gogo12127
Multnomah County Library
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gogo12127's rating:
Added Jul 29, 2018
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jul 25, 2018
Comment:
In the heat of a stifling summer in the rust-belt town of Lomath,
Pennsylvania, sixteen-year-old Livy Markos babysits, hangs out with
her best friend, Nelson, and waits for a bigger life to begin. Her
lazy summer is quickly disrupted when the electricity is cut off, and
bridges are closed by the police and FBI agents. A fugitive from the
Republic of Georgia, on the run from an extradition order, has taken
refuge in nearby hills, and no one is able to leave or enter Lomath
until he is found.
As the police fail to find the wanted man, and hours stretch into
days, the citizens of Lomath begin to buckle under the strain. Like
Russian dolls, each hostage seems to be harboring a captive of his or
her own. Even Livy's parents may have something to conceal, and Livy
must learn that the source of danger is not always what It appears to be.
(Rosalie Knecht is a social worker and translator in New York City.
She was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Relief Map is her first novel.)
(Edited description taken from the publisher description of the
paperback edition, as is the edited author biography.)
At the end of the text the publisher poses several “Book Club
Questions.” Some of the more interesting ones, in my own words, follow.
Whom do you think of as the antagonist in this novel? The fugitive?
The townspeople? Law enforcement? Or someone/thing else entirely? (I
don't think the fugitive is the antagonist. I think he's caught up in
the events. If anything, he's the innocent victim. I do think the
townspeople and law enforcement share equal responsibility for the
events that unfold. I also think that the licentiousness of small town
life is a factor, as well.)
What sort of ending do you imagine for the fugitive? I think he's
going to make it. (He's hard working and industrious and with a sort
of Greta Garbo wish to life.)
What were you expecting from Livy and Nelson's relationship? How do
you think Knecht balances the intense friendship and the budding
romance? (I think one of the great things about this novel is the way
the author handles this. Two long-time, close friends develop feelings
that they hadn't expected and the uncertainties seem to weigh on both
of them. Rosalie Knecht, judging from the profile portrait of her on
the paperback cover, doesn't seem that far removed from the age of
Livy and Nelson, which probably makes that relationship seem so real.)
Which story of a citizen of Lomath would you like to know more about?
Why? (I'd like to know more about Livy's parents, because they seem
like flower children from the sixties; however, her parents probably
are in their thirties or forties, but if they were flower children
they probably would be in their sixties or seventies. I'd also like
know more about Nelson's mother, because she seems so weird. Most of
all, though, I'd like to more about Livy, because she seems such a
neat person. For that reason, I think women, particularly would like
this book.)
I decided to read Relief Map after seeing a review of her second book,
Who is Vera Kelly?, which came out in June 2018. After reading Relief
Map, I definitely plan to read this second book, because Relief Map is a thought-provoking, superbly written coming-of-age story.In the heat of a stifling summer in the rust-belt town of Lomath,
Pennsylvania, sixteen-year-old Livy Markos babysits, hangs out with
her best friend, Nelson, and waits for a bigger life to begin. Her
lazy summer is quickly disrupted when the…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2018
Comment:
Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that she was in some serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother were accused of brutally kidnapping a demure young woman named Betty Kane.
Miss Kane's claims seemed highly unlikely, even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, until she described her prison – the attic room with its cracked window, the kitchen, and the old trunks. These sounded remarkably like The Franchise; yet, Marion Sharpe claimed the Kane girl had never been there, let alone been held captive for an entire month!
Not believing Betty Kane's story, Solicitor Blair takes up the case and, in a dazzling feat of amateur detective work, solves the unbelievable mystery that stumped even Inspector Grant.
(Description, slightly edited, taken from library catalog.)
This is an unusual crime novel in that there is no murder, just lies and deceptions. (It's based on a true story.)
In truth, this is an amateur detective story, since Inspector Alan Grant hardly makes an appearance, and I dislike amateur detective solving almost as much as I dislike psychological crime novels. It doesn't help that almost all the characters are uninteresting and unsympathetic.
Why then am I giving this a four-star rating? Despite my problems with the story and the characters, it is, I think, very well written. I know that seems quite paradoxical, but there you have it.Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jul 16, 2018
Comment:
When Nils Shapiro is shot through the arm with an arrow, he knows he
is getting closer to discovering what happened to Linnea Engstrom. He
should be in the hospital recovering from his near-fatal injury, but
the clock is ticking. Linnea could be anywhere, and someone doesn't
want her found. As bodies start piling up, the clues lead Nils and his
partner, Anders Ellegaard, north to Warroad, a small, quiet town with
many secrets to hide.
Matt Goldman is a playwright and Emmy Award-winning television writer
for Seinfeld, Ellen, and other shows. He brings his storytelling
abilities and light touch to the Nils Shapiro series, which started
with his debut novel, Gone to Dust. He began his career as a stand-up
comedian while attending the University of Minnesota before moving to
Los Angeles to write full time.
(Somewhat edited publisher description taken from the hardcover book
jacket, as is the slightly edited author biography.)
I love this book. I love the story, and I love the telling of it. I
liked all the characters: Nils, his partner Anders, and their office
staff, as well as the girlfriend(s) of Nils and the characters
important but peripheral to the story. I even like the characters who
aren't so likeable. I love that I didn't know whodunit throughout the
book, and I love that Goldman didn't put in a lot of red herrings to
accomplish that.
"Broken Ice" is a page-turner of a book. (I believe I said the same
thing about "Gone to Dust.") I could have read this book in one day if
I didn't have some sort of other life and didn't want to get seven or
eight hours of sleep at night.
In short, if you like plot-driven, character-driven, page-turner crime novels, you'll love this book.When Nils Shapiro is shot through the arm with an arrow, he knows he
is getting closer to discovering what happened to Linnea Engstrom. He
should be in the hospital recovering from his near-fatal injury, but
the clock is ticking. Linnea could be…
Memoirs of A GeishaMemoirs of A Geisha, Unknown
Unknown - 2006Unknown, 2006
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jul 10, 2018
Comment:
In the 1920s, 9-year-old Chiyo gets sold to a geisha house. There, she is forced into servitude, receiving nothing in return until the house's ruling hierarchy determines if she is of high enough quality to service the clientele -- men who visit and pay for conversation, dance, and song. After rigorous years of training, Chiyo becomes Sayuri, a geisha of incredible beauty and influence. Life is good for Sayuri, but World War II is about to disrupt the peace
(Description from library catalog.)
Screenplay by Robin Swicord.
Produced by Lucy Fisher, Douglas Witt, and Steven Spielberg.
Memoirs of a Geisha was awarded several 2006 Academy Awards, including John Williams for Best Original Score.
This was very good. Unfortunately, the subtitles didn't work, no matter how many times I clicked to bring them up, nor could I access the special features, again no matter how many times I clicked to bring them up. Also, about ninety minutes into the film, my copy froze. I had to forward it about five minutes. I don't think I lost anything in the flow of the narrative, but its still was irritating, that and my not being able to bring up the subtitles.
(Also the library catalog described this as a two DVD set, but my copy had only one DVD.)
Given the problems I noted above, I had to downgrade my rating from five stars to four stars.In the 1920s, 9-year-old Chiyo gets sold to a geisha house. There, she is forced into servitude, receiving nothing in return until the house's ruling hierarchy determines if she is of high enough quality to service the clientele -- men who visit and…
Greeks Bearing GiftsGreeks Bearing Gifts, BookA Bernie Gunther Novel
by Kerr, PhilipBook - 2018Book, 2018
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jul 04, 2018
Comment:
It's 1957, and Gunther is back in Munich, though his passport now says “Christoph Ganz.” The war is over, and Gunther is finally just another face in the crowd, an ordinary claims adjuster at a major German insurance company – until he's sent to Athens to investigate a large claim.
The policy owner, a rude and angry former Wehrmacht soldier who served in Greece during the war, is now a filmmaker and diver, the owner of a two-masted schooner – the Doris – which burned and sank in deep water off the Aegean coast. Because he lived on the boat, he has lost all his camera equipment and diving gear, along with several thousand drachmas' worth of personal effects. The claim is substantial.
Under a different name, the Doris once belonged to a wealthy Jewish merchant, but when Greek Jews were sent to Auschwitz, their property was confiscated and sold off. After the war, the few Jews who returned were denied restitution. In the case of the Doris, Gunther suspects arson motivated by revenge: an act of terrorism, then. And the Doris was never insured against terrorism.
Before he can transmit this news to the owner, however, Gunther finds somewhat has gotten to him first. What Gunther now has a is a mutilated body of a dead man.
Enter Lieutenant Leventis, an Athenian cop who is working on a case with a very similar MO. Both murders match the grim style of a killer who operated during the height of the war. Back then, a young Leventis suspected an SS officer, whose powerful position made him untouchable. Still, Leventis has kept that name on his mind all these years, waiting for his second chance at justice. While a pattern like this may be his best opportunity to close an old case, a much more sinister truth most be acknowledged: A killer has returned to Athens, or even worse, he may never have left.
(Description somewhat edited from the description of the hardcover book jacket.)
Sadly, Philip Kerr died this past March 23rd. First Sue Grafton, now Philip Kerr. Fortunately, each of them left us a legacy of great books. Greeks Bearing Gifts is one of these.
As in all of the books of Kerr, I frequently find myself consulting my dictionary, because Bernie Gunther speaks with such an unusual voice.
Likewise, I make great use of my Goode's World Atlas, because Bernie travels the world over, sometimes to obscure, and maybe not so obscure, places.
Greeks Bearing Gifts, like all of the books of Kerr, introduces various characters from 1930s and 1940s Germany, again some fairly obscure like Maximilian Merten, some not obscure like Hans Globke, and some like the well known Alois Brunner – all of them Nazi war criminals. Merten was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison but served only eight months. Globke gave evidence both for the prosecution and defense in the Nuremberg Trials but never served time, himself, in prison. He was, however, a powerful member of the post-war Konrad Adenauer government. Alois Brunner fled West Germany in 1954, first to Egypt, then to Syria, having never been brought to trial. He lived to a ripe old age, unrepentant to the last.
(Note: Philip Kerr's fourteenth and last Bernie Gunther novel will be published in 2019.)It's 1957, and Gunther is back in Munich, though his passport now says “Christoph Ganz.” The war is over, and Gunther is finally just another face in the crowd, an ordinary claims adjuster at a major German insurance company – until he's sent to…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jun 15, 2018
Comment:
When a woman's body washes up on an isolated stretch of beach on the southern coast of England, Scotland Yard's Inspector Alan Grant is on the case., but the inquiry into her death turns into a nightmare of false leads and baffling clues. Was there anyone who didn't want lovely screen actress Christine Clay dead?
A Shilling for Candles was the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent.
(Description from a New York Times review.)
Originally published in Great Britain in 1936.
First published in the United States in 1954 by Macmillan Publishing Company.
Josephine Tey was a “Golden Age of Detective Fiction” writer. Like other writers of that era, such as Ngaio Marsh, these are more “whodunit” stories than police procedural stories, though both genres feature the police. A Shilling for Candles epitomizes this genre. We are presented the crime and Inspector Grant and his force gather the evidence and solve the crime. We, the reader, try to figure out “whodunit” before the detectives do.
Similar to Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey presents the crime, provides the evidence, and catches the criminal all in 250 pages or less.
That's one of the things I liked about this book. Among other things I liked?
Robert Barnard's brief but useful introduction.
The detailed narrative Tisdall gives Inspector Grant about how he blew through his inheritance.
The conversations between the charmingly innocent but knowing sixteen-year-old daughter of the chief constable and the charmed but world-weary Inspector Grant.
In short, I liked just about everything in A Shilling for Candles.When a woman's body washes up on an isolated stretch of beach on the southern coast of England, Scotland Yard's Inspector Alan Grant is on the case., but the inquiry into her death turns into a nightmare of false leads and baffling clues. Was there…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jun 12, 2018
Comment:
Caleb Zelic, profoundly deaf since early childhood, has always lived on the outside – watching, picking up telltale signs people hide in a smile, a cough, a kiss.
When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove his own innocence sends Caleb on a hunt for the killer. He can't do it alone, though. Caleb and his troubled friend Frankie, an ex-cop, start with one clue: Scott, the last word the murder victim texted to Caleb.
This gripping, original, and fast-paced crime thriller is set between a big city and a small coastal town, Resurrection Bay, where Caleb is forced to confront painful memories.
Caleb refuses to let his deafness limit his opportunities or his participation in the investigation, but does his persistence border on stubbornness? And at what cost?
As he delves deeper into the investigation Caleb uncovers unwelcome truths about his murdered friend and himself.
(Edited description taken from library catalog.)
This is a interesting book: it has an interesting locale, Australia, not the usual New York or Los Angeles setting; it is interestingly written; and Caleb being deaf makes for an interesting protagonist.
Resurrection Bay was first published in Australia in 2015 by Echo, and this particular edition was published in London in 2017 by Pushkin Press (like that name).
I decided to read Resurrection Bay after reading a good review of its sequel, And Fire Came Down, which is to be published in October 2018, which I intend to read.Caleb Zelic, profoundly deaf since early childhood, has always lived on the outside – watching, picking up telltale signs people hide in a smile, a cough, a kiss.
When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove…
Queen & CountryQueen & Country, DVD
DVD - 2015DVD, 2015
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jun 10, 2018
Comment:
In the long-awaited sequel to John Boorman's "Hope and Glory," Bill Rohan – a child of the Blitz -comes of age just in time for the Korean War. Bill and his new buddies master the art of poking fun at petty tyrants in boot camp and hunger for weekend leave with local beauties.
(Edited description taken from the jewel case of the DVD.)
Pretty good but not nearly as good as "Hope and Glory."In the long-awaited sequel to John Boorman's "Hope and Glory," Bill Rohan – a child of the Blitz -comes of age just in time for the Korean War. Bill and his new buddies master the art of poking fun at petty tyrants in boot camp and hunger for…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jun 09, 2018
Comment:
Marin Strasser has a secret. Her fiancé thinks her secret is that she's having an affair, and he hires troubled but tenacious PI Roxane Weary to prove it. Then, just days into the case, Marin is shot to death on a side street in an apparent mugging. The fiancè always is the prime suspect, and soon enough the police begin to focus on Roxane's client for Marin's death.
That just doesn't add up for Roxane. As she starts to dig deeper into Marin's life, it is obvious that the elegant woman she's been following has a past and a half, including two previous marriages, an adult son fresh out of prison, and a criminal record of her own. The trail leads to a crew of con artists, an ugly real estate scam that defrauds unsuspecting elderly homeowners out of their property, and the suspicious accident of a wealthy older woman who lives just down the street from where Marin was killed.
With Roxane's client facing a murder indictment, the scammers his close to home to force Roxane to drop the case, and it becomes clear that the stakes are as high as the secrets are deep.
(Description slightly edited from the inner flap of the hardcover edition.)
Classic, page-turning crime novel, with an edgy, complex protagonist.Marin Strasser has a secret. Her fiancé thinks her secret is that she's having an affair, and he hires troubled but tenacious PI Roxane Weary to prove it. Then, just days into the case, Marin is shot to death on a side street in an apparent mugging.…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Jun 07, 2018
Comment:
Mickey Simhoni, an artist whose life is violently disrupted by a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, abandons his creative pursuits and instead allows himself to be recruited into the Mossad. Slowly, he learns the art of spycraft and begins the painstaking process of building a cover, taking on the identity of someone he resembles – a young Canadian man, presumed dead, whose passport was found on the sands of the Sinai desert.
The role presents Mickey with unimaginable challenges, especially when his cover story takes him to Toronto and he meets an old flame – Niki, a girl he'd known a decade earlier. Torn between his loyalty to the Mossad, the desire to fulfill himself as an artist, and his complex romance with Niki, Mickey prepares for a major operation in Algiers. Above all, however, Mickey is worried about the mysterious fate of his Canadian double. Who is he? How is he linked to a book of poems found in his home describing the end of the State of Israel?
(Description slightly edited from the inner flap of the hardcover edition.)
As much as I liked this book, I don't think it was as good as the first two books of Mishka Ben-David ("Duet in Beirut" and "Forbidden Love in St. Petersburg").
This book, as do the other two books, benefits from multi-dimensional and interesting characters, complex and interesting plots, and a sense of adventure. I also find that I frequently consult my Goode's World Atlas because of all the different places that the stories take me.
The author's books have the smell of authenticity, since he was a high-level Mossad operator for some years.
I think that each of these three books would make great movies. Actually, they probably would make even better television miniseries.
I'm looking forward to the next book from this author.Mickey Simhoni, an artist whose life is violently disrupted by a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, abandons his creative pursuits and instead allows himself to be recruited into the Mossad. Slowly, he learns the art of spycraft and begins the…
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 28, 2018
Comment:
It is January 2017, and Bill has hit rock bottom. Yesterday, he was William M. Katzenelenbogen, successful science reporter at The Washington Post, with years of experience and industry awards; however, things have taken a turn. Fired from his job, aimless, with exactly $1,219.37 in his checking account, he learns that his college roommate, a plastic surgeon known far and wide as the “Butt God of Miami Beach,” has fallen to his death under salacious circumstances. With nothing to lose, Bill boards a flight for Florida's Gold Coast, ready to begin his own investigation – a last-ditch attempt to revive his career.
There's just one catch: Bill's father, Melsor.
Melsor Yakovlevich Katzenelenbogen – poet, literary scholar, political dissident, small-time crook – is angling for control of the condo board at the Château Sedan Neuve, a crumbling high-rise in Hollywood, Florida. The current board is filled with fraudsters in cahoots with contractors and levying “special assessments” on residents, and Melsor will use any means necessary to win the board election. Who better to help him – through means both legal and illegal – than his estranged son?
The Château guarantees that you will never look at crime, condo boards, kleptocracy, vodka, or Florida the same way again.
(Description, edited, is taken from the inner flap of the hardcover book jacket.)
This book for a good part of it induced a meh attitude. It's probably because the book is infused with much black humor,and one has to be in the proper mood when reading.
I still liked it enough to whiz through it in less than three days and will read Goldberg's next book. (I read his first novel, The Yid, last year when it came out. He's also written, or co-written, several nonfiction books.) While The Château might not be five-star worthy, I'm giving it four stars. I guess I'm an easy grader.
Be forewarned: If you like Donald Trump and the ideals for which he stands, you probably shouldn't read this book.It is January 2017, and Bill has hit rock bottom. Yesterday, he was William M. Katzenelenbogen, successful science reporter at The Washington Post, with years of experience and industry awards; however, things have taken a turn. Fired from his job,…
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 26, 2018
Comment:
Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Prague, 1937. In the back alleys of nighttime Europe, war is already under the way.. André Szara, survivor of the Polish pogroms and the Russian civil wars and a foreign correspondent for Pravda, is co-opted by the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and becomes a full-time spymaster in Paris. As deputy director of a Paris network, Szara finds his own star rising when he recruits an agent in Berlin who can supply crucial information.
(Edited description taken from the author's website.)
This is excellent storytelling and a five-star book for much of it. Because the ending, the last forty pages or so, is sort of dragged out, I'm giving it four/four and a half stars, instead of the five stars I had assigned to it for much of the book.
In his first book, Night Soldiers, Furst re-created the European world of 1934-1945: the struggle between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia for Eastern Europe, the last desperate gaiety of beau monde in 1937 Paris, and guerrilla operations with the French underground in 1944.
In this book, Furst zeros in on this chaos in Germany and in the Soviet Union, the chaos of the German takeover of Czechoslovakia, the chaos of the Anschluss, the chaos of the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union, the chaos of the aftermath, all seen through the eyes and experiences of André Szara.
In his next book, The Polish Officer, which I'm definitely going to read, I imagine that Furst will delve more deeply into that invasion of Poland.Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Prague, 1937. In the back alleys of nighttime Europe, war is already under the way.. André Szara, survivor of the Polish pogroms and the Russian civil wars and a foreign correspondent for Pravda, is co-opted by the NKVD,…
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 19, 2018
Comment:
Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father distrusted the medical establishment, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when an older brother became violent.
When another brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. She taught herself enough mathematics, grammar, and science to take the ACT and was admitted to Brigham Young University. There, she studied psychology, politics, philosophy, and history, learning for the first time about pivotal world events like the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Educated is an account if the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes from severing ties with those closest to you.
(Description, slightly edited, is taken from the inner flap of the hardcover book jacket.)
This is a very frustrating book. Everything that takes place, nearly everything, is frustrating. Nearly everyone in the book is frustrating. Particularly frustrating is the author who doesn't seem to recognize the events for what they are.Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the…
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 12, 2018
Comment:
When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement. You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves. You will assume the first wife was a disaster and that the husband was well rid of her. You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships. Assume nothing.
(Description taken from library catalog.)
I gave up about one-third of the way through the book. It got rave reviews, but I don't know why. It's way too confusing, as the description implies.When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement. You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves.…
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 09, 2018
Comment:
Not one of her best.
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 05, 2018
Comment:
Ari Thór Arason is a local policeman who has an uneasy relationship with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in northern Iceland – where no one locks their doors. The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by a murder. One of the closest friends of the colleagues of Ari is gunned downed at point-blank range in the dead of the night in a deserted house.
With a killer on the loose and the dark Arctic waters closing in, it falls to Ari Thór to piece together a puzzle that involves a new mayor and a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik.
It becomes all too clear that tragic events from the past are weaving a sinister spell that may threaten them all.
(Description slightly edited from the book jacket inner flap.)
I don't think Nightblind, which is the second book in this series, is as good a book as the first book in the series, Snowblind. I think the translation is not that good, which I thought I complained about in Snowblind. I still intend to read the third book in this series, Blackout, which will be published in the States in October of this year.According to the information provided in Nightblind, the events in Nightblind takes place approximately five years after Snowblind. Blackout, in turn, picks up the story again directly after the events in Snowblind, with the following two books set to complete the events linking Snowblind and Nightblind. This sequence seems kind of odd to me.Ari Thór Arason is a local policeman who has an uneasy relationship with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in northern Iceland – where no one locks their doors. The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by a murder. One…
gogo12127's rating:
Added May 03, 2018
Comment:
Renée Ballard works the midnight shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing few, as each morning she turns everything over to the daytime units.
It's a frustrating job for a once up-and-coming detective, but it's no accident. She's been given the beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
One night, however, Ballard catches two assignments she that she doesn't want to part with. First, a prostitute is brutally beaten and left for dead in a parking lot. All signs point to a crime of premeditation, not passion, by someone with big evil on his mind. Then, she sees a young waitress breathe her last after being caught in nightclub shooting. Though dubbed a peripheral victim, the waitress buys Ballard a way in, and this time she is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night.
As the investigations entwine, Ballard is forced to face her own demons and confront danger she never could have imagined. To find justice for these victims, who can't speak for themselves, she must put not only her career but her life on the line. (Description slightly edited from the book jacket flap.)
This is the first book in this new series.
The Renée Ballard series has the trademarks of the other series of Michael Connelly: detailed forensics and quality writing.
Dark Sacred Night, which will be published in October 2018, will team Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch.Renée Ballard works the midnight shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing few, as each morning she turns everything over to the daytime units.
It's a frustrating job for a once up-and-coming detective, but it's no accident.…
The Big SickThe Big Sick, DVD
DVD - 2017DVD, 2017
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 30, 2018
Comment:
This is very good and a movie I'm sure I'll want to see again.
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 28, 2018
Comment:
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees, but down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the workingmen who founded this town, and that ice rink is the reason people believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior hockey team is about to compete in the national semifinals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. A victory would send star player Kevin on to a brilliant future in the NHL. It would mean everything to Amat, a scrawny fifteen-year-old treated like an outcast everywhere but on the ice. It would justify the choice that Peter, the team's general manager, and his wife, Kira, made to return to his hometown and raise their children in this beautiful but isolated place. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semifinal match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil.
Hers is a story no one wants to believe, since doing so would mean the end of the dream.
Accusations are made, and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. Beartown explores the hopes that bring a community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. (Description slightly edited from the hardcover book flap.)
Is it heresy to say that Beartown is just as good as A Man Called Ove? Well, then call me a heretic, because Beartown is that good. Actually, Beartown and A Man Called Ove are two entirely different kinds of stories. The one constant is the author. Fredrick Backman is a heck of a writer.
Mr. Backman has a sequel to Beartown coming out in June, Us Against You. I’ll be looking for it.People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees, but down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the workingmen who founded this town, and…
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 26, 2018
Comment:
Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an American bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge and finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic disaster, is being torn apart by industrial unrest and terrorism and faces its fifth state of emergency. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the flight goes on, especially in the cultural sphere.
Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is sent on a “secret mission” that brings her into the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories, then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life, and who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage: trust no one. (Description slightly edited from the hardcover book flap, presumably a description provided by the publisher.)
I decided to read this book after Daniel Silva's House of Spies, which I had read immediately preceding this book, briefly mentioned the book.
This book is interesting and obviously well written; however, it's very “talky,” and nothing really happens.
Wait. That's really not fair. Things do happen, except they're slow to develop, which probably why Sweet Tooth is such an interesting book and why Ian McEwan is such an interesting writer. I'd like to read some more of his books.Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an American bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge and finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic…
Beatriz at DinnerBeatriz at Dinner, DVD
DVD - 2017DVD, 2017
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 24, 2018
Comment:
I gave up on this after about twenty minutes. The movie seemed pointless and a waste of some good actors.
String quintet C major D956 op. posth. 163String quintet C major D956 op. posth. 163, Unknownstring quartet E flat major D87 op. posth. 125 no. 1
by Schubert, FranzUnknown - 2006Unknown, 2006
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 22, 2018
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 18, 2018
Comment:
Four months after the deadliest attack on the American homeland since 9/11, a terrorist plot leaves a trail of carnage through London’s glittering West End. The attack is a brilliant feat of planning and secrecy but with one loose thread. The thread leads Gabriel Allon and his team to the south of France and to the gilded doorstep of one of the richest men in the country, Jean-Luc Martel, and his companion, Olivia Watson. A beautiful former British fashion model, Olivia pretends not to know the true source of Martel’s enormous wealth. Martel, likewise, turns a blind eye to the fact he is doing business with a man whose objective is the very destruction of the West. Together, under Gabriel’s skilled hand, they will become an unlikely pair of heroes in the global war on terrorism. (Description slightly edited from the author's website.)
I initially thought that House of Spies was a lesser effort by Daniel Silva. I thought that here we go again, the same old kind of plot, same old Gabriel Allon team members. At least I thought that for a good part of the first half of the book. Then the narrative picked up steam, I once again found the plot and characters, old and new, interesting and I became engrossed throughout the remainder of the novel. I think my initial reaction might have been because I had other things going on in my life, and these things intruded on my reading process. Whatever.
One thing I've noticed when I read a Gabriel Allon novel is that I have to keep an atlas handy, because Silva introduces place names that sometimes are somewhat unfamiliar to me. Sometimes the places are so obscure that I have to resort to Wikipedia.Four months after the deadliest attack on the American homeland since 9/11, a terrorist plot leaves a trail of carnage through London’s glittering West End. The attack is a brilliant feat of planning and secrecy but with one loose thread. The…
VeraVera, DVDSet 7
DVD - 2017DVD, 2017
gogo12127's rating:
Added Apr 18, 2018
Comment:
Inspired on the award-winning novels by Ann Cleeves. Amidst the sweeping landscapes of rural Northumberland, Vera Stanhope (Blethyn) and her assistant Aiden Healy confront brutal crimes that challenge even the genius of Vera for solving cases.
This season Vera and Aiden investigate the deaths of a woman found on the moors; a young man who worked at a traveling fairground; a fisherman pulled from the sea; and a mysterious double murder.
This is just a great series. All the actors give great performances, from the lead character and cast regulars down to the supporting characters.
Season Eight was shot in 2018. Producers say there will be a ninth season. I've heard that Brenda Blethyn may not be back for it. Season Seven may have been the best so far.Inspired on the award-winning novels by Ann Cleeves. Amidst the sweeping landscapes of rural Northumberland, Vera Stanhope (Blethyn) and her assistant Aiden Healy confront brutal crimes that challenge even the genius of Vera for solving…
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