This has been a month of having several books on the go, as many of the things I have read have been best suited to “a little at a time”. As such they don’t really merit lengthy reviews (something that I’m not apt at writing in any case), in addition to being in Swedish, so of limited interest to readers. That said, here we go.
Vi hör av oss by Jacob Sundberg. This recently published collection of short stories was something that I was sent by the publisher, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have found it. The stories are centered around job interviews,and Sundberg himself works with HR/recruiting according to the info, so I guess he has thought a fair bit about it. I thought that a few of them stories were very good, two or three of them were too similar and one of them made no sense. Still, worth reading for the nuggets. Grade; 2.5 out of 5.
Trampa på mitt hjärta by Muhammed Al-Maghut. I knew nothing about this Syrian poet going in, but I gather that he is well-known. He has been translated into Swedish which is one indication that those in the know rate him. These poems are heartbreaking and sad, and many are rooted in his frustration of living in an authoritarian state and the trauma of having been but in prison for his opinions. I thought the poems worth reading but I’m perfectly fine with understanding very little (and feeling more). Grade; 3 out of 5.
Omgiven av Idioter by Thomas Erikson. This will be published in English in 2019. It had been a huge success in Sweden. The title “surrounded by idiots” is suggestive. The whole thing is based behavioral science, with different personality types given different colours. The colours themselves are linked to the four humors of medieval times, the red is temperamental (fire), the yellow is creative (air) etc. The basic tenets of it is pretty easy to pick up. There are some useful tips in this book but it is too heavy anecdotes by the authorsfor my taste; those might work really well in a presentation but not so much on the page. Grade; 2.5 out of 5.
-Suss
Artfulreader 