According to bookseller Penninn Eymnundsson, Reykjavík: A Crime Thriller, was the best-selling book in Iceland in 2022. The book was co-authored by PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Ragnar Jónasson.
The book concerns the disappearance of a young girl, and the eventual unearthing of her disappearance some 30 years later by a young journalist. Set against the historical backdrop of the Reagan-Gorbachev meetings and Reykjavík’s 200th birthday, the book has been well received by both readers and critics.
The book was published this October, in anticipation of Iceland’s annual “Flood of Christmas Books,” and sold well right from the start.
Other successful books this year include Játning (Confession), by Ólaf Jóhann Ólafsson and Eden, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir. Perennial best-sellers include the collected Icelandic sagas, in English translation, and Independent People, by Icelandic Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness, also in English translation.
Popular children’s books this year included works by Bjarni Fritzson, David Walliams, and Gunnar Helgason.
Read more about reading habits and literature in Iceland here.
