A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: Book Beginning

Visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader for other books chosen for this meme.

Title: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Published July 15, 2014; Atria Books

Book beginning: A Man Called Ove Buys a Computer That Is Not a Computer

Ove is fifty-nine.
He drives a Saab. He is the kind of man who points at people he doesn't like the look of, as if they were burglars and his forefinger a policeman's flashlight. He stands at the corner of  a shop where owners of Japanese cars come to purchased white cables. Ove eyes the sales assistant for a long time before shaking a medium-sized white box at him.
"So this is one of those O-Pads, is it?" he demands. 

Page 56: 

You miss the strangest things when you lose someone. Little things. Smiles. The way she turned over in her sleep. Even repainting a room for her.

Publisher description: "In this bestselling and delightfully quirky debut novel from Sweden, a grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations."

Would you keep reading the book based on the beginning and the excerpt?

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

Visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey, and Mailbox Monday each week to see what's new on readers' bookshelves.

My mailbox has been full these past two weeks, with books for tours and books and ARCs that I want to get to this summer!

Gutenberg's Apprentice

An enthralling literary debut that evokes one of the most momentous events in history, the birth of printing in medieval Germany—a story of invention, intrigue, and betrayal, rich in atmosphere and historical detail, told through the lives of the three men who made it possible. To be published September 23, 2014 by Harper.

Victus: The Fall of Barcelona

Historical epic, set in early eighteenth-century Spain, about a military mastermind whose betrayal ultimately leads to the conquest of Barcelona, from the globally popular Catalonian writer Albert Sánchez Piñol. A sweeping tale of heroism, treason, war, love, pride, and regret that culminates in the tragic fall of a legendary city, illustrated with battle diagrams, portraits of political figures, and priceless maps of the old city of Barcelona.

A Man Called Ove

A quirky debut novel from Sweden, a grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

The House We Grew Up In

Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond....Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

The Stone Wife

At a Bath auction house, a large slab of carved stone is up for sale, but  three masked robbers shoot and kill the highest bidder, a professor who has recognized the female figure carved in the stone as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath. The masked would-be thieves flee, leaving the stone behind.  Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond and his team are assigned to investigate, and the stone is moved into Diamond’s office so he can research its origins. The carving causes such difficulties that he starts to think it has jinxed him. 

The Butcher

Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur in Seattle, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him… Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands. A high-octane novel about lethal secrets that refuse to die. 

Lords of the Sky

Retired USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton offers the first comprehensive popular history of combat aviation—an action-packed look at the aces of the air and their machines, from the Red Baron and his triplane in World War I to today’s technologically expert flying warriors in supersonic jets.

Get Carter

Set in the late 1960s amidst the smokestacks and hardcases of the industrial north of England, Get Carter redefined British crime fiction and cinema alike. Jack Carter returns home to the mill town of Scunthorpe to investigate his brother's death. Adapted into the film starring Michael Caine, Get Carter—originally published as Jack’s Return Home. Along with the other two novels in the Jack Carter Trilogy, it is one of the most important crime novels of all time. (goodreads)

Maisie Dobbs The 10th Anniversary Edition with a special Afterword by the author. Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, took her under her wing. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left for France to serve at the Front during WWI. Ten years after the Armistice, in 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something very different.

Which of these novels - historical, contemporary, mystery, or nonfiction would you start reading first?