book of september: deadly décisions

It says so right on the cover: “Better than Patricia Cornwell”. In all caps even. Now, I have no idea who Patricia Cornwell is, but I trust the Sunday Express to tell me the truth. So, yeah, better than Patricia Cornwell. Kathy Reichs’ third novel, Deadly Décisions was another page turner.

If you haven’t seen the show Bones, and haven’t read any of Reichs’ books, you gotta get on that train! I personally really enjoy Reichs’ writing style and the way she seamlessly integrates the technical with fast paced action and suspense.

The nice thing is that you don’t necessarily have to have read the preceding two novels to enjoy this one. (Doing a bit of guess work here since I have thus far read them in order of completion). I do have the suspicion that many of Reichs’ novels can also be read as stand alone books. Though the recurring character development is surely more satisfying when read according to release date.

Read on!

book of july: genome

Matt Ridley has written a book entitled Genome: The Autobiograpy of a Species in 23 Chapters. The premise of the book is quite interesting – take 23 chapters to disucss 23 chromosomes, picking one (or a few) thing(s) that are of particular interest (to many readers) from each of the chromosomes.

To begin I would like to mention that Ridley has written a refreshing and self-aware preface. You I never know with these kinds of books if the author really knows their stuff well enough to be penning such *mainstream* works. Ridley is quite clear from the beginning about just what he is and isn’t doing. So, right off the bat he gets my vote.

Though at times very mainstream, and a little out there from a purely scientific perspective, I did very much enjoy Ridley’s work. It was an entertaining read to be sure, add this one to your to-read list!

Genome has actually been on my to-read list for quite some time now. I think I may have bought this book when originally published…seeing as it’s a hardcover and it says “FIRST U.S. EDITION” in there. All the signs seem to be pointing to the purchase occurring around 20 years ago. That being said, I am quite happy to finally have read it. Per my 30 before 30 list I get to check a book off my to-read list!

Happy reading!

book of may: tripwire

Jack Reacher is at it again, Lee Child I suppose is actually the one at it – but Reacher is the star of the show. It was March of 2015 that I read my first Child book – and thus started a grand love story.

Okay, I suppose I just enjoy reading the Reacher books a normal amount – and I’m here today to say, you should too! After reading Persuader I was hooked, and inclined to start at the beginning of the Reacher novels. As they say, the beginning is a very good place to start. Tripwire is now the fourth Reacher book I’ve read, and third in cronological order.

When I say cronological order I mean order in which the books were written. You, dear reader, really don’t need to read the books in any particular order – which is nice. Though I do think I will continue my Reacher journey in order of publication. Have you, dear reader, not yet started your own Reacher journey, I behove you to begin.

Happy reading!

book of march: death du jour

I read Kathy Reich’s first book, Deja Dead, after seeing the television show Bones‘ series finale. You see I hadn’t had enough, so what’s a girl to do? Read the entirety of Reichs written work, of course! Though to be entirely honest I don’t think I’ll be reading her scientific papers. I will keep you, dear readers, in the loop if it turns out I do.

Death du Jour was equally as enthralling as Reichs’ first novel, so it comes with equally as vehement recommendations. It’s a quick read, likely due to how captivating the story line is, so it’s perfect reading for a long weekend like this one. I definitely recommend Reichs, I hope you enjoy her as much as I do!

book of february: all the light we cannot see

My Mum recommended I read this book, and I’m so glad she did. To be honest I started reading it this summer. Don’t take my somewhat extended reading time to mean that the book isn’t captivating – oh it is! The real truth (in stark contrast to the fake truth) is that I borrowed the book from the library to my tablet, didn’t realize it had been automatically downloaded, and then only had a few days left to read a 500+ page book. Which evidently was not enough time. Also the hold line for the book is a constant 100+ people.

Finally in February I once again got my mitts on a copy of this somewhat elusive book and finished it off. It is wonderful. I’m not at all surprised it’s won a Pulitzer Prize. Anthony Doerr’s story telling is something worth experiencing. Plus you get to ingest such lovely words as “extirpation” and phrases like “amphitheater of noise”. (Don’t worry, that doesn’t give anything away.)

A story revolving around the second world war and set in France and Germany where the two main characters lives are wonderfully detailed by Doerr. Read this book. Even if it takes you half a year to get your act together enough to finish it. Worth it.

book of january: the life-changing magic of tidying up

My dearest bought this book recently. She was so inspired by the book that she shared it with me and I’ve also spent the time to gather some knowledge from it. Marie Kondo is superlatively enthusiastic about tidying up. Which of course is a good thing if you’re going to write a book about it.

As the reader I was struck multiple times by Kondo’s attention to detail. Which, again, shouldn’t be all that surprising. None the less, I found myself surprised. I learned a lot from Kondo’s book. Like “it isn’t desireable to stay in a stat of excitement forever”. True dat.

I really like the book, and it’s gotten me excited about the forthcoming 6 months where our home project will be to handle all of our possessions to find out if they bring us joy. Read the book and you’ll know what I’m talking about. And know I’m (probably) not a total kook.

The big take home is to tidy in the right order:

Step 1: Discard

Step 2: Decide where to put things

Yeah that’s it. But you gotta do it all in one fell swoop, Kondo says 6 months is an appropriate amount of time (so, yeah I didn’t get that from nowhere). Though I did find the book a little heteronormative at times, I generally really liked it. Plus, I’m super pumped to get at the tidying!

book of december: fantastic beasts and where to find them: the original screen play

Well, 2017 is coming to a close. As such here comes the year’s final botm:

In the name of honesty I want to tell you something. I did something questionable. I watched the movie before reading the book. I gotta say, though, as this is the screen play I think I get a pass on this one. If you haven’t seen the movie, do. It’s a good one. If you haven’t read the screen play…well you can, I enjoyed doing it. If you’re a die hard Rowling fan and want to read everything she’s written – then you’ve probably already read it since it came out a while ago.

It was a fun, quick read. To end a fun, quick year. Strange how looking back on a year makes it seem so short, but looking ahead opens a world of possibilities. Strange. Here’s to looking ahead.

book of november: killing floor

Well, you didn’t have to wait long for another Jack Reacher novel. In September I wrote about A Wanted Man, mentioning that I was actually trying to read the first Jack Reacher novel in the series…and missed the mark by about 15 books.

This time around I successfully read the first Jack Reacher novel, and loved it. Not a huge surprise seeing as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the previous two books I’ve read. This novel, like Persuader, was written in the first person. For some reason though it felt strange this time around reading from Jack’s perspective. I think probably because I was so into the third person of A Wanted Man.

I do think the adage practice makes better really applies here.

Side bar: at my elementary school it was decided that technical perfection is unatainable and instead we should be striving to better ourselves not perfect ourselves. Thus “practice makes better” was born. If you did not happen to attend my elementary school you can be forgiven for not knowing this.

Back to it. In my small and humble opinion I think that Lee Child becomes a better writer over the course of his career. I hope that this is seen as a complement, because it is meant as such. I like to think most people aim to better themselves and would not be entirely satisfied remaining at the same level. To be clear, Child starts at a damn high quality level. So go read this book.

book of october: the stand

They all say Stephen King is quite the author. I’d never read any of his work before now. Why now? Well it is October, and I wanted to plan for Halloween the whole month.

Halloween isn’t as big here in Sweden, but I still try to celebrate in my own way every year. Some years we bake Halloween treats and invite friends over, sometimes I try to watch a scary movie. The thing is I don’t like watching scary movies alone, and I can’t seem to get anyone here at home to watch with me. So this year I tried something new. What I didn’t realize is that horror books are also quite the scare fest. Definitely worth it though. Pick up a copy near you if you haven’t already read this one!

book of september: a wanted man

After reading Persuader in March of 2015 I was looking forward to reading more of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. Now I’ve finally read another!

My expectation was to read the first of the Jack Reacher novels. The reality was that I read the 17th novel (according to Wikipedia, and the list in the back of the book). Missed it by a hair, you could say. To be honest I’m not exactly sure what went wrong. I’m sure it has to do with my lack of paying 100% attention to things occasionally. Or something of that nature. 

Persuader is the 7th novel in the series,  and A Wanted Man is the 17th (as mentioned). So now I either have to wait for the 27th or actually start from the beginning. The best part of the Jack Reacher books is that you really do not need to read them in order. It’s impressively done by Child. I’ve heard the claim before, that books in a series don’t need to be read in order, but this is the first time I actually ageee with that claim. 

A Wanted Man was an exciting read with a few surprising laughs along the way. Child’s writing style is a treasure and I so very much look forward to more Reacher novels. In whatever order I do very well please. And you should read a Jack Reacher novel, whichever one you very well please.