I seem to read quite a lot of Nordic fiction these days; I've loved almost everything I've tried from that region.

I wonder if it's because getting translated is a selection process in itself - that books we get are likely to be not only "good" etc, but also to fit with a kind of perception of what Nordic literature should be? Or maybe that perception is really true, that the peculiarities of language and landscapes give a certain form or cast to the writing? Thinking Ibsen or Laxness, I can't help but think this is true, but it's quite a suspect notion really of course. Maybe I just overlay it all with rose tinted romance because that's how I view the Nordic countries. Probably a bit of everything really.

There's certainly especially now a fashion for crime writing in translation, and I guess this success leads to publishers looking for the next Henning Mankell or Karin Fossum all the time, but I've not noticed a drop in quality. And luckily we're getting a lot of other stuff too, like Grondahl, Kjaerstad, Fosnes Hansen, Jungersen, etc, etc.