The Content Reader

This is the last week of the Nordic FINDS challenge hosted by AnnaBookBel . I have still to read the Finnish book for last week. It is rather thick and I have to continue reading it for February. My intention was to read a classic Icelandic tale, Salka Valka , by Haldór Laxness. He won the Nobel Literary Prize in 1955. However, I could not find a copy of the book, so I have to look for this later. Instead I headed to the library and found two books by Arnaldur Indridason that I have not yet read. Both of them are from his  Reykjavik Wartime Mystery series (Flovent and Thorson); The Shadow District and Petsamo.  As the title of the series indicates, the crimes are set during World War II, with police investigator Flóvent and the American military investigator Thorson. Both books are covering the troublesome times in Iceland during World War II; the foreign forces being placed there and the difficult relations between the Icelandic people and the military forces. Not everyone li...

  Since I am back at home, for the time being, it is nice to have time to read again. Here are a few short reviews of books I have read lately.  The Draining Lage by Arnaldur Indridason "Following an earthquake, the water level of an Icelandic lake suddenly falls, revealing a skeleton. Inspector Erlendur's investigation takes him back to the Cold War era, when bright, left-wing students in Iceland were sent to study in the "heavenly state" of Communist East Germany. Teeming with spies and informants, though, their "heavenly state" becomes a nightmare of betrayal and murder. Brilliantly weaving international espionage and a chilling cold case investigation, The Draining Lake is Arnaldur Indridason at his best."   Another fascinating murder mystery for Inspector Erlendur. This time he has to deal with a story going back fifty years. Ever since his brother disappeared in the snow when they were kids, Erlendur has been fascinated by disappearance. Will the...

On the way back from our trip to the north of Sweden, Finland and Norway, we passed by my parents again. The common book shelves are standing outside the guest flat so I took the opportunity to go through it one more time. I found seven books in June as I told you about in the post Just checking in... . They have already been read and I was quite pleased with my choose and enjoyed the books. Another look generated another five books, and they are: Rose Tremain - Restoration - It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, as well as being the Sunday Express  Book of the Year. In 1995 it was made into a film with Robert Downey Jr., Sam Neill, David Thewlis, Polly Walker and Meg Ryan. " Robert Merivel, son of a glove maker and an aspiring physician, finds his fortunes transformed when he is given a position at the court of King Charles II. Merivel slips easily into a life of luxury and idleness, enthusiastically enjoying the women and wine of the vibrant Restoration age. But ...

The reading has been rather slow for me in June. Being on the road does not give much time for this pleasure. We have bought a camper van and is now touring the north of Sweden. Wonderful experience of nature. For those of you who speak Swedish, or just want to look at pictures, can follow me on Den   tillfälliga besökaren .  Another obstacle with a van is that there is not so much space for more than the necessary things. As mentioned in the post ' Just checking in.. .' I choose a few books from self-service book shelves and those I have brought with me. I leave them at various camping as I have finished them. Here a few summary reviews of what I read.  Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason  Another thrilling and intriguing story from Iceland. Detective Sigurdur Oli is contacted by friends to investigate a blackmail. Upon visiting the suspected blackmailer Sigurdur Oli finds her murdered. The friendship makes the solving of the case more difficult for him, and many tim...

I am a little bit behind with reviews, so here is a post with short reviews of books I have read lately. The Katharina Code by Jørn Lier Horst A famous Norwegian thriller writer, but this is the first time I read a book by him. It is the first in a series of cold cases with detective William Wisting. Twenty-four years ago Katharina Haugen disappeared from her home, never to be seen again. She left behind a small note with cryptical figures. Every year, of the day of her disappearance, Wisting is visiting her husband, Martin. With the years a special friendship has developed between the two. When visiting this year, Wisting finds the house dark and quiet and no sign of Martin. This is the starting point of this fascinating story. It is not a book of action, it rather slowly follows new leads and new interpretations. It is all very exciting and I really enjoyed the cleverness of the story, the background and the build up to finding the solution to the case. The characters are ...

I have spent a couple of weeks in Sweden, seeing my son and friends, decorating the flat and doing some studies. The last was more of an emergency call, since I had misread the dead-line! Well, know I have caught up again. Looking at my TBR shelves in Sweden (yes, these shelves exists both in Belgium and Sweden!) I discovered to my great pleasure,  two unread books by Arnaldur Indridason.  Nordic crime writers are very popular these days. For one reason or the other, I don't read so many crime novels. However, having found some unread on my shelves, I went all crime fiction during these weeks. I start with one of my very favourite author. Artic Chill and Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indridason. As usual, interesting cold case stories mixed with a murder mystery. In Arctic Chill  a dark-skinned young boy is found dead and his Thai half-brother is missing. Is it a racial murder? Or a paedophile murder? Or did the boy see something he shouldn't see? The options a...

Hello everyone! It was quite some time since I posted here. A little bit of fatigue entered my life and I have just been letting the days past. I have spent a week in Sweden which was very nice. I managed to get me some energy there, in the fresh winds from the sea. I played tennis and swam, so exercise every day. I also used the opportunity to read two books from my shelves there. Most of my books are in English, but lately I have bought a few books in Swedish since I have spent some more time there. I do prefer to read English books in the original language, but when there is a language I don't read, like Icelandic and Portuguese in this case, I enjoy reading in Swedish. One of my favourite authors is Arnaldur Indridason and I found his Oblivion  in my book case and I read it in one day. It is difficult to stop reading when you start one of his books. What I especially like with his books is, that apart from the murder mystery, there is a very personal and interesting story...

Here some new books that will be published in April. As usual I tend to go towards history (fiction Silence of the Grave and Voices . Excellent. and non-fiction) but here are also a few thrillers. One from one of my favourite authors, the Icelandic Arnaldur Indridason. If you have not read anything by him, you just must do that. I have read Arnaldur Inddridason As you see there are also two books about Paris. I am already thinking ahead for the fantastic Paris in July  month organised by Eat Live Travel and others.   THE BEEKEEPER’S DAUGHTER by Santa Montefiore (Romance) Internationally bestselling author Santa Montefiore has written her first book set in America. THE BEEKEEPER’S DAUGHTER is the story of a mother and daughter searching for love and happiness, unaware of the secrets that bind them. To find what they are longing for, they must confront the past and unravel the lies told long ago. Simon & Schuster * 9781476735412 SHOCKING PARIS: Soutine, Ch...