by Donna Leon
This is the first book I have read by this mystery writer.
The mystery features a Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti. As the book opens Brunetti is grieving the death of his mother. He is still mourning his mother and is very upset to find a young girl of perhaps 10 drowned in the canal. He is more shocked to learn that she has a watch in her pocket, a ring up her vagina and that she has veneral disease. The girl has red paint/crumbs on her. It appears she may have slid or been thrown down a roof.
The ring is engraved so he is able to identify who it belonged to. The man is in Russia and his wife is surprised at the theft and denies any knowledge of a break-in.
They are able to identify the girl as a gypsy/Roma with previous interaction with police. They go to the parents to report the death. The mother is distraught the father seems disinterested but they do not come to claim their daughter. They end up leaving town with a |"new" car. Brunetti finds out that the daughter of the house that was robbed was dating the son of a government minister. He is told to back off even if he thinks the family had something to do with the girl's death.
There is another story about a priest who comes to Brunetti about a false prophet trying to take money from people. He manages to get officials onto the man and he leaves town. Not sure why this story was part of the book, it seemed somewhat extraneous. I expected the two stories to somehow be connected.
Brunetti has a boss, somewhat similar to the boss that Frost has in A Touch of Frost, coming up with crazy ideas for new procedures, very sensitive to politics in police investigations. Brunetti manages to do what he needs to do despite his boss. The book also shows the happy relationship Brunetti has with his wife.
This was an entertaining if not meaty mystery.
Monday, 19 January 2015
Walking Home: A Pilgrimage From Humble to Healed
by Sonia Choquette
This is the story of a successful public speaker/life coach who suffers some tragic events in her life, her brother and father die and then her marriage seems to fall apart.
She decides that she needs to regain perspective in her life and thinks that walking the Camino is what she needs to do. The book outlines her personal experiences and the emotional cleansing as she walks the route. I have read several books about the Camino, some good, some not so good.
She did the Camino is a slightly easier way than many travellers. She hired a company to carry her luggage from one stop to the next and she decided to stay in hotels rather than the pilgrim refugios. Despite this she still had a great deal of physical pain in her feet throughout the walk.
This book was probably the most self-focused of all of them. She was totally concentrated on her experience and seems to document her adventures on a day by day basis. Many of the other books talked a bit more vaguely about experiences and talked more about some interactions and observations with other people. That is not to say this was not a good thing, it was just different. As she travels she comes to learn that many of the wrongs she felt have been committed by her are in part her perceptions of things and she comes to understand and forgive her father and her husband.
I enjoyed the story and her honesty.
This is the story of a successful public speaker/life coach who suffers some tragic events in her life, her brother and father die and then her marriage seems to fall apart.
She decides that she needs to regain perspective in her life and thinks that walking the Camino is what she needs to do. The book outlines her personal experiences and the emotional cleansing as she walks the route. I have read several books about the Camino, some good, some not so good.
She did the Camino is a slightly easier way than many travellers. She hired a company to carry her luggage from one stop to the next and she decided to stay in hotels rather than the pilgrim refugios. Despite this she still had a great deal of physical pain in her feet throughout the walk.
This book was probably the most self-focused of all of them. She was totally concentrated on her experience and seems to document her adventures on a day by day basis. Many of the other books talked a bit more vaguely about experiences and talked more about some interactions and observations with other people. That is not to say this was not a good thing, it was just different. As she travels she comes to learn that many of the wrongs she felt have been committed by her are in part her perceptions of things and she comes to understand and forgive her father and her husband.
I enjoyed the story and her honesty.
The Bone Season
by Samantha Shannon
This book is a debut novel by a young British writer.
It is a tale set in the future and with a somewhat altered earth history.
As the book opens in England there are many people with various degrees of clairvoyant skills. These people are considered unnaturals and are being hunted. The main character, Paige, has a high level of skill and she is being tested by her mentor to find out exactly she can do. She has told her father she works at an oxygen bar but she actually works as part of an underground group of people with these skills. She has to be careful as she travels around as there are people who can sense her skill and will attack or arrest her.
She is usually driven around in a taxi but one day she ends up having to take the subway home. Another clairvoyant notices her and then some officials enter the train car. Paige ends up killing one of the officials with her mind and making a vegetable of the other one. She manages to make it to her father's house but shortly after she is chased and captured.
She is taken to Oxford. The city is rumoured to be deserted but it is actually populated and governed by an an otherworldly race called the Rephaim who want to control all clairvoyants for their own purposes.
Many of the clairvoyants are used and abused in Oxford, they even have to scrounge for food. Paige is lucky, her keeper, who is high up in the power structure tries to train her and does not mistreat her. Even though she hates him she saves his life when he is injured.
Some of the clairvoyants are reconciled to her fate but Paige plots to escape. She is surprised that her keeper and some of his kind seem to be on her side.
I am not generally a big fan of fantasy books but this book was certainly a well told story that kept your interest. The various types of clairvoyants was a bit confusing, not sure why that was necessary. Quite impressive for a first book.
This book is a debut novel by a young British writer.
It is a tale set in the future and with a somewhat altered earth history.
As the book opens in England there are many people with various degrees of clairvoyant skills. These people are considered unnaturals and are being hunted. The main character, Paige, has a high level of skill and she is being tested by her mentor to find out exactly she can do. She has told her father she works at an oxygen bar but she actually works as part of an underground group of people with these skills. She has to be careful as she travels around as there are people who can sense her skill and will attack or arrest her.
She is usually driven around in a taxi but one day she ends up having to take the subway home. Another clairvoyant notices her and then some officials enter the train car. Paige ends up killing one of the officials with her mind and making a vegetable of the other one. She manages to make it to her father's house but shortly after she is chased and captured.
She is taken to Oxford. The city is rumoured to be deserted but it is actually populated and governed by an an otherworldly race called the Rephaim who want to control all clairvoyants for their own purposes.
Many of the clairvoyants are used and abused in Oxford, they even have to scrounge for food. Paige is lucky, her keeper, who is high up in the power structure tries to train her and does not mistreat her. Even though she hates him she saves his life when he is injured.
Some of the clairvoyants are reconciled to her fate but Paige plots to escape. She is surprised that her keeper and some of his kind seem to be on her side.
I am not generally a big fan of fantasy books but this book was certainly a well told story that kept your interest. The various types of clairvoyants was a bit confusing, not sure why that was necessary. Quite impressive for a first book.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
The World's Strongest Librarian
by Josh Hanagrane
This memoir is about a Mormon man who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome and who became a Librarian.
It gives a detailed, heartbreaking account of how Tourette's has affected him and what he has done to try to control the effects. His best solution appears to be constant exercise with heavy weights to tire himself physically. The book details the struggles through his life as he tries to deal with the disease and get an education. He is forced to abandon his Mission as a young man because of the condition. It takes him 10 years to get his BA because he has to withdrawn from courses frequently because his symptoms are too severe. But he perseveres and not only achieves a BA but also a Masters in Library Science Degree. He doesn't think he will ever be employed long term or loved but he achieves both. He finds a lovely woman and they hope to start a family but after several miscarriages they apply to adopt. They are found unsuitable, perhaps because of his condition, but more likely because they told the truth in their interviews.
His stories about his life as a librarian are very true to life and amusing. I could recognize many of the situations he described.
He talks about his religion and his own struggles with his faith.
It was a very interesting and engaging story.
This memoir is about a Mormon man who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome and who became a Librarian.
It gives a detailed, heartbreaking account of how Tourette's has affected him and what he has done to try to control the effects. His best solution appears to be constant exercise with heavy weights to tire himself physically. The book details the struggles through his life as he tries to deal with the disease and get an education. He is forced to abandon his Mission as a young man because of the condition. It takes him 10 years to get his BA because he has to withdrawn from courses frequently because his symptoms are too severe. But he perseveres and not only achieves a BA but also a Masters in Library Science Degree. He doesn't think he will ever be employed long term or loved but he achieves both. He finds a lovely woman and they hope to start a family but after several miscarriages they apply to adopt. They are found unsuitable, perhaps because of his condition, but more likely because they told the truth in their interviews.
His stories about his life as a librarian are very true to life and amusing. I could recognize many of the situations he described.
He talks about his religion and his own struggles with his faith.
It was a very interesting and engaging story.
Monday, 5 January 2015
The Blazing World
by Siri Hustvedt
This is an unusual and fascinating book, one of my favourite books of the year.
The book is about a frustrated female artist from New York. She is angry because her art is not recognized and praised. She blames her lack of success on the male focused art community. She plots her revenge/recognition by collaborating with three male artists. She works with them and they agree to pass of her work as their own. The first artist gets acclaim but then cannot handle the fame and leaves to travel the world. The second artist is originally a gay comedian whose act is to be painted half black and half white and perform as male/female characters dialoguing with each other. He too achieves acclaim but leaves for South America with a male lover.
Harriet (Harry) Burden. Her use of the name Harry and the last name "Burden" explain her wish to be equal as a male and the burden she feels she bears. Her feelings of being disregarded are in part due to the lack of affection she felt from her father.... she suspects he would rather she be a boy and also to the fact that her husband, an art collector/agent did not really do anything to promote her work and often discounted her opinions even though she was well read and intelligent. Her mother also was muzzled by her husband. Harry is also tormented by the fact that her husband had other lovers during their marriage, male and female. Why wasn't she loved? Good enough?
Harriet fills her house with strange little rooms with words and characters, with human figures of huge or distorted shapes, some are wired so that they feel warm. She also fills the house with stray humans... a young girl, a psychic stays for a while, a mental person, referred to as the Barometer because he seems to react to weather changes, spouts gibberish, and spends most of his life in her house.
Harriet is eventually befriended by a failed poet and they have a relationship. The man, Bruno, loves her deeply and puts up with her rants and tantrums. Harriet's daughter is a good dutiful daughter, always looking after her mother. Her son, an aspiring writer, is a disappointment to her as she always cared for him and his sensitive nature and as a adult he is aloof and hardly sees her.
Harriet comes up with the idea that if she can get her art recognized after being presented by men she will be vindicated in the artistic community. She not only works with the three artists but even creates some imaginary experts who write articles to scholarly journals to promote/present her ideas and comment on her work.
The first two artists work out okay with her, but the third artist, who calls himself Rune refuses to acknowledge his work as hers. She and he have some strange interactions where they put on masks and they pretend to be other characters. This brings out strong emotions and a sense of power in Harriet as she plays the role of a male character. She finds this invigorating but Rune seems to use this experience against her.
We find out that Rune had a difficult life as a child, his mother, a beauty queen, was very unhappy in her role as housewife and mother and drank a lot. Rune and his sister did a lot to cover for and protect her. The father seemed to be unable to cope with his wife and her moods. When the mother dies Rune leaves home cutting himself off from his father and sister. He later returns to stay with his sister for a time but ends up verbally abusing her and trashing her apartment. He moves to New York and achieves some acclaim for his art which involves some films.
When her plan to get recognition and thumb her nose at the art community fails, Harry is furious and rants and rages to her family and friends and drives Bruno away. Later they do get reconciled and he and her family are with her as she succumbs to cancer.
The story of the book is interesting but especially interesting is the way in which the author tells the story. The book purports to be a scholarly study of Harry by an academic. He includes chapters that supposedly come from her diaries, interviews with people who knew her including artists, articles about art, etc. This makes for an interesting perspective as you see the story and impressions of her from several perspectives. It in part seems to talk about different personas people adopt in different situations, memory, how we might unintentionally or even deliberately revise our memories/past -- Rune does this creating stories about his past, telling lies about himself, etc.
The character Harry is not someone you can feel sympathetic for, she seems in good part to be author of her own misfortune. She should have stood up to her father and her husband and perhaps also been more forceful in promoting her own work instead of trying to trick the art community. I don't think she appreciated/acknowledged the people who really cared about her and you think she should have known how diabolical and selfish Rune was - in some ways they were very much alike -- totally self absorbed. I think this books was brilliant.
This is an unusual and fascinating book, one of my favourite books of the year.
The book is about a frustrated female artist from New York. She is angry because her art is not recognized and praised. She blames her lack of success on the male focused art community. She plots her revenge/recognition by collaborating with three male artists. She works with them and they agree to pass of her work as their own. The first artist gets acclaim but then cannot handle the fame and leaves to travel the world. The second artist is originally a gay comedian whose act is to be painted half black and half white and perform as male/female characters dialoguing with each other. He too achieves acclaim but leaves for South America with a male lover.
Harriet (Harry) Burden. Her use of the name Harry and the last name "Burden" explain her wish to be equal as a male and the burden she feels she bears. Her feelings of being disregarded are in part due to the lack of affection she felt from her father.... she suspects he would rather she be a boy and also to the fact that her husband, an art collector/agent did not really do anything to promote her work and often discounted her opinions even though she was well read and intelligent. Her mother also was muzzled by her husband. Harry is also tormented by the fact that her husband had other lovers during their marriage, male and female. Why wasn't she loved? Good enough?
Harriet fills her house with strange little rooms with words and characters, with human figures of huge or distorted shapes, some are wired so that they feel warm. She also fills the house with stray humans... a young girl, a psychic stays for a while, a mental person, referred to as the Barometer because he seems to react to weather changes, spouts gibberish, and spends most of his life in her house.
Harriet is eventually befriended by a failed poet and they have a relationship. The man, Bruno, loves her deeply and puts up with her rants and tantrums. Harriet's daughter is a good dutiful daughter, always looking after her mother. Her son, an aspiring writer, is a disappointment to her as she always cared for him and his sensitive nature and as a adult he is aloof and hardly sees her.
Harriet comes up with the idea that if she can get her art recognized after being presented by men she will be vindicated in the artistic community. She not only works with the three artists but even creates some imaginary experts who write articles to scholarly journals to promote/present her ideas and comment on her work.
The first two artists work out okay with her, but the third artist, who calls himself Rune refuses to acknowledge his work as hers. She and he have some strange interactions where they put on masks and they pretend to be other characters. This brings out strong emotions and a sense of power in Harriet as she plays the role of a male character. She finds this invigorating but Rune seems to use this experience against her.
We find out that Rune had a difficult life as a child, his mother, a beauty queen, was very unhappy in her role as housewife and mother and drank a lot. Rune and his sister did a lot to cover for and protect her. The father seemed to be unable to cope with his wife and her moods. When the mother dies Rune leaves home cutting himself off from his father and sister. He later returns to stay with his sister for a time but ends up verbally abusing her and trashing her apartment. He moves to New York and achieves some acclaim for his art which involves some films.
When her plan to get recognition and thumb her nose at the art community fails, Harry is furious and rants and rages to her family and friends and drives Bruno away. Later they do get reconciled and he and her family are with her as she succumbs to cancer.
The story of the book is interesting but especially interesting is the way in which the author tells the story. The book purports to be a scholarly study of Harry by an academic. He includes chapters that supposedly come from her diaries, interviews with people who knew her including artists, articles about art, etc. This makes for an interesting perspective as you see the story and impressions of her from several perspectives. It in part seems to talk about different personas people adopt in different situations, memory, how we might unintentionally or even deliberately revise our memories/past -- Rune does this creating stories about his past, telling lies about himself, etc.
The character Harry is not someone you can feel sympathetic for, she seems in good part to be author of her own misfortune. She should have stood up to her father and her husband and perhaps also been more forceful in promoting her own work instead of trying to trick the art community. I don't think she appreciated/acknowledged the people who really cared about her and you think she should have known how diabolical and selfish Rune was - in some ways they were very much alike -- totally self absorbed. I think this books was brilliant.
The Betrayers
by David Bezmozgis
This is the story of as Israeli politician who finds himself in a compromising position.
He is in the cabinet and he is opposing closing some of the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. His party wants him to be quiet but he isn't. They then threaten him with revealing an affair he is having with a young woman if he doesn't be quiet. His reaction is to run away with the young woman to Eastern Europe. They choose to stay in a B&B with a couple. The man of the family turns out to be a man the Israeli was instrumental in imprisoning in Russia years before. The man had changed his name and is trying to create a new life for himself. He is afraid the Israeli will blow his cover.
As the book proceeds the Israeli and the other man relive the past and eventually the former prisoner reveals that he took the fall for his brother.
This is a book about memories and assumptions people make about each other.
I found it an interesting story, it is hard to describe more of the book because so much was cerebral.
This is the story of as Israeli politician who finds himself in a compromising position.
He is in the cabinet and he is opposing closing some of the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. His party wants him to be quiet but he isn't. They then threaten him with revealing an affair he is having with a young woman if he doesn't be quiet. His reaction is to run away with the young woman to Eastern Europe. They choose to stay in a B&B with a couple. The man of the family turns out to be a man the Israeli was instrumental in imprisoning in Russia years before. The man had changed his name and is trying to create a new life for himself. He is afraid the Israeli will blow his cover.
As the book proceeds the Israeli and the other man relive the past and eventually the former prisoner reveals that he took the fall for his brother.
This is a book about memories and assumptions people make about each other.
I found it an interesting story, it is hard to describe more of the book because so much was cerebral.
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