Seems this is the 51st book in the series. ✍️
HOW is Nora Roberts able to write so much?
She works 8 hours a day. Every day. Day after day. Sometimes writing 3 books in a series simultaneously.
Lt. Eve Dallas is a tough NY cop sometime in the future.
This book STARTS WITH A MURDER. Very quickly we learn Lorcan Cobbe was the hit man.
Eve’s husband knew Cobbe when they were hoodlum kids. And the killer seems to want to hang around to kill them both.
Book’s not bad.
Lists of BEST NATIONS typically include Denmark close to the top.
But their government seems as chaotic as any.
Borgen is a Danish political drama television series.
In Danish: Borgen, lit. ’The Castle’, is the informal name of Christiansborg Palace where all three branches of Danish government reside: the Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Supreme Court, and is often used as a figure of speech for the Danish government. …
… against all the odds, Birgitte Nyborg Christensen (Sidse Babett Knudsen)—a minor centrist politician—becomes the first female prime minister of Denmark. …
On Netflix the English voice over and captions are hilariously bad. BUT I did enjoy the characters and story lines. It gets great reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
Newsweek called Borgen “the best TV show you have never seen”.
NY Times: “bleaker, Nordic version of The West Wing“
A U.S. remake of the series is planned.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
If you REALLY want to do something, you must practice.
A lot.
Possibly 10,000 hours to become excellent.
As a sports coach, I’ve learned that already.
It’s the reason I try to STUDY or PRACTICE video creation every day.
Click PLAY or watch this video by Daniel Sax on Vimeo.
Clive Cussler died last year. Age-88.
Fast Ice was published March 2021. Co-author Graham Brown.
18th book in the NUMA (the National Underwater and Marine Agency) series.
This is the first Cussler book I’ve read and can’t claim it’s good.
BUT I did find the plot fascinating.
In the early days of World War II, the infamous German Luftwaffe embark upon an expedition to Antarctica, hoping to set up a military base to support their goal of world domination. Though the military outpost never comes to fruition, what the Nazis find on the icy continent indeed proves dangerous…and will have implications far into the future.
In the present day, Kurt Austin and his assistant Joe Zavala embark for the freezing edge of the world after a former NUMA colleague disappears in Antarctica. While there, they discover a photo of the Luftwaffe expedition of 1939 and are drawn into a decades-old conspiracy. Even as they confront perilous waters and frigid temperatures, they are also are up against a terrifying man-made weapon – a fast-growing ice that could usher in a new Ice Age.
Pitted against a determined madman and a monstrous storm, Kurt and the NUMA team must unravel the Nazi-era plot in order to save the globe from a freeze that would bury it once and for all.
Audible
For each genre (hiking, cycling, mountain climbing, skiing) I’m looking for technically good video coverage.
Great audio. That’s not easy.
But what makes the good ones GREAT is something that gets you emotionally.
Humour. Inspiration. Personal connection to the people in the very short film
I want to fly to Silverton, Colorado just to meet Avra Saslow, Clare Hamilton, and Delilah Cupp.
“Fame might change us.” 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
When the Bough Breaks is … the first novel in the Alex Delaware series.
Though published 1985 I found it smart and surprisingly contemporary.
The Psychologist’s sidekick is LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, a big, shambling Gay man. In 1985. Yet it’s not at all cliche.
Delaware appears in 32 of Kellerman’s books. I might read on.
Kellerman was a practicing psychologist in L.A. when he wrote the first 5 in the series.
Bough Breaks was made into a movie 1986 with Ted Danson as Delaware. You can watch that on YouTube.
It’s no Game of Thrones, but I’m impressed by many things in this new TV show.
Good cast.
It is cheesy. But I will try the books.
Shadow and Bone is an American fantasy … series based on the Grisha trilogy, the first of which is Shadow and Bone, and the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo.
… orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov discovers she has an extraordinary power that could be the key to setting her country free from the darkness plaguing it …
There are treacherous forces at play, including a charismatic crew of criminals called the Crows, and it will take more than her new powers to survive it. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch some BEHIND THE SCENES on YouTube.
Wow.
I don’t know what to say.
The novel is set in a dystopian future in which some children are genetically-engineered (“lifted”) for enhanced academic ability.
As schooling is provided entirely at home by on-screen tutors, opportunities for socialization are limited and parents who can afford it often buy their children androids as companions.
The book is narrated by one such Artificial Friend (AF) called Klara. Although exceptionally intelligent and observant, Klara’s knowledge of the world is limited. …
This is his 8th novel. But my first Ishiguro.
Very skillful.
Publishers Weekly praised the “rich inner reflections” of Ishiguro’s protagonist, writing, “Klara’s quiet but astute observations of human nature land with profound gravity.” [6]In her review for The New York Times, Radhika Jones notes that Klara and the Sun returns to the theme of The Remains of the Day as “Ishiguro gives voice to: not the human, but the clone; not the lord, but the servant.
In a positive review, Cherwell described Ishiguro’s novel as characterised by “elegance and poise”, praising the narrator Klara as “a memorable first-person narrative voice, simultaneously robotic and infantile, scrupulous yet naïve.” [8]
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Lexie Limitless.
I really need make a trip to Central Asia.
I’d join a guided tour first, to get a feel for the place.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Not great.
I hate concussion ball. That didn’t help.
Playing for Pizza is a short novel by John Grisham (2007).
… about an itinerant American football player who can no longer get work in the National Football League and whose agent, as a last resort, signs a deal for him to play for the Parma Panthers, in Parma, Italy. …
I did like reading about the food and wine. 😀
The Parma Panthers are an actual American Football team. In fact, they won the IFL championship in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Rick McCharles 