We Read It

And so continues my quest to find the Jo Nesbo book with the gory scene in it that I want to read at some point but not before I've read all the other Jo Nesbo books...

Unfortunately, this is where the quest stops.

I started reading this book with the same enthusiasm as the rest but this one just couldn't hold my attention, hence partly why it's been so long since I reviewed!

Honestly, I can't even remember the plot line for this book. It was quite convoluted, which is usually a good thing in a book but this time, I just couldn't get into it. There are good parts, such as the hunt for the bank robber but this is lost under the storyline of Harry's involvement in another murder.

This may seem like a departure from my glowing reviews of Jo Nesbo and it is. Over Christmas, iTunes gave away a free download of a Jo Nesbo book, The Redbreast. I mentioned this to my dad who said actually, Jo Nesbo's not that great. And when I really thought about it, I realised he was right.

November 22, 1963 is one of those dates that, like December 7, 1941 or September 11, 2001, has left its mark on the collective memories of Americans who, for good or ill, were alive and at an age to be able to remember exactly what they were doing and where they were when they heard the news that President John F. Kennedy had died an hour after being shot in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza shortly after 12 PM Central Standard Time.

JFK’s assassination has, of course, been one of the most chronicled and hotly-debated crimes in American history; hundreds, perhaps thousands, of non-fiction and fiction books, articles, documentaries and movies have been produced since the mid-1960s, each one with its own spin on how and why the 35th President of the United States was murdered as he rode in a motorcade through downtown Dallas on the last leg of a political trip to Texas.

Along with the many non-fiction books that stick to the “Lee Harvey Oswald-did-it-alone” account, there are many more “conspiracy theory” works that point the finger at various possible suspects – the Mafia, rogue government agencies, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, former President Richard Nixon and even Fidel...

The Lady Loses

The best story about Coolidge's taciturnity, told by his wife, concerns the society woman who said, as she sat down next to him at a dinner party, "You must talk to me, Mr. Coolidge. I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you." "You lose," said Coolidge.

How to Charge

Once when Lincoln was in the War Department an officer who was in a big hurry slam-banged into him, then offered "ten thousand pardons" when he saw who it was. "One is enough," smiled Lincoln. "I wish the whole army would charge like that."

-- From Presidential Anecdotes, by Paul F. Boller, Jr.

One of the most curious -- and vexing -- flaws in the U.S. public education system is the way that American history, especially its political history, is taught in all the 50 states. Having attended public schools in the 1970s and 1980s, I still have vivid memories of (a) textbooks with tons of illustrations but dry, boring, and didactic text, (b) history teachers who rarely attempted to get their pupils even remotely interested about, say, the American Revolution, and (c) an overemphasis on certain events to the detriment of others. (For instance, in 12th grade our...

This station is now the ultimate power in the Universe! I suggest we use it. - Admiral Motti.

One of the most important locales in George Lucas' Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope is the Galactic Empire's gigantic battle station code-named "Death Star." Essentially an armored sphere the size of a small moon (its diameter is stated as being 160 kilometers) and powered by something called a "hypermatter reactor," the Death Star carries nearly 1,000,000 crewers, stormtroopers, TIE fighter pilots, med techs and doctors, political prisoners, bureaucrats, Fleet and Army personnel, and even civilians who have been enticed to open stores and other businesses aboard.

At the heart of the Death Star is its Prime Weapon, a planet-killing superlaser which takes time to charge up and requires top-notch gunnery experts to run.

These "facts," of course, are well-known to millions of filmgoers who have watched Star Wars: A New Hope since its premiere in 1977. Indeed, the Death Star is the focus of everyone's motivations in the film: the Rebels, particularly Princess Leia Organa, are keen on keeping the Death Star's stolen plans and seeking a design flaw they can...