Travel and Books

We have returned to the coast from our trip to Nebraska and Colorado. It was good seeing the families in Nebraska, but the time has come for us to stop driving such long distances. It was very tiring because we haven't "right good sense" as my grandmother used to say, and we go farther each day with ten hours of driving - not smart! So we have made the decision to only go two days of driving from home from now on. The scattered families will just have to come see us!

I did get a lot of reading done, so have some short reviews of the books.


1) A Trick of the Light - Louise Penny - I think she just gets better and better with her tales of Three Pines village in Quebec, and the murderous goings-on there. Trick tells the story of an art critic's death, and the suspects are all the villagers! I enjoyed this book on my NOOK and was sorry when it ended, but Penny has already written the next book, and has started on another, so I'll have at least two more to read in the future.


2 and 3) The Redbreast and The Devil's Star - Jo Nesbo - I hadn't realized that the Harry Hole books should be read in sequence, and I read Nemesis, the second book, on my NOOK before reading Redbreast. So I knew something of what was going to happen in Redbreast. It was a great beginning to Nesbo's stories, and not spoiled by my reading Nemesis first. The Devil's Star follows Nemesis, and made me anxious to read the next in the series. Now I find that there is one book before Redbreast! These are pretty gritty stories, but I like the pace and most of the main characters.


4) Cloud Chamber - Michael Dorris - I had only read Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Dorris, so wasn't sure if this would be as good, but I did like it. The plot follows a family from Ireland to Kentucky to California and on to Montana. It is told in the voices of the various members of the family - some are good people, but some are greedy and not anyone you'd want to know!


5) Two for Sorrow - Nicola Upson - The second mystery with Josephine Tey as the main character. I was surprised to find out who the murderer was, and the story - concerning baby farmers in the early 20th century who murdered newborns rather than finding adoptive homes for them - is based on actual case histories. These books are set in Britain between the two world wars - as are the Maisie Dobbs books - and I find them very interesting and good reads.


6) Hypothermia - Arnaldur Indridason - Erlandur is off again solving a suicide that everyone wishes he would just leave alone. And he is still worrying about missing persons - especially his brother whose bones have never been found. Very good - and read on NOOK.


7) Our Kind of Traitor - John le Carre - Audio Book - It has been years since I last read a le Carre book, but we bought the audio book in Nebraska for the long drive home, and it was well worth it - to my way of thinking, but not to my husband's. He prefers "Jane Austen endings" and this left him rewriting the last chapter - or adding another chapter - to his liking! I thought it was a typical John le Carre ending and didn't expect anything else. The reader - Robin Sachs (not a relative!) did a good job of portraying all the characters.


8) A Painted House - John Grisham - Audio Book - Another for the long days of driving. Interesting story unlike other books by Grisham, and a good one to listen to. A boy tells  the story of growing up on a cotton farm, and the poor life he and his family had when the crops weren't good. With a Tom Sawyer twist in painting the farm house.


So now it's back to housework with a lot of reading in between chores!

So Many Books...........

I think I will list "books read" each month with a tiny review. I'm not the writer my daughter is, so won't try to give more than a brief outline of the story - as I write it when I've finished each book. So here goes.


 Necessary as Blood - Deborah Crombie - The most recent of Crombie's books, and a good one. Kincaid and Gemma are back again - There is a missing mother, a murdered father and a sweet little girl. Gemma is very taken with the little girl - and Gemma and Kincaid are about to be married - maybe.


A Lonely Death - Charles Todd - This is the first Todd book I've read in a long time. I began to tire of Rutledge and "Hamish" after the first six books, but this was a fast read, and interesting. Someone is killing the young men in a village by garroting, and it looks as if it has something to do with their service in WWI.


Fearful Symmetry - Morag Joss - The second of her books I've read, and to me not as good as the first. This one was funny in places, but the "mystery" took a long time to develop. Sara Selkirk - the heroine of the first book - is a cellist. This story concerns a "community opera" written by an unknown composer, a composer who will remain unknown, and an unruly bunch of performers. Sara and Andrew, who is probably the least involved Detective Inspector I ever read about, are the star-crossed lovers.


A Change in Altitude - Anita Shreve - A couple living in Kenya climb Mt. Kenya. There is a tragic accident that leads to problems with the young couple. A depressing story, not helped by my reading it while down with pneumonia!


Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny - How I do love reading these books! Having lived in Quebec and recognizing some of the locations makes the stories even more interesting to me. This one weaves three threads of mystery - a terrorist plot, finding the burial place of Champlain and discovering a killer.


The Season of Second Chances - Diane Meier - A debut novel about a woman professor who decides to change her life by changing jobs - from teaching at Columbia University to teaching at Amhurst - buys a Victorian house that is a definite fixer-upper - becomes involved with various men and finds her life quite changed. A fun, quick read.


Whistling in the Dark - Lesley Kagen - Another first novel about two little girls in a very dysfunctional family in 1959. Something of a mystery, but more about growing up and discovering life. Not a comfortable read.


Up at the Villa - W. Somerset Maugham - A real change of pace. One of Maugham's well-known short novels about an English woman - a young widow - living in Florence who is trying to decide whether she should accept a proposal from a much older man. She gets into some rather terrible difficulties, and finds she needs the help of a somewhat disreputable younger man. A quick read that was recently made into a movie starring Sean Penn.


Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel - Oh my. This is a great book. Winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2009. Excellent historical novel concerning the reign of Henry VIII during the time Anne Boleyn becomes Queen. Told from the view of Thomas Cromwell. I enjoyed this long book!


The Tiger in the Smoke - Margery Allingham - Written in 1952 this Campion mystery is still intriguing, and not too dated. Campion is older in this story, not as "posh", and not the central character as he is in Allingham's earlier books. 


Silence of the Grave - Arnaldur Indridason - The second of Indridason's Icelandic mysteries I've read. Similar to the Swedish Mankel stories, but this one at least is much less violent and more character-driven. This story concerns Erlandur's daughter, a skeleton discovered in the foundation of a new house and a long-ago mysterious disappearance.


The Fugitive Wife - Peter C. Brown - Good story set in 1900 during the gold rush to Nome, Alaska. A woman fleeing her husband finds adventure, new friends and herself. The hardships of the era are detailed and interesting. The gold fever that hit in the mid-1880's and on up into the 1900's was rather amazing. Some of the characters in this story were actual people enhancing the tale.


The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver - Wow! I'm cheating a bit because this is February 1st and I just finished this wonderful book. I bought Kingsolver's latest novel back in the fall, but kept pushing it aside as I didn't enjoy her last two books very much. This one is terrific. I'm not going to tell anything about it because I think it needs to be discovered by each reader without a review or even telling a bit about what it is about. Just know that it is one of the best I've read in years.

This Body of Lies

It's always satisfying to read a new book by an author you've enjoyed over the years. The first Elizabeth George book I bought was in a book store in Trafalgar Square many years ago. At the time I assumed that George was a British writer since the books were based in England. At any rate, I've always liked her books, although as A Garden Carried in the Pocket noted, the last two weren't as good. I have liked the TV series, but never felt that Lynley was cast properly and Havers was much too pretty! But when I found I could order This Body of Lies from The Book Depository I jumped at it.

It's a hefty book - 594 pages - and it took me a week to read it, even though I stayed up late reading. It is very good. The 'mystery' is quite involved, but the characters make the story.

Now it's on to another author I learned about on a blog - Susan Hill. I've read some of her books already, and this is her latest, I believe - The Shadows in the Street. What fun to have good books waiting on the shelf! And the bonus of bloggers telling about new authors.