Berengaria > Recent Status Updates

scrap and e-waste is as profitable as the GDP of a number of developing countries. The slums were this stuff is "recycled" in Ghana and Nigeria are a literal "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"...the amazing suffering and pollution those counties put up with for our modern tech lifestyles.

the publication date of these stories range about 100 years. I'm interested in "moving spirits" that is those on roads, canals, railways etc vs stationary ones in houses and buildings. This anthology has historical info with it, both on railways and on ghost stories with that as a theme - not just Dickens!!!

A Dutch mystery set in Tang dynasty China: "The Haunted Monastery"!

Thought I'd leave De Cock for a while and try some other series. This is "Judge Dee" in English.

Strange, yet humorous events at every turn...

So we who thought we were recycling in the 1990s were not. We were being lied to about how much and how effective that recycling actually was.
"The more the population thinks the recycling is working, the less they'll be concerned about the environment" was the strategy to halt strongly developing green sensibilities.

Rather an odd book so far. Supposed to be a comedic satire, but seems to be more slapstick.

This one about the major Vanir god (not Aesir) Freyr is pretty good!

Continues to be extremely enjoyable to read what stories all these well known authors see in Hopper paintings.

"As an instrument of disempowerment oil has been spectacularly effective in removing the levers of power from the reach of the populace. “No matter how many people take to the streets in massive marches,” writes Roy Scranton, “they cannot put their hands on the real flows of power because they do not help to produce it. They only consume.”

While there are some great perspectives in here, the point is often buried under huge haystacks of facts which go on for way too long and only seem tangentially important at times.

"Similarly, at exactly the time when it has become clear that global warming is in every sense a collective predicament, humanity finds itself in the thrall of a dominant culture in which the idea of the collective has been exiled from politics, economics, and literature alike."

That means: the individual is where culture currently focuses, at the same time we are in a number of collective crisis.

Incredible and eye-opening. Not only about climate change but why we can't seem to accept uncanny or highly unusual events today as people in the past. And only 30 pages in!

"The Letter" is the Welsh version of an English novel adapted for learners of Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

Hits exactly my C+1 level (comprehension + 1 step beyond) even if it is listed as being for B1-level readers. Unfortunately, it's a tragic romance, so I'm not so engaged with the content. But...so far, so good.

I'm REALLY enjoying this anthology! Unlike others, all of these stories (thus far) are extremely well written.

Here's the rub: the stories have to be read and enjoyed in context with the paintings. Out of context, most of them would lose a lot, I'd imagine.

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.