For whatever reason instagram wouldn’t let me upload the slo mo version of this video, so posting here.
Month: April 2014
Book Review – The House of Dolls by David Hewson
It’s not often t
hat I can stay up late reading a book, my body / mind can’t cope and I fall asleep, however over the last week I’ve been staying up, turning the pages of David Hewson‘s new book. The House of Dolls is set in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, where it’s main character Pieter Vos lives on a houseboat. Vos is a former police detective, who left the job following the kidnapping of his daughter Anneliese. He’s dragged back to his former life by another kidnapping that has similarities to the kidnapping of his daughter.
Why has this book kept me away from slumber? Well the simple answer is that I had to know what was going to happen next. The book is one of short chapters, and this keeps the story moving between characters and actions at a tireless pace, breaking the story up just enough to keep the suspense tight and the reader wanting to know what’s happening.
The characters are varied, many with their own flaws and weaknesses, but some you will like and others come to detest. There’s “old-school” gangsters mixed with new generation cops, politicians and journalists in the mould of the ladder-climbing kind and backgrounds of tourists and café owners.
The story is very believable, it sits in the present and although as far as I could tell doesn’t actually draw on a current or recent situation, it could quite easily. You could imagine that any of the crimes or motivations of the characters are being drawn from real-life and that marks the success of this author. His characters, locations and situations are all true to life. They could easily be where, when and how; today, this week or next, and you’d not be able to tell fact from fiction.
If you’ve read any of David’s books before, particularly if you’re familiar with his Nic Costa series, then you’re really going to enjoy The House of Dolls.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars – I Loved It.
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Quick Review: Big Allotment Challenge BBC2 Tuesday 15th April
I’d been looking forward to this series starting on BBC2, a show about the challenges of an allotment, growing your own produce and what you can make or do with it. Or at least that was what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what the program was about.
It was more about the competition element of having an allotment. A bit like the annual village horticultural show on steroids. Very little about the effort that it takes to grow vegetables and flowers of the standard required to show, and much more about the uniformity, conformity and competition.
I admit that I’ve never been one for the competition side of the allotment. I deliberately do not take part in the horticultural show on our allotment, partly because I don’t have the time, and partly because the reason for growing, is for eating and producing. Not for getting one up on my allotment neighbours.
Growing stuff can be hard, but size, shape etc. don’t matter so much when your growing it to eat. A crooked carrot can taste just as good as a perfect straight one.
I was following the show via twitter as well, and it seems that opinion is mixed. Some people loved the show, others not so much. I’m afraid I’m in the latter camp. It didn’t do it for me. I think it had lots of potential, but it wasted a whole growing cycle and focused on the competition. I appreciate this is entertainment and shows such as Bake Off etc. are all the rage. Maybe an allotment is not the right medium for reality competition.
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Out today… The House of Dolls
I’m really looking forward to reading David’s latest book.
Amsterdam = a city that I know relatively well, but am expecting to discover in a whole new set of ways.
Pieter Vos = a new series character. I love a series read, and Nic Costa was one of the best, so am expecting more of the same, plus there is already a second in the pipeline.Come on UPS, hurry up and deliver already!
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Today I start a new phase in this long career with the launch of the first new series since the Costa books began with
A Season for the Dead
more than a decade ago.
The House of Dolls is the debut book for Pieter Vos, an Amsterdammer living in a houseboat on the Prinsengracht canal. It’s out now from Pan Macmillan and will be published in Dutch by Boekerij in June. I’m delighted to say it’s also being bought for European TV by one of the largest media companies in Europe… of which more later.
You can read more about the book here. There’s an extensive post with photos on the video and background here. And if you have an iPad you can download a free background multimedia book on the series here.
Next year’s instalment in the series is now being edited. More Pieter Vos and co…
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Today’s conversation with a caller from ‘Microsoft’
The Dark Knight writes books too, great books…
INT. OFFICE – MORNING
DAVID sits at a desk staring at a screen, almost ready to type. The phone rings. He answers.
SAMANTHA (O.S.)
(bright young sub-Indian Continent voice)
Hello. This is Samantha from the Microsoft Window Control Centre. To whom do I have the honour of addressing?
DAVID
Batman.
A long pause. O.S behind the phone call we become aware of the loud noise of a busy call centre. It sounds like a bus station in rush hour.
SAMANTHA
Mr Batman…
DAVID
It’s just Batman. No Mr…
Another long pause.
SAMANTHA
Mr Batman… we are ringing to tell you your PC is infected. It’s very important we help you install some software to remedy this…
DAVID
Batman has no infected PCs. He has the power to infect them. But being good he does not use this.
SAMANTHA
(seemingly puzzled)
You must go the website I will give you and…
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Electronic Scrapbook 