I really should read more of Peter Robinson's crime thrillers. This is probably the third one I've read, and I do enjoy them. There's not the extra craft and humor of Elizabeth George, but they are set in England, so they're a bit more civilized than American mysteries.
In this one, a childhood friend of Alan Banks' daughter, Tracy, accidentally shoots and kills her father. The owner of the gun - the Bad Boy - seduces and then abducts Tracy while her father is on vacation in the US.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sixty-Five Roses by Heather Summerhayes Cariou
I heard this author being interviewed on CBC and was intrigued by the story of these two sisters, so I found it on line and ordered it. By some strange reason, it was waiting for me here in Florida when I arrived this winter - I began to think I hadn't ordered it and it didn't appear on my Kindle. Anyway...
Pam, Heather's younger sister, is born with Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic illness hardly even known about back in the 70s, and it was actually Pam's mom and dad who founded the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The reason for the title of the book is that Pam was too young to say the name of her illness, so she called it "sixty-five roses",
This was an amazing read - Heather lays it all out - how the family functions through all of this constant pounding of Pam's chest, going to the hospital, vomiting, masks, lungs bursting, plus how the rest of the family deals with her illness. Heather feels tremendous guilt because she didn't get the disease, Pam feels guilt that all of the rest of them give up their lives for her, and actually they do - but out of love and desperation. Another child - the youngest in the family of four siblings - is also born with CF although not as serious as the sister.
Pam lived till just after her 26th birthday, but what a journey - what a family - what a story! You couldn't get a novel as insightful and real as this one.
Pam, Heather's younger sister, is born with Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic illness hardly even known about back in the 70s, and it was actually Pam's mom and dad who founded the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The reason for the title of the book is that Pam was too young to say the name of her illness, so she called it "sixty-five roses",
This was an amazing read - Heather lays it all out - how the family functions through all of this constant pounding of Pam's chest, going to the hospital, vomiting, masks, lungs bursting, plus how the rest of the family deals with her illness. Heather feels tremendous guilt because she didn't get the disease, Pam feels guilt that all of the rest of them give up their lives for her, and actually they do - but out of love and desperation. Another child - the youngest in the family of four siblings - is also born with CF although not as serious as the sister.
Pam lived till just after her 26th birthday, but what a journey - what a family - what a story! You couldn't get a novel as insightful and real as this one.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith
A wonderful bio of Elizabeth, who celebrates her diamond jubilee on the throne this year. It was packed full of information, all of it interesting.
Some things to note:
1. The Queen loves to laugh and, like her mother, delights in surprises.
2. There is a very close family there, although she never interferes in their lives with advice - she just accepts and carries on.
3. Diana and Elizabeth got on well - Diana called her "Mum".
4. Diana knew how to manipulate the press for her own need of attention.
5. Elizabeth and Phillip have a very strong marriage and there's never been any affairs or such.
6. She was really quite beautiful - and tiny- as a young person.
7. She is tremendously well read in history and politics and works every day on "boxes" which come to her filled with information. She studiously reads these and is always prepared when the Prime Minister comes to visit.
8. She has never commented on any political situation in such a way as to show her own opinion.
9. She keeps active physically and walks miles every day.
10. She just seems like a person I'd like to have known.
Some things to note:
1. The Queen loves to laugh and, like her mother, delights in surprises.
2. There is a very close family there, although she never interferes in their lives with advice - she just accepts and carries on.
3. Diana and Elizabeth got on well - Diana called her "Mum".
4. Diana knew how to manipulate the press for her own need of attention.
5. Elizabeth and Phillip have a very strong marriage and there's never been any affairs or such.
6. She was really quite beautiful - and tiny- as a young person.
7. She is tremendously well read in history and politics and works every day on "boxes" which come to her filled with information. She studiously reads these and is always prepared when the Prime Minister comes to visit.
8. She has never commented on any political situation in such a way as to show her own opinion.
9. She keeps active physically and walks miles every day.
10. She just seems like a person I'd like to have known.
Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James
I've only read a couple of P.D. James' books, but I downloaded this one because I'm a fan of Pride and Prejudice, and this one is a sort of sequel to it. James is now 92 years old!
This one involves all the people who were in the Austen novel and has Wickham, the reprobate who took off with Lydia, accused in a murder. The first chapter, which basically sums up the plot line of P&P, was done very well, using the language and style of Jane Austen, but it did move very slowly throughout. Then there's a close to 20 page explanation and discovery to end the book, and you feel nothing but compassion for poor old Wickham, who was unjustly accused and spent months in prison while all these people who reveal their own involvement at the end could have exonerated him long before.
I think James was late for dinner and just wanted to tie things up quickly. Or maybe she forgot what she'd already written??
I don't know, but I think she should retire from writing - just dictate it and let someone else write it!
Jane wouldn't be happy, I'm afraid, and she certainly deserves better!
This one involves all the people who were in the Austen novel and has Wickham, the reprobate who took off with Lydia, accused in a murder. The first chapter, which basically sums up the plot line of P&P, was done very well, using the language and style of Jane Austen, but it did move very slowly throughout. Then there's a close to 20 page explanation and discovery to end the book, and you feel nothing but compassion for poor old Wickham, who was unjustly accused and spent months in prison while all these people who reveal their own involvement at the end could have exonerated him long before.
I think James was late for dinner and just wanted to tie things up quickly. Or maybe she forgot what she'd already written??
I don't know, but I think she should retire from writing - just dictate it and let someone else write it!
Jane wouldn't be happy, I'm afraid, and she certainly deserves better!
Believing The Lie - Elizabeth George
I always snap up Elizabeth George's books - I've read them all, and have loved every single one of them.
In this one, Inspector Lynley is asked to ascertain whether a drowning at a huge country estate was an accident or a murder. He is asked to do this not as an investigation, so he has to dodge around questions from his boss at the same time as he's having an affair with her. He's still recovering from the tragic loss of his wife Helen, who was expecting their child when she was shot to death in front of their home.
What I like about Elizabeth George is her ability to weave so many different stories into the plot line in such a way that you don't lose track of them, and each one of them holds your interest. She also explores family dynamics so insightfully and so deeply that it's as much a psychological thriller as anything.
As usual, I'm already looking forward to the next one. Will Barbara Havers' friend find his daughter who's been taken from him by his wife? I'll be watching!!
In this one, Inspector Lynley is asked to ascertain whether a drowning at a huge country estate was an accident or a murder. He is asked to do this not as an investigation, so he has to dodge around questions from his boss at the same time as he's having an affair with her. He's still recovering from the tragic loss of his wife Helen, who was expecting their child when she was shot to death in front of their home.
What I like about Elizabeth George is her ability to weave so many different stories into the plot line in such a way that you don't lose track of them, and each one of them holds your interest. She also explores family dynamics so insightfully and so deeply that it's as much a psychological thriller as anything.
As usual, I'm already looking forward to the next one. Will Barbara Havers' friend find his daughter who's been taken from him by his wife? I'll be watching!!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick ✔✔✔
This title won Book Browse's award for the best children's book of 2011, and the comment was made that it was good for both adults and children, so I reserved it at our library here. When I went to pick it up and saw the size of the book -637 pages, I said "Oh no, how am I going to get this finished?"
Then I saw that there were pages and pages of illustrations, and for a few seconds I thought the whole book was drawings, but then I found some text, so I decided to give it a try.
It's a story of two people fifty years apart. Ben's story is told in text, Rose's in drawings, and you are gradually drawn into their stories, especially when you realize that even though they are told in two different times, Rose's in 1927, Ben's in 1977, that they are similar.
Both are deaf, and both are on their own, trying to find their way in the world. How their stories intertwine is really quite amazing, and the art work ( all in black and white pencil drawings) is quite impressive.
Certainly a different format for me, but enjoyable. I just marvel at the imagination of some of the writers today!
Then I saw that there were pages and pages of illustrations, and for a few seconds I thought the whole book was drawings, but then I found some text, so I decided to give it a try.
It's a story of two people fifty years apart. Ben's story is told in text, Rose's in drawings, and you are gradually drawn into their stories, especially when you realize that even though they are told in two different times, Rose's in 1927, Ben's in 1977, that they are similar.
Both are deaf, and both are on their own, trying to find their way in the world. How their stories intertwine is really quite amazing, and the art work ( all in black and white pencil drawings) is quite impressive.
Certainly a different format for me, but enjoyable. I just marvel at the imagination of some of the writers today!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli
The author, a radio journalist in Los Angeles, was looking for a change in her life, and a chance encounter led her to travel to Bhutan - said to be one of the happiest places on earth - to volunteer her expertise to help develop a youth-oriented radio station. And for this reason, in her own words: " I longed for a way of life in which people made it a priority to look into each other's eyes and communicate, soul-to-soul....I yearned for meandering conversations about all things important, all things banal. Bhutan, I imagined, might be as close as you could get on earth to what I'd been craving - a real,live, actual community, where being wired took a backseat to being present, face-to-face, experiencing the here and now"
The book is mainly a travel memoir, and gives a good look at this remote Himalayan kingdom, and it certainly had some interesting people in it. The trip from the airport alone would be enough to keep me from going! But what I enjoyed most of all was the preface to the book, for in here Napoli describes a positive psychology workshop that she took while in LA, and some of the questions used by the workshop leader to help people discover "what we appreciated in ourselves, and what inspired us about others":
1. Describe in detail a person you love - and why.
2. 'write a toast to four difficult periods in your life and how you handled them
3. Summarize your life story as if you were 90 and telling a child.
He also assigned them a nightly exercise to teach them how to appreciate life in its most basic terms. Every night before going to sleep, review your day and make a short list of three things that happened that were good. "I want you to see that every single day, three good things do happen. It will help you discover that goodness exists all around us, already". Those good things are the most nourishing to our life. It's like a gym for the brain: over time this ritual with strengthen you.
And what did Lisa learn? "I was learning to slow down, to sit with myself and the uncertainties of the future. To enjoy not knowing what was next, instead of fearing and panicking over what might be. To appreciate the successes I'd had, instead of dwelling on my failure to have accomplished more".
Good stuff and worth thinking about.
The book is mainly a travel memoir, and gives a good look at this remote Himalayan kingdom, and it certainly had some interesting people in it. The trip from the airport alone would be enough to keep me from going! But what I enjoyed most of all was the preface to the book, for in here Napoli describes a positive psychology workshop that she took while in LA, and some of the questions used by the workshop leader to help people discover "what we appreciated in ourselves, and what inspired us about others":
1. Describe in detail a person you love - and why.
2. 'write a toast to four difficult periods in your life and how you handled them
3. Summarize your life story as if you were 90 and telling a child.
He also assigned them a nightly exercise to teach them how to appreciate life in its most basic terms. Every night before going to sleep, review your day and make a short list of three things that happened that were good. "I want you to see that every single day, three good things do happen. It will help you discover that goodness exists all around us, already". Those good things are the most nourishing to our life. It's like a gym for the brain: over time this ritual with strengthen you.
And what did Lisa learn? "I was learning to slow down, to sit with myself and the uncertainties of the future. To enjoy not knowing what was next, instead of fearing and panicking over what might be. To appreciate the successes I'd had, instead of dwelling on my failure to have accomplished more".
Good stuff and worth thinking about.
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