2023

The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlson and the Match That Made Chess Great Again by Brin-Jonathan Butler

A firsthand account of the dramatic 2016 World Chess Championship between Norway's Magnus Carlsen and Russia's Sergey Karjakin, which mirrored the world's geopolitical unrest and rekindled a global fascination with the sport.

The first week of November 2016, as a crowd of people swarmed outside of Manhattan’s Trump Tower to rail against the election of Donald Trump, hundreds more descended on the city’s South Street Seaport. But they weren’t there to protest. They were there to watch the World Chess Championship between Norway's Magnus Carlsen and Russia's Sergey Karjakin—what by the time it was over would be front-page news and thought by many the greatest finish in chess history. (Goodreads)

The Ice Swimmer by Kjell Ola Dahl

When a dead man is lifted from the freezing waters of Oslo Harbour just before Christmas, Detective Lena Stigersand's stressful life suddenly becomes even more complicated. Not only is she dealing with a cancer scare, a stalker and an untrustworthy boyfriend, but it seems both a politician and Norway's security services might be involved in the murder. With her trusted colleagues, Gunnarstranda and Frølich, at her side, Lena digs deep into the case and finds that it not only goes to the heart of the Norwegian establishment, but it might be rather to close to her personal life for comfort.  (Goodreads)

An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

In An Enemy of the People, Ibsen places his main characters, Dr. Thomas Stockman, in the role of an enlightened and persecuted minority of one confronting an ignorant, powerful majority. When the physician learns that the famous and financially successful baths in his hometown are contaminated, he insists they be shut down for expensive repairs. For his honesty, he is persecuted, ridiculed, and declared an "enemy of the people" by the townspeople, included some who have been his closest allies.  (Goodreads)

Men in My Situation by Per Petterson

Men in My Situation, Per Petterson’s evocative and moving new novel, finds Arvid Jansen in a tailspin, unable to process the grief of losing his parents and brothers in a tragic ferry accident. In the aftermath, Arvid’s wife, Turid, divorced him and took their three daughters with her. One year later, Arvid still hasn’t recovered. He spends his time drinking, falling into fleeting relationships with women, and driving around in his Mazda. When Turid unexpectedly calls for a ride home from the train station, he has to face the life they’ve made without him. (amazon)

Through Naked Branches by Tarjei Vesaas

Tarjei Vesaas's fame as one of Norway's and Scandinavia's greatest fiction writers of the 20th century has often overshadowed his achievement as a poet. This revised bilingual selection presents, in finely honed translations, forty six poems that reveal the distinctive sensibility and voice of Vesaas the poet. In a groundbreaking introductory essay, Roger Greenwald explores why Vesaas's work has eluded many attempts at critical analysis and how it challenges received notions of modernism. A collage of excerpts from Vesaas's writings about himself and his work supplies helpful background and gives some sense of the man behind the work. Vesaas emerges from this volume as a lyric and meditative poet of uncommon depth, who renders states of being beyond the reach not only of discourse, but of most poetry as well. (goodreads)