Around the World in 80 Books
Friday, 7 December 2012
Journey's End
Well here we are at journey’s end. It has taken me 11 months longer than I
thought it would but it has been an interesting, informative and inspiring
journey, which was uplifting in parts and depressing in others. Most of the books I read were ones that I
wouldn’t otherwise have picked up. Some
were great and a few were not. My
favourites were The Book Thief by Markus Zusack (Germany), Poisonwood Bible by
Barbara Kingsolver (Democratic Republic of Congo & Congo Brazzaville) and
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Ethiopia and Eritrea). My least favourites were Cameroon with
Egbert by Dervla Murphy (Cameroon), which was informative but very dull and
Tailor of Panama by John Le Carre (Panama), which I didn’t understand! Would I do it again? Yes but not for a while. My next reading challenge is going to be
closer to home and will combine 2 of my hobbies – reading and ‘collecting’
islands – Around the British Isles in
80 Island Books. Here endeth this
blog. Thank you for reading it. 7th December 2012
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Book 80, Countries 86 & 87 – Wales and England
I think I Love You by Allison
Pearson – first published 2010
With only one book to go to
the end of my reading journey I realised I still had 2 countries to visit. This was the only book I could find in a
hurry, which was set in both Wales and England.
24th November 2012
Book 79, Country 85 – Ireland
It had to be you by Sarah
Webb – first published in 2004
1st November 2012
Monday, 17 September 2012
Book 78, Country 84 - Scotland
Death of a Nag by M.C. Beaton - first published in the UK in 1995
This is the first of the many Hamish Macbeth murder mysteries I have read. I have never seen any of the 1995-97 TV series, starring Robert Carlyle in the title role. Hamish goes on holiday to the fictional village of Skag on the Moray Firth. He stays in a guesthouse where the food is awful and there are several other guests in residence. He has only been there a couple of days when the unlikable husband of one of the fellow guests is murdered and he offers to help the local police with their enquiries. The book has an old fashioned 'Agatha Christie' kind of feel to it e.g. no one feels very sorry for the deceased and the murderer must be one of the fellow guests. 7/10
1st September 2012
This is the first of the many Hamish Macbeth murder mysteries I have read. I have never seen any of the 1995-97 TV series, starring Robert Carlyle in the title role. Hamish goes on holiday to the fictional village of Skag on the Moray Firth. He stays in a guesthouse where the food is awful and there are several other guests in residence. He has only been there a couple of days when the unlikable husband of one of the fellow guests is murdered and he offers to help the local police with their enquiries. The book has an old fashioned 'Agatha Christie' kind of feel to it e.g. no one feels very sorry for the deceased and the murderer must be one of the fellow guests. 7/10
1st September 2012
Book 77, Country 83 - Iceland
Tainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason - translated from Icelandic and first published in the UK as Jar City in 2004
An excellent crime novel set in and around Reykjavik. A man is murdered in his flat and a cryptic note is left behind by the murderer. Detective Erlendur and his team delve into his past and discover that he was accused of rape 40 years earlier. As they unravel more they discover that the true story is far more complicated than it first appears and involves Iceland's Genetic Research Centre. The same team of detectives appears in other novels by the same author but each novel stands up well on its own. Maps of Iceland and Reykjavik are included, which are useful for those of us whose geography of Icleand is minimal. 8/10
25th August 2012
An excellent crime novel set in and around Reykjavik. A man is murdered in his flat and a cryptic note is left behind by the murderer. Detective Erlendur and his team delve into his past and discover that he was accused of rape 40 years earlier. As they unravel more they discover that the true story is far more complicated than it first appears and involves Iceland's Genetic Research Centre. The same team of detectives appears in other novels by the same author but each novel stands up well on its own. Maps of Iceland and Reykjavik are included, which are useful for those of us whose geography of Icleand is minimal. 8/10
25th August 2012
Book 76 - Country 82 - Greenland
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss - first published in the UK in 2009
A team of 6 archaeologists travel to a remote and unpopulated place on the west coast of Greenland to excavate a Viking settlement. However the group members fail to 'gel' and gradually they realise that their leader hasn't brought enough food or made firm arrangements for them to be collected at the end of their stay. The story is narrated by each of the team in turn but mostly by Nina, who soon becomes aware of a ghostly stranger in their midst. She thinks it is a Viking, who is unhappy that the team are digging up human skeletons in a graveyard. The rest of the team think Nina is just neurotic. Meanwhile back in the rest of the world a flu pandemic is spreading across the world. Then the team's communication links with the outside world fail and no one comes to pick them up, as the long dark cold Arctic winter approaches and their food runs out. The story then ends abruptly with the survivors having been rescued and returning to their homes. However details of the rescue are absent and it all feels a bit unsatisfactory and unclear with several unanswered questions, e.g. who rescued them, and what was the outcome of the pandemic. The book reminded me of Michel Paver's Dark Matter but it much less convincing or terrifying than that excellent book, which is set on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the 1930s. 6/10
10th August 2012
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Book 75, Country 81 - Canada
No Cry for Help – Grant
McKenzie – first published in the UK in 2010
The wife and 2 young sons of
Canadian bus driver Wallace Carver vanish from a shopping mall in the USA. The police suspect him but he is innocent
and has no idea why they have been taken.
Wallace is determined to get them back and he enlists the help of a
friend and his friend’s relatives. The
book is a real page-turner and the pace rarely lets up. However I thought the plot was a bit thin
and unbelievable. There is quite a lots
of violence and several people come to various sticky ends at the hands of each
other and Wallace and his friends. I
found it hard to believe that an ordinary law abiding citizen would have had
the skills and mental and physical strength to survive all the events in the
book. 6/10
9th July 2012
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