Some books I listened to this summer

Most of my summer "reading" has been audio books - which makes it difficult to write proper reviews, as one can't go back and check details the way one can with text. But I thought I'd mention some of the books I've been listening to through May-July; making use of quotes from official publishers' summaries.

  

In May I listened via Audible to a new book by one of my favourite authors, Kate Morton: Homecoming (read by Claire Foy). Have to confess that even when re-reading the publisher's summary now, three months later, I don't really remember much of it myself... I should probably listen to it again! ;-)

"--- Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. Until a phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital. At Nora’s house, Jess discovers a true crime book that chronicles the police investigation into a long-buried event: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous scandal – a murder mystery that has never been resolved satisfactorily."

Earlier books by Kate Morton have left me with deeper impressions, and after having finished Homecoming, I went back and re-listened to The Forgotten Garden, which I read for the first time in 2012. The link goes to the review on this blog that I wrote back then.

Inspired by a review on Meike's blog of Michelle Obama's book The Light We Carry, I listened to that as audio book in Swedish via my library. Not quite the same as listening to her read it herself in English, but still worth the time.

In June and July I listened books 2 and 3 in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters, which I found included in my Audible membership. I remembered reading the first one (Crocodile on the Sandbank) on Kindle some time in the past.

These books are set against the backdrop of exploring Egyptian pyramids and graves back in in the late 19th / early 20th century. The author has a Ph.D. in Egyptology at the University of Chicago, and authentic historical background details is really what I liked best about the books. As for the characters... A bit exaggerated and not quite as believable, perhaps...

"If Indiana Jones were female, a wife, and a mother who lived in Victorian times, he would be Amelia Peabody Emerson."--Publishers Weekly

In the first book Amelia is single. In the next two (The Curse of the Pharaos, and The Mummy Case), i.e. the two I listened to now, she's married to another archaeologist; and in the third one their young son proves extremely 'forward' for his age. Now having realised that this series just keeps going on and on and on (20 books so far), I don't really feel tempted to continue to read them all, as that seem likely to get very repetitious. But who knows... Perhaps I'll return to read another one some day, even if not in the very near future.

I also listened to C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity read by Geoffrey Howard, also "included" in my Audible membership. I have it in paperback since long ago and have read it before, but enjoyed listening to it now. I've read most of his books, both fiction and theological (+ biographies about him by others), and he's no doubt the Christian author that has influenced me the most, and that I keep coming back to.

"First heard as informal radio broadcasts and then published as three separate books --- Mere Christianity brings together what Lewis sees as the fundamental truths of the religion. Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations, C.S. Lewis finds a common ground on which all those who have Christian faith can stand together --- "

   

I also listened to a series of lectures (12 x 30 min) about The Life and Writings of C.S. Lewis by Louis Markos. Interesting for the same reasons as above.

I also listened to a classic children's book, Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett, read by Donada Peters. (Another one "included" in my Audible membership.) I've read it in the past, but I really enjoyed rereading it again (more than thought I would!) 

Young Cedric Errol lives in poverty in New York with his mother. When his father, who was disinherited for marrying an American, dies, Cedric is summoned to his grandfather's English estate. While the crotchety old Earl planned to transform the boy into a docile, traditional lording, it is Little Lord Fauntleroy who does the converting. Through his goodness and innocence, he wins the hearts of his English relatives who welcome his mother with open arms, and he teaches the Earl some valuable lessons about the true meaning of nobility. - This classic tale embodies the author's belief that "Nothing in the world is so strong as a kind heart". 

I very much appreciate the possibility to reread old favourites and classics as audio books (while "resting my eyes"...) There are several in my "audio collection" that I keep returning to more than once, in between adding new ones.

Reality Check

This message unexpectedly turned up on my screen the other day -  I think while I was trying to log into a hotel booking site. It took them a while (long enough for me to be able to grab the camera to snap the shot abouve), but eventually I was let in. So I suppose I must have passed the test!

'We are currently checking if you are human' - images by Bing (AI)

To retaliate, I later gave Bing the same message. They responded with various photos of masked people holding up signs in 'Gibberish' - plus the weird-looking man on the left whose face looks like it's been put together from two different photos.

I also asked Bing for illustrations of a woman making holiday plans. This was the best of those. There are no weird-looking airplanes (or palm trees) involved in my holiday dreams - but I'm very likely to need the umbrella.

The plan is that my brother will drive down here in a couple of days, and then we also hope to go off on a little trip together to the west coast (with one night away, which needed to be booked). We're still having very rainy weather though, so our plans still depend a bit on how the weather forecasts develop...

Swedish West Coast according to Bing

Anyway - if you don't see me around in the Blog World as much as usual next week, it may be beacuse I've managed to sneak off on adventures "out of town" for a change. (I don't quite believe it until I see it!)

Hello Again

 

Image by Bing Image Creator

1st August was not only "Hello August" (cf. previous post), but also an "Hello? Hello? Helloooo?" kind of day for me...

I got a phone call from my brother, who rang me on my "landline" number (nowadays on fiber cable broadband) to inform me that he was unable to get through to me on my mobile. At his end everything just went black and silent (no way to leave a message) - and at my end there was no indication whatsoever that anyone had been trying to reach me, or that anything was wrong...

While still on the cable phone to my brother, I tested making a call from my old spare mobile to the new one, and the same thing happened. No call came through. I then tested the other way round - and that worked just fine! So I could make calls, just not receive any... That made it even harder to guess how long it may have been like that. (Could be a few weeks without me having wondered about it, as I wasn't expecting anyone in particular to call, and I was still able to make calls myself.)

What did come to mind was that at the beginning of July I had changed from "cash card" to a monthly subscription. I know I made some outgoing test calls after that change, to check that everything was working. But I'm not sure it occurred to me to also test the other way round - as I've never heard of a phone only working in one direction...

After having finished talking to my brother, I googled "no incoming calls" and found that obviously, the situation must be more common than I thought - as I easily found various tips on things to check if this situation arises.

I followed a number of them - starting with restarting the phone, and then following a list  of different settings to check. The last thing I did was to reset my "phone network" settings, and after that, it was working again. (At least I can now call myself from my other two phones, so I assume others can as well.)

If it was about the phone network settings, it still mystifies me how I was able to make calls, just not receive any... And I still don't know if it was caused by some automatic update gone wrong, or something I happened to do myself... Ah well. I suspect I'll be calling myself a bit more often in the near future, just to make sure. ;) (And I think I'll be keeping my two extra phones as well, although I'd been thinking of giving up at least one of them.)

As you can see above, I asked Bing for an illustration. Below are some more, just for your entertainment. Obviously Bing is still having serious problems with arms, hands, legs, people holding things - and even defining what a "phone" is... (My basic simple instruction was "woman waiting for phone to ring"...)

Hello August

This afternoon was more pleasant outside than I expected. I had only intended a short walk but found myself continuing all the way into the town centre and park.

Part of the flower arrangements on one of the bridges. 
Sweet peas in bloom now on the trellises.

A flowerbed in the main square.

A sculpture standing outside one of the major hotels in the city centre. The name of the artist is Lars-Åke Åberg (click on the link to see more of his stone sculptures). This is not a new sculpture and I've probably shown it before, but I think not recently. The collage shows it from opposite sides.

The new stairs in the park have been finished. (I think I showed them under construction earlier in the summer.) I walked up them today (around 30 steps) and found them quite well "balanced" - or whatever the correct terminology to do with stairs may be. (Feeling less steep than they may look.) 

Looking down on plantations on the hillside from the top of those stairs.

The new stairs connect the bridge down below with an older set of stairs leading up to the very top of the park (where there is a miniature golf course, but I did not go all the way up there today).

 

Finishing off with a photo of this construction, which is growing (literally!) increasingly effective in hiding a rather hideous piece of machinery inside (belonging to the indoor swimming hall nearby, I think).

 

Bye Bye July

Practically every day in July this year came with rain (showers) - and August seems set on continuing the same way. I've not been out of town all summer, and it's getting a bit tough to come up with blog fodder... ;)

Sunday afternoon was only semi-cloudy, though; and I wanted a few things from the supermarket before my next home delivery, so I steered my walk that way. Alas, last year they closed off an old footbridge on which I used to cross the river when going that way in the past. (I suppose because it was no longer considered safe.) Since then, my walk to the supermarket has become slightly longer, and more boring, as it's all along busy roads now. (I still always like the views from crossing the river, though.)

On this occasion, I took an even longer detour on my way there, so that I got to cross different bridges going there and back.

Above: View looking south from a bridge closer to town, towards the one that I normally cross to get to the supermarket. Below: View south from the bridge closer to home. The old footbridge was near the red gable in the background of that view.

“When you cross a bridge, you take a break from this world!”
--  Mehmet Murat ildan 

"The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn."
-- David Russell