2 posts tagged “mystery”

I have found that many of my interests and hobbies are relatively rare. That is, not everyone shares my obsession with them. In fact, many of them never even heard of some of my favorites in a given area of interest.

It's kind of like my favorite types of animals. (Though listing my favorite animals will take time and blog post space. It might be easier to list the ones I'm not too keen on, but I digress.)

So, to get to the point, it occurred to me that my two favorite genres of books are a bit like cats and dogs. Let me explain.

Crime novels, in general, are crime novels, though there are of course historic ones, thrillers, puzzles etc. So that is the same as cats. A cat is a cat, regardless of its breed or appearance. (Though to make this a little more complicated, most people haven't heard of my favorite mystery writers either, so maybe I shouldn't take this metaphor too far.)

Anyway - With me so far?

Fantasy is more like dogs. What's a dog? A big tough, impressive one, like a - Eurasian? Yes. A lively, medium sized one, like a Tibetan Terrier? Yes. A small, adorable one, like a Lhasa apso or a Bolognese? Yes. A - you get the picture. My favorite fantasy books do have other followers, but really not that many. If I meet an average fantasy fan (yeah, I wish), I'm betting he or she might not even have heard of my favorites.

So there you have it. When it comes to crime novels, I like many different kinds. Fantasy, particularly my not so well known authors. 

Since the (originally) Swedish Wallander mysteries have been successfully exported to the UK, I thought I'd put in my two cents' on this topic. In an earlier post, I've already mentioned that they're not quite my thing. What I would like to discuss is something else. In the UK reviewers are raving about Kenneth Branagh in Wallander. I haven't seen the UK version yet, but I will, just to see what they've made of it. As far as I'm concerned, things can only get better. :)

What I'm reacting to is just one thing that keeps being repeated over and over again, in the reviews, in the UK and even in the US. Sweden is gloomy. What? Ok, I'll admit that the north, far away from Wallander's Scania, could be described as gloomy, especially during the dark season, which, frankly, lasts almost all the year around. That's the north, not Scania. If you went to Scania presumably you'd notice that much of Sweden is pretty ordinary. The scenery is beautiful. (I just had to mention that. After all, I live here. I like the scenery.) But let's get this straight once and for all, Scanians are not gloomy. Not generally. Sure, anyone can get gloomy, especially if you work hard all day tracing killers and dealing with gruesome murders. Are the British sleuths any more cheerful?

This is how the rest of us Swedes (or Goths, as I am - and no, I'm not dressed in black, we're called goths anyway and there's a fascinating linguistic or semantic explanation to why there are so many goths worldwide, especially throughout history) view Scania and the Scanians:

They're jolly, positive people. They love to eat and drink. Kind of, if you allow the metaphor or simile like hobbits, though not as short and fat, well some might be, but then so can anyone. Scania is usually green and smiling, rather than gloomy, though personally I tend to agree that the area around Ystad might be described as gloomy, especially during the winter.

Oh, and another thing, for those of you who are into fan fiction/slash, I will translate my Wallander fics some time, and it will be sooner if I get some requests.