English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion
Good books to read in the Fall season
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Have you read any of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series books? Many of those happen when it's cold and dark outside. I think those would make a great fall read (or anytime read).Or have you read anything by Jo Nesbø yet? That would make another great fall read. (Redbreast happens in summer, but it's dark enough to make it an OK fall read I think)
Or Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance (or the whole series of it), The Cruel Stars of the Night, or something by Arnaldur Indridason?
Or for old-fashioned crime, something by Maj Sjövall & Per Wahlöö...
Wow thank you so much! I've noticed several people in the train reading a Jo Nesbø book... I'm going to check out all of your suggestions, excellent!
Good suggestions Anna!Arnaldur Indridason especially stands out in my mind as Fall reading. I'd add Karin Fossum to that list as well.
Harry Hole is a drunk who often falls over....so Jo Nesbo....quite autumnal as well - lol
Adding Karim Fossum (Eve's Eye, perhaps?) to my reading list as well. Thank you!
Yeah, having a tendency to fall over quite frequently, does make Harry Hole/Nesbo kind of deserve a special position in my Fall list :-)
Eve's Eye was Karin Fossum's first in the Inspector Sejer series and unfortunately not translated to english so I can't comment. I've read the rest of the series though and really enjoyed all of them, but particularly the first few: Don't Look Back, He Who Fears the Wolf, and Calling Out for You (aka The Indian Bride).I might venture to say that of the more established authors (by that I mean five or more books available in a series) she is probably my favorite.
Although I do really love Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell, and Arnaldur Indridason as well, Fossum writes with a certain eloquence and intimacy of character that really draws me in.
Eve's Eye has been translated into Dutch and that happens to be my native language :-)
CharliReads wrote: "Eve's Eye has been translated into Dutch and that happens to be my native language :-)"Sometimes I think I should learn a nordic language just so I don't have to miss out on so many books that I'm eager to read. Although I don't understand why publishers insist on either translating out of order or just randomly deciding to skip some books altogether.
Speaking of your native language... Jussi Adler-Olsen is another author I'd recommend.
Laura wrote: "Just put the first two (english translation) Fossum books on my Kindle. That's my next new series. Happy to see a recommendation."I'll be anxious to see how you like them!
I think what I enjoy so much about Fossum is how character driven her books are. She really takes the time to let you get inside their heads and understand why they do what they do and how they're feeling. Inspector Sejer is also a wonderfully sympathetic character very much as interested in motive as he is in just solving the case. There's a certain quiet, reflective mood to her books that seem to set them apart for me.
I also don't understand why publishers just randomly decide to skip some books altogether...In the case of Eve's Eye, it's weird that this book, the first in a series, has not been translated into English, yet the rest of the series has... Especially given the fact that Eve's Eye has won so many prizes...
And thank you for the Jussi Adler-Olsen tip! Though he's Danish and I am Dutch ;-)
Oops! I read Dutch and then somewhere by the end of my post I transformed you to Danish. Or maybe I just had breakfast pastries on my mind :)Fossum has a new one out that has been translated to English, but not yet available in the U.S. which is another pet peeve of mine, England seems to get books several months in advance. I may have to take my Kindle on virtual "vacation" again. I had to do that to get Jo Nesbo's The Leopard.
Dave, sometimes getting the Amazon shipping from the other country (.com vs .co.uk or whichever else local) isn't too bad, so I every now and then end up ordering something from UK if it's out only there or much earlier out there than in US.
What's interesting about Amazon is that if you have a Kindle registered to an account associated with a U.S. address, you can not download books from the Amazon.co.uk site (which I find odd, since you can order physical books from amazon.co.uk) ...so to get get around that, I occasionally change my address to one in the U.K. Hence my comment about "virtual vacation" for my kindle.
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On another line why are electronic books still so expensive? Is it just me or do others find them costly?
You can for the most part thank Steve Jobs at Apple for the reason that ebooks are so expensive. He helped establish what is known as the Agency Pricing Model for ebooks which has been incorporated by the top 5 publishers (Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Hachette). This allows the publisher to set the price of ebooks rather than the retailer. (ie. if Amazon or other ebook retailer wants the rights to sell a certain title from one of these top 5 publishers they must sell for the price set by that publisher) You might notice when purchasing from Amazon's Kindle store that underneath the price it often states "Price set by Publisher"As for the differences in which Amazon region you have to order from, I'm not sure why that's set the way it is. I can only speculate it may have to do with some costs attributed to the whispernet delivery or regional publishing rights? I really have no idea other than that I on occasion will change my normal U.S. billing address associated with my Amazon account to a U.K. address to allow myself access to the Amazon.co.uk kindle store. I try not to do that often as I'm not sure what Amazon's policy would be and I don't want to raise suspicion. But since the U.K. often gets books far in advance of the U.S., I do take my kindle "on vacation" from time to time.
Some more about the ebook pricing http://www.libraryjournal.com/article...
Amazon and the other sources also had ebooks priced around $ 9.99 for years before Jobs started with the ebook market. And sometimes the ebook pricing makes no sense: I bought Meowmorphosis for $ 7.99 as an analog book from Amazon, and the ebook price, also at Amazon, would have been $ 9.99. (even if the book example is of a different category than crime)
One more reason for loving my favorite second hand analog book store. The second hand books cost less than the ebooks, and they are physical books, plus when I've read a book I can let 300 friends who might want to read it if I want to. (if someone discovers an author they love, they'll read more of his stuff, and talk to their friends and more people will know of that author).
Have you read any Van Veeteren books by Håkan Nesser? It's in a kind of imaginary Sweden-type place. At least Borkmann's Point happens in September-October timeframe so it would probably fit the fall season. I guess it'd be more towards the Sjöwall&Wahlöö and Van De Wetering style and most current writers (that particular book was written in the mid 90s, and it's the English debut to Van Veeteren series).
I've read Mind's Eye which is the first in the series, but was released in English after Borkmann's Point. I'd heard great things about Nesser, but to be honest I thought it was very average, 3 stars at best. Maybe the series gets better, but Van Veeteren reads to me like a poor man's Wallander.
Van Veeteren sounds Belgium (Fleming)! I'll check it out, it's gonna be a Fall/Winter reading pile :-)Interesting info by the way with regard to the e-readers...personally I don't have one but do I understand correctly that:
- e-books have more or less the same price as a papercopies
- you cannot borrow the e-books from friends (so everyone has to buy its own e-copy)
- some discount offers are region-bound (if your e-reader is registered in the US you cannot automatically benefit from Amazon book offers in the UK?)
And what happens if you decide to swap your Kindle for e.g. an iPad: can you transfer all the e-books that you've bought previously?
Like anything, there are positives and negatives with ebooks but to answer your questions:-Pricing varies. New releases are still generally cheaper than new Hardbacks, but also considerably more that an average used paperback.
-Most ebooks are DRM protected so that they cannot be copied or shared. However there are some books that are lendable and the Public Library is now starting to offer some Kindle selections. There are also programs available (if you're inclined and tech savy enough) that will strip the DRM code and allow you to share your books with friends or family like you would a paper copy.
-Book offers and availability are regional, but...
I often change my region in order to buy books available in the UK that won't be available in the US for several months. And since their delivered wirelessly I'm not paying to have them shipped from the UK (ie, I already have Indridason's "Outrage" and Fossum's "The Caller" neither of which even have a speculative US release date yet)
-All your books are transferable across devices with your account. So that if you have say.. a Kindle, and an Ipad with the Kindle reading app, and the Kindle app on your laptop then you have access to your books on all those devices.
Charli, you get your kindle ebooks on your kindle account. I don't have a kindle, but I have a kindle reader app on my iPad (I rarely use that on the iPad, but my hubby uses it more on his) and on a Mac. So when I download a kindle ebook, I can select which device I want it to. So if you want your kindle stuff on another device, you can sync the contents. If you already have downloaded something, you have a license for it it (let's say if you downloaded something when it was offered for free, and later they changed it to $ 9.99).
I've only got free ebooks on kindle or any other ereader app.
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2.we are an apple house and finding great frustration getting English eBooks downloaded! Constantly directed to American Amazon.
3.have iBooks, eBooks and Kindle on the iPads and Mac but cannot get any choices due to constant redirection 2 above. Just keep downloading free classics as the rest I want are hard to find electronic copy of then when I start I am told I am in the wrong region and need to use US .....
It is a time wasting frustration that I keep spinning my wheels and getting nowhere with!! Any help most appreciated.
I'm not 100% sure how it works with the Kindle app on an Ipad or similar device. The Kindle itself is registered to your Amazon account, so that when you log into Amazon and choose "my account" you then have an option "manage my kindle", once there you then have option "change country" which will allow you to change the default address and country associated with your kindle. I just entered the address of a hotel in London. You can switch back of course, I generally just treat it as if I were on vacation with my kindle, but generally try to avoid switching back and forth to much as not to be blatant. Although I doubt amazon is monitoring that.I imagine that would work as well with kindle app if you added a uk shipping address as primary, just remember to change it back if you decide to order physical product.
Interestingly, I've found that even with the exchange rate, books generally cost about the same as if I just bought them from amazon US
A $7.99 book is usually like 4.99£ so it just about evens out.
The UK selection seems much better for scandinavian crime, as I mentioned I already have Nesbo's The Leopard, Indridason's Outrage, and Fossum's The Caller. None of which are available yet in the US.
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You are right we get the books and paperbacks way earlier but it is often frustrating that the NL translations nowadays are out way earlier than English. Still way ahead of NA.
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http://news.henningmankell.com/2011/0...
Sharon wrote: "Memories Of a Sullied Angel already to reprint | Henning Mankellhttp://news.henningmankell.com/2011/0..."
Fascinating story.... Thank you!
I read Johan Theorin, it is an author that I like very much. The first novel in his series take place on the Swedish Island of Öland is set in autumn
Joan wrote: "It is the way his characters interact with the desolate and mysterious nature of the island and the way that the extreme Nordic weather effect their everyday life that I like the most."I read your introduction and what you wrote about Johan Theorin sounds really good - thank you for the suggestion!
At this moment I'm about to start with Eve's Eye (Karin Fossum). I'm planning on reading all suggestions eventually though, so lots of reading ahead of me this Fall/Winter. I definitely got what I asked for :-)
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Know what you mean....me too! So many tips for new reads and my pile was already challenging but has been stacking up electronically and paper coming in the mail to the extent I am now making more and more lists. Ah, but what a good problem!
CharliReads wrote: "Joan wrote: "It is the way his characters interact with the desolate and mysterious nature of the island and the way that the extreme Nordic weather effect their everyday life that I like the most...."I think that the story has won some prizes either national and international ones and I found the story quite moving as well.
Sharon wrote: "Know what you mean....me too!"I was just thinking that maybe you will also appreciate the film entitled The Mirror (Zerkalo) by the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. This film...the atmosphere...it's pure visual poetry!
Maybe a nice break in between reading? ;-)
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I was just thinking that maybe you will also appreciate the film entitled The Mirror (Zerkalo) by the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. This film......"
Good tip, will keep an eye out for it...
English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic...
Books mentioned in this topic
Mind's Eye (other topics)Borkmann's Point (other topics)
Borkmann's Point (other topics)
The Cruel Stars of the Night (other topics)
Vengeance (other topics)
Best regards,
Charli