Finally a New Post! and a "Beautiful Place to Die"

It has been a long time since I have posted an update on my reading and thinking.  Life just got a bit busy and the log-in got changed and it all got too hard for a few months........

But I was not idle in this time - I read a lot of books including..... "Luther: the Calling"(Neil Cross); "The Abby" (Chris Culver); "The Drop" (a favourite author - Michael Connelly); "In search of Africa" (Frank Coates); "African Dawn" (Tony Park); The Pacific (Peter Watt); A Place called Armageddon - Constantinople 1453 (CC Humphreys); Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch); and have just started "The Litagators" (John Grisham).

There were other books - kindle and hardcopy mixed (eg some more Dean Koontz!!)...  you would think each would just merge into one over the years - but they each become a pearl on the literary necklace (not sure of the manly equivalent!). Having just cleaned out a spare room - which now sports most of the bookcases, I was running my eyes over the many books I have gathered over the last decade (not as visible on the kindle!) working out what I could give to Lifeline - and what I wanted to keep (and why).  Somehow, all of those words in all of those books are stored somewhere in my brain/mind and, maybe like dreams, help to sort out what I make of the world and my take on life.  Some books I would never read again - but still would find it hard to part with - like a photo from the past.  Others form parts of series and I toy with the idea of starting on the first book again and reading through (like the Hornblower or Sharp series).  And how could I give away any David Gemmell - such an excellent writer of "heroic" fantasy!!!

But a brief take on a book I just finished - by a new author Malla Nunn - "A Beautiful Place to Die".  Malla wrote about a murder investigation in South Africa in the early 1950s - just as the apartheid laws are starting to shape the country.  She explores the implications and fall out of these laws through this investigation.  She writes very well and has that touch and talent to capture the moment and tension and keep you reading - and you get as much caught up in the historical significance of the era as you do of the crime aspects.  I read it in 24 hours - even giving myself a morning off work to finish it!  And that is rare for me.

I hope to keep the blog up now - look at all those books I mentioned above that I could have had something to say about?  For example the Rivers of London takes an interesting twist as focuses on the moods of London. But I now have the follow up book "Moon over Shoho" and will give more on this series when I read that!  I hope there are lots of books in heaven - whatever heaven happens to be - and particlarly if it goes for ever and ever..........!