'A Man Called Ove' by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman (4.0)

For anyone familiar with the Nordic sensibilities and grumpy old men in general, this book will have you laughing and crying. We start with the daily life of Ove, an older Swedish gentleman whose wife has recently died and he is struggling with the loss. The book pops back and forth between describing Ove’s present day struggles and replaying incidents from his past that help to understand his actions. As he mourns his past losses, new people enter his life with the apparent intent on messing up all his plans and worming their way into his life. With good Swedish minimalism, he desperately tries to keep his life simple and sparse. But animals, children and nosey neighbors continually thwart his attempts. This is not a complicated story, but Mr. Backman has infused it with a few interesting surprises, well-written characters and a lot of heart. I believe anyone reading it will laugh out loud and tear up – several times.

'Pretty Girls' by Karin Slaughter

Pretty Girls, Karin Slaughter (3.5)

There was something I really liked about this book, and something I did not. I did like that the biggest surprise came relatively early on and was quite shocking and unexpected (as all good surprises should be!). But I didn’t like the level of gore and disturbing scenes to which Ms. Slaughter felt she needed to subject the reader. This was the type of book that makes you distrust and second-guess everyone. The story centers on a family whose oldest daughter went missing while in college in Georgia many years ago. The narrative is mainly from the point of view of her two sisters, now adults, as they try to move forward with their lives, though are continually pulled back into the mystery surrounding her disappearance. Interspersed throughout was the heart wrenching diary entries of her father in the years following her abduction. If you don’t mind the gore (I did skim most myself), this is a very compelling, well-told story with interesting characters and a fast moving plot.