About Me

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Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada
I am a lawyer in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada who enjoys reading, especially mysteries. Since 2000 I have been writing personal book reviews. This blog includes my reviews, information on and interviews with authors and descriptions of mystery bookstores I have visited. I strive to review all Saskatchewan mysteries. Other Canadian mysteries are listed under the Rest of Canada. As a lawyer I am always interested in legal mysteries. I have a separate page for legal mysteries. Occasionally my reviews of legal mysteries comment on the legal reality of the mystery. You can follow the progression of my favourite authors with up to 15 reviews. Each year I select my favourites in "Bill's Best of ----". As well as current reviews I am posting reviews from 2000 to 2011. Below my most recent couple of posts are the posts of Saskatchewan mysteries I have reviewed alphabetically by author. If you only want a sentence or two description of the book and my recommendation when deciding whether to read the book look at the bold portion of the review. If you would like to email me the link to my email is on the profile page.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Books While Cruising in the Black Sea

Riviera
Sharon and I have now been on the Riviera for 18 days. During that time we have cruised through the Mediterranean and into the Black Sea. Tomorrow morning we reach Sochi, Russia. We have enjoyed wine tasting in Malta (never knew it had vineyards), Santorini in Greece (a big tasting area moving through busloads of tourists as there were 6 cruise ships in port that day), near Nessebur in Bulgaria (cheapest good wine we have had with bottles for 5E at the winery) and a village outside Constanta in Romania (5 different kinds of wine tasted but for some reason none for sale at the vineyard).

What has suffered is reading and blogging. It seems we stay active from morning through night.

Playing trivia twice a day has been fun. Today I should have pushed our team harder on the group or person who has the most No. 1 albums in history. My first thought was the Beatles. Others had different names and eventually we went with Michael Jackson. It was the Beatles with 19 albums. In trivia I find it is usually best to go with your first answer.

Each day I tote my book around the ship. This afternoon I got some reading done in the top lounge on the 15th floor of the ship.

As evident from my last post I completed Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

I am over half way through An Officer and a Spy. It is following closely what I remember from reading a non-fiction account of the Drefyus Affair.
 
I am going to try to read some more before the voyage ends but cannot say it is a priority.
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10 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2014 at 3:39 PM

    I'm so glad you're enjoying your cruise so much, Bill. I think that's wonderful, and hey, everyone needs a break...

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    1. Bill SelnesSeptember 27, 2014 at 1:15 PM

      Margot: Thanks for the comment. It is a wonderful world on a cruise ship.

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  2. TracyKSeptember 26, 2014 at 10:14 PM

    Lovely to see the cruise ship, even if I am afraid of them. Looking forward to a review of An Officer and a Spy.

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    1. Bill SelnesSeptember 27, 2014 at 1:19 PM

      TracyK: Thanks for the comment. I hope you try a cruise, even a very short one. I see less reason to be afraid on a cruise ship than other methods of travel. I finished An Officer and a Spy tonight.

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  3. Prashant C. TrikannadSeptember 27, 2014 at 6:08 AM

    Bill, by trivia, do you mean Trivial Pursuit? We love that board game and for a while I was planning to upgrade the set of questions to 21st century and beyond. I don't know if I'd have read anything on the 15th floor of a ship; I'd probably have looked out at sea.

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    1. Bill SelnesSeptember 27, 2014 at 1:22 PM

      Prashant: It is not the board game. (I love that game. With the original edition it was hard for me to find someone to play as I tended to win by a large margin. I do not do as well on the newer versions.) On the ship the cruise director or assistant cruise director ask 15 - 20 questions of general information and teams of up to 8 cruisers try to answer. The top 3 teams (including ties) get Big "O" points which can be redeemed at the end of the voyage for Oceania merchandise.

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    2. Prashant C. TrikannadSeptember 27, 2014 at 11:54 PM

      Bill, thanks for your reply. Trivia, especially if it is GK and played among teams, can be great fun. I wish you luck.

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    3. Bill SelnesSeptember 30, 2014 at 5:20 AM

      Prashant: Thanks for the comment. We have been doing well and have lots of Big "O" points for some Oceania merchandise.

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  4. Clothes In BooksSeptember 27, 2014 at 1:28 PM

    That sounds like a great holiday Bill, even if not enough time for reading!

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    1. Bill SelnesSeptember 30, 2014 at 5:21 AM

      Moira; I am definitely not feeling sorry for myself. I did finish An Officer and a Spy.

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