{a thought for Thursday} Charm

"Charm is the ability to make someone else think that both of you are pretty wonderful." -- Kathleen Winsor

{wordless wednesday} Dreaming!

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

{read: private investigator mystery} The Cut by George Pelecanos

Although some of my mystery book club members have raved about George Pelecanos, this is the first book of his that I've picked up. He introduces a new protagonist in this one: Spero Lucas is a 30-year-old Iraq vet returned to his native D.C. area. He's picked up work as an unlicensed private investigator and specializes in finding things and taking a 40 percent cut of whatever he finds. But when he starts to investigate the burglary of some Fed Ex-ed marijuana for an imprisoned drug dealer, he finds things are more complicated than they seem.

While one of the book's promo blurbs touted Pelecanos as one of the crime thriller writers who elevates the genre into literary fiction, similar to Dennis Lehane (whose books I love), it didn't quite reach that level for me, although it was definitely entertaining and held my attention. Lucas seemed to have elements of Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Michael Harvey's Michael Kelley in him. Curiously enough, he also reminded me somewhat of Seth Quinn in Nora Robert's Chesapeake Blue, the fourth book in her Chesapeake Bay Saga.

For those interested in the local music and restaurant scene in D.C., this would also serve as an excellent travel guide.

The Cut by George Pelecanos (Hachette Book Group, 2011)
My rating: 3 stars

Part 2: Owl Toddler Crochet Hat

The next step in creating the owl hat is to create the eyes. I have used the brown and green to match the hat and added white for contrast. This was fairly easy to do because it follows the same pattern as beginning your hat. I now need to sew on the eyes and then move on to the beak and ears. This project is really coming along! Here is the video tutorial:

{a thought for Thursday} Truth

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." -- Flannery O'Connor

{wordless wednesday} Tree Pattern

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

{read: Turkish whodunit} Hotel Bosphorus by Eshmahan Aykol, Ruth Whitehouse (translator)

This is the first in a series of novels featuring Kati, a German living in Istanbul. She owns the city's only mystery bookshop and when her acquaintance/friend/movie star comes to town to film a movie and the movie's director is murdered, Kati can't resist the chance to try to find out who did it. Now she can finally put into practice all the theoretical knowledge she's gained from reading mystery novels. Kati is also a woman who can’t resist a good man, and the ups and downs of her romantic escapades are woven throughout the mystery.

This is a translation into British English and it seemed a little awkward and stilted at times, although I enjoyed the tidbits about Turkish life and Istanbul that were woven into the story. The mystery itself was a bit predictable and the epilogue seemed a little heavy-handed. I think those details could have been worked into the final chapters of the book to make it a smoother read. That aside, this was an interesting peek into the culture of Istanbul. As a German Jew who has lived in Istanbul for 10 or 11 years, she brings a unique lens to that city’s culture, which she describes as being different than the Turkish culture in general.

Hotel Bosphorus by Eshmahan Aykol, Ruth Whitehouse (translator) (Bitter Lemon Press, 2011)
My rating: 3 stars