I've just read Anne Cleeves's new mystery, Blue Lightening. I thought it wasn't as good as her other books. The main murder victim especially seemed cardboard and two dimensional. I like the setting of her novels on the Shetlands and found the references to the birding culture very engaging, but the characters weren't up to scratch.
I also read Shadow, by Karin Alvtegen, a Swedish mystery quite different from the rest of the Scandi pack. This is not my favorite kind of mystery, heavy on soap opera with characters you don't really care about because they are so self-involved. There are so many people trapped in unhappy lives in this novel it lacks a grounded character, and it makes for depressing summer reading with a melodramatic climax. The ending is somewhat predictable because you get a sense of what the novel is building towards long before it happens.
I watched Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmusch. Not much there to see folks, except good performances by the women in between long stretches of very dull scenes with Bill Murry and his friend Winston. Ho. Hum.
I am feeling more like myself after a week off, and had a great time at a garden work party yesterday. I love the feeling of community, working outdoors, sharing knowledge, and making things grow.
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