Despite not having time for anything (or maybe because I still need something to switch my attention to), I recently listened to more audiobooks than usual. However, I am often left in a state of dissatisfaction. I do not know whether something is wrong with me or if I am following the wrong recommendations, but I do not know how to rate most books I have read recently. In many cases, the books didn’t meet my expectations, as with The Other Wes Moore, The Feminist City, and Gentrification is Inevitable. Each time I just started to get into the complexity of an issue, the book would end with no conclusion. Most likely, it’s me expecting the answer where there is none.
The situation is a little bit different with two books I just finished. One of them was Anxious People, which I picked up after an attempt of cashless bank robbery close to our office, and started to read on the long flight without an internet connection. The other one was There is no such thing as an easy job which was suggested for our book club discussion but didn’t make a cut. With both of these books, I feel the same way: I should like them; they are very insightful, with lots of unexpected twists, others like them, and I should like them too, but somehow, they are not “my” books.
I am going to leave it this way for now 🙂
Hettie's Reflections 
I tried “Anxious People” but ditched it very early and have no desire to read anything else by this author. Not that he writes badly but I found that Backman writes very similarly, overusing the same “techniques” over and over again, so you start seeing it as clear “manipulations” after some reiteration. It may be OK if you like this particular style but starts feeling distasteful very quickly. Overall, I feel that this “Backman love” is a phenomenon related mostly to the “undemanding” and underdeveloped tastes of young people. Which does not mean that you may sincerely like one or two of his particular stories (I personally still have warm feelings toward “A Man Called Ove”).
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I mostly agree with you, but still, something stops me from saying that it’s “for young people only.” I might think more, or might give another try 🙂
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(Ah yes, and the key problem here is that Backman promotes very GOOD values, he is 100% progressive in terms of tolerance, liberal ideas, feminism, LGBT issues, emigrant problems, etc. So modern and especially young people are in love with his books because of it or, at least, feel obliged to be in love. However, the literary style and the way of storytelling here is a completely different matter.)
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