Oscar Levertins vänner by Martina Montelius

Boel Märgåker has founded the Oscar Levertins friends association, where said author is discussed. The members are going on a literature cruise and Boel decides to loosen up. She is tired of controlling her emotions, comfort other people, and her husband Greger. The cruise becomes a surrealistic adventure. But an older woman interested in culture, who is expected to smile and be nice all the time, can't have intimate encounters and take drogs, can she?

Marina Montelius, dramatist and director, made her novel debut 2013 with Främlingsleguanen. This book is also short, but dense, written in a way that characterizes the author. The tone is comical and entertaining, but shifts abruptly to a deep darkness with secrets such as sexual assault and violence. The blackness is even more emphasized as the novel alters between light and dark.

Boel needs literature to live, or perhaps to survive. She finds comfort in it. The novel portrays people struggling with themselves, and how literature helps them with that. But, first and foremost, Martina Montelius honor the mature woman. People has constantly commented on Boel's body and person, as recent as this cruise, when a man being intimate with her stated that she can't be pregnant. Boel is tired of being treated badly and being betrayed, something she has experienced since she was a child, and she decides that she has had enough. The novel is plunging into the depths of the mechanisms of psychology. A mature woman that refuses to accept the expectations of society is relieving. The mature woman is seldom portrayed in neither fiction or reality. How often do we wonder about what they feel? This book makes you wonder about that.

Upplysning i det 21:a århundradet by Christer Sturmark

Christer Sturmark's book about enlightenment comes in a time when many people leave their faith, at the same time as religious forces are getting stronger. Other attitudes to life also seem to grow. The book includes everything from religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, to supernatural elements. Sturmark's main message is the importance of reflection and reason. While science is able to explain more and more phenomenon, people yet seem unable to reflect and think logical. Instead, they believe in stuff that are unexplained and lack scientific support, such as ghosts and telepathy. 

Sturmark is a missionary for enlightenment. Science and culture have been considered important until the world was thrown into barbary, before, as he puts it when discussing his book on television. Now, the irrational thinking seems to spread again, perhaps because of the possibilities online to discuss opinions with equals, and not having to challenge one's believes.

Philosophy is the foundation of this book. Much of it is a lesson in philosophy of religion, and Sturmark discusses the concept of God, why morality doesn't have religious foundation, and whether God hates women. One of the most interesting parts of the book is those that discusses the birth of religion and it's development (it's interesting that the US was more secular during Benjamin Franklin's time, than today). The history of ideas is a big part of the book and necessary to understand today's attitude to religion. Epistemology is another important part of the book. The main pillars of science research is explained, and why science is more reliable than superstition and belief in religion and the supernatural. According to Sturmark, one should have a good reason to believe in something, whatever it might be. Preferably evidence. This is an argument that somehow collide with religion. Doesn't a big part of being religious mean to not demand evidence? To just believe? - this is a smart way of not having to explain so much. Of course, whether people choose to believe in religion, the supernatural or pseudoscience, it's important to reflect before reaching conclusions. However, it's also important to be humble. Science is a relative term and changing. There are a lot we don't know, and a lot we know but can't explain entirely, just think about quantum physics. Today's science fiction is tomorrow's science. Scientists try their hypothesis after having had an opinion about a matter. If not being open-minded, we will never come up with new theories and expand our understanding of science. If we can't believe in something without evidence, that same evidence is difficult to find to justify our believes.

Sweden is a secular country. The Swedish church is tolerant, accepting marriage between people with the same gender, and having female priests. But it hasn't always been like that, and there are still some flaws, which, according to Sturmark, can be explained by underlying religious believes, such as rules concerning organ donation and euthanasia. Sturmark also discusses the debate about religion in Sweden. Agnosticism is common. Sturmark - who is comparing religions with ghosts, trolls and astrology, which might be considered disrespectful - wonders why many people that not believe in supernatural phenomenon prefer to call themselves agnostic, instead of atheists. Perhaps it's complicated. It is a comfort zone where you don't have to have an opinion. Because it's impossible to prove that God exists and it's as impossible to prove that he, or she, doesn't exist. Perhaps it's also a way to get along with everyone and to respect their believes. Another explanation might be that baptism and weddings are about tradition, and something beautiful worth saving because they make us feel amazed that there is something bigger out there. We celebrate midsummer, despite not having a pagan faith or thinking about the summer solstice. Furthermore, there are surely many people that aren't religious but have a great respect for religion. 

When reading such a book, with critical and matter-of-fact arguments - with statistics and sources that back up the reasoning - it's important to remember that religion has nothing to do with those practising it. Under no circumstances should religious people be mistaken for their religion, no matter if we think religion good or bad. Religion is a conviction, an attitude to life, that does not define an individual person. People's gender, ethnicity and sexuality are not to be questioned, of course, but religion is a standpoint that is changeable, and therefor, it should be allowed to question it, according to the author. Another reason for questioning it is Sturmark's statement that religious groups are funded by the government, while organisations with a secular approach are ignored.

Sturmark is tired of peudoscience that came with postmodernism and truth relativism. There is only one truth, he claims. Religion is only compatible with science if God lit the spark for the universe, and then abandoned it. The constant interference by God into our daily lives is difficult to incorporate with scientific reasoning, according to him. But is it impossible? There is a tone of criticism throughout the book, while at the same time, Christer Sturmark is preaching freedom of faith. Everyone has the right to practise her belief, as long as it doesn't mean breaking the law, or restricting human rights or freedom of speech. However, it's easier with a secular approach, Sturmark argues, since it's difficult to fight oppression of women and other victimization when such ideas are given a religious motivation, sanctioned by God - it's not possible to meet such attitudes with rational arguments. That is the author's opinion. Claiming that God works in mysterious ways is a rather convenient argument. The secular ethic puts human beings in the center. Secular humanism means that religious dogms should never be superior to human rights. Sturmark claims that secular humanism is the only way to a democratic society that protect the human rights. Religion puts God in the center, while secular humanism puts the human being in the center. Sturmark uses statistics to dismiss certain claims about the necessity of religion as a moral guide, and show us that it is rather the opposite.

Not all of the aspects of the discussion are new, but Sturmark delve into some of them and argues in a way that makes you think. Religion is a big mystery. It's fascinating. It is good if it comforts and fills one's life with happiness or endurance, but it is not needed to explain the world and it shouldn't overshadow human rights. It's when a person is put in the center that she becomes a self-thinking individual.

The Hit by David Baldacci

Having read The whole truth and Deliver us from evil, I'm familiar with David Baldacci's work and style, and knows that I won't be disappointed in the plot. Will Robie, an assassin that never fails, gets a new mission from the organisation he's working for. To kill one of their own, Jessica Reel, an agent gone rouge, that has killed several people. Finding and killing Reel, as deadly as himself, will be his most difficult task, yet. But, eventually, he begins to suspect there are something bigger going on.

There's much that is entertaining. Conspiracies are always carefully created by Baldacci, and always interesting. Robie is not a hero, he kills people for a living, which is a complicated life and sometimes makes him question himself. He is a fascinating character, but it's difficult to get to know him. There are too many descriptions of exterior elements, and it would have been great to get some more of the inner struggle, to be able to really feel his thoughts and feelings instead of them being explained.

It is interesting to read a book like this with both a man and a woman main character. Jessica Reel is as strong and fierce a person as any man. That is positive. But, at the same time, when it comes to personality, Reel might be a reflection of the typhical male character. She has the same characteristics, and of course, she has problems with intimacy and trust. For many authors, the only way to create a strong female character seems to be to make her like the stereotype man. But, at the same time, neither Robie nor Reel are typhical main characters, at all. Who knows how to deal with being a killer. A distanced approach to other people and to one self is probably the right way to go.

What's bothersome about this kind of books is the lack of gender equlity. Often the man has the powerful role, and the woman is only a trophy. This book is different. Reel is no one's woman. She is a dangerous person, driven by her own motives. So far so good, but then, something strange happens. Even though Jessica Reel is a professional killer, extremely skilled, never hesitating and feared by the rest of the organisation, she ends up as the plus one. Even though she acts on her own terms, and is driven by revenge and risks her life for it, Will Robie enters and becomes the natural leader. Why? He even admits she might be a better assassin than him. Why does he take control? Reel has been succesfully keeping to her plan, managing to eliminate her high targets on her own, and as soon as Robie turns up, she begins to ask permission and leaves the responsibility to him. It would have been great if she would have continued as before, letting him tagging along. These books, crime novels and thrillers, written by a male author, homehow often end up with the man taking the lead.

The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins

Paula Hawkins debut thriller is centered around Rachel, a flawed woman that drinks too much. Every time she looses control, gets a blackout or contacts her ex husband, despite him having a new family. She has neither self confidence or pride. Paula Hawkins cleverly portrays a woman that does everything in her power to not have to face reality. She hides alcohol and takes the train every morning, despite not having a job to go to. Every day, the train passes by a house where a young couple lives, and she fantasizes about their perfect life together, and names them Jess and Jason. When the woman she calls Jess disappears, Rachel feels that she, herself, has seen something, but she had a blackout that night. She so wants to be needed and a part of something, so she decides to try to find out the truth. 

Paula Hawkins uses an easily accessible prose and the happenings in the high-paced book is interesting. As a reader, you easily forget where you are and loose yourself in Rachel's clouded world. Is she to be trusted? A big theme is credability. Is Rachel, an alcoholoc, depressed woman, credible? Who is? The recurring train can be seen as a symbolic world from which we look at, and distort, the reality, especially when it comes to diminishing ourselves and highten others.

The book resembles Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. They both contains less sympathetic characters and the same type of psychological suspense that makes you read just one more page. Paula Hawkins knows how to create a real page-turner that simoltaneously illuminates something more. She writes about a role that is the opposite of the ideal woman and how excluding that role might be. She not only portray a female alcoholic but also the the society's view of a woman that isn't os use to anyone, at least not in the beginning, and not taking care of herself. Rachel is sometimes difficult to symphatize with, but the contempt and disbelief she meets is described with a sharpness that you can feel it. It's an impressive debut thriller.

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck

Imagine living in the darkest of places. Imagine that the only people for miles are people you don't know, yet. The character Maija moves to a small settlement in Lappland, Sweden, with her family and they are just beginning to get to know the people in the area when a murder is commited. Then, Maija's husband has to leave for the coust to find work, leaving her and their two children alone.

Sweden is a spectacular, mesmerizing country. In the summer, the midnight sun lights both day and night, painting the beautiful nature in more vivid colours than the brightest fairytale. The grass and wild forests are intensely green, the sea is dark blue and the air is crisp and the sun warms it all. In the winter, the sun hardly reaches above the horizon. There is constant darkness, apart from a short while at noon. The snow falls heavy and everything is white, a contrast to the black sky and the colorful, dansing northen light.

Ekbäck's descriptions of the landscape and forces of nature are very colourful. It's not a traditional fast-paced crime novel, at all. The book is slow at times but is necessary to deal with tensions and feelings as well as an atmosphere of superstition and the supernatural, and for them to give an impression. The exterior reflects the characters' isolation and inner struggle. The book gets more and more interesting because of the portrayal of 18th century Sweden. How difficult it must have been for a lonely woman to fight for her family's survival. 

Ekbäck wanted to write about an interesting time period. Superstition and the belief in the supernatural remained to some extent from an early period. The people living around Svartåsen fear the powers of the mountain, thinking it can breath and make horrible things happen. What's more, in the year of 1717, the wound was still fresh from the witch hunts, and people's fear still remained, it seems - a faith that wasn't as strong as the church, but still a belief. The author uses this theme. Was it some kind of comfort believing in these things, when the situation was so bad? The early 18th century changed the very foundation of life for the people. Sweden was at war and men were forced to leave their families to fight for their country. According to the author, around a third of the population – 1,5 million people – were killed. The king raised the taxes to be able to finance the war, the plague hunted people, and as if that wasn't enough, some years of bad harvest made the people starve. In this situation, Maija is left alone with her children in the middle of nowhere, in the darkness, near a few farms and a secret. She begins to investigate the murder and soon realizes that it's not the only strange thing. The secret might be covering more than the murder mystery.

Den självläkande människan by Sanna Ehdin

Sanna Ehdin discusses health and food, drug-, alcohol- and sugar addiction, motion, stress, correct breathing and mindfulness. And how they interfere. Today, the focus is more often than not on sickness instead of health, and she claims that there are companies that benefit from it. According to her, medications, in the right doses, is the third biggest cause of death in the west. This is a book about those who want to read about something else than the traditional health care. Epigenetics means to affect one's own body with healthy food and the right environment for self healing. Did you know that b-vitamines deficiency can lead to depression? Or that persons with anorexia often has zinc deficiency? Many conditions are consequences of similar deficiencies and can be fixed without medications and antibiotics and prevented with the right food. Vitamines and minerals can cure and prevent many diseases. Stress affect the body more than you might think, and real breathing and mindfulness are important to keep the body in balance. 

Ehdin means that many deficiencies depend on the diminishing nourishment in the earth. Humic acid, that blocks viruses and prevents it form binding to the cells, is found in the top strata of the earth, in peat and lignin, but have decreased due to synthetic fertilizers and toxic discharge. You can actually eat humid acid as a natural medication. I wonder what the traditional doctors that advocates conventional medicine would say about that.

Sweden, after Finland, has the world's highest frequenxy of child diabetes. Sugar and gluten is the worst substances, both when it comes to diseases, alcoholism and other addictions, and changes the hormon balance.

It has been known for more than a hundred years that hormons affetc the immune system, but it is unexplored because women's health has been a low priority in the 20th century, something that is very interesting because I would have thought that we had come further than that. Still, the Socialstyrelse, The National Board of Health and Welfare, Sveriges kommuner och landsting, SKL, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, and Folkhälsoinstitutet, Swedish National Institutet of Public Health claim that patients are not met and treated on the same terms. Men get more expensive medications, and women's symptoms have not been taken seriously. The research has often focused on men's immune system and animal experiments have been made on male animals. But men's and women's immune system are different. Women's is stronger, because they are responsible for the continuation of the family. That means that women have three times bigger chances to utveckla autoimmune diseases than men, something that should be taken into consideration when doing research and developing medicine.

The book contains much information and advice that might come in handy for many people. Women in menopause should take bioidentical hormones instead of synthetic ones. They are from the vegetable kingdom and are similar to our own hormones. Progesterone is important to take. Bioidentic hormons is increasing the risk for age related diseases, the cholesterol levels improve, and decreases the risk for heart diseases. Unfortunately, birth control pills often contains synthetic hormons. Why are we not informed about this? Ehdin goes so far as to claim that menopause might be something that could be postponed. She went through a detox in her fifties and got her period back. Adults uses 80 % of their energy to detox. This is very interesting.

She recommend meta medication, an overall perspective that integrates traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine. It gives a whole picture and helps the body to self cure. Energy medicin is a treatment that proceeded from the foundation of quantum physics, and states that everything exists both like particles and waves, at the same time. The waves makes a certain frequence. Different materials have different frequences. A healthy cell has another frequence than a sick one. The treatment consists of subtle energies and electromagnetic energy like sound waves and light waves. Frequency medication works on different frequences. Bioresonance is a quantum medical analysis- and treatment tecnique that has been developed in space medicine. During the analyze the system is sending information about energy waves and is looking for the body's resonans. If there is an inbalance, there are different frequences in organs and emotionally. The system is repairing them with stämma the body's energy fields.

Overall, the book is very fascinating. Even though Ehdin sometimes feel a little too convinced about some things and portrays the lack of knowledge and health treatment like a big conspiracy, it gives you much to think about. New thinking people are often met with criticism because they are controversial, but this book no doubt contains many things that people would benefit from knowing about.

How to be a heroine by Samantha Ellis

Samantha Ellis has chosen a magnificent concept for her new book. Literature has had a great impact on her and she has used characters to understand her own life and find solutions. The book mixes characters from different books and time periods, and Ellis herself is one of them. Her own life is woven into the fabric. The reader gets to know how her parents wanted her to marry a Iraqi-Jewish man. How she struggled to be able to leave her home and go to Cambridge – where Sylvia Plath once studied.

Ellis prefers different heroines in different periods in life. In The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood made her believe that suffering has a value. Her biggest heroine is her mother that left her home in Iraq and moved to a new world. But, eventually, when she herself was struck by a disease, she realized that suffering has no value. She was neither stronger nor more humble. It's interesting to follow Ellis personal development and how it changes her view of the characters.

Occasionally, she returns to the sisters Brontë's characters. It seems that Cathy and Jane are competitors and she has to choose one of them. Why can't both be heroines? Why can't she understand right away that she needed one in her early life and now identify with the other?

It's a book from a feminist perspective. Samanatha Ellis prefers heroines, not passive girls. She likes characters on adventure, that challenge themselves and overcome their fear. That becomes independent individuals and refuse to be governed. She question why Ariel sacrificed her voice to meet a man, or why Anne Shirley stopped writing when she married.

The book is well-written. Books about literature tend to have a hypnotic effect on those interested in literature, especially if it's well written. You learn much about books and how to use them for your own good. You get tempted to read many new ones and form your own opinions. You run the risk of becoming even more interested in literature.

Samantha Ellis take the heroines from the books and make them her friends, in a fascinating way. At one time, in the bad tube, she gathers all the characters to a reunion. Only the imagination is the limit.