books

A mystery that was forgettable. Maybe it was the voices of one of the readers but I think it was the book. The Farm, set in Sweden and London. Fell asleep for the most important final 45 minutes and have no desire to replay it and find out what happened. By Tom Rob Smith, 2014. It gets rave reviews, which I don't understand.

Abattoir Blues by Peter Robinson was very good. 2014, his latest DCI Alan Banks book. Makes one want to become a vegetarian though.


in the middle of The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty and like it. Good mystery writer, interesting setting historically and physically. Nov. 2013

Also started February by Lisa Moore and like it so far.

Am in the middle of My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead, 2014 but had to go back and read Middlemarch itself, so I'm in the middle of that too. Like both.

some knitting

Never get around to posting knitting. A few recent things.
Socks - love the yarn - from catterpillargreen yarns in Victoria. Love the colours and there is cashmere mixed in the with merino and nylon.

and hats, from handspun. The completed hat is mostlyl merino with a bit of BFL, it's my first attempt at cable plying and I liked it, for a hat. Pattern is Barley by tin can knits

next is a hat in progress made from Huckleberry Knits, BLF and silk. Lovely mixture of fibres, fun to spin and it was Navaho plyed. I like the weight of this 3 ply and like knitting with it. Pattern is Wurm

The Secret Place, 2014, by Tana French. Very good mystery, set in an Irish boarding school for girls. It's more a novel about friendship and what it can mean, than a murder mystery although there is a dead body. Written from the girls perspective and the detectives perspective.

Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, 2012. Listened to Gaiman reading this himself. Interesting fanatasy with likable characters and a few nice cats.

a thriller and a mystery

Dear Daughter, 2014, by elizabeth Little. Interesting plot, Jane Jenkins was accused and convicted of her mother's brutal murder ten years prior to the story starting, when she is released on a technical detail. So we go and find out who really murdered Mum. Entertaining car listening book.

I am Pilgrim, 2014, by Terry Hayes, another first book by an auther as is dear daughter....He is a good story teller. It was too long, should have been edited more but his diversions were usually interesting. Good characters and interesting plot. Also a good car listening book.

two good novels, two good mysteries

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2005 Purple Hibiscus, her first novel. Very good writer, just as good as Americannah and Half a Yellow Sun. The narrator Kambili Achike is a 15-year-old Nigerian girl growing up in sheltered privilege in a country ravaged by political strife and personal struggle. She builds the novel slowly, with great characters.

Mourning Ruby, 2005, by Helen Dunmore. Didn't like the built in other novel, think it's an irritating technique, but other than that, the book is good. Sad story but it has a good ending.

Two mysteries by Lesly Thomson, same character as the protaganist.

The Detective's Daughter 2013, and Ghost Girl, 2014. She runs a cleaning business, Clean Slate, and is very organized but is dragged into her father's old unsolved cases, happily.

james oswald - scottish mysteries

Started the 4th of the series, and have been enjoying them. His characters are interesting, mysteries a bit gorry but not too bad and there's a bit of ghostly presence but it is not too much.

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Grumpy Bob is a great name for a character. James Oswald is an interesting person, has a 350 acre livestock farm in North East Fife, where he raises pedigree Highland Cattle and New Zealand Romney Sheep. James Oswald web site

good novels

Elizabeth Jane Howard.
Just finished the 4th book in the Cazalet series and thought it was the last one and was very sad to have it end, but maybe there is one more.

There is one more, oh good news! Really enjoy reading about these characters. She's a good writer.







Also just finished The Budda in the Attic by Julie Otsuka, 2012
Interesting book; told from many people's point of view but it works. It is very short, but good. The lives of Japanese women sold as wives to Americans.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 2014. Lovely book, about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Very thoughtfully written.

We Are Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, 2014. good book, questioning our use and abuse of animals, particularly one chimp who was raised in a family until things fell apart. Well written.