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.
Thursday, 16 August 2012
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.
Saturday, 21 July 2012
April Fool
by William Deverell,
This is the first book I have read by this author but it won't be my last. I don't think I have ever read a book that was a mystery and funny at the same time.
A retired lawyer, enjoying life as a hobby farmer on the coast of BC, is shocked to learn that a former client is under arrest for rape and murder. Arthur Beauchamp still feels guilty about his last case, one of the few cases he lost, because he feels this client was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. It doesn't look good on the surface of things for the accused as he was found, dressed in drag, trying to escape the area after the robbery and murder in the area.
While Athur is being urged to come out of retirement to fight this one last case his wife is engaged in an activist campaign against a development near their property and is camping up a tree to protest the development and destruction of the forest.
While Arthur is trying to support his wife and her cause, and defend his client who has escaped custody he must deal with the local handymen who keep borrowing/damaging his vehicles and destroying his property. It is like something out of Ballykissangel or Green Acres. In addition he has to deal with two young and weird young lawyers and cantakerous judges.
The story has many twists and turns and many hilarious parts, especially when Beauchamp is able to proceed with questionable questioning from a normally grumpy judge because the judge has fallen asleep and then everyone is afraid to wake him but the time has come to close the proceedings for the day.
The ending of the book is unexpected and unpredicteed but the crime does get solved, the "innocent" thief is given a handslap penatly for escaping custody and Arthur can turn his legal skill to helping his wife and her environmental cause.
A very well written and engaging story,
This is the first book I have read by this author but it won't be my last. I don't think I have ever read a book that was a mystery and funny at the same time.
A retired lawyer, enjoying life as a hobby farmer on the coast of BC, is shocked to learn that a former client is under arrest for rape and murder. Arthur Beauchamp still feels guilty about his last case, one of the few cases he lost, because he feels this client was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. It doesn't look good on the surface of things for the accused as he was found, dressed in drag, trying to escape the area after the robbery and murder in the area.
While Athur is being urged to come out of retirement to fight this one last case his wife is engaged in an activist campaign against a development near their property and is camping up a tree to protest the development and destruction of the forest.
While Arthur is trying to support his wife and her cause, and defend his client who has escaped custody he must deal with the local handymen who keep borrowing/damaging his vehicles and destroying his property. It is like something out of Ballykissangel or Green Acres. In addition he has to deal with two young and weird young lawyers and cantakerous judges.
The story has many twists and turns and many hilarious parts, especially when Beauchamp is able to proceed with questionable questioning from a normally grumpy judge because the judge has fallen asleep and then everyone is afraid to wake him but the time has come to close the proceedings for the day.
The ending of the book is unexpected and unpredicteed but the crime does get solved, the "innocent" thief is given a handslap penatly for escaping custody and Arthur can turn his legal skill to helping his wife and her environmental cause.
A very well written and engaging story,
Saturday, 7 July 2012
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar
by Susanne Joinson
I picked up this book on a whim, I can't remember if I saw it in a bookstore on an an online list. The book takes place in two times and places, the first part of the story takes place in the 1920's or 1930's in Kashgar, a desert region in what is now China. Three British women are travelling east with the goal of converting the infidels to Christianity. They arrive in the Kashgar region and are met with the scene of a woman screaming and giving birth in the street. They try to assist her. She dies but her baby lives. The locals believe they have murdered the woman so the three women are put under house arrest until the trial.
They take the baby with them and one of the women, Evangeline is given responsibility for the baby. The other two women, Millicent and Eva's sister Lizzie are truly devote and committed to missionary work. Evangeline has gone along for the adventure not for a true religious calling. She wants to write a journal of the trip and has brought along a bike which she loves to ride because riding it makes her feel like she is flying. While the women wait for their trial they struggle to feed the baby and Millicent tries to convert people and to publish religious tracts in translation with the help of a local priest who can speak and write Arabic. Lizzie is not as commited to converting people as Millicent. She has an expensive camera and likes to take pictures. Millicent tries to convert a Muslim woman, the woman is later murdered by her husband. Eva is shocked to learn that Millicent and her sister are in a lesbian relationship. Millicent's treatment of Lizzie results in her death. The political situation is getting dangerous and Eva ends up having to flee with a few belongings and the baby and undergoes a very difficult journey back to civilization with the help of some people who guide her and arrange her passage out. She eventually gets her journal published and becomes the mistress of her publisher (having adopted the baby and renaming her).
The other story takes place in England in the present and involves a woman Frieda, who travels the developing world writing reports for a think tank and Tayeb, a man from Yemen, whom she finds sleeping in the hallway outside her door. After she leaves him a blanket and pillow he draws some lovely pictures on her wall. Tayeb, who was a photographer and film maker in his home country had to leave his country because of some filming he did and some artistic grafitti he did on walls. He is an illegal immigrant and is being pursued by the British police. Frieda is wrestling with her current life, her job, her boyfriend who is a married man. She is told that she is the only relative of Irene Guy, recently deceased and that she can go through Ms. Guys belongings or the local council will dispose of her belongings. Taleb and Frieda go to Irene's flat and discover an early Leica camera, maps books in several languages and what appears to be a diary. Frieda can't figure out how she is related to this woman and goes in search of her mother to help get an answer. She finds out that Irene is her Grandmother. Her mother had told her that her grandmother was dead.
Near the end of the book Eva quotes, her adopted daughter Irene " Eva, I can never reach the places you have been to. How am I supposed to? She said she found me suffocating". She later says "I am sure she will travel, go to the places she talks of". Frieda's Mother complains that her mother talked about travelling but never did. Irene's house is filled with her mother's items, the camera, books diary, etc. We never find out why she has an owl as a pet.
I found this an interesting story, the details about life in the desert were detailed and powerful, but tragic. The story of Frieda and Tayeb was gentle and touching. His father raised birds. Taleb tells Frieda he used to dream of flying on an ostrich (ostriches can't fly) I have to say that I was quite puzzled by the choices of the mothers in this story,. Irene Guy offers Frieda's pregnant mom a home as long as she comes without the child's father. And Frieda's mother eventually abandons her and ends up ill and living in a commune under a vow of silence. She tells Frieda she didn't want to be part of the cycle of single mothers with children. However, she didn't want Frieda to call her Mother even before she left her.
As the story ends Tayeb is being smuggled into Amsterdam. He tells Frieda he has taken the Leica camera and for her to find him and he will give it back. The story ends with Frieda taking a sabbatical from work and boarding a train, along with the owl for a holiday at the sea. The owl is hooting at her (as if she is its mate) and she hoots back.
This book seems to have themes of art/documentation/writing, flying (as a metaphor for freedom) and travel or the desire to get away. Three of the women, Eva, Frieda's Mother and Frieda seem to be restless and want to get away from ordinary life. Tayeb on the other hand longs to have a home and an stable, safe life.
I picked up this book on a whim, I can't remember if I saw it in a bookstore on an an online list. The book takes place in two times and places, the first part of the story takes place in the 1920's or 1930's in Kashgar, a desert region in what is now China. Three British women are travelling east with the goal of converting the infidels to Christianity. They arrive in the Kashgar region and are met with the scene of a woman screaming and giving birth in the street. They try to assist her. She dies but her baby lives. The locals believe they have murdered the woman so the three women are put under house arrest until the trial.
They take the baby with them and one of the women, Evangeline is given responsibility for the baby. The other two women, Millicent and Eva's sister Lizzie are truly devote and committed to missionary work. Evangeline has gone along for the adventure not for a true religious calling. She wants to write a journal of the trip and has brought along a bike which she loves to ride because riding it makes her feel like she is flying. While the women wait for their trial they struggle to feed the baby and Millicent tries to convert people and to publish religious tracts in translation with the help of a local priest who can speak and write Arabic. Lizzie is not as commited to converting people as Millicent. She has an expensive camera and likes to take pictures. Millicent tries to convert a Muslim woman, the woman is later murdered by her husband. Eva is shocked to learn that Millicent and her sister are in a lesbian relationship. Millicent's treatment of Lizzie results in her death. The political situation is getting dangerous and Eva ends up having to flee with a few belongings and the baby and undergoes a very difficult journey back to civilization with the help of some people who guide her and arrange her passage out. She eventually gets her journal published and becomes the mistress of her publisher (having adopted the baby and renaming her).
The other story takes place in England in the present and involves a woman Frieda, who travels the developing world writing reports for a think tank and Tayeb, a man from Yemen, whom she finds sleeping in the hallway outside her door. After she leaves him a blanket and pillow he draws some lovely pictures on her wall. Tayeb, who was a photographer and film maker in his home country had to leave his country because of some filming he did and some artistic grafitti he did on walls. He is an illegal immigrant and is being pursued by the British police. Frieda is wrestling with her current life, her job, her boyfriend who is a married man. She is told that she is the only relative of Irene Guy, recently deceased and that she can go through Ms. Guys belongings or the local council will dispose of her belongings. Taleb and Frieda go to Irene's flat and discover an early Leica camera, maps books in several languages and what appears to be a diary. Frieda can't figure out how she is related to this woman and goes in search of her mother to help get an answer. She finds out that Irene is her Grandmother. Her mother had told her that her grandmother was dead.
Near the end of the book Eva quotes, her adopted daughter Irene " Eva, I can never reach the places you have been to. How am I supposed to? She said she found me suffocating". She later says "I am sure she will travel, go to the places she talks of". Frieda's Mother complains that her mother talked about travelling but never did. Irene's house is filled with her mother's items, the camera, books diary, etc. We never find out why she has an owl as a pet.
I found this an interesting story, the details about life in the desert were detailed and powerful, but tragic. The story of Frieda and Tayeb was gentle and touching. His father raised birds. Taleb tells Frieda he used to dream of flying on an ostrich (ostriches can't fly) I have to say that I was quite puzzled by the choices of the mothers in this story,. Irene Guy offers Frieda's pregnant mom a home as long as she comes without the child's father. And Frieda's mother eventually abandons her and ends up ill and living in a commune under a vow of silence. She tells Frieda she didn't want to be part of the cycle of single mothers with children. However, she didn't want Frieda to call her Mother even before she left her.
As the story ends Tayeb is being smuggled into Amsterdam. He tells Frieda he has taken the Leica camera and for her to find him and he will give it back. The story ends with Frieda taking a sabbatical from work and boarding a train, along with the owl for a holiday at the sea. The owl is hooting at her (as if she is its mate) and she hoots back.
This book seems to have themes of art/documentation/writing, flying (as a metaphor for freedom) and travel or the desire to get away. Three of the women, Eva, Frieda's Mother and Frieda seem to be restless and want to get away from ordinary life. Tayeb on the other hand longs to have a home and an stable, safe life.
The Laughter of Dead Kings
by Elizabeth Peters
This story is about Vicky Bliss, an art historian and sleuth who along with her boyfriend (who is thought to be a criminal and possibly iimplicated in the crime) are asked to solve the theft of King Tut's mummy from his tomb, before the news gets out to the public.
They are followed by various dark individuals and a woman who is a romantic interest of Vicky's boss-- is she really interested in him? or just using him to get to them? They end up hopping around Europe before finally making it to the scene of the crime in the company of Vicky's boss who is a bit of a dandy and who seems to have unlimted wealth and influence. It turns out colleagial jealousy is at the heart of the crime.
The story was quite light, it moved quickly and kept you wondering who could be trusted. It was an okay summer read.
This story is about Vicky Bliss, an art historian and sleuth who along with her boyfriend (who is thought to be a criminal and possibly iimplicated in the crime) are asked to solve the theft of King Tut's mummy from his tomb, before the news gets out to the public.
They are followed by various dark individuals and a woman who is a romantic interest of Vicky's boss-- is she really interested in him? or just using him to get to them? They end up hopping around Europe before finally making it to the scene of the crime in the company of Vicky's boss who is a bit of a dandy and who seems to have unlimted wealth and influence. It turns out colleagial jealousy is at the heart of the crime.
The story was quite light, it moved quickly and kept you wondering who could be trusted. It was an okay summer read.
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