Beartown Getting A Hed?

Book Review for “The Winners (Beartown #3)” by Fredrik Backman. Summary: "Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is … Continue reading Beartown Getting A Hed? →

Storms and Longings

Book Review of "Us Against You" by Fredrik Backman Goodreads summarizes Backman’s sequel to his 2017 novel Beartown, saying “After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious … Continue reading Storms and Longings →

A New Christmas Carol

Review of The Deal of a Lifetime: A Novella by Fredrik Backman The protagonist of this novella is a father who is wealthy, successful and famous. He also has cancer, but so does the adorable five-year-old girl he meets in the hospital. Both of them are going to die eventually. The question is, does it … Continue reading A New Christmas Carol →

Harsh Reality with a Sweet Dream

Book Review of "The White City" by Karolina Ramqvist. Karin is having a hard time this frigid winter. To begin with, her deadbeat, criminal boyfriend left her with their newborn baby girl Dream. Add to this that she has almost no cash left, no job, practically no food in the house and must use the … Continue reading Harsh Reality with a Sweet Dream →

Ice and Cracks

Book Review of "Beartown: A Novel" by Fredrik Backman Except for hockey, there's almost nothing left in Beartown, and it is only going to get worse, unless something changes. That something could be coming this year, since their junior team is finally good enough. If they succeed, who knows what that fame could bring? Maybe … Continue reading Ice and Cracks →

Naughty, but nice!

Book Review for "The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules" by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg. Imagine if you will that you are one of group of elderly people stuck living in a facility that is bleeding you dry while providing less and less in return (except for the medication to keep you quiet). Imagine you've … Continue reading Naughty, but nice! →

Baking Soda and Soccer

Book Review for "Britt-Marie Was Here" by Fredrik Backman. Every so often, a writer comes along who can write a story with characters that touch you to your very core. Fredrik Backman is one of those writers - he did it with his first novel A Man Called Ove, repeated this with his second novel … Continue reading Baking Soda and Soccer →

Nothing Lost in Translation

Book Review of "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" by Katrina Bivald. Long ago, there were people like Selma Lagerlöf and Astrid Lindgren. More recently, we have the likes of Stieg Larsson, Fredrik Backman, Jonas Jonasson, and Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, among many others. All of these people are Swedish authors whose works are increasingly popular, not … Continue reading Nothing Lost in Translation →

In his own space

Book review for "The Room" by Jonas Karlsson. Björn's recent promotion must mean he's on his way, headed straight for the top. Of course, new surroundings can be stressful, particularly learning to get along with your new colleagues. As talented and intelligent as Björn is, he doesn't make friends easily; he'd rather just put his … Continue reading In his own space →

What is and what is not

Book Review for "This Should be Written in the Present Tense" by Helle Helle. The publishers of this book offer the following teaser: "This should be written in the present tense. But it isn’t. Dorte should be at uni in Copenhagen. But she’s not. She should probably put some curtains up in her new place. … Continue reading What is and what is not →