The Shetland Islands

I love the roundabout way I sometimes find books to read. This book was mentioned by one of the knitters that I follow on Twitter. Anyway . . .

The book is Raven Black: Book One of the Shetland Island Quartet (Shetland Island Mysteries) by Ann Cleeves. It is a quick, satisfying mystery. Set in January about one week before Up Helly Aa, the book ties an old crime, the disappearance of a young girl, to the murder of a young woman about a week before the festival. The characters are well-drawn and interesting and modern. My only complaint is that, in the end, I didn’t entirely buy who the murderer was revealed to be.

And, to continue the conversation on culture, I believe that this book does a great job in conveying the sense of place – certainly the climate. But, the book also speaks of the special society of an island – something of a closed community. The language has not been Americanized. I liked that.

Don’t let the title fool you – there are more than four books in this series. It is now up to six. I do believe I’ll read at least a couple more.

• Raven Black (2006); Gold Dagger Award
• White Nights (2008)
• Red Bones (2009)
• Blue Lightning (2010)
• Dead Water (2013)
• Thin Air (2014)

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

Especially with the new semester about to begin at the university, it seems fitting to have just finished Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer.

The title pretty much spells it out. He follows 3 incidents from beginning to end. In his usual style, he looks at all aspects of the topic: The victims’ stories, the accused stories, university disciplinary protocols, criminal justice protocols, entitlement of college athletes, etc. He also addressed some of the stereotypes and misconceptions that we, as a society, have about rape and rape victims. I found the book engrossing, enlightening, and a little discouraging as a woman.

I then went on to read some of the reviews and stories about the book. He was criticized pretty roundly both by folks in Missoula and in the press. The victims were 1-dimensional, he had access to documents that he shouldn’t have had access to (I think this refers to FERPA regulations). I haven’t read a lot of books on rape, so I don’t know. But, if it was ‘lite’ coverage, it was more information than I had had previously.

I had heard some of the statistics before: most rapes are by acquaintances (date rape). More victims than not don’t report it. For those reasons, most of us probably know someone who was raped. For those reasons, I recommend this book to you.