**Christmas with Orenda Books** featuring Lilja Sigurdardóttir @OrendaBooks @lilja1972 #Giveaway #BookBundle

Today it’s time to share another Christmas with Orenda Books, and I’m thrilled that author Lilja Sigurdardottir shares her memories of an Icelanders Christmas with us. Don’t forget to enter the fabulous giveaway at the bottom of this post.

What is your favourite Christmas memory? 

 When I was little our Christmas tradition was that after eating a festive dinner on the 24th and opening the presents, witch were mostly books, everyone went to bed with a box of chocolates or some cookies and the new books and read into the night. The morning after, on Christmas day, my dad usually made us a big breakfast and it was the only meal of the year when we were allowed to read at the table. It is a lovely memory of our family, sitting by a candle-lit table, full of nice food, in silence, reading.

 Where will you be spending Christmas? 

 This year my partner and I decided to spend Christmas in the sun on Gran Canaria. The whole family is going and we hope we will all return to the Icelandic arctic darkness refreshed and full of sunny vitamin D. I plan to read a lot and relax in the warm outdoors there. Maybe even write a little.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Icelanders have so many traditions around food at Christmas time and this probably dates back to viking times where extravaganza in food and drink was the custom to celebrate the midwinter solstice. One non-food related tradition my family keeps is giving books as Christmas gifts. That is the traditional gift here and the reason all books are first published in hardback.

What was your best ever Christmas present?

Wuthering heights by Emily Bronté. I was 13 and I really loved the book. It opened up a whole world of English literature for me. The same Christmas I also got a short story collection by Pearl S Buck and The portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. You might notice those are old books but that is because many years our economy didn’t allow for new books so my parent’s bought second hand books. Sometimes they even gave us something from their own shelves. I liked that. I still love opening a book and seeing where my mum or dad has marked the book with their name and I have put mine underneath in a childish hand.

What was your worst ever Christmas present?

The painted bird by Jerzy Kosinsky. A magnificent book but I still haven´t recovered.

 Favourite Christmas tipple?

I am Icelandic so I don´t know what a tipple is. The online dictionary reads: “Tipple (plural tipples). An area near the entrance of mines which is used to load and unload coal.” … I don´t think I have a favourite of those….?

What are you hoping for this Christmas?

Wuthering heights by Emily Bronté. I was 13 and I really loved the book. It opened up a whole world of English literature for me. The same Christmas I also got a short story collection by Pearl S Buck and The portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. You might notice those are old books but that is because many years our economy didn’t allow for new books so my parent’s bought second hand books. Sometimes they even gave us something from their own shelves. I liked that. I still love opening a book and seeing where my mum or dad has marked the book with their name and I have put mine underneath in a childish hand.

What was your worst ever Christmas present?

The painted bird by Jerzy Kosinsky. A magnificent book but I still haven´t recovered.

Favourite Christmas tipple?

I am Icelandic so I don´t know what a tipple is. The online dictionary reads: “Tipple (plural tipples). An area near the entrance of mines which is used to load and unload coal.” … I don´t think I have a favourite of those….?

About Lilja Sigurdardottir

Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurdardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in the Reykjavik Noir series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. Trap was published in 2018, and a Book of the Year in Guardian.

The film rights for the series have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja lives in Reykjavík with her partner. Follow Lilja on Twitter @lilja1972and on her website liljawriter.com

Books published by Orenda Books

My thanks to Lilja Sigurdardóttir for writing this post and taking part in this feature.

Giveaway

The giveaway includes all the books featured in the above photo, 18 fabulous books in total. The competition is open to UK residents only. Competition will close on midnight on the 19th December and please note the prize will be sent directly from the publishers (hopefully in time for Christmas) and you must be following my blog.

To enter click on the link and good luck Orenda Books Christmas bundle 📚🎁🎄