![\"Figure](\"http:\/\/roseledgebooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/img_2455.jpg\" "\\"img_2455\\"")
<\/a>Figure #75. Surely these "granite bricks" are a list waiting to happen or maybe I am just looking for an excuse to use one of my favorite pictures. <\/p><\/div>\n
RB loves Nordic authors, too. The WSJ essay<\/strong> mentions Karin Fossum, Henning Mankell, <\/strong>and Stieg Larsson<\/strong> and RB has at least one of each but needs to get the reissued Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo<\/strong> and, okay, Arnaulder Indridason<\/strong>, even if his bleakness goes beyond \u201cexistential malaise.\u201d Kathy, of oatmeal fame, is also a major RB suggester, and after reading these and other Nordic detectives she found in the local (Minneapolis) library and bookstore, she suggests, so RB will order and try, K. O. Dahl, Ake Edwardson,<\/strong> and Hakan Nesser.<\/strong> RB is also going to try Jarkko Sipila\u2019s Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall <\/strong>and Yrsa Sigurdardottir\u2019s Last Rituals<\/strong> because, if I read the Amazon.com reviews of the latter correctly, this Icelandic author might have a sense of humor! Can it be? And don\u2019t forget Jo Nesbo\u2019s Redbreast, set in Oslo and a RB bestseller last summer.<\/p>\n From a careful reading of the WSJ essay<\/strong> come the following: \u201c\u2026the Scandinavian brand of moroseness can be soothing in hard times<\/em>.\u201d \u201c\u2026the stern bare-bones simplicity<\/em> of its problem-solving methods is one of the form\u2019s austere pleasures<\/em>.\u201d \u201cTheir problem-solving methods — determination, humility and endurance<\/em> — are available to everyone.\u201d Could the italicized characteristics be more revealing? Are Nordic detective books the oatmeal of a bookstore? If so, what are the cinnamon rolls and who of the RB crowd reads which? And does it mean that Roseledge Books, ahead of its time with the Nordic excitement, was early oatmeal?<\/p>\n Otherwise, it\u2019s still snowy days here. I am mostly housebound, trying to get my left knee to behave, walking ever more tenuously maybe, but walking, and not convinced that the kindle or ipad is better than my current one-handed efforts to hold books. Squirrels dash from ash to cottonwood; no rabbit tracks dent the recent snow and I don\u2018t think it\u2018s Max\u2018s fault, though he is out and about; birds chatter away, and large orange cat manages to peer in the window and frolic in the yew without breaking his or its limbs. Life is good, but summer in Maine with you all is better.<\/p>\n Time for the Super Bowl and knitting the last rows of the body of my very bulky and probably overlarge sweator\/blanket which will see the dusk of cool days next summer as we try to stretch perfect porch sitting just a little longer at Roseledge.<\/p>\n Figure #76. Imagine the sweator.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What does it mean when oatmeal replaces cinnamon rolls as the measure of a local breakfast spot? The eater is healthier? Wiser? Older? Or, shudder, more boring? Checking out Caribou Coffee\u2019s latest morning lure, Kathy brought over a sampler of … Continue reading ![\"Figure](\"http:\/\/roseledgebooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/img_2539.jpg\" "\\"img_2539\\"")
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