People read in different ways and for different reasons. I tend to fall in love with author styles and their stories and go on a tear reading everything by that author.
My latest literary love affair is with Swedish writer Fredrik Backman.
You might be familiar with the bestseller that put him in many homes and book clubs, A Man Called Ove (2012). It started to take hold in the US a couple years after it was a blockbuster in Sweden.
From Fredrik Backman’s website
Along with that novel, I thoroughly enjoyed Britt-Marie Was Here (2014), My Grandma Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (2013), and Anxious People (2021). I’m currently reading Bear Town (2016) and am waiting to see if I like it as much as the others. It has a bit more tension and foreboding, but, as always, has intriguing, flawed, big-hearted characters that you fall in love with. Us Against You (2017) is the sequel to Bear Town. (ADDED—Bear Town is well-written, as always—but much darker. Many people will like it. It’s not my current cup of tea. I can read about bad things happening to kids because of irresponsible adults. It makes me too sad and angry.)
Backman also has several novellas on the market and the non-fiction book Things My Son Needs to Know About the World (2012). Backman told the publisher who wanted A Man Called Ove that they couldn’t represent the book unless they published his non-fiction book, “the personal dispatches from the front lines of one of the most daunting experiences any man can experience: fatherhood.” It meant that much to him. Of course, after the success of his debut novel, there was no question.
I’ll admit here that the only way I get through books in my current life is by listening to them as Audible books during breaks, while making meals, in the car, while exercising the dog sometimes. So the narrator can be a factor in my experience and enjoyment of a book. But I love my audio books!
When it comes to the type of fiction that draws me as a reader, I go for character-driven books all the way. Any kind of character can attract me as a reader, as long as there is compassion in the presentation and preferably if the character learns and grows as a person. In literary criticism, this plot arc is called a Bildungsroman. It’s often a coming of age story, but not always. It can be any tale that depicts and explores the manner in which the protagonist develops morally and psychologically. They make me feel good, and sometimes I learn right along with the characters. I definitely join them on the ride.
I remember receiving a copy of A Man Called Ove years ago, soon after it came out in paperback. I started reading about this grumpy old man and couldn’t stay with it. I didn’t delve in.
Now, I love that gumpy old man. Sometimes Backman’s characters aren’t terribly likeable at the start of the journey. But as a reader, you learn more and more about them, grow to understand them, wish the world for them, and love them. Reading these books feels a bit like falling in love. That’s sure a nice feeling!
The delightful Swedish film of the book.