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Continue reading →: Trails of Isojärvi National ParkThe National Park has two entrances, Heretty to the south, and Kaatvuori on its north side. I parked up at Heretty and was the only vehicle there on Monday night, though was joined on Tuesday by a few hikers including a group of 17 year old students from a nearby…
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Continue reading →: The Iron Staircase by Georges Simenon
translated from the French by Eileen Ellenbogen I’ll just start off by saying I am a big Simenon fan, more so of his stand-alones and romans- durs than his Maigret novels, though I do enjoy those as well.I’m trying to get a copy of every English translation and still have…
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Continue reading →: Isojärvi National ParkSunday morning in Southern Konnevesi National Park was quiet, and much cooler after than rain from the previous day. We repeated the hike that we had done yesterday, but in reverse. Just before we were going to depart a lady in a high visibility jacket stopped me. She was a…
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Continue reading →: Southern Konnevesi National ParkDay 132 of the course and the only real rain day I’ve had so far. There have been part days typical of the ocean coast with occasional fronts passing across in a couple of hours, but even these have been few. The storm broke about 9:30 pm last night and…
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Continue reading →: Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko
translated from the Russian (though the author is from Belarus) by Ellen Vayner First published in Minsk in 2018, Filipenko’s novel features two main characters, 30 year old Sasha, a soccer referee who lives with his young daughter, and 90 year old Tatiana Alexeyevna who is in the early stages…
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Continue reading →: In The Beginning Was The Sea by Tomás González
translated from the Spanish (Colombia) by Frank Wynne This isn’t as good as The Storm, but González’s prose is still captivating, especially when he writes about the sea, which is the case in both novels. It is about a young and ambitious couple (J. and Elena) who seek out the…
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Continue reading →: Trails of Koli
The highlight of Koli National Park outside of the winter is the ridge that extends from near the Hotel for about a kilometre, taking in three peaks all about 350 metres. The Hotel itself is at 300 metres, so it doesn’t require much effort.mI would imagine that a few weeks…
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Continue reading →: The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo
translated from the French by Frank Wynne – published 2024 A French family, father, mother and 9 year old son, are making their way to their father’s old house in the mountains of the Jura, but this is no holiday. We get a drip feed through flashbacks of the situation…
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Continue reading →: Koli National ParkKoli National Park was the fifth of Finland’s National Parks when it was established in 1991. Now there are 41, and it is the third most visited (Pallas–Yllästunturi, despite its northerly situation, is by some way, the most). Koli consists of gentle hills, rising to about 350 metres, lakes and…
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Continue reading →: Cadejo Blanco
Crime Drama Guatemala 2021 – recently released to streaming services This is an evocative indie crime drama with a gradual and addictive reveal. At the heart of it is a wonderful performance by the lead, Karen Martínez, just one of a powerful and yet non-professional cast. Bea and Sarita are…




