2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Beartown, the first book in the Beartown series by Fredrik Backman.

Pages: 432 pages

Length: 1 month (June)

Participants: Michelle1, Patricia, Beth, Lina

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Hello! I would like to participate to this buddy read, it's my very first here :)
Barbara

I'm in!

You are both very welcome to join! :)

I started to read this book yesterday.

I will start tomorrow.

I finished to read the book quite fast actually, and I really enjoyed it to the extent that I read the next book and just started the third! I don't know anything about hockey but I really liked the way it's the "center of the world" in this novel to trigger the narrative. The characters development is also very well thought through, which is always something I appreciate highly in a book, whether I like them or not.

I’m 75% of the way through and am thoroughly enjoying it. It’s got such heart!

Wow, BarbaraBrbru, you’re speeding right through the whole series!

Michelle wrote: "I’m 75% of the way through and am thoroughly enjoying it. It’s got such heart!

Wow, BarbaraBrbru, you’re speeding right through the whole series!"

Yes :))) Not sure I will finish the nb 3 before end of June as it got more than 600 pages but maybe!! I like this series, indeed.

I've finished the book...

(view spoiler)[Brilliant. Simply brilliant from start to finish. Now I must read the other books in the series. (hide spoiler)]

I haven't started yet. I have only this and one other June buddy read to do, and I've been focused on reading for a team challenge. Since the end of June is looming, my goal is to get this done by next weekend. Plus I think my Libby loan expires soon.

Beth, if it helps, please feel free to bail out of this book read.

Thanks, Michelle! I finished it last night.

I'm very torn about this one. The writing style didn't particularly appeal to me. It felt like the author was sometimes more interested in making deep philosophical statements than moving the story forward. Like, yeah, dude I get it, but I'm a lot more interested in what happens next! The story itself was, obviously, incredibly painful to read, even without (view spoiler)[Maya's rape (hide spoiler)].

I have to rate this one as 3 stars because I can't make up my mind about it. But I'm still thinking about it the next day (and I know I will be for a while), so it's definitely an effective work of art!

And all that said, I do want to finish the series. So a 3.5? :)

Michelle wrote: "I've finished the book...

[spoilers removed]"

I finished the nb 3, very good book too :)

Michelle wrote: "I've finished the book...

[spoilers removed]"

I've read the second one, but haven't been able to bring myself to read the third, which is strange because I've read all of his other novels and gave the second one in this trilogy 4 stars.

Beth wrote: "Thanks, Michelle! I finished it last night.

I'm very torn about this one. The writing style didn't particularly appeal to me. It felt like the author was sometimes more interested in making deep p..."

One of the things I like about Backman is his philosophical side, but it's not always this deep. It might be that he's not the author for you OR it might be that you'd prefer one of his humorous novels.