by Kate Carlisle
This is one of the books in the Bibliophile Mystery series. The story is about a bookbinder who seems to get involved in many murders. In this case, she is asked to repair the binding on a copy of Beauty and the Beast which she once owned. She had given the book to a couple as a gift and the book was later stolen. When she goes to speak to the bookseller who sold the book she comes upon his dead body. At the crime scene there is a book binders tool and her tire has been slashed with another bookbinder tool, which has the initials of a friend of hers who died three years before.
As she and her boyfriend set off to find out why someone is trying to frame a deadman, they find the man is not dead after all but hiding for his life.
The book was okay, but I found the romantic aspects of the book and the behaviour of the main character always mooning over her handsome beau and other men distracted from the story. The fact that there were several obsessive criminals involved in the story made it all a bit much to take. I don't think I'll bother with any other books in this series.
Friday, 31 August 2012
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
The Dewey Decimal System
by Nathan Larson
As a retired Librarian I was of course intrigued by this title.... I guess I thought it would be a story about a library or librarian. However, the library is only incidental to this very violent story.
The main character, who it appears is a victim of PTSD, doesn't know his real name or recall his past (was he given false memories and had others erased while he was in a miltary hospital?). The character, who is being called Dewey Decimal because he is living in the New York Public Library, is living in a New York that has been devastated by terrorist attacks. Most of the people have fled from the city and only the special/rich/useful people like him have the privilege of riding the subway.
Dewey Decimal is supported in his drug habit by the New York DA who has him carry out various illegal activities including assasinations. His latest task is to kill a Ukranian labour organizer. But as the story goes on Dewey starts to wonder what the real story is and who the bad guys really are. A woman he has been asked to kill has been kind to him-- she only shot him in the knee, didn't kill hiim.
This is not a book I would normally read and I did not enjoy all the gratuitous violence. The character, despite his propensity for violence does seem to have some sort of morals, but do we really care? NO!
This is a book I will gladly give away, I would never read it again.
As a retired Librarian I was of course intrigued by this title.... I guess I thought it would be a story about a library or librarian. However, the library is only incidental to this very violent story.
The main character, who it appears is a victim of PTSD, doesn't know his real name or recall his past (was he given false memories and had others erased while he was in a miltary hospital?). The character, who is being called Dewey Decimal because he is living in the New York Public Library, is living in a New York that has been devastated by terrorist attacks. Most of the people have fled from the city and only the special/rich/useful people like him have the privilege of riding the subway.
Dewey Decimal is supported in his drug habit by the New York DA who has him carry out various illegal activities including assasinations. His latest task is to kill a Ukranian labour organizer. But as the story goes on Dewey starts to wonder what the real story is and who the bad guys really are. A woman he has been asked to kill has been kind to him-- she only shot him in the knee, didn't kill hiim.
This is not a book I would normally read and I did not enjoy all the gratuitous violence. The character, despite his propensity for violence does seem to have some sort of morals, but do we really care? NO!
This is a book I will gladly give away, I would never read it again.
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Skios
by Michael Frayn,
This book is by the author of the play Copenhagen about the physicists Neils Bohr and Heisenberg meeting in the Danish city. This books is very different from the heady stuff of "Copenhagen". The book is a Man Booker nominee for 2012.
It takes place on a Greek Island, Skios, where a foundation that is promoting study of European culture is having its annual conference, featuring a reknowned guest speaker, and with many rich and influential people in attendance. The Keynote Speaker, Norman Wilfred, is not looking forward to the prospect of another speech at another conference, but things go worse than he expected. A young con man, Oliver Fox, identifies himself as the Doctor to a young woman waiting to met Dr. Wilfred and take him to the foundation, he also inadvertently takes Wildred's luggage.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wildfred is angry that his luggage has been lost and by the time he leaves the airport the only taxi remaining takes him to the villa which was supposed to be Oliver Fox's destination -- he was supposed to rendezvous there with a recent love interest. He gets to the Foundation and is very successful in convincing everyone that he is the brilliant Doctor. Interestingly, one of Dr. Wilfred's school chums is at the Foundation event and is aware that Oliver Fox is a fraud, but he doesn't tell anyone.
Like scens from one of Shakespeare's comedies, except that the characters have cell phones (which often go dead) and the mode of transport is taxis, characters run around chasing each other; there is some illegal activity underway by some of the guests and just as Oliver is about to deliver a speech, pretending to be Dr. Wildred, all hell breaks loose, with many lives lost.
Oliver, it seems, is able to escape from the carnage, but two people who are entirely innocent, are arrested. Dr. Wilfred is charged with several crimes, including inciting public disorder and being an accessory in the deaths of numerous people and Annuka Vos, Oliver's original girlfriend (one of two on the island planning to holiday with him) is charged with attempted murder, for pummeling the police for arresting Dr. Wilfred.
I don't read comedies very often but this was certainly a funny book and hard to put down.
This book is by the author of the play Copenhagen about the physicists Neils Bohr and Heisenberg meeting in the Danish city. This books is very different from the heady stuff of "Copenhagen". The book is a Man Booker nominee for 2012.
It takes place on a Greek Island, Skios, where a foundation that is promoting study of European culture is having its annual conference, featuring a reknowned guest speaker, and with many rich and influential people in attendance. The Keynote Speaker, Norman Wilfred, is not looking forward to the prospect of another speech at another conference, but things go worse than he expected. A young con man, Oliver Fox, identifies himself as the Doctor to a young woman waiting to met Dr. Wilfred and take him to the foundation, he also inadvertently takes Wildred's luggage.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wildfred is angry that his luggage has been lost and by the time he leaves the airport the only taxi remaining takes him to the villa which was supposed to be Oliver Fox's destination -- he was supposed to rendezvous there with a recent love interest. He gets to the Foundation and is very successful in convincing everyone that he is the brilliant Doctor. Interestingly, one of Dr. Wilfred's school chums is at the Foundation event and is aware that Oliver Fox is a fraud, but he doesn't tell anyone.
Like scens from one of Shakespeare's comedies, except that the characters have cell phones (which often go dead) and the mode of transport is taxis, characters run around chasing each other; there is some illegal activity underway by some of the guests and just as Oliver is about to deliver a speech, pretending to be Dr. Wildred, all hell breaks loose, with many lives lost.
Oliver, it seems, is able to escape from the carnage, but two people who are entirely innocent, are arrested. Dr. Wilfred is charged with several crimes, including inciting public disorder and being an accessory in the deaths of numerous people and Annuka Vos, Oliver's original girlfriend (one of two on the island planning to holiday with him) is charged with attempted murder, for pummeling the police for arresting Dr. Wilfred.
I don't read comedies very often but this was certainly a funny book and hard to put down.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
by Simon Mawer
This book is by the author of the Glass Room and Mendel' Dwarf. I found both of these books incredible.
I read a review of this book recently and the reviewer was disappointed in this book, compared to the Glass Room. I have to agree that this book wasn't as good as the Glass Room or Mendel's Dwarf in terms of the power of the story. However, it was still a good book.
This book is the story of a British girl, who is fluent in French, who is recruited to be an agent of the Special Operations Executive, working in France, during WWII. She is put through a variety of tests, physical and mental and receives training in escape, radio operations, weapons etc. She travels to France and works with the French resistance carrying messages, helping to arrange delivery of goods into France.
While she is performing her duties she is also pining over two men, a new one she has met and an old flame, a physicist, that she is trying to convince to leave for England to work for the allies on the development of an atomic bomb.
She also gets involved with trying to get a fellow agent out of France. However, she finds that she has been betrayed, by a person she thought her friend. She has the opportunity to leave for England as there is a price on her head... but she decides to stay to continue her work. Perhaps she was too confident in her self, to sure of herself. As with his other books there is a dramatic, shocking ending.
It was an interesting thriller, it raised issues of loyalty, how different people cope with war/invasion, is it okay to keep your head down or even comply with the "enemy"? Some people don't think about why they are doing dangerous things, they just do them. It makes you ask yourself how you think you would behave if in that situation.
This book is by the author of the Glass Room and Mendel' Dwarf. I found both of these books incredible.
I read a review of this book recently and the reviewer was disappointed in this book, compared to the Glass Room. I have to agree that this book wasn't as good as the Glass Room or Mendel's Dwarf in terms of the power of the story. However, it was still a good book.
This book is the story of a British girl, who is fluent in French, who is recruited to be an agent of the Special Operations Executive, working in France, during WWII. She is put through a variety of tests, physical and mental and receives training in escape, radio operations, weapons etc. She travels to France and works with the French resistance carrying messages, helping to arrange delivery of goods into France.
While she is performing her duties she is also pining over two men, a new one she has met and an old flame, a physicist, that she is trying to convince to leave for England to work for the allies on the development of an atomic bomb.
She also gets involved with trying to get a fellow agent out of France. However, she finds that she has been betrayed, by a person she thought her friend. She has the opportunity to leave for England as there is a price on her head... but she decides to stay to continue her work. Perhaps she was too confident in her self, to sure of herself. As with his other books there is a dramatic, shocking ending.
It was an interesting thriller, it raised issues of loyalty, how different people cope with war/invasion, is it okay to keep your head down or even comply with the "enemy"? Some people don't think about why they are doing dangerous things, they just do them. It makes you ask yourself how you think you would behave if in that situation.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Blessed are the Dead
by Malla Nunn
This story takes place in Apartheid South Africa. A white detective is sent to investigate a mysterious death(murder?) of a black girl, daughter of a tribal Chief, in a rural area. The circumstances are puzzling right from the start. Why was the murder reported to the police in Durban, not to the local police? The call came from a white woman (judging from her voice and speech), how would a white woman be involved....
The detective takes along his assistant a Zulu. They run into road blocks and evidence of racial conflict all along their investigation. The local police seem disinterested if not incompetent and are glad to let the Durban police take the case. The local doctor is reluctant to do the autopsy, the girls family wants to take her body for burial, and how was the young boy from the farm where the young girl worked, the one who keeps running away from school and living in the hills, involved in the murder.
The story also describes native culture, burial ceremonies and the beliefs in spirits, black magic and superstitions.
This is another detective story where the detective is haunted by his past, including his military expereince. Like the inspector in the Charles Todd books, this detective is haunted by a Scottish ghost, a military acquaintance. It is also about a detective who is willing to go against instructions to get to the bottom of things. Fortunately for him, his boss is willing to overlook his misdemeanors, as long as it does not impact badly on the boss. The boss seems to be sympathethic to the detective and his partner.
I enjoyed this book, didn't want to put it down. The way the tension between the races was portrayed was interesting. Also interesting was that the detective and his partner behave as expected in this world but also use the white cop/black cop roles to their advantage in dealing with people they interview. The book was interesting incorporating a traditional mystery format set in an unfamiliar culture.
How did the black evangelist know about the promise the detective made to his mother? Will the detective do anything to honour his promise to his mother to have a family.? I guess we'll find out in the next book.
This story takes place in Apartheid South Africa. A white detective is sent to investigate a mysterious death(murder?) of a black girl, daughter of a tribal Chief, in a rural area. The circumstances are puzzling right from the start. Why was the murder reported to the police in Durban, not to the local police? The call came from a white woman (judging from her voice and speech), how would a white woman be involved....
The detective takes along his assistant a Zulu. They run into road blocks and evidence of racial conflict all along their investigation. The local police seem disinterested if not incompetent and are glad to let the Durban police take the case. The local doctor is reluctant to do the autopsy, the girls family wants to take her body for burial, and how was the young boy from the farm where the young girl worked, the one who keeps running away from school and living in the hills, involved in the murder.
The story also describes native culture, burial ceremonies and the beliefs in spirits, black magic and superstitions.
This is another detective story where the detective is haunted by his past, including his military expereince. Like the inspector in the Charles Todd books, this detective is haunted by a Scottish ghost, a military acquaintance. It is also about a detective who is willing to go against instructions to get to the bottom of things. Fortunately for him, his boss is willing to overlook his misdemeanors, as long as it does not impact badly on the boss. The boss seems to be sympathethic to the detective and his partner.
I enjoyed this book, didn't want to put it down. The way the tension between the races was portrayed was interesting. Also interesting was that the detective and his partner behave as expected in this world but also use the white cop/black cop roles to their advantage in dealing with people they interview. The book was interesting incorporating a traditional mystery format set in an unfamiliar culture.
How did the black evangelist know about the promise the detective made to his mother? Will the detective do anything to honour his promise to his mother to have a family.? I guess we'll find out in the next book.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
The Unlikely Pilgrimmage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
This was such a nice refreshing book to read after the last one I started (the Jade Cat). I haven't finished the Jade Cat, it is so dark and depressing.... and hopeless).
This book is about hope, faith, forgiveness, caring and redemption. It is the story of a man who recently retired from a sales job at a distillery. He receives a letter from a woman he worked with at the distillery years before. She tells him she is dying of cancer but has been thinking of him.
He doesn't know how to respond to the letter but decides to write a short reply and sets of to the mailbox to post it. However, when he gets to the mailbox he keeps walking, and then he gets to the next one and keeps on walking. He gets to a service station where he tells a young girl about the letter and his sadness and she tells him that her aunt survived cancer because she (the girl) had faith that she could beat it.
Harold decides that if he walks all the way from his home in south England to the hopsice in the North of England that he will be able to save Queenie. He sets off, phoning his wife, to tell her his plan. She of course thinks he is crazy but they h
tave not been getting on well for years.
As Harold walks he thinks about his life, his marriage, his relationship with Queenie, and the fact that she took the blame for something he did and lost her job as a result. Harold's wife doesn't really like him but she is jealous of Queenie and worried that her husband will leave her for Queenie.
As Harold walks he meets many people. tells them his story and also listens to theirs. Along the way many people are very kind and helpful but eventually he develops a crowd of groupies who disturb his peace of mind, his determination and his progress. Evenutally they part ways but by this time he has become a media celebrity, much to his chagrin,
As Harold walks, both he and his wife review their lives and their behaviour and rediscover their love for each other. Harold does make it to see Queenie, she has been staying alive awaiting his arrival, he is shocked at her condition and that he cannot save her despite his physical sacrifice. However, at the end he is at peace as is she.
So many books this day are about anger and blame and the inability to forgive or accept responsibility. This was a lovely redemptive story.
This was such a nice refreshing book to read after the last one I started (the Jade Cat). I haven't finished the Jade Cat, it is so dark and depressing.... and hopeless).
This book is about hope, faith, forgiveness, caring and redemption. It is the story of a man who recently retired from a sales job at a distillery. He receives a letter from a woman he worked with at the distillery years before. She tells him she is dying of cancer but has been thinking of him.
He doesn't know how to respond to the letter but decides to write a short reply and sets of to the mailbox to post it. However, when he gets to the mailbox he keeps walking, and then he gets to the next one and keeps on walking. He gets to a service station where he tells a young girl about the letter and his sadness and she tells him that her aunt survived cancer because she (the girl) had faith that she could beat it.
Harold decides that if he walks all the way from his home in south England to the hopsice in the North of England that he will be able to save Queenie. He sets off, phoning his wife, to tell her his plan. She of course thinks he is crazy but they h
tave not been getting on well for years.
As Harold walks he thinks about his life, his marriage, his relationship with Queenie, and the fact that she took the blame for something he did and lost her job as a result. Harold's wife doesn't really like him but she is jealous of Queenie and worried that her husband will leave her for Queenie.
As Harold walks he meets many people. tells them his story and also listens to theirs. Along the way many people are very kind and helpful but eventually he develops a crowd of groupies who disturb his peace of mind, his determination and his progress. Evenutally they part ways but by this time he has become a media celebrity, much to his chagrin,
As Harold walks, both he and his wife review their lives and their behaviour and rediscover their love for each other. Harold does make it to see Queenie, she has been staying alive awaiting his arrival, he is shocked at her condition and that he cannot save her despite his physical sacrifice. However, at the end he is at peace as is she.
So many books this day are about anger and blame and the inability to forgive or accept responsibility. This was a lovely redemptive story.
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