1. The Welsh Girl
by Peter Ho Davies. Romance between a German POW and a local Welsh girl set in the waning days of WWII. I enjoyed it.2. Firewall
by Henning Mankell. Another Kurt Wallender mystery, this time involving a computerized attempt to attack the global economy. Spare and suspenseful.3. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
by Atul Gawande. A surgeon ruminates on the medical system and his experiences -- good, bad, frightening, frustrating -- as a resident in surgery. Thanks to Dr. Mel for recommending this one! Scary in some respects (necrotizing fascitis - gah!) but reassuring in others.4. He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Sejer Mysteries)
by Karin Fossum. Continuing the Scandinavian detective theme. Oddly, I really wanted to knit a Dale sweater after reading these...5. The Rottweiler
by Ruth Rendell. A creepy psychological mystery from the master of creepy psychological mysteries.
17 comments:
I've been on a Henning Mankell kick lately. Just started Return of the Dancing MAster.
Ooh...scary.
May I also recommend The Star of the Sea by Joseph O'connell. Takes place aboard a ship laden with people escaping potato famine.
Gorgeous language and scary as well.
Have you read "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides?? Beautiful language, fascinating story.
Ooh, Kath, you're the one who turned me on to all those Scottish ones like Ian Rankin.... merci mille fois.
You know I'd run away from home (wait. I did that already) for Ian Rankin, babe.
I keep meaning to start reading the Ian Rankin novels, but haven't done so yet. I was catching up on the NPR book review podcasts and heard an interview with him that was delightful. I'm smitten. If you want to know which podcast I will go back and find it. But I know he'll love me best.
Okay, okay, Tabitha, how about this--he's mine but since he's also on my dream dinner party guest list (along with Coffee Faucet, Michael Palin, Ruth Rendell, Alain de Botton, Helen Mirren, John Hannah...) I'll add you do that list.
Necrotizing fascitis is nothing after you've been treated to a detailed look of "The Color Atlas of Gunshot Wounds." Trust me.
Oh, Kathy, how fickle are thee! No Quebecois dwarves with their small organs??
Honey, there were "..." at the back of that list. So I could include Dylan Moran, Bill Murray, Jodie Foster...
But eating dinner is not necessarily at the top of the list of what I'd like to do with that sweaty quebecois dwarf with the small organ.
Oh, and I apologize up front if I am the cause of your getting angry emails from folk threatening to unsubscribe from you because of my talking about (even obliquely) what I'd like to do with certain curly-headed blue-eyed sweaty dancing quebecois dwarves.
What could be less mean or judgmental than pleasuring a curly-haired sweaty dancing dwarf with a small organ?
[Cue: Small-Penised Dwarf Anti-Defamation League protest...]
Ahem, but I think it was I who turned you on to Rankin. Or maybe that's yet another love Kathy and I share. (That and curly-haired sweaty dancing dwarfs -- dwarves? -- and Koigu). Not that I'm keeping score or anything. Also Denise Mina. And Val McDermid. And Kath, I have a shitload of Henning Mankell any of which you are welcome to borrow. But ya have to come get 'em. Hah!
Don't fight over me, ladies. GOd knows there's enough of me to go around.
Although, Selma, I do not recall this Denise Mina chica. Thank you.
I'm another Mankell/Wallender fan, so I think I might see if the library has the Fossum book, just to completely gorge on spare Scandinavians this summer.
Star of the Sea? I'm afraid I found it a great cure for insomnia!
You might like Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler trilogy though, starting with The Pure in Heart Some crime, a bit of detection and a lot of psychological buttons pushed!
Kathy, well okay, I guess you get dibs on Mr. Rankin, you found him first. Or was it Selma? But I'm bringing William Faulkner as my date to your dinner party. We'll bring the cornbread. I don't normally date dead guys, but what the hell.
Oooo, suspense and gore, just my kind of lullabye!
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