"It Took A While Before The Message Seeped Into His Soul, But Once There, It Was There Forever: Things Are What They Are, And Whatever Will Be Will Be"

At first when I started reading The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, I was a little thrown off by the writing, as it felt a little simple and almost choppy in a way. I was aware that the book had been translated from Swedish, so I assumed that a lot of that was just a "lost in translation". But the more I got into the book, the more accustomed I got, and I now actually think that the writing was more intentional, with a lot of dry humor that came across as a bit blunt, but that still gave me a smile here and there from a subtle wry wit.

The best way I can describe this book is charming. It tells the story of a man (as the very literal title implies), explosive expert Allan Karlsson, who crawls out of the window of his old folk's home on his 100th birthday because he doesn't want to stay for his birthday party. And from there, after impulsively deciding to steal a suitcase at a bus station, Allan experiences a very interesting series of events that introduces him to a very colorful cast of characters while being hunted for a number of crimes. Interspersed with the main story of Allan at 100 years old is the story of Allan's life, including numerous anecdotes about his impact on many events of global history: affecting outcomes during the Spanish Civil War with General Franco, involvement in helping create the atom bomb at Los Alamos and his friendship with President Truman, affecting interactions with Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek, walking over the Himalayas from China to Iran, giving nuclear information to the Russians, being detained in a Russian prison, lying his way into meeting Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in North Korea, living in a hotel in Bali, and many many other adventures.

However, the main take-away from this book is really to live life to it's fullest, no matter your age. All of the things that Allan's character did at any age could have been done by anyone at any age (he blows up his own house at a young age and again at a very old age!). And the character of Allan has a very laid-back, non-intrusive approach to the events of his own life....like the title quote says, he kind of just accepts the events of his life as they are and moves forward through them, without much significant emotion in them; mostly just acknowledging the pleasant things that come his way (this largely revolves around drinking...drinking preferably high-end vodka).

So if you're looking for a relatively quick read (even given the nearly 400 pages) that will make you smile, and maybe give a little bit of a history lesson, then I would recommend this one.

So I'm back to the reading lists. Next up is Pride and Prejudice. Believe it or not, I've never ready any Jane Austen. I'll admit to having seen the movie of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly, although I don't think I've actually seen it all the way through. So hopefully actually reading it will be enjoyable - I know I liked what I saw of the movie.

Off to it!