The book I am reviewing in this post is The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a carboot sale. This book is quite an early Harry Hole mystery and sees him briefly in a new job. He has to help oversee a visit by the US president to Oslo. This book came out in Norway in 2000 but didn't come out in Britain until 2006. Part of the novel is a story of unrequited love around 1943 in which a soldier who was on the eastern front had a relationship with a lady who was going to marry a high ranking german soldier, and her lover murdered the partner to be and assumed his identity. He then went via Sweden to Norway and pretended he had deserted and luckily because the war was coming to an end he was considered a hero. The problem then is he has to maintain his identity and someone in the present day recognises him. Of course he has to do whatever is necessary to maintain his cover even unfortunately murder. Also in the present day there is some neonazi's causing trouble and one of them ends up with his throat cut. Unfortunately Harry's female partner whom he briefly has an intimate relationship with also gets murdered. A rare type of gun which is often used by assassins is also found. Another mysterious thing is that Harry's partner was trying to phone when she died. This book does have a happy ending and I think it is one of nesbo's best books.

The book I read to research this post was The Brave Japanese by Kenneth Harrison which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. Kenneth was the first nonjapanese person allowed into Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped. He describes it as being absolutely silent even the birds weren't singing and he compares it to Flanders were despite all the carnage they could still hear the odd bird. Everything was absolutely flat so that the wind was silent as it had nothing to blow against. He was captured by japanese forces in Malaysia while they advanced towards Singapore. He was in the australian army and many of the so called allied thought tanks were too cumbersome to be used to fight in Malaysia. The japanese were to prove them wrong. There were more allied troops in Asia than japanese but the japs were more concentrated so were able to sweep all of them aside. He had the rather unenviable job of using an antitank gun and the breach smashed into a wounded soldiers arm wounding him even more. They couldn't see anything so had to fire blindly and when they were down to 20 shells had to just shoot at anything that attacked them. In one part when they couldn't get a boat the communists helped them out. It's interesting that the japanese used the infighting in India to get the Sikhs on their side. Apparently the Sikh guards at the camp were so aggressive they had to turn to the japanese to defuse the situations. He does say that many of the prisoners hated the japanese for what they did but his experience at Hiroshima showed him a different brave side to them hence the title. There is a funny incident when someone upset one of the guards who chased him with an iron bar and they hid the rather unfortunate individual in the cholera compound. The guard looked everywhere but there because of course cholera is contagious.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Chosen to Die by Lisa Jackson which is an excellent thriller which I bought from Kindle. When I reviewed Almost Dead I didn't realise Pescoli & Alvarez were female as well as being cops. I suppose it's obvious when you consider Lisa is a lady. Anyway in this novel we have a serial killer in the Montana area a lot of which is mountains. Regan Pescoli has an argument with her ex because he wants her children and dog to come and live with him. Pescoli is livid to say the least and is contemplating killing her ex and she asks her partner to cover for her and decides to confront her ex. Anyway the serial killer shoots her tire out and what his speciality is, is leaving them handcuffed and naked in the montana mountains where they die of hyperthermia and frostbite. One of his victims was found barely alive but he promptly murdered her whilst in hospital before she could talk to the police. He murders women whose initials make up the phrase Beware the Scorpion. Anyway for the time being Pescoli is kept handcuffed and naked in his log cabin. He murders another woman by which time the police are looking for Pescoli. He also murders a man who is tampering with the will of his nearly deceased father, that's the victims father. The police have a woman in custody who they think is the serial killer who I think is merely a bit eccentric. There's also an interesting character who has been kidnapped by aliens and he is also somewhat eccentric as a result. I won't say who the killer is but there's a happy ending. Also Pescoli has a lover and they mutually fall in love with one another and he helps in the search for her.

The book I am reviewing in this post is The Criminal by Karin Slaughter which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. This is quite a gritty novel about a serial killer who is murdering a pimp called Juices hookers and the story travels back and forth between when Lucy became a prostitute in 1974 and the present day when there's a police investigation. The story is set in Atlanta Georgia  and I think captures the downward spiral of someone getting hooked on cocaine and then heroin particularly well. In the present someone has died and has Lucy's purse which triggers the investigation. There's no criminal record for Lucy which seems strange because normally prostitutes get arrested on purpose so as to avoid their pimp who may be in a temper. There's a lady who works in the hospital who helps the policelady for the bulk of the investigation. The case concludes because someone wanted the serial killer to get caught and took something from each victim which because the murderer has it proves he is the murderer. I've read a couple of Karin's books and think out of the ones I've read this is her best one. Her knowledge of the seedier side of Atlanta is impressive. In the story Lucy starts by going with someone at the garage despite having powerful parents who try to get him the sack. She then moves to Atlanta where she is taking amphetamines and moves onto coke which she gets off the bikers and then heroin which she gets from the blacks. Gradually then she becomes a prostitute and works for a pimp but she has been having sex for drugs for some time by then. Particularly the parts about Lucy are quite sad.

The book I read to research this post was Baseball for Dummies which iis a very good book which I bought from Kindle. Baseball is very much an american sport although in the early 60's the russians claimed they invented it. It's roots probably lie in britain where games like rounders and even cricket contributed to its development. The basic sport of throwing something and hitting it with a stick was around in prehistoric times. Baseball as a sport though first appeared in the USA in the 19th century.

Here is some tips for playing baseball. If you are throwing a ball to a fielding player aim a little bit above him so he has to reach up to catch it and that way you avoid him getting injured. If you are playing against an unknown pitcher and are batting it might be worth not hitting the ball on the 1st throw just to way up his tactics. If it is a weak throw and it isn't the 3rd pitch it might be worth not hitting it and waiting for a harder pitch which you can hit further. There are 2 schools of thought about batting one is you shouldn't hit the ball hard as it gives the opposing team the chance to catch you out, the other is you should whack it to get the maximum amount of runs. Most professional players are in the latter camp. If you can develop the technique of sliding to a base it's harder to stump you out. In the old days some players would try running past the base without touching it if the umpire was preoccupied but this is very risky and at a professional level you wouldn't get away with it nowadays as if nothing else the cameras would pick it up.

The book I read to research this post was Knitting for Dummies by Pam Allen et al which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. There is quite a variety of animals that wool comes from which even includes the musk ox and the alpaca in addition to the synthetic varieties. The people who do knitting vary enormously too it's not just grandmothers. Some common abbreviations found on knitting patterns are k for knit, p for purl and k2tog for knit 2 together. I am not going into the details of how to knit but I can recommend a couple of websites http://learntoknit.com and http://knitting.about.com also I recommend watching some tutorial videos on youtube which you can watch a couple of times and then when you get the hang of it do it along with the video. Many people knit a garment and then crochet the ends. You might be interested to know I have done 3 posts called sewing, crocheting & reconstructing clothes at http://claireabella29.com

In the 16th century it was the fashion for men to wear knitted waistcoats which were done with thin needles and it was quite common for men to knit these. In the shetlands it is quite common for the local population to knit jumpers which are also done with thin needles. When you get more advanced at knitting you might want to try a fair isle style jumper or a garment with a cable which is a kind of long protruding pattern in the wool. Some people use very thick wool almost like string and needles which can be several inches thick. Another style is lace patterns where very fine wool and thin needles are used.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. This book is historical fiction in that it is a fictionalised account of the relationships between Henry the 8th, Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour. Anne Boleyn of cause was Henry's second wife and was executed for adultery only to be replaced by Jane Seymour. Henry couldn't divorce her because he had a child by her and didn't want the child declared a bastard. Katherine of Aragon was his first wife and he divorced her because she had a sexual relationship with his father prior to having a relationship with him. Hilary wrote a historical novel called Wolf Hall which this book is a sequel to. Katherine was a close relation to Phillip the king of france which caused a lot of problems between the two of them.

I'll tell you a funny story I heard an internet radio show where a psychic claimed to get in touch with Mary Queen of Scots but what he didn't realise was that her and Mary the Queen of England were separate people. So what we got was a kind of amalgamation of the 2 lives which wasn't very convincing.

One thing this book doesn't really cover which must have happened is that there were a lot of assassination attempts on Henry. The book does cover quite a lot about Thomas Cromwell which in the back of the book the author says she'd like to do a book on him but there isn't an awful lot of information available about him. I think that would be an interesting book. Jane Seymour was a lady in waiting to Katherine and is very shy of course after she married Henry she died prematurely so I think if Hilary does a book on that it will be quite interesting.

The book I read to research this post was Fibromyalgia for Dummies by Roland Staud MD which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. I don't suffer with fibromyalgia although I did hear an interview on an internet radio station which was quite interesting. The author of this book is a doctor who has done a lot of research into ME or fibromyalgia. It is characterized by chronic tiredness, almost continual aches and pains, either the runs or constipation and a lowered tolerance to pain and depression. Gulf War Syndrome can be similiar and about 50% of the people involved in that conflict had at least one symptom although research is ongoing they haven't isolated the factor that caused. I saw something on tv about that spent uranium shells were used and the soldiers had a lot of vaccines which made that conflict almost unique. Often soldiers with PTSD get fibromyalgia as part of the illness also other illnesses like hepatitus B & C have similiar symptoms so it's worth getting it checked out. For the depressive side of the illness sufferers are sometimes given paroxetene or venlafaxine or sometimes other antidepressants. Venlafaxine contains a pain killer although it needs quite high doses to be used in that way. Some sufferers take tranquillizers like ativan and valium particularly for the anxiety aspect of the illness. Some people find the pain on certain days can be managed by something like paracetamol or ibuprofen and then on bad days take something stronger. A lot of people find a TENS machine useful although it's recommended you use it with other pain control measures. The first time you use a TENS machine you calibrate it to the type of pain and it helps block these signals from reaching the brain. Many people find biofeedback helps in controling the anxiety, this machine tells you how anxious you are and as you relax gives you feedback as to how anxious you are. Finally acupuncture is quite popular with sufferers which is where special needles are inserted into energy centres and the needles are so sharp you don't feel any pain as they go in.

The book I read to research this post was Augustus Son of Rome by Richard Foreman which is a very good book which I bought from Kindle. This book has been well researched but is historical fiction so some of the more minor details are made up. Many people regard Augustus or Gaiais as the greatest roman emperor. Certainly the roman empire was huge in his reign although it didn't include britain. Augustus was quite bookish and more of a tactician than a warrior. When he and Mark Antony took on the armies of Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Julius Caesar, Mark led their army into battle because he was the better soldier. In the book his teacher belittles him so he overcomes the teacher by throwing sand in his face and then attacking him. I recently rented both tv series of Rome the first series of which was about Julius Caesar and the second was about Augustus. An interesting fact is after he died he was declared a god and one of his laws was sedition or blasphemy which was punishable by crucifixtion and due to his status it was impossible to repeal the law or change the sentence. This state of affairs lasted for hundreds of years. He was well respected by his army because he took an interest in his men and he knew a little bit about most trades so he had something he could talk to practically anyone about. When the roman army had to choose whether to side with him or the senate they chose him. Him and Mark Antony divided the empire in half with Mark ruling the eastern half and having a relationship with Cleopatra. Augustus cut off supplies to Marks army and defeated his fleet of ships. Mark killed himself and Cleopatra knew she would be treated as a slave and dragged through the streets of Rome so she allowed an asp, a poisonous snake to bite her and died.

The book I read to research this post was Crocheting for Dummies by Susan Brittain et al which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. This book tells you pretty much everything about crocheting. It even tells you how to do tunisian crocheting. I'm not going to go into the intricacies of crocheting, I would suggest for that go to youtube and watch one of their videos on the topic a couple of times and then try to do it while you follow along. Crocheting apparently is very good if you have arthritus as it helps keep the joints nimble. If you're interested in this topic you might want to know at http://claireabella29.com  there is a post on sewing. Claire who owns that site has a son who is quite young and her mother showed him how to finger knit so she asked me to do a post on either knitting or something similiar. I will be doing knitting at some point in the future. You might be wondering how to get started doing crocheting. The best way is with a H8 or 5mm needle and either acrylic or wool yarn which is quite cheap. I recommend a solid light colour to start with because you can see the stitching easily. Most people who do crocheting follow a pattern even those who are experienced. You can often find patterns in specialist and womens magazines and they usually state what the skill level is. Even if it does say the skill level is advanced have a careful look at it because you might be able to follow it. Some abbreviations you might find in a pattern are sc for single crochet, dc for double crochet, tr for triple crochet and ho for hook over needle. According to whether a pattern is american or british or from elsewhere in the commonwealth you find variations. Americans tend to use imperial measurements, mostly inches, where as elsewhere they tend to use metric. Crocheting needles are often denoted by a letter followed by a number although sometimes the metric system is used. Finally an interesting website is at

http://crocheting.org  which is owned by the American Guild of Crocheting and that has loads of stuff on the subject.