Berengaria > Recent Status Updates

Really interesting novel about how one Long Island neighbourhood was visited by a natural disaster and the residents totally flipped out. Fast read, enjoyable social portrait thus far.

Very pretty with lots of illustrations, but the information is basic and mainly lists of of associations. Still, recaps aren't bad for you.

The mystery is okay, but even despite the...I'm not entirely sure it's accurate...description of ancient Thebes, I keep getting the feeling I'm in Victorian London with how the people are acting and the nature of the "police" force.

This is a book from a PhD thesis and it shows. Lots of survey material, lots of statistics, but not much humanity....yet. The later chapters look promising.

Again, the best stories are the opening one and the ones at the end. I wonder if that's a series standard???

While the stories in this one are better than the Book of Tokyo on the whole, they're very much "slice of life" which I've never quite known what to do with.

Getting to be too encyclopedic. But still full of highly insightful facts. Ex: Why is 'fresh produce' at Walmart so much cheaper that at Whole Foods? Because Walmart has regional distributions centres and WF relies on indie transporters who add their costs to the final bill. Result: sticker shock at the "healthy food" store!

DNF. This may be short, but it's also insanely boring. Slow, uninteresting characters and nothing happens in the first 50%. I think I read a totally different book than everybody else.

Continues to be extremely informative and historically/scientifically fascinating....but a LOT of information. Too much for me at times, but I'm sure a science & tech nerd would completely geek out. Maintaining a steady 5 stars!

Another Dutch mystery with De Cock...this time a young florist disappears. Her sister is utterly convinced she's dead. But why? The sister isn't saying.

now on CD 3. Still interesting. Our focus has moved from South Africa to Sweden (reminds me of Mankell) and things are getting stranger and stranger.

You gotta love a private detective who -- when allowed by the Medjay to view the corpse of the murdered party -- thinks to himself "I have no medical knowledge. What am I supposed to be looking for?" A far cry from today's half-expert PIs.

LFL find. Pretty good so far! Lovely New Kingdom descriptions.

6-CD set. So far, typical Jonasson.

Absolutely phenomenal so far. A highly readable blend of science, history, sociology and workplace expose. A lot to take in, but extremely informative.

The family are now at the house for their summer holiday, and it would appear as if both the wife and husband are being greatly affected by whatever is still lurking. Wonder if the boy and the aunt will be affected, too? Or do they not fit into the scheme? Hmmmmm.

I'm not a fan of Japanese lit at the best of times, but thought an anthology of short stories about Tokyo might not be so bad. About at the midway point, I can only give 1 story more than a 2-stars. Other reviews say the best are at the back. Let's hope so!

Very good set up at the opening of the novel. All the elements in perfect balance: the character personalities, the stresses, the goals, the motivations....and then the making of an offer they can't refuse. They don't write 'em like this any more.

So far, not much to write home about. The translator is going too much for actual word accuracy and not target language flow. Which is a problem with the Germanics, as they -- literally translated -- can sound extremely choppy in English. (very different style)

This book was not just written for the general reader, but the general general reader. That is, those with zero knowledge of anything past where countries are located, King Tut and the story of the Exodus, can still follow along. Amazing. Wasn't expecting that.

Interesting and fairly down-to-earth, but nothing that's really grabbing my attention. We'll see what lies down the road.

An okay police thriller...but I really hope there's no romance here. A gruff old male cop gets partnered up with a young, attractive female FBI agent? I'm already shaking my head and hoping the plot doesn't go there.

"Hittite king named Mursili I marched his army all the
way to Mesopotamia, a journey of over 1000 miles, and attacked
the city of Babylon in 1595 BC... Then, instead of occupying the city, he simply turned the Hittite army around and headed for home, thus effectively conducting the longest drive-by shooting in history. " 🤣🤣🤣

There won't be a rating on this book because I do not know enough about world economics to comment, but his argument is persuasive.

Classic Swift!

Though this would be much harder to follow, but it's written as a letter to his dad, so the economic knowledge thresh hold is much lower and it's in mostly conversational style, thank goodness!