The Balkans Mirage: A Journey on Wheels … documenting four friends’ ride through the Balkans-a geographical area in southeastern Europe known for its stunning vistas, great riding, history, and bridges—lots of bridges.
The 11-minute film follows the four fictionalized characters as they pedal 1,250 kilometers through Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Greece. …
London, 1887. Ending at the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Her 50th anniversary.
This is a lightweight but entertaining read about an adventurous young woman who’s thoroughly modern in her outlook to life.
After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica Speedwell is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance.
As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
But fate has other plans when Veronica thwarts her own attempted abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron, who offers her sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian.
But before the baron can reveal what he knows of the plot against her, he is found murdered—leaving Veronica and Stoker on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth.
My Soul to Take is the 2nd book in her Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series.
Perhaps my last. Too many characters. Too complicated.
The killer revealed in a way that would not impress Agatha Christie.
Like the first book, the plot sounded interesting.
In the mystical Snæfellsnes region on Iceland’s west coast – at a New Age health resort in a renovated farmhouse – the body of a young woman is discovered, savagely beaten, with pins inserted into her feet.
Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, lawyer and single mother of two, has been retained to represent the resort’s owner and prime suspect.
But a fresh corpse is not the only abomination Thóra encounters here – for local legend says this place is haunted, and a bizarre series of inexplicable occurrences soon suggests it is so.
As Thóra digs deeply into the farm’s past, she unearths a shocking history of evil and depravity, and her once-solid view of reality begins to waver.
But a second murder, shockingly similar to the first, pulls Thóra back to earth by making two inescapable truths abundantly clear: the killer she seeks is very real and is not finished yet.
Tonight’s the night (hey), let’s live it up (let’s live it up) I got my money (I’m paid), let’s spend it up (let’s spend it up) Go out and smash it (smash it), like, “Oh my God” (like, “Oh my God!”) Jump out that sofa (come on), let’s kick it, off (a fee-) Fill up my cup (drink), mazel tov (l’chaim) Look at her dancing (move it, move it), just take it, off (a fee-) Let’s paint the town (paint the town), we’ll shut it down (shut it down) Let’s burn the roof (ooh-woo), and then we’ll do it again
… first novel in the Poirot series set at least partly in the courtroom, with lawyers and witnesses exposing the facts underlying Poirot’s solution to the crimes.
The title is drawn from a song in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. …
One reviewer remarked “it is economically written, the clues are placed before the reader with impeccable fairness, the red herrings are deftly laid and the solution will cause many readers to kick themselves.” …
On the advice of the waiter at a chic eatery 😀 called Porks in the central market (Mercato Centrale) in Florence, I had Tagliatelle with Amatriciana sauce for lunch. Better than Bolognese, I thought.
Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and… no qualms about a little murder.
… funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten …
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. …
Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, and she likes it that way.
Cost is about USD $61. Expensive for a hostel bed, but not expensive compared with other options in Vancouver. A friend got a room in a Richmond AirBnB for not much more, however.
It’s one big room full of independent bunk beds. A bit crowded.
Luggage storage is convenient. First item free, second piece will be charged at $5 per night per item. HOWEVER — they won’t store a bike or bike box. I had to take a taxi back to the airport and check it into airport luggage storage. (Maximum 48 hours).
James Patterson partnered with Brian Sitts to reboot the Doc Savage stories from the 1930s and 1940s.
In the NEW book (2022) — Dr. Brandt Savage, a professor of anthropology is kidnapped off the street by the enigmatic Meed and is schooled in the fine art of assassination.
In fact, Meed makes him something of a superman. Physically and mentally transformed.
But why?
Brandt is the great-grandson of the original Doc Savage. He has the right genetics to do what Meed needs him to do.
YES. It’s dumb. The plot makes no sense. Like the original pulp fiction, perhaps.
… The plot revolves around the lives, loves and metal-detecting ambitions of Andy and Lance, members of the Danebury Metal Detecting Club. …
The show ran for three series from 2014 to 2017, including a 2015 Christmas special. A further Christmas special aired in 2022. …
Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times “can’t recommend it enough”, saying: “Like the ordinary lives it magnifies, Detectorists has the air of seeming to be small and immense at once, to be about hardly anything and almost everything. It is full of space and packed with life.” …
Rick McCharles 