My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (FIC Bac)

Elsa is almost eight when her beloved Granny dies.  Bullied and teased at school because she is different (she is), Granny was not just Elsa's best friend but her only friend.  Granny might have been crazy (like firing paintballs at the neighbors crazy) and fearless but she also introduced Elsa to the Land-of-Almost-Awake.  It is to this land of fairy tales that Elsa and Granny escaped at night.  A land where no one needs to be normal and everybody is different.

When Granny dies, she leaves a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged and asks Elsa to deliver them to the other residents of their apartment building.  In doing so, Elsa learns not just about the other people in the building - from The Monster to the woman who wears black skirts to the boy with a syndrome and his mother - but also about Granny.  In the process she also learns more about the Land-of-Almost-Awake and its origins.

Elsa is a precocious child, smart beyond her years and completely sympathetic.  I cried throughout the book but I don't want to leave the impression that it is a sad book.  Far from it.  I laughed every time Elsa turned to Wikipedia for help or when she and one of her neighbors (and now friend) bickered.  Her fascination with all things Harry Potter rang true, down to her obsession with her Gryffindor scarf.  And who but Elsa would think that a giant dog (a "wurse" in the Land-of-Almost Awake) actually understood her when she told it to hide and stay hidden.

The author's first book (A Man Called Ove) was written from the perspective of a 59-year-old man.  This one, written completely from the perspective of an almost eight-year-old, is a wonder.  The fairy tales are woven into and around the other plots and everything ties together at the end.

I loved this book.  I think Fredrik Backman is my new favorite author.

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