Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason, 2009. Good mystery. Indridason is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction, this is book number 6 of a series with Erlendur – the detective.

The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece by Eric Siblin, 2009. Very interesting book, well written, he tells the story of the six suites composed for cello by J.S. Bach in the early 1700s. It's part history, part investigation, all music.

Just started Margaret Drabble's interesting book, The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws 2009. I like it so far.

a book thief, some spies, and a piano teacher

The man who loved books too much : the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett, 2009. Very interesting - the story of a book thief who has absolutely no conscience and cons hard working book sellers out of expensive books.

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz, 2008. A 14 year old, Alex Ryder, who keeps getting hired by MI 6 and plunged into extraordinary situations. Entertaining. Horowitz wrote Collision, recently on Masterpiece Mystery, and Foyle's War. Interesting combination of things to have written.

The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee, 2009. Set in Hong Kong during and after WW II, alternates between the two time periods. Good story, interesting to read about era.

books

The boy in the moon : a father's search for his disabled son by Ian Brown, 2009. An excellent book, very well written. A page turner really as he looks at ethics and money and humanity and through it all, how much he loves his boy.



The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, 2007. Listening to this in the car. It's good, but he wears thin sometimes. He explores his Indianness, set near Spokane. Partly autobiographical.



Goldengrove, by Francine Prose, 2008. Good book, main character Niko surviving the death of her sister Margaret. Beautiful poem unlies the plot.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) from Spring and Fall
to a young child

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By & by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep & know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Books

The Kindness of Women, 1993, by J.G. Ballard. Interesting, semi-autobiographical, about his life in England post-war. A good writer. Starts with him still in the POW camp outside Shanghai and ends with the making of the movie about that time, Empire of the Sun.

Justin Cartright's To Heaven by Water, 2009. Half way through and I think I like it. Finished it and liked it a lot. I like his writing, like the words he uses. Liked the characters too.

Am enjoying Mark Billingham's latest Thorne mystery; Blood Line, 2009.

Book

Exit Orange and Red by Martyn Bedford, a novel about the steel manufacturing process in the UK, a huge mall, unions, journalism. Pretty good. 1997. I bought this second hand from the UK, must have been one of Nick Hornby's recommendations.

Listened to A Big Little Life: A Memoir Of A Joyful Dog by Dean Koontz in the car. A golden retriever, a CCI dog, she sounds like a very well behaved creature and much loved dog. She had a bath once a week! Rebus gets a bath twice a year. Oh well.

The Anthologist continues to be really good. And I started The Kindness of Women, 1993, by J.G Ballard and it is very good. It is the sequel to his autobiographical Empire of the Sun.

September knitting

my favourite sock pattern so far. Green socks.












Some colourful socks













The blue blob gets slowly bigger..

Books

Your Sad Eyes And Unforgettable Mouth by Edeet Ravel, 2008. It's good, but not as good as the Tel Aviv Trilogy she wrote; 1. Ten Thousand Lovers (2003), 2. Look for Me (2004) 3. A Wall of Light. They were really good.

I've started 2666 by Roberto Bolano, 2008 for the second time. This time it is the huge CD version. I keep thinking about giving up but it is a good book.

Listened to Open Arms by Marina Endicott and it felt incomplete - unfinished and with things missing.

just started The Anthologist: A Novel by Nicholson Baker 2009 and I really like it.