Reading Summary for February 2022

This is my idea of a good mix of reading for the month. A majority of the books were mysteries. One nonfiction book and two general fiction books. The only improvement would have been if I had read at least one vintage mystery. 

Nonfiction

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution (2001) by Diane McWhorter

This book won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. From the Pulitzer site:

"A major work of history, investigative journalism that breaks new ground, and personal memoir, Carry Me Home is a dramatic account of the civil rights era's climactic battle in Birmingham, as the movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr., brought down the institutions of segregation."

I started reading this book one year ago, took about a long break in the middle, and took about a month to finish the last 300 pages (of 600). 

General Fiction

Convenience Store Woman (2016) by Sayaka Murata

Translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori 

This is an interesting story about a woman who does not fit in. Keiko is a 36-year-old woman who has been a part-time convenience store worker in Tokyo for 18 years. The novel is short, about 160 pages, and very strange, but I loved it.  Reviewed here.

Strange Weather in Tokyo (2001) by Hiromi Kawakami

Translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell 

Another book set in Tokyo. The style of this book was unusual. It seemed to be made up of vignettes of the friendship between a woman and a male teacher who had been her teacher in school. Then it pulls together and has more focus, and I liked the ending a lot. Reviewed here.

Crime Fiction

Nemesis (2002) by Jo Nesbø

Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Nemesis is the fourth novel in the Harry Hole series, which is mostly set in Norway. I did not enjoy reading this novel, but I recognize the high level of Nesbø's writing. Reviewed here.

Dressed for Death (1994) by Donna Leon

This is the third book in the Commissario Brunetti series, set in Italy; it has been over ten years since I read the first two  books in the series. Brunetti has to go to Mestre to handle a case because the Commissarios there are all unavailable. The dead body of a man, badly beaten, is found near a slaughterhouse; the face is so mutilated that identification of the body is difficult. I liked this book and I am glad I got back to reading this series.

The Thursday Murder Club (2020) by Richard Osman

A quartet of men and women in their seventies or eighties form a club called the Thursday Murder Club. They start out investigating cold cases, whose case files they inherited from a former member who had access to police files. Then they have the opportunity to investigate a real crime, when a part owner of their retirement complex is killed. I found a lot to like about this book and plan to read the second book in the series as soon as possible.

One Corpse Too Many (1979) by Ellis Peters

The best thing about the books in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael series is the setting. I learn so much about the times reading these books. Per Goodreads, the books in the series are "set between about 1135 and about 1145, during 'The Anarchy', the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud." This is the third book in the series and I have many more left to read.

The Postscript Murders (2020) by Elly Griffiths

This novel features Harbinder Kaur, who was also a character in an earlier book by Griffiths (The Stranger Diaries). Harbinder is a closeted gay Sikh Detective Sergeant in the police in Shoreham, West Sussex. She is the principle investigator into the death of an elderly woman, Peggy Smith, in a apartment complex for senior citizens, although initially she is not convinced it was murder. Peggy's carer, Natalka, is the one who is convinced that Peggy's death was murder, and she and two of her friends who knew Peggy also investigate. I liked this book very much, although it is quite different from The Stranger Diaries. 

Status of my challenges:

• I have read three novels for the European Reading Challenge, but only reviewed one of them so far.
• I have read and reviewed three novels for the Japanese Literary Challenge. That challenge will end on March 31, 2022. 
• I have read at least two books that fit categories for the Bingo Challenge. I will go into more detail on that when I have more read for that challenge.
• Back to the Classics Challenge: Nothing so far.
• The TBR Pile Challenge at Roof Beam Reader: Nothing so far.
• I recently joined the Mount TBR Challenge, run by Bev Hankins, via Goodreads. So far this year I have read 13 books from my TBR for that challenge.
• Reading Ireland is going on for the month of March at 746 Books, and I have read one book for that event. I hope to read another this month.

The photo at the top of the post shows a gorgeous cactus in front of a business in downtown Santa Barbara. The photo immediately above is of a stonework fence in the Mission Canyon area near the Santa Barbara Mission. My husband took both photos. Click on the images for best viewing quality.

Nemesis: Jo Nesbø

Harry Hole is the protagonist in a series of crime fiction novels by Norwegian author Jo Nesbø. Harry is a police detective working in Oslo. He has many of the typical problems of policemen in crime fiction. He struggles with alcohol, smoking, and depression. He is talented but has difficulty taking orders and dealing with co-workers. 

My first introduction to Nesbø was The Redbreast. I read that book in 2012 when I first started blogging. It was the third book in the series, but at the time it was the only one that had been translated to English. There were two storylines, and one was set during World War II. I was charmed by the dual timelines and learned a lot about Norway during World War II from that book. 

Nemesis is the fourth novel in the series. There are two cases that are the focus of this novel. Harry joins a team investigating a series of bank robberies because in one of the robberies, a bank teller was killed by the robber. At about the same time, an old friend and lover of Harry dies, and the death is determined to be suicide. Unfortunately, Harry was with this woman the night she died. He had too much to drink, doesn't know when he left, and woke up the next day with no memories of the previous night. He does not believe it was suicide, but he also fears he would be a suspect if it is murder. 

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy reading this novel, even though I recognize the high level of Nesbø's writing.  

The Good Points:

Nesbø tells a good story and the pacing is good. 

The main character is likable (some would say charismatic). The secondary characters are interesting, believable and well developed. I really liked a new police woman introduced in this book, Beate Lonn. 

I liked the varied settings. Although I cannot say I learned much about Norway, Harry goes to Egypt to follow up on one case and to Brazil with Beate following a clue for the other case. 

The Bad Points:

The plot is overcomplicated to begin with, but at the end there are entirely too many twists and turns when you think everything is already resolved.

My main objection is that I am tired of damaged alcoholic policemen who ignore the rules and get away with it over and over.

In conclusion:

I got far enough into the book that I wanted to see it through and find how the solutions for both cases were handled. My objections are personal preferences, and I can see why so many people are fans of this series. Of the reviews I have read, some had the same complaints as mine, but the majority were overwhelmingly positive. 

This is my first book for the European Reading Challenge.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Harper, 2009 (orig. pub. as Sorgenfri in 2002)
Length:  474 pages
Format:  Trade Paperback
Series:  Harry Hole #2
Setting:  Oslo, Norway, with trips to Egypt and Brazil
Genre:   Police Procedural, Thriller
Translated:  From the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
Source:  Purchased in 2012.

Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times No. 9

I am participating in the Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times meme, hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness. Again I am looking at one of the shelves containing my books, in this case mostly mysteries. If you click on the image of the shelf, you will be able to read more of the titles.

Near the top of the stacked books, there is Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer, first published in 2001.

Why do I have this book? My husband bought it at the Planned Parenthood sale, over ten years ago at least. He passed it on to me to read and it is still sitting on the shelf.

Setting and characters:
1907, in the Storyville district of New Orleans, an area where prostitution was tolerated and kept under control. This is at the beginning of the jazz age, and real-life characters are included, such as Jelly Roll Morton and Buddy Bolden. Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr is the protagonist, working for Tom Anderson, a political boss.

I don't know much about this book. It is the beginning of a seven book series, and it has gotten good reviews. If anyone knows more, let me know.

Right below that is Nemesis by Jo Nesbo, originally published in Norwegian in 2002, translated to English in 2008.

Setting and characters:
Oslo, Norway. Harry Hole is the main character, a police detective. He has many of the typical problems of policemen in contemporary mysteries; he struggles with alcohol and smoking, depression, and has difficulty taking orders and dealing with co-workers.

It has been eight years since I read The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo. The Redbreast was the third book in the series and I have not read books 1 and 2, which have now been translated into English. I still plan to move on to Nemesis and hope I remember enough to enjoy the book (or that it works well as a standalone).

I hope to read this book this year for the European Reading Challenge.


Towards the left of the photo is The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, the first book in a science fiction trilogy, published in 2017, about an empire of worlds connected by travel via The Flow.

From the book description on the hardcover dust jacket...

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars. 

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

This book is first in a trilogy, and Richard Robinson at Tip the Wink has read all of the books. See his posts here and here.

I am currently reading this book, just started it today.

New-to-me Authors

Today I am joining in on the meme on best new-to-me crime fiction authors 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise. The goal is to share authors that are new-to-us this year, especially the ones we liked. This meme runs at the end of each quarter. Check out other posts for this quarter.



This quarter I have read books by five authors that I have never read before. None of them are new authors. Several of them have established continuing series.

1. The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
2. Cop Hater by Ed McBain
3. In the Woods by Tana French
4. The Guards by Ken Bruen
5. The Information Officer by Mark Mills

I enjoyed all of these books. The first four books are in series and I plan to seek out the next book or two in the series to read.

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo is a complex police procedural, following the story of a Norwegian detective investigating neo-Nazi activities in Oslo, with flashbacks to events during World War II on the Eastern Front. There is a large cast of characters and they are convincingly portrayed. I cared about what was happening to them. I liked the short chapters and the headings for each chapter noting time and place. Nesbo has written nine Harry Hole novels, and this is the third in the series. As yet, the first two in the series have not been published in English. I did not find it difficult to start the series with this book, although there were references to earlier exploits.

The Guards by Ken Bruen is another police procedural. However, the style of writing in that book is very different. It is a dark and bleak book. But it was one of my favorite reads of this year. Jack Taylor was in the Garda Síochána (the police force of the Republic of Ireland), and thrown out because of serious problems with alcohol. He becomes, almost accidentally, a finder, a sort of private detective. One element of the writing is frequent mentions of books, especially mystery novels, and quotes interspersed here and there, often with no apparent connection to the story.  The mystery portion of the plot is slight. The emphasis in more on Jack, his relationships, his life, his battle with alcohol. It isn't a happy book, but it isn't depressing either.



Yes, I read my first book from 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain in May of this year. I anticipated liking the series, and I was not disappointed. The first chapter pulled me into the book immediately.  Although parts of the book were heavy on descriptive sequences, I did find the story compelling and I liked the portrayal of the policemen. They were not perfect, but generally they seemed believable.

It seems that most of the books by new authors I have read recently are police procedurals. That is a sub-genre that appeals to me. As McBain says in his introduction to the book: "In fiction, there is always a quantum jump to be made when anyone but a police detective is investigating a murder."

The only book that was not a police procedural was a historical mystery set on the island of Malta during World War II: The Information Officer by Mark Mills. I just finished that book and enjoyed both the setting and the story.

The main character in this book is in charge of reporting on the events of the war on Malta and controlling and influencing the morale of the islanders. This book successfully weaves a story about the war as it affected Malta with a hunt for a serial killer.

The Redbreast: Jo Nesbo

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo is a complex police procedural, following the story of a Norwegian detective investigating neo-Nazi activities in Oslo, with flashbacks to events during World War II on the Eastern Front. It is a very long book (my copy was a mass market paperback with 567 pages of small print) but I enjoyed almost every page of it.

Nesbo has written nine Harry Hole novels, and this is the third in the series. As yet, the first two in the series have not been published in English. I did not find it difficult to start the series with this book, although there were references to earlier exploits.

Harry Hole has many of the typical problems of policemen (at least the fictional ones): struggles with alcohol and smoking, depression, talented but has difficulty taking orders and dealing with co-workers. But I found him likable and interesting. He had integrity; he was confident of his abilities but not full of himself; and he was vulnerable. I liked the developing relationship with a single mother and her child.

There is a large cast of characters and they are convincingly written. I cared about what was happening to them.  I liked the short chapters and the headings for each chapter noting time and place.

I have recently become very interested in World War II and in reading both fiction and non-fiction on that time period. There is so much to learn. Although I was aware of the term "quisling," I was not fully aware of the origins of the term nor how many Norwegians aligned themselves with the Germans during World War II. This books was very educational for me, and entertaining at the same time.

The unfolding of two story lines at the same time and the fact that one of them was during World War II doubled my enjoyment of this book. However, I liked the contemporary sections a lot, and I am sure I will enjoy future books in the series whether or not they share this element.

This counts as one of my books for the following challenges:
Mt. TBR Challenge, Read Your Own Books Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Chunkster Challenge, 
European Challenge, Merely Mystery Reading Challenge, Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge, First in a Series Challenge

Note: Even though this is not technically the first in the series, I am counting it because it it the first book in the series available (at this time) in English.

I am also participating in the April Challenge (Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group) at Goodreads, and this book counts for that challenge.