This is the first book I’ve read by Linwood Barclay, though he’s a Canadian.
It’s excellent.
The premise of the plot is fantastic. Private Investigator Cal Weaver is hired to help protect an 18-year-old who had run over a friend while blind drunk. Killed her. And had somehow been found not guilty in court because he (supposedly) did not understand the consequences of his actions because he was coddled by an overprotective mother.
Simultaneously, but apparently unrelated, Detective Barry Duckworth is dealing with a case of a young man abducted and tattooed by … aliens?
Both Duckworth and Weaver are fictional characters well worth spending time with.
In an era of many folk singer / songwriters, James got lucky when a friend gave a demo tape to Peter Asher, head for the Beatles‘ newly formed label Apple Records.
She is also the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis that focuses on Native American literature.
In The Sentence, the narrator, Tookie, works in a bookstore in Minneapolis that carries Native American literature. Tookie, like the author, is a Native American.
As a young woman, Tookie was sentenced to 60 years in prison. But later had her crime reduced to some years time served. That part of the book I found fascinating.
She became a serious reader in prison, one reason she ended up working in a bookstore — haunted by the ghost of a former customer — before the pandemic broke in March 2020.
I’d forgotten how confusing it was mid-March when we had no masks or gel yet. And didn’t know how serious it would become.
The story in Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd was super interesting too. Her step daughter was out protesting. But Tookie was worried about looters burning down the bookstore.
Overall — however — I found the book too long and rambling.
It’s supposed to be mainly a ghost story. But I didn’t really buy the resolution of that.
After hiking the West Coast Trail for the first time in 1999, I decide to switch to what I called destination travel. I’d travel to do something specific — a specific hike, for example. I’d travel less, but with a GOAL.
The first blogging I did was on WordPress.org, launched 2003. For a couple of years before that I hand coded HTML which was difficult.
Matthew Kepnes — Nomadic Matt — started traveling abroad in 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular on the web. The site is still going strong as Matt hired a team of 5 people to keep it going.
Matt traveled nearly non-stop for 10 years. And then wrote a memoir.
Coimbra is a popular stop for tourists coming to visit the archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, especially the well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus.
I bought a ticket to see the Joanine Library (Biblioteca Joanina), continuing my quest to visit all the most beautiful bookstores and libraries in the world.
It’s small, but well gilded. 😀
The most interesting part of the story is that this is one of the Portuguese libraries that encourages bats to make residence. The thinking is that they eat insects that might damage the ancient treasures.
Library on the left. By Dicklyon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Biggest man on campus. King Joao III (John III) 1521 – 1557.
Though King John accomplished a lot, the Inquisition was introduced into Portugal in 1536. Just like in Spain, the Inquisition was placed under the authority of the king.
In Portugal the first Grand Inquisitor was Cardinal Henry, the king’s brother
If Belgium was the most horrific European nation for brutalizing people in their colonies, Portugal and Spain were next worst. I blame the Catholic Church out of Italy equally.
But I tried the most recent book in the Orphan Xseries.
… at the age of 12, Evan Smoak was enrolled in a top-secret operation known as the “Orphan Program.”
He is the 24th recruit in the program and is known only as Orphan X.
The goal of the program is to train orphans so they can be assassins for government agencies. The program is shut down but Orphan X maintains access to the program’s funding and weapons.
In his 30s, Smoak begins freelancing as an assassin, using his skills to fight corruption in the form of vigilante justice …
There were a few things I enjoyed in this story.
Joey, his hilarious and sassy teenage techie assistant.
BACK in Lisbon to have a tooth implant installed, I posted some Instagrammy pics on Instagram.
Having visited most of the major tourist sites last year, I looked for less visited photo ops this time.
For example, I caught the ferry over to the former industrial suburb city Barreiro. I saw no other tourists wandering the streets that day. Augusto Cabrita, local photographer, cinematographer and film director is celebrated with this massive wall portrait.
In the 1970s academic kids in my neighbourhood went to Viscount Bennett High School. The rest (losers 😀) went to Earnest Manning High School which had far superior TRADES training.
The internet accelerated the fortunes of knowledge workers. Relative wages of those working in trades declined.
Everyone wanted to be a white collar worker. Sitting all day at a computer manipulating electrons.
Author/mechanic Matthew Crawford argues that is wrong. And is changing.
He quit his job at a Think Tank, instead opening a Motorcycle repair shop.
I’m hopeless. Not the least handyman you know, … but close.
I ride bikes but can’t fix them when they breakdown.
By comparison, my Dad and brother Rob are career Jack-of-all-Trades.
The late great buddy Rob Glaser was probably my most trusted authority for all things broken.
Needless to say, he was expert in living outdoors. Manipulated firewood with his bare hands, for example.
In the wild you want to carry only those items which can be repaired on the go. Metal, not plastic.
In 2022 it would be smart to seek work in an occupation where you can’t easily be replace by a computer. Gymnastics coach, for example. It will be a long time before Artificial Intelligence replaces human sport coaching.
Take pride in being able to physically make and repair things.
Rick McCharles 