I cursed myself to finish every novel I begin. Sometimes, that is easy and thrilling, but over times, it becomes a chore. Operation Napoleon belongs to the latter group. But I finished the novel, and now I’m ready for my review. Here we go. When the Americans find a Nazi plane on a glacier in… Continue reading Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indridason
Category: Book Review
Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
I read Hallowe’en Party because of the Kenneth Branagh’s movie, A Haunting in Venice, which my research had identified as this novel the source. I have my doubts because the novel is set outside of London, rather than in Venice, it involves the killing of a thirteen-year-old girl, whereas the movie seems to people by… Continue reading Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
The Girl of the Sea of Cortez by Peter Benchley
I read The Girl of the Sea of Cortez as a comprise. I have always been fascinated with Peter Benchley’s novel The Deep; at least, I think I will like reading it. I haven’t read it, but I saw the Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset movie, about a couple vacation in Bermuda. Being scuba divers,… Continue reading The Girl of the Sea of Cortez by Peter Benchley
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Around 1986 or 1987, I went to a bookstore to find my next read. Now you know that I can’t go to scout out reading projects and leave without an hour, or at least not in those days when I took my time looking, analyzing, and deciding. I was bad at deciding and often left… Continue reading Atonement by Ian McEwan
Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
On November 29, I suffered a stroke. I spent the month in a hospital and a rehabilitation facility. I was released on Christmas Eve, but I had a lot of recovery to do. To my frustration, I had to learn how to read again. And write. Much of my cognitive of my ability left me—and… Continue reading Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Though I know there are several wonderful stories with animal protagonists, I tend not to read them. I guess I suffer from a homo sapiens prejudice when it comes to literature. I want the stories I read to be about people. I confess this is a narrow, distorted view of the world, one that I… Continue reading The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
In James Fenimore Cooper’s The Spy, the spy was Harvey Birch, who reported to George Washington. His mission was to watch British troop movements and learn what he could of their intentions. In the novel, he had an unofficial mission: to help Henry Wharton, a British officer, visit his family and return safely to his… Continue reading The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Since I had read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) before reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), I first met Tom Sawyer in that novel. It wasn’t a welcome meeting. Towards the end of the story, Tom played a game that almost cost Jim, the runaway slave, his life. Tom considered it great fun,… Continue reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Oil! by Upton Sinclair
I had high hopes for Oil! by Upton Sinclair. Theses hopes rested in part on There Will Be Blood (2007), a movie based on the novel, a movie I loved. But the film, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, shares the “idea” of Sinclair’s novel, but not its plot. Yet… Continue reading Oil! by Upton Sinclair
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
Somewhere, around the 200th page, I thought to myself: Larsson needs to stop introducing new characters. Every one of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium novels contains a large cast of characters, but The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest had so many characters who became major or minor protagonists or antagonists that the plot grew complicated and… Continue reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson