I’m always looking for a way to attack the unread books on my own shelves, so when Rebecca at Bookish Beck decided to host a new type of challenge, I decided to try it.

Her project is inspired by Phyllis Rose’s The Shelf –from LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading for which Rose picked a shelf of the New York Society Library and after some housekeeping, read all the books on it. Rebecca’s is a variation for any set of four books in a row on my own shelf. See Bookish Beck for more details.

It was a lot of fun choosing the books to read and a great satisfaction in having an empty space on my shelf. I think I’ll probably play again with another letter.

I started with Such a Long Journey which was Rohinton Mistry’s first book. I was able to read it because of the Faber Firsts series which celebrated Faber’s 80th birthday and brought to light the first published novels of a variety of acclaimed authors. Some were the book that made their career and reputation; others, like Journey are not so well known. In 2009, there was a faberfirsts.com website but Norton blocked me from visiting today, telling me that it is a “known dangerous webpage”. I’ve never seen that message before, so Norton must have run into something.

I wasn’t able to find the cover that I have on my edition so this will have to do.

For those of you interested in such things, here is the list of Faber Firsts provided on the cover of Such a Long Journey:

William Golding Lord of the Flies
P.D. James Cover Her Face
John McGahern The Barracks
Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar
Peter Carey Bliss
Kazuo Ishiguro A Pale View of the Hills
Paul Auster The New York Trilogy
Orhan Pamuk The White Castle
Hanif Kureishi The Buddha of Suburbia
Rohinton Mistry Such a Long Journey

 
#4BooksinaRow

I’ll cover the other three books in this challenge in my next post. Have you read any of these “first books”? How did it compare to the author’s later works?
 

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

I’m not sure if I signed up officially for the very popular What’s In a Name challenge, hosted by Andrea at Carolina Book Nook, but I have been reading in order to finish it. Here are the titles I’ve read.

Title that contains an ampersand: Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’ve also used this book for two other challenges this year. That’s probably the greatest satisfaction I’ll get out of it. Lots and lots and lots of hype, but I was disappointed. It just seemed clichéd.  

Title that contains antonyms: I had difficulty finding a title for this category but finally settled on Alice Munro’s Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. Somewhere in all those ‘ships’ there must be opposites. Munro also gets lots of hype – but it’s well-deserved and her work is enduring. I loved these stories.  

Title of four letters or less: Akin by Emma Donoghue. The problem with having such a phenomenally successful book as Room was, is trying to live up to it ever after. I did enjoy Akin, the story of an 80-year-old man given temporary custody of his eleven-year-old great-nephew just before his scheduled departure to Nice. It was, actually, delightful, if a little predictable.

Title that contains a given/first name: Autumn Laing by Australian author Alex Miller. I’ve had this book on my shelf for years, entranced every time I picked it up while dusting, by its cover. An elderly Autumn tells the story of an affair that she had with a man in her and her husband’s group of friends. These things are always entered into so selfishly, with little regard to the consequences, both short and long-term. The fact that it would happen, though, was evident from nearly the beginning, but Autumn kept us waiting far too long and I expected something much more spectacular by the time she finally got the story out. All in all, not really a very spectacular book.  

Title that has a reference to children: Jake and the Kid by W.O. Mitchell, a collection of short stories about a Canadian prairie farm boy whose dad is overseas in WWII, and the hired hand who’s keeping an eye out for him. Canadians of a certain age will remember the “magazines” that came with the weekend newspaper: Weekend Magazine or the Star Weekly, depending on where you lived. I think I read both over the years and as a teenager fell in love with the stories of Gregory Clarke.

My bet is that in the prairie provinces, the stories were by W.O. Mitchell. These are heartwarming family stories: the kid is loveable and naive about the ways of the world, and Jake is a hero – and not just the kid’s but also the reader’s. This book is going up on my “keep forever” shelf next to Greg Clarke.

Title with the word water, air, fire or earth: The Edge of the Earth by Christina Schwarz. The referenced edge of the earth is an island off the coast of California in 1898. The thing about Schwarz is that she’s enjoyable enough to read at the time, but other than scattered scenes,almost immediately I forgot what happened. I found the same thing when I read her highly acclaimed Drowning Ruth in 2012.

And that, as they say, is a wrap. Have you read any of these? Are you participating in this challenge this year?
 

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

 
My reading theme for the month (‘last’ in the title) spilled over into my mystery reading as well. I’m glad – because I discovered a couple of excellent new-to-me series.

 

* * * * * * *

1. THE LAST POLICEMAN by Ben H. Winters #1 Last Policeman series (Fiction, Literary, Trilogy, American)

Although I’ve listed this among my mystery books for the month, The Last Policeman could really be classified as a non-genre examination of what happens to society when people know the earth is going to be destroyed.

Scientists have determined that a meteorite will smash into earth in October and destroy life as we know it. Society is crumbling around Henry Palace, still trying to do his job as a Concord NH detective, a job to which he was recently promoted. He’s working on an apparent suicide that he feels is murder.

Winters say in understatement: “The end of the world changes everything, from a law-enforcement perspective.” We might question why even bother to investigate. But Winters convinces us that Henry is doing the only possible thing he can do.

I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this trilogy.

4½ stars

2. SAVAGE RUN by C.J. Box #2 Joe Pickett (Fiction, Mystery, Series, American)

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is called to investigate an act of counter-eco-terrorism in the Bighorn Mountains.

This is a sometimes funny, sometimes angry sequel to Open Season which I read and very much liked in April 2015. Reviewer Barry Trinkle says: “Box depicts the spare beauty and cussed individualism of the Intermountain West with the sure hand of a seasoned writer.”

I’m definitely continuing on with this series.

4½ stars

 
3. THE LAST DETECTIVE by Peter Lovesey #1 Peter Diamond (Fiction, Mystery, Police Procedural, Series, English)

This was published in 1991 when computers had been in the general work force about 15 years but were not nearly as developed as today. Peter Diamond is the ‘last detective’ because he still insists that leg-work, and not computers, is what will solve a case.

I like Peter Diamond and enjoyed seeing him rely on the ‘old’ methods of detecting, while not completely ignoring the advantages of computer technology. This had a good mystery, with lots of dry humour.

By degrees, the pain spread and became less intense. Diamond opened his eyes. They watered copiously. Just as well, he told himself grimly, because he doubted whether the organ intended for watering would ever function again.

I do intend to carry on with this series. A big thank you to Cathy at Kittling: Books for bringing Lovesey— & Diamond—to my attention.

4 stars

4. A LAST GOODBYE by J.A. Jance (novella) Ali Reynolds & Joanna Brady (Fiction, Mystery, Private Investigators, Series, American)

I believe A Last Goodbye was a free Kindle novella that I downloaded because I once read a J.P. Beaumont novel by Jance that I really, really liked.

This book has the protagonists of two of her other very popular series meeting to . . . I can’t remember. There was hospital visiting and a dog (as evidenced by the cover) involved, but I forget the rest.

It was well-written, but forgettable.

3½ stars

5. THE DEVIL’S MAKING by Sean Haldane (Fiction, Mystery, Historical, British author – set in Canada)

It might be stretching it a bit to say this was set in Canada because in 1869, the Pacific-bordering territory of British Columbia had not yet joined Confederation. Nonetheless, Chad Hobbes, newly arrived in Victoria, finds himself made a police detective and sent to investigate the death of Dr. McCrory, a new age doctor who was found stabbed with his cut-off penis in his hand (it had been in his mouth).

My notes tell me that I thought the period details were incredibly well-researched but that the author was trying too hard to be crude. There were heavy-handed red herrings to one of the suspects, and the actual murderer was someone only on the very peripheral of the story.

I was also disturbed by the details of Chad’s awareness of women as sexual beings once he was no longer a virgin. Are men so constantly thinking these things?

Overall, as a period history perhaps, but as a murder mystery poorly done.

3 stars

* * * * * * *

Have you read any of these? Do any appeal to you?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

October 2015 saw me recovering from back surgery: clear-headed and alert, but limited in my activities. A perfect month for reading!

A couple of library reserves with the word ‘Last’ in the title arrived so I gathered up as many other ‘Lasts’ as I could find. In total, between mysteries and others, eight of the twelve books I read were titled ‘Last’-Something. The theme gave me a wide range of books.

I’ll cover the mystery books in a separate post.

1. THE LITTLE SHADOWS by Marina Endicott (Fiction, Literary, Historical, Canadian)

I do love Marina Endicott, who departs from her usual current day settings to tell this story set on the vaudeville circuit of the Canadian prairies and Montana in the years 1912 to 1917. It follows the fortunes of three sisters who form a singing and dancing act.

It’s a thoroughly absorbing story and I thought the ‘placard’ chapter titles were a delightful touch.

This was first recommended to me by the late Kevin from Canada.

4½ stars

2. LAST MAN IN TOWER by Aravind Adiga (Fiction, Literary, Indian)

When a real estate developer offers to buy out the residents of Bombay Co-operative Housing Society Tower A, planning to use the site to build a luxury apartment complex, initially not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived in the tower for years, and many of them are no longer young. But it’s an everyone-or-no-one deal.

As tensions rise among the once civil neighbours, one by one those who oppose the offer give way to the majority, until only one man stands in Shah’s way: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building.

There are humourous moments but the story takes a dark turn as one by one the community turns on Masterji, and the suspense rises to an almost unbearable level. It’s a rich story peopled with a large cast of well-developed characters. I very much enjoyed this book.

Although it was Oxford County Library’s monthly newsletter that first alerted me to this book, I thereafter read Lisa’s excellent review at ANZ Litlovers.

4½ stars

3. THE HEN WHO DREAMED SHE COULD FLY by Sun M. Huang, translated by Chi Young Kim, illustrated by Nomoco (Fiction, Literary, Translated, Korean)

Called a Korean ‘fable for our time’, this is the tale of Sprout, a self-named battery laying hen who has one dream: to be a yard hen so she can hatch an egg and raise a baby. She escapes a mass cull operation, and finding herself outside the fence, finds an egg in the hedge to sit on. She hatches a duckling, which she raises, to find that it is accepted as neither duck nor chicken.

Although it examines themes of freedom, motherhood and prejudice, its effect on me was only so-so.

Thank you to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea whose review first prompted me to add this to my TBR list.

3½ stars

4. LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER by Stewart O’Nan (Fiction< American)

Lisa at Lit and Life recommended this short novel about a Red Lobster restaurant in a Maine mall on its last night of business. The last shift sees a motley crew present (many have already found work elsewhere), and a blizzard that keeps away the supper trade.

It’s character-driven, but there’s not a lot of time for character development. Again, I was mildly disappointed.

3½ stars

5. THE LAST PILOT by Benjamin Johncock (Fiction, Historical, American)

The last pilot is set in 1960 and 1961, during the early days of the American space program when US Armed Forces pilots were ‘testing-driving’ jets over the Mojave Desert and dying at an alarming rate in crashes.

Johncock has peopled his novel with the real players in the game – the real astronauts, the real bar owner, and so on, except for the main characters of Jim Harrison and his wife Grace. This fictional couple desperately want a child and think constantly about new life even as the news in the bar almost weekly seems to be the death of another colleague.

There are problems inherent in using actual historical figures that limit the possibilities for the fictional ones. The story never seemed to really take-off (no pun intended). In addition, I was irritated that the author moved between calling the protagonist ‘Jim’ and ‘Harrison’ for no apparent rhyme not reason. There was also a mention of placing clothes in large black trash bags which were not available for home use until the late ’60s – early ‘70s.

On the balance, I found the book to be somewhat interesting (the actual history) but ‘meh’ as far as the story.

3½ stars

6. THE LAST DAY by Emily Organ (Fiction)

When George was 11, he dreamt the day of his death – and now it’s here.

That much is included on the author’s website – and that much, I remember. But, honestly, although I finished the book, it seems that I thought it only so-so at the time, and now cannot remember another thing about it.

3 stars

7. THE LAST KINGS OF SARK by Rosa Rankin-Gee (Fiction)

I included this in my reading because of the setting on Sark, one of the Channel Islands, from which my mother-in-law’s family emigrated,(Guernsey), and because it has lovely cover.

The story follows three teenagers over the course of a summer on Sark. It’s beautifully written but the plot ends about halfway through and then the book drones on and on.

2 stars

* * * * * * *

I love months like this because I can choose such a variety of books, some of which I’d never have gotten to otherwise. Have you ever had a month when you read on a theme such as the word ‘last’ in the title?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

In early September 2015, I received an unexpected call from my neurosurgeon, with a cancellation the following week – and a date for my spinal fusion surgery.

Knowing I would be dozy for a few days with the general anaesthetic and the painkillers, I piled up some of my ‘easy reading’: mysteries from some favourite series. A picture book and a cookbook rounded out my selection.
Let’s cover those first.

 

1. THREE CUPS by Mark St. Germain illustrated by April Willy (Fiction, Children’s Picture book)

The current issue of this book lists Tony Townsley as the author and St. Germain as a “contributor”.

3CupsBook.com explains that the system used by the fictional family in this charming picture book was originally devised by Townsley & his wife for their children. St. Germain wrote the text of the book.

The Townsleys tried to teach their children that it is not how much money you have that is important, it’s how you use it and devised a game of three cups (Spend, Save, Share) ‘to help them develop positive habits early on that would last them the rest of their lives.’

I don’t even want to think about the politics and legalities of that attribution situation, but I do know that this book makes wonderful sense. If you have small (or even older) children or grandchildren, I recommend you check it out.

Stacie at Simply Stacie first brought this book to my attention back in 2010.

5 stars
 

2. MAKE THE BREAD, BUY THE BUTTER by Jennifer Reese (Nonfiction, Cookbook, Home)

It’s seldom that I rate a cookbook five stars, but Make the Bread, Buy the Butter is so much more than a cookbook. Cover blurb says: “When Jennifer Reese lost her job, she was overcome by an impulse common among the recently unemployed: to economize by doing for herself what she had previously paid for. . . . So Reese began a series of kitchen-related experiments, taking into account the competing demands of everyday contemporary American family life . . . . Although you should make your hot dog buns, guacamole, and yogurt, you should probably buy your hamburger buns, potato chips, and rice pudding. Tired? Buy your mayonnaise. Inspired? Make it.”

Reese considers much more than just the cost-saving (or not) of making your own, but also time and effort expenditure, ethics, and quality & taste. Where her opinion is that you should make something, she provides a recipe – over 120 of them.

I always try at least one recipe from a cookbook before I pass judgment. In this case, it was ‘Simplest Buttercream’ frosting. It was that simple – and scrumptious.

But it’s not the recipes that made me love this book – it was the wit and warmth as she regaled me with the stories of cooking, baking and animal husbandry. I read this cover to cover, and every bit of it was a delight.

A huge shout of thanks to Leslie at Under My Apple Tree for prompting me to buy it.

5 stars

NOW FOR THOSE MYSTERIES:

3. THE CRUELEST MONTH by Louise Penny (Fiction, Mystery, Police Procedural, Series, Canadian)
#3 Armand Gamache & Three Pines

Penny writes an excellent mystery set in the fictional village of Three Pines, Quebec but she also writes with wonderful insight into the human experience:
‘I can’t believe she’s gone,’ said Hazel, sitting down as though her legs had given way. Loss was like that, Gamache knew. You didn’t just lose a loved one. You lost your heart, your memories, your laughter, your brain and it even took your bones. Eventually it all came back, but different. Rearranged.

And with humour:

Gamache couldn’t sleep. His bedside clock said 2:22. He’d been lying awake watching the bright red numbers change since the clock had said 1:11. He’d been woken up not by a bad dream, not by anxiety or a full bladder. He’d been woken up by frogs. Peepers. An army of invisible frogs at the pond spent most of the night singing a mating call. He would have thought they’d be exhausted by now, but apparently not. At dusk it was joyful, after dinner it was atmospheric. At 2 a.m. it was simple annoying. Anyone who said the country was peaceful hadn’t spent time there. Especially in the spring.

I’m not sure why I haven’t made time to get back to this series.

4½ stars

4. THE DARK VINEYARD by Martin Walker (Fiction, Mystery, Police Procedural, Series, Francophilic)
#2 Bruno, Chief of Police

Ah – (fictional) St. Denis, in southwest France, the home of Bruno, chief of police and all things southern France-y. In this episode industrial espionage threatens the local wineries, a research station growing genetically modified crops is burned down, and a big US winemaker wants to buy up land in the valley to produce a homogenous commercial product that is anathema to Bruno and most of the people of his community.

Walker captures modern life in rural France: where the locals still take their own containers to the local wineries and fill their own for one Euro a liter or less, but where “Saint-Denis now boasted four bakeries, four salons, four real estate agencies, three banks, three shops selling foie gras and other local delicacies, but there was only one grocery and one butcher’s shop. The fishmonger had long since given way to an insurance agency. Another grocery had been replaced the previous winter by a business that serviced computers and sold cell phones and DSL lines for the Internet. And a butcher had retired in the spring and now rented his premises to a real estate agent. It was no longer the Saint-Denis Bruno had first come to a decade ago [written 2009], when the small towns of rural France still retained the shops and the texture he remembered from his boyhood. Now people shopped at the supermarkets on the outskirts of town, or drove to the complex of shopping malls and hypermarkets outside Périgueux, forty minutes away.”

I continue to love this series.

4½ stars
 

5. SCENTS & SENSIBILITY by Spencer Quinn (Fiction, Mystery, Private Investigator, Series, Animal narrator)
#8 Chet & Bernie

Another great entry in this series, this one dealing with the illegal cactus trade (and murder – of people, not of cacti).

I think Quinn is tiring of this series. The writing and the mystery are still first-rate but the end of the book is a cliff-hanger that could most easily (and probably correctly) be construed to mean that Bernie dies.

There was outrage by fans, and Quinn has been promising a sequel now for a couple of years. But I have a feeling this series is no longer his first love. I dread the end of it.

4½ stars
 

6. A FÊTE WORSE THAN DEATH by Dolores Gordon-Smith (Fiction, Mystery, Series, Amateur Sleuth)
#1 Jack Haldean

It’s 1922 and Jack Haldean, young crime writer and former Royal Flying Corps pilot, is enjoying the local fete on a beautiful summer’s day in rural Sussex. When his friend is murdered, Jack steps in to solve the crime. I can’t remember how the police figured in this one, but I do remember being pleasantly surprised at the quality of the mystery, and that I enjoyed it even though I saw the murderer right away.

I find it amusing that the title of this book works because, although the French pronounce the French word fête fet, the English pronounce it fate. Much like the French word valet (va-lay) which the English say is val-et. (Just going to do it our way.)

4 stars
 

7. FOOL’S PUZZLE by Earlene Fowler (Fiction, Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Series)
#1 Benni Harper

Many years ago, I somehow got hold of and read the fourth in this series featuring Benni Harper who is a folk art museum curator in fictional San Celina, California.

I was attracted initially by the title of Goose in the Pond because it, and the name of all of the books in this series, are quilt patterns. I discovered a likeable protagonist and a good mystery and meant to get back to it before this.

In Fool’s Puzzle, 34-year-old Benni, newly widowed, lands the job just mentioned and then finds herself embroiled in the murder of an artist and small town intrigues.

This series is well worth continuing.

4 stars
 

8. THE HERRING-SELLER’S APPRENTICE by L.C. Tyler (Fiction, Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Series, British)
#1 Ethelred & Elsie

Ethelred Tressider, mystery write (aka herring seller “it was a facetious reference to the red herrings that she considered my stock in trade”), and his agent, Elsie (the herring seller’s apprentice?) try to solve the mystery of the apparent death by suicide of Ethelred’s ex-wife Geraldine. Geraldine had taken several people, including another of her ex-husbands and her banker, to the cleaners with an investment scam.

Even though I recognized the cleverness of the plot at the end of the book, I doubt I’ll read more of this series since I remember feeling confused—almost disoriented–most of the way through. (Maybe it was those painkillers?) Jane (when she was blogging at Fleur in Her World ) recommended this.

4 stars
 

9. WOOF by Spencer Quinn (Fiction, Young Readers, Mystery, Animal Narrator, Series)
#1 Birdie & Bowser

Woof is the start of a new series by Spencer Quinn, author of the Chet & Bernie mysteries. It’s narrated by Bowser who sounds, perhaps not surprisingly, very much like Chet – that is, dumb but smart, hilarious, & loveable. His new mistress is 11-year-old Birdie who lives on the Louisiana coast with her Grammy. When a prize stuffed marlin is stolen from Grammy’s bait and tackle shop, Birdie and Bowser take on the case.

This is a charming start to what is no doubt an excellent series, but I do prefer the adult version (Chet & Bernie).

4 stars

10. MURDER PAST DUE by Miranda James (Fiction, Mystery, Cozy, Series)
#1 Cat in the Stacks

Small-town Mississippi librarian Charlie Harris walks his rescued Maine Coon cat Diesel on a leash – and takes on the murder of a former classmate who has become a famous author.

Charlie remembers Godfrey Priest as an arrogant jerk – and he continued to be after his school years, leaving no end of suspects for Charlie to investigate.
 

I enjoyed this well enough at the time but don’t remember much about it. Thank you to Bev at My Reader’s Block for pointing me toward it.

3½ stars
 

* * * * *

And that stack got me through the immediate post-op period and well on the way to mending.

Usually my reaction to being able to spot the murderer is boredom – and frustration at the ineptness of the author, but sometimes (as with A Fête Worse than Death this month and Agatha Christie’s Five Little Pigs) it provides an opportunity to watch the author’s sleight-of-hand and is quite entertaining.

What’s your usual reaction to being able to spot the murderer before the reveal?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

This month, I slogged through a 700 page testimonial to pain, and supplemented that with several children’s chapter books – and one of my favourite Canadian authors.

I’ve included the two mysteries I read at the end of this post.

1. GOOD TO A FAULT by Marina Endicott (Fiction, Literary, Canadian)

In a moment of distraction, spinster Clara Purdy crashes her car into one which contains a homeless family – in fact, the car was their home. When mother Lorraine is taken to hospital, she is diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Feeling somewhat responsible for their current predicament, Clara takes the rest of the family (three children, including a ten-month-old & their paternal grandmother.)

Clara is a good person—good to a fault, it seems. Clara invites the whole family to live with her while Lorraine has medical treatment. The husband/father takes off soon after with no notice, leaving Clara with granny & the kids. There are emotional entanglements and other consequences of Clara’s practical goodness.

From Amazon: “What, exactly, does it mean to be good? When is sacrifice merely selfishness? What do we owe in this life and what do we deserve?”

I find Marina Endicott’s novels to be consistently enjoyable. Thank you to Trish at Desktop Retreat who reminded that this remained unread. Recommended.

4½ stars

2. INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai (Fiction, Children’s Chapter, Vietnamese/American)

A young girl tells the story of her family’s escape from Saigon when it fell, and their experience in a refugee camp in Florida, sponsored by someone in Alabama, where the family eventually end up.

It’s told entirely in free verse. It’s very beautiful and, despite my categorizing it as a children’s book, I recommend it for readers of all ages.

No one would believe me
but at times
I would choose
wartime in Saigon
Over
peacetime in Alabama.

A shout out and thank you to Rebecca of Rebecca Reads who convinced me to try this.

4½ stars

3. THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY by Susan Patron (Fiction, Children’s Chapter)

Ten-year-old Lucky Trimble lives in Hard Pan, California, pop. 43, at the edge of the desert. Her mom recently died as the result of going outside after a storm and touching a downed electrical wire. She’s now living with her biological father’s first wife, Birgitte, who has come from France to look after Lucky. And Lucky is afraid Birgitte will return to France, leaving her in an orphanage.

Lucky hangs around the town hall where all the “anonymous” meetings are held (Alcoholics, Gamblers, Overeaters) and she overhears them all talking about finding their ‘higher power’. Lucky thinks if she can find her higher power, Birgitte will stay in Hard Pan with Lucky.

Very sweet.

4 stars

4. ON POPPY’S BEACH by Susan Pynn Taylor illustrated by David Sturge (Fiction, Picture Book, Atlantic Canadian)

Amazon says:
“Come spend a sweet summer’s day exploring and enjoying the curiosities and beauties of a rural Newfoundland beach, as seen through the eyes of a little child. Filled with beautiful illustrations and lyrical verse, here is a warm and happy adventure that is both uniquely Newfoundland – as well as universal in its celebration of nature, nostalgia and joyful childhood innocence.”

Illustrated with lovely, brightly colored pictures.

On Poppy’s beach seashells I find.
My bucket’s filled with every kind.
I keep the ones I like the best
to hide home in my treasure chest.

Delightful.

4 stars

5. NOOKS AND CRANNIES by Jessica Lawson (Fiction, Children’s Chapter)

Rich Countess Camilla DeMoss issues invitations to her country estate to six children (including Tabitha Crum) from various circumstances, some with a Roald Dahl bent. She tells them that they are all adopted and one of them is her long-lost grandchild, heir to her large fortune.

When the children start disappearing, Tabitha becomes determined to solve the mystery.

Get this into the hands of your mystery-loving ten-to-twelve-year-olds.

4 stars

6. A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara (Fiction, Literary)

Ostensibly about a group of four college friends, this is really the story of one: Jude who is loved by everyone but struggles constantly with physical and emotional pain.

I know I’m one of the minority here, but I really didn’t like this book. At 720 pages, it’s about 300 pages too long. I mean, how many times do we have to go up and down emotionally with Jude? How many people can love him more than anyone else they’ve met? How much more money can the four make?

Spoiler alert: The writing is beautiful and for the first hundred pages, I really enjoyed it. But by the time Jude finally committed suicide, I was done.

But, as I said, the writing is beautiful. This excerpt is spoken by Malcom after Jude’s death:

All those answers I had wanted about who and why he was, and now those answers only torment. That he died so alone is more than I can think of; that he died thinking he owed us an apology is worse; that he died still stubbornly believing everything he was taught about himself—after you, after me, after all of us who loved him—makes me think that my life has been a failure after all, that I have failed at the one thing that counted.

Beautifully written, but stultifying long.

3½ stars

* * * * *

MYSTERIES
Vintage short stories and a contemporary thriller comprised my August mystery reading.

1. DIAGNOSIS IMPOSSIBLE: The Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne by Edward D. Hoch (Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories)

Anyone familiar with vintage mysteries such as those in Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock Magazines has heard the name Edward D. Hoch – and, in fact, many think he is the finest author in this genre. He has received the Mystery Writers of America’s highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and he has been recognized for Lifetime Achievement by the Private Eye Writers of America and the Bouchercon. According to FantasticFiction.com, Ed Hoch is the only author who specializes in the mystery short story to receive such recognition.

Dr. Sam is a country doctor in what I recall seemed the early part of the twentieth century. There were still horses and carriages, but Dr. Sam did have a nice roadster. Aside from making house calls and doctoring the county, Dr. Sam is an amateur sleuth.

Many of these stories first appeared in one of those fine mystery magazines mentioned above. If you’re a fan of those, you’ll love this. I did.

Thank you to the Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel for letting me know about this.

4 stars

2. THE KIND WORTH KILLING by Peter Swanson (Fiction, Psychological Suspense)

I don’t read much psychological suspense, but this got so many rave reviews on the book blogosphere that I gave it whirl.

Much as in Strangers on a Train, businessman Ted and the artist Lily meet in an airport lounge and trade tales of their spouses of which both are tired. They enter into discussions, and they . . . . well, you know that’s the thing: although I enjoyed this well enough at the time, even though it was more commercial than what I usually read, I can’t remember anything about it beyond that. Forgettable, then.

A shout out to Greg at New Dork Review of Books and Kathy at Bermuda Onion who were the first to alert me to this book.

I’ll stick with the original rating, to be fair.

3½ stars

How do you handle being the odd man out when a book you don’t like is getting rave reviews from everyone else?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Well, this is the month that I was supposed to go to Read-by-the-Sea in River John, Nova Scotia and hear readings by Maureen Jennings, Isabel Huggan and Linden MacIntyre, among other authors. As I’ve mentioned, I missed it.

All but one of the eight books I read this month were by Canadian authors; I’ve included the two mysteries at the end of this post.

1. ALL MY PUNY SORROWS by Miriam Toews (Fiction, Literary, Canadian)

Elfrieda (Elf) is a world-renowned pianist, beautiful, wealthy, in a happy marriage – and she wants to die. Her younger sister Yolandi (Yoli) who tells this story is broke, divorced and struggling as a single mother, and she desperately wants to save her sister from committing suicide, while she tries to keep her own life together.

This book, shortlisted for Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize in 2014, looks at a serious subject in a compassionate & profound way – and along the way provides some humour from Yoli.

An outstanding effort. One of those books that sneaks up on you.

5 stars

2. STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel (Fiction, Dystopian, Canadian)

After a flu pandemic wipes out 99% of the world’s population, and civilization as we know it, Kirsten Raymonde leaves Toronto and heads south. The story picks up twenty years later. Kirsten has joined a troupe of travelling actors and musicians, who have dedicated themselves to keeping classical music and theatre alive.

The story jumps back and forth between the time before and after “the collapse,” and the narration rotates through various characters’ points of view.

The tags ‘post-apocalyptic’ and ‘dystopian’ are usually enough to make me drop a book like a hot potato but this one got SO much buzz, I just had to try it. And I’m so glad I did. It’s a reflection on what makes us human.

4½ stars

3. THE PUP FROM AWAY by Shaun Patterson, art by Christina Patterson (Picture Book, Canadian)

Look closely at the picture on the cover of the book – and then imagine the entire book illustrated by these charming clay sculptures augmented by other materials. They fairly leap off the page.

The owner of the pup Dukes has to go away for a year and takes Dukes to a friend in rural Prince Edward Island. It’s a big change from his big, busy Ontario city and Dukes doesn’t like it at first. Christina has asked him to stay though so he decides to obey her – and slowly becomes familiar with the delights of country life. When Christina returns, he wants to convince her to stay.

The title is apropos because on PEI, you are either an “Islander” or you are “From Away”. Even if both your parents were Islanders and brought you “home” when you were two, if you were born “away”, you’ll always be ‘from away’. It’s a point of pride and principle for Islanders.

This book was created by husband and wife team Shaun & Christina Patterson, although from Shaun’s bio one might assume that he did the lion’s share. The Patterson themselves are ‘from away’ having moved from Barrie, Ontario to PEI over five years ago.

This book is a delight – to read, look at, and discuss with your child.

4½ stars

4. COOP – A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting by Michael Perry (Nonfiction, Country Living)

Coop was the only non-Canadian book I read this month, but it arrived at the library for me so it went on the reading pile. I had ordered it because I’m always on the lookout for books about country living by people who have an empathy for city sensibilities, and I have a couple of other books by Michael Perry that have intrigued me in the past on my own bookshelves (unread yet).

One of my favourite excerpts (describing the house he grew up in New Auburn Wisconsin):

“Moving from the kitchen to the living room, you step up a four-inch riser; keep moving on the same plane around a central wall, and you will circle right back to the riser, having never stepped down.”

This tickles me because we have the same sort of situation in the oldest part of our (“renovated”) farmhouse – around that “central wall”.

Perry infuses much humour while imparting great country living (and parenting) experiences in an easy-to-read narrative. Recommended.

4 stars

5. THE BISHOP’S MAN by Linden MacIntyre (Fiction, Literary, Canadian)

The Bishop’s Man won the prestigious Giller Prize in 2009. In the story, Duncan MacAskill, a Catholic priest who has a genius touch for ‘resolving’ church scandals quickly and quietly is now assigned to an insignificant parish in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The effects of the cover-ups which MacAskill orchestrated are starting to haunt him, causing overdrinking and the decision to give his past journals to a reporter.

The book was published in the midst of the ongoing sexual abuse scandal case in the Antigonish Nova Scotia diocese, which eventually resulted in a $15 million settlement by the Catholic Church.

I found the back-and-forth-in-time format a little distracting but this is a sickening and powerful story.

4 stars

6. JACOB’S LANDING by Daphne Greer (Fiction, Middle-grade, Atlantic Canadian)

Twelve-year-old Jacob Mosher, son of an alcoholic mother and a recently deceased father, is sent from big city Ontario to rural Nova Scotia to spend the summer with aging grand-parents he just learned he had.

His grandparents are odd (to say the least), there are family secrets, and Jacob is suffering culture shock, in addition to navigating this last pre-teen year.

It’s an eventful summer and a touching story of family affection.

4 stars

* * * * *

MYSTERIES
It seems the only reading disappointments I had this month were my mystery reads.

1. DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW? By Maureen Jennings (Fiction, Mystery, Series, Canadian)

#1 Christine Morris

As I’ve mentioned before, Jennings, now a Canadian citizen, is the author of the Detective Murdoch mystery series on which the popular CBC television series is based.

Does Your Mother Know is the first in a series featuring Christine Morris, a forensic profiler with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in Toronto, Canada. In this debut, Christine is on leave in Scotland, investigating the disappearance of her estranged mother, who has been involved in a “vehicular homicide”.

Decent, but not outstanding or particularly memorable.

3½ stars

2. AS CHIMNEY SWEEPERS COME TO DUST by Alan Bradley (Fiction, Mystery, Series, Canadian)

I do so love thirteen-year-old Flavia deLuce, chemistry genius and amateur detective. But the quality of the mysteries in this series is unpredictable.
It’s always been more about Flavia and her quirky family than the mysteries, but this instalment disturbingly convolutes that family story. It seemed to be as if the plot was being made up as the author went along, rather than being planned and knowing where it’s going in the future.

I had great hopes for this book since Flavia was temporarily sent from her home in England to boarding school in Toronto, Canada, the author’s (and my) home country. (Note: Bradley lives now in Malta.)

Sadly, I think this is the weakest of the series. It doesn’t put me off Flavia, but if the next book is as weak I think we’ll part ways. There’s time in life for only so many mystery series – and so many, many out there to choose from.

3 stars

* * * * *

Did you know that the name Toews is generally pronounced taves? (Although I worked once with a young man whose family pronounced their name as toes. His name was Harry. True story.) Have you come across author names you were surprised to hear pronounced differently than you had thought they were?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

This month’s reading featured debuts to two excellent series, and a continuation of an old favourite.

1. BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE by Martin Walker (Fiction, Mystery, Series, France)

#1 Bruno series

This might be my favourite mystery series of all time. This, and subsequent books in the series, are set Dordogne, in southern France about 100 km (60 miles) from where my husband & I stayed on vacation in 2014. We did, indeed, take a couple of day trips into Bruno’s territory, before I ever met Bruno.

Part of what I love about this series is the atmosphere – the life and ways of modern French villages, being bought out by wealthy foreigners (chiefly British), but valuing their heritage, including their cooking.

But Walker does more than describe the mouth-watering foods. He builds a likeable but all-too-human character in Bruno, and lays out a mystery that is intelligent and insightful and demonstrates the direct effect of history on the present.

Thank you to Cathy at Kittling:Books for the recommendation. The Kindle version is less than $1 on both Amazon.com & Amazon.ca. Sorry – it doesn’t seem to be available on .uk or .au

If you have the least interest in France or in good mystery, you owe it to yourself to try at least this first book in the series.

5 stars

 
2. STILL LIFE by Louise Penny (Fiction, Mystery, Series, Canadian, Quebec)

#1 Three Pines series

This is the debut novel of the ultra-popular series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, assigned to a murder in the rural village of Three Pines, south of Montreal. In it, we are introduced to those who, I’ve gathered, are continuing characters in the series.

Penny is skilful in bringing to life characters and defining their relationships. Consider what you learn about this couple, both individually and together, from this single paragraph.
“The outside world saw a tall, distinguished man with his disheveled wife, and wondered why. . . . Clara was his centre and all that was good and healthy and happy about him. When he looked at her he didn’t see the wild, untameable hair, the billowing frocks, the Dollar-rama store horn-rimmed spectacles. No. He saw his safe harbor.”

In addition, the mystery was clever. This is a well-done entry that spurred me on quickly to the second and third in the series.

4 stars

3. A DANGEROUS PLACE by Jacqueline Winspear (Fiction, Mystery, Series)

This, number eleven in the Maisie Dobbs series, has Maisie working undercover for British Intelligence in Gibraltar, on the eve of the Second World War

It’s pretty obvious—since I’m on #11—that I really like this series, but it long ago became less about the mystery and more about Maisie and the people in her life. Sometimes she’s maddening, but I am still entranced.

4 stars

 
4. BAD KARMA by Dwight Holing (Fiction, Mystery, PI, Series)

I think I found this free on Kindle and downloaded it, thinking it was the first in the series. It’s actually second, and I think I would have gotten just that much more out of it if I’d read the first.

Amazon says: “San Francisco’s favorite con artist turned private investigator Jack McCoul is trying to go legit by launching a high tech startup business. But then his past comes roaring back.”

I don’t know why I was surprised that this was well-edited and had a decent mystery, without a too-hard edge. The humour, I think, helped to soften it.

3½ stars

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

In June 2015, I hit the ground at home running after my luxurious vacation the month before. That left not too much reading time. Here’s what I managed.

A post detailing the four mystery books in my list will follow.

1. THE JAGUAR’S CHILDREN by John Vaillant (Fiction, Contemporary, Immigrants)

Desperate to escape their dire circumstances in Mexico, Hector & Cesar pay for passage to America and allow themselves (with great trepidation) to be sealed inside an old water–tank truck.

As drinking water runs out and people start to die, Hector finds a number on Cesar’s phone for Annie Mac and leaves messages for her on her voice mail, hoping that they will transmit when there “are bars”.

Before the truck can reach its destination, it breaks down and the driver and his assistant abandon the truck in a desert wilderness area.

The tension in this story is exquisite. Will the driver return? Will anyone survive? What will Annie Mac do when she receives these increasingly despairing messages?

This story is especially relevant today with the issue of non-legal immigration across the USA’s southern border being such a hot button topic. Warning: there are many words and phrases, even entire sentences in Spanish. If, like me, you know no Spanish, this can impinge a little on reading enjoyment, although even I got the gist of such remarks as “And a dead indio will be something to discuss at la comida.”

I highly recommend The Jaguar’s Children.

5 stars

2. COOL WATER (released in USA as JULIET IN AUGUST) by Dianne Warren (Fiction, Literary, Canadian)

This cool and still story of the fictional prairie hamlet of Juliet, Saskatchewan for a 24-hour period one August won the Canadian Governor-General’s Award for Fiction in 2010. The ‘Welcome’ sign to Juliet announces a population of 1,011 people but more than you can imagine happens here.
Warren draws a selection of the townspeople in a clear and sure voice.

Her prose has been described as “leisurely and unpretentious” and like a “drink . . . from a deep well after crossing the parched sand hills of the west”. This is one of the books that you will finish and then sit back and realize that much more happened than you thought was happening.

It’s a richly rewarding read.

4½ stars

 
3. ALL CLEAR by Connie Willis (Fiction, Historical, Time-travel)

 
This is the second half and wrap-up of Blackout, which I read in May.

Oxford historians from 2060 are stuck in WWII because of incorrect facts and unforeseen circumstances.

This is a favourite excerpt:

Pg431 (American tourists Connie & Bob at the Imperial War Museum, London)

“Is that the museum schedule?” Bob asked, pointing at the brochure [Colin] was holding.
“Yes.” He handed it to him, and he and Brenda pored over it. . . .
‘The Secret That Won the War,’” she read aloud. “What’s that one about?”
“I don’t know,” Bob said impatiently.
“I believe it’s about Ultra and Bletchley Park,” Calvin said.
“Ultra?”
“The secret project to decode the Nazis’ coded messages,” he said.
“Oh.” Brenda turned to her husband. “I thought you said the American forces were what won the war.”
Bob had the good grace to look embarrassed.
“There were all kinds of things that won the war,” Bob said. “Radar and the atom bomb and Hitler’s deciding to invade Russia—“
“And the evacuation from Dunkirk,” Colin said, “and the Battle of Britain, and the way Londoners stood up to the Blitz—“

This passage tickled me because when I visited the American Pavilion at Epcot in 1989, the film presentation there told me the same thing: “The American forces won WWII.” I remember nothing else from that film, but 30 years later, that glaring bit of self-aggrandizement remains clear in my mind.

I enjoyed this second half of the All Clear story even more than the first – perhaps because things were wrapped up and I understood more of what was happening.

4½ stars

 
4. THE PENDERWICKS A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall (Fiction, Children’s Chapter)

A widowed botany professor and his four daughters (Rosalind 12, Skye 11, Jane 10, and Batty 4) rent Arundel Cottage, part of the Arundel estate owned & occupied by the snobby Mrs. Tifton and her (very interesting) son Jeffrey, 11.

The Penderwicks won the annual U.S. National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2005.

I think I thought this was delightful when I read it but I’ve forgotten just about everything about it. Get it into the hands of your tweens and read it aloud to your younger children. I suspect that’s when the magic happens.

4 stars

 
5. WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT: The Lives of Children in Conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda by Eric Walters and Adrian Bradbury (Nonfiction)

It seems that armed conflicts are happening in every corner of the globe and, sadly, they affect civilians by the millions. This book focuses on a specific segment of that civilian population: the children, who may have been injured or maimed, left without parents, whose homes have been destroyed, whose schooling has been interrupted, and who go to sleep scared and hungry.

It’s a tragic story and one we should all be aware of so that we can available to help – perhaps be the agents to bring that help about.

My sister recommended When Elephants Fight, but I must say that I found this volume very dry, and have learned more about the effect of war on children by reading novels (for example, Half of a Yellow Sun) or memoirs (one was A Long Way Gone).

3 stars

I didn’t read a lot this month, but I seem to have enjoyed most of it. What’s your take on the All Clear excerpt?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

I tried a couple of new series this month – with mixed results.

And since I was away from home, I read all three books on my Kindle app.

1. THE GOOD THIEF’S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM by Chris Ewan (Fiction, Mystery, Series)

The Good Thief series features Charlie Howard, master criminal, who accepts ‘challenges’ around the globe. This first in the series, my introduction to him, was excellent: the mystery well-paced and evenly-developed.

I was exposed to enough tidbits about Amsterdam to get a flavour of that city and look forward to globe-trotting in the future with Charlie.

4 stars

2. THE KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child (Fiction, Crime, Series)

This, the first in the very popular Jack Reacher series, introduced Reacher, an ex-military police officer and now-drifter, who happens upon a town in Georgia where he’s arrested for a murder that he didn’t commit.

Reacher’s voice in this story was in the first person; it’s warm and intelligent. The story was very good as well.
I was sure I’d found a series that I’d really enjoy.

4 stars

3. DIE TRYING by Lee Child (Fiction, Crime, Series)

This second installment in the Jack Reacher series was a great disappointment.

Child changed the story to a third person point of view, and this seemed run-of-the-mill after the almost-endearing voice of the first book. Plus, the body count in this instalment just got away from us; it seemed to me to be a lot of gratuitous killing.

I don’t know if the third person voice continues in the rest of series since this outing was enough to make me move the next book so far down my TBR list that I haven’t yet returned to it.

3½ stars

I know that the Jack Reacher series is immensely popular, and my sister likes it very much. But I’m hesitant to go on to the third book.

Have you read this series? What do you recommend?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blo

In May 2015, I was on vacation in Ontario, visiting family. During the Monday to Friday work days, I stayed home and read. And read. And read. (It was wonderful, really.)

A short post detailing the mysteries in my list will follow.

1. A TIDEWATER MORNING by William Styron (Fiction, Literary, Classic)

William Styron is one of those mid-twentieth century authors of literary fiction whom I’ve always meant to read. Tidewater Morning is a novella that I happened to have on Kindle which I had taken with on vacation.

Amazon says: “In this brilliant collection of ‘long short stories’, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sophie’s Choice returns to the coastal Virginia setting of his first novels. Through the eyes of a man recollecting three episodes from his youth, William Styron explores with new eloquence death, loss, war, and racism.”

Styron’s prose is magical: calming, glowing. I loved this book!

4½ stars

2. OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS by Claire Fuller (Fiction, Literary)
 

In 1976, eight-year-old Peggy’s survivalist father takes her from London, on a summer hike in a remote European forest. There he tells her that they are the only survivors of a global disaster. They live in the woods for nine years – critical years in Peggy’s growing-up.

In time, Peggy meets Rudy who helps her escape. When she finds she is not alone in the world after all, everything she thought she knew is thrown into doubt.

If you haven’t read any spoilers, you’ll no doubt be taken aback by the surprise twist ending.

Fuller’s debut novel was highly touted in 2015. I won it from Claire at Word by Word who sent it all the way from France in its own survival kit containing items mentioned in the story. It was a delight to receive this in the mail!

4½ stars

3. BLACK OUT by Connie Willis (Fiction, Science Fiction, Time-travel)

Ah, time-travel!

A project in 2060 Oxford sends several students to various places in the Second World War. They do know a lot of history, but who can know every detail? In London during the Blitz, they face air raids, blackouts, and missed assignations with their controls.

Willis’ time travel is complex but, in the end, it all makes sense. But beware – this is a door stopper, but does not contain ‘the end’ in which sense is made. It’s only the first half of the story, which is completed in All Clear which I read the following month.

Embark on Blackout only if you’re ready for a 1,147 page odyssey to WWII. I loved it!

4 stars
 

4. SPARE CHANGE by Bette Lee Crosby (Fiction, Women’s, Southern)

Wyattsville Novel Book 1

From Amazon: “Small-town gossip never much bothered Olivia Westerly. As a single career woman, she’s weathered her share. It’s easy to ignore the raised eyebrows over her late-in-life marriage to Charlie Doyle. But after he drops dead on their honeymoon, the whispers are salt on her raw grief. Especially when an orphaned, eleven-year-old-boy shows up on her doorstep, looking for the grandfather he never met.”

This is a charming story with enough suspense to form a firm plot. Despite it not being a genre of my first preference, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I received a complimentary ecopy from the author. This did not affect my review.

4 stars
 

5. LESTER B. PEARSON, 14th PRIME MINISTER by Gordon Gibb (Nonfiction, History, Politics) from the Prime Ministers of Canada series

When I was first becoming aware of government in the 1960s, Lester Pearson (after whom Toronto’s international airport is named) was Prime Minister of Canada.

He was responsible for the debate that gave Canada a new flag to replace the Red Ensign that identified the country as part of the British Commonwealth. That ‘new’ flag with its distinctive maple leaf is one of the most recognizable in the world. I remember the flag as an early development in the making of the modern “Canadian identity”.

I was very interested to read this middle-grade level story of Pearson’s government. I found it well-written and clearly set out and I highly recommend this book as an introduction to this exciting time in Canadian history.

I received my ecopy of this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. This did not affect my review.

4 stars
 

6. JUBILEE’S JOURNEY by Bette Lee Crosby (Fiction, Women’s, Southern)

Wyattsville Novel Book 2

This is a continuation of the story in Spare Change (above). It has the same characters and the same charming southern writing—but without the plot twist at the end that would have been cliché a second time around.

However, I didn’t find enough unresolved tension in this story to make it quite as interesting the debut.

I received a complimentary ecopy from the author. This did not affect my review.

3½ stars
 

7. THE THING ABOUT GREAT WHITE SHARKS & Other Stories by Rebecca Adams Wright (Fiction, Short Stories)

Many of these are set in the near-future or in dystopian worlds. In the title story, after “the fever” has turned all flora & fauna into human-attackers, Jennifer is conscripted by the government for ‘fear’ testing. Put into a room or a pool with such animals as pythons and sharks, her reactions are monitored for use in the military.

In Sheila, the story I remember most clearly, an elderly man faces the destruction of his beloved robotic dog. It’s heart-breaking.
Other stories include aliens or Orwellian futures.

If you’re a reader of science-fiction, or a fan of dystopia, do pick this book. For me, it was a little too weird.

3½ stars
 

8. PASSION FOR PARIS: Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light by David Downie (Nonfiction, History, Travel, Bibliophilic)

What a lovely book to take if we ever moved to Paris and had time to explore in depth! The geography and history of ‘literary celebrities’, especially of the Grand Epoch, are covered in rich detail.

As a book for a casual reader, it was not so interesting.

I received my ecopy from NetGalley. This did not affect my review.

3½ stars
 

9. THE PAINTED KISS by Elizabeth Hickey (Fiction, Historical, Art)

From Amazon: “Gustav Klimt, one of the great painters of fin de siècle Austria—and the subject of Helen Mirren’s latest film, Woman in Gold—takes center stage in this passionate and atmospheric debut novel, which reimagines the tumultuous relationship between the Viennese painter and Emilie Flöge, the woman who posed for his masterpiece The Kiss, and whose name he uttered with his dying breath.”

This should have been a knock-out but I found it rather bland.

3½ stars
 

10. WONDERFUL TONIGHT by Pattie Boyd (Nonfiction, Memoir)
 

What to make of the woman who inspired Something, Wonderful Tonight, and Layla by rock greats George Harrison and Eric Clapton?
Pattie Boyd was that woman and in this memoir she tells us about herself and what it was like living with these famous musicians in their heyday. Since that music formed the soundtrack of my youth, and that time is still vivid in my memory, I really enjoyed this memoir.

Until, that is, a few weeks after I finished the book I saw a news item that Boyd had married her ‘long-time boyfriend’, who, she many, many, many times told us in the book was nothing more than a friend. In my mind, this called into question the veracity of her entire account.

Make of this what you will; I still enjoyed reading it.

3½ stars
 

11. THE KEPT by James Scott (Fiction, Historical, Suspense)

Amazon says: “In the winter of 1897, a trio of killers descends upon an isolated farm in upstate New York. Midwife Elspeth Howell returns home to the carnage: her husband, and four of her children, murdered. Before she can discover her remaining son Caleb, alive and hiding in the kitchen pantry, another shot rings out over the snow-covered valley. Twelve-year-old Caleb must tend to his mother until she recovers enough for them to take to the frozen wilderness in search of the men responsible.”

I borrowed this from my daughter’s bookshelf during my visit, although I had previously never heard of it. It’s an odd premise, and a rather odd book although it did keep me interested enough to finish it.

3 stars
 

12. THE ROCHEFORTS by Christian Laborie (Fiction, Historical, Melodrama)

After visiting France in late 2014, I could not get enough of that country so I was happy to receive an ecopy of this book from NetGalley. I tried several times to ‘get into’ this, even skimming and re-entering, with no success.

Amazon calls this a “sweeping story of love, greed, and betrayal” but I found it trite, predictable, and overly-long.

2 stars

Because I was away from home (and wanting to travel light), nine of the twelve books I read this month were on my Kindle app. When you travel, do you read paper books or electronic copies?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

A monthly mailing that I receive from Oxford County Library in Ontario put me onto a new-to-me, and excellent, series. Cathy at Kittling: Books has also recommended it.

1. OPEN SEASON by C.J. Box (Fiction, Mystery, Series)

#1 in the Game Warden Joe Pickett series, set in Wyoming.

This was a wonderful introduction to a great new-to-me series, now at #18. It featured a likeable and believable protagonist and a solid mystery. There is ‘good suspense’, but it is not overwhelming as it seems to be in so many ‘crime’ novels these days.

Clearly, I have some catch-up reading to do.

4½ stars

 
2. THE LADY OF SORROWS (A Seven Deadly Sins Mystery) by Anne Zouroudi (Fiction, Mystery, Series)

This is the fourth in the Hermes Diaktoros series which opened with such a bang for me in January 2015.

Amazon says: “A painter is found dead at sea off the coast of a remote Greek island. The painter’s work, an icon of the Virgin long famed for its miraculous powers, has just been uncovered as a fake. But has the painter died of natural causes or by a wrathful hand?”

The mystery in this episode just didn’t come together for me, but I did still enjoy the outing with Hermes, and will continue with the series.

3½ stars

3. EXCEPT THE DYING by Maureen Jennings (Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Canadian, Series)

Although she is the author of two other mystery series, Jennings is probably best known as the author of this series featuring Detective Murdoch, set in nineteenth-century Toronto, Ontario. The books are the basis for the popular television series Murdoch Mysteries

Except the Dying is the first in that series and I read it to prepare for the summer’s Read By the Sea event.

Years ago, I read the fourth installment, Let Loose the Dogs, and always meant to get back to it.

This debut wasn’t as good as I remember #4 being, but it held its own. For certain, I’ll try another.

3½ stars

4. COGNAC CONSPIRACIES by Jean-Pierre Alaux with Noël Balen (Fiction, Mystery, French, Translated [by Sally Pane], Series)

This is the fifth installment in the Winemaker Detective series featuring (fictional) renowned wine expert Benjamin Cooker, set in France. The heirs to one of the oldest Cognac estates in France call in Cooker when they face a hostile takeover by foreign investors.

There is a passable mystery, but the appeal of the series is the wine and the setting, and would be particularly interesting to oenophiles, or Francophiles with an interest in wine-making.

I suspect that each entry in this series stands well alone.

I received a complimentary ecopy of Cognac Conspiracies from the publisher. This did not affect my review.

3 stars

5. A FINE SUMMER’S DAY by Charles Todd (Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Series)

FantasticFiction.com lists this as #17 in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series; I have notated it as #.5 – that is, a chronological prequel to the series stellar debut A Test of Wills.

This entry takes the reader to Rutledge’s last civilian case before WWI, and gives us a glimpse of the Inspector’s personal life as well.

But I continue to be disappointed with subsequent entries in this series.

3 stars

It was a so-so month for mysteries, but made worthwhile for me with the discovery of the Joe Pickett series. Does anything appeal to you?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

In April 2015, I continued with the trend I began the previous month, and Canadian literature formed just about half of my reading. I was reading, in part, in order to be familiar with the visiting authors at the annual Read by the Sea in River John Nova Scotia in July. In the end, I missed that event, but my reading was enriched anyway.

Mysteries are detailed in a separate post.

1. BELONGING: Home Away from Home by Isabel Huggan (Nonfiction, Travel, Canadian)

Canadian author Isabel Huggan & her husband fell in love with southern France on a holiday trip there and decided to relocate their home to where they had left their hearts. They intended it to be ‘home’, not a holiday house nor a second home but their permanent residence.

I choose to think that those of us who settle here permanently—définitivement—are more kindly looked upon than those who just drop in for a few weeks of sunny weather. But I may be fooling myself.

Huggan explores the concept of ‘belonging” not only in relation to fitting in and becoming a part of the French community, but also in relation to no longer ‘belonging’ in Canada when they visit.

Although I had initially thought that the part about acclimatizing to France would be the bit that ‘spoke’ to me, her thoughts on no longer belonging to her native land resonated more with me. I was born and raised and lived the first 48 years of my life in Ontario, but now that we have been in Nova Scotia for nearly 15 years, we find Ontario to be a foreign country when we visit.

It’s well worth reading this lovely narrative.

4 stars

2. ROOST by Ali Bryan (Fiction, Contemporary, Atlantic Canadian)

Roost was chosen as the One Book Nova Scotia selection for 2015.

Set in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it relates a slice of life for Claudia, a recently-single mom of two pre-schoolers, whose mother dies suddenly at the age of 60. Claudia must cope not only with her own grief, but also that of her brother, and of her father – who starts to hoard. Plus, her ex is moving to another relationship.

I found this to be laugh-out-loud funny, but it does contain a lot of crude language.

4 stars

3. A HUNDRED FLOWERS by Gail Tsukiyama (Fiction, Historical)

Set in Mao’s China in 1957, the title of this book refers to the program—“Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend”—that saw intellectuals and artists feel free to express dissident ideas, only to find that it led to arrest and ‘re-education’ in labour camps, or even death.

Kai Ying’s husband, Sheng, is dragged away the morning of his son’s sixth birthday and sent to a labour camp.
Amazon describes it as “a powerfully moving story of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with grace and courage.”

It was an interesting lesson in China’s history but it wasn’t powerful enough to sweep me off my feet.

4 stars

4. A BRIEF MOMENT OF WEIGHTLESSNESS by Victoria Fish (Fiction, Short Stories)

Each story in this collection is rich – in language, and in relationships. For the most part, these are everyday situations: a family returning to the family cottage for their annual vacation, an elderly woman faced with having to enter a nursing home, a young girl grieving her mother who has died of breast cancer, but in each Fish plumbs the depth of the complex human heart.

The nature of short stories is that they are often unresolved, but I found these even more so, else I might have rated this a half star higher.

4 stars

5. A BUNCH OF PRETTY THINGS I DID NOT BUY by Sarah Lazarovic (Nonfiction, Illustrated)

Oh, the irony! One of the books I indulged in buying new this year, rather than obtaining it second hand, or from the library was this one – about material things. It received such glowing comments in the Globe & Mail!

The author illustrated this herself, and I expected (and wanted) a sort of journal of lovely items that she had considered, the circumstances under which she considered them, and the reason she decided not to buy. Since reading this, I have thought that I might just make my own journal of such items (only, with cut and pasted pictures.)

Because this book wasn’t that.

A small (5”x7”, 13cmx19cm) hardback (looking as though it’s missing its [non-existent] dustjacket), A Bunch of Pretty Things is more a treatise on (over)consumerism, and the learning process to minimalism. As Amazon says: “A witty, gracious, and charmingly illustrated anti-consumer manifesto”. I see now that it’s interesting, but not what I wanted at the time.

This is an excellent book for twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings to read through. The teenage angst and lack of thoughtfulness about consumerism throughout the first part of the book may irritate anyone older. The last chapter – Conclusions – includes a guide to recognizing quality and “simple rules for better shopping”, the things the over 60 crowd was taught in school (at least, I was).

3½ stars

6. THE WIND SELLER by Rachael Preston (Fiction, Middle-grade, Atlantic Canadian)

Set in 1924 in a Bay of Fundy coastal village near Economy, Nova Scotia, this middle-grade fiction explores the after-effects of the Halifax Explosion seven years earlier.

Honestly, I remember very little else about this but I did rate it at the time of reading – and I noted that the author has never lived in Nova Scotia. Was that important, I wonder?

3½ stars

7. A TOUCH OF STARDUST by Kate Alcott (Fiction, Historical, Women’s, Hollywood)

I love old black and white movies of the 1930s and ‘40s and am interested in the film stars of old. I’ve always been intrigued that Carole Lombard was purported to be, before her tragic death at age 36 in an airplane crash, the love of Clark Gable’s life.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to bring Lombard to life, Alcott infused her vocabulary with profanities that were rare by most standards until only a couple of decades ago. It seemed affected to me, and limited my enjoyment of this fictionalized account of the making of Gone with the Wind. Even if Lombard really did talk like that, was it necessary to use to make the point of her “strength”?

3 stars

What do you think? Was I too hard on any of these?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

March 2015 was a great reading month with lots of Can Lit, Atlantic Canadian and otherwise.

I read only one mystery book, that by Agatha Christie and have just included it in this list.

1. UNDER THE KEEL by Michael Crummey (Poetry, Atlantic Canadian)

I have read all of Michael Crummey’s prose, including River Thieves and Sweetland to which I gave 5 stars in September 2014.

But I had never read of his poetry, which is his first vocation.

The title of this book refers to the poem Fathom, and the lines that describe the wound on his dog’s shaved shoulder:

like a line across a gunwale
as it rises on an easy swell,
new stitches like a row of knots tied
to sound fathoms under the keel.

I don’t know how to comment on poetry but I do know that I loved these poems. I borrowed this from the library – and then bought myself a copy for my own shelf.

5 stars

2. KICKING THE SKY by Anthony De Sa (Fiction, Literary, Canadian)

In Toronto Ontario, in 1977, 11-year-old shoeshine boy Manuel Jacques was abducted, sexually abused and murdered.

Through the eyes of fictional 11-year-old Antonio Rebelo, in a time when children took their bikes and played for hours in the alleys behind their homes—a freedom we have difficulty imagining now—this novel examines that horrible real-life news event.

It’s heart-breaking and very human.

4 stars

3. GRIST by Linda Little (Fiction, Historical, Atlantic Canadian)

I always enjoy reading Nova Scotia author Linda Little’s books, not least because the settings are very local to me and familiar.

This, her third novel, is Little’s first foray into historical fiction, but it is a setting with which she is very familiar, having served as a guide at the historical Balmoral Grist Mill on Nova Scotia’s beautiful north shore for several years.

From Amazon:
“Penelope MacLaughlin marries a miller and gradually discovers he is not as she imagined. Nonetheless she remains determined to make the best of life at the lonely mill up the Gunn Brook as she struggles to build a home around her husband’s eccentricities.”

There’s a strong female protagonist, and the setting and time details ring true.

4 stars

4. AT THE WATER’S EDGE by Sara Gruen (Fiction, Historical)

I haven’t seen much about this fifth (?) novel by Canadian author Gruen, perhaps because it’s so different from her big hit Water for Elephants.

Although there have rumours of a ‘monster’ in Scotland’s Loch Ness for centuries, in 1933-34 a couple of “out-of-the-pond” sightings and two photos purported to be of the monster stirred world-wide attention. At the Water’s Edge is set on locale just after this ‘discovery’.

Gruen evokes not only the Scotland of the time, but also high society in Manhattan. Very droll.

4 stars

5. CATARACT CITY by Craig Davidson (Fiction, Contemporary, Suspense, Canadian)

A short-list nominee for Canada’s 2013 Giller Prize, Cataract City is set in Niagara Falls Ontario, where the gorge into the Falls gives the city its nickname.

Owen and Duncan are childhood friends who’ve grown up in Niagara Falls. As adults, the two men end up at opposite ends of the law: Dunc gets in involved in cross-border cigarette smuggling and Owen is a police officer.

Although I’m not really a fan of suspense, this kept my interest throughout, perhaps because I’m personally familiar with the “Cataract City”.

Notable quote: It boiled down to this: it’s a lot harder to love than to hate. Harder to be there for those you love—to see them get older, get sick, be taken from you in sudden awful ways. Hate’s dead simple. You can hate an utter stranger from a thousand miles away. It asks nothing of you. It eats you from the inside but it takes no effort or thought at all. (page 327)

4 stars

6. THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD by Agatha Christie (Fiction, Mystery, Vintage)

This is a classic whodunit of the ‘Golden Age’ of mysteries, and often held out as Christie’s best work. Originally published in 1926, it is Hercule Poirot’s fourth outing.

Blurb from Amazon: “Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose.
But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish reading the letter, he was stabbed to death.”

Even though I thought it worth the read, it wasn’t my favourite, nor was it particularly memorable.

4 stars

7. THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES by B.J. Novak (Fiction, Children’s ‘Picture’)

I’m always overly dramatic in my readings of picture books to kids. So the idea of a ‘picture’ book with no pictures, that allowed kids to imagine, and adults to dramatize, appealed to me.

Maybe I was in the wrong mood when I read it, but the narrative seemed overly wordy and over the top.

Points for the concept and the basic plot.

4 stars

 
8. IMAGINARY LINE: Life on an Unfinished Border by Jacques Poitras (Nonfiction, Canadian)

The author recounts life in New Brunswick Canada living near the somewhat porous border with Maine USA.

Estcourt is unique: part of the community is in Québec, but the other part is at the northernmost tip of Maine, though cut off from the rest of the state by vast forests. There are no public American roads leading to Estcourt, which means that U.S. residents rely on Québec for access to electricity, telephone service, and road links to the outside world.

I’ve always thought, looking at a map of North America, that Maine should be part of Canada, sticking up the way it does well past the 49th parallel that forms most of the border across the continent. In Imaginary Line, Poitras recounts the history of land division that gave Maine to the USA and New Brunswick to Canada, and reveals the error of my thinking.

Why is this border “unfinished”? Because of a small island in the mouth of the Penobscot River that both countries claim, but neither will relinquish.

Very interesting – to both Canadians and Americans, I would think.

3½ stars

9. THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Fiction, Women’s)

From Amazon:”The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions . . . But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody . . . Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.”

Bottom line: I shouldn’t read women’s fiction with happy endings, no matter how well-written.

3½ stars

10. THE MUSSEL FEAST by Birgit Vanderbeke and Jamie Bulloch (translator) (Fiction, Literary, Translated)

A mother and her two teen-aged children have fixed a ‘mess of mussels’ for dinner because it is their husband/father’s favourite meal. They sit at the table, waiting. But he is late.

Written in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the father is meant to be an analogy of communism, the ultimate ‘tyrannical father’. Although this has been highly touted, I found it rather ponderous.

3½ stars

11. SALTWATER COWBOYS by Dayle Furlong (Fiction, Atlantic Canadian)

I so wanted to love this novel and it was so promising at its beginning:

The inhabitants of a Newfoundland fishing village shut down by the collapse of the Atlantic fishing industry, move nearly en masse to Alberta to work in the oil field. Their families go with them, which is often not the case.

The part of the book set in Newfoundland rang true, as did the beginning of the time in Alberta but once the author had solidified the setting and, to some extent, the personalities, the plot sadly fell apart.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. This did not affect my review.

3 stars

So there you have it: Can Lit in fiction both contemporary and historical, in nonfiction, and in poetry. Does anything appeal to you?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

In February 2015, my reading slowed down a bit after that heavy January but I read a book that has earned a place in my top 100 lifetime books, perhaps even the top 25. Everything else I read was excellent, too.

P.S. I didn’t read any mystery books this month, so this is the only post for February 2015.

 

1. A BEAUTIFUL TRUTH by Colin McAdam (Fiction, Literary)

Set in Vermont and in a Florida primate research facility, this story is told alternately from the point of view of humans, and chimpanzees.

A wealthy young couple Walt and Judy, unable to conceive children, adopt a young chimpanzee who enjoys a pampered life with them. Meanwhile, in Florida, chimps have been studied (and more) for decades. These two stories tragically intersect.

This is an extremely powerful book that continues to haunt me, though I read it nearly three years ago.

I can’t recommend this highly enough.

5 stars

 

2. THE CHICKEN THIEF by Fiona Leonard (Fiction, African, Literary)

 
Set in an unidentified West African country, this follows Alois, a consummate chicken thief who is recruited to protect a war hero.

It’s a gentle satire, amusing at times, but overall a bold statement on African politics.

4 stars

3. THE LOWLAND by Jhumpa Lahiri (Fiction, Indian, Literary)

The Lowland is the story of two brothers who grow up in a village in India. Ones moves to America, the other stays in his home village.

I found that, although this told a story with a powerful ending and was well-written, it dragged for me in spots.

4 stars

4. PRAIRIE OSTRICH by Tamai Kobayashi (Fiction, Canadian, Literary)

From an Amazon reviewer:

“Bookish, [Japanese-Canadian] eight-year-old Egg Murakami lives on her family’s ostrich farm in rural, southern Alberta. It is the end of the summer, 1974. Since her brother’s death, her Mama curls inside a whiskey bottle and her Papa shuts himself in the barn. Big sister Kathy — in love with her best friend, Stacey — reinvents the bedtime stories she reads to Egg so that they end in a happily ever after.

Confronted by bullies and the perplexing quirks of the adults around her, Egg watches, a quiet witness to her unraveling family as she tries to find her place in a bewildering world.”

Don’t read this if you require happy endings.

4 stars

 

5. THE COLOUR OF MILK by Nell Leyshon (Fiction, South African, Historical)

The Colour of Milk is told from the point of view of fifteen-year-old Mary who is asked to work in the home of the village minister. She’s a pretty girl with hair the colour of milk, and it is this that has attracted the man to her.

It’s a short book over which suspense steadily builds while the reader discerns what is coming.

4 stars

 
6. THE HOUR OF PERIL: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower (Narrative Nonfiction, Historical, American)

When we think of Lincoln and an assassination attempt, we no doubt think of Ford’s Theatre on April 15, 1865.

This book tells of police work that purportedly uncovered a plot to kill Lincoln in Baltimore in February 1861. Based on evidence, the law agencies were able to convince the President to change his train route and, as we know, he was not murdered then.

I’m not American so it takes a really good book to draw me into an isolated incident in US history. This well-written account kept my interest throughout.

4 stars

7. MOVING TO THE COUNTRY ONCE AND FOR ALL by Lisa Rogak (Nonfiction, Narrative Essay)

This was really an excellent guide for leaving an urban setting and settling into a rural life. There are chapters on how to choose a town, employment opportunities, and the nitty-gritty of country living, among others, and Lisa tells us about these in an engaging way.

The one problem with this book is that some of the material has seriously dated.

3½ stars

 
Have you read any of the excellent books in this month’s reading?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

This was the month I finally started several series that had been highly recommended and picked up some titles that fit various reading challenges I was unofficially participating in.

1. THE MESSENGER OF ATHENS by Anne Zouroudi (Fiction, Mystery, Series #1)

2. THE TAINT OF MIDAS by Anne Zouroudi (Fiction, Mystery, Series #2

3. THE DOCTOR OF THESSALY by Anne Zouroudi (Fiction, Mystery, Series #3)

I wasn’t sure what to expect of my first meeting with Hermes Diaktoros, but I was eager to make his acquaintance so when Netgalley offered these first three in the series, I jumped.

The series is set in Greece at an undetermined time – but in very real settings that make little or no use of modern technology. That could be mid-20th century, or it could be present day in an isolated rural area that is not up to date. To further confuse things, Hermes’ methods are very old-fashioned and a little bit unorthodox, and there is the tiniest bit of magical realism.

This series has everything: a setting that the reader longs to be part of, a likeable inscrutable protagonist, and good mysteries. There are seven books in this series, each dealing with one of the traditional seven deadly sins.

All of these books were excellent, although it is the story in the third one that has stayed with me three years later. There’s always justice in Zouroudi’s books although not always in the form you might expect.

I’m glad to be reminded to return to this series.

4½ stars each and every one

4. GREEN FOR DANGER by Christianna Brand (Fiction, Mystery, Vintage, WWII)

This was my second outing with Brand (the first in October 2014) and I found that Green for Danger certainly justified Brand’s place in the pantheon of great Golden Age mystery authors.

This second outing of Inspector Cockrill is set in a rural English hospital during WWII. The mystery is extremely well and fairly clued and although I caught on before the reveal, it was just enough before that I wasn’t frustrated by obviousness.

Tipped off by Nan from Letters from a Hill Farm, I found the movie version of Green for Danger on YouTube, and greatly enjoyed it. It was true to the book although, perhaps due to film quality, I think you’d get more out of it if you’ve read the book first.

Excellent – if you haven’t read Brand, do start here.

4½ stars

5. TURNSTONE by Graham Hurley (Fiction, Police Procedural, Series)

This turned up in my library queue because it fulfilled a reading challenge that unfortunately, ran out the previous month. Still, it looked interesting enough to try.

“Turnstone is the 1st of Graham Hurley’s Portsmouth based Faraday and Winter novels. Portsmouth is a city on the ropes, a poor, dirty but spirited city, with a soaring crime rate. And it is home for DI Joe Faraday.” (Amazon)

Faraday is a crusty old coot but when eight-year-old Emma Maloney gathers the coins out of her bank, gets on a bus by herself, and walks into the Kingston Crescent Police Station hoping just maybe the police could find her dad, just like they’d found her bike that time, he sees a case worth taking.

Despite the ever-growing caseload of a city torn by violence, poverty, drug-dealing and petty crime, Faraday spares time and resources for an investigation unsupported by hard evidence and works loosely with Paul Winter, another member of the CID force, whose ambition and methods Faraday dislikes and distrusts, but who gets results.

The characters are well-drawn and not at all one-dimensional, and the plot stands up.

4 stars

6. THE TOMB OF ZEUS by Barbara Cleverly (Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Series)

In February 2014, I greatly enjoyed one of Cleverly’s books from her Joe Sandilands series. Since then, I had heard positive things about her Laetitia “Letty” Talbot series, so I decided to give it a whirl, starting with the first in the series.

Set in 1928 Crete, it features aspiring archaeologist Letty, determined to succeed in a male-dominated field.

The mystery was solid, and kept me guessing, but I am so weary of Golden Age heroines with modern-day sensibilities. I may stick to Cleverley’s other series.

4 stars

7. WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD by Stuart Palmer (Fiction, Mystery, Short Story)

I could call this the ‘Case of the Disappearing Book”. When I went looking for a cover image for this, I was unable to locate one by Stuart Palmer, despite there being nearly a dozen others by this title on Amazon. But this wasn’t on Amazon, nor on my Kindle library, nor even in my iBooks app.

The mystery was solved when I looked at my original reading record and discovered that I had read this in a printed publication I receive. Give Me That Old-time Detection had reprinted it from a 1951 Ellery Queen Magazine. Old-Time Detection is a treasure trove of vintage stories and book reviews as well as current news from the field.

I’m assuming Where Angels Fear to Tread was classic and I liked it well enough, although I admit I don’t remember anything about it.

3½ stars

8. A KILLER PLOT by Ellery Adams (Fiction, Mystery, Cozy, Series)

In the small coastal town of Oyster Bay, North Carolina, “Olivia Limoges is the subject of constant gossip. Ever since she came back to town-a return as mysterious as her departure-Olivia has kept to herself, her dog, and her unfinished novel.”

But when townspeople start turning up dead with haiku poems on their bodies she, as a writer, becomes suspect and is drawn into solving the crimes. This is the first of the Books by the Bay series and is a solid, although not overly exciting, debut.

3½ stars

9. COVER OF SNOW by Jennie Milchman (Fiction, Suspense)

Nora Hamilton wakes one winter morning to find that her husband has hanged himself, leaving no note or explanation. When Nora starts asking questions, she is stonewalled at every turn.

I could recognize that this was a well-done suspense tale, although suspense isn’t my favourite genre. I did guess the “villain” of the conspiracy early on and was quite frustrated at how Nora kept missing it.

3½ stars

10. CROSSING THE LINE by Frédérique Molay (Fiction, Crime, Translated, Series)

In this, the second in the Paris Homicide series, Paris Chief of Police Nico Sirsky is on a bizarre case. Dental students have discovered a message in the tooth of a severed head, warning of murder.

The Paris setting was excellent, the suspenseful build-up was good, but the plot seemed to me to “cross the line” into the completely unbelievable. (Not the bit about the tooth; I bought that. The plot just went over the top at its climax.)

3½ stars

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

Yup – you read that right: 2015. I’m three years behind in recording the books I’ve read. But one must start somewhere, so away we go.

January! A new year – and I celebrated by indulging in mysteries. They’re in a separate post, as usual. Herewith are the four non-mystery books that I read.

 

1. SILENCE OF THE SONGBIRDS: How We Are Losing the World’s Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them by Bridget Stutchbury (Non-fiction, Nature)

I’ve noticed in the last few years and especially in the spring and summer of last year that there are fewer songbirds trilling their calls around our country property.
Since reading Silence of the Songbirds, I have a good idea why this is – not that it makes me feel any better.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is still a classic on this subject, but Stutchbury’s book is an up-to-date consideration of the whole of North America.

These are disturbing facts; I often see in my mind’s eye, even now three years after first reading of them, all those dead hawks falling from the sky over southern fields.

4 stars

 

2. THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY by Walter Mosley (Fiction)

91-year-old recluse Ptolemy Grey lives forgotten by the world and suffering from increasing dementia. He’s offered a chance to engage in an experimental drug test that will clear his mind, but cause his death within one year.

Publishers Weekly says: “Though the details of the experimental procedure are less than convincing, Mosley’s depiction of the indignities of old age is heartbreaking, and Ptolemy’s grace and decency make for a wonderful character and a moving novel.” I agree.

4 stars

 

3. ALAN TURING: ENIGMA MAN by Nigel Cawthorne (Nonfiction, Biography, History)

I was inspired to read Enigma Man after seeing the film The Imitation Game. This short biography of Alan Turing, genius of Bletchley Park and Britain’s chief codebreaker during WWII is the book on which the movie was based.

The book is a little dry, but short and worthwhile to have some background knowledge on this mastermind.

3½ stars

 

4. DILIGENT RIVER DAUGHTER by Bruce Graham

I buy a lot of books but most are clearance items or used. But remembering how much I had enjoyed The Parrsboro Boxing Club by Bruce Graham, I impulsively picked this book up at a bookstore and paid full price, expecting another gem, set in my adopted home province.

I was disappointed, however, since the WWI setting took the protagonist away from her home in Diligent River, Nova Scotia. The plot wasn’t strong enough to overcome that. This is not Graham’s best.

3 stars

 
I find that Silence of the Songbirds has really stuck with me. Have you read any good nonfiction books in the last few years that have the same effect on you?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

 
Since we don’t celebrate any of the holidays in December, the month usually means a bonanza of reading time for me when the stores are closed and my husband is off work. 2014 was no exception.

Mystery books are in a separate post.

 
The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier, illustrated by Shelden Cohen, translated by Sheila Fischman (Nonfiction, Picture book, Canadian)  

It’s impossible to say anything about this book and keep it to a paragraph or two. So I am going to have to write a separate post so that, if you are Canadian, you will know that you must be familiar with this story and treasure this part of your heritage (despite our Prime Minister’s opinion that there is no Canadian identity) and if you are not Canadian, you will understand a little about what makes this country tick.

I LOVE this book. 5 plus, plus, plus stars

 

Adé: a Love Story by Rebecca Walker (Fiction, Contemporary, Literary)

This is subtitled a “love story” but this is no romance novel. An American (or was she a Brit? It doesn’t matter really) falls in love with a native Swahili man while in Kenya. When an epidemic breaks out, they attempt to flee to the first world.

Adé is a love story in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet. Haunting and heart-breaking, it deserves to be a classic of 21st century literature. I have not been as touched by a book in a long time as I was by Adé.

I’m not saying more—you’ll just have to read the book. It’s short, it’s lovely, and it will stay with you a long time.

4½ stars

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Fiction, WWII Pacific front)

This 2014 winner of the Man Booker Prize is a look into the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway (“The Death Railway”) during World War II by Australians in Japanese POW camps. They worked in horrendous conditions in the Burmese jungle.

The modern-day part of this novel was annoying and superfluous but the WWII events will stay with you. Harrowing and powerful.

4½ stars

Sheep by Valerie Hobbs (Fiction, Children’s Chapter Book)

This chapter book for older children and adults, that tells the tale of a homeless border collie (his sheep farm burned) looking for a home, and an orphan, will pull your heart-strings.

It’s told from the point of view (mostly, as I remember) of the dog.

A great story that I’d like to read to my grandchildren.

There is a sequel called Wolf, which I’ve added to my reading list.

4 stars

The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Fiction, Children’s Chapter)

In the woods next to her family’s new home, young Robin finds an abandoned house. Inside she finds beautifully decorated rooms, including her favourite: a room done entirely in plush – the velvet room of the title.

If I had read this as a child, I would have loved it. And I think it would stand up to a rereading as an adult. But finding it for the first time in my seventh decade was not a perfectly satisfying experience.

3½ stars

 
Other People’s Lives by Johanna Kaplan (Fiction, 1970s)

This is a book that I requested from NetGalley because I was intrigued by the cover and title. I had hoped, I think, to peek in many apartments and many lives.

Instead, the book focused on one woman and her rather odd story.

Of course, that’s only my opinion. Other People’s Lives was the winner of a Jewish Book Award and was a finalist for the 1976 National Book Award.

3 stars

 
The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell (Fiction, Contemporary)

This is another book that I chose to work through the trauma I had felt going through my deceased’s mother home and belongings.

This fiction offering deals with adult children disposing of their hoarder mother’s ‘stuff’. It should have had a big impact on me but I don’t remember the plot at all.

3½ stars

 
The Children Act by Ian McEwan (Fiction, Contemporary)

I loved McEwan’s Atonement and was prepared to enjoy this book very much.

Judge Fiona Maye is dealing with an impending split in her marriage while she is reviewing a difficult case in her court. The case involves a blood transfusion for a seventeen-year-old minor who is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

It perhaps goes without saying that I was disappointed in her court decision, but I knew it could go either way – that’s real life.

However, McEwan’s portrayal of Witnesses is so off that it was completely wrong. Their vocabulary, their explanation (or not) for their stand, and their reaction to the ruling were all very wide of the mark.

It appears to me that he studied only one court document of an actual case like this one, and it makes me question the authenticity of any characters he represents in his other novels. It completely put me off McEwan and I couldn’t assign this even one star.

 

Holy Bible by Vanessa Russell (Fiction)

Another portrayal by an outsider to a faith – in this case, I believe it was based on the author’s youth in the Christadelphian ecclesia.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a Christadelphian, but I did have a well-adjusted, kind, and intelligent aunt who was.

I categorically cannot believe what is portrayed in this book. Perhaps some of the practices Russell describes in Holy Bible are based on fact, but they surely have been satirized to an extreme for effect, without explicit indication of this to the non-Christadelphian reader.

I did not find it at all conducive to opening up understanding and tolerance of other faiths.

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So a month of reading HIGHS and LOWS.

Have you a favourite book that defines your country’s identity as I feel The Hockey Sweater does Canada’s?

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

I read a small but enjoyable selection of mystery books this month.

Any of these tickle your fancy?

1. The Impersonator by Mary Miley (Fiction, Roaring Twenties Mystery #1)

Shades of Brat Farrar! In the 1920s Oliver Carr, an uncle to missing heiress Jessie, approaches vaudeville actress Leah Randall with a proposition: impersonate the missing woman, for whom she is a dead ringer, with the aid of his coaching, and split the fortune.

Well thought out and suspenseful.

4 stars

 

2. An Early Retirement by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Fiction, Mystery, eShort story)

A standalone eshort story by the author of the plus-size Odelia Grey mysteries.

This would have been a ringer to be included in Alfred Hitchcock or Ellery Queen magazines.

4 stars

3. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Is there a mystery reader out there who didn’t know about the waves this book made: the first Hercule Poirot novel written by a ‘ghost-writer’ for the late Agatha Christie? Feelings ran high in anticipation, and reactions were mixed.

I thought Hannah’s Poirot was right on the money, but the mystery itself was a little convoluted.

3½ stars

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

While I was coming to terms with the long-term tenancy of my step-daughter and two grandsons, I got back to some really good reading this month, discovering a book that has become one of my all-time favourites.

 
1. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction, Modern classic, Pulitzer Prize winner)

Although Pearl Buck was born in the United States in 1892, her parents moved to China as missionaries when she was just a few months old. She continued to live in China for most of her life before 1934. According to Wikipedia, her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.

Amazon says: “This moving, classic story of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-Lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during the last century.”

In 1938, Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature “for the notable works which pave the way to a human sympathy passing over widely separated racial boundaries and for the studies of human ideals which are a great and living art of portraiture”.

Indeed the themes of work, land and riches explored in The Good Earth are universal and timeless.
5 stars
 

2. The 100—Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Fiction, Contemporary, Satire)

As you might be able to tell from the title, this book, translated from Swedish, is told in a breezy, almost tongue-in-cheek style.

After ‘escaping’ from a nursing home, Allan Karlsson, much like Forrest Gump, encounters a series of adventures that become more outlandish as the book progresses.

Lots of fun.
4½ stars
 

3. Green on Blue by Elliot Ackerman (Fiction, Contemporary, Afghanistan War)

Due to circumstances, young Afghani teen Aziz must join the Special Lashkar, a US-funded militia. As he rises through the ranks, Aziz becomes mired in the dark underpinnings of his country’s war, witnessing clashes between rival Afghan groups—what US soldiers call “green on green” attacks—and those on US forces by Afghan soldiers, violence known as “green on blue.”

Ackerman brilliantly sets up the hopelessness of living in war, and he has us cheering on the protagonist in his concluding decision.

Well-written, riveting, and hard-hitting.
4½ stars
 

4. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (Fiction, Contemporary, Suspense)

Amazon says: “Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade.”

So here’s the thing: I must have enjoyed this at the time since I rated it 4 stars then, but I’ve forgotten it so thoroughly that I didn’t even remember reading it at all.

Hmmm . . . Guess I forgot what Alice forgot. I wish it had been more memorable.
3½ stars
 

5. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (Non-fiction, Social Issues)

Ehrenreich posed as a waitress in order to discover how the working poor in America cope financially. I expected to find an examination of the cost of living, but instead found the flip-side: the difficulty of making a living, earning an income.

As with any such journalism of this type, it’s hard to truly capture the desperation of not having the luxury of back-up, knowing that, at any time, you can return to another life, job, and bank account. Ehrenreich does acknowledge these limitations.

A fine effort.
3½ stars
 

6. The Brandons by Angela Thirkell (Fiction, Vintage, Comedy)

Originally published in 1939, The Brandons gives us a glimpse into the life of “Lavinia Brandon, quite the loveliest widow in Barsetshire, blessed with beauty and grace, as well as two handsome grown-up children, Delia and Francis.”

Somewhat typical Thirkell although perhaps even slower moving than most. About two-thirds of the way through my copy, I found a duplicate of the previous 40 pages (and 40 pages missing). I picked up the story easily even without knowing what happened in the missing section.
3½ stars
 
 

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Once again, I’m including the two mysteries I read this month in this post.
 

1. Miss Dimple Disappears by Mignon Ballard (Fiction, Mystery, Cozy)

Set in small-town Georgia USA in 1942, this first in the Miss Dimple Kirkpatrick series sees the steady-as-a-rock first grade teacher kidnapped.

I remember being a little disappointed in this, but I can’t recall anything else about it. Many readers, though, highly praise the details of the setting.
3½ stars
 

2. Everybody Goes to Jimmy’s by Michael Mayo (Fiction)

This second in the Jimmy Quinn series (I mistakenly thought it was the first) is billed as a suspense novel but, with its circa 1930 Manhattan speakeasy setting, it seemed more a mild sort of hard-boiled mystery to me.

I did enjoy it though and do plan to read more of the series at some time.
3½ stars

This was the start of a run of several months of good reading. Do any of these appeal to you?

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