A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: book review

A Man Called Ove (2014) began as a blog and developed into a novel. It is about 59-year-old Swedish Ove, a grumpy Saab owner.

He likes things “the same as usual.” He is a man of rules, regulations, and routines. Why don’t other people follow the rules? Why don’t people know how to brew proper coffee any more? Why does The Pregnant One, his neighbour Parvaneh, who’s learning to drive, try to park her Japanese car where she’s not allowed? There’s a sign!

Ove has been a grumpy old man since he started junior school. He never gives anyone a compliment. He doesn’t like anything or anyone and finds it easy to comment about everything – always in the negative. He fights the whole world. He fights with hospital personnel and he fights with specialists and chief physicians. He fights with men in white shirts.

It’s hard to like someone like Ove. Or is it?

No-one can understand why Sonja married him. But Ove is never grumpy when he mentions his wife. Readers know where and how they met, and how he lied so that he could meet her. She is beautiful and she smiles all the time. And Ove had “never heard anything quite as amazing” as her voice. She liked talking and Ove liked listening – and that was Ove’s definition of compatible. He had “never lived before he met her.” He was smitten, yet he was inactive. Sonja told him when it was time to go on their first date, and she told him when to propose to her. And so they married. They love each other, and there’s a lot for the reader to like about that.

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2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

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