A Scandinavian Evening

A very big thanks to Nika for being our March hostess.  Who would have thought that we would have to consider snow and icy driveways when we set our meeting date of March 8th!  Once again, a smaller gathering due to winter weather. 

Thank you Nika for the very delicious Swedish meatballs!  Yum yum!  And all the other components of our meal were wonderful; thank you all for yet another memorable time with friends.

We reviewed the popular book "A Man Called Ove", a debut novel by author Fredrik Backman.  It is a story about an old crumudgeon who turns out to be a kind and caring - in his own fashion - man who is so very alone since the passing of his wife.  "And then she left him alone in a world where he no longer understood the language."  She was his connection, the person who understood him and helped him relate to the rest of the world.  His work meaning to his life, but then he was laid off, removing his reason to face each day.  "How can anyone spend their whole life longing for the day when they become superfluous?"  With the help of neighbors, whom he initially finds annoying, he learns how to continue living alone.  This was a simply written, well constructed story which at times was both humorous and thought-provoking.  Some of us really liked the book, while some not as much.  One was not able to finish as she found it so irritating.  My feeling is that your opinion of a story is affected by what is going on in your life; if your daily life is filled with aruguments and opposition, you don't enjoy spending your personal time reading about it also.  This story did start out with all of Ove's negative views of everything.  You had to stick with the story to see how various charachters understood how Ove was feeling and came together to help give him a purpose again.

Our next meeting will be at Debbie D's up-river in Entiat.  It looks like it will be Wednesday, April 5th.  We are keeping to our regular schedule of our meetings being on the first Wednesday of the month, which we had altered this winter due to weather conditions.  Looking forward to seeing you then!