The Private Patient, PD James

This is exactly the kind of book that would only attract my despise in a bookshop; why would I bother reading crime fiction while I would have so many opportunities so read history books or novels based on real stories?
But, once you're stuck in Birmingham, heartbroken and bookless (which is by far worse than being heartbroken!), and you have a 5 hours journey back in London, using a coach service that will prove to be not so efficient...you'd better give a keen look to the half dozen books shelved in the nearby Spar.
Hence my PD James choice, which I dont regret, because after having begun that book few months ago, I read it again and finished it within two days. Not only are the characters well described and interesting to follow in the story, but also the crime is well invented and there is a bit of Agatha Christie in the way this novel is written.
So, about th eplot; a famous investigative journalist decides to remove a lifelong scar she has on her face, staying for that in Dr Chandler-Powell's Clinic in Dorset. The Manor in which the clinic is settled looks like those old A. Christie's places where seeing Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple wouldnt seem odd at all.
Unfortunately for Rhoda, the journalist, there are no Poirot nor Marple, but only murder...that Commandant Dalgiesh will have to solve with his team of super-detectives.
So, maybe from now on I'll check more often the crime fiction shelves :)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4627392.ece

Balzac revival

When you're French you're expected to drink wine, eat a lot of bread and wear a hat or a beret on your head.
You're also, if you're speaking to fellow book-lovers, expected to know all about Rimbaud, Dumas and other French celebrities.
I heard about Balzac since I was a child. And when I had reached a reasonable age I though it was about time I would give it a go, beginning with Le Lys dans la Vallée. I was fifteen and had read all Maupassant and every possible poem from Rimbaud. But I certainly wasnt mature enough for this type of literature, for it was one of the very few books I attempted to read and miserably failed after several dozens of boooooring pages. (another one being A la recherche du temps perdu...).
So when I was told I would have to become a Balzacian for my studies I was first a bit annoyed at the idea. Then, I did begin to read a lot of things about the author's life, and his way of writing..then I began to read it...and...once upon a time, she opened the book, and fell in love with the feather which wrote these magical lines full of descriptions about places, people and emotions. Which is a happy ending that will allow me to read another 126 novels from him from now on.

Winged Migration

Today I watched again a documentary about birds migrating towards North Pole. It's about following them all in their journey across the globe. They encounter human dangers but also circumstantial obstacles such as other animals or tough climate...speaking of which, why are sensitive people the only ones being moved by climate changes threats? don't we all live on the same planet?

http://www.imdb.fr/title/tt0301727/combined