Reading Tove Jansson: From the Moomins to her books for adults
Shortly before what would have been her 105th birthday on 9th August 2019, I started this reading project, which involves building a library of books by, about or connected in some way with one of my favourite authors, the Finnish-Swedish writer and artist, Tove Jansson (1914–2001).
This remarkable woman achieved worldwide fame as the creator of stories about the Moomins, written and illustrated between 1945 and 1977. However, not only did I decide to re-read her novels and short stories for children but to gradually work my way through (and around) her books for adults, collections of letters, biographies and so on.
I haven’t set a time-limit to complete this task, it will be ongoing – I shall simply pick up one of her works at random whenever an opportunity arises. I hope eventually to share my thoughts on all Tove’s titles translated into English, except perhaps for her picture books aimed at the very young (maybe those too, eventually). I will tick titles off as I add a post about them to this blog.
If any fellow Toveites would like to join me in reading these books, please feel free to do so. You may of course use the above graphic, but if you do, please link back to this page.
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THE BOOKS
MOOMIN BOOKS >>
Original Series
1. The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945) ✓
2. Comet in Moominland (1946)
3. Finn Family Moomintroll (1948)
4. The Memoirs of Moominpappa (1950)
5. Moominsummer Madness (1954) ✓
6. Moominland Midwinter (1957) ✓
7. Tales from Moominvalley (1962) ✓
8. Moominpappa at Sea (1965) ✓
9. Moominvalley in November (1970)
Comic Strips
Moomin (books 1–6 released in English)
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NON-MOOMIN BOOKS >>
Novels
1. The Summer Book (1972)
2. Sun City (1974)
3. The True Deceiver (1982)
4. The Field of Stones (1984) Not published in English
5. Fair Play (1989) ✓
Short Story Collections
1. Sculptor’s Daughter (1968 autofiction)
2. The Listener (1971) ✓
3. Art in Nature (1978)
4. Travelling Light (1987)
5. Messages (1998) Not published in English
6. Letters from Klara and Other Stories (1997)
7. Selected stories 1971–1997 (1998)
8. A Winter Book (2006) ✓
Miscellaneous Reading
1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Tove Jansson Edition by Lewis Carroll, Tove Jansson (Illustrator)
2. Notes from an Island (1996 memoir; illustrated by Tuulikki Pietilä) ✓
3. Sara and Pelle and the Octopuses of the Water Sprite (1933 under the pseudonym of Vera Haij)
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TOVE JANSSON-RELATED BOOKS >>
Miscellaneous
1. Letters from Tove, edited by Boel Westin & Helen Svensson, translated by Sarah Death (2014)
2. Moomin Management: Redefining Generosity by Paul Savage & Janne Tienari (2024)
3. Moomin Mugs: Moomin Arabia Mugs 1990-2025 by Anna-Kaisa Huusko (2025)
4. Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words by Boel Westin (2007) ✓
5. Tove Jansson Rediscovered, edited by Malin Lidström Brock & Kate McLoughlin (2007)
6.Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Dr Tuula Karjalainen (2013)
7. The World of Moominvalley by Philip Ardagh (2017) ✓
There are undoubtedly many more books relating to Tove Jansson and the Moomins. If you know of any interesting titles that do not appear on this list, please let me know.
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TOVE JANSSON-RELATED BOOK JOTTER FEATURES >>
A Rare Travel Documentary
Help the Moomins Save the Baltic Sea
Reading, Writing and the Moomins
Wedding in Moominland
What is Finland?
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POSTS FROM OTHER TOVE TROVERS >>
A Finnish microcosm by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
A light in the darkness by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
A Moomin memoir by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
A seaworthy craft by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
A Winter Book by Jane @ Just Reading a Book
Falling under a spell by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
Fierce wistfulness by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
The Magician and his hat by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
Moominland Midwinter by Jane @ Just Reading A Book
The Moomins and the Great Flood | Tove Jansson by Brona @ This Reading Life
Moominvalley favourites by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
Muminsaga yarns by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
The quest for home: #ReadIndies by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove Books
“Rather happy tales” by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove Books
Reading Tove, and more by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
The Summer Book by Jane @ Just Reading a Book
TOVE TROVE: Moomins by Ola G @ Re-enchantment Of The World
Untethered by Chris Lovegrove @ Calmgrove
Winter reading by the blog host @ I read that in a book
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I have finally collated a selection of external links to interesting Tovian articles, artworks, websites and other sources of information. I hope you find it useful:
>> TOVE TRUFFLING: A Collection of Tovian Links >>
All images © Moomin Characters™
Categories: LGB, Reading Challenges, Tove Jansson
The world premiere of the film of ‘The Summer Book’ has been announced as being this October: https://www.moomin.com/en/blog/summer-book-film/#5ee6de8a
Thanks Chris. I’m looking forward to seeing that at some point. 😀👍