Friends,

This is my review of the book “Worth Dying For” by Lee Child, which I read recently. This was the second Jack Reacher book that I mentioned in my previous post http://fullersfolio.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/-gone-tomorrow-by-lee-child.html which I got from the second hand book shop, and have finally got round to reading.

Like the last Jack Reacher book, the plot line is very different. Jack is out in the wilds of Nebraska, and comes across a small town that is totally under the thumb of a local clan the Duncans. He tries to help a local, and uncovers a case of a missing eight year old girl, that has not been solved. He starts investigating and the Duncans don't like this, so they go after Jack.

Added to this the Duncans as a trucking business, are shipping more than just corn. A mysterious illegal package, that various parties are interested in. The underworld food chain. The Duncans blame Jack for a delay and they all want to come and investigate what is going on.

Just the perfect setting for a massive battle with Jack at the centre. This was not really a complex plot like the previous Sherlock Holmes Mystery – the biggest question was – what was the illegal cargo, and who besides Jack would be left standing at the end of the story.

All good fun really, the book was an easy page turner – This was book 32 week 24 fiction 29 (audio book 7) non fiction 3.

Friends

This is my review of the book “The Sign of Four” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which I listened to recently, as a librivox recording. This is a story that portrays Sherlock Holmes in our modern eyes, in a less than favourable light with his extensive drug taking, though at the time it was a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Similar to taking an alcoholic drink nowadays.

A young lady asks Sherlock to investigate what happened to her father when he disappeared 10 years earlier. The story slowly reveals a very complex plot of stolen treasure beyond compare, corrupt prison guards, double crossing and a secret pact among four convicts. Hence the name of the story.
Added to this Sherlock’s friend Dr Watson falls in love.

It is a good story but the fact that the last chapter has Sherlock going into great detail how all the elements have come together to form the whole, explains how complex it is, and certainly there is no way the mystery could be worked out as the reader went along.

As each new twist and turn was revealed we played guess the outcome, and sadly did not manage to get it right once. This was an enjoyable story, though very complex – not one for listening to when driving through a city, but one for an open road with little traffic. That being said well worth listening to.

This was book 31 week 24 fiction 28 (audio book 7) non fiction 3.

Friends, 

For the last few months, I have been slowly working on the process of clearing and cleaning out the pond. Initially I cut down numerous branches that had grown horizontally out across the water. Getting somewhere in the region of around two tonnes of logs from them. Still got a few more to cut down just to tidy it up, but those are not over the water.

This process has been a Sunday activity – not really that necessary but enjoyable, especially as the result are so dramatic. 

Though it is very overgrown there are signs of fish, and certainly lots frogs and some nuts crawling around. The grass, weeds and other plant material are very well grown, and as can be seen by the large pile of grass on the bank to the left of me shows the quantity of material that needs to be removed.


After a good hours work the I have managed to clear three quarters of the small water area. Did not fall in but the water did go up to just under my arms where it was fairly deep. 

The mound of removed material can be seen clearly behind me along with bits of the black plastic that made up the original liner, which has now come adrift. The area of open water is slowly growing. 


I was totally shattered after an hours hard work, due to the weight of mud, water along with the weeds. So it is time for that cup of green tea.

You can see the garden for yourself if you book a self catering pet friendly holiday @The Shieling which is attached to Trostrie Cottage http://www.trostriecottage.co.uk

Friends

This is my review of the book By the Mast Divided by David Donachie. Having not read any of David's books before, I was a little apprehensive on reading this as to weather or not I would enjoy it. Especially as I do enjoy reading Patrick O' Brian's stories, and from the cover this did seems as if it could have been in a similar vain.

But I need not have worried, though they are both nautical and set in a similar time frame they are very different in style and content and both really enjoyable.

So getting to the plot line – Our hero of the hour is a certain John Pearce, who is illegally press ganged from the Pelican Tavern onto the HMS Brilliant, a frigate on its way to war, against the French.

Initially John tries to escape, but when he finds that this is not possible he forms a friendship with a group of other press ganged landlubbers. They form the gang of Pelican's and aim to look after themselves, with John as the leader. The narrative is very clever in so much as they are the bottom of the pile as far as the Navy goes and the description of life on board for these men is very realistic giving one real sympathy with them and their plight.

So HMS Brilliant goes off to war chasing a French Privateer along the channel. John shines and uses his natural skills to help the situation despite the captain.

I found it an enjoyable book, that brought back past memories of sailing in the channel – not chasing after a Privateer, but fighting against the wind and the waves. This is the first book in a series and I will be looking forward to reading the next, to see what happens to John. Though I somehow doubt that he manages to escape from the Navy otherwise there would not be a series of books about John on the High Seas.

This was book 30 week 23 fiction 27 (audio book 6) non fiction 3.

Friends,

This is my review of the book The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy, which I listened to recently whilst travelling around as a librivox recording.

This is the second Scarlet Pimpernel book that I have listened to having enjoyed the first one so much. The book is a collection of short stories all about Sir Peter Blakeney, as the Scarlet Pimpernel and his friends – telling tales of how they rescue various Astrio's from the French citzerns court.

In most cases it involves some form of disguise, sometimes with a really bad cough. So as soon as someone mentions that a person has a really bad cough one knows that the Scarlet Pimpernel is on the case.

After a few of the stories they did become a little predictable, and it would have probably been better if they had been written as slightly longer stories, with fewer of them, as the characters did not really have time to develop.

That apart it was all good fun and whiled away around nine hours of travelling time. The strange thing was that some of the short stories were much longer than others, it made one speculate as to why this was. Was Emma Orczy but against a publishing target and had to get the book finished by a certain deadline.. Who knows

I will be listening to more of these stories as time progresses as there are several completed books in the Librivox catalogue about our hero The Scarlet Pimpernel.

This was book 29 week 23 fiction 26 (audio book 6) non fiction 3.

Friends this is my review of the book The Leopard by Jo Nesbo, which I have read recently. I have realised that as the sun has been shining, the Easter holiday's and lots of work I have become slightly lax in recording my thoughts about the books that I have been reading. But hopefully I will be able to catch up this week.

The Leopard is the continuing saga of Inspector Harry Hole and his particular skills in solving crime especially murder in and around Oslo. This time due to forthcoming cuts there are added tensions between the different law enforcement agencies. It seems that unless Harry can solve the crimes in 48 hours his section will be closed down.

Things do not go quite according to plan and Harry has to jet off to Africa on expenses to solve the mystery. Of course Harry eventually solves the crimes, but the misery and body count along the way just grows. This then makes one question as to why am I reading the book. The horror and pain described is not that enjoyable, yes I do want to know the mystery and why it has been done. And yes the twists and turns are really good but the question is do they out-way the misery. I am not sure about that.

For me a good story is one where there is a little light relief along the way. A point where one can come up for air, catch a breath and move on. Sadly this seemed to be lacking in this story. It just seemed to go down and down. If you like very dark horror mystery then this is the book for you but I am not sure if I will be reading the next book in the Harry Hole series – certainly I will need something a bit lighter for quite some time before considering it.

So this was book This was book 28 week 23 fiction 25 (audio book 5) non fiction 3.