I recently read two novels by the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas that I can’t shake from my mind: The Birds, from 1957, and The Ice Palace, from 1963. His writing style is spare and enigmatic, and sometimes has the quality of an obscure myth recorded in an unfamiliar land. I was drawn inside the minds of the central characters in a way that is almost unbearably intimate. The elements of nature, especially water, play a major role in both novels. The relationship between humans and nature builds, gradually and inescapably, towards drama in a way that made my heart pound. I’d never heard of Vesaas before seeing his name in an interview with Karl Ove Knausgård that I read this summer. This continues my journey through Nordic literature. I haven’t decided where to go next: maybe Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses?