The Reading List for July 2023

 

Today is the last day of July, so the time has come for me to post a list of the books I've read this month. Regular readers will notice that there was no posted list for June. I'll start by explaining the reason for that.

I had come across several recommendations for a book by Gabriel García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude. According to these recommendations, this particular book was considered by many to be one of the best books written in the 20th century. Last October, I had read two books by Márquez -Love in the Time of Cholera and In Evil Hour and had enjoyed both, so I had no reason to doubt these recommendations.

Márquez wrote his novels in Spanish and I know sometimes translations can fail to live up to the original, but in my view, the accolades for One Hundred Years of Solitude are overblown. I struggled with the book for nearly a month and found it unreadable. I hate to say this but I could not finish it - and I really struggled to do so. I realize I'm not the smartest person I know, but anyone looking at my book lists would have to agree that I'm fairly well read. I think it's the book, not me.

Four of the books I read in July are from "the nine books you must read in 2023". Those four are Half a Yellow Sun-The Midnight Library-Death at La Fenice and Sea of Tranquility. I can recommend all four.

One book not on the "nine books list" is America, a Redemption Story by Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina. The book was published before Senator Scott officially announced his run for POTUS. It's a very interesting book - Scott may not be the professional writer some of these others are, but I think the book is well written for all that.

The other four books on the list were all written by mystery writer Donna Leon. After reading her first book -Death at La Fenice - I knew I'd be reading more of her books. I've downloaded all 32 e-books in her Commissario Brunetti mystery series.

One book that I started in July which won't be finished in time to make this list is the first in Georges Simenon's detective Jules Maigret series. Simenon was a well respected Belgian mystery writer, but I can't get into his mysteries as I do Donna Leon, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers or Elizabeth George. Perhaps it's another case of losing something in the translation.

So now....the list for July 2023.

Half a Yellow Sun     by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Midnight Libray     by Matt Haig
Death at La Fenice        by Donna Leon
Death in a Strange Country      by Donna Leon
The Anonymous Venetian          by Donna Leon
Sea of Tranquility        by Emily St. John Mandel
A Venetian Reckoning     by Donna Leon
America, a Redemption Story    by Senator Tim Scott
Acqua Alta      by Donna Leon