I appreciated the stress and dangers the protagonists went through. I enjoyed reading about the cultural importance of the ocean, boats, food, and knitting.

Besides enjoying the sections about places I’ve been to there are several other places that I either always wanted to go to, or discovered in this book.

1,000 Perfect Weekends: Great Getaways Around the Globe is another addition in the National Geographic Society books to inspire and educate.

Not a traditional travel guide. This book allows the reader to skip in sections, and choose whatever trip or adventure they’d like to experience.

I found the story to be well researched and detail enough to build a picture without hurting the narrative. The writing is very engaging, almost lyrical, but the author somehow also manages to capture the harsh life and climate.  

He was one of the original members of Norway Nobel Committee which awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The big twist in the book comes from the characters’ actions, not a major plot twist as in many novels

He is considered one of the most influential dramatists and poets of the 19th century, second only to William Shakespeare.

I did not read this book in English, which gave me a different perspective on the Harry Hole novels. For example, the name itself in English is Harry Hole, but translated in another language with different emphasis and sounds it is more like Hari Hølā (Hoo-laa), a little point which I really enjoyed. Of course, the Norwegian names were difficult to pronounce, but that is part of the charm of translated novels.

About: The Bat by Jo Nesbø is the first novel in the Harry Hole series. The series has been translated to several languages and even being made into a movie. My rat­ing for The Bat— 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic for­mat* More Books by Jo Nesbø Thoughts: The Bat by Jo Nesbø is not the first  Harry Hole book I have read, I was on a book tour for The Devil’s Star and that’s when I discovered Harry Hole. The nice thing about  this series that, while you follow the characters, they novels are more or less standalone. Reading the other novels will give you more insight and more enjoyment, but they are not a must. This is an enjoyable novel, I found it peculiar that the author chose to set the novel in Australia, simply because it is the first novel in a series about a Norwegian detective, but it works. The “fish out of water” storyline seems particularly interesting in this case. Mr. Nesbø’s characters and descriptions are nicely written (great job by translator Don Bartlett) and the Norse attitude jumps off the pages. The novel’s mystery is solved about two thirds into the book…