Short little essays and a couple of letters addressed to his daughter who was in the process of preparing for her birth musing on all sorts of little issues one encounters in life, people the author knows, and philosophical disquisitions on matters great and small. This is my first encounter with Knausgaard and I find his style reassuring, even when he touches on subjects which an edge. He touches on life and death but it is all basically optimistic, wry rather than rueful. I am inclined to pick up the volume which precedes this one in his "Seasons" series and might then consider whether to tackle his major series of books "My Struggle." ( )

if you loved "autumn" you will love "winter" ( )

I was very disappointed by Autumn, but with Winter my favorite author redeemed himself. The best essays still are the personal ones (and I'm still waiting what seems like forever for the last volume of My Struggle), but most of the others seemed less dry. Can't wait to read Spring, which just came out. ( )

Evidence that Knausgaard is a fine "noticer of things" but sometimes his forensic detail overwhelms rather than informs. ( )

Here we have Knausgaard's second, one for each season, and I'm still totally captivated by almost all of these short pieces on things and concepts of his everyday world. The books contain his essays in which he is explaining the world to his unborn − well, she was born while he was writing this volume − and I love them. Some of the subjects seem a little lame, but his mind works in ways that rarely disappoint me. There are some authors that you trust so much that you just put yourself in their hands and follow then wherever they go, Karl Ove has my trust many times over. ( )