Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Love Letter From a Dad to his Son

Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman

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You have to love Fredrik Backman’s writing.  I am a huge fan of “A Man Called Ove” and have read most of his other work.  This short, charming book is a love letter to his young son. Backman alternates some very short 1-2 page anecdotes with some longer reflections on parenthood and life.  It is all there – from the lack of sleep to all the stuff you think you need to the struggle with getting a car seat installed correctly to changing lots of […]

“Unfairness is a far more natural state in the world than fairness.”

Us Against You (Björnstad #2) by Fredrik Backman

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Fredrik Bachman is one of the best writers I’ve had the pleasures of encountering; he excels at pushing the knife into your gut and twisting it just enough that you’re still willing to come back for more. Beartown was a hauntingly beautiful novel and Us Against You is a near-perfect follow up. Spoilers ahead for Beartown~ Us Against You picks up shortly after the events of its predecessor. Kevin’s parents have divorced and his mother has taken him away from Beartown; while the removal of a rapist from the community […]

Have you ever seen a town fall?

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

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Beartown has had a rough few months. A small community in the middle of the forest, the factory that sustains its workers might be shut down, and the one thing they hold fast to more than anything – ice hockey – has been tainted by scandal. Their best player raped a girl and has now left town, the club has been left in ruins, and everyone is looking for someone to blame. Those in the firing line include Peter, the general manager of the hockey […]

“Humanity has many shortcomings, but none is stronger than pride.”

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Trigger Warning: sexual assault  I do not know much about hockey, I live in Texas and while Dallas has an NHL team the whole sport tends to fly under my radar, but you don’t need to know anything about hockey to be enraptured by Beartown. Saying I “enjoyed” Beartown doesn’t seem right, it isn’t a particularly enjoyable story, but like A Man Called Ove Backman delivers a very sad but beautiful story this time about life in a small Swedish town whose entire focus is on their youth hockey team. I’ve […]

“Sometimes people have to be allowed to have something to live for in order to survive everything else.”

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Last year, after I read A Man Called Ove, I tried to get my hands on everything Fredrik Backman had written. Including Bear Town. I read it but didn’t review it. I couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted to say about it…that it was a good book that filled me with dread every time I picked it up? That I didn’t enjoy it but acknowledged that it was great? That, as the parent of a teenage girl, it scared me to death? I wasn’t […]

We’re a hockey town

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Beartown is a small town in the middle of nowhere, Sweden. A town that gets by on its gritty residents, determined not to let harsh winters or the decline of their home get them down. They’re tough. They live surrounded by forest and snow. They look after their own. They’re the Bears from Beartown. It’s a hockey town. People live and die for this sport. Making it to the A Team and beyond can set you for life. Sponsors are eager to make back their […]



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