Audiobook. A very enjoyable book to listen to, this is a police procedural set in Europe. Well, one member of the duo is a police woman in the art theft division of the Italian police force in Rome and the other is her partner, an English art dealer. They tear around Europe with almost no money trying to untangle a complicated murder that is connected to an art theft. The...
Audiobook. What a fun book to listen to! It was such a treat to hear Bryson reading his book, telling of his enthusiasm for Australia as he recounts his extended visits. He is of course very funny, giving us such important phrases as, "mad as cut snakes," meaning crazy, a description he uses to describe people in Queensland. And he has the anecdotes to prove...
Another book recommended by Reading Matters. This is the story of Macauley, a nomadic farm worker who travels often on foot with his 4 year old daughter named Buster. Early on, an old man explains to Macauley, "Some men are like a wheel. They were made to go around. They rust if they lie still, and they fall apart. Some men, they can live in a box, but...
This one I read on the kindle and and loved being able to make notes at particular spots in the book. I was not familiar with Clive James’ work, but was vaguely aware of the name when I heard him interviewed this summer about his 1979 memoir that has long been loved in England where he lives and Sydney, where he grew up. It was not popular when it came out in the U.S thirty years ago, but...
Audiobook. A wonderfully fun book to listen to. A group of folks in their 70s and 80s begin to receive anonymous phone calls reminding them they will die. Some shrug off the news; others are terrified. But mostly we hear about their many foibles, including affairs which began in 1907, blackmailing schemes, plots by companion/servants to inherit. One old fellow...
In preparation for our trip to Australia, I chose a book from the top ten Australian novels, according to my favorite book blog, Reading Matters. This book was slow going, but the effort was well worth it. First, I had to have my iPhone nearby to look up words or see locations. You probably didn’t know a larrikin is Australian slang for an unruly person. Or the principle of Prince...
Because I listened to this book, I am uncertain whether some of these stories are long or whether some are interconnected stories. They convey more than a moment in the character's lifetime; you learn "how things turn out." They are all wonderful tales and sometimes left me quite breathless. Occasionally when I finished a story, I had to take a break from the...
I was expecting the usual description of the grueling journey of an explorer by this Australian author of The Blue Nile and The White Nile, but it is the story of an expedition that went badly from the very beginning. The leader, Burke, made a number of bad decisions and was a divisive personality, the Committee that commissioned the expedition did not step in when they should have, and worst...
Cold by Bill Streever reviewed in today’s NYT looks good!
This is the true story of two Ukrainian Jewish sisters who miraculously survived Hitler and Stalin. Jhanna and Frina were child prodigies who were offered scholarships to the music conservancies in both Kharkov and Moscow when they were very young. When the Nazis came to Kharkov, they narrowly escaped the fate of their parents and grandparents and lived by the grace of strangers who...