Force of Nature is a thriller/mystery novel written by Jane Harper, the second in the Aaron Falk series, set in Australia. Five women set out on a four day corporate retreat backpacking into the remote Giralang Range, but only four return. A search is started and the police question the women and anyone else associated with the missing Alice Russell. Their stories are not consistent as the author patiently develops the characters of the five women, each flawed, each with secrets, each dealing with personal, family, and work issues. Two police teams investigate and the truth slowly unfolds, but this is not a procedural detective story. It is an interwoven account of people under stress with trust, betrayal, loyalty, personal growth, resentment, fear, and anger. The truth is revealed through the interactions of the women with each other and the police, and at the end of the book regret and guilt are stronger than denial and lies.
This is another compelling story by Jane Harper and it is recommended as an engaging read. 4.4 stars/5.
One of my favorite female singer-songwriters for decades has been Kate Wolf. Many of her songs were in the folk/Americana/acoustic genre. With a crystal clear warm voice she wrote and sang many memorable songs until her death from leukemia in 1986. There are many wonderful songs to love, but Green Eyes is one of her best:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles was Agatha Christie’s first book. She wrote in on a dare in 1916 and tried to get it published, unsuccessfully until 1919. It was then releases in serial format with 18 parts. It was not published as a full book until 1920. In the book we are first introduced to Hastings, the narrator of the story and to the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Agatha Christie went on to write 33 Poirot books, and many other mystery books for a total of 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She became the best-selling author of all time.
Although her writing and her plots improved over time, the first story reads as if it was written by a well-established author. Over time, the Poirot character becomes more nuanced, and in time the many movie and TV adaptations have added a character who is well-known to us, even after 100 years. Agatha Christie has been the most influential writer for the novelists to follow in the mystery genre. Her first book set a high standard and established its own sub-genre – the cozy mystery. Poirot attempts to solve a murder in a country manner where the number of suspects is small, and the clues are elusive. As readers we try to guess the murderer and how it was done. I confess that I guessed right this time, but I had the advantage of having read quite a few Poirot novels over the years. I enjoyed this one too and recommend it. [4.3/5]
The book of Koli is a dystopian science fiction novel, told in a future after civilization has broken down and genetically-altered nature has taken over. People survive in small villages or enclaves and build their own way-of-life, complete with the myths created by those in charge.
The story is told by an illiterate youth named Koli. With no education he follows the tenets of the village and takes on the trade of his family, accepting the expectations of the ruling family. In a world without technology, there are still a few pieces of “tech” in operation and those who have them do so with a level of power and authority. From a wandering doctor (Ursala), he learns a little about the “Old World” and the place of technology. Koli oversteps his place in the village of Mythen Rood and retrieves/steals some tech from storage, subsequently figuring out how to use it. It is an AI music player called a Dream Sleeve with the persona of a Japanese social media star Monono as its voice. Using the player, Koli makes poor choices and finds himself banned from the village (Koli Faceless).
The tale is told in plainspoken language in the first person by Koli, looking back at the events that changed his life, covered in a trilogy. The first book can be divided into two parts – Koli’s life in Mythen Rood, then Koli’s flight into the dangerous world of a future Ingaland. By the end of the first book, Koli’s quest is set and along with Minono, Ursala, and Cup, he is off to find Lundum.
But it really is not a tale of action and adventure. There is a thread of humanism, compassion, woven into world-building and character development. We care about the characters and we find ourselves alongside Koli as he grows and as he explores the world outside.
I was fully engaged with this book and I will carry on with the trilogy. My rating – 4.7/5.
Louis Armstrong was known as a jazz trumpeter, but he sang ballads with a raspy and nuanced voice. One of his best songs was performed in 1967. the song was written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and has been recorded many times, but none matches the first rendering by Louis Armstrong.
A World of Curiosities in the 18th book in the Inspector Gamache series by Canadian author Louise Penny. It is a police procedural crime novel, but there are many layers and intriguing developments throughout the story, completed by a thriller ending.
The tale begins with several back-stories. The main story is an early Gamache case in which a prostitute is killed and her two kids are orphaned, but they have been damaged, and the echoes are part of the current murders. There is a look back at the killings at the Ecole Polytechnique, with a real life survivor as part of the narrative. And there is look back at when Chief Inspector Gamache first takes on his protege, Jean-Guy Beauvoir.
Ten years later, the events of the past collide with murders near Three Pines, a small village in Quebec and the clues start with a mysterious painting (A World of Curiosities) within a hidden room. A spider is building his web, with revenge on his mind.
The multiple strands and layers of this story make it a page-turner, one of the best of its genre. Highly recommended – 4.8/5 stars.
For years we have been seeing more and more people who seemed to spend a lot of time in trailers or vans. When we talked to a few people we were surprised to find out that they were actually traveling in their homes. We assumed it was just a choice they made, to be unattached, except to a love of travel. We did not really think that this was an economic choice. In Canada, it is very hard to live in a van or trailer over winter, so we just don’t see the nomads. Nomadland helped us to understand this phenomenon better.
We could not see ourselves choosing to live in an RV or van. We have stayed up to a month in a campervan and have spent many weeks in our recreational trailer, but after a couple of weeks, we are looking for more room, better plumbing, and some comfort. We stay in our RV to basecamp close to hiking and paddling, but sometimes for touring too. Could we adapt to becoming a long-term RVer? Probably, but we would not choose that way of life. The people that the author of Nomadland Jessica Bruder followed were mostly not nomads by choice, but for economic reasons.
The nomads faced some hard choices later in life for a variety of reasons and ended up in vans and RVs. Many had to travel from place to place, doing seasonal work as campground hosts, working for Amazon, or as seasonal laborers. In winter, most traveled to warm spots in the desert. Although there are undoubtedly nomads in Canada, the only part of the country that would allow overwintering in an RV or van would be the Lower Mainland, so we just don’t see large numbers of them.
The author follows some groups as they completed their seasonal cycles, as Campground host, in Amazon’s peak season, in harvest season, and in the off-season in winter. With lots of people facing this lifestyle, there are now blogs, conventions (of a sort), and speaking engagements, many focused on sharing the do’s and don’ts, secrets of the trade, and success stories. A network now exists on where to camp, how to save money, what to avoid, how to service and repair, and other parts of the nomad lifestyle.
The book is journalistic reporting, but it is coherent, well-crafted, and interesting from start to finish. I found it to be an eye-opener, a book I was thankful for.
A few songs stick with us, embedded into our bones for life. Both Sides Now is one of those songs. I first heard it sung by Judy Collins about 1968, then in 1970 I bought Joni’s album “Clouds.” It was played many times. Joni recorded it in different versions on later albums and she has sung it live at festivals, on TV, and on request. It has been recorded by other artists, often as a tribute. The message is universal and her rendering of the song resonates and reverberates for days after each listening.
Nickel Boys is narrated by Elwood Curtis living in New York City in the present time, looking back at a period of time when he attended the Nickel Academy (a reform school in Florida) when he was a teenager. Colson Whitehead tells the story at various points in Ellwood’s life and it isn’t until the end of the story that we find out that there are really two narrators and two lives told in this narrative. The storytelling is skillfully shifted to different times, different places, and different points of view, all to paint a larger portrait of systemic racism, societal power structures, suppression, greed, and white-blindness to abuses in the American justice system.
The story is told in a quiet, understated narrative by a character we can relate to and fear for. The author winds the events and the background of the place from a true account of a similar institution, the Dozier School in Florida, with documented corruption and abuse of young boys. The story could just as easily have been about the Residential Schools in Canada, with as many unmarked graves in the property behind the school.
In a way, this is also a horror story, a tale of a naive and diligent young man who thinks he can expose the wrongs of the system, but finds instead the powers of the institution to suppress, punish, and silence those who would reveal the truth. Elwood’s friend Turner has a more realistic view and we benefit from his thoughts from his time at Nickel Academy, but also in the decades that follow.
Colson Whitehead adds some subtle irony in the final chapters as Turner follows up on the investigation into the school, again, inserted without fanfare. The writing of this book was done with great skill and vision, one that leaves a long-lasting impression on my own journey to understand the lives of others in our collective history. It won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, deservedly so.
No Regrets is a folk-rock song written and sung by Tom Rush. The album was The Circle Game and it was released in 1968. I had this album and have listened to the song many times over the years. It was covered by a number of other artists too, and in soundtracks for movies.
“No regrets No tears goodbye Don’t want you back We’d only cry again Say goodbye again”
A simple song that resonates with Tom Rush’s distinctive voice.
