West Coast

Back in May I read a book about a couple travelling around the world on 80 different trains. Like Phileas Fogg they end up being saved by a mistake. I do not know why, but apparently, I was equally confused about dates last week, mistaking Thursday for Tuesday, but luckily, Rawls & Me always allows for retcons. Now with continuity restored and the kids still at home, I am finding myself absorbed by the August award winner Lydia Sandgren’s “Samlade verk” which takes place in Gothenburg.

Ten years ago this week, I defended my PhD thesis in Lund. Outside a snowstorm was raging, bringing back memories of the previous harsh winter when I had been trying to commute between Gothenburg and Lund. With the trains often being cancelled, I had spent much of my time writing away at the university library in Gothenburg, one of many familiar environments featured in Sandgren’s monumental book.

Set decades earlier yet, the book speaks of rich inner worlds, of letting one’s imagination loose, and of having the dogged perseverance to keep writing no matter what.