Category: books

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

On By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

Ransom Riggs‘ first book.

Published 2011.

Teenage Jacob Portman is the lead character. And the book seems written for teenage boys.

I didn’t see the 2016 film, but the trailer gives you a quick look at the plot.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Director Tim Burton changed / improved details in the book, I’d say.

Movie reviews are mixed / average. I don’t plan to see it.

This young adult book was originally intended to be a picture book featuring photographs Riggs had collected, but on the advice of an editor at Quirk Books, he used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative. …

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a story about a boy who follows clues from his grandfather’s old photographs, tales, and his grandfather’s last words which lead him on an adventure that takes him to a large abandoned orphanage on Cairnholm, a fictional Welsh island.

I’ve no particular interest in reading any of the sequels.

Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelley

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

This 2017 Harry Bosch novel has a long-imprisoned killer claiming Harry framed him and seems to have DNA evidence to prove it.

Unable to retire, Harry is working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department when hit with the accusation.

In parallel, Bosch is infiltrating a prescription opioid drug ring. Very interesting. The plot is great.

The only downside is Titus Welliver reading the audio book. For me he’s the weakest of the readers used in this series.

Nesbø – MacBeth

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Nesbø wrote a re-telling of the story of Macbeth as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project.

… described as a ‘crime noir’ version of the tragedy … his Macbeth is set in 1970 in an unspecified location that combines aspects of Scandinavia and Scotland, and involves an Inspector Macbeth of a paramilitary SWAT team targeting bikers, drug dealers, and his police colleagues. It was published in April 2018.

I found the book well written but too long. Too complicated.

Shakespeare’s version is an easier read.

I barely got through it.

Nesbø is considered cool. He gets good reviews from critics.

Regular folks don’t like him quite as much. This book is 3.44 / 5.00 on GoodReads as I post.

NEW Calgary Public Library OPEN

On By Rick McIn books, government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’ll be spending time here.

Lots of wood. Natural light. A relaxed and inspiring space. Perfect for kids on a cold winter day.

The indigenous touches are nice.

With a FREE library card you can print up to $5 / month.

Click PLAY or watch an introduction on YouTube.

Click PLAY or see the weird and wonderful architecture on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch the construction on YouTube.

I was only 70% if favour of spending tax dollars on a future Olympics. But I’m 100% for opening my wallet for the new library. It’s all good. I particularly like public transit train access on site.

CAD $245 million project was on time and on budget.

The Calgary Public Library (CPL) is the second most used system in Canada (after the Toronto Public Library) and the sixth most used library system in North America.

… one of the lowest per capita funding in the country, receiving as little as half the money of other Canadian public libraries …

Nexen, a Chinese government company, donated 1.5M dollars. If this is part of their Belt and Road initiative, I’ll take it. 🙂

It’s not all good.

  • Opening hours are still lousy. Sunday’s only 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
  • There’s no EASY free wifi. You need to log-in with your FREE library card.

related – ‘Spectacular’: A look inside Calgary’s new Central Library on opening day

The Narrows by Michael Connelley

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

The Narrows (2004) is the 14th novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the tenth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch.

As Bosch crosses paths with FBI Agent Rachel Walling, the novel ties story elements left unresolved in The Poet and those from Blood Work and A Darkness More Than Night together into the Bosch mythos. …

There’s a gravitas to the mystery/thrillers of Michael Connelly, a bedrock commitment to the value of human life and the need for law enforcement pros to defend that value, that sets his work apart and above that of many of his contemporaries.

… it supports a dynamite plot, fully flowered characters and a meticulous attention to the details of investigative procedure. …

Publisher’s Weekly review

Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

This is the first Connelly novel I’ve read without a recurring character. It’s a stand alone book published 2002.

It’s excellent. But readers are much less keen than for his Harry Bosch books.

The plot really kept me going. It was hard to believe that such a smart man kept doing so many dumb things, however. 😀

A hot-shot entrepreneur is on the verge of announcing a historic (and potentially very lucrative) breakthrough in nanotechnology.

In an attempt to escape the pressure of his work, he becomes fascinated with a peculiar puzzle: what happened to the woman who had his telephone number before him …

Wikipedia

The Late Show by Michael Connelly

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

These days I mostly read Michael Connelly.

For his 30th book (2017) he introduced a new character:

Renée Ballard

She’s a Bosch-like intense female detective working the night shift (“late show”) in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives.

A once up-and-coming rookie, she’s been assigned the late shift as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.

But one night she catches two cases she doesn’t want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner’s wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won’t give up her job no matter what the department throws at her.

Click PLAY or listen to an excerpt on YouTube.

Lost Light by Michael Connelly (2003)

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

One theme of this excellent book are the violent excesses of the FBI post-9/11.

Lost Light is the ninth novel in Michael Connelly‘s Harry Bosch series. …

… the first novel set after Bosch retires from the LAPD at the end of the prior story.

Bosch investigates an old case concerning the murder of a production assistant on the set of a film. The case leads him back into contact with his ex-wife Eleanor Wish, who is now a professional poker player in Las Vegas, and Bosch learns at the end that he and Eleanor have a young daughter.

Past Tense by Lee Child

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

#23 in the series was published Nov. 5, 2018. Child has sold over 100 million books. His fans (like me) are thrilled when a new one is released.

There’s no such thing as a bad Jack Reacher book. This one is already 4.28 / 5.00 on GoodReads.

Though I love the odd style of writing, I wouldn’t call this one of Lee Child’s best books.

Click PLAY or watch the author explain the plot on YouTube.

The Bird and Baby, Oxford

On By Rick McIn books, food, travelLeave a comment

The Eagle and Child, nicknamed The Bird and Baby, is a pub in St Giles’ Street, Oxford, England, owned by St. John’s College, Oxford. The pub had been part of an endowment belonging to University College since the 17th century. …

When I stopped in for lunch, neither  Tolkien nor  Lewis nor any of the Inklings were there. Too bad.

I asked the barkeep for a recommendation. He suggested bangers and mash.

While I was there a library was hosting an exhibit titled Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth.