The BookTrail in Stockholm
I recently took The BookTrail to Stockholm to revisit where my love of Swedish Noir began. It’s taken me a few days to write this post as I’ve been full of cold ever since with no voice left. That’ll teach me for chatting too much. But where there are conversations to be had about books, then there aren’t enough words quite frankly! Or even hours in the day.
I was kindly invited to spend a week in the Swedish capital and discover the literary locations along the way. I needed no persuasion for that! As luck would have it, it was Book Sale Week. Many hardbacks and pocket books are half price or even lower. Needless to say I took a suitcase ready for the return journey.
Stockholm library (c)The BookTrail
This was the moment I returned to Stockholm Library. My second home. The place where I spent many a happy hour pouring over Camilla Lackberg books in order to learn Swedish. Granted, not all the words I learnt were ones I could use in everyday conversation! But it was a lot more fun than a workbook! The atmosphere here is heavenly. The gentle noise of the checking out machines, the assistants constantly walking around putting the books back on the shelves, wheeling the trolleys, walking up the stairs to the next layer of book wonderment. And the smell of this place? Magical. Book smells in every direction. It reminds me of what all libraries used to be like – but this one has managed to retain a mix of the past with a definate future edge.
Stockholm library (c)The BookTrail
Tons of books as far as the eye can see. Each section dedicated to books from France, Books from Germany etc…. and books in those languages too. It’s Babel’s Tower in real life!
As well as the Camilla Lackberg books, I soon discovered the King and Queen of Swedish fiction – Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. I had to take one of these books back with me so I took The Locked Room and headed straight to the Royal Palace in order to read it. Well royalty deserves a royal place doesn’t it.
The King and Queen of Swedish fiction at the Royal Palace (c)The BookTrail
One of the wonders of Stockholm us that there are plenty of places to buy books and plenty of stunning places to sit and read them! It was a bit chilly some days but that didn’t stop me. A bucket of coffee and a semla bun was all I needed!
The city really is stunning. I used to live here so know it well but it had changed in many ways for the better. Still very clean and spacious, friendly people and gorgeous scenery. This time I found it even more fun – police on segways for one! – and some of the coins had changed so I had a very tricky time buying a bottle of water. A lot of cafes etc are now cash free – which does make things easier but not when you have a pocket of coins, ha!
Stockholm foodhall (c)The BookTrail
The food here is amazing. A favourite place for a snack is this food hall in Sondermalm – I got a sandwich filled with flavours of the Middle East – no Swedish flavour here, but there was fresh salmon for tea so I had to travel with my food choice too, right?
Mamma Mia Section of the ABBA museum (c)The BookTrail
And after visiting book people all week and finding out about the next big things to come out in Scandi Noir what better way to refresh myself than a visit to the ABBA Museum. I didn’t actually go inside the museum itself (got distracted by a booksale) but I did visit the shop….and buy…a book about Abba.
I’ll be chatting Swedish fiction over the next few months a bit more than usual and let you know about the great finds that could be coming your way in English very soon.
