Category: Books

A wonderful tale of how Allan Karlsson begins an(other) adventure on his 100th birthday. In a series of flashbacks we learn how our improbable hero’s meetings with most of the major world leaders in the last century have shaped history.

I find the currently popular Swedish detective fiction to be dour and depressing. In contrast, Jonasson proves that it is possible to be Swedish and to be very funny.

The publisher and I say:

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fun, feel-good book for all ages.

I’ve just finished reading this book and enjoyed it so much that I’ve decided to add another stream to this blog.

Martin Cruz Smith has taken his readers to Russia and Cuba in his earlier books, and here he takes us to Japan on the eve of Pearl Harbour. The research behind this excellent writing really brings the time and place to life.

I say:

Imagine Casablanca’s Rick Blaine transported to Tokyo and reborn as Harry Niles, the Japanese self-raised son of American missionaries. A good man behind the facade of a gambler.