Hiya. Long time no post. Oh, well, I’m back now anyhow.
The last two weeks was our holiday and I got to read quite a few books. Nick Hornby and Erlend Loe are two of my favourite authors, so I read High Fidelity, Fever Pitch and Slam by Nick Hornby, and Fakta om Finland (Facts about Finland) by Erlend Loe.
I have to say, I find these two authors strikingly similar. Well, perhaps not strikingly, but I do see some resemblances. They are both men around the same age, and they write about every day characters, mostly men (although they have both written, to my knowledge, one book each where the main character is a woman) who goes through some personal issues in regards to coping with life.
The books can seem trivial because of their everyday aspects, the mundane details and the slightly naivistic (Loe more so) style of writing, but they are both in the text itself and inbetween the lines dealing with topics that most people can recognize in themselves. Everything from insecurity and low self esteem to love and death is delt with in Hornby’s and Loe’s books.
I have now read all Hornby’s novels (and one non-fiction, his autobiography) and four of Loe’s novels so far, and I have really enjoyed them all. So far my favourite Hornby book is How to be Good and my favourite Loe book is L. (Interestingly enough, both those books were the first one I read of the respective authors).
If you are looking for a book that can deal with both trivial and profound topics in one and the same book, involving both humor and a easy-to-read language, I would advice reading Hornby or Loe. They are both brilliant. (For English speakers: From Erlend Loe, only Naive. Super is translated into English.)
