An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell

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I was all set to finish out the year with Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest and finally conclude Larsson’s outstanding Millennium trilogy while at the same time racking up yet another book for the European, Cloak and Dagger and Books in Translation reading challenges. But two weeks ago while wandering the shelves at my rural public library I came across a copy of Henning Mankell’s 2014 Swedish crime novel An Event in Autumn. Remembering the excellent luck I had with his 2003 whodunnit The Dogs of Riga I decided to postpone The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest to early next year and instead go with the much shorter An Event in Autumn, since it’s applicable to all three above-mentioned reading challenges. As expected I whipped through it quickly and was not disappointed.

After nearly 30 years on the job Inspector Kurt Wallander wants to finally wind things down. Decades of solving horrible murders would take its toll on anyone and retirement is becoming an increasingly attractive option. He’s long since grown tired of sharing his apartment with his adult daughter and simply wishes to spend the rest of his life peacefully alone, ideally somewhere in the country. But with his modest inspector’s salary such desirable real estate is outside his price range leaving him few, if any attractive options.

One day his boss suggests he take a look at an old country farmhouse that could be exactly what he’s looking for. The owner, who happens to be his boss’s father is now in memory care where he’ll spend his remaining days. The property is rustic but decent shape and the price is surprisingly right. But just as Wallander is concluding his initial site inspection he spots something in the garden. Upon closer examination he sees it’s a human arm. As more buried remains are discovered the property quickly goes from prospective dream house to crime scene. Once it’s determined the remains belong to a woman who was brutally hanged decades ago Wallander realizes he’s got an age-old unsolved murder on his hands. The culprit, whoever he or she might be could have died years ago and if that’s the case impossible to prosecute. But as you’d hope Wallander gets busy, determined to find out what happened.

After enjoying this final novel in the acclaimed Wallander series I’d love to others. Perhaps in 2026 you’ll see more of Mankell’s fiction featured on my blog.

Winter Blood by Allan Martin

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I‘ve read a mere handful of novels set in the small Baltic nation of Estonia. Two years ago it was Sofi Oksanen’s When the Doves Disappeared followed last year with Allan Martin’s Death in Tallinn. A few weeks ago I found myself in the mood for another Estonia-set novel so I secured a Kindle edition of Martin’s 2022 sequel Winter Blood. To say I didn’t enjoy it as much as its predecessor seems unfair so I’ll declare Winter Blood a close second. While it might have been slow at times nevertheless it’s a smart, detailed whodunnit with more than a few twists. And like any good mystery writer by the novel’s end Martin deftly wrapped things up without a loose end in sight.

Set in 1935, two years have elapsed since we last checked in with DCI Jüri Hallmets and Estonia, like so many other countries across Europe has succumbed to the siren call of authoritarianism. A decorated veteran of his nation’s successful war of independence, and educated man who’s traveled and studied abroad Hallmets is a no nonsense professional committed to fairly and intelligently fighting crime. He’ll follow the clues no matter where they lead, even if they implicate the rich, powerful or politically connected. But as Estonia’s new ruling party sensors the press as the national police’s newly formed political division hunts down perceived enemies Hallmets’s evenhanded commitment to the job becomes much, much harder.

When a retired general is found dead from an apparent suicide as a precautionary measure Hallmets is sent to investigate. Despite being stonewalled by local law enforcement rudimentary forensics quickly prove the general was in fact murdered, and in all likelihood by extreme nationalists. But Hallmets knows when well-connected people are murdered things are seldom that simple. Armed with such skepticism he and his capable investigative team criss-cross Estonia in search of answers. Ultimately, their investigation points to a dark secret that if exposed could shake the newly-independent nation of Estonia to its core.

Billed as the second book of a trilogy, I can find no mention anywhere online of a sequel to Winter Blood. Perhaps in the next few years we’ll see one, and if that happens I look forward to featuring it on this blog.

Book Beginnings: How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 25 in 25 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge, a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday. After taking last week off I’ve returned with another post.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Red Star Belgrade is the most beloved, most successful soccer team in Serbia. Like nearly every club in Europe and Latin America, it has a following of unruly fans capable of terrific violence. But at Red Star the violent fans occupy a place of honor, and more than that.

Last week I featured Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow’s 1959 novel Henderson the Rain King. Before that it was Benjamin Nathans’s 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. This week it’s Franklin Foer’s 2004 How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.

If this book looks familiar, it might be because it’s one of 10 random books from my shelf I featured in a post last month. Like I mentioned earlier, I found the book I found on the street near the university across from my old workplace. I’ve owned it for a number of years and like a so many other books in my library I’ve ignored it for far too long and needs to be read. I’m thinking 2026 is the year to finally read it.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about How Soccer Explains the World.

A groundbreaking work—named one of the five most influential sports books of the decade by Sports Illustrated—How Soccer Explains the World is a unique and brilliantly illuminating look at soccer, the world’s most popular sport, as a lens through which to view the pressing issues of our age, from the clash of civilizations to the global economy.

From Brazil to Bosnia, and Italy to Iran, this is an eye-opening chronicle of how a beautiful sport and its fanatical followers can highlight the fault lines of a society, whether it’s terrorism, poverty, anti-Semitism, or radical Islam—issues that now have an impact on all of us. Filled with blazing intelligence, colorful characters, wry humor, and an equal passion for soccer and humanity, How Soccer Explains the World is an utterly original book that makes sense of our troubled times.

Book Beginnings: Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 25 in 25 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge, a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday. After taking last week off I’ve returned with another post.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

What made me take this trip to Africa? There is no quick explanation. Things got worse and worse and worse and pretty soon they were too complicated.

Last week I featured Benjamin Nathans’s 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Before that it was John le Carré’s 2008 espionage novel A Most Wanted Man. This week it’s Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow’s 1959 novel Henderson the Rain King.

I’ve owned this book so long I’m not even sure where or when I purchased it but I think it was the Portland State University used book sale sometime in the 1990s. It’s one of countless books I’ve heard of over the course of my lifetime that are supposed to be great and should be read. Despite all that praise however like so many books I own it’s been ignored it for years. But lately I’ve been wanting to read it and 2026 might just be the year I finally do so.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about Henderson the Rain King.

Saul Bellow evokes all the rich colors and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this acclaimed comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson’s awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life win him the admiration of the tribe—but it is his gift for making rain that turns him from mere hero into messiah. A hilarious, often ribald story, Henderson the Rain King is also a profound look at the forces that drive a man through life.

Book Beginnings: To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause by Benjamin Nathans

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 25 in 25 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge, a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday. After taking last week off I’ve returned with another post.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

In memoirs by participants in the Soviet dissident movement, an obscure name usually appears near the beginning of the story. No one claims that Alexander Volpin founded the movement. In good Soviet collectivist style, the movement had no founder, and, in any case, an eccentric mathematician known to walk the streets of Moscow in his house slippers would have been an unlikely candidate for that role.

Last week I featured John le Carré’s 2008 espionage novel A Most Wanted Man. Before that it was Laurence Bergreen’s 2003 Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. This week it’s Benjamin Nathans’s 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.

Unlike some of the books I’ve featured of late I purchased this only a few months ago. After originally spotting it in the new books section at my rural public library I opted instead to buy a copy for my Kindle figuring it’s the kind of book I’d rather own and read at a leisurely pace. After hearing David Frum praise the book on his podcast a few days later I knew I’d made the right purchase. As some of you might remember I’m hoping to read this in 2026 along with Hedrick Smith’s 1976 best-seller The Russians and Moshe Lewin’s 2005 The Soviet Century. Who knows, maybe I’ll cap it all off with Catherine Belton’s 2020 Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause.

Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union was unexpectedly confronted by a dissident movement that captured the world’s imagination. Demanding that the Kremlin obey its own laws, an improbable band of Soviet citizens held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts. Soviet authorities arrested dissidents, subjected them to bogus trials and vicious press campaigns, sentenced them to psychiatric hospitals and labor camps, sent them into exile—and transformed them into martyred heroes. Against all odds, the dissident movement undermined the Soviet system and hastened its collapse. Taking its title from a toast made at dissident gatherings, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause is a definitive history of a remarkable group of people who helped change the twentieth century.

Benjamin Nathans’s vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents—from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was “simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people.”

Book Beginnings: A Most Wanted Man by John le Carré

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 25 in 25 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge, a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday. After taking last week off I’ve returned with another post.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

A Turkish heavyweight boxing champion sauntering down a Hamburg street with his mother on his arm can scarcely be blamed for failing to notice that he is being shadowed by a skinny boy in a black coat.

Last week I featured Laurence Bergreen’s 2003 Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. Before that it was Nathan Perl-Rosenthal’s 2024 The Age of Revolutions: And the Generations Who Made It. This week it’sJohn le Carré’s 2008 espionage novel A Most Wanted Man.

Unlike some of the books I’ve featured of late including most recently Over the Edge A Most Wanted Man hasn’t been in my personal library that long. Withdrawn from library circulation, I purchased it last October at the semi-annual Friends of the Dallas (Oregon) Library book sale. While my favorite espionage author Alan Furst praised it, the consensus seems to be A Most Wanted Man isn’t le Carre’s best. But who cares since I’ve read just one of his novels.( Back in 2010 I read The Mission Song after a co-worker loaned me his copy.) Perhaps in early 2026 I’ll give A Most Wanted Man a shot, as well as a few le Carre novels.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about A Most Wanted Man.

A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa.

Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client’s survival becomes more important to her than her own career—or safety. In pursuit of Issa’s mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

Annabel, Issa, and Brue form an unlikely alliance—and a triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, sensing a sure kill in the “War on Terror,” the rival spies of Germany, England, and America converge upon the innocents.

The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

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Four weeks Deb on her blog Readerbuzz featured 10 random books from her shelf. I liked her idea so much a week later I did the same. Putting that post together was a lot of fun and after getting some positive feedback I decided to do it again. Earlier today I pulled 10 random books off my shelves and here they are. Just like last time I’m hoping this post will inspire me to finally crack of few open and give ’em a chance.

 

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee (1955/1981 reprint) – A fictionalized account of the Scopes Monkey Trials, another book I bought years ago at a Friends of the Multnomah County Library book sale. In an interview with Bill Moyers on his show A World of Ideas British film producer David Puttnam mentioned how he enjoyed the 1960 film adaption because it was the first time he’d seen debate depicted in a movie. Also, like Jean Anouilh’s Becket one a handful of plays I own.

A Broken World, 1919-1939 by Raymond V. Sontag (1971) – Over the years I’ve been collecting assorted volumes of Harper Torchbook’s Rise of Modern Europe Series. Back in 2023 I featured Jacques Droz’s 1967 Europe Between Revolutions, 1815-1848. Like so many of my books I’m sure I grabbed this one at a Friends of the Multnomah County Library book sale.

A History of Capitalism, 1500-2000 by Michel Beaud (1983)- An old buddy gave me this book for my birthday years ago. One of many books I started but put down because I got distracted. Maybe it’s time to give it another chance.

The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism by Karen Armstrong (2001)-  Picked this up a used book sale at a Lutheran church up the street from my mom’s old house. With the growth of White Christian Nationalism in the United States I think it’s high time I finally read this.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos (1989) – Bought this at a Friends of the Multnomah County Library book sale after an old college buddy recommended it. I hear the 1992 movie adaption is pretty good too.

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner (1993) – Bought this one at Powell’s after hearing glowing recommendations from multiple friends. Read several chapters before getting distracted and quitting. Another book I need to revisit in 2026.

Introduction to Philosophy by G.T.W. Patrick (1935) – Every summer the Lutheran church in nearby Independence, Oregon has a huge yard sale. A few years ago I grabbed this one along with a ton of other books for a song. After recently finishing Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World I might be in the mood for more philosophy.

The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View by Richard Tarnas (1991) – While leaving a Greek restaurant I saw I guy reading this while he waited for his bus. Intrigued by the title years later I bought a copy from Powell’s.

African Theology En Route: Papers from the Pan African Conference of Third World Theologians, December 17-23, 1977, Accra, Ghana edited by Kofi Appiah-Kubi and Sergio Sergio (1979) – One of many books published by Orbis Books I inherited from an old mentor of mine after he retired as a university chaplain. This one took some water damage after a heavy rainstorm overwhelmed my old apartment’s rooftop drainage system.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (2010) – The first book of a trilogy, I bought this one at a Friends of Independence (Oregon) Public Library book sale based on my sister’s recommendation. As some of you remember I have a weakness for historical fiction set during the first few decades of the 20th century.

There you go, 10 random books from my personal library. Who knows, at this rate this might wind up being regular feature on my blog. Stay tuned and find out.

Book Beginnings: Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 25 in 25 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge, a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday. After taking last week off I’ve returned with another post.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

On September 6, 1522, a battered ship appeared on the horizon near the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain.
As the ship came closer, those who gathered onshore noticed that her tattered sails flailed in the breeze, her rigging had rotted away, the sun had bleached her colors, and storms had gouged her sides.

Last week I featured Nathan Perl-Rosenthal’s 2024 The Age of Revolutions: And the Generations Who Made It. Before that it was Colin Harrison’s 2004 neo-noir thriller The Havana Room. This week it’s Laurence Bergreen’s 2003 Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.

Like so many other books I’ve featured of late Over the Edge has been in my personal library forever and yet I’ve never read it. I’ve come close on several occasions and even started it once or twice only to get distracted. Even a glowing recommendation from my well-read former co-worker wasn’t enough to make me read it. Well, that needs to change and I’m hoping 2026 is the year I finally give this book the attention it deserves.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about Over the Edge of the World.

The acclaimed and bestselling account of Ferdinand Magellan’s historic 60,000-mile ocean voyage.

Ferdinand Magellan’s daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

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Sometimes times it takes me forever to read a book. That’s how it was with Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder’s 1991 international best-selling novel Sophie’s World. I started it back in July,  reading it in fits and starts with frequent periods of inactivity as I ignored it to read one book or another. Realizing the year was drawing to a close last week I knuckled down, got back to work and finally finished it last night.

One day Sophie Amundsen, a 14 year old Norwegian teenager on the cusp of her 15th birthday receives an anonymous letter asking “Who are you?” and “Where does this world come from?” Intrigued, she plays along eager to  answer the probing questions as well as learn the identity of the mysterious author. Before long her communication with said individual evolves into a correspondence course on Western philosophy. On top of this Sophie also becomes the recipient of postcards and such addressed to Hilde, a girl her exact age from her father Albert Knag, a Norwegian army officer serving as a UN peacekeeper in Lebanon. Curious and eager to learn Sophie embarks on a journey to know herself and her place in the world as well as discover who’s Hilde and why is she getting her mail.

I doubt I’ve ever encountered a novel like Sophie’s World. With two teen characters playing prominent roles it could easily pass as a work of young adult fiction (YA). Crafted as an introduction to Western philosophy it could also serve, and has served as an introductory textbook on the history of that meaty subject from the Pre-Socratic Greeks to the French Existentialists (with Darwin, Marx and Freud thrown in for good measure) for young students. But like the fiction of Ruta Sepetys, this is a novel young adults and not so young adults can both enjoy. Plus I’m pleased to report it’s one of the best introductions to philosophy I’ve read.

Just like so many other books you’ve seen featured on this blog I wished I’d read this novel sooner instead of letting it languish for years in my personal library. Posting 10 random books from my shelves recently reminded me I have an ample supply of promising books needing to be read. Perhaps 2026 is the year to read them.

Nonfiction November 2025: New to My TBR

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This week for Nonfiction November our topic is New to my TBR.  Our host Deb at ReaderBuzz starts us off with the following prompt.

It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!

Over the month of November bloggers featured so many intriguing works of nonfiction I don’t know where to begin.

As you can see I now have no shortage of book recommendations. Perhaps in 2026 you might see a few of these promising works of nonfiction featured on my blog. Once again stay tuned and find out.