Everyday 'normal' things in Sweden seen from a different perspective

"Before I ever set foot in Sweden I knew for sure that Swedes were socialists, that they drank themselves to death and that they had sex anywhere at any time. Now that I’ve been here for a few years I know that only one of these is true.

In Sweden in the early 80s all the good things in life were either immoral, illegal or heavily taxed. I came to a land where supermarkets covered over weak beer with a blanket at 8pm, where the highlight of Saturday evening’s TV entertainment was Anslagstavlan and where it was illegal to shower after 10pm at night.

In the early 90s Sweden was still a land where it cost as much to fly from Stockholm to Göteborg as it did over the Atlantic, a land where Swedes spoke quietly on the telephone and where people wore gloves as early as October.

It is now the 2000s. Swedes are still convinced they are nothing special, rather dull and simply quite ordinary. Do not let them fool you. They are just as weird and wonderful as they have always been. They just need a little help to show it. Welcome to the garden, the beautiful, blossoming garden of SwEden."

I have a peculiar love/hate relationship Swedes despite (or because of??) the fact that I have been working with them all my adult life. Especially their need for consensus and harmony can sometimes be exhausting to Finns who normally are quite straightforward in business. Still as a Finn I could also relate to some of the "facts" Colin Moon mentions, so maybe the difference between the nordic neighbours isn't that big after all. Very entertaining book.

Swedish is an official language also here in Finland, in the picture a tugboat from where I live. "A name does not make a man worse if not the man the name."

I'm sending the book to 42again tomorrow. Don't know what kind of relationship she might have with Sweden, but I hope she'll enjoy the book.

Collected the book today from the Post Office (it arrived there yesterday).

I have a tenuous relationship with Sweden - my paternal grandfather was born in Australia of parents who had migrated from Sweden.

I visited Sweden (and Finland) in 1981.

Posted to bookcrosser in Sweden.

Thank you so much for sending this little book and the nice stickers that were travelling with it!

It sounds great and would have been a nice holiday read... but it might be a while until I can actually read it. My boyfriend got hold of it and after reading a few pages he is hooked and insists that he wants to read it first, no way I'm taking it with me when visiting my parents for the holidays :-D

Now I had a chance to read it. Some passages were entertaining, at some I rolled my eyes... but overall it was a fun little book to read!

Released in the open bookshelf at the STF City Hostel. Happy travels :-)