A Work in Progress

Favorite Reads of 2016 & Misc.

Maybe the best gauge of how successful a reading year has been is to try and choose a few favorite books out of a long list of those read.   The harder the choice the better the reading year perhaps?  My list was longer than what I have narrowed it down to here, but the few I am sharing are the books that floated to the top without any hesitation. 

My top three favorite reads this year:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin -- James Baldwin wrote so simply yet so eloquently and so very assuredly, too.  This is a man who must surely have known what it feels like to be so very conflicted about his sexuality.  What it means to know a truth yet not want to believe it.  To know even as you are hurting someone you love, how they can see inside you for what you are, even while you ignore it all.  They trust you and love you despite your shortcomings.  This is a beautiful yet tragic story which was a pleasure to experience even though it was a somewhat painful read.  

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi -- This was a beautiful memoir about a man at the very beginning of a promising career and a happy life, which ended far too soon--but sometimes it is books like this which are almost unbearably sad that act as reminders---that it takes a tragic death like Paul's to remind us how to live.  What a talented man and one who was so inquisitive and so earnest in his search for meaning and understanding and knowledge, it must have been devastating for his family to see him go through what he did.  It was at times almost devastating to read about it.  This was really an inspiring book to read and one I read with relish to be honest.  

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri -- I read for a lot of reasons, but it is for books like this that I love reading.  Every so often a book will come along and you think, yes, that's it.  That's why I spend so much of my time with books.  Why I read so many.  There are a lot of good books out there, and entertaining books, but it's books like this (like all the books on my list) that float to the top, that raise the bar for all other writers.  Everything about this book was pitch perfect--the writing, the storytelling.  She brought the Ganguli family to life and I loved being privy to their world for the time I spent in those pages.

***

And a few more really standout reading experiences (in no particular order):

Love and Summer by William Trevor -- Trevor was a master storyteller.  What he could convey in so few pages (this like many of his other works are quite slim offerings) was amazing.  He wrote with assurance, style and eloquence.  The literary world dimmed just a little bit with his passing this year, but happily he left behind a large body of work.

Foster by Claire Keegan --Maybe there is something in the water over in Ireland.  Claire Keegan's novella stays with me still after so many months have passed by.  Yet another example of how an economy of words can be a richer read than hundreds of pages filled with endless detail and description.  It's not quite a coming-of-age story, but it does have about it a realization of a different world and is about a transformative experience both literally and psychologically. 

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown -- This was such an amazing read (reread!), written more than forty years ago it stands the test of time well and surely must be considered a modern classic (it certainly is in my book).  It is a story that is both laugh out loud funny and painfully true at the same time.  Molly Bolt is one of the most genuine, funny and delightful heroines in all of literature for me.  She's spirited and sassy and I would be pleased to have her as a friend.  She has then, been added to the official roster of most favorite characters of mine.  If I could snap my fingers and make her appear or if I could sit next to her at a dinner party I would do so in a heart-beat.  

The Crimson Rooms and The Woman in the Picture by Katharine MacMahon -- The Crimson Rooms was a reread in anticipation of reading the sequel, The Woman in the Picture.  I love her writing generally, but I adore both of these novels.  If I could inhabit the pages of a book, literally walk into a story and be part of that world, I would do so with Katharine MacMahon's novels.  Actually the reading experience is much like being transported to another time and place.  For a variety of reasons I really clicked with these two books.  Her writing is smart and elegant, the characters interesting and likable and very human.  I will happily pick these books up again sometime.  Maybe sooner than later.

A Quiet Drink by Deborah Moggach -- This is the sort of story where you know two people are going to come together, only it takes most of the book to happen, and then when it does it is a quick delight, a disaster and then an unexpected though perfect ending that almost really couldn't conclude any other way.  And Deborah Moggach pulls it all off spectacularly. 

***

And just for fun a few notable mentions:

Book most likely to make you binge next time you pass by a bakery: The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller.  I can only say: Yum.  It was indeed a delicious reading experience.

Most taciturn (yet wholly 'crushable') character: Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi, Commissario of Public Safety in the Mobile Squad of the Regia Quesura, or Royal Police Headquarters, of Naples . . . most recently encountered in Blood Curse.

Most satisfying romance: Death in Zanzibar by M.M. Kaye.  A reread.  And will reread again sometime!

Biggest slog: Decision at Delphi by Helen MacInnes (sorry, probably more my fault than hers, but it could have used more editing.  I'll try one of her other books sometime, however).

Most surprisingly well done (and I am so glad I didn't give up on it . . . almost made it only my favorite list): In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes.

Most colossal reading failure: The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst.  It has been the book I constantly 'mean to read', it is in the back of my mind and probably the book is sitting there right in reach, but I never pick it up.  I did pick it up.  And then set it down. So, it now retains that same title after all.  Poor doomed read.

Best new finds (authors) this year: Ge Fei and Akhil Sharma.

I will be making the blog rounds soon, but please feel free share your favorites, too!

Books by the Number: 2016 Edition

Once again I did a very poor job of tracking my reading this year, so this is going to be rather pell mell, and no, it doesn't matter very much in the end.  I do like to see where my reading has taken me over the course of the year, how and where it meandered.  So, just a matter of curiosity really, but here's a little break down of this year's reading:

• Books read: 86 (Finally I have done better than the previous two or three years and I might still potentially finish a couple more yet!)
• 14th century: 1 (Boccaccio!--even if it was only an excerpt from a longer work)
• 18th century: 0
• 19th century: 1
• 20th century: 30
• 21st century: 54
• Books published in 2016: 10
• eBooks: I don't think I read any ebooks exclusively, but I did read ebook versions at the gym of books I had physical copies of.
• Fiction: 50 (More fiction this year than last?)
• Nonfiction: 10 (sort of looks impressive, but many of them were from the Penguin Underground series or other short works)
• Nature: 1 (once again a short work)
• Classics: 2 (really?  That's it.  How sad!)
• Fairy Tales/Mythology: 1 (actually a fable)
• Mysteries/Crime/Suspense: 13 (Fewer mysteries this year than last however)
• Science fiction: None unless you can count Alex + Ada and Saga comics
• Espionage: 1 (hmm)
• Juvnile/YA novels: 1 Juvenile (Moomin) book and not a single YA
• Books written by women: 53
• Books written by men: 32
• Books written by more than one author: 1
• American authors: 32
• British authors: 27
• Canadian authors: 6
• Australian/Irish authors: 5
• Subscription Books: 7 (I did, however, read 8 NYRBs)
• Books in translation: 14 (Translated from: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian and Swedish)
• Short story collections: 6
• Novellas: 3
• Graphic Novels: 10 (Twice as many this year as last)
• Diaries: 1
• Plays: 1
• Virago Modern Classics: 3 (More Viragos last year, but I plan on reading many more of my Viragos next year)
• Persephone Books: None--another sad year without a single Persphone it seems
• Books read that were checked out from the library: 7
• ARCs/Review Copies: 5 (But I have several more that I should have reviewed and have not done so yet)
• Books read from my own shelves: 74 (I wonder how many are older books rather than newer/recently bought books)
• Rereads: 4 (Only 4?  It felt like more: Helen Humphreys, Judith Knoll Healey, Katharine MacMahon, M.M. Kaye)
• Multiple books by the same author: 9 (Antonia White, Brian Vaughan, Jane Smiley, Jean Giono, Jonathan Luna, Katharine MacMahon, Maurizio de Giovanni, Meags Fitzgerald and Tove Jansson).
• Books by Nebraska authors: 0

So, there you have it.  The year in review.  It's sort of curious how similar one reading year is to another.  It would seem as though I am quite stuck in a pattern.  Here are previous years.  I'm ready for another fresh start! By the way, I keep an Excel spreadsheet with this information to make it easy to tally at the end.  I did a poor job of keeping up, though.  I don't recommend filling in the information the night before you plan on sharing the numbers . . .

Now I get to look back and decide which books are really standout reads.  I will share very soon.

And a Few Last (mini) Reviews

Just a few more books to tidy away before I make ready to dive into the new reading year.  Since this has become my reading journal of sorts (though next year I hope to go back to a paper journal in some form or other), I have wanted to try and write about all my reading even if it is only a brief mention, teaser or review.  I have not done such a good job as I would have liked writing about my reading right when I finish, but I think I have made a pretty valiant effort in the last few weeks to catch up. 

It is not an easy thing to write about a book I read earlier in the year--the more time and distance from finishing a book the blurrier it becomes, yet at the same time revisiting a story through writing about it also imprints it a bit better in my mind and makes for a nice place to go back to and see what I thought of a particular book much later.  If nothing else it is a record of what I was reading at any given time.  So, one of next year's 'goals' will be to write about my reading in a more timely manner.  But goals and wishes and dreams (and lists!) in a day or so.  (Can you believe we are almost at the end of the year?  I want to be finished with 2016 yet I am a little afraid, too, what 2017 will bring).

***

Working in reverse order, I read Pat Barker's Life Class way back in April.  It is the first book in a trilogy, of which I read the second book first (back in 2014!), but that won't stop me thinking about it now.  All in anticipation of reading the last book, Noonday, next year.  Life Class begins in 1914 just before the start of the Great War and follows a trio of art students attending the Slade.  This love triangle: Elinor Brooke, Paul Tarrant and Kit Neville will shift over the course of the story, unresolved at times but ultimately coming together in a potentially satisfying manner in the end.  Kit Neville is already finding success as an artist.  Elinor is trying to make her way in a world (read that as her family) which sees her art as a hobby she'll give up upon marriage.  She's talented and serious and sees art as a way of life and a way of looking at the the world and making sense of it.  Paul is the one most at swim unsure of his talent and uncertain in his determination.

Then the war comes, each man goes off to fight his own war, or serve it in his own way--Kit as an ambulance driver and Paul as a medic.  Elinor keeps on with her art, keeping the war at arm's length not quite convinced of its worth and value.  Both men at some point are pursuing Elinor, but the war throws a wrench in their work and love.  War has a way of shifting sensibilities about and reordering the world.  And none of them will come out of it unscathed.  It's interesting to see how the war affects each character and how they view the world and each other.  For Paul, portraying the war through his art allows him to come into his own.  The horrors will change all their perspectives.  It is an interesting novel--looking at the question of how war affects art and the artists work and interpretation of the world.  It's a little bit of a disservice to try and write about the story now, and perhaps, too, to read the books out of order.  However, I think her Regeneration trilogy, which I have not yet read remains her masterpiece.

***

My very first Philip Roth novel, Indignation, is his twenty-ninth!  I feel like there should really be more fanfare for finally having read him.  It is a slip of a book but still chock full of interesting things to think about.  Perhaps not his best and maybe not what you might consider 'classic Philip Roth' (than again since I am a newbie in terms of Roth's work, I'm not entirely sure), but I think it likely touches on number of Roth's preoccupations in his writing.  Do you know what sticks with me even now, four or so months after reading it?  I think Roth has a fixation with writing about sex.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but curiously it sticks with me in particular in thinking back on this reading experience.  The other thing that sticks with me--he dropped hints all along, from the very first about what happens to the protagonist, Marcus Messner, and I missed most of them until almost the very end when it all becomes obvious.

This is a coming of age story, I think.  Marcus Messner is the only son of working class Jewish parents from New Jersey.  His father is a butcher and works hard so Marcus has the better things in life, yet he worries incessantly over his son.  So much so that Marcus decides to get as far away as he can and finds a most idyllic college in Ohio where he wants to simply fit in with everyone else (not be seen as a working class Jewish boy).  He falls for a beautiful but troubled young woman who is not Jewish and is seemingly forthcoming with her favors.  All this set against the backdrop of the Korean War.  There is more here than meets the eye, and all in all I quite liked the story.  The film adaptation was beautifully done by the way.   

***

I loved Dorothy B. Hughes's In a Lonely Place.  Loved it, but it did take some time to get into and effort to find the writer's storytelling rhythm.  But the more I read the better it got, and now I am reading the very informative afterword which was included in the Feminist Press edition I have (which is apparently, and sadly, out of print now).  It is a novel that is very much deserving its own review and one that should take into account the feminist interpretation (of which I am now reading) but I wanted to mention it now in case it ends up on my 'best of' list this year.  I can see why this is a crime novel classic.  It would seem that this is a novel full of 'firsts' and takes nothing for granted.  Hughes gave her novel its own very progressive (considering the period it was written--it was published in 1942) twists setting it well apart from the pulp of the day.

This is the story of a serial killer when America didn't even know what a serial killer was.  Dix Steele, a former airman who served in the war, is living in LA on the generosity of a friend who has gone abroad.  He's telling the story (the first novel of its kind with the murderer narrating the story?).  He's an angry man, though we can only assume it's thanks to the way, and he murders women.  Though over the course of the story there are not many and the murders always take place off stage.  He's cocksure and skilled at working the system.  This is how sure of himself he is . . .  one of his best friends, a friend from his war days, happens to be a cop for LAPD.  Brub Nicolai, isn't just a cop, but he is the detective who is investigating the murders, and he won't ever let the cases go cold.  He wants a result even if it takes a long time.  Dix takes on the persona of a writer and he falls for a beautiful blonde, Laurel Gray, who lives in the apartment above him.  Laurel is every bit as world wise as Dix and knows how to work the system equally as well. 

The atmosphere and tension just ooze in this story.  It is a slow burn of a novel.  It literally just seethes with suspense.  You expect something awful to happen, but Hughes is so subtle about it, which makes it all the suspenseful.  This is a psychological portrait of a killer at its best.  It is very Ruth Rendellian really, but all the more impressive since it seems to be one of the first of its kind.  Now I want to read all her books!

Maybe when I finish reading the rather lengthy afterword I will share more about the feminist interpretation.  And I do still hope to finish two or maybe even three more books, but I will save all those for the new year.  Now it is time to do a little tallying and pick a few favorites.  And I have already been thinking about my reading next year, too.  

Teaser Tuesday: A Few New Starts

I don't think I have been doing too badly when it comes to finishing those last gasp books I shared a week or so ago.  I have managed to line off three books from the list that I finished reading.  Five days left in the year and five books to finish (see sidebar nightstand books), though I think that is only very wishful thinking.  Maybe if I had the better part of each day to do nothing but read I could actually finish them, but it is probably not very realistic.  Three lined off, and I am now working on the next two.  Maybe I could even add one more leaving just a couple of carryovers into the new year.  Not so shabby really. 

The closer we get to turning over that calendar page the more excited I get to start the new reading year!  Yes, I am jumping the gun just a tad, but the anticipation has been too much (I can only be 'good' so long before I cave into the call of those books).  I knew I was going to pick out a new vacation read, something good to take into the new year.  But then I received a book for Christmas and then I realized my nightstand is devoid of a mystery novel at the moment, and now I find myself with not just one book but three.  But three books I am excited about, so let me share a teaser from each.  My vacation choice is a modern classic, the gift book is short stories and my mystery is a second in the series (and I have lately been wanting to try and not let my series books not languish too much).

Last year one of my NYRB subscription books was Chocky by John Wyndham, which I loved and have ever since wanted to read more of his work.  I am finally getting around to picking up one of his novels, The Midwich Cuckoos, which is "a classic take of aliens in our midst".  The premise--a silver object appears in the sky striking a whole village down but they awaken unharmed . . . except that women who are all pregnant.  I find that really freaky!  It starts:

"One of the luckiest accidents in my wife's life is that she happened to marry a man who was born on the 26th of September.  But for that, we should both of us undoubtedly have been at home in Midwich on the night of the 26th-27th, with consequences which, I have never ceased to be thankful, she was spared."

***

My friend Cath surprised me with a collection of short stories, Something Like Happy, by Scottish author John Burnside.  This is such a perfect gift since I love short stories and Cath is a poetry lover.  So there is this wonderful connection between two friends each appreciating some aspect of one author's work.  I had been pondering which collection to start my new year off with and that question has very conveniently been answered.  I am in the midst of reading the first story now which happens to be the titular story.

"The first time I saw Arthur McKechnie, he came into the bank with some cheques.  I had just started working there, fresh out of school and a bit nervous, I suppose, and I liked the way he behaved all polite and nicely spoken, which was more than I could have said for some of the other customers.  By the end of that first, almost wordless transaction, I had already decided he was someone I could have liked, but I had also noticed he was a bit too different, one of those men who thinks too much about stuff nobody bothers with, or he doesn't pay enough attention to other people to understand what they might do, when push comes to shove."

I was unfamiliar with Burnside though some of the stories appeared in the New Yorker.   He's been called the Scottish Raymond Carver, which seems recommendation enough to me to try his work.  So far I like what I see (read) very much.

***

It would seem I am ahead of the game with the second Mirabelle Bevan mystery, London Calling, which is not due to be published here in the US until the end of March 2017.  I read Brighton Belle last summer and was pleased to make Mirabelle's acquaintance.  Actually I liked Vesta, Mirabelle's neighbor and friend, just as much.  The two women are perfect partners really and promise to make a most entertaining and successful team.  There are five mysteries already out in the UK with a sixth forthcoming next year, so I have some catching up to do.  The stories are set in 1950s Brighton and are a mix of mystery and espionage.  Mirabelle worked for the Secret Service during the war and will put her skills and expertise to good use as a sleuth.  This story begins at the end of January 1952.

"Mirabelle Bevan turned up East Street from the front, the wind forcing her round the corner so she almost lost her footing.  Her hand went up to check if her hat was still pinned into place, which she achieved miraculously without losing the morning newspaper tucked under her arm.  From behind the long Georgian windows of her flat on The Lawns, the winter sunshine had appeared deceptively warm that morning, though now she came to consider it the waves had looked choppy as they broke on the pebble beach.  Mirabelle had had a turbulent night."

Mirabelle has an interesting back story as she not only worked for the Secret Service but she had been having an affair with one of the agents who happened to have been (an unhappily) married man until he died of a heart attack.  He had been the love of her life and now she is still trying to pick up the pieces of her life.  Mirabelle is an interesting character and I hope to spend more time with her this year.

I've definitely got a nice selection of new books to start the new year off with (and a few others waiting in the wings, too). 

Happy Holidays: Much Peace and Joy!

To everyone: I wish you much Peace and Joy in this Holiday Season--however you may celebrate.  My only real wish for the season is that we all share much kindness with our neighbors!

I have been spending time with my family and filling in any extra free time with as much reading as I can manage in all the nooks and crannies of those down-time moments.  I will be back in a few days to catch up on end of the year bookishness.

I do have to share these . . . a visit to my favorite used bookstore with my sister was in order for the afternoon of the 24th and look what treasures I was 'gifted' with.  Stacks of 'new' Viragos.  I have never had such luck in one bookstore visit.  I especially feel like the Rachel Ferguson novel on the top was a real coup of a find as I have long wanted this rare book!  Some booklover took very good care of these lovely Viragos and I promise to do the same.  One of these will certainly be vacation reading!

Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope that you also find, give or receive some special treasure, too.

The Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart

I was for sure that Mary Stewart's novel The Stormy Petrel was one of her first books, but as it turns out it was her last (published in 1991) save one.  It was quite a pleasant and enjoyable read, but very tame in comparison to say Touch Not the Cat or My Brother Michael.  Not that any of her books are ever terribly edgy or dark, but there is a gentleness to this story.  It's quite a light adventure with ends neatly tied together and while the happy-ever-after is not as blatant as expected (there are no first kisses or longing looks or the sort of attracted-to-you, but-you-still-annoy-me tussles, if you know what I mean), you are still assured that Rose is going to end up with the most eligible young man she's just encountered.

Rose is a wonderful character.  She is a young (late-ish twenties) Cambridge professor who teaches English and writes poetry. Dr. (Rose) Fenemore, struggling poetess.  All very elegant and highbrow don't you know.  She is an encouraging tutor to her students, two of which will cross paths with her later.  She does have an interesting side, unknown to those in Haworth College.  She has a side job which does well in helping pay the bills and planning picturesque vacations.  She may be a poorly paid lecturer to those who know her, but behind closed doors she receives a most acceptable amount of money in the guise of Hugh Templer.  "The flights of Hugh Templar's imagination paid Rose Fenemore very well . . ."

"They also gave her a much valued safety-valve for an almost too-active imagination.  The pure invention of these tales, the exercise of what at its best can be called the high imagination, allow the writer (in Dryden's phrase) to take the clogs off his fancy, and to escape the world at will."

Rose is a successful writer of science fiction novels, and a chance opportunity to rent a cottage on the Hebridean island of the Scottish Highlands means she will have quiet work time to pen her stories and work on her poetry.  She plans to travel north with her elder brother Crispin who, while happily married with children, has similar ideas as to what makes for a pleasant holiday.  His wife prefers a more routine vacation of theaters, shops and beach resorts.  But Crispin, a doctor by trade, spends his free time as an amateur photographer of more rustic locales.  He and Rose like to walk and fish and look at scenic beauty.  So their holiday is set, though Crispin must follow Rose several days later. 

A few days on her own on the island sounds blissful, as she'll be able to settle into the cottage and spend time on her newest book before their proper holiday begins.  Cue rain and thunder and now would be a good time to say, "it was a dark and stormy night . . .".  The island is small and not much populated, but the locals are friendly and helpful and Rose has no qualms for staying alone in the cozy cottage set in the aptly named Otters Bay.  It is a smaller house on the same premises of The House of the Tower, or Taigh na Tuir.  The owner's are gone and the house is to be sold, but the cottage is perfect for a short summer rental. 

So we've set the scene, picturesque and now a little atmosphere, please.  Dark and stormy right?  Rose is alone but safely ensconced within sturdy walls that can easily withstand the buffeting of the winds outside.  She hears something creaking downstairs and slips down in her robe thinking perhaps her brother Crispin has arrived sooner than planned.  And she sees in her kitchen a man turning from the sink, kettle in hand . . . "Who the hell are you?," is her response.

A good looking young man, cheeks flushed from the storm, cold and wet from the rain looking as rattled as Rose felt.  A curious story is forthcoming--he is the stepson of the people who own The House and the little cottage and has been away from the island only now returning after many years away in search of them.  As much as she wants him to leave she can't quite make herself send him back out into the stormy night especially when he so easily let himself in.  They decide he can bunk down on the sofa, when  . . . there's a knock at the door.  Thinking it's Rose's brother arriving he opens the door welcoming him in.  Rose's reply?  "I've never seen him before in my life."

Double trouble?  Indeed.  The new man, another young man had been camping in a tent when the storm blew up and sent his shelter flying.  So he's come to the place with the light hoping for a place to spend the night and keep dry.  It isn't just double trouble but trouble of a more illegal nature.  One of the men is telling the truth and the other is lying.  But can Rose tell which is which.  And then Crispin's arrival is delayed and now she's alone to sort out the trouble.  Her idyllic island vacation has taken on a more sinister turn. 

This is a story definitely that is more suspense than romance, and it isn't just sorting out her guests and their intentions.  Once she comes to trust one over the other there is the problem of the sale of The House and the likelihood that the island's natural beauty with the wildlife-seals and birds and abundant fishing will be ruined by the desire to turn it all into a noisy resort.  This is a story with a twist.  Perhaps it is not such a stretch from her earlier works yet even with the suspenseful elements it feels so much calmer and perhaps even a tad predictable than the rest.  But don't be disheartened, Mary Stewart's stories are always a delight and it is interesting to see how her writing and storytelling changes over time.  Oh, are you wondering what the title refers to?  It is both the name of a bird and a boat, both of which hold significance to this story!

Her books just hit the spot when something gentle and easy is needed as a distraction from life's stresses.

The Game by Laurie King

One of the things I like most about Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes' mysteries is their exotic locales.  Of course the era the books in which they are set, the 1920s, is right up my alley, and the intellectually driven conversations and witty repartee between the pair is hugely amusing.  And then these are true mysteries with a good puzzle at heart with both Mary and Holmes sharing in the unraveling of the cases.

Last time out Mary and Holmes were helping two friends in what was not exactly a mystery per se.  It didn't didn't start out that way in any case, but eventually a murder was uncovered.  It started out as a favor to convince the heir to Justice Hall that the place he belonged was not the family seat, rather dressed as an ill-tempered Bedouin in Palestine at the service of His Majesty.  So that mystery actually hearkened back to yet another earlier mystery that saw Mary and Holmes being spirited into Palestine clandestinely.  Yes, each new mystery does follow on the previous and builds the story and their history together just a little bit more. 

In the seventh Mary Russell mystery set in 1924, The Game, some much earned rest is interrupted when Mycroft (he always gets them into some messy situation, usually something in the service of the Crown) convinces Holmes (who then convinces Mary) that they are needed in the far flung reaches of the Empire once again.  This time they set off for India, but they get to enter by wholly legal and above board modes of travel.  Once they are there, however, now that is another story entirely.

You're familiar with Kipling's creation, Kim?  Yes, that famous Kim of the stories set in deepest darkest India.  Mycroft hands over a stained document that appears to be a soldier's clearance certificate, one belonging to "K-something O'Meara, or O'Mara", an Irishman in the then-Her Majesty's service.  Kimball is the name.  O'Hara.  When Mary asks if it all has anything to do with the Kipling book, Kim . . . indeed responds Holmes.  He worked with him.  Of course.  It would seem that this Kimball was undertaking covert government work and engaging in the 'Great Game' of border espionage.  He was always more native than white in his sensibilities, though never a turnkey.  He did, however, drop out of the Great Game.  And now he's gone missing and Mycroft is sending Holmes and Mary to go find him.  Rather like searching for a needle in a haystack really.

Only Mycroft could manage to hold a British train for Mary and Holmes to catch it.  Holmes very knowingly says of his brother, "the Empire is but a mere plaything to the whims of Mycroft Holmes."  First a train and then a boat and then to India.  Before they even manage to get there they are befriended by an exuberant American family (really it's mostly the daughter who is exuberant), and then they are almost killed.  But it's when they arrive in India that the real fun begins.  Why are Mycroft's invitations to do a bit of government work never easy?  Once in India Holmes and Mary once again take to being native, Mary must dress as a boy once more and the pair travel as itinerant magicians across country. 

They trek across country, performing as they go until it makes more sense for Mary to become once again a proper English lady when they cross paths again with the uncouth Americans while Holmes, along with their young helper Bindra (who seems to know much more than he is letting on) continue on on foot.  Off to, or maybe I should say up to Simla Mary goes where the party is welcomed by the local prince, handsome, erudite, well-spoken, a hunter and every bit as cold blooded as any man wishing to shake off the royal crown from his country.

Why do the mysteries Mary and Holmes get involved in always turn out to be more than they bargained for?  I won't give away too many details, but I will say that one thing I like so much about Mary is her ability to hold her own in almost any situation.  Including if need be a hearty round of 'pig-sticking' (hunting wild boar that is), or, thanks to the prince's malicious intentions hunting more formidable foes in the form of human beings.  There is a teaser for you!

This was yet another most satisfying installment in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery series.  I never tire of their adventures.  They are a nice mixture of mystery, adventure with a good intellectual bent and pitch perfect atmosphere.  Always a good historical mystery and often with a good twist and to top it all off, Mary is one of my most favorite protagonists in all of literature.  There is much to like about these books and I can't wait to dive into the next, Locked Rooms, which takes place in San Francisco and delves into Mary's upbringing (her father was American and her mother British and her early years were spent in California) and her experiences in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  The book is sitting on the top of my reading pile! 

A Middle of the Week Mishmash

Is it vacation time yet?  One more work day to go after today and then eleven virtually free days to spend as I like.  Well, minus a few holidays and family-obligation sorts of days.  Eleven days to catch up here, but only ten more days to finish this pile of books? Well, I admit it was a lot of wishful thinking.  I have finished two and imagine I will very likely finish maybe three more?  I think Jane Smiley is going to go with me into the new year (I didn't really realistically think I would get it read in the last couple of weeks of December anyway). 

That leaves six books but at least three of them I hope to finish . .  . so, three left?  That's not too bad really.  Which three.  And will I just send them back to the shelves.  I really don't want to carry over a whole stack of partial read books once again.  The reader's dilemma.  Or should I say, The Reader's Dilemma.  It seems like a phrase that should really be capitalized.  Maybe I will take a little extra time off here in order to read? 

So, just a little mindlessness for you today so I can put my attention elsewhere. 

I have one of these Ten Overlooked Books by Women on my own reading pile and there are two others I had wanted to read but just don't own.  At least not yet.

I have one of these (Some of the) Best 2016 Books from Outside the USA.  I am always on the lookout for books set elsewhere and all the better if they are translated works, too.

Curious what a few poets, musicians, diplomats, filmmakers, novelists, actors and artists read this year?  I especially like the books Maxine Hong Kingston read.  She seems (much like myself) an equal opportunity reader as not only is Charles Darwin on her list, but so is Wilkie Collins and Daisy Goodwin.  I have never read MHK by the way, but I do have a book or two by her.  Maybe this is a nudge towards one of those books next year?

For you poetry readers check out this New Year's Day Marathon Reading 2017 in celebration of the Poetry Project's 50th anniversary. 

Do you know I didn't read a single holiday-oriented novella or short story this year?  I wonder if there is still time to squeeze something short in.  Any suggestions?  Maybe some Dylan Thomas?  I have the Big Book of Christmas Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler (because murder and mayhem--fictional, mind you! is always good at holidaytime). 

But I have been giving a whole lot of thought to which book will be my (early--since I am not sure I will even manage to finish all those nightstand books) reward book for my vacation.  I plan on choosing one book (or maybe . . . two . . . just maybe) to start reading on Christmas Day that will carry over into January.  The choices keep shifting and I am not sure which it will be.  Such a good dilemma to have.

Happy first day of winter everyone.  Time to cozy up with a few good books.  (That's what I plan on doing for the next week or so).

Blood Curse by Maurizio de Giovanni

Is it curious (not if you know me, I suspect it's not at all) that all my favorite sleuths and detectives are women?  Maisie Dobbs and Mary Russell top the list.  I am very fond of Miss Marple.  And though I have not spent time with her of late there is Amelia Peabody.  And the Hon. Daisy Dalrymple is quite lovely and I could happily spend time with her (and she has the dishiest beau).  Even Phrynne Fisher gets high marks in my book, though I think she is a rather unique young woman.  If I branch out a bit, all of Mary Stewart's and Elizabeth Peters's protagonists are young women who show an enviable amount of moxie.  So ladies, no worries really, you will never be replaced, but you don't mind welcoming a gentleman into your midst, do you?  Granted he is a little unusual and, okay, maybe even a little taciturn at times.  But just give him a chance and I am sure you warm up to him just as I have. 

Shh.  I'll let you in on a little secret.  I even have something of a crush on him. 

Maybe you have already met and know of whom I am speaking?  He's Italian, which is always a good thing in my book.  May I introduce you to Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi, Commissario of Public Safety in the Mobile Squad of the Regia Quesura, or Royal Police Headquarters, of Naples. 

Now, let me describe him and you might think, really, is he all that attractive?  "Lean, of average height, taciturn.  Thirtyish; swarthy, narrow-lipped.  Nondescript in every way, except for his green and glassy eyes, and for the fact that he never wore a hat, not even in the dead of winter."  He has a peculiar talent, too.  I won't be giving anything away--he sees dead people.  Maybe that is not a talent but more an affliction.  It comes in handy in his crime solving--but only to a point.  If you saw dead people, you would probably be a little taciturn, too. 

This is Italy.  Naples in the Thirties.  Mussolini is in power.  It's not at all surprising that people are superstitious.  That they make the sign to ward off the evil eye.  That the woman to be murdered in Maurizio de Giovanni's second mystery, Blood Curse: The Springtime of Commissario Ricciardi, happens to be a woman who can predict the future.  Or that she also happens to be a moneylender.  But which is it that caused her to be murdered?  The suspects are ample and it could go either way really.  She has many clients for both her businesses.  And this is a working class neighborhood where passions are heightened anyway. 

Is it lost love, unrequited love, failed marriages or love affairs gone awry?  Money borrowed for a new business that in the end is a failure and means there is no money left to repay the debt?  Any number of people living in the Sanità neighborhood might be suspect.  But Carmela Calise has rich patrons, too, and they are not beyond the scrutiny of the Commissario and his most trusted and reliable partner the Brigadier Maione despite their superior's kowtowing to the rich of Naples.  The crime is an elderly woman beaten to death.   A business woman, but a woman with many possible enemies.

It's hard to say what is more appealing with these books.  (I read the first Commissario Ricciardi mystery earlier this year and was equally impressed).  The way the mystery is presented and plotted and solved, or the characterization.  It's not just Ricciardi that is interesting, but Maione and his wife, the entire cast of suspects and then there is Enrica.  Maurizio de Giovanni knows how to bring them all alive.

What I especially liked about this novel and what the author was so successful at doing is the intermingling of characters/suspects.  Reading about the Sanità neighborhood is like a slow camera panning across a city street taking in all the people, the places, the homes and storefronts, watching people go in and out and pass you by on the street.  Each has his or her own story to tell.  This isn't just a small neighborhood but a community of people whose lives touch upon each other and it's captured and presented so well.

And then there is Enrica.  Enrica sits by her window after dinner and embroiders in the last of the springtime daylight or under the glowing light of the lamp.  And Ricciardi looks out of his bedroom window each night to make sure she is there.  To peek in on her, this dark young woman with her left-handed stitching.  She helps take care of her sister's children, prepares the food and cleans up.  The shutters are always open. Enrica is always there.  While Ricciardi looks in, Enrica watches for him.  She is just as well aware of his presence as he is of hers.  It is an awareness that is much savored and longed for.  And when she is pulled into the investigation, yes, she had reason to consult with the Calise woman, Ricciardi is struck dumb to a point that Maione, his partner, must question her.  And when Ricciardi does utter a question is it taken insultingly by Enrica, misunderstood, misspoken.  And then the shutters close on her window.  Their despair, these two sad souls who longingly look from afar but cannot seem to connect, is palpable. 

It's Ricciardi and Maione.  It's the mystery, the solving of a passionate, bloody crime, and the stories of the people of the Sanità that appeal to me.  It's the storytelling and the unravelling of the crime. But it's Ricciardi and Enrica who have me most fascinated.  I have Everyone in Their Place: The Summer of Commissario Ricciardi sitting on the top of my pile of books for 2017 just waiting for me.  The next crime will be solving the murder of a Duchess.  Mussolini is going to make an appearance.  And I wonder if those shutters will come open once again.

Sharma's Family Life and Lahiri's The Namesake

I have two books to share with you today and I do so with great relish.  Both writers, my first go at their longer work (at least for one author I had already had a taste of their short story writing), are exceptional and write award winning fiction.  And in both cases I can easily see why.  It was their writing, their stories about Indian-American culture and an the immigrant experience in general that nudged me on to pick up Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy.

A couple of year's ago, when I was steadily reading each week's New Yorker short story dedicatedly (which I have hopes and plans on doing again in the new year) I was introduced to Akhil Sharma's writing.  Early in 2014 the New Yorker printed an excerpt from his then forthcoming novel Family Life.  I wrote about it here in case you are curious, but I will once again share one of the Q&A's that came out in tandem with the story. 

The story and the book as a whole capture moments of extreme crisis and emotion in your family. Were these things very difficult to write? Or did the process of fictionalizing allow you some distance?

Writing about what happened to my brother and to my family was awful. It was hard to look back at how much suffering there was and at how certain bad situations were made worse by our decisions.

Writing the book changed my interpretation of events, but what has really changed it is growing older. In the twelve and a half years since I began the book, I have got to know enough people who have had troubles in their lives—a woman whose mother committed suicide, a man whose child is a drug addict—that I can now see my own suffering as ordinary, just part of what it means to be a human being. I no longer think, Why me? Instead I think, Why not me? The one thing that I gained from writing this book is that it made me intolerant of unhappiness. When I am unhappy now, I often think, How much more of your life can you spend being sad? Go and find some joy.

I think those are wise words (I thought so then, too) and it is always good to be reminded of them.  Now, two years later the book is in paperback and something reminded me of Sharma's writing and it seemed the perfect moment to get back to the story and read it in full.  At the time I read the excerpt I thought there had to be more, the boy's story was left unfinished and unresolved. 

Sharma's Family Life, a novel based on his own family's experiences, is a story that encompasses many things.  It portrays the immigrant experience, is a coming of age tale, a family drama tinged with sadness and tragedy.  Set in the late 1970s, the Mishra family emigrates to the west at the behest of their father.  The Mishras might have preferred to stay in India had it not been for their father's strong desire to leave India and settle in the glamorous west.  In many ways their lives improve and their living situation was much better-they are wealthier by comparison. 

But then an accident befalls the older brother of the story's narrator, Ajay, and all their lives is thrown into disarray.  For all his life Ajay was always in the shadow of his older, smarter, more popular brother.  And now, in a sense, his life must be rewritten.  Every good thing that seemed to come to this family when they came to live in America, a place of potential wealth and opportunities all of a sudden is like a dream lost upon waking.  Now all the Sharmas must rewrite their stories.  This is mostly Ajay's story, told from the perspective of an adult looking back and trying to understand what happened to make him the way he is (well, I read somewhere-something along those lines anyway).

Honestly, I thought this was such a stunning work of art and Sharma writes with so much wisdom, truth and honesty.  Whatever each character's shortcomings it is hard not to feel real empathy for them.   This is a story with many rich layers and so much can be pulled out of them.  I will only say, too, that this is a novel that calls out to be read again as it has a somewhat ambiguous (though not unsatisfying) ending.

***

You may or may not have come across Akhil Sharma's work, but I expect if you have not already read Jhumpa Lahiri, you may have seen the film that was adapted from her novel The Namesake.  This is another very rich, full story of one family's, in particular the son's, experience as immigrants.  The Ganguli family comes to America from Calcutta in the early 1970s and the story follows their progress through to 2000. 

The namesake of the title is Gogol Ganguli, or Nikhil.  Gogol, the first born, American-born and with all the dreams and aspirations of the family on him.  His proper name was meant to be chosen by his great grandmother but the letter she mailed from India with the chosen name never arrives.  Here, the name must be given for the birth certificate right away, so he is christened Gogol after his father's favorite writer, Nikolai Gogol.  It is a name near and dear to Gogol's father's heart, as the writer, rather the book by Gogol he had been reading on a train journey, saved him from dying in a terrible train wreck.  He chose to sit up and finish reading when going to another place on the train would have meant sure death.

But to be christened with such a name and with so much meaning attached to it, becomes almost unbearable for the boy.  To grow up in a family steeped in so much tradition from the parent's birth country yet feel the demands of the new country is a burden many immigrants must struggle with.  It is like having one foot in each place yet not feeling a true part of either.  The story follows Gogol as he wrestles with the this burden, trying to grow into the name, a name fraught with so much meaning to his father, yet choosing to use only his "good name" (his public name) later on. 

The Ganguli's are a very typical family and even a typical American family in most cases facing all the same problems and successes, but each still has that weight of 'other' on their shoulders--not being exactly like other families who have lived here for generations--no matter how hard they try and assimilate.  Lahiri captures what it is to be the 'other' so well.  Still, there is as many similarities and maybe more so, than differences.  This is another story beautifully told both for the story and the writing and capturing the reality of these lives.

I read for a lot of reasons, but it is for books like both these that I love reading.  Every so often a book will come along and you think, yes, that's it.  That's why I spend so much of my time with books.  Why I read so many.  There are a lot of good books out there, and entertaining books, but it's books like these that float to the top, that raise the bar for all other writers.  I put off writing about them as I knew I could not do them justice, but I will happily press both into any reader's hands knowing they are the very best kind of stories.