Catching up

I thought we were supposed to have more time! They lied! I'm struggling to keep up with everyone's lovely bookish posts so if I've missed something interesting please do tell me.

I'm also struggling to keep up with book reviews. Not that I'm reading heaps (gardening, 3,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, knitting, chatting to family on Google Duo) but I'm still two reviews behind so I will briefly do those now.


First up, Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger, book one of his 'Cork O'Connor' series set in Northern Minnesota.

This novel begins with a paper boy making some kind of horrific discovery when he delivers the paper to a local judge. We're not told what or where said paper boy subsequently disappears to. Cork O'Connor is a former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota, again we're not told why he's the 'former' sheriff but the truth emerges eventually. The Judge is found murdered in his home and Cork gets involved in the investigation, partly because he is part Anishinaabe Indian and so is the missing boy. Cork has himself a lot of personal problems, mainly involving his broken marriage but also connected with the reason why he's no longer the sheriff. The story itself is rather complicated with many different storylines going on but it was not at all hard to follow. It's set beside a lake in Northern Minnesota and involves the many issues the local Native American Indians have with inequality, prejudice, the casino they run on the reservation and more. I thought this book was 'excellent'. Superb writing, fantastic sense of place, very thought provoking, quite a page-turner. I'll certainly be continuing with this series and have the second book, Boundary Waters, already on my Kindle. I gather it's an 'expedition into the snowy wilderness to find someone' storyline. Can't wait.

Last up, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. This is my fourth book for the European Reading Challenge 2020 which is being hosted by Rose City Reader. This book covers the country of 'Albania'.

Mrs. Pollifax, a widow in her sixties with two adult children, is bored. She does good works and her weeks are full, but none of it seems to mean very much. She needs purpose in her life so she travels to Washington DC to offer her services to the CIA. They are, naturally, rather shocked and amused, but despite that she turns out to be perfect for a simple 'pick-up a package' assignment in Mexico City, posing as a tourist. Unfortunately things never are simple and this proves to be the case. Mrs. Pollifax ends up being abducted with another operative, Farrell, and taken to a fortress in Albania. It soon becomes apparent that they will not survive this experience, but Farrell has a broken leg, so what can they do? Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I have to thank Nan at Letters from a Hillfarm for putting me on to this series. Mrs. Pollifax is wonderful, completely undaunted by any challenge that presents itself... and there are plenty in this story... she ploughs on regardless and never gives in. The setting of Albania is extremely well portrayed. I did wonder, it having been a closed country for decades, whether the author would just pay lip-service to it, you know, that thing where a setting could be anywhere. But not a bit of it, the mountainous, isolated, bleak terrain is very real and the reality of traversing it, or trying to, nicely portrayed. Another series I'll continue with and I particularly liked the wittiness of the writing, I laughed rather a lot and that's a good thing at the moment.

So I'm currently reading these two:


I've been meaning to catch up with Mark Douglas Home's Sea Detective series for years and luckily was able to grab The Malice of Waves before the lockdown. And Michael Palin never fails to make me giggle with his delightful stories about his travels.


A to finish, here are a few cheery daffs and primroses. (Click for a better pic. Sorry it's a bit dark.)

Happy reading and please stay safe.

~~~oOO~~~