The novel I am reviewing in this post is Exposed by Liza Marklund which is an excellent book. Liza is a successful swedish author & cowrite Postcard Killers with James Patterson which is also reviewed on this site. She has also topped the book chart in every scandinavian country. This book has been translated from swedish. The plot is a stripper is found naked, strangled and murdered in a graveyard. Someone phones a newspapers hotline manned by Annika Bengtzon and she is given the remit to follow the story even though inexperienced. She discovers the suspect the police are after was no where near the murder scene when it was commited. He is covering for a government minister to avoid a scandal. There is a happy ending. Apparently Liza got the idea for the plot when she was a reporter & a minister went to a strip club & had several services all with union money. Liza won an award for her coverage of that story.

I am reviewing the movie Juno & since its on bluray I watched the commentary as well. It’s an excellent movie. Ellen Page was nominated for an oscar for best actress & Jennifer Garner won the golden globe for best supporting actress. It also won the oscar for best screenplay. Page plays a young girl who becomes pregnant & agrees to let a wealthy couple have the baby when it’s born. They pay her expenses but at one point the husband makes a pass at her & she becomes unsure about giving them the baby. There is a happy ending however. There is one scene where Pages boyfriend opens the mailbox and a load of tictacs fall out & they had to use a plunger to get that effect. Jason Bateman who plays Garners husband obviously is dressed by her and wears preppy clothes but as the movie progresses he becomes infatuated with Page and gradually goes for a grungy look.

I am reviewing the bluray The Sticky & Sweet Tour by Madonna which is an excellent gig. It features her in a stadium in Beanos Aires in Argentina. Madonna has a soft spot for Argentina because of course she starred in the Musical Film Evita about Evita Peron’s life.  Also they were an oppresed people until fairly recently & this is her first concert there in 13 years. Apparently many people had to sleep rough in order to get tickets such was the demand. It features a powerful rendition of You Must Love Me which she wrote for the film Evita & which won the oscar for best film song. The best performance in the concert I think is the rock version of Borderline which is fantastic. Whenever Madonna does a concert she tries to reinvent herself and does unusual versions of her classic songs & of course plenty of her new material. This concert wasn’t long after the release of the album Candy & features much material from that album. I think it’s nice that she lets someone from the audience have a request for a song. The concert itself must have cost a fortune. Finally the concert is great to watch in a darkened room at high volume. It’s just like you’re there.

The book I am reviewing in this post is When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a secondhand bookstore. This is his first novel and the first in the Alex Delaware series and also it won an edgar award for best thriller. The plot is Alex is asked to come out of early retirement to become an advisor to the LAPD. He is a psychologist and trained doctor & took early retirement to enjoy life. As with a lot of this series there are two murder cases running in parallel. One is a child who was sexually abused by his father has witnessed the murder of his father and they need to try and get him to talk about it. The other is a psychologist who has long become disillusioned with his job has been murdered by one of his patients. His records are not kept in a professional manner and he writes sarcastic comments about them. It seems almost any of them could have killed him. There is a happy outcome to both cases. In the former case he is also unhappy about the conditions of the foster home the child is sent to. It also seems the child has been abused by others and his mother was involved. This is a very powerful & Kellerman is also a qualified psychologist and doctor like Delaware and has similiar experience.

The book I read to research this post is The Art of Tent Camping by Russ Steffy which is an excellent book which I downloaded for free from kindle. If you are interested in camping I would suggest reading this book as it contains a lot of information & I can only write a little bit in this post. The chap who wrote this book & the technical adviser have many years experience of camping mostly in relatively warm climates ie california, so if you live somewhere cold you have to adjust the information accordingly. One suggestion is looking at what the military use which I know occasionally they give the soldiers cheap kit but in general it’s proven in the field, you just have to read reviews of the stuff as well. Most cool boxes have thin lids which allow stuff to thaw out, you can either buy an expensive one or add an insulating material to the lid. One trick is to insulate it with dried ice which is carbon dioxide cooled to -100 C and you must insulate it with newspaper as direct contact can crack the plastic. Also don’t have it in a confined area as the fumes are dangerous. Don’t put it next to food as it will contaminate it.

I am reviewing the movie Unknown starring Liam Neeson which is an excellent thriller. The plot is a doctor goes to Berlin with his wife & has a serious accident. He loses his memory & unknown to him Martin Harris was an assumed he took because he was a hitman. Anyway he lives that identity & while he was in hospital someone else filled his place & plans on doing the assassination. I think there is a hidden theme to this film that it doesn’t matter what you do in the past it’s what you do in the present & future that counts. Anyway he must come to terms with his past & avert the terrorist attack. There is a happy ending.

The book I read to research this post was Marketing With Pinterest by Shawn Manaher which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. Pinterest is the 4th biggest social network site in the world beating Linkedin among others. It’s the fastest growing social network & also the average user spends more time on it than either Facebook or Twitter. You use Pinterest in a business sense to try and raise the profile of a brand rather than do any selling. In fact selling is frowned upon. When you are a pinner or user you get a virtual pinboard where you can leave links to anything that interests you. A lot of users try to stay within certain themes. Other users may re pin your pins which will still credit you and hopefully attract people to your pinboard. You can use pin reach or google analytics to tell you how many visitors you have had to your pinboard. A high proportion of users are young and women.

I am reviewing the bluray The Oral Fixation Tour by Shakira which is a very good concert. This was recorded in 2006 which was early days for Shakira’s stardom although it features some big hits like Hips Don’t Lie. It is recorded in Miami & is great to watch with the lights turned off. She has a couple of special guests including Wycliff Jean of The Fugees fame. The best track is Wherever Whenever although Hips Don’t Lie is pretty good. The overall theme of this concert appears to be belly dancing which Shakira does really well. There’s also a little ballet. Some of the dialogue and songs are in spanish which isn’t very surprising when you consider she comes from Venezuela. A lot of the music is dance music with calypso influences.

The book I read to research this post was AA Essential San Francisco which is a very good book which I bought from a secondhand bookstore. San Francisco is around a 150 years old & has been a settlement since the late 18th century when the spaniards built a mission house there. That is the oldest building in San Francisco & was built with adobe bricks. It was in the gold rush that it became a town. Some people became very rich & SF became a major banking centre. Nowadays it has a fine opera company. Many people like actors and artists have gravitated to SF especially the bay area. It contains more chinese than any city outside asia. Many chinese helped build the railway. SF is famous for the Golden Gate Bridge which is painted rust colour. It has a thriving gay community although most gay clubs allow straight people. There are many establishments like strip clubs although many are quite tame. Many bars have live music. There is a military barracks which is the second oldest building in SF. It has the 3rd biggest episcopal cathedral in the USA. An ideal excursion is the beauty spot Big Sur which also has a nearby national park that you can explore.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Skeleton Coast by Clive Cussler et al which is an excellent adventure novel & one of Cussler’s best. It’s part of the Oregon series where a hitech ship called the Oregon which houses some mercenaries with hearts of gold who are hired to do various missions. The captain is Juan Cabrillo & in this book the setting is Namibia, the Skeleton Coast & the Kalahari Desert which in terms of rain rarely gets any although it gets storms. There is a ship with lots of stolen diamonds called HMS Rove which has been beached 8 kilometres inland during a storm. The Oregon & Cabrillo are coming to the aid of a friend who has been searching for it and encountered problems. There are also some baddies who are intent on causing a huge oil slick by blowing up some oil rigs & using huge underwater heaters to warm the current to cause worldwide chaos. Also a businessman and one of his employees are kidnapped & she is tortured and raped & it appears his business partner is responsible. They aren’t as innocent as they appear though. This story takes in the local settlements like Walvis Bay which is quite interesting.