Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Fishing in Utopia - A Must-Read!

I'm reading a really good book at the moment. I haven't finished it yet but I want to recommend it anyway.

"Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared"
- by Andrew Brown


Story
In the 1970s, Andrew Brown, a misfit young Englishman, moved to Sweden, enticed by the possibility of a cleaner, kinder, more rational future. He married a Swedish woman, learned to fish, and brought up his young son in their makeshift cottage in the woods. But during the 1980s, his marriage and his [new] country fell apart as the temptations of the outside world forced their way in. The prime minister, Olof Palme, was assassinated. The welfare system crumbled. Brown returned home. Twenty years after Palme's murder, Brown travelled the length of Sweden in search of the country he had loved, and then hated, and now found he loved again.

Voices about the book
"A story of modern rootlessness and the search for something to believe in... I can see it becoming a cult book" - John Carey, Sunday Times

"A brilliant book, formidably intelligent in its control of complex material yet shining with humanity, and with the old Swedish belief that we all deserve a just, yet kind society." - Independent on Sunday

"Extraordinary... part memoir, part quest, part travelogue... Fishing in Utopia is a wonderful exploration of a social experiment that did not entirely succeed, and did not entirely fail." - New Statesmen

"A remarkable tour of the country, its people and their mindset...as perceptive as Bill Bryson - and often, just as funny." - Spectator

And two reviews in Swedish.

7 comments:

  1. Oj, men den låter riktigt intressant. Ska kolla om den finns på Waterstone!

    Kram!

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  2. Jepp, den finns som e-bok, den ska jag köpa nu med en gång!

    TACK för tipset!

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  3. Äsch, det var inte e-bok! Ja, ja, jag ska lägga den på minnet i alla fall.

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  4. Marianne x3 - Så du läser bara på ebok-läsaren nu för tiden! :) Väldigt bra i alla fall så lägg den på minnet om du får för dig att läsa gamla hederliga böcker! ;) Kram!

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  5. Å den låter superintressant tycker jag! Ska se ifall den finns att köpa här.
    Kram!

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  6. Saltistjejen - Den kom ut förra året (eller kanske tidigare?) så den borde finnas även i USA!
    Kram!

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  7. Jag måste också kolla efter den här boken, låter väldigt intressant! Alltid kul att läsa om Sverige / Europa från utomståendes perspektiv.

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