A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Read August 2023 - Zoom Reading Circle

Oh my goodness… this book touched my heart.  Again, I really had no idea what it was about so was taken a bit by surprise by some of the emerging storylines.  But this book was beautifully written and had me laughing out loud in so many parts.  (And teary-eyed in others)  It was poignant, funny, sarcastic, insightful… and made me think of real people throughout.  I also definitely pictured Tom Hanks as the main character throughout.  Perfect casting for the upcoming movie, I would say, for sure!

I loved the part about Ove having a heart that is too big.  That is utterly perfect.  The many ways that are revealed to us in the book about how he has helped people throughout his life… not expecting (or wanting!) anything in return… but just because it is the right thing to do.  ‘They don’t make men like that as much anymore’.  (A very Ove thought there. :)).  I highlighted so many passages In this book!  Some because they were hilarious. Several because they were so insightful in a sarcastic or at least deadpan way.  I was struck by the whole ‘men in white shirts’ theme.  I was at the fair on legislative day and saw more than my fair share of men in polos.  Same thing.  Sigh.  And having brought my dear Daddy to this same fair, and making sure there was a way for him to enjoy it, and embracing the wonderful help and love from so many here who always wanted that for him, I was thankful for our own systems in place at this time of life.  However, we lack in many other ways - so lets not get too ahead of ourselves…

This book reminded me in many ways of The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett… another book where a woman ‘of a certain age’ decides she has really lived as long as she cares to and seeks options - just as a family with a child moves in next door.  That one wasn’t nearly as sarcastic (or as funny!) but was another book that I truly enjoyed and felt was insightful.  I guess I am at the age where this is more real for me - both for my caregiving duties with my Daddy (and my Mama when she was alive) but also because I am approaching this time frame and want to have my eyes open and make decisions that make things better for my own kids.  There was a line I highlighted in this book about ‘when you know you have more days behind you than before you…’. Wow.  Yes.  That.

I’m so glad to have read this book.  Will now see the movie for sure.  And am glad to know how it all goes before seeing the movie version.  This will definitely tug at your heart strings - but it highlights so many beautiful aspects of humanity and community (and some that we need to work to correct, for sure).  Loved it.  5 out of 5 stars from me!  Zoom Reading Circle agreed with me and gave it an overall score of 4.8.  This turned out to be our highest ranked book of this ‘segment’ - the last year and a half.  

Highlights from the book include...

“It’ll be good for you to slow down a bit,” they’d drawled.  Slow down?  What did they know about waking up on a Tuesday and no longer having a purpose?

He had never been the sort of man who went around remembering things unless there was a need for it. 

“Ove, only a swine thinks size and strength are the same thing.  Remember that.”  And Ove never forgot it. 

“Men are what they are because of what they do.  Not what they say,” said Ove. 

(this one reminds me of Daddy...)

For better or for worse until death do us part, wasn’t that what they agreed?  Ove remembers quite clearly that it was.  And she wasn’t supposed to be the first one to die.  Wasn’t it bloody well understood that it was his death they were talking about?

He went through life with his hands firmly shoved into his pockets.  She danced. 

A time like that comes for every man, when he chooses what sort of man he wants to be.  And if you don’t know the story, you don’t know the man. 

“We can busy ourselves with living or with dying, Ove.  We have to move on.”

But sorrow is unreliable in that way.  When people don’t share it there’s a good chance that it will drive them apart instead. 

But we are always optimists when it comes to time; we think there will be time to do things with other people.  And time to say things to them. 

It is difficult to admit that one is wrong.  Particularly when one has been wrong for a very long time.  

For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by.  And leave us there alone. 

One of the most painful moments in a person’s life probably comes with the insight that an age has been reached when there is more to look back on than ahead. 

Trailer for the original (2016) A Man Called Ove

Another trailer for above film (2016) A Man Called Ove

Snippet with J.K. Simmons - narrator of the book A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Otto movie trailer (2023 with Tom Hanks)

Beautiful song from the Man Called Otto soundtrack - sung by Rita Wilson and Sebastian Yatra

Miss Benson's Beetle

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Read August 2023 - Zoom Reading Circle

I am embarrassed to say that for some bizarre reason I had decided this would be a  road trip book about 2 older ladies driving across England in a Volkswagen beetle.  Okay, yes, that is a humiliating thing to even write out.  Clearly, I had not looked at this book closely in ANY way.  I was expecting something a bit light hearted and sweet.  This was not that book. 

However, this book is growing on me.  The first part was slow reading.  It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it  - but I was not drawn to it.  I could read some at night and put it down.  Easily.  But slowly the characters grew and grew on me.  I became involved in what was happening to and with them.  I am now about ¾ way through the book and find I am taking every opportunity to read... I must find out what will happen.  

This book does a very good job of portraying so many stereotypes (or is it just really good representation of so many types of people of this time period... that is more correct.)  Not harshly portrayed, but oh so realistically I think.  From the rich and stuffy wives of the diplomats, to the war-damaged man, to the ‘spinster’ teacher/entomologist, to the ‘floozy’ blonde.  And beyond.  They are all portrayed in their own starkness... meaning you don’t necessarily like them and yet you have empathy for (most) of them - or come to understand them in some way.  Good writing to bring all these characters so richly to life.  

This is NOT the book I expected at all.  And it is completely different than any other book I have read.  But I am now fully engaged.  

Okay, just finished the book.  Going to have to contemplate the ending.  Know that I will be thinking about it for awhile.  I did love the two characters of Margery Benson and Enid Pretty - and loved their evolutions - singularly and as friends and supporters of one another - a team. 

I really loved the addendum (or whatever you might call it) at the very end of the book that talks in detail about the photo that inspired this book.  Really cool.  I love looking at that photo myself and reading about those two real life women and their influence on the author, Rachel Joyce.  

Initially I thought I might give this a 3.5 but I raised it to a 4 because these characters have followed me around ever since...  Zoom Reading Circle was more of a mixed bag - the group score was 3.6. 

Quotes from the book include....

Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life.  We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.  Pema Chodron

It is easier for human beings to believe the worst things said about them than the kindest. 

Her frock was covered with white frills.  It was like talking to a wedding cake. 

Why had she left it so late in life to do the thing she’d always wanted?

You might travel to the other side of the world, but in the end it made no difference: whatever devastating unhappiness was inside you would come, too. 

But war was not over just because someone signed a truce.  It was inside him.  And when a thing like war was inside you, it never left. 

It struck her again: a life was such a short thing.  All those things people carried, and struggled to carry, yet one day they would disappear, and so would the suffering inside them, and all that would be left was this.  The trees, the moon, the dark. 

She felt they’d already had their fair share of fear, as if bad luck was something that came in reasonable portions, when people were prepared.  A bit for you, a bit for me. 

Short snippet with author Rachel Joyce 

And here is a blog post that is, in fact, the addendum to the book that describes the photograph that inspired the book.  The photo is there, too... across the top of the page.  But you can't really get a good look at it.  

https://www.rachel-joyce.co.uk/inspiration-behind-miss-bensons-beetle/

Puzzle #41 - Masterpieces - The Day's End - 550 pieces

Puzzle #41 of 2023

Finished August 28, 2023

Masterpieces - The Day's End - 550 pieces

So I went from pretty much no puzzling throughout the month of August to completing two puzzles on this same day.  :) 

An image by Bonnie White.  Very enjoyable, quick puzzle.  I was ready for a 'comfort food' puzzle and this fit the bill perfectly.  

MasterPieces are such good puzzles for hammering out fairly quickly.  They provide a fun, relaxing puzzling experience.  I like Bonnie White images... kind of the like the Masterpieces version of Charles Wysocki.  :)  So similar but always nice.

Puzzle #41 of 2023

Finished August 28, 2023

Masterpieces - The Day's End - 550 pieces

Puzzle #40 - Cobble Hill - Hardy Boys - 1000 pieces

Puzzle #40 of 2023

Finished August 28, 2023

Cobble Hill - Hardy Boys - 1000 pieces

I was excited to do this puzzle since I greatly enjoyed the Nancy Drew one.  I started this (by putting together the frame) about a month ago (late July).  It took me forever to get back to it.  I realized I can either write or do puzzles.  Thus the long gaps on either of those activities whenever I veer from one to the other.  :(  Anyway, finally got back to it and finished it in a couple days.  I will say that while the puzzle was very good - basically no puzzle dust, good solid pieces, identifiable color on the pieces... I didn't enjoy it as much as Nancy Drew.  I figured out it was because I just didn't know these covers.  I never read the Hardy Boys.  So I didn't have the emotional attachment to the covers like I did with Nancy Drew and I also was unfamiliar with the books/titles/covers so it took a lot to find where the pieces go.  So I was glad to get it finished, but it wasn't any fault of the puzzle.  I need to go do the Vintage Nancy Drew covers puzzle... I do love the poster included with Cobble Hill puzzles.  They are very nice quality overall.

love the poster!

Puzzle #40 of 2023

Finished August 28, 2023

Cobble Hill - Hardy Boys - 1000 pieces