Before the Frost

This is the second last of the Kurt Wallander novels and his daughter Linda is a central character (I read somewhere that this was supposed to be the first of a trilogy about Linda, but it never happened because of a tragedy of some sort) I remember the murders in this one were a bit disturbing…it was interesting to see how Linda was similar to her father. It’s too bad there aren’t more Linda novels. I enjoyed this one.

I just have the last book left to read, A Troubled Man. It’s somewhere in a box from when we moved. I’m sort of avoiding it because I’m sort of pretending it’s not the last one…

(February-March 2013)

The Pyramid

The Pyramid is a collection of short stories that date back to Kurt Wallander’s start as a police officer. I remember these and I liked getting the background on Wallander and his ex-wife and his life before the book Faceless Killers. It was interesting…I finished the book and had Faceless Killers sitting here. The end of the last story is the opening of Faceless Killers and the two books were translated by different people. The tone of the two texts is very different…I can’t remember the words exactly but I think one of the Swedish words tranlated to senior citizen in one text and elderly farmer in another. It was quite interesting! And a reminder that we’re not always getting all the nuances in a translated text.

 

(February 2013)

Firewall

For some reason while I was pregnant and after, I had a fascination with crime novels. And Kurt Wallander in particular. Of course, I can’t remember what this was about other than there was more than one crime and they ended up being related. Maybe there was a man in a hidden room…I know I liked it…except for The Man Who Smiled, I have liked all of the Henning Mankell I’ve read, but I sure can’t remember much more than that…

(February 2013)

Update and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was pregnant and I thought I’d be able to read 24 books in 2013. That number was based on a certain number per month before baby arrived and a different number per month after baby arrived. Baby was a month early and adjusting my goal for that, it works out to 14+9=23. And I managed 23 books. So I made my goal.

January 2014 rolled around and I decided to go easy on myself. I had an infant and a kindergartener and I was going back to work, so the 2014 goal is 12 books. A book a month seems manageable, so we’ll see how it goes!  There is a lot happening in the next six months, so I might be a bit ambitious.

Also, there is a new tab for The Big Read. I have challenged myself to read 50 of those books for my most recent 101 in 1001 challenge. We’ll see how I do…

But now, while I managed to make my book target, I didn’t manage to keep the blog updated, so here, and for the next few weeks, are the books I read in 2013 and at the beginning of 2014. As well as I can remember them. Mommy brain and all.



I really liked this book. I inherited my mom’s fascination with World War II history and this book had that. I didn’t realize that Guernsey Island was occupied during the war and, while I didn’t quite get there, I thought I’d go read a bit more about it. When I was off work after I hurt my back, my mom brought me a set of DVDs to watch called Island at War. I really enjoyed them and I found myself wishing there were more episodes as I watched the last one. This book reminded me of that series. It was good and I think I want to reread it.

(January 2013)

The Mark of Athena

I was very excited when a message from the library popped up, telling me this book had arrived. But the thing that made me the most excited? On one of the last pages, a few little lines reading: The House of Hades, coming Fall 2013. For whatever reason, correct or incorrect, I thought The Mark of Athena was the last book in the Heroes of Olympus series. I'm so glad there's at least one more book!

I felt like I needed a refresher from The Son of Neptune before I started this one...I kept mixing up which of the "new" characters came from Camp Jupiter and which ones came from Camp Half-Blood.

I liked the book - the adventures were exciting and there were enough of them, but not too many (if that makes sense). I did kind of wish we got to see more of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood preparing for their inevitable meeting (maybe that will happen in the next book?). The little teaser glimpses of what was going on that the seven got to see through Piper's knife were revealing, but I wanted more!

I'm on track for 16 books in the first four months of 2013...yahoo!

The Man Who Smiled

This book was weird. I didn’t really like it. It’s definitely my least favourite of the series. It is apparently actually the 5th book (it should come after Sidetracked), but it’s not listed in the lists in the Vintage editions. The edition I read was published by The New Press. I was not thrilled with the translation – there were a bunch of weird errors. There were also a few fact check errors and I’m not sure if they are actual fact check errors or other problems with the translation.

Reading this one out of order demonstrated how well the others are written to be stand alone books if need be. There were a few references to events in this book in The Fifth Woman and One Step Behind, but I didn’t feel like I was missing much. This book filled a few details that were nice to know and enhanced the story, but they weren’t necessary to the plots of the others.

I’m glad I read this after The Fifth Woman and One Step Behind because I disliked it enough that I may have just stopped reading the books…but now I’m waiting for the next two books to show up at the library…in the meantime, I might read some other author!

One Step Behind

I think this might be my favourite of the series so far. I like the way Ann-Britt Höglund has been developed and I like the new chief. This plot line was the most twisty-turny so far and I liked how it was done…I could seen the connections, sort of – it was like they were just outside my peripheral vision.

I was a bit annoyed at Wallander though with his health issues, but that seemed to be a plot device.

I read it in a day and a half, so a reread might be a good idea someday!

The Fifth Woman

 

Possible SPOILER ALERT at the end of the post. There is a warning below too.

 

Unfortunately 2013 did not start the way I had hoped…I ended up with bronchitis and an infection and spent a lot of time in bed and on the couch at the beginning of the month. But, that did give me the opportunity to read a lot.

And because I still had a ways to go to get through my library books before they were due to be returned, I stuck with Kurt Wallender. Again, I was surprised by the identity of the killer and the discussion that surrounded that in the book.

Possible spoiler coming up
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

One thing I’m unsure of…the skull that is mentioned on the dust jacket of my book and is discussed throughout the book – is that just a random clue that didn’t actually have anything to do with the crimes and ended up not being a clue? I sort of felt like it was left dangling, but I might have missed something…

Sidetracked

Yes, another. This one was interesting. I was surprised to find out who was committing the crimes – the reader knows throughout who it is, but some of the details about that person really surprised me.

Again, I read this too long ago to really comment on it…I liked it, or I probably would have stopped reading these books…

 

And with that, the books of 2012 are complete…63, wow!

The White Lioness

 

I made the mistake of requesting a whole whack of Henning Mankell books at the same time from the library…a mistake because of course they were all ready to be picked up within two days of each other and because I had to request them, that means three weeks to read them, that’s it, because in all likelihood there are others who have requested them after me.

Good thing I like these books!

The White Lioness is the third in the series of Kurt Wallander mysteries and it takes place in Sweden and South Africa. One thing that drives me nuts about some mysteries is the amount of coincidence. Mankell’s books have a lot of coincidences, but the reader knows they exist (even if the connection isn’t obvious) before Wallander does…and somehow that makes it more believable to me.

So, because I’m so slow and because I’ve read four other Mankell books before I read this one, I don’t have a lot to say. I did enjoy this book and I might just have to sit down and reread all of them one day, because I’m certain I missed a lot.

The Drowning

Ugh…I had a bit of trouble with this one…and most of my complaints come from a place that I liked in the previous books – I liked that Erica was involved on the periphery of the investigations that Patrik was working on, but in this one, I felt like Camilla Läckberg let Erica get too invovled.

In The Hidden Child, I didn’t feel like Erica’s involvement was intrusive – I understood why she was there because the family history she was researching and the crime that Patrik was working on (while on paternity leave) ended up being linked. But this time, I cringed a bit when she got involved. And I thought the constant references to Erica’s and Anna’s pregnancies got to be a bit much…

I had no idea where this story was going – the twists were good and the ending was surprising. I had to go back and reread a few parts once I was just done, just to get everything straight in my mind.

And the very last page made my head spin. I’m glad the next book will be out in the next few months…cliff hangers like that make me anxious!

Books in 2012 and a look ahead

Phew...2012 is minutes from being over and I just finished book number 63. Back in January, I realized I was on pace for 60 books instead of the 52 I had challenged myself to read, but I didn't think I'd get to 60. Life takes over and January is slow after the holiday and with the ugly West Coast weather. But then I ended up in some intense physio for my knee which gave me a solid hour of uninterrupted reading time two or three times a week for three months. And that helped. Looking at the numbers by month, it's interesting that in some periods of high stress, I barely read at all and other times when the stress was high, I was obviously escaping it through books.

So, whats the goal for 2013? I made it past my 52 book goal, so should I go for 100? Maybe one day, but that not realistic for 2013. My goal for 2013 is 24 books. Yes, I know, that's down to two books a month, but I have my reasons. My goal is split. For the first four months, I'd like to try and average a book a week, or 16 books to the end of April. That works with my current reading pace.

Come May, I will be thrilled if I am able to make it through one book a month. And that would be because of the baby that is due to arrive at the end of April.

So a modest 24 books for 2013 it is. I better get to bed so I can get cracking on book number 1 in the morning!

Oh, and my other goal? To get my books posted within a week of finishing them...before the plot and the things I liked/disliked melt away into my mommy brain. I'm tired of saying things like, oh yeah, I really liked (disliked) that book, but I have no idea if it was historical fiction or about zombies or a mystery.

Happy end of 2012 everyone. May your 2013 be full of wonderful words!

A few little stats from my 2012 reads:

How many books read in 2012? 63

Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio? 59:4

Male/Female authors? 12 male, 19 female but 29 books were written by women, 34 by men and 1 was co-authored by a man and woman...I just happened to read multiple books by the same authors

Favourite book read? There were a BUNCH of books I liked a lot: the Falvia deLuce books, the Nicholas Flamel series, the Swedish crime books, but I think I'd go with The Book Thief as my favourite this year.

Least favourite? Tough...maybe A Secret Kept. It definitely wasn't as good as Sarah's Key. And then there was The Gods of Gotham. There wasn't really one I HATED though.

Oldest book read? Goodnight Mister Tom (1981)

Newest book read? I think that The Casual Vacancy wins this one. I did read a number of books published in 2012.

Longest book title? No competition here, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Demigod Files: A Survival Guide to Greek Gods and Monsters (78 characters, not including spaces)

Shortest book title? Cool Water (9 characters, not including spaces)

How many re-reads? 2

Books in translation? 10

Most books read by one author this year? 8 - Rick Riordan (and there were also a number of authors tied at 6)

How many books were borrowed from the library? 51

Name a book you've read this year which was recommended by a blogger: I don't think there was one - the ones that were recommendations came from friends and family. Some I picked up just because they looked good and some I picked up because I read an interesting review somewhere.

The Hidden Child

So after plodding through The Casual Vacancy, I flew through The Hidden Child. I have really been enjoying the Camilla Läckberg books, so this didn't really surprise me!

The book starts with Patrik starting paternity leave and Erica returning to work...although Patrik doesn't really stop working. Erica is supposed to be writing another book, but instead starts researching her mother's past and discovers a number of interesting things. The police investigate (with some assistance from Patrik and Maja) the murder of an elderly historian, who Erica had approached to ask for assistance identifying an old Nazi medal she found in her mothers belongings.

Of course there are all kinds of twists and turns and somehow the two things are related. Once again, I didn't have it figured out until it was spelled out to me, but I suspected bits and pieces of the puzzle.

I was glad to see Erica play a bigger role in the book - I missed her while she was on maternity leave. The personal goings-on at the police station were entertaining as always...although Läckberg does seem to have baby fever - this book involved two babies and no fewer than four pregnancies.

I have the last book (the next one isn't due out until spring) waiting to be read right now. It's due back at the library by Monday and there's a hold on it so I can't renew it, so I better get cracking!

Teaser Tuesday - The Hidden Child

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I finally finished The Casual Vacancy this weekend and moved on to something from my pile...so, my teaser is:

The cutlery clinked against their plates as they ate. All three of them tried not to look at the empty chair at the dining room table, but they couldn't help themselves.

The Hidden Child, Camilla Läckberg, page 87

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT at Should Be Reading with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

The Casual Vacancy

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh….that is the sound of me, sighing, because I FINALLY finished this book and I can move on to something else.

And you know, as much as I complained and complained some more about this book, it wasn’t that bad. It was just slow.

Barry Fairbrother, a resident of Pagford, drops dead one night and leaves a vacancy on the Pagford council. Of course there are two groups on council who want to fill the vacant seat with someone sympathetic to their own interests. And there are multiple families in Pagford somehow tied to Barry Fairbrother. The stories of these families unwind and intersect and eventually culminate in unhappiness for many of them.

I had a hard time at the beginning keeping the various people straight – who belonged to which family, which family had ties (good or bad) to which other families – and I probably would have been smart to make a map of the families, but about 200 pages or so in, I got them figured out.

I don’t know what my problem with the book was – I found it slow reading…I don’t think the book was paced particularly slowly, I just felt like it took forever to read. I tried to forget about who wrote the book and that helped somewhat. When I was a teenager, I read A Long And Fatal Love Chase, written by Louisa May Alcott under the pen name A. M. Barnard. I knew that and I had a hard time reading the book until I ignored who wrote it…It was very different from Little Women. I knew this book was not going to be a grown up Harry Potter, but something about it stumped me.

So, I’m kind of torn by this book – the stories were interesting and the way they intertwined was believable because Pagford is a small town, but it was such a sluggish read…I am intrigued by the BBC series that was announced this week though.

The Dogs of Riga

I’m not reading the Henning Mankell books as quickly as the Camilla Läckberg books, but I’m still enjoying them!

In The Dogs of Riga, Kurt Wallander investigates two bodies that wash up on the Swedish coastline in a life raft. The police determine the bodies are Latvian and Major Liepa fromthe Riga police force comes to Sweden to work on the investigation. The Swedish part of the case is closed and he returns to Latvia to finish his investigation, but the night he returns, he is murdered. The Riga police request Wallander’s help in Riga and Wallander gets involved in some crazy business in a country just coming out from under Soviet rule. There are spies everywhere, bribes are normal and he can’t trust anyone. The book has a few crazy twists and surprises, but in the end things work out, sort of…

I’m excited to read the next book – there were a few inconsistencies that bothered my editors brain – I’m not sure if they were inconsistencies in the story or the translation – the glaring one was the Peugeot Wallander traded in for a Nissan at the end of Faceless Killers had morphed back into a Peugeot. There were a few others – the use of the word “mean” when describing someone cheap and the favourite Swedish expression, “blind alley,” which I feel is more British and I’d be more likely to use “dead end,” but hey, I don’t speak Swedish and I’m by no means a translator.

Teaser Tuesday - The Casual Vacancy...still

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm stuck. This book is taking FOREVER...I'm looking forward to it ending...I have a big pile of books that all came off hold at the library on the same day and they are far more appealing for some reason.

The family PC was set up in a corner of the sitting room, where Simon could keep an eye on it, and make sure nobody was running up large bills behind his back. Ruth relinquished her grip on the phone and hurried to the keyboard.

The Casual Vacancy, J. K. Rowling, page 281

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT at Should Be Reading with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Faceless Killers

More Swedish thillers/crime novels. My dad introduced me to Henning Mankell last time I was in Kelowna and I came home with a suitcase full of books – all of the Henning Mankell we could find in the house (he thinks there are more, we just didn’t know where to look). I enjoyed the Stieg Larsson books (only the last one made it on here – I started them before I started this blog) and I’ve been devouring the Camilla Läckberg books, so it made sense to read “Sweden’s greatest living mystery writer” as well.

An elderly farmer and his wife are brutally murdered by unknown assailants. The wife last word is “foreign” and she says it more than once. There isn’t a lot of evidence and there are a some strange twists that in the end are only peripherally related to the crime, but the plot focuses on the divisive debate about immigration and asylum seeking in Sweden. The book was published over twenty years ago but some of the problems and hesitations in the books echo what we’re hearing in Canada today.

If you like Larsson or Läckberg, I’d recommend Mankell for sure. Kurt Wallander is a detective I’m enjoying following.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Demigod Files: A Survival Guide to Greek Gods and Monsters

Hey, you, remember the note-to-self yesterday? Yeah? Well here’s another example for you.

Quick read anyone? Less than an hour! This was fun. And that’s that!

Cool Water

(Note to self: stop using your phone to take pictures. Your camera that is just a camera works SOOOOO much better!)

Hello December…will I ever get caught up? This is still an October read and I still have the month of November to get through too…Fingers crossed! My pile of to-reads is going to grow soon too…Christmas is coming!

Cool Water. This book was a gift from my parents for Christmas? my birthday? a couple of years ago (oddly it’s not written in…that never happens in my family). It sat on the dresser and gathered dust, but as I’ve been unofficially on the book diet again, I’m slowly getting through that pile.

Cool Water follows some of the townsfolk in Juliet, Saskatchewan around for a day. There are some real characters in Juliet, but Dianne Warren describes their lives in such a way that they are fully believable. For a couple of nights after finishing Cool Water, I still dreamed about the characters in the book, mostly Vicki and Lee. It doesn’t happen often that I dream about characters from a book, but they seemed so real.

I was disappointed when the book ended because I wanted to know more (to me, a sign of a good book!). What happened to Vicki’s family? What happened to Lee and the horse and the postcards? What about Jodi and her trip to Alberta? What about Lila and the hard conversation(s) with Rachelle? So many questions…maybe that’s why I dreamed about them…maybe I was giving myself the endings I wanted…