2019 Reading: Beartown by Fredrik Backman

#2019reading One surprising read for 2019 was Beartown, by Fredrik Backman. This is a story of a depressed town in rural Sweden that (perhaps unadvisedly) pins its hopes on its youth hockey team. Beartown was more engaging than I would have imagined. I tend not to pick up sports-related novels, but this was really a story of a whole town told through the lens of hockey, and it was at times engaging, sad, furious, and funny with a cast of well-rounded characters. Beartown touches on economics, jobs, immigration, and women's rights in a thoughtful way.