Good reads to get one in the mood for a Baltic Cruise but not a travel book

I'll be sailing the Baltic in June. Just happened to be going to NYC in February, so we were looking at Broadway and purchased tickets for Anastasia. That got me wondering if anyone has read any good books lately that may peak my setting for the cities I will visit in June. I'm not looking for historical or travel books. More of a fiction (thriller/spy/romance) that just takes place in/around the Baltic.

I know its a long shot, but I thought I'd put it out there.

Thanks

I’m currently reading Russka by Edward Rutherfurd, which is largely set in St Petersburg. It’s quite a long book, and may not be for everyone, but I think it’s very good.

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For Stockholm there is always "The girl with a dragon tattoo", first book of the Millenium series. It takes place in Stockholm. And since it has been so popular both as a book and a movie I have often seen that there are even walking tours to see the places where the stories takes place. Not that I think a walking tour would be ideal for a cruise passenger, there are other things that are more interesting to see.

"The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden" and "The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared", both by the same author whose name I can't remember, but you'll find him easily enough because the book titles are pretty distinctive!

They're comedy, romance, spy thrillers. Set in other countries as well, but mostly Sweden for the first one, mostly Norway for the second, with a good chunk of Russia. There's also quite a bit of South Africa and the rest of the world as well, so take them on your world cruise.

Hi, Trekker,

Hope you're on my cruise, Baltic and Kiel Canal, starting June 2 in Amsterdam. Even if not, here are some non-guidebook recommendations from a Nordic noir addict: The Fekete series by Kati Hiekkapelto, Maile Chapman's Your Presence is requested at Suvanto, Anna Jansson's Killer's Island, and Pia Juul's The Murder of Halland. I would be interested to know your reactions.

Not a book but rather the DVD of the newest (2016) "War and Peace". The one with Lily James as Natasha. It was shot mostly in St Petersburg so you will get a glimpse of the buildings there. The ballroom scene where she and Andre dance was shot at Catherine's Palace.

<<<Karen>>>

I'll be sailing the Baltic in June. Just happened to be going to NYC in February, so we were looking at Broadway and purchased tickets for Anastasia. That got me wondering if anyone has read any good books lately that may peak my setting for the cities I will visit in June. I'm not looking for historical or travel books. More of a fiction (thriller/spy/romance) that just takes place in/around the Baltic.

 

I know its a long shot, but I thought I'd put it out there.

 

Thanks

Not a book, but there's a movie currently playing in the small art house theaters that may appeal to you. It's titled The King's Choice, and it tracks the minute by minute developments of three days in April 1940 when the King of Norway faced a decision to surrender to the N**i invaders or face capture and death. This has a Rotten Tomato rating of 84% but some of the critics felt the tension was not as dramatic as historic reality. Still, it's a glimpse into an event in a Scandinavian country that doesn't get as much attention as the better-known Danish evacuation of its Jewish population to Sweden.

If you haven't read Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (Robert Massie) consider doing so. It's a Pulitzer-winning book of non-fiction that is so well written it reads like a novel!

I don't know if the English translation can easily be found but Per Anders Fogelström have written many

good books about his Stockholm and what it was like growing up there.

The English translations are made by Jennifer Brown Bäverstam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_Anders_Fogelstr%C3%B6m

There is an older thread somewhere that is filled with book advice but I can't find it at the moment.

I found the thread I mentioned in my previous post. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1561110

Thank you everyone.

Linda,

When I was in SPB in 1993, I picked up a copy of The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander in the Hermitage museum store. It is a quick read, historical fiction is the story of the last days of the Romanov's.

Kate Furnivall's The Jewel of St Petersburg might be a possibility. It is the first book in a trilogy.

The Wallander crime novels is also a nice read, its set in Ystad on the southern baltic coast of Sweden.

There is a book (partially) set in Copenhagen that is called Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne.

I don't know the english title, perhaps its Misses Smillas feeling for snow but I'm not sure :D

Danish Viking is correct about the English title.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Smilla%27s_Feeling_for_Snow#

I've read the 4 Sebastian Bergman Thrillers that are in English by the Swedish authors Michael Hjorth and Hans Rosenfeldt. The 1st book in the series is The Man Who Watched Women and couldn't put it down.

The Wallander crime novels is also a nice read, its set in Ystad on the southern baltic coast of Sweden.

 

There is a book (partially) set in Copenhagen that is called Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne.

 

I don't know the english title, perhaps its Misses Smillas feeling for snow but I'm not sure :D

It is called Smilla's Sense of Snow here in Canada at least. It is by Peter Hoeg.

Thank you Gnome12.

Jess

if you going to Norway read anything from Jo Nesbo ( Harry Hole series).

So many great choices. My library is going to think I'm crazy! I am!

There is also a nice 2 disk video that your library may carry. Russia, Land of the Tsars. It was a History Channel production. It is also currently on YouTube:

I'll be sailing the Baltic in June. Just happened to be going to NYC in February, so we were looking at Broadway and purchased tickets for Anastasia. That got me wondering if anyone has read any good books lately that may peak my setting for the cities I will visit in June. I'm not looking for historical or travel books. More of a fiction (thriller/spy/romance) that just takes place in/around the Baltic.

 

I know its a long shot, but I thought I'd put it out there.

 

Thanks

Hi Linda

When were the formal nights on your 14 night Baltic cruise?

Ron L

Anything by Tom Rob Smith. My favourite is ‘Child 44’. They are concerned mainly with Stalin’s time in Russia and the Balkan States that he took. It’s fiction, but well informed fiction. Dark, but compelling. They would certainly trigger most people’s fascination with the region’s history.