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Book a Week 2020 - BW44: Non Fiction November

Robin M

By Robin M,
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Penguin

Penguin 25,083

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I have two book reviews to add. I finished both of these last week:

The Icelandic novel (2011) Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson was excellent. Now I know that it is the first of a trilogy. I will definitely plan to read on. The writing was A++. Bonus points that it fits both my around-the-world challenge and my Non-Tropical Islands category. 

Set in a remote part of Western Iceland in the late 1800s, life is hard, dangerous, and ruled by fishing. At times, the novel was very bleak and somewhat the Icelandic version of life-sucks-and-then-you-die. But it doesn't sink into despair. 

A book about the history of the Greensboro sit-ins far exceeded my expectations: Lunch at the 5 & 10 by Miles Wolff. My expectations were low because this was written in 1970 by a guy who is better known for his writings about baseball and for owning the Durham Bulls in the late 1980s. But I learned a lot, and it was a well-written popular history. Some of it is dated, but the fact that it was written quite close to the actual events gave it a freshness that a later retrospective would lack. When I went looking for a book about the sit-ins, I found shockingly little. I even thought about writing an email to the International Civil Rights Museum in GSO for a recommendation. I still might do that, but I was quite pleased with this narrative.
 

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Kareni

Kareni 62,390

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Last night I finished a reread of Anne Bishop's  Lake Silence (The World of the Others); I enjoyed it once again.

"Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others--vampires, shape-shifters, and even deadlier paranormal beings. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget....

After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. Towns such as Vicki's don't have any distance from the Others, the dominant predators who rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what is out there watching you.

Vicki was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe--one of the shape-shifting Others--discovers a murdered man, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, ancient forces are roused by the disturbance in their domain. They have rules that must not be broken--and all the destructive powers of nature at their command."

Regards,

Kareni

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mumto2

mumto2 34,123

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I have been busy listening and sewing to Eight Perfect Murders https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50797373-eight-perfect-murders which is basically a huge long list of great mysteries.  The main character owns a somewhat famous bookstore complete with the bookstore cat and becomes involved in a series of murders based of famous mysteries.  The mysteries in question seem to all be based on a blog post titled Eight Perfect Murders which the bookseller wrote for his stores blog..   I immediately thought of my BaW friends because we do lists really well.  The ABC Murders kicks things off........I do regret listening even if I do really like the narrator because it makes it hard to take notes on the books mentioned.  Many are classics like Strangers on the Train, Rebecca......the titles I am unfamiliar are probably classics that I haven’t had a chance to read yet!😉

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mumto2

mumto2 34,123

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I just finished Love in Amsterdam by Nicholas Freeling https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53053950-love-in-amsterdam

A few years ago we asked @Loesje22000 for a list a Dutch mysteries.......I thought this was one of them as it is the Van Der Valk detective series! 😂 When my library added it to overdrive I put myself on the hold’s list thinking World Detectives 10 x10 and as a bonus a translated book which I keep track of.  Ummmmm, I finish, look to verify it is translated.  Not!  British author...........I probably would not have stuck this book out to the end if I hadn’t thought I was reading a Dutch dectective mystery!  It is set in the twenty or so years post WWII in post war Amsterdam.  
 

A bit grim.....sort of free thought. My formatting was poor because I had to read it in the browser which I dislike and normally only do for a book I love.  A woman is murdered with her former lover apparently gazing at a canal outside her home.  The detective VanderValk does not believe he did it........the decade long affair is rehashed extensively so adult content.  The lover, his wife, and Detective V all work together to solve the case.  The justice system in Holland now interests me.....I am looking forward to some conversations to understand better when we hopefully return to England next summer with our many Dutch friends.

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Little Green Leaves

Little Green Leaves 1,530

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3 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

I just finished Love in Amsterdam by Nicholas Freeling https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53053950-love-in-amsterdam

A few years ago we asked @Loesje22000 for a list a Dutch mysteries.......I thought this was one of them as it is the Van Der Valk detective series! 😂 When my library added it to overdrive I put myself on the hold’s list thinking World Detectives 10 x10 and as a bonus a translated book which I keep track of.  Ummmmm, I finish, look to verify it is translated.  Not!  British author...........I probably would not have stuck this book out to the end if I hadn’t thought I was reading a Dutch dectective mystery!  It is set in the twenty or so years post WWII in post war Amsterdam.  
 

A bit grim.....sort of free thought. My formatting was poor because I had to read it in the browser which I dislike and normally only do for a book I love.  A woman is murdered with her former lover apparently gazing at a canal outside her home.  The detective VanderValk does not believe he did it........the decade long affair is rehashed extensively so adult content.  The lover, his wife, and Detective V all work together to solve the case.  The justice system in Holland now interests me.....I am looking forward to some conversations to understand better when we hopefully return to England next summer with our many Dutch friends.

They made a TV show based on Van der Valk! I actually didnt know it was a book first. A few episodes aired on PBS (Masterpiece Mystery) recently. 

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