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Quick answer: The best books to read before visiting Iceland include Independent People, Under the Glacier, Burial Rites, Egil’s Saga, The Sagas of Icelanders and Jar City. Try Burial Rites for winter drama, Independent People for the land and Names for the Sea for modern life.
Travel conditions, entry rules and safety advice change. Check your government’s official travel advisory before you go.
Iceland is a small island that has produced an astonishing amount of literature. Its medieval sagas are among the world’s great stories, its modern novelists have won the Nobel Prize and its landscape of glaciers, volcanoes and black beaches seems made for storytelling. A trip is deeper when you know the tales that give places their names and the writers who keep the language alive. The fifteen books below include sagas, novels, crime fiction, travel writing and nonfiction about living on the edge of the Arctic. They are often spare, dark and funny, much like Iceland itself. Read one or two before your trip, and consider a saga in a modern translation to hear the voice of the original settlers.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Type | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent People | Halldór Laxness | Classic novel | readers who want the Nobel winner |
| Under the Glacier | Halldór Laxness | Satirical novel | readers who like odd humor |
| Burial Rites | Hannah Kent | Historical fiction | readers who love atmosphere |
| Egil’s Saga | Anonymous | Saga | readers who want the medieval voice |
| The Sagas of Icelanders | Various | Saga | readers who love stories |
| Jar City | Arnaldur Indriðason | Crime | readers who like noir |
| Snowblind | Ragnar Jónasson | Crime | readers who like locked-town mysteries |
| The Blue Fox | Sjón | Short novel | readers who like poetic fiction |
| Hotel Silence | Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir | Modern novel | readers who like quiet humor |
| Names for the Sea | Sarah Moss | Memoir | readers who like travel writing |
| Letters from Iceland | W.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice | Travel writing | readers who like poetry |
| Arctic Dreams | Barry Lopez | Nature writing | readers who love the north |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | Jules Verne | Adventure classic | readers who like adventure |
| Njal’s Saga | Anonymous | Saga | readers who love feud stories |
| Iceland’s Bell | Halldór Laxness | Historical novel | readers who want a sweeping epic |
1. Independent People by Halldór Laxness
A stubborn sheep farmer struggles to be free in early twentieth-century Iceland. Funny, bleak and epic.
Best for: readers who want the Nobel winner.
2. Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness
A bishop’s emissary investigates strange goings-on near the Snaefellsjokull glacier. Surreal and witty.
Best for: readers who like odd humor.
3. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Based on the true story of the last execution in Iceland, in 1830. Haunting and beautifully written. Content note: execution and violence.
Best for: readers who love atmosphere.
4. Egil’s Saga by Anonymous
The life of a poet-warrior viking in tenth-century Iceland. Brutal, witty and surprisingly modern.
Best for: readers who want the medieval voice.
5. The Sagas of Icelanders by Various
A selection of medieval sagas, including tales of settlers, feuds and love. Choose a Penguin edition with notes. Content note: violence.
Best for: readers who love stories.
6. Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason
Detective Erlendur investigates a murder in Reykjavik. Bleak and gripping. Content note: violence.
Best for: readers who like noir.
7. Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson
A young policeman in a remote northern town investigates a death. Atmospheric.
Best for: readers who like locked-town mysteries.
8. The Blue Fox by Sjón
A parson hunts a fox in the winter of 1883. Brief, strange and lyrical.
Best for: readers who like poetic fiction.
9. Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
A man in despair travels to a war-ravaged country. Warm and wry, by a leading Icelandic novelist. Content note: mentions of suicide.
Best for: readers who like quiet humor.
10. Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss
A British family spends a year in Reykjavik after the financial crash. Wry and observant.
Best for: readers who like travel writing.
11. Letters from Iceland by W.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice
A mix of letters, verse and observations from a 1936 trip. Playful and literary.
Best for: readers who like poetry.
12. Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
A lyrical exploration of the Arctic landscape and its creatures.
Best for: readers who love the north.
13. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
A professor and his nephew descend into an Icelandic volcano.
Best for: readers who like adventure.
14. Njal’s Saga by Anonymous
One of the greatest Icelandic sagas, about a wise lawman, a long feud and the workings of medieval Icelandic law. Gripping and tragic. Content note: violence.
Best for: readers who love feud stories.
15. Iceland’s Bell by Halldór Laxness
Set in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when Iceland was under Danish rule, it follows a farmer and a noblewoman through poverty and politics. Dense and powerful, by the Nobel laureate.
Best for: readers who want a sweeping epic.
How to Choose the Right Book on Iceland
Choose by what you want. For classics and history, Egil’s Saga and The Sagas of Icelanders are essential. For rural life and the Nobel laureate, Independent People and Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness are central. For historical fiction, Burial Rites is gripping. For modern stories, Hotel Silence, The Blue Fox and Names for the Sea offer contemporary views. For crime fiction, Jar City and Snowblind bring noir to Reykjavik and the north. For adventure, Journey to the Center of the Earth begins in Iceland. Winter evenings suit these books.
Which Book Should You Start With? A Quick Guide
If you are not sure where to begin, match your situation to the list below.
- Readers who want the Nobel winner: Independent People
- Readers who like odd humor: Under the Glacier
- Readers who love atmosphere: Burial Rites
- Readers who want the medieval voice: Egil’s Saga
- Readers who love stories: The Sagas of Icelanders
- Readers who like noir: Jar City
- Readers who like locked-town mysteries: Snowblind
- Readers who like poetic fiction: The Blue Fox
- Readers who like quiet humor: Hotel Silence
- Readers who like travel writing: Names for the Sea
- Readers who like poetry: Letters from Iceland
- Readers who love the north: Arctic Dreams
- Readers who like adventure: Journey to the Center of the Earth
- Readers who love feud stories: Njal’s Saga
- Readers who want a sweeping epic: Iceland’s Bell
A Simple Reading Plan
Start about two months before you go. Begin with Independent People, an approachable way into Iceland, then add a novel set there for atmosphere. In the last weeks, read something on history or culture and finish with a memoir or travel account so the place feels personal. Keep a notebook of places, dishes, phrases and questions you meet on the page. If you only have a week, read Independent People and one novel, and listen to an audiobook on the plane. The aim is not to master Iceland but to arrive curious and informed enough to notice more.
Print, E-Book or Audiobook?
You do not have to pick one format. For a book on Iceland, listen to the audiobook while walking or driving, and keep the paper or e-book handy for the chapters you want to study. Reading and listening together can improve retention, since you hear the author’s voice and see the structure on the page. Library apps lend all three formats free, and used paperbacks are inexpensive. If your attention drifts with long audio sessions, try 1.25x speed for an easy book and normal speed for a dense one. Choose whatever makes it easiest to read a little every day.
How to Get More From What You Read
Reading before a trip works best when you turn it into planning. Note every place, food and festival that catches your attention, and put them on a map. Look up the neighborhoods in the novels you read and see which ones you can visit. Learn ten words of the local language, watch a film set in Iceland and ask friends who have been there for tips. Share favorite passages with your travel companions so everyone arrives with the same excitement. After the trip, reread a favorite book; it will read differently once you have walked the streets.
Reading on a Budget
Reading about Iceland does not have to be expensive. Start at the library, where print books, e-books and audiobooks are free with a card and a hold list, and ask the librarian for related titles. Secondhand bookstores and online used sellers keep prices low, and older editions are usually just as good as new ones. Watch for e-book sales, and borrow a title before buying it to be sure it suits you. When a book becomes a favorite, buy a copy for your shelf so you can reread and annotate it.
Talk About What You Read
Talking about what you read turns information into understanding. After each book on Iceland, tell someone one thing you learned, even if it is just a five-minute chat over dinner. Post a short review for other readers, which forces you to organize your thoughts. If a book raises difficult feelings, share them with a trusted friend or counselor instead of carrying them alone. And if you disagree with an author, say so; thoughtful disagreement is part of learning, and it sharpens your own view.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
A few mistakes are common. Do not treat novels as guidebooks; fiction can romanticize, exaggerate or simplify a place. Do not rely only on outsiders’ accounts, and seek voices from the country itself. Check publication dates, since places change quickly and a book from decades ago may describe a very different reality. Avoid reading only dark or only glamorous stories, which gives a lopsided picture of Iceland. And do not let reading replace current, practical research on visas, health, safety and local customs. Balanced reading prepares you to see people as individuals, not stereotypes.
How to Judge a Book on Iceland
Not every book about Iceland is equally reliable or fair. Check who is speaking: a native writer, a long-term resident, a journalist, a historian or a short-term visitor. Each offers something different. Look at the publication date, since politics, prices and customs change. For history, prefer authors with notes and sources. For fiction, remember that vivid does not mean accurate. Read at least one book by an author from Iceland, and if possible one translated work, to hear voices from inside the culture. A mix of insider and outsider perspectives gives the fairest picture.
Reading Is Not Planning
Books can inspire and inform, but they are not travel advice. Before you go, check your government’s official travel advisories, entry and visa requirements, health recommendations and local laws, and consider travel insurance. Customs around dress, behavior, tipping and photography vary, and a recent guidebook or the embassy website can help. If you travel to a region with political tension or natural hazards, follow current local guidance. Treat the books in this guide as a way to understand and enjoy Iceland, and use official sources for rules and safety.
Questions to Reflect On
Keep these in a notebook as you read:
- Which places in these books do I most want to see?
- Whose voice am I hearing: a local, a visitor or a historian?
- What do these books leave out?
- How might the place look different today?
- What would I like to ask a local when I arrive?
Tips for Reading About Iceland
- Read a saga. Choose a modern translation.
- Visit saga sites. Many farms bear saga names.
- Pack for dark. Winter days are short.
- Try audio. Icelandic names are tricky.
- Respect nature. Follow safety guidance.
Related: 15 Best Books to Read Before Visiting Scotland and 15 Best Books to Read Before Visiting Ireland.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best books to read before visiting Iceland?
Burial Rites, Independent People and Jar City are popular.
Are the sagas readable?
Yes, in modern translations. Egil’s Saga is a good start.
Any Icelandic crime fiction?
Jar City and Snowblind are well-known.
How many books on Iceland should I read at once?
One or two at a time is plenty. Finish a book, try one idea from it and then move on, so what you read turns into something you do.
Are these books on Iceland available as audiobooks?
Most of them are. Check your library’s app, such as Libby, or an audiobook service, and listen to a sample to see whether the narrator suits you.