She thinks more highly of snow and ice than she does of love. She lives in a world of numbers, science and memories--a dark, exotic stranger in a strange land. And now Smilla Jaspersen is convinced she has uncovered a shattering crime...

It happened in the Copenhagen snow. A six-year-old boy, a Greenlander like Smilla, fell to his death from the top of his apartment building. While the boy's body i

Recommended by Daisy Johnson and Pam Keith.

Daisy Johnson

It’s savage and freezing and intensely beautiful and strange. It taught me to love writing about strong women and extremes of nature. [source]

Pam Keith

Dear Denmark: We know that Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory & not for sale. Anyone who’s read Smilla’s Sense of Snow (great book) knows THAT! But could you please pretend like it is to keep our toddler man-baby distracted for a while. https://t.co/bYtVmL0Y5k [source]

81

The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland: Tips, tricks, and what the Icelanders really think of you

Alda Sigmundsdottir and Megan Herbert

4.1

82

Salka Valka

Halldor Laxness, F. H. Lyon

4.1

A novel of Iceland -- a queer, repellant sort of Iceland at that. The story of a prostitute and her child, victim of her passions, her selfishness, and her ill-fame -- and of their attempt to find a place for themselves in a new community which is unfriendly, critical, and unforgiving. Chiefly the story of the daughter -- her obsessions with and revulsions from sex, and her relations with two men,

83

The Wanderer's Havamal

Jackson Crawford

4.1

The Wanderer’s Hávamál features Jackson Crawford’s complete, carefully revised English translation of the Old Norse poem Hávamál, newly annotated for this volume, together with facing original Old Norse text sourced directly from the Codex Regius manuscript. Crawford’s classic Cowboy Hávamál, and translations of other related texts central to understanding the character, wisdom, and mysteries of Ó

84

Far North (Fire & Ice, #2)

Michael Ridpath

4.1

In Iceland, revenge is best served at arctic temperatures…

Iceland 1934: Two boys playing in the lava fields that surround their isolated farmsteads see something they shouldn't have. The consequences will haunt them and their families for generations.

Iceland 2009: the credit crunch bites. The currency has been devalued, banks nationalized, savings annihilated, lives ruined. Grassroots revolution i

85

Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

Mark Kurlansky

4.1

The Cod. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been triggered by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it. To the millions it has sustained, it has been a treasure more precious that gold. This book spans 1,000 years and four continents. From the Vikings to Clarence Birdseye, Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers, merchants, writers, chefs

Recommended by Denise Russell.

Denise Russell

Fascinating small book, immensely interesting and traces human acquaintance with this fish back for a thousand years. [source]

86

Drums of Autumn (Outlander, #4)

Diana Gabaldon

4.1

In this breathtaking novel, rich in history and adventure, #1 New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon continues the story of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser that started with the now-classic novel Outlander and continued in Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager. Once again spanning continents and centuries, Gabaldon has created a work of sheer brilliance.

What if you knew someone you loved was g

87

Paradise Reclaimed

Halldor Laxness

4.0

An idealistic Icelandic farmer journeys to Mormon Utah and back in search of paradise in this captivating novel by Nobel Prize—winner Halldor Laxness.
The quixotic hero of this long-lost classic is Steinar of Hlidar, a generous but very poor man who lives peacefully on a tiny farm in nineteenth-century Iceland with his wife and two adoring young children. But when he impulsively offers his children

88

Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings

Snorri Sturluson

4.0

Great classic by Icelandic poet/chieftain chronicles the reigns of 16 high kings descended from the warrior-wizard god Odin. Major section on 15-year reign of Olav II Haraldson, patron saint of Norway. Based on earlier histories, oral traditions, plus new material by author, all presented with intelligence, warmth and objectivity. Over 130 illustrations and 5 maps.

89

Saga Land

Richard Fidler and Kari Gislaso

4.0

'I adored this book - a wondrous compendium of Iceland's best sagas' - Hannah Kent

A new friendship. An unforgettable journey. A beautiful and bloody history. This is Iceland as you've never read it before... Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kári Gíslason are good friends. They share a deep attachment to the sagas of Iceland - the true stories of the first Viking families who settled on that r

90

Eyrbyggja Saga

Anonymous, Hermann Palsson, Paul Edwards

4.0

An Icelandic saga which mixes realism with wild gothic imagination and history with eerie tales of hauntings. It dramatizes a 13th century view of the past, from the pagan anarchy of the Viking age to the settlement of Iceland, the coming of Christianity and the beginnings of organized society.

91

Whiteout

Ragnar Jonasson

4.0

Two days before Christmas, a young woman is found dead beneath the cliffs of the deserted village of Kalfshamarvik.

Did she jump, or did something more sinister take place beneath the lighthouse and the abandoned old house on the remote rocky outcrop? With winter closing in and the snow falling relentlessly, Ari Thor Arason discovers that the victim's mother and young sister also lost their lives i

92

The Saga of Grettir the Strong

Anonymous, Bernard Scudder, Ornolfur Thorsson

4.0

Composed at the end of the fourteenth century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an eleventh-century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age becoming eclipsed by Christianity and a more pastoral lifestyle. Unable to settle into a community of farmers, Grettir becomes the aggressive scour

93

The Iliad

Homer, Robert Fagles, Bernard Knox

4.0

Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and re

Recommended by Ted Turner, Charlotte Higgins, Daniel Mendelsohn, and 2 others.

Ted Turner

Founder/CNN

When I got to college, I was a classics major, and that was mainly the study of Greek - and to a lesser extent Roman - history and culture, and that fascinated me: the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid by Virgil. [source]

Charlotte Higgins

I think The Iliad has much to say to politicians now – it’s completely clear-eyed about collateral damage, about problems of post-conflict and about the ghastly things that happen to women and children in war. [source]

Daniel Mendelsohn

There are always new translations of The Iliad coming out, but this one has a very specific approach, both in terms of its philosophy of translation and its approach to the text. [source]

94

Snare (Reykjavik Noir Trilogy, #1)

Lilja Sigurdardótti

4.0

After a messy divorce, attractive young mother Sonia is struggling to provide for herself and keep custody of her son. With her back to the wall, she resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland, and finds herself caught up in a ruthless criminal world. As she desperately looks for a way out of trouble, she must pit her wits against her nemesis, Bragi, a customs officer, whose years of experience fru

95

The Windows of Brimnes: An American in Iceland

Bill Holm

4.0

In his most ambitious book to date, poet, musician, wit, and polemicist Bill Holm repairs to his Icelandic cottage to reflect on the United States and what it might learn from the land of his ancestral roots. The book begins with a description of the extraordinary setting of Brimnes, a small fishing village on the Arctic Circle. From his house, Holm captures Iceland’s warmth and genuine community,

96

The Happy Warriors

Jami Bertini and John Kalinowski

4.0

English translation.

97

Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World

Jón Gnarr

4.0

It all started when Jón Gnarr founded the Best Party in 2009 to satirize his country’s political system. The financial collapse in Iceland had, after all, precipitated the world-wide meltdown, and fomented widespread protest over the country’s leadership.

Entering the race for mayor of Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, Gnarr promised to get the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park into downtown parks, free tow

98

Chilled to the Bone (Officer Gunnhilder #3)

Quentin Bates

4.0

When a shipowner is found dead, tied to a bed in one of Reykjavik's smartest hotels, sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladottir of the city police force sees no evidence of foul play but still suspects things are not as cut and dried as they seem. A Gunnhildur Gisladottir mystery set in Iceland.
When a shipowner is found dead, tied to a bed in one of Reykjavik's smartest hotels, sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladotti

99

The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok

Jackson Crawford

4.0

From the translator of the bestselling Poetic Edda (Hackett, 2015) comes a gripping new rendering of two of the greatest sagas of Old Norse literature. Together the two sagas recount the story of seven generations of a single legendary heroic family and comprise our best source of traditional lore about its members—including, among others, the dragon-slayer Sigurd, Brynhild the Valkyrie, and the V

100

Eirik the Red and other Icelandic Sagas

Gwyn Jones

4.0

Selected by Gwyn Jones--the eminent Celtic scholar--for their excellence and variety, these nine Icelandic sagas include "Hen-Thorir," "The Vapnfjord Men," "Thorstein Staff-Struck," "Hrafnkel the Priest of Frey," "Thidrandi whom the Goddesses Slew," "Authun and the Bear," "Gunnlaug Wormtongue," "King Hrolf and his Champions," and the title piece.
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