Reading in Reykjavík

No. in series: 2 Year of publication: 1992 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: North Carolina, USA, contemporary Some themes: Life and death, second sight, cancer, madness, family ties Story: Two teenagers are the only survivors of a family tragedy that ended in a triple murder and suicide, a woman expecting her first child is beset by loneliness and doubt, a young mother wants the best for her child, and an old man discovers that the cancer that is killing him may be the result of drinking polluted water. All of these stories begin to knit together little by little, with Sheriff Arrowood and seer Nora Bonesteel observing and occasionally participating in the story. Review: Calling this installation in the Ballad series a mystery is simplifying things. It is not just a mystery but also a psychological thriller, a true-to-life story about ordinary people, and an ode to the Appalachians and their inhabitants. But "mystery" is perhaps...

Series detective: Inspector Ben Jurnet No. in series: 2 Year of publication: 1982 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: England, contemporary Number of murders: 1 Some themes: Religion, drug-dealing, anti-Semitism, social injustice Awards: The (British) Crime Writer's Association Silver Dagger Award, 1982 Story: A choirboy is found murdered in the cathedral of Angleby (a fictional town based on Norfolk) and signs on the body indicate that someone wanted to recreate the murder of Little Saint Ulf, whose holy bones are buried under the church and whose death had sparked a mass murder of the Jewish inhabitants of medieval Angleby. Ben Jurnet, who has now made a decision in the matter he was considering at the end of Death and the Pregnant Virgin (important for the story), is called in to investigate. He soon finds out that no-one seems to have liked the murdered boy much, but neither does anyone seem to have hated him enough to kill him. T...

I thought I would make it a bit easier to subscribe to Another 52 Books. On the left sidebar just under my picture there is an icon like this one: Just click on it and it will take you to my site feed where you can subscribe with any of several popular news readers, like My Yahoo!, Newsgator, Pluck, My AOL, and more.

Books as decoration , originally uploaded by Netla . Another shelf of books arranged by colour. I have done this myself, with my TBR books, but my other books are organised by a much more mundane and practical system: by size, then genre, then author (not necessarily alphabeticlly). I don't bother with organising by title because once I'm down to that I can easily find the book. Of course, I only have about 3000 books - I suppose once I hit 5 figures I will have to organise them with more precision...

Color coded , originally uploaded by Netla . A cool way of organising your books. Very decorative but I'm afraid this would massively annoy any librarian who came near it. Seeing books organised like this, by colour but not by tone, actually makes me look at them as individual books and not as a collection. Location: Góði Hirðirinn charity shop, Reykjavík, Iceland.

I came across this interesting entry on author Jenny Crusie's blog. It's good to know at least someone takes these things seriously, even if I never use quotes as a buying criterion myself.

You are anxiously waiting for someone or something, and need to put your mind off it so you will not start throwing things and screaming to relieve the tension. Books have a calming effect on you, but you are too wound up to read. Well, I've been there, and here are some suggestions for book-related activities: Dust your books. Dust is an enemy to books just as much as dampness and sunlight. If you are the type who finds books more by what they look like than by knowing exactly where they are, organise your books by size or colour rather than subject. I've done this with part of my TBR stash and they not only look good on the shelf, they actually look tempting, which might mean I will finally go and read some of them. Hunt down lost bookmarks. I am a typical bibliophile and if I do something with books, chances are that many other book lovers do the same. I keep putting half-read books away with the bookmark still inside and don't realise I'm doing it until I run out o...