I added Årsboken to my TBR after my book buddy neighbor mentioned that the author, Sven Olov Karlsson, is his next door neighbor. I then forgot about it for a couple years, but conveniently enough it was available from the Stockholm library as an ebook so I could read it at my leisure while I was visiting my family in the US to fill a couple of my self-imposed reading quotas.
Now, writing this months later, I can say that Årsboken was…fine. As a concept for a short story collection, I like it: twelve stories, one for every month, vaguely seasonal or thematic somehow. But even if they were fine, competently executed stories, I didn’t really enjoy any of them. As I texted book buddy after I finished:
Otherwise it was a little underwhelming. He writes like this. Fragments. Like a telegram. Or a beginner driving a stick shift. Stop and go.
Honestly, even that much I don’t remember now, looking back. I had to scroll up in the conversation to find that quote. I still vaguely remember a couple of the stories, others I’m not sure if I’m mixing them up or blending them together somehow. Part of this could also be a Me problem: I don’t especially care for short stories as a form, full stop. Any short story collection is going to start at a disadvantage with me.
I’m not mad that I read it, but I wouldn’t recommend it, either.
