Nobel Lecture

Nobel Lecture in Litterature at the Swedish Academy, Källargränd 4, 5:30 p.m. This event is a part of the Nobel Week. Press Conference regarding the Nobel Week at the Nobel Foundation, Sturegatan 14, 1:00 p.m.

Bodil Malmsten

The Author the several times book prize awarded Bodil Malmsten is, as far as I know not a relative to the guitar player Yngvie Malmsteen if you want to know. Bodil Malmsten was born in Norrland and moved down to Stockolm. For several years she lived in Vallingby, a place she describes and relates to in several pasages in the book i have studied, called My papers are still in a mess. She writes about: her living in France, life in Stockholm, authors like Thomas Bernhard, Samuel Beckett, social change in privatization, shopping malls, bus traveling in Wales, getting layed in Hagsatra suburb as teen, visiting the library in Vallingby that she claim has saved her life from using heavy drugs at lofts at Angermannagatan, the main street of Vallingby. She also writes on raketost (a special brand of cheese) and the love of oranges. And she claims that books are the great memory of the world. Malmsten is a blogger and runs her own publishing corporation, Finistere. 18 december she will draw her signature in her books at Akademibokhandeln Master Samulesgatan in Stockholm.

Bookday with the Professor

This Saturday 10 November I declare as Vix Book Day with the sub theme bike hikeing. I have studied the book Hiking in the Rocky Mountains from Lonely Planet Publishing corporation. What could be more relaxing than take a ride on your mountain bike in the nature with some packing on your back and sit down and rest reading a book drinking hot coffee or tea with a sandwich.

Prof. Leif GW Persson is working as a criminology professer at the Police Accademy of Stockholm and is also a famous thriller writer here in Sweden. He is visiting the local bookstore Klackenberg today signing his latest book. He has latele been in a controversy with a female criminal author Läckberg declaring that she write in style/manner of little girls horse books like "Min Häst" (My Horse).

Alexander Bard’s Netocrazy

Netocracy: The new power elite and life after capitalism, is available as an eBook distributed by eLib 2004. The book is written by Alexander Bard and Jan Soderqvist. The main author is the famous and awarded musician Alexander Bard from powerpop bands BWO, Vacuum and Army of Lovers. By the way Alexander and his friends are using laptops on their live performances as laptopartists. Now over to the eBook. Netocrazy describes life in a new class society in a post-capitalistic era. The national state is erodating and new unclear rules are valid. The ways people percepting and understanding the world and democrazy are changeing. A digital revolution is transforming society in a brutal way.

In order to make the right decisions enought relevant information is needed. Netocrazy is a concept developed by the editiors of Wire Magazine used instead of an emerging digital upper class. Power is based upon technology, networking etc. in a creative urban class. The antithesis and negational field of the dicotomy is the consumtariat.

The book is also available in paper format in english from Reuters, London. [trans. N. Smith]
Bard, A. (2004) Netocrazy Stockholm: Pocky/Tranan/eLib [eBook]

What is EU?

What is EU — and what could it be is a book written by Birger Möller on Santerus Publishing. Different themes are presented: what could new countries memberships from Bulgaria and Rumania in 2007 mean, trade conflicts with China, the discussions on a mebership from Turkey in the future. Moller has earlier worked as lecturer at Gothenburg School of Economics.

Nobel Prize in Litterature

English writer Doris Lessing received the Nobel Prize in Litterature 1:00 PM today in Stockholm, Sweden. She was born in Persia 1919 by brittish parents. Read more on her biograpy on her web
She lived in different of England’s collonies in Africa and she was first published when she was 19. Bibliography could be read here

Amberville

Tim Davys is the author of a new book published today Thuesday 2 October 2007 by Albert Bonnier Publishing Company. The book is the debut for the author writing under pseudonym. € 15,5 is the prize for the book 365 pages in soft binder. I was surprised by two men in black coats and hoods comming out from a van at the Goth Street, Sodermalm/Stockholm giving away an exemplar of the book to each person comming by. A smart marketing trick with a visual street team event directed by the publisher.

The Evil Eye

Bjorn Larsson, born in Jonkoping, now living in Gilleleje in Denmark and working as professor in French at Lund University in Sweden. The author is famous in Germany, Italy and France. ”The Evil Eye” is a thriller about the construction of a new big subway station in Paris. A terrorist organistation is planning to flood the new subway station.

I find the book as we say in swedish — förutsägbar — easy to predict and not an exciting thriller worht several hours of turned off internet, in my opinion. One lead theme, the characerization of evil white studpid nationalists versus hard working, overeducated, missunderstood imigirant underdogs is also a bit to often used and not to say too political correct. The theme with a bored middle aged man with a middle class middle age crisis leaving his dull wife for a younger, effective, office working african-frensh girl gives also not a deeply engageing and interesting background in the storytelling. I give the book a 1,5 Gubbbsnusks (GS) out of 7. As a book aimed to be red when frequenting the WC it’s ok.

“Witty for a Buck …

… smart for a hundred, I recognize that, but now I have a question. The big laughter that liberates, who can afford it? Ho ho, laughing until the train has passed.” (Rönnblom 1983, p. 43)

Who is Anders F. Rönnblom? When I was a young dude one of my best friends had an obscure worn tape recording with some strange rocksinger/-poet singing in a sensitive way with a clear sarcastical and ironical undertone. I instantly liked this music, the voice and lyrics. I listened to the tape repeatedly on and on again at my friends mono tape recorder in his summer house.

The citation above is from one of Anders F’s tunes from 1977. The book 48 tunes (48 låtar) is a personal collection of the best songs by the composer with lyrics, scores, comments and harmonical analysis. The excellent portrait photos reproduced is taken by Mariann Eklund, Studio Matchbox.
Photo above: linked in from www.boogieproduction.se

Litterature Anders F. Rönnblom (1983) 48 låtar Stockholm: Air Scandinavia (128 p.)

Visit Anders F’s myspace web site where the song above is uploaded · Anders F live video from the music steamboat S/S Blidösund

Swedish Destinies and Advetures

”Swedish Destinies” is an anthology from famous August Strindberg, a book with the ambitious subtitle ”Masterpieces of Strindberg: Stories from all Eras” Strindberg lived in Stockholm and experienced that he was much criticized and overlooked and then moved on to Paris. He was married three times, and had some hard times with his women. He wrote the essay ”Womens’ inferior under the Man” (1895) in Paris.

One story is told about the union of led founders in medieval Stockholm. One of it’s ”gesäll” members, a smart oddball called Bosse, had invented a new method of mixing metals and making led and also a new design of a led pitcher for wine, an artifact much better than the traditional product. This results that the masters of the union got scared and put a ban on his invention and Bosse in jail. The hard and nasty german traderunion from the Hanseic city of Lübeck, traders who was located in Stockholm, stealed the invention and started to found this new kind of led piece and sold it to the people of Stockholm. So the lesson learned was that the narrow minded trade union got swindled.

Swedens most expensive painting ever, the painting “Alpine Landscape” by August Strindberg. MUSD 4 was the prize at Sotherbys in London (source: disajn.se)

Visit the web sites for the Strindberg Museeum · Strindberg and Helium Flashstories · Strindberg texts at Project Runeberg at Linkoping University · Detailed article about Strindberg in the Encyclopedea Nordisk Familjebok

Art of Cooking

”The Art of Cooking” is a book by H. Gyllensköld (1956/1982) Stockholm: W&W (223 p. ISBN 91-46-14131-6) with illustrations by Eric Lilius. This is a nature science and positivistic inspired piece examining cooking as a science. Dinning, food and cooking, one of lifes most frequent reccuring enjoyable fields, is here treated, not in an ignorant infantilistic way, but in a calm, careful, methodical and knowledgeable way.

Gyllensköld presents us wtih practical results from his research like how to: understand how the taste sense works and could be synthesized, manage salt and how it affects the taste in different ways, weight and maximize quality to get the best proteins for fewest bucks, use new tools like an inejction needles to infuse steaks with spices from the inside.

The author has done a comparison with medicine, and claims that the science of medicine has developed very rapid in one or two centuries, but the science of cooking has barely developed at all. Gyllensköld gives good examples and advice for both the amateur and people in the restaurant business.

Alster: A Moment of Texts

Claes Eriksson, born in 1950 in Swedens motorcity Trollhattan, is a famous swedish comedian, actor, writer, director and producer. He is a member of the group Galenskaparna and Aftershave. Eriksson has collected some of his greates texts in a book published in 2003. Now he has made an audiobook from this, a auditive experience where he reads his texts and also presents examples from film and theatre.

The text’s I like best is the parodies of different genres of littarature with fictive crazy examples. Some of the recorded samples from his shows are totaly surprisingly weird. Eriksson makes a lot of a word twisting.
Here is an humoristic example from the book (in swedish).

Claes was representating the swedish movie sector when the company Swedish Filmindustry reopened the 5 screen movietheatre ”Filmstaden” in Vallingby C (Vixton). This fall Claes and his friends in AfterShave puts up a show called ”Cartwright” at the GAS-club Read more on International Movie Database’s page with data and facts on Claes Eriksson

New Cut

”New Cut : True Stories from Life” (Pan Norstedts, 336 p.), is a collection of essays by the infamous infant terrible, Robert Aschberg from the time he writed in the magazine Z, a swedish formerly vivid popular extreme magazine, now shut down. The Z-TV national-TV-channel is still broadcasting in the cables.

Mr Aschberg rants and describes topics like travelling to trade fairs, visiting fancy parties, bowling with his workfriends, tie and smoking wear, see the royal family, kicking on cars, watching soccer in Albania, preparing christmas etc. all in his sarcastical ironical way. A minor theme in the book is disgust, presented like this in a passage: ”As if that was not enought with disgust, I can tell you that I myselfe at a visit with school at Vallingby [Vixton/Wix] Police Station in 1965 [13 years old] succseeded in throwing up, hold everything in my mouth, and in little gulps swallow it again” (Aschberg, p. 142).

The author also write on the combination booze, sex and sports. Like this, a remark on a world leading runner’s girlfriend: ”She is known to be sexy. She shure is. She is sexy like a vise [a big iron tool on a planing bench].” (p. 103)
The beers you get are mostly too weak, so you could try this instead, the habit of drinking wiskey with cola to the supper, like a old friend of his in the music business usally does.

By the way, as a footnote, I did some quite bad immitations of Aschbergs style of excessive well-designed, a bit self-righteous, magnificent ways of presenting his self in the crime-night show ”Insider”, in my radio show this spring. Btw once again. I met a famous leading Brommapojkarna premier national leag soccerclub supporter at Krukan in Stockholm. He was angry at Mr Aschberg. Why? Because the supporter had heard that Aschberg has a monthly sallary of USD 70.000 (SEK 500.000)

The Heat

Live and kicking authors with new published books mixed with classic autors with a twist from old Sweden — yes, that is Gubbsnusk (means old mens’ filth).
”Värmen/The Heat” (559 p.) is a brick-size title from Mr Ulf Lundell, the old rock dinosaur, and what you supposed to get if you make a crossover of Dylan with Springsteen and let him sing in swedish. Lundell has made a summer monologue programme for national radio this summer. The book is about a middle aged divorced rock artist called Paul, living in Stockholm and an old house in Skane (the South). He is restless and driving up and down Europe from Stockholm to South France. Paul has a bully friend called Bull, that is an author who likes to burn money on expencive living, booze and lay young ladies. Paul also has a young female assistant called Sunny that becomes his misstress. She has to go to Island to visit her father. Paul and Bull having wild parties at a big house in Nice. Then Paul writes a collection of songs for an album and then goes to Copenhagen to record with some younger musicians. They lock themselves in in the studios with drugs, big palms, a lot of TV-sets etc. Paul miss Sunny much.

The most interesting part, from my point of view is the music business descriptions, how to arrange for a recording and get the people suitable for different roles in the recording process. Talks with and descripitions of guitarists, guitar techs, engineers, managers etc.

To Choose Happiness

Today I start to writing my reviews in english, on swedish male authors writing for men. First out is Kay Pollak, a film director. His latest movie is from 2004 and is called, As It Is in Heaven. He is also writing books, conducting lecture series and manageing courses. His book ”Att välja lycka” (To Choose Happines) I consumed as an five hours lasting audiobook with Mr Pollak himself reading.

The book is intended to be used as a reader or a course book on how to make your own life working out better by changeing or transforming your ways of thinking. Pollak gives directions on how to correct yourself and your thinking to reach a happier life, to become an adult active agent choosing your own ways and beeing more creative. The author gives alot of real and fictive examples. Pollak’s main thesis is that it’s up to you how you feel about a wide spectre of topics, not others or the circumstances. Your feelings are completely controlled by your thoughts, Pollak is claiming.

My criticism: I think Pollak is a bit dogmatic and also repeating his dogmas time after time, so you get a bit fed up. He behave like an old teacher that you cant question. The book is also a kind of rewriting or recycling of traditional cognitive therapy. This is an audiobook for everybody, so not verry much gubbsnusk this time actually.

Read more on Kay Pollak

Snabba cash · Fast Cach

Jens Lapidus debutbok från 2006 har nu kommit som Månpocket. Den ligger på plats två i pocketlistan. Bokförsäljningen har ökat under den regniga sommaren. Jens som jobbar på juristbyrå har skrivit en bok om brott. Ett antal personer i Stockholms olika miljöer hamnar i en kriminell kontext med växande drogaffärer. En kille från landsorten som umågås i stureplanskretsar, en chilenare som rymt från fängelse, kriminella serbgäng etc.
Om du är student och vill låna boken kan du kolla var den finns och om den är inne via Libris.

Summary in English. The writer Jens Lapidus is a lawer and this is his debut book on crime. The main character is a dude from the northen part of Sweden, comming to Stockholm to study at the university and working as a taxi driver. He starts to sell drugs to finance his expencive living with the jet set at Stureplan. He get involved in escalating criminal transaction and dreaming of becomming filthy rich fast.

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami är en av japans samtida stora författare. Han har skrivit romanen Norwegian Wood (2004) på svenska på Norsteds Pan Förlag. Boken är översatt till svenska av Yukiko Duke.

Romanen handlar om Toru Watanabe som är en student i Tokyo. Han lever på ett studenthem och gör olika utflykter i staden. Går på krogar, super och plockar upp tjejer tillsammans med sin kompis. Han har en flickvän som bryter ihop och hamnar på ett hem som ligger långt utanför staden. Han träffar sedan Midori. Mycket miljö och en del lite snaskiga beskrivningar om erövringar, men också mycket kring musik, som titeln Norwegian Wood antyder, med sin refernes till den gamla Beatles-låten.

Murakami har naturligtvis en Myspace-sida, där han har ett forum med en tråd om en möjlig filmatisering av boken

Bokrelaterat, läs mer om biblioteket i Vällingby Vixton

Summary in English
Haruki Murakami is one of Japan’s greatest living writers. The novel Norwegian Wood (2004) is on Norsteds Pan Förlag, translated by Yukiko Duke.
Toru Watanabe is a student living in a dorm in Tokyo. He and his best friend visit restaurants, pubs, drinking heavy with girls which they pick up and lays. He has a girlfriend, but she get sick and after that lives in an private hospital in the country side. Toru meets a new girl called Midori. Environmets and dirty sex is described in detail, and also music is focused as the title Norwegian Woods (a tune by Beatles) hint.

Välkommen! · Welcome!

Välkommen till Gubbsnusk bokklubb (GSBK). Här diskuterar vi på ett lagom seriöst sätt litteratur inom genren gubbsnusk, alltså böcker med målgruppen/segmentet män, med intresse för områden såsom sex/erotik, vällevnad, rock-n-roll-livsstil och njutning. Den välkända motsvarighet för damerna kallas ju som bekant tantsnusk. Min mission är att reclaima boken som ett fördjupande media för män.

Den första boken jag tänkte presentera är Neil Strauss storsäljare ”The Game” som jag tagit del av idag. Boken handlar om hur Strauss, som bor i Los Angeles och som skriver i New York Times och Rolling Stone Magazine, gjorde en Günter Walraff, d.v.s. infiltrerade sig under cover, i detta fall under aliaset Style, inom en social gemenskap bestående av ett hemligt sällskap pick up artists (PUA), personer som lever för att förföra damer. En mentor lär ut sina kunskaper och Strauss lär sig snabbt och går från att vara en lite tråkig nördig författare till att bli en självsäker, välekiperad gentleman iförd kritstrecksrandiga skjortor, skräddarsydda kostymer med solariesolbränna krönt av ett renrakat huvud med ett kort skägg.

Style, som blir författarens artistnamn, blir framgångsrik och lever livet som PUA i två år och observerar under tiden i detalj vad som sker inom gemenskapen. Strauss träffar och umgås med många kända personer från film och musikbranschen, såsom Courtney Love och Tom Cruise. Mer än så tänker jag inte berätta. Läs boken själva. Sony har skaffat sig rättigheterna att göra en framtida film av boken.

Littarature for men on sex, drugs, rock’n’roll. The nerdy author Neil Strauss transformed himself to a slick person with a life as as pick up artist under the nick name Style. He got new expencive clothes and cut his hair off. He lived in a secret society of pick up artists that alsom mixed with celebrities as Tom Cruise and Courtney Love.