[cetu86]

I'm currently starting to learn swedish myself. I was looking for the translation of "facing the west" but I think that was omitted in the translation. (Btw. Why is it facing THE west and not facing west anyways?) if the translation omits such a lot of detail it's not interesting to me.

[pigscantfly]

Honestly probably just literary license -- this author seems to employ pretty florid prose. I'd say it actually sounds more natural to say "towards the west / mot väster" in Swedish since it's more common to use as a noun vs. as an adverb than in English.

If you're in the US, I recommend bokon.se for ebooks -- they're one of very few sites that accepts American credit cards. Otherwise, you're kind of stuck with libraries (if you have one nearby with a good foreign language section) or packing your suitcase. I'd also recommend Historiepodden on Spotify and Sommarprat on sverigesradio.se -- don't really watch TV myself but others here have mentioned svtplay.se if you're into that.