A Mixed Bag

Max Lundgren is according to me the best children's book writer Sweden has produced (Astrid Lindgren? who?) and especially his most famous book in this regard:  Åshöjdens BK is somewhat of a masterpiece. In that book the story circling around soccer is merely functioning as a greater setting and a vehicle for a much deeper story about the power tensions in a small society going through major upheavals. The child may majorly interest oneself in all the sports happenings, which is still cared for and well crafted, but the slightly hidden "actual" story gets under the skin in a way the child only truly can reflect on afterwards. In this way the author, who had (diseased 2005) the heart to the left politically, can do some political and societal commentary without being tacky or on the nose in any bothersome way. In any case Lundgren made complex and real characters regardless if they were supposed to be villains (like  The Blueberry king ), if they propagated the o...

(All books under this tag have been read in Swedish, if not stated otherwise)  My relationship to this book before reading consisted of vague memories of the Disney film made in 1954 - I remembered the mystically composed Captain Nemo, the desperate desire to escape from Sailor Ned and of course the disastrous Octopus attack. Other than that, I was rather blind to what the book would entail when I went into it. I knew Verne a bit since before, was aware that he was kinda like the OG science fiction writer and had one of his other work - 80 days around the world  - under my belt since high school but not much else did I know about this particular work.  The story then follows professor Arronax and his compatriots Conseil and Ned  which embark on an expedition with the mission to capture the strange new sea monster that has been terrorizing the seas of the world since some time ago. When the expedition encounters the monster, the three friends suddenly fall...