Scandinavian Challenge update--4 months to go

We have passed the halfway point (since it started in March) for the Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010.  Just about four months remain to complete the six titles and gain bragging rights.  So far I have counted approximately 10 of the 64 participants who have completed the six titles and are going on to the extreme phase of the competition.    Congrats! 

Some new releases might inspire you if you are getting bogged down or a need a kick in the pants.  Remember, titles for the Challenge do not need to be crime fiction, or even fiction novels.  Nonfiction history, anthologies, or poetry from the region is included in the challenge.

The Ambassador by Bragi Olafsson

October 2010

Sturla Jón Jónsson, the fifty-something building superintendent and sometimes poet, has been invited to a poetry festival in Vilnius, Lithuania, and his latest poetry collection, published on the eve of his trip to Vilnius, is about to cause some controversy in his home country—Sturla is publicly accused of having stolen the poems from his long-dead cousin, Jónas. ------------from the description at Open Letter Books

Frozen Moment by Camilla Cedar

Swedish crime writer Camilla Ceder's debut novel, recently translated into English by Marlaine Delargy and published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, is much more in the mode of Henning Mankell (who is mentioned in passing) than Stieg Larsson (though there's a hit of Larsson in the name and the past (revealed late in the novel) of one character. The story is a police procedural, skillfully told through a series of characters, including Detective Christian Tell and the members of his team as well as glimpses into the points of view of several witnesses and others involved in the story. -----from the International Noir website

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo

Nominated for the 2010 Edgar Award

Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto by Maile Chapman

Nominated for the Guardian's First Book award

(reviewed on this site earlier in the year)

If you wish to sign up now, leave a comment (keep track of books on your own, please), and I'll add you to the participant list on the upper tab.  Or click on the blue map on the right sidebar to go to the original sign-up post with full Challenge rules.  Email me as you complete the Challenge...

Coming in 2011, the Eastern European Reading Challenge:  more gloom, more tragedy, more quirky characters!  Anti-depressant sold separately.

Even tougher, because it's for translated works only.....more info in December.