"Sweet"
If you're happy, music can make you more happy. If you're sad, music can make you even more sad. That's how it works for me. Back when the kids were young, everytime at the last day in school before the summer break when they started to sing "Den blomstertid nu kommer", I started to cry. It was "happy tears", a strange combination of relief, happiness and of course I was proud over the two junior Fröbergs. If you're talking about strong emotions, this is the winner.
I guess it's the same with books. If you're in the mood and you have the time, reading a book can be just like walking into another world, or stepping into another mans/womans life. I love biographies. To read about Keith Richards or Led Zep (The hammer of the Gods), can be very interresting. I guess I must at least have read about 20 biographies about rock celebreties such as Ian Gillan, Eric Clapton, LOTS of Stones books, AC/DC, Lemmy's "White line fever" amongst others. Still got some more to take care of, for instance Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chilipeppers) is suposed to be very good. The one that tops the list is the book of Sharon Osbourne and her "power struggle" with her dad Don Arden. I also like English thrillers a lot, Peter Robinsson, Steven Both and Ian Ranking to name a few. I have to say, even though I might not be that objective, that the Swedish writers (thrillers) are really good nowadays. Roslund/Hellström, Kjell Eriksson, Håkan Nesser, Karin Ljungstedt and of course the international "smash hit" Stieg Larsson and his "Millennium trilogy". In less than a year ago, he was the second most sold author in the WORLD!
The latest book I read is called "Snabba cash" (Fast cash) and is written by the Swedish author Jens Lapidus. I had my doubts because of the "corny" title but the book is fantastic! It's about a world you wish didn't exist. There's three main characters, with three totally different backgrounds. One of the guys is from a little town in Sweden, with one goal in life, to become rich. He studies at the university and drives a cab in his free time. In the weekends he parties with the "jet set" and among them the kids of the royal family, in the clubs around Stureplan in central Stockholm. He's very smart, he got the look but he lives a "doublelife", since he doesn't have rich parents and the way of life those people have. To get the possibility to party for a FORTUNE every weekend he starts to sell cocaine and supply his so called friends with it. Another guy is from Chile, has done some time in jail but manages to escape and changes his looks radically. He lives in one of the nothern suburbs to Stockholm, he's also smart and creative but he doesn't have the look that will get him into the "fancy" clubs and that makes him very frustrated. The third guy is from Serbia and he was very active in the ethnic war in former Yugoslavia. He can kill or torture people just like if he was changing his underwear. He's one of the main guys in the Serb Mafia, who controls lots of the criminally related stuff in Stockholm and also the drugs and the drug dealers in and around the capital city of Sweden. The book is VERY exciting and Jens (the author) reaches a very psychological level as well, where you sometimes, feels lots of sympathy and sometimes hates the guys. It's never just black and white, if you know what I mean. To be somebody and to be rich, no matter the cost is the common thing for these three. After a while they cross each other paths while they're still on their "way up" making big deals and earning lots of money. At the same time they're now heavily addicted to coke themselves, which clouds their judgement and they don't know who to trust. This, lots of other interresting side stories and a pretty cool ending makes this book a real "killer". If this will become an international hit, remember where you heard it first!