Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

June 17, 2019 by Christina

Fiction – print. Translated from the Swedish by Steven T. Murray. Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2003. Originally published 1991. 280 pgs. Purchased. On a cold January night, an elderly Swedish farmer awakens in the middle of the night to an eerie feeling. As his eyes and ears adjust to the faint light cast across the remote landscape, the farmer realizes the back window of his neighbor’s home has been broken into. Hurrying next door, the farmer finds his neighbor bludgeoned to […]

Categories: 2019 Reads, 20BooksofSummer, Awards and Prizes, Crime, Europe, Fiction, Glass Key Award, Scandinavia, Swedish, Translated • Tags: Henning Mankell

The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz

July 22, 2018 by Christina

Fiction — Kindle edition. Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2015. Translated from the Swedish by George Goulding. 416 pgs. Library copy. Out of the blue, a Swedish computer programmer named Frans Balder shows up at the home of his ex-wife and announces that he is taking custody of their autistic son, August. He has decided to leave his job in the United States, stopping his research into artificial intelligence after the program he wrote was stolen by hackers. “It’s always the wrong people […]

Categories: 2018 Reads, Crime, Europe, Fiction, Scandinavia, Swedish, Translated • Tags: David Lagercrantz

Three Favorite Children’s Books

August 7, 2012 by Christina

My aching mouth post-wisdom teeth removal interrupted my concentration when it came to reading. I was too tired and too crabby to focus on anything other than these three favorite books from my childhood. Fiction — print. Thompson, Kay. Eloise. Simon and Schuster, 1983. Originally published 1955. 65 pgs. Gift. Subtitled “A book for precocious grownups, about a little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel”, Thompson’s classic children’s book introduces readers to a true “enfant terrible”. Eloise makes life […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Art, Classics, Europe, Fiction, Juvenile, New York, North America, Reread, Swedish, Translated, United States • Tags: Christina Bjork, Kay Thompson, Lena Anderson, Shel Silverstein

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

November 27, 2010 by Christina

Fiction — print. Translated from the Swedish. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. 565 pgs. Library copy. My enjoyment of the third and final book in Larsson’s series was definitely hampered by the fact that it has been two months since I read the second book, The Girl Who Played with Fire. The books are just so connected (this book immediately begins with the end of the second novel), and they really need to be read back to back for maximum enjoyment. […]

Categories: 2010 Reads, Chunkster, Crime, Europe, Fiction, Glass Key Award, Scandinavia, Swedish, Translated • Tags: Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

September 6, 2010 by Christina

Fiction — print. Translated from the Swedish. Vintage Books, 2010. 724 pgs. Borrowed from a friend. I was afraid I would have to wait a long time to read the second installment in Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. It’s available on my mom’s iPad but I don’t have one myself here at school. Luckily, my new roommate has a copy of both the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and the second book even though she hasn’t read either of […]

Categories: 2010 Reads, Chunkster, Crime, Europe, Fiction, Scandinavia, Swedish, Translated • Tags: Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

August 12, 2010 by Christina

Fiction — print. Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. 465 pgs. Library copy. The original title in Sweden is Men Who Hate Women, which gives much more of the novel’s basis away than the international title but probably would not have encouraged people like my grandparents to pick the novel up. And this book, as well as the two subsequent books in the series, have become all the rage within my extended family. Grandparents, aunt, […]

Categories: 2010 Reads, Chunkster, Crime, Europe, Fiction, Glass Key Award, Scandinavia, Swedish, Translated • Tags: Stieg Larsson