Short story collections, thrillers, and a novel suite – now some Swedish profiles share what they read this summer.
I read a short story a day, that's what my "attention span" can handle on vacation, says author Denise Rudberg.
Pascal Engman, author:
"Roots" – novel by Alex Haley.
It's about slavery in the USA. It follows a boy who is taken as a slave, and it's about his and his relatives' lives. It's a classic, and it's incredibly good.
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Denise Rudberg, author:
"To be a man" – short story collection by Nicole Krauss.
Nicole Krauss was completely new to me. She writes a lot about New York. I lived there for four years, so it's great to be thrown back to 1990s New York with her pen.
"Motives" – short story collection by Malin Persson Giolito.
Since they are both short story collections, I can switch between the books. I read a short story a day, that's what my "attention span" can handle on vacation.
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Jacob Widell Zetterström, Djurgården goalkeeper:
"The Alexandria Quartet" – novel suite by Lawrence Durell.
It's a heavy brick that I got from my mom when I recently had a birthday. I think it's fantastically beautiful, it's a beautiful description of Alexandria in the 1930s by the Mediterranean, and there's a sensuality that's beautiful to read about.
"If Beale Street could talk" – novel by James Baldwin.
I recently finished reading it. I'm a big Baldwin fan, he wrote in a way that's almost painfully beautiful.
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Liv Strömquist, cartoonist and artist:
"Jerusalem" – novel by Selma Lagerlöf.
I've been thinking of reading it, because for some reason I haven't read it. There are always classics you've forgotten to read, so it's a fun project.
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Agneta Sjödin, host:
"Ruth Galloway" series – 15-part book series by Elly Griffiths.
I work all summer, so I usually listen to audiobooks when I travel and commute. Right now, I'm on book six in Elly Griffiths' book series about the archaeologist Ruth, who helps the police solve cases.
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Caroline Ringskog Ferrada-Noli, author:
"The new right-wing radicalism" – essay by Theodor W Adorno.
I'm going to do a summer talk, so I read things that make what I say more substantiated. I've read this book before, it's very good and deals with the emotional aspect of Nazism.
"The zero point of literature" – non-fiction book by Roland Barthes.
I think it might not be that good. It feels like he wrote it when he had become established, so he could just coast. It's about language and is interesting, but I don't recommend it.
