Yes!!!

This weekend two new books arrived by (snail) mail.
About two weeks ago I ordered these books (and some more) on The Book Depository. It is always nice to buy books cheaper on the internet, it is just the waiting that sometimes gets to me.

Alright, my two new books are in. They are:

• Robin Hobb, Blood of dragons
• Tad Williams, The dirty streets of heaven

I'm particularly curious about the Tad Williams one. I'm a huge fan of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, but not of the Otherland-series. We will see.
I saw Blood of dragons in the Waterstone's store in Liverpool. Wasn't quite sure whether I bought it or not, so I decided to wait until home (and I didn't have the space in my lugage to bring it along).

Now I have to find to time to read them (as always).

Disappointed

It’s been a while since I’ve last read a book from the Scarpetta-series by Patricia Cornwell. I wasn’t very impressed with her latest books. I did buy the newest ones and I thought it was time to give her another try. Well, I was kind of disappointed again!

Scarpetta starts very, very long-winded. The first 200 pages are nothing more than Scarpetta examining Oscar Bane, the murder suspect and Scarpetta and Benton discussion what Marino did to her in the previous novel and how this might affect their current case. It is only talk, talk, talk. After 200 pages the action very slowly takes over. Around page 300 another murder takes places. And around page 400 Lucy gets such a brilliant inspiration that the story can be concluded within 50 pages. This inspiration came kind of out of the blue. The previous chapter you were reading about a discussion the whole police team about how to find the murderer. The start of the next chapter sees Lucy on the roof examining video streams and discovering the murderer. Out of the blue, yeah. It felt like Cornwell getting out of control of the story and she needed an excuse to round up. The only reason I finished the book, is because a friend of mine said the book would improve later on. Well, it did some, but not so much. The twist of Lucy finding the murderer really killed the whole book for me. Early on in the book it was pretty obvious who the murderer was, which makes this twist was too easy and too lazy. Oh and of course Oscar wasn't the murderer - something that was quite obvious from the start. Then why waste 200 pages on his character...

Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/patricia-cornwell/scarpetta.htm) describes the book as: “Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting-edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthral.” Twists? Turns? Entertain? Maybe they’ve read another book than I did. I still have 3 more Scarpetta-books to read (The Scarpetta factor, Port mortuary  and Red mist), but I think it will take a long, long time before I try anything by Patricia Cornwell again. For now, I prefer Tess Gerritsen over Cornwell. Sorry.

All in all disappointed again. 

It's a kind of magic

A friend of mine gave me digital copy of Jim Butcher’s Storm front, the first novel in The Dresden Files. The series is about a world, similar to our own, but where wizards and magic are very normal. Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire. He finds lost things, is terrible with anything electronic (and that includes his VW Beetle car), has an awful track record concerning women, has trouble paying his bills (don’t we all) and he consults for the police. He lives in a basement along with his cat and has a dungeon for making spells. All in all a nice guy.

In this first book Harry receives the request from a lady to find her lost husband. Later, the police asks for his assistance in a very brutal murders: the hearts of two lovers were ripped out during the act. Ai. The Wizard Council suspects Harry of these murders, due to something that happened in Harry’s past. The precise nature of what is hinted at. Harry has some difficulty proving his innocence, maintaining his health – being attack by some other worldly troll isn’t very good for your physical and mental health – and in the meantime don’t get himself killed. Of course, in the end all ends well (otherwise, there wouldn’t be a series). It takes a time before Harry realizes both causes correspond to eachother: the lost husband is the murderer. 

The book is fun and has a good pace. Harry is a nice enough guy to get interested in. Magic in our world is highly underrated. The idea of magic and how this will affect our world and those who live in it, is well figured out. Not only can magic be off assistance to Harry (but not in the Potter way of things, here magic has a price), it can also be a hindrance. His magic is not always the easy escape you might think. All in all fun/light enough for a bed time snack and I don’t mind reading another one of the series.

Home again

My colleagues don’t even ask anymore where we’re going, when Dear Hubby and I are going on holiday. As usual: England. 

Last week we had a mini cruise to York with a one night stay. That meant almost two whole days in England. This time I didn’t buy too many books, because I bought a very expensive Lego Star Wars kit: the Millennium Falcon. Long time ago, when I went to college, I was a huge fan of Star Wars and particularly of Han Solo. If this had anything to do with a young Harrison Ford… Ah well, I always wanted to own a Millennium Falcon and this is kit is very beautiful and detailed. So I’m very happy.

Besides this beautiful kit I also bought 3 books:

• Tess Gerritsen – The sinner (£ 2,50)
• Tess Gerritsen – Life support(£ 2,50).
• J.D. Robb – Salvation in death (£ 2,00)

We’ll be back again in England in 6 weeks. Another change to buy more books.

Ps. I’ve finished two more books, just need the time to write the blogs…

P.p.s. These are not the covers of the Tess Gerritsen' books I bought, but the only ones I could find on the net.

Winter cold

I’m not very enthusiastic about the winter. I don’t like the cold, I don’t like the snow (except when I can stay at home and watch it from indoors), I don’t like the wind, and I definitely don’t like the darkness.

Tess Gerritsen (what a very Dutch name) writes about Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles. Also known from the television series ‘Rizzoli and Isles’, where Angie Harmon plays Jane and Sasha Alexander plays Maura. I was familiar with television series, but not with the books. And that is the great thing about the Book Festival. It gives you the opportunity to try out new authors for not too much money. I bought The killing place, just to give it a try.

The killing place – also known as Ice cold – takes place in Wyoming, during winter. It is cold. Maura is on a conference when she meets an old study friend. Out of a whim she decides to join him and his daughter along with two friends to go skiing not far away.

Of course you know things will go wrong. As they follow the instructions of their sat nav during a snow 

storm, they crash. As it is impossible to get the car out of the ditch, they decided to walk to what seems the nearest village. This village – Kingdom come – however is abandoned. Food is left on the tables to rot, loving pets lie dead. As one of their attempts to leave the village fails and one of them gets seriously injured, it all goes from wrong to worse. It is obviously clear something is not right in the village. One of them tries to go for help. After several days Maura sees no other option than to give it a try. As she reaches their stranded car, she gets knocked in the head and abducted.

Jane – in the main time – first neglects the worries of Daniel, Maura’s priest friend. As Maura does not fly home, she finally gets concerned. The police in Wyoming however isn’t very impressed. The story then enfolds in twofold: besides the search for Maura by Jane, the story also tells what happens to Maura.

The story actually has a deeper layer: what people will do to others to get what they want. In this case it is the Prophet, Jeremiah Goode. He will get you to heaven. In the mean time you shun your adolescent son and your daughter is abused. But hey, heaven awaits, just turn a blind eye.

This is what happened to the young man – nicknamed Rat – who abducted Maura. Later you find out he only abducted her to help her. Prophet Goode can only run his affairs with paid assistance from the local police and justice department. A local policeman was looking for Maura. His only intentions were to kill her as she was an unwanted witness.

In the end it turns everybody at Kingdom Come is indeed dead, but that Goode wasn’t responsible. A company dumped chemical weapons in the valley. The containers rusted and released their deadly gas. That is what killed everyone in Kingdom Come. That is why so many measures were taking to cover things up. Greed. Greed for money, greed for young girls. The lesser things a human can do.

Of course it all turns out alright, even for Rat.

Is this a good book? Yes, it made me forget about time. I wanted to finish the book. It definitely tastes for more. 

Not sure

Last Sunday I finished Faye Kellermans Hangman. I’m not really sure about this book. The cover states ‘For all fans of Kathy Reichs’. Alright, I’ve read Kathy (and also have some books of her I still have to read). But I think this ‘compliment’ did not do justice to the books Kathy writes. Furthermore, The Mirror should have labelled this book as ‘Sensational’.  Why?

Well, Hangman is a nice book. It has some pace and some interesting plot twitches. The funny thing however, is that the story on the back speaks of ‘sociopathic husband Chris Donatti’. To me he wasn’t so sociopathic at all. I’ve read stories of much more disturbed people (remember mr. Pudd from the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly). And Chris is a very minor character in the book. Not that very active, more on the background. The main character is LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker, also called The Loo, or Rabbi, as he is Jewish. Him being Jewish is by the way a very minor factor in the story.

What happens? A young friend – Teresa McLaughlin – contacts Deckers. She is afraid of her husband – the sociopathic Chris – and only want to meet him if Decker is present. Decker agrees. They all meet, very civilized and Teresa is satisfied she can live on her own. Decker then gets involved in a homicide and does not think about Teresa and Chris again, until their son Gabe calls that his mother is missing. Then the two stories start to entwine. The murdered nurse is found near the place where Chris as a kid is thought to have murdered someone. So the search for the murderer, Chris and Teresa begins. Chris does not really want to be found and sort of communicates with Decker through Gabe. Teresa doesn’t want to be found at all. In the beginning they think she is dead, but Decker becomes more and more sceptical.

The search for the murderer of the nurse is actually more interesting than the search for Teresa. She liked to party and fool around. Her boyfriend isn’t exactly faithful. Her friends hides information. In the end of course all comes together. And that is the funny twist of the story. The most important witness – the man who found our nurse hanging in the construction side – has his own secrets to hide. He is a serial killer who liked to suffocated his victims. He had however nothing to do with the death of our nurse, that was her serial killing boyfriend (which she did not know). So you have one serial killer as a witness for another serial killer. The chances for that are of course very slim.

In the end Teresa is also kind of found. She escaped her sociopathic husband and fled to India to live with her new beau. What made her run and leave her kid behind? She was pregnant and not by her husband.

So all is well in the end. But did this make this an sensational book creating ‘a claustrophobic atmosphere against a background of seediness, violence and distrust’ (Sunday Telegraph)? No, not for me. I know taste can differ, but these qualifications do not fit the book I’ve read. It was a good read, but to say it was sensational. It did not keep me awake at night, nor was one of those book you cannot stop reading. It was just nice. And that is not entirely what Kellerman had in mind, I think. So all in all it is a pleasant read, but not a keeper.

Room on the shelves is decreasing

I have told you before about the Book Festival I go to each year. These Festivals are in several cities around The Netherlands and Belgium. Last time was Nieuwegein's turn.
I do not always go to the Festival in Nieuwegein, because the offered books aren't always to my liking. But this time I had nothing to do so Dear Hubby and I paid Nieuwegein a visit.
And to my surprise I found more books (especially hard back), then I thought I would. And it is very easy to make this girl happy. Just let her buy books.

So... what did I buy:

• Patricia Cornwell, Red mist
• David Hewson, The killing
• David Hewson, Death in Seville
• Tess Gerritsen, The killing place
• Philippa Gregory, The lady of the rivers
• Raymond Khoury, The devil's elixer
• Karen Miller, A blight of mages
• Cinda Williams Chima, The demon king

Dear Hubby also found a book he liked:

• Stephen Bungay, The most dangerous enemy

It's an illustrated history of the Battle of Britain.

Besides these we also bought:

• Britain. The ultimate guide

Our holidays in England will never be unprepared.

I'm not sure about e-books

For a while now I own an e-book reader. I've tried to postpone it as long as possible, but the device was lying idle on the shelf and Dear Hubby kind of pressed me into using it. So for the past month I'm giving it a try. I do not own a fancy e-reader, not a Sony, a Kindle or whatever brand there is these days. Mine was giving for free when we bought a course with one of those learn-at-home companies. Ah well, it works.

So, I looked for some free e-books on the net. A lot of e-books out there, but my of my, have you looked at the prices? Sometimes you pay as much or more for an e-book as for a regular one. Why? And the e-books that were free were not of my liking. If I do not want to read Charles Dickens in a regular book, what makes you think I will read it as an e-book? And don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Charles Dickens. Luckily for me I have a friend with more than enough e-books in her possession, so after dinner one night we connected my e-reader to her laptop. She had several books I could try out.

And what are my experiences so far. Well, I'm not completely convinced I like the e-book reader. Maybe it is due to the e-book reader itself. The battery doesn't last as long as I would like it to be. I used it for a week while commuting to work - 15 to 20 minutes on the train and bus one way - and the battery was dead within a week. With a regular book - when you finished it - you can always buy a new one. With a dead battery, nope, you're out. So I switched back to a regular book on the train. And a regular book is always ready to read. You open the book and tada, all the letters are available. As for an e-reader, you have to kick start the thing, search for the book you were reading and then you can start to read. With a regular book, I'm reading at least 5 minutes earlier.

The e-reader is now lying on my night stand and I like it there. I always read something before I go to sleep. For that, the device is perfect. I can even turn off the light if Dear Hubby wants to sleep and still read.

So for now, I kind of think I'm at an armed peace with the thing. Not completely convinced, but hey, it's fun.

Dinner is served

The dinner is a book by the Dutch author and cabaret performer Herman Koch. He is well known in the Netherlands and maybe also in Belgium for his cabaret, both on television and in theater. Besides that he has written a number of bestselling books, of which The dinner is just translated in English. And apparently, it is doing very well. It received several positive reviews in American newspapers (NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/books/the-dinner-by-herman-koch.html?_r=0).

I’m not a huge fan of Dutch authors. I don’t know why, but maybe it has to do with the fact that I hardly read anything in Dutch these days, except for the free newspaper in the morning. But my Dear Hubby had read the book and really liked it. So on the boot to York, with nothing else to do, I read about the dinner party from hell.

I won’t say this often, but Dear Hubby was right: it is a very good book. It starts just as a regular dinner between two brothers and their wives. One of the brothers –Paul – Is not very enthusiastic about it. He despises his brother Serge. You can tell that the relationship between the two brothers isn’t very good. Paul dislikes everything Serge stands for. Maybe because in some way Serge is socially more successful than his brother. Paul is a History teacher, who is on a temporary leave (for over seven years or something like that) and Serge is about to become prime minister. The restaurant is also picked by Serge – ‘they know me there’ – and Paul really dislikes the place; from the way it is fitted to the explicit behaviour of the headwaiter, who points at everything with his little finger while explaining what (little) is on the plate.

The reason the two couples are together is their children. Both have a fifteen year old son, while Serge and his wife also have a daughter and an adopted son Beau. The boys were up to no good and did something that could really devastate Serge’s career.

Without anything giving away – I will try not to spoil anything, just read the book yourself – the story develops around the interaction between these two couples, the way they view life and the different ways they raise their children. Was their action really so bad that it should ruin their lives or can we just keep in quiet. In the end nothing is like it seemed at the beginning of the book.

I do have to say, maybe this book is only as good as it is if you know Dutch society. If you’re familiar with our ways of life and the way we view politics and family life. If not, this is still a good read and a nice, sober-minded look on Dutch society. Or as Fantastic Fiction would say: “Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.” (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/herman-koch/dinner.htm)

All I can say is: “honey, dinner is served…”

Maine

I’m not sure if I ever told you before, but usually I don’t read all the books from the same author in one go. Somehow that goes well for one, two at the best three books, but after that I kind of get bored. With the Charlie Parker-series by John Connolly, that is however not the case.

Last year I’ve read the whole Charlie Parker series in one go, finishing with the novel in Nocturnes (a short story bundle). I was kind of mesmerized by the whole story. And with this series it is better to read to books in sequence. Yes, every book is a story on its own, but there is an underlying development. Charlie is always caught up in supernatural cases. Like fallen angels. God threw some angels out of heaven and they are still here on earth, trying to wreck human life. Or strange serial killers. Who – in his right mind – would think of committing murder using toxic spiders? But then the serial killer in question – mr. Pudd – is a far cry from normal.

And Charlie always encounters the darker side of humans: abuse, paedophiles, trafficking, smuggling, (serial) murder. It gives you a grim outlook on mankind. Sometimes the books are very close to horror. It is crime, but with a very sinister, very dark twist.

In the end of course our Charlie puts everything right, but never without a cost. He’s estranged from his girlfriend and his daughter grows up without him. He doesn’t like violence or guns, but somehow trouble always seems to find him. He struggles with himself and his family history. He is a troubled man who still does to do the right thing.

The wrath of angels is the latest instalment in the series. This takes place in the depths of the woods in Maine. The state of Maine throughout the series plays an important factor. It is a strange state, where people are still independent. In The wrath of angels Charlie searches for a crashed plane buried deep in the woods. But he’s not alone. The Collector – a very strange serial killer who collects debts – and two fallen angels also search for the plane and most specific a list with names. The end is at the crash site. Charlie and his friends come out alive, but barely. And the list? I think we have to wait for the next instalment to learn more about that.

So, if you’re in for a dark, mysterious, gruesome series, I highly recommend Charlie Parker. And now I have to wait for the next book.

Still enough room on the shelves

On February 14th and 15th Dear Hubby and I were in York. Just a short break, but long enough to buy new books and spent too much money.

And yes, I bought several new books. I even didn’t buy some of the books I wanted, because I felt they were too expansive. It happened to me several times now, that I bought new books (for good money) and when I returned to England on our next visit, they were cheaper. So this time, I will just wait. 

Alright, these are the books I bought:

•          John Connolly, The book of lost things (£ 7,99)
•          Philippa Gregory, The constant princess (£ 2,50)
•          Michael Jecks, The bishop must die (£ 2,50)
•          John Prevas, Hannibal crosses the alps. The invasion of Italy and the Punic Wars   (£ 5,99)
•          C.J. Sansom, Dominion (£ 14,99 – hb)

The C.J. Sansom book is actually a fun story: I was in Waterstone’s, just browsing one more time, when I spotted this book. As C.J. Sansom – and especially his Shardlade-series – is one of my favourite authors, I really wanted to buy this book. It was also hardback, and I prefer hardback over paperback. There was one issue though: the cover of the book was damaged and it still costs £ 18,99. Too much for a damaged book. But in York the W.H. Smith is right around the corner from the Waterstone’s. We walked over there. I could not find the book, so I asked. The very kind ladies behind the counter also had some difficulties locating the book. One of them even looked in the storage for me. In the end we noticed that Sansom’s books were on three different places: the Shardlake-series under ‘historic’, the Barcelona novel under crime and ‘Dominion’ on another shelf due to the fact that it was new and hardback. And you know what the funny thing was: not only was it in pristine condition, it was also £ 4,00 cheaper than at Waterstone’s. Double happy. What more could a girl ask for.

Twenty-one

For the last 8 weeks, starting in November, I instructed 26 first-year students in how to write a historic, scientific essay. That shouldn't be to difficult. Right? At the end of the course only 21 students remained. 3 of them quite and two I kicked out. Is it really so difficult to come to class on time? To hand in your assignments on time? To listen to anything I say? To write in proper Dutch. Apparently.

So starting just before Christmas, I've been reviewing the first versions of their essay. Of the 21 essays only two or three were good. The rest was average or even bad.

Last week they handed in their final versions. I'm reviewing these now. Oh my, writing proper Dutch is very difficult for some. I explained to them several times that 15 writing errors means you fail the class. So for, more than half failed. Isn't that sad? That's our future. At the moment I really pity myself.

The downside to all this is that I have had hardly time to read anything else. And if I read something else, it is of a very low, very little brain using quality. Like a lovy-dovy. At least, that is the type of book I'm currently reading before going to sleep. Little embarressed by it. In the train to work I read "The gods of Atlantis", by David Gibbins. A kind of historic topic (Atlantis); a mix between Dan Brown and Indiana Jones. Always fun.

During the holidays I also found the time to finish "Nocturnes" by John Connolly. I wil try and find some time one of these days to write a review.