Annual Book Sale
As I write this we're but days away from a major event that will capture the imagination of all of Sweden. "What could it be?" you wonder. The introduction of a genetically-engineered super-herring? An ABBA reunion tour? The publication of an unauthorized tell-all--complete with pictures--about the lurid love-life of Marcus Schenkenberg?
Thankfully, no. None of these, so far as I know, is on the horizon. The event a nation awaits is the annual national book sale.
At the end of February every year, all the booksellers in Sweden--from online retailers to department stores with book departments to good, old-fashioned brick-and-mortar bookstores--put on a much-awaited sales extravaganza that takes the country by storm. A couple of weeks before the sale starts, merchants begin sending out advertisements to all Swedish households, and book lovers the nation over start making their lists and checking them twice.
The sale lasts for about a month, but the main event is the opening day. It's such a big deal that many larger booksellers open their doors at midnight the day the sale begins and allow early bird bargain hunters to browse the shelves in the wee hours of the morning. I've never gone to a midnight opening myself, but I've heard that the crowds are a force to be reckoned with. Remember the Furbee Christmas craze of several years ago? Well, apparently frenzied parents after the newest "It Toy" have nothing on Swedes on a mission to find the latest bestsellers for half-price.
I love many, many things about life in Sweden, but I have to say that the book sale ranks near the top of my favorites list. One of the reasons I love it, of course, is that I love shopping for books, but that's not the biggest reason. The biggest reason is that I think it's a wonderful, wonderful thing to see so many people get as excited about books as I am. Who couldn't love a country where huge crowds will brave the dark and freezing Nordic winter at midnight, all for the chance at a good deal on a bag full of books?
2005 Reading List Update
I've gotten about halfway through Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's been rather slow-going for me, but the story is very good. I think this may be one of those books that I struggle all the way through, but in the end am very glad that I read.