Tome Time - The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr

Started January 3rd, finished January 10th. 272 pages.

As you may have noticed my blogging has been terribly ignored lately.  A combination of a busy time at work and home improvements has left me with little free time.    Apologies.

This is the second in the Bernie Gunther series of books.  Once more we're in 1930's Berlin.  This time Bernie is hired to try and solve the killings of many 'Aryan type' girls/young women.  This looks very much like the work of a sexually motivated serial killer.

The scene setting is again very good.  You find yourself immersed in the era.  It's a good story.  Full of the twists you expect from a thriller.  I had inklings of what was going on but never the whole picture.  Just how I like a novel.  

My only problem with the book is the name dropping.  There are a couple of very high ranking Nazi officials who pop up.  I know they give you something you think you recognise.  It doesn't work for me though it takes me out of it for  a second or two.  It's an easy way of giving a character plenty of weight.  We all think we know these people and definitely have opinions on them.  I would have preferred the characters to stay fictional though.  Not a big problem for me, just a niggle.

3.5 out of 5 pawprints

Next The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Book 2 of 2012, total pages 548

50 Book Challenge 2011 - Book 1

I have for the past few years been letting my reading slip.  Which I became disappointed about as it was my favourite pastime.  The modern world has too many distractions for me.  I've been watching far too much TV.  Many films, which I don't regret.  Worst of all was browsing online.  I wasted far too much time doing nothing on various sites.  I'd start off with a legitimate search/email check and still be there hours later, with nothing to show for it.

The spur for me to read more came  in September last year when I came across the ReadMore app for my phone.  http://readmoreapp.com/  It claimed to aid motivation to read.  I have to admit I was dubious.  But at £1.19 it was a small price to pay with a chance of taking me back to reading as many books as I feel I should be.  Well it worked a treat.  You input the title, author and number of pages and it adds the book to your 'stack'.  Once you start reading you can time your sessions (something I don't always do).  After a session you enter the current page.  It tells you how many pages you've read recently and when you can expect to finish the book reading 'so many' pages per day.  I found I constantly wanted to improve my amount read.  It's ensured I have read many times more books in the past four months than I did in the year previously.  The app has rekindled my urge to read.  For which I am most grateful.

At the beginning of January I was once again inspired.  This time by my friend Mindy, via a post on her blog.  http://ydnimyd.livejournal.com/73094.html

The challenge is to read 50 books during 2011.  Just to ensure you're not picking short ones it's also a joint target of 15,000 pages.  I think I can achieve this at my current rate.  So I'm in.  If you wish to see how I'm going I will be posting the books as I read them throughout the year.  Wish me luck!

Book 1 - Inner Skiing by Gallwey/Kriegel, 148 pages

Started January1st, finished January 4th.

As I'm off skiing soon this was a practical choice.  Not my favourite type of book.  I prefer to lose myself within the pages than take mental notes.

However it does seem that it will be very useful.  It is about the psychology of skiing and how to improve on the slopes by controlling that rather than the physical aspect.  As my biggest problem skiing is a lack of confidence I'm hoping reading this will help me.  It goes into a lot of detail about 'Self 1' and 'Self 2' which worried me at first.  As I read deeper though it, on the whole, made a lot of sense.  So much so that I downloaded the Kindle edition to my phone so I can dip into it whilst I'm away.

If you're a skiier I would definitely recommend this book.  The snowboarding element is a little sparse though.  This is a book about skiing with a chapter on trying out snowboarding after skiing.

If you're interested in blogs where people discuss what they've read I'd recommend Mindy's blog, link above.  Also http://www.lobablanca.com/

Total so far  Books - 1,  Pages - 148


Next - The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez Reverte

Speed Reading

I found this on my friend's blog http://goldfishparacetamol.blogspot.com  

The point is to make an A-Z list of books you've read.  The first one to come to mind for each letter is the one you must list. No cheating!

The rules are:
1. Go through the alphabet, and for each letter, think of a book you’ve read that starts with that letter (A, An, and The do not count).
2. You must write down the FIRST book you think of for any given letter.
3. You must have actually READ the book.
4. If you think of a more impressive-sounding book for a particular letter, you CANNOT change to the more impressive-sounding book.

I have a sense of a shamefully less than 26 list, dominated by a few authors......
The Anonymous Venetian by Donna Leon
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
An Enemy at Green Knowe by Lucy M. BostonThe Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
I
J
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
Miss Garnet's Angel by Sally Vickers
N
One Step Behind by Henning Mankell
The Poet by Michael Connelly
The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
Revelation by C. J. Sansom

Sovereign by C. J. Sansom
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
Upper Fourth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Venice, Pure City by Pater Ackroyd
The War of the Worlds by H G Wells
X
Y
Z

I can't see me ever filling in X, Y and Z any time soon.  I, J and N are really bugging me though.  If I think of any I'll fill them in, in red.

I'd love to see other people's speedy alphabets.

I think the same thing with films would be interesting too....