What they read here

You could argue that it’s a cheap and quick way for the local paper – in this case Hallandsposten – to fill a few pages in the holiday season. But at least they do write about books and reading, and not just about the local thugs. (It’s more stolen lawn mowers, actually.) Earlier this week they had not one double page on books, but two. On the same day.

They visited the library and one of Halmstad’s two major bookshops. Seeing as it’s the shop where the young witch once had a holiday job, it has to get a mention here. The trick for me is to remember what it’s called. Both shops have changed name since my time in Halmstad, and for me they still need to go by their old names, Meijels and Larssons, if I’m to know which is which.

This was Meijels (Halmstads Bokhandel), where the bookseller recommended something by Tony Blair’s close associate, Jeffrey Archer. I know. It’s not easy. He himself – the bookseller, not Mr Blair or Lord Archer – was reading what sounds like the latest hype; a crime novel written by the tantalising pseudonym of Lars Kepler.

The library has already got people queueing for this book, despite them not having received it yet. Another book, or series of books, that never makes it onto the library shelves is Twilight. It’s constantly reserved, and the only non-adult title on the library’s ten most wanted books list.

Interestingly most of the books on that list are Swedish, with only two that I can immediately identify as originally written in English. And something French. So there is a world of books outside Britain, even though it can be hard to believe sometimes.