L.A., Elvis, and Joe

I love Joe Pike. I am thankful for my library that bought the new book by Robert Crais called "The Watchman", which is called 'a Joe Pike novel'. Read a synopsis from another blogg.
If you haven't met Elvis Cole you are in for a treat. My library gave me 2 weeks to read the book, I needed all of 2 days (hey, it's the middle of the week and I have to work also).

Another Appalachia

The Appalachians are the setting for many books. Among the best may be those by Lee Smith. Many years ago I read "Fair and Tender Ladies", which has prompted me to read anything Smith writes. Her latest book is "On Agate Hill". The tale of Molly who wanted something different. It begins in the aftermath of the civil war and ends in 1927. The frame is the present-day find of Molly's diaries and the recorded histories told by Molly's friends. Although the story of Molly and her world is not as breathtaking as Fair and Tender it is well worth reading. The various characters fill the pages with color. Molly's joy and tragedy, her marriage to Jacky and her string of dead children, feel real when Smith puts them on the page.

India, New York and home from Peru

I read Kiran Desai's "Inheritance of Loss" on the plane home from Peru. It was well written and I liked the combination of solemn truths about colonialism and the farce-like characters. If you are interested there is a good review in the New York Times. Just one negative comment the text in the book was very small, bad for us oldies. I guess I might just try to find her first book Hullabaloo in the Guava Forest.
The New York connection is two books by Jonathan Santlofer - "The Death Artist" and "Color Blind". Some time ago I wrote about The Killing Art (book 3) by the same author. These two book give the background for the third book. The heroine (Kate McKinnon Rothstein) is an ex-cop who got a PhD in art after marrying rich. Don't know why, but I guess it is easier to write about rich people. With unlimited resources they can conjour up any needs to move the plot along. A fourth book will be out soon, but according to Santlofers home page it probably isn't going to feature Kate.
I'm back from Peru, about a week now. Still a bit jet-lagged, but busy as usual. Time to move the clocks forward and it is light in the morning, a sure sign that spring is nearing us.

Miraflores and Shetland Islands

Last evening I got a taste of Lima nightlife in the area called Miraflores. Right on the beach, very nice - but nothing particulary Peruvian. But we had some good sea food and corazon. Also tasted Peruvian wine, drinkable but nothing to write home about. I enjoyed being out and about, but the distances in this city are large.
Finished "Raven Black" by Ann Cleeves yesterday. I liked the book and its main character Jimmy Perez (descendent of a Spanish sailor shipwrecked eons ago on the Shetland Islands). This is the first book I have read by Ann Cleeves, seems to be an author one can read more of. But at present my library is not stocked with her previous books.

Machu Picchu and a stain

Well I got to the foremost tourist attraction in Peru. It was indeed a tourist attraction, it seemed that almost everything was set up for tourists. First there is a train that takes you from Cusco to Machu Picchu - On the way there they sold books & caps & vests ; on the way back we had a fashion show. But when one climbs the mountain and gets one's first look at Machu Picchu none of the hype seems to matter - it was indeed amazing.

In the picture to the left you can see, not the usual view of the well know site, but the round temple of the sun (every Inca site seems to have one, for obvious reasons). It is also good that the mist is visible in the picture. We got to see the comings and goings of the mists all the time we were there. The guide was informative and it didn't rain, in other words a near perfect day.

Although the views from the train ride were wonderful to see (the train takes almost 4 hours). On the way back to Cusco in the late afternoon I read instead of watching the same scenery for a while and then the darkness. I have finished Andrew Taylor's latest in paperback "A Stain on the Silence". I didn't much like the tale of teenage wrongs and adults who generally did not take the responsibility they should have. But Taylor does write well and the juxtaposition of now and then was well done. As an interesting aside - the hotel I was staying at in Cusco had a table where one could leave books that were no longer wanted or take books that had been placed there. Rather a nice tradition. Problem was that the novels that were lying there when I got to the hotel were in Swedish, Finnish, Russian and some other non-English languages (these were all still there when I left the hotel 3 days later). I put Daley's Enemy of God on the table when I went out to go to the post office - it was gone when I got back 2 hours later.

Sacred Valley and New York

I am now in the Sacred Valley of the Inca's. I arrived in Cusco and my hotel at 8 in the morning yesterday, that is Thursday 8 March/International Women's Day/. I guess you can figure out how early I had to leave Lima, much too early. But anyway the Thursday tour began within an hour and we saw all sorts of interesting Inca ruins. The guide kept telling us how totally the Spanish destroyed everything Inca "during colonial times". The last stop of the day was a church, "one of the most beautiful" according to our guide. Well, beauty is probably relative.
The weather was actually very nice. Combination of rain and sun. The lunch arrangements were somewhat bizarre. Of the 20 people on the tour, there were about 7 or 8 different travel agencies involved. And each agency had their own lunch restaurant /the poor driver probably didn't get much of a lunch rest driving around to the different places/.
I finished my latest book "The Enemy of God" by Robert Daley. It was well written, although I've never read a book by Robert Daley before I might try some more. The story takes place in New York and spans from the 50ties to the 80ties, all mixed up. Try the link to find out more about the book - it is on a good blog for books "curled up with a good book"

Snow, sun, and London blitz

Some of the villages I visited in the Huancayo area of Peru had statues of dancing people. Rather a refreshing change from old politicians. It seems that several important folk dances are said to have originated in this area. Unfortunately, we didn't see a demonstration. This morning at 6 we left the highlands of Peru, it was rather cold and rainy, but green and lovely. After several hours we had ascended to the highest point and there was LOTS of snow. We had passed the same place only on Monday morning, but it had evidently snowed alot during the 48 hours that had passed. I saw my first group of llamas here in Peru, huddling in the snow.
Within two hours of passing the summit and the deep snow we were back in Lima - thereof the sun.
Bet you are wondering about the blitz. Well that is the latest book I've read - "The Night Watch" by Sarah Waters. I had read her earlier novel "Fingersmith", which was okay - but I didn't think of much of it as the reviewers did. But this latest book was one that I have in my travelling package and I liked it very much. It starts in 1947 and goes backward. (this means you should probably read it twice to get it all). The characters seem real and are a bit like some of Pat Baker's WWI characters. The pivotal character, who gives the book a hopeful ending (or beginning), is not one of the main characters. But he enters their lives at important times.
Check out Sarah Water's home page. A plus for her, in my book is that all her books are published by Virago - feminist publishing house.

Canete and Righteous

I have been to the Canete valley in Peru, south of Lima. It was a lovely trip, first just sand and dirt and beaches. Then the valley, which is one of the few that gets water year round, full of growing crops and lots of new fruits that I had never seen before. In contrast I have finished reading "The Righteous Men" by Sam Bourne - some sort of challenger to Dan Brown's Di Vinci Code. I guess three letter first names let you do pretty much anything you like. You don't have to read the book, you can check out the Observer's review and find out every thing you need to know (which isn't much). This is another book I am donating to the future residents of the dormitory I am staying in.