The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

by Carol21 Comments
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O. Smith All I can say is read this one, but read it all the way through. It's the end that makes it outstanding. Set in Tokyo, the book starts out with a woman, Yasuko, killing her ex-husband to protect her daughter, so we know who the killer is, who was killed and why. Her neighbor, Ishigami, a brilliant mathematician, decides to help her cover up the murder, so we know who her accomplice is but not why he goes to such extremes to protect her. I have to protect them, thought Ishigami. He would never be this close to so beautiful a woman ever again in his life. He was sure of that. He had to summon every last bit of his strength and knowlege to prevent any calamity from happening to her. (pg. 36, ARC) Enter the detectives, a pair of good guys trying to figure out what happened. If it...
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Aha!

by Carol3 Comments
Have I mentioned that Scrabble Flash is totally addictive? I admit that I have a fondness for word games in general, but you can stick this one in your purse, pull it out whenever you want, play solo and just keep playing. I like the game where it gives you 5 letter and you have to figure out what word they spell before time runs out. If you get it right it gives you another and another until you miss one. A N Y E H I'll be staring at the letters, unable to figure it out and then suddenly - Aha! Hyena! And  then a new one - R T A E H. Earth. Seems easy enough, but the time limit adds pressure and the words seem to get harder the longer you play. Definitely a fun game, alone or with others. I'm glad David found it for me for Christmas, with direction from Amber. Of course, you can always purchase...
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What was I doing?

by Carol9 Comments
I'm not very good at staying focused, if I'm honest with myself. For example, about half an hour ago I was putting away Christmas things from my bookshelf and putting my books back out, but in the middle of doing that, I came down to post a few books on Paperbackswap, so that meant I was at the compute. Of course, I had to scan today's headlines and now I'm working on this post. I still have empty boxes and half-full ones sitting on the floor upstairs, waiting. When I'm grocery shopping with David and Amber, I'm the one who wanders off, with some random thing catching my eye.  At work, I'll be doing something, get distracted and then end up going back to the file a couple of hours later. Or the next day. I'm not necessarily a focused person in general, but I can get absorbed in what I'm reading. It's not intentional, but sometimes a book will just...
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Game Night – Forbidden Island

by Carol5 Comments
Forbidden Island Designer: Matt Leacock Manufacturer:Gamewright Year: 2010 Players: 2 - 4 Time: 30 minutes Ages: 10 and up We've only played the game once, so this is just more or less my first impression. Players are a group of adventurers attempting to capture four sacred treasures before the island sinks. You have to work together to collect four treasure cards, grab the treasure and escape by helicopter. The island is formed by cardboard tiles that are randomly place. As the spot on the island floods it is turned over and then eventually sinks away and is removed. Thankfully, each player has a special power that helps in the mission. We lost. We had all the treasures and just had to get the helicopter, but then the tile where the helicopter lands sunk into the abyss. It's a fun game, though and I love that it's co-operative. The pieces are all really well done and Amber (10) had to be charge of the treasure pieces. They're really nice-...
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The Ice Maiden by Hans Christian Andersen

by Carol9 Comments
"The Ice Maiden" by Hans Christian Andersen This is one of the longer works of Andersen and one of the longest fairy tales we've looked at.  It tells the story of Rudy, who we first meet as a little boy selling toy houses his grandfather makes. We learn that both his parents are dead, his mother killed when she fell into a glacial crevice. She had been holding the infant Rudy at the time but he was saved. This was the first "kiss" by the ice maiden who is determined to possess him. It is she whose mighty power can crush the traveller to death, and arrest the flowing river in its course. She is also a child of the air, and with the swiftness of the chamois she can reach the snow-covered mountain tops, where the boldest mountaineer has to cut footsteps in the ice to ascend. She will sail on a frail pine-twig over the raging torrents beneath, and spring...
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