The Best Book in the World

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Enter The Author, stage left.

Titus Jensen is going to type the first sentence of his new novel. He has been thinking about the wording all morning.

Enter The Author, stage left.

Titus can see the man before him. The Great Author, with his salad days far behind him. He has been granted just a few more occasions to bask in the limelight. Why he has suddenly been given the chance to earn a few more kronor from a public reading, the Great Author hasn’t a clue. He hasn’t written a book in ages.

Regrettably, he will not be able to read from one of his own books. No, his only chance to gain appreciation and applause is to grab the book that someone hands him the very second he goes up onto the stage. He is placed in front of a microphone and hardly has time to announce the title before the public bursts out laughing.

They are taking the mickey – that he does know. But in a loving way, he convinces himself. He is close to their hearts and that, at least, is better than sitting at home alone in his pad in Stockholm’s trendy Söder district. Besides, the booze and the drugs are free. He used to be culture. Now he is just a cult.

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