Month: August 2011

My Reading Plan for September 2011

I’m proud to report that my TBR diet goes according to plan. I have not added many to my shelves during August. Actually my last purchase, The Locked Room which I’ll probably finished reading tonight, was made on 25 July. Still loyal to Bernadette’s motto ‘Last in, First out’. Besides I’ve just ordered Trackers, after Maxine’s strong recommendation yesterday. I’ve also reduced my TBR pile by the old method of getting rid of some of the books that I will not read. Anyhow I still have some 50 TBR in stock. I don’t foresee any shortage of books in the near future.

My reading plan for next month looks as follows (when done I’ll buy Outrage next):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Quiet Belief in Angels by RJ Ellory

The Inspector and Silence by Hakan Nesser

Rupture by Simon Lelic

Winterland by Alan Glynn

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigudardottir

The Coffee Trader by David Liss

The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Esta entrada es bilingüe. Desplazarse hacia abajo para ver la versión en castellano

Quercus paperback, 2007. First published 2005. 400 pages. ISBN: 9781847240446.

Detective Sargent Joe Cashin from homicides in Melbourne has return to his hometown in the coast of Victoria to recuperate from some mental and physical injuries. While working as a local police he’s rebuilding the old family house. The tranquillity of the place is broken when a prominent philanthropist, Charles Burgoyne, is left for dead at his house, brutally bashed. Everyone suspects a robbery. Only an expensive watch missing. Three young Aboriginals, the main suspects. During an attempt to arrest them, things go terribly wrong. As a result two of them die, the third one is detained. Pending trial the young man is left on parole. He runs away, apparently harassed by the police. He is found dead, an accident or a suicide. Case closed, not for Cashin.

Cashin looked out the window at the sky, hated Kendall for a while, her quick stupidity. He saw the sparks, the crushed ute, the rain, the blood in the puddles. The boys, broken, life leaking away. He thought about his son. He had a boy.
‘It only looks like it, Ken,’ he said. ‘Nobody should die because we think they might have done something wrong. Nobody gave us that power.’ (page 124)

I have really enjoyed reading The Broken Shore, it’s superbly written. The story, narrated in brief chapters with short, laconic sentences, evolves in 400 pages length where the characters are much more relevant than the plot in itself. A powerful novel that does not allow the reader a moment of ease covering also a wide variety of issues, friendship, family tragedies, politics, police corruption, racism, etc… The action, set in rural Australia, has a strong sense of place but has also a universal significance. A masterpiece. I’m looking forward to reading Truth.

Peter Temple, Australia’s most acclaimed crime and thriller writer, was born in South Africa and moved to Australia in the 1980s together with his wife. Formerly a journalist and journalism lecturer, Temple turned to fiction writing in the 1990s. He is the author of four Jack Irish novels: Bad Debts (1996), Black Tide (1999), Dead Point (2000) and White Dog (2003).  They are set in Melbourne, Australia featuring an unusual lawyer-gambler protagonist. He has also written stand-alone novels: An Iron Rose (1998), Shooting Star (1999), In the Evil Day (2002) (aka Identity Theory), as well as The Broken Shore (2005) and its semi-sequel, Truth (2009). He has won five Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction, the most recent in 2006 for The Broken Shore, which also won the Colin Roderick Award for best Australian book and the Australian Book Publishers’ Award for best general fiction. The Broken Shore also won the Crime Writers’ Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2007.  In 2010, Peter Temple won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Truth.

The Broken Shore has been reviewed by Kimbofo at Reading Matters, NacyO at The crime segments, by Benhunt at Material Witness, Notman at Crime Scraps, Dorte at Djskrimiblog, and both, Bernadette and Maxime, have given their highest marks to this book but I have not been able to find their reviews.

I’ll count it as my second reading for the 2011 Aussie Author Challenge and for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge (Australasia).

La costa maldita de Peter Temple

El sargento detective Joe Cashin de la brigada de homicidios en Melbourne ha regresado a su ciudad natal en la costa de Victoria para recuperarse de algunas lesiones mentales y físicas. Mientras trabaja como policía local está reconstruyendo la antigua casa familiar. La tranquilidad del lugar se rompe cuando un destacado filántropo, Charles Burgoyne, es dejado por muerto en su casa, brutalmente golpeado. Todo el mundo sospecha de un robo. Sólo falta un reloj de lujo. Tres jóvenes aborígenes, los principales sospechosos. Durante un intento por arrestarles, las cosas salen terriblemente mal. Como resultado, dos de ellos mueren, el tercero es detenido. En espera de juicio el joven queda en libertad condicional. Se escapa, posiblemente ​​por el acoso de la policía. Es encontrado muerto, un accidente o un suicidio. Caso cerrado, no para Cashin.

Cashin miró hacia el cielo por la ventana, durante un tiempo odió a Kendall por su impetuosa estupidez. Vio las chispas, el utilitario aplastado, la lluvia, la sangre en los charcos. Los muchachos, rotos, la vida fugándose. Pensó en su hijo. El tenía un hijo.
“Sólo se le parece, Ken,” dijo. “Nadie debería morir porque pensamos que podrían haber hecho algo malo. Nadie nos dio esa potestad.” (página 124 de mi edición)

He disfrutado mucho leyendo La costa maldita (Paidós, 2007), está magníficamente escrito. La historia, narrada en breves capítulos con frases cortas y lacónicas, se desarrolla en 400 páginas, en donde los personajes son mucho más relevantes que el argumento en sí. Una novela poderosa que no le otorga al lector un momento de descanso, y que abarca también una gran variedad de temas, amistad, tragedias familiares, política, corrupción policial, racismo, etc … La acción, ambientada en la Australia rural, tiene un fuerte sentido del lugar, pero tiene también un significado universal. Una obra maestra. Estoy deseando leer Truth.

Peter Temple, el escritor de crimen y misterio más reconocido de Australia, nació en Sudáfrica y se trasladó a Australia en la década de los 80 junto con su mujer. Con anterioridad fue periodista y profesor de periodismo, Temple empezó a escribir novelas en la década de los 90. Es autor de cuatro novelas protagonizadas por Jack Irish: Malas Deudas (1996), Black Tide (1999), Dead Point (2000) y White Dog (2003) que ee desarrollan en Melbourne, Australia con un portagonista poco usual, abogado y jugador. También ha escrito varias novelas independientes: An Iron Rose (1998), Shooting Star (1999), In the Evil Day (2002) (también conocido como Identity Theory), así como La costa maldita (2005) y su semi-secuela Truth (2009). Ha ganado cinco veces el Premio Ned Kelly de novela negra, el más reciente en el 2006 por La costa maldita , que también ganó el premio Colin Roderick al mejor libro australiano y el Premio de los Editores australianos a la mejor novela de ficción. La costa maldita consiguió el Duncan Lawrie Dagger de la CWA en el 2007. En el 2010, Peter Temple ganó el premio de literatura Miles Franklin por su novela Truth.

Paidós

Ver las reseñas de Javier Romero en StarDust y de Jesus Lens en Pateando el mundo.

SinC 25 and Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass – Maastricht (The Netherlands)

Sisters in Crime Book Bloggers Challenge is Barbara Fister’s idea to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sisters in Crime, an international organization founded in 1986 to promote the professional development and advancement of women writing crime fiction.

Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass is a community meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. The idea behind is that participants write a post linked to the country of the week. This week’s country is Holland. You can visit HERE the contribution of other fellow participants.

Whenever possible  I will try to combine in a single post both challenges.

Maastricht is better known for the Maastricht treaty, negotiated and signed here in 1992, leading to the creation of the European Union and the euro.  The name Maastricht is derived from Latin Trajectum ad Mosam (or Mosae Trajectum), meaning ‘crossing at the Meuse’, and referring to the bridge built by the Romans during the reign of Augustus Caesar. Maastricht is the southernmost city in the Netherlands, and is the capital of the province of Limburg. Situated within walking distance of Belgium and cycling distance of Germany, it claims to be the oldest city in the Netherlands (a claim it shares with Nijmegen). A great place to spend some time, it contains some magnificent buildings and culture, taking the form of plenty of old houses and buildings, lovely cathedrals and a spectacularly cobblestoned town centre. The city is also well known for its fine cuisine, excellent shops and multicultural atmosphere. For additional information visit Maastricht travel guide – Wikitravel and The Official Site of Holland.

In Maastricht we can find one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores, Selexyz Dominicanen which I discovered in this post A Touch of Dutch, looking for information about female Dutch crime writers like Saskia Noort, Esther Verhoef, Loes den Hollander, Suzanne Vermeer, Marion Pauw and Simone van der Vlugt. I have not read any of their books yet, but at least I know where to start. The only problem being that very few of their books are available in translation. Maxine at Petrona has reviewed most:

Visit also Crime Scene: The Netherlands (pdf) and Crime fiction in The Netherlands, a short history by Jan C. Roosendaal at crime.nl dossiers.

OT: The Princess Who Came in from the Cold

Christina Haakonsdatter of Norway, Infanta de Castile, is buried in a sarcophagus flanked by flags of Castile, Spain and Norway in the cloister of the Ex-Colegiata (Collegiate church) of Covarrubias, Burgos (Spain). She was taken here with a large funeral party from Seville (Andalusia, Spain), where she had died suddenly in 1262 (at the age of 28). You can read the full story HERE.

According to Diario de Burgos the Chapel of St. Olav in Covarrubias will open next 18 September.

(The picture is taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Covarrubias_-_Estatua_de_la_princesa_Kristina.jpg)

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