Ruby Tuesday

I'm posting over here today.

Washrooms in Bonnie Springs NV.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at  Book Journey. For this meme, bloggers post what they finished last week, what they're currently reading, and what they plan to start this week. 
I

Finished this week:

You can read the synopsis in last week's post. I also wrote about the book over here.

Started this week and abandoned:

I didn't get very far into this book to realize I hated it. I was drawn in by the Templar seal on the cover but it barely touches on them. It is set in the fourteenth century and I couldn't get interested in it. The characters are shallow and uninteresting.

Still on my reading agenda but will not get read this week as I will be away and this is a hard copy!!

Also finished this week:

From the book jacket:

On a winter day in 2008, Håkan von Enke, a retired high-ranking naval officer, vanishes during his daily walk in a forest near Stockholm. The investigation into his disappearance falls under the jurisdiction of the Stockholm police. It has nothing to do with Wallander—officially. But von Enke is his daughter’s future father-in-law. And so, with his inimitable disregard for normal procedure, Wallander is soon interfering in matters that are not his responsibility, making promises he won’t keep, telling lies when it suits him—and getting results. But the results hint at elaborate Cold War espionage activities that seem inextricably confounding, even to Wallander, who, in any case, is troubled in more personal ways as well. Negligent of his health, he’s become convinced that, having turned sixty, he is on the threshold of senility. Desperate to live up to the hope that a new granddaughter represents, he is continually haunted by his past. And looking toward the future with profound uncertainty, he will have no choice but to come face-to-face with his most intractable adversary: himself.

I enjoyed this book even though it is about spies, not one of ny favourite topics. However, I did find it extremely depressing how the main character laments constantly throughout  the book about being sixty years old and how old he is and dwelling on dying. I found this quite tiresome .

Started this week:

From the book jacket:

From the very first page of David Peace's first novel, 1974, it soon becomes clear that something is rotten in the state of Yorkshire: a young girl is missing. The Yorkshire Post's young but disillusioned crime correspondent, Edward Dunford, is assigned to the story, while also coping with the recent death of his father and his return to his native Yorkshire after a brief and unsuccessful stint in Fleet Street. For the jaded Dunford, it's just another story; the only intrigue is whether the girl will be found dead or alive before Christmas--that is, until she is discovered brutally murdered, face down in a ditch with a pair of swan's wings sewn into her back. As Dunford follows the case, he begins to make a series of terrifying connections with a string of child murders, plunging him into a gut-wrenching nightmare of corruption, violence, sadism, blackmail, and sexual obsession--from the upper echelons of local government to the tacky heart of Yorkshire darkness.

As Peace's tale of corruption and conspiracy unravels, it becomes clear that 1974 is as influenced by Orwell's own bleak vision of Britain in 1984as it is by the wonderfully evoked atmosphere of the mid '70s. The Bay City Rollers, Leeds United, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Vauxhall Viva'sall make an appearance. The novel works at several levels, from the brilliantly unsentimental homecoming of the gifted, alienated northern son to a terrifyingly accurate portrayal of an insular, tribal community. The plot is complex and frenetic, and Peace often neglects loose ends, especially as he builds to an extremely powerful climax. Yet the dialogue is fast, witty, and violent; a must-read for fans of Yorkshire Gothic. --Jerry Brotton

 I thoroughly had enjoyed reading GB84 that I want to read more of David Peace. This is the first book in the series of four.

2012 books read:
The Coast Road - John Brady
Still Midnight - Denise Mina
The Bulgari Connection - Fay Weldon
Good Bait - John Harvey
The Heretic's Treasure - Scott Mariani 
Dead I Well May Be - Adrian McKinty
The Devil's Elixir - Raymond Khoury 
A Darker Domain - Val McDermid
The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin 
GB84 - David Peace 
The Emperor's Tomb - Steve Berry
Stonehenge Legacy - Sam Christer
Inquisition - Alfredo Colitto ABANDONED!

Macro Monday

Macro Monday is hosted by Lisa at  Lisa's Chaos.
Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back to Lisa's blog and sign MckLinky.  


This was taken in the rainforest at Monteverde in Costa Rica. Our guide had an amazing telescope that allowed our camera to be attached for this incredible shot of a quetzal!!!

Blue Monday

I'm linking up over here today.

Food truck at the Distillery District in Toronto

Mellow Yellow Monday

I'm posting over here and here are her rules:
I chose yellow for this photo meme because it's my favourite colour and I think the world is always better with a splash of yellow ... whether it's in your home or in nature.

The rules are pretty simple:
1. Every Monday post a photo with a little or a lot of yellow.
2. Please only post photos you have authority to use.
3. Include a Mellow Yellow Badge or a link to this blog in your post.
4. Leave the link to your Mellow Yellow post below on Mr. Linky.
5. Visit other blogs listed ... comment & enjoy!

When to Post:
Mister Linky will be available every Sunday at 10:00 pm EST and will remain open until Wednesday.

Gates at Buckingham Palace, London.

Cancun

We are heading to Cancun today. Our flight is at 6:30am so we will be in the sun by noon.


Our first vacation together was in Cancun in 1979 *yikes*!! It was the first DH got a passport.

I am sure it is going to look very differently as it is now bloomed as the Mayan Riviera.

Since we'll be in transit today I thought I'd post some photos from 1979.

 We stayed at the Bahia and prices were around $500-$700 per person air and hotel.

Kobo Vox E-reader

I bought a Kobo Vox at Chapters. I have a Sony e-reader that I bought with points two yers ago. It is a unitasker but was an ok reader. I had always disliked the black on grey font and it would be impossible to read in certain light, especially if it was dark as it has no back light (go figure??).

I got an iPad for my birthday last year and love it for reading and other stuff.
The problem is that we travel so much and now my husband has fallen in love with the iPad for reading as well.
When we were in Nicaragua  last month we both switched back and forth between the iPad and the Sony, but both preferring the iPad.
I buy my books from Kobo books and can load the books on both devices so that we could read the same books.
When we got home we debated between buying another iPad or a Kobo. It really came down to price as the Kobo is only $179 and has internet capability.
On the Chapters website they are some comments about people not liking the Kobo, but we'll give it a try.

I'll put my Sony up for sale as it has eighty books loaded on it!!

However, I left the store and forgot to buy a case for it. While reading my Google Reader I found a blog writer hat had made her own cover from an old book!! I am certainly going to give that a try, it would be so much more fun to make a personalized cover.


Have I forgot to mention I still have two bookcases of books even though I did a major purge last year??