Reading tips: 12 books for your holiday

Here are some reading tips! Having books to read is perfect when travelling; on the plane, in the waiting hall, on the sandy beach... We both read a lot and primarily use a tablet to be able to download new Swedish books even though we are abroad.

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We both humbly thank you for the reading tips we received from you readers a while ago! Here are some book tips/reviews from me, i.e. the books I've read since last time. Peter, who mostly reads crime fiction, highly recommends anything by Arne Dahl and Kristina Ohlsson!

No and I by Delphine de Vigan

French Lou is 13 years old and has an IQ of 160. She is two years younger than her classmates and doesn't fit in anywhere. When they are doing a presentation at school, she decides that the presentation should be about homeless people, and she does her research by interviewing an 18-year-old homeless girl named No.

How come you can build space rockets but can't prevent people from sleeping under bridges? Lou and No become friends, but is it really possible to change things for real? A book with fantastic language that often makes me smile and want to read it again.

Prophecy by Agneta Pleijel

Agneta Pleijel's memoirs describe the life of a 13-year-old professor's daughter in Lund. This might appeal to me, since I too was a 13-year-old professor's daughter in Lund, but I don't recognise myself more than that.

Sometimes I find the book a bit of a mess and think that the writing was primarily therapy for the author. But then everything falls into place. How do you interpret and deal with the world when you grow up? There are so many things adults never talk about: infidelity when it's obvious, God, the meaning of life... The girl tiptoes and guesses, projects, tries to understand...

To be opened in case of my death by Liane Moriarty

Cecilia finds a letter in the attic written by her husband. "To be opened in case of my death" it says. Cecilia refrains from opening it for a long time, but when she realises how stressed her husband is by the discovery of the letter, she can't resist. What is revealed turns life upside down, not only for Cecilia and her husband, but also for a number of other people around them. Do you really know your neighbours? This is not a book I will remember for a long time, but it is an entertaining read.

My life as a penguin by Katarina Mazetti

A group of misfits cruise around Antarctica on the ship m/s Orlovsky. We meet Tomas, who plans to commit suicide among the icebergs, and Wilma, an incurable optimist despite her dark secret. Alba, an elderly woman, observes the wild animals and compares their behaviour with the people on board. A nice and easy-to-read story!

A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman's debut novel received very good reviews and I know many people love this book. I can also understand why - it's humorous and at the same time serious. We get to know the bitter man Ove who, while trying to kill himself in different ways, makes new acquaintances and experiences new dimensions of life. Not really my type of book, but still worth reading!

Confession by John Grisham

John Grisham mostly writes thrillers, which is not my genre, but since Peter thought this book was a bit different, I gave it a try. In The Confession, you meet an American priest who learns the confession of a dying criminal, which means that he has committed a terrible murder many years ago.

A completely different (young, black) man is convicted of the murder and is about to be executed. Is there anything the priest can do and does he have time to intervene before the innocent man is executed? An exciting book about the death penalty and the situation of black people in the USA.

Canada by Richard Ford

Dell and his twin sister live a rootless life in the US in the 1960s, as their father works on air bases and is occasionally transferred between states. When their father loses his job, he goes into various businesses such as selling cars, property and stolen meat.

The increasingly criminal dealings lead, improbably, to a bank robbery by both of Dell's parents. When the parents are caught, the whole family is scattered to the wind and Dell ends up with a distant and very eccentric acquaintance of his mother in the Canadian countryside. The story is nicely told from 15-year-old Dell's perspective.

mirage 38 by Kjell Westö

This book takes us to the intellectual Helsinki of the 1930s. A men's club discusses politics and what is happening in Europe from different political perspectives. Interesting to read about afterwards!

I (who consider myself pretty good at the Swedish language) also get to learn a lot of new words for once! The book is not only educational, but also exciting! Throughout the story we follow Mrs Wiik, secretary to one of the members of the men's club, whose dark secret leads in an unexpected direction.

The first lie by Sara Larsson

This book is about rape and men's violence against women, but above all about society's view of violent men and how they are treated by the legal system. This is of course an important topic and you are drawn into the exciting story, which takes place both in the past and present, both in Sweden and in Thailand. I sometimes think that the story is a bit forced and does not reach the end, but it is still worth reading!

Giving birth to a child by Kristina Sandberg

This is a story about Sweden in the 1930s. Maj becomes pregnant and is forced to marry in order to keep her honour. The marriage is not quite what she wanted and while reading the book I'm incessantly happy that I'm not living at that time. The book is an interesting (female) historical account and if you are interested in Swedish home cooking, it is a goldmine! From the first page to the last, you eat your way through the original Swedish cuisine.

Beckomberga - Ode to my family by Sara Stridsberg

Sara Stridsberg's own father was in Beckomberga mental hospital. This is not an autobiography though, although the main character Jackie's father is also in Beckomberga. I don't know what this is? Sometimes I think it's poetry. In any case, it is incredibly beautifully written, while at the same time it is a historical account of an era in psychiatry that no longer exists.

The selected by Steve Sem-Sandberg

We know (unfortunately) what happened to the Jews during the Second World War. We also know that Nazi Germany, in an attempt to "purify the race", wanted to exterminate people with hereditary diseases and other "bad character traits".

But what happened to the disabled and 'imperfect' children? Well, they were sent to clinics like Spiegelgrund. Here 'treatment' meant euthanasia and the parents, who of course asked for their children, were given a restraining order. Worth reading and eye-opening!

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