The March, 2025 Reading List

 

Of the ten books read in the month of March, all but one fall into the crime/mystery/detective story genre. In February, only five of the ten books read that month fit into the same category. It would appear that my reading selections are heading in that direction.

Three of the books on the list are by Ed McBain from his "87th Precinct" series. I first learned of Ed McBain from my reading the work of Haruki Murakami. A character in one of Murakami's novels mentions reading something by McBain. I did a search of McBain and learned he wrote 55 books in the "87th Precinct" series. The three for this month are The Con Man,Killer's Choice and Killer's Payoff.

I had never heard of Scottish crime fiction novelist Denzil Meyrick until I read of his death recently. Going to the Wikipedia article on him, I learned of his DCI Jim Daley series, of which Whisky From Small Glasses is the first of eleven in the series.
I enjoyed the novel and I'm sure to go on to more. However, there are two reasons why I can't give this book five stars. The stories take place in Scotland, so naturally Meyrick gives most of the characters in the book Scottish accents. Yes, it gives an authenticity to the plot, but it makes it very difficult for me to follow along at times.
Also, without giving away anything, it became obvious to me who the killer was long before Meyrick let it be known in the story. Maybe I'm just too familiar with the crime fiction genre.
The Last Witness is the second in the same series. I'm really enjoying my discovery of Denzil Meyrick's DCI Daley series. The stories are exciting, suspenseful, and oddly enough, humorous at times.

Being a big fan of Donna Leon's novels (set in Venice) when I learned of a series, also set in Venice, by Philip Gwynne Jones, I thought I should look into them. I gave this first book in the series, The Venetian Game, only three stars.....I liked it but it doesn't compare to Donna Leon's writing. I'll eventually get around to finishing Jones' series, but all in good time.

Speaking of Donna Leon, I read two in her Commissario Guido Brunetti series. One of my favorite crime/detective series.

Although I grew up watching the Perry Mason tv series starring Raymond Burr, I never thought of reading Erle Stanley Gardner's books until recently when I watched some of the Perry Mason films from the 1930s starring Warren William. I must say, the Perry Mason character in the first book, The Case of the Velvet Claws isn't at all like the character as portrayed by either William or Burr.I'm giving this book three stars....an interesting read. I'll go to more in the Perry Mason series.

Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work by Johann Nikolaus Forkel was a disappointment and the less said, the better.

The complete list:
The Con Man        by Ed McBain
Whisky from Small Glasses    by Denzil Meyrick
The Venetian Game       by Philip Gwynne Jones
Killer's Choice      by Ed McBain
Killer's Payoff       by Ed McBain
Unto Us a Son Is Given   by Donna Leon
Trace Elements        by Donna Leon
The Last Witness   by Denzil Meyrick
Johann Sebastian Bach:His Life, Art, and Work   by Johann Nikolaus Forkel
The Case of the Velvet Claws    by Erle Stanley Gardner

Reading List For February, 2025

 

Although there's still several hours left in February, it's unlikely that I'll finish another book today so I'll go ahead and post the list of books I read in February, 2025.

Fevor by Toby Lloyd was recommended by someone on the Commentary Magazine podcast - I think it might have been Seth, I can't remember exactly. I enjoyed the book, although I only rate it three stars out of five. I felt the story fell apart at the end.

Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse was mildly amusing. Eleven short stories featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster; not all the stories are up to par but a good read. Three stars.

I have two books this month by Donna Leon. I enjoy everything I read written by her.

Quest For Fire by J.H. Rosny was published in 1911. It's very different than the 1981 film. I was expecting the book to be better than the film (which I really enjoyed, by the way) but the book seems to be more Tarzanesque. Is there such a word? I can only give the book 2 stars - which translates to "it was OK".

Originally published in 1995, many of the cultural references in the late Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted:World Science as a Candle in the Dark ( such as the "crop circles" hoaxes from the 1980s ) are a bit dated. However, the main theme - that people need to be encouraged to learn critical and skeptical thinking - is relevant today. Still, I only gave it two stars on Goodreads.

I remember that as a child of the late 1950s, we were told that America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, but little else was mentioned of him. I recently saw an American TV personality go on a rant about how America was named for "some Italian white guy". I wanted to get a reasonably unbiased history of Vespucci, so I read his biography - written in 1907 by Frederick Ober. I was sure that being written when it was, it wouldn't contain "woke" propaganda. For anyone interested in history, this book is a must read.

I first learned of Ed McBain from reading Haruki Murakami. A character in one of Murakami's novels mentions reading something by McBain. I did a search of McBain and learned he wrote 55 books in the "87th precinct" series. I've read three in the series and find them entertaining. The books are like the "film noir" movie genre of the 40s and 50s.

Now, for the list:

Fervor                    by Toby Lloyd
Very Good, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Earthly Remains   by Donna Leon
Cop Hater             by Ed McBain
The Mugger          by Ed McBain
Quest for Fire       by J. H. Rosny
Amerigo Vespucci   by Frederick A Ober
The Demon-Haunted World:Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
The Temptation of Forgiveness   by Donna Leon
The Pusher   by Ed McBain

Reading List For January, 2025

It's now the end of the month, so it's time again for the list of books read during the month. With twelve books read in January, this is most read in any one month since April of 2021 when the monthly count was 15.

This month, I'll be listing the books differently; normally I'd list the books in the order read. This time they'll be grouped by writer.

There were five written by Donna Leon, three by P.G. Wodenhouse, two by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and one each by Haruki Murakami and Larry Denninger.

I'm giving each book by Leon, Wodenhouse and Murakami five stars. Larry Denninger's book receives three stars. Sadly, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's two books are only getting two stars each. These two are part of a five book series - much of what's written doesn't hold up after five books.

The list:

Beastly Things
The Golden Egg
By Its Cover
Falling in Love
The Waters of Eternal Youth   by Donna Leon 

A Damsel in Distress
Right Ho, Jeeves
The Code of the Woosters   by P.G. Wodehouse 

 
Before We Say Goodbye
Before We Forget Kindness   by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 

 
End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland   by Haruki Murakami

 
Songs for Clara   by Larry Denninger

The Reading List for August 2024

 

In spite of being driven off course by a couple of books I couldn't finish, I still managed to read eight books this month. I had attempted to read books 3 & 4 in Octavia Butler's Patternists series but I found the two books unreadable. I wouldn't attempt book #5.

I've written blog posts on six of the eight I did read

 The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
A Question of Belief  by Donna Leon
The Silkworm  by Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling)
Rogue Male  by Geoffrey Household
Patternmaster  by Octavia Butler.

Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler made the list - but no blog post

To get back on track, I finished the month with another by Donna Leon - Drawing Conclusions. Leon is my "go to" when I really need a good book.

A Question of Belief by Donna Leon

As I write this post,Donna Leon has published 33 books in her Commissario Guido Brunetti series. I've just finished reading #19 in the series - A Question of Belief. Leon published the first novel in the series, Death at La Fenice in 1992 at the age of 50. Leon will turn 82 in September (2024) and by publishing #33 - A Refiner's Fire earlier this year, Leon is maintaining a pace that many younger writers would envy.

Like many of her novels, A Question of Belief contains within it more than one story line. One of the two main stories in this book revolves around a charlatan who takes advantage of susceptible individuals with claims of knowledge of astrology, palm reading and other bits of occult "wisdom". The other story deals with the murder of a court clerk. Wikipedia describes the book this way:

Brunetti learns of a curious pattern at the courthouse: cases involving a certain judge and usher are repeatedly postponed in a way that benefits a certain lawyer. What's more, the usher is leasing an apartment from the lawyer at an extremely low rent — until he is murdered.

I'm not inclined to give spoilers; like in a good many of Leon's novels, this novel ends with us knowing the outcome, but that outcome isn't resolved in a matter normally found in traditional crime fiction. It leaves one with the feeling that justice isn't necessarily served well in the Italian legal system.

The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith (J.K.Rowling)

 

I was 45 years old in 1997 when J. K. Rowling first published her fantasy novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published a year later as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S.). Being 45, it was not the sort of book I'd be reading. Now, 27 years later, I can say I've never read any books in the Harry Potter series. I've seen 5 or 10 minutes of one of the films - I can't recall which one - and can say I was justified in not reading any of those children's books. I am not the intended audience.

So, not being a J.K.Rowling fan, it's shouldn't be surprising that I've only recently learned of her series of crime fiction novels (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) Cormoran Strike. Being a big fan of that genre, I downloaded the entire series and set the ebooks aside to be read at a later date.

I've become aware of the controversy surrounding Rowling and her support of women viz a viz the trans issue. After reading of her challenge to Scotland's new hate crime law , "Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls", I decided to show my support for Rowling by reading book one in the Cormoran Strike series - The Cuckoo's Calling.

Naturally, I have to compare this series to a favorite of mine - Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series. After reading this first novel, I have to say that I'm impressed. An excellent work; it stands up to Leon's crime novels. However, I do have one negative comment. I'm not a fan of crime detectives being given strange, unrealistic names. I don't care for the name, Cormoron Strike. Other writers of crime novels have been guilty of the same offense but those writers usually gave the detective either a common Christian name or a not quite so bizarre surname. I'll be reading more in the series and will do my best to overlook my dislike of the main character's name.

The Reading List for June 2024

 

June has come to an end and the time has arrived for another monthly reading list. The list for June will be relatively short - only four books.

I've already written blog posts for two of the books - The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope and High Rising by Angela Thirkell.

Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True is interesting, but anyone who watches science programs and reads the occasional science article is familiar with most of what he has to offer.

Book four is #18 in Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series - About Face. A favorite theme for Leon is the illegal transport of toxic waste thru Italy. Of course, there's always a murder or two involved.

I won't finish the book I'm currently reading in time to make this list. It will be the first on July's list. The Case for God  by Karen Armstrong.

So, here's this month's list:

The Last Chronicle of Barset      by Anthony Trollope
Why Evolution is True                 by Jerry A Coyne
High Rising                                   by Angela Thirkell
About Face                                    by Donna Leon

The March, 2024 Reading List

 

Anyone who is even slightly familiar with this blog knows that I am an avid reader; I am constantly looking for recommendations for books to download. When a book recommendation does pique my interest, I'll go to a particular website that is basically an online library where almost every book imaginable is available. I'll come upon the name of an author and download everything the author has published in English. As a consequence, I have more e-books than I can read in my lifetime. The e-books will be filed away, to be retrieved later.

Just before finishing 1Q84by Haruki Murakami I went to my digital library for an e-book to put into the queue for March. I don't recall exactly when I downloaded Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck - the file properties says Feb.14- and I couldn't remember where the recommendation for the novel came from. I did a web search for Erpenbeck and the reviews I found for her work were very impressive. Visitation was the first book I read this month. Sadly, I was disappointed.

From a review on themodernnovel.org:
"Erpenbeck really does an excellent job of showing German history of the twentieth century in such a short book. The valuables hidden in the lake when the Soviets arrive and buried when the architect leaves the area are equated with the burial of the bodies of local Jews found in the forest. Erpenbeck has written not a Holocaust novel nor an East German novel but a German novel, warts and all, showing us that Germany has buried its past but, like the bodies of the Jews or the valuables hidden in the lake, everything come back to the surface sooner or later. Everything except the gardener, who disappears."

If you're looking for a fictionalized account of German history of the twentieth century you be better off reading Günter Grass.

Next on the list for March is The Girl of his Dreams by Donna Leon. This is #17 in Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series. It's no secret that I'm a fan of the series.

From time to time, I'll get book recommendations from the books I'm reading. That was the case when I reread,last year, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I discovered the book was a favorite of Japanese writer Kenzaburō Ōe. It was also the case when I came upon a character in a book by Haruki Murakami who had a copy of Oliver Twist in their library. At one time, both books would have been considered classics in literature, but have fallen out of favor due to the racist views of Twain and Charles Dickens.

Oliver Twist became book # 3 for March. Dickens' antisemitism may have been typical for people of his social class in the 19th Century, but it makes reading his books today difficult. In Oliver Twist, Fagin is particularly despicable - so is Bill Sikes for that matter; but in the case of Fagin, Dickens is forever reminding us that he is a Jew. Dickens could have just as easily portrayed Fagin as a villain without the antisemitism.

Ring by Koji Suzuki is the first in a series of Japanese mystery horror novels by the writer. His second book in the series will be the first in April's reading list.

#5 on the March book list is Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. Wikipedia describes the novel as..... "a Bildungsroman that tells the story of Japanese railroad engineer Tsukuru Tazaki". Haruki Murakami continues to live up to my expectations.

Next on the list is The Three-Body Problem by Chinese Sci Fi writer Liu Cixin. The book is the first in a trilogy, Remembrance of Earth's Past. The book has recently been released as a Netflix movie and was highly recommended by the folks at the Commentary Magazine podcast. I have to say that I can't add my recommendation. Most of the book went right over my head and I had difficulty following along. It's unlikely that I'll finish the trilogy.

Reading Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki as a bildungsroman brought to mind another novel which falls into that category - Demian by Hermann Hesse. I read Demian fifty years ago, so needless to say, I remembered very little of it. It was so long ago that I'm not 100% certain I actually finished it. I have two translations of the book in my digital library; the 1965 English translation by Michael Roloff & Michael Lebeck and the 2013 translation by Damion Searls. I couldn't decide which version I should read so I read the two simultaneously. I have to say I prefer Searls translation. According to Wikipedia, there are three additional English translations, although I was unable to locate a free ebook version of those. There is, however, an English translation from 1923 by N. H. Priday available as an audiobook at Internet Archive.

The next book on the list was also a recommendation from the Commentary Magazine podcast. A Brutal Design by Zachary Solomon is a nightmarish, dystopian novel. It starts off Kaffaesque and then quickly branches off into a world that is a cross between Yevgeny Zamyatin and Mikhail Bulgakov.

Now, for the list:

Visitation    by Jenny Erpenbeck
The Girl of his Dreams    by Donna Leon
Oliver Twist   by Charles Dickens
Ring    by Koji Suzuki
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage  by Haruki Murakami
The Three-Body Problem  by Liu Cixin
Demian   by Hermann Hesse (Tr. Michael Roloff & Michael Lebeck)
Demian   by Hermann Hesse (Tr.Damion Searls)
A Brutal Design   by Zachary Solomon

The Reading List for January, 2024

 

The time has come to post another monthly reading list. With nine books on the list, January has been the most productive month since July of 2023.

I've already posted about the first four books on the list - "The Razor's Edge" by W. Somerset Maugham ,The Devils Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo and two novels by Femi Kayode .

Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth deals with the history of the "other Roman Empire" - Byzantium. (Thanks Dom).

Running a 1000 Miles for Freedom is the story of Ellen & William Craft, as told by themselves - Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo is an expanded telling of the Crafts' story.

Naturally, I couldn't end the month without catching up with Commissario Guido Brunetti.

January's reading list is as follows:

The Razor's Edge  by W. Somerset Maugham 

The Devils Flute Murders  by Seishi Yokomizo

Lightseekers  by Femi Kayode

Gaslight  by Femi Kayode 

Lost to the West  by Lars Brownworth 

Running a 1000 Miles for Freedom  by Ellen & William Craft 

Master Slave Husband Wife  by Ilyon Woo  

Through a Glass, Darkly  by Donna Leon  

Suffer the Little Children  by Donna Leon

The December 2023 Reading List

 

Today is the last day of December and the time has come to list the e-books I read this month. It appears that I've settled into a book-a-week habit.
In other months I'd managed to write a bit about the book I had just finished and link to that post when I did my monthly list. I haven't done that for some time, so I'll write something about each book now.

The Last Children of Tokyo is a dystopian sci-fi novel written by Yoko Tawada. The novel was originally published in Japanese as Kentoshi. The Last Children of Tokyo is the translated title published in the U.K., with The Emissary being the title in the U.S.. I prefer the British title.

In the novel, we're told that the world has suffered a man-made, global catastrophe, although the exact nature of that catastrophe is never specified. Personally, I feel the novel suffers by this omission. There is a certain vagueness throughout the novel. I suppose that was the writer's intention, but I didn't care for it.

The English Governess at the Siamese Court is the original memoir upon which The King and I was based. In 1862, Anna Leonowens accepted a post as teacher to the children and wives of King Mongkut of Siam (Thailand). Leonowens' memoir looks at the life and customs of the people of Siam. In Margaret Landon's 1944 fictionalized retelling of Leonowens' story she concentrates more on the personal relationship between the King and Leonowens and it is Landon's version that would ultimately lead to the various films and stage productions.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself is the autobiography of Harriet A. Jacobs. Jacobs composed the autobiography after her escape to New York and details the added suffering that female slaves endured. 

Blood From A Stone is #14 in Donna Leon's series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. This series continues to remain a favorite of mine.
Here is the completed list for December -

The Last Children of Tokyo   by Yoko Tawada
The English Governess at the Siamese Court   by Anna Harriette Leonowens
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself   by Harriet A. Jacobs
Blood From A Stone    by Donna Leon

The November 2023 Reading List

 

The reading list for November is, in many ways, similar to the reading list for this past October.- books by Donna Leon and Elizabeth George, with a different writer thrown in for a change of pace.

Comparing the two I'd have to say that I prefer Donna Leon's novels. My only complaint about George is her veering off the detective/mystery story to give us way too many details on the personal lives of the characters. I'm sure she does this to flesh out the characters, but details on the love affair between DI Thomas Lynley and Lady Helen Clyde can get a bit tedious. In For the Sake of Elena, George brings in Helen's sister into the story - her character does help move the story along, but the discussion on the lawsuit involving the artist James Whistler and art critic John Ruskin put on the brakes, as it were.

My original plan was to read through the works of Leon and George every month. I'll continue getting into Leon's novels but will read no more than one of George's works per month.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, a few of the books making my reading lists have been recommended by someone on the Commentary Magazine podcast. One of the books on this list was recommended by that podcast - Scattered All Over The Earth by Yoko Tawada. Tawada had been recommended to me earlier and I had downloaded everything I could find of her work. The first book to make it to next month's list will be Tawada's The Emissary (AKA The Last Children of Tokyo). Before reading Scattered All Over the Earth I hadn't realized that it was the first in Tawada's Border Crossing Trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd books have been written but have not, as yet, been translated into English. Had I known that, I would have put off reading this book until I could download the complete trilogy.

Now, for the list:

Willful Behaviour         by Donna Leon
Uniform Justice            by Donna Leon
Doctored Evidence       by Donna Leon
For the Sake of Elena   by Elizabeth George
Scattered All Over the Earth  by Yoko Tawada

The October, 2023 Reading List

 

Upon finishing The Twelve Chairs earlier this month, I decided to go back to reading mystery/detective novels with the work of Donna Leon. Counting the three I read this month, I've managed to read 10 of her 32 Guido Brunetti novels. Her 11th in the series,Willful Behaviour will be the first on my November book list. Leon's novels take place in Venice, and although I really enjoy her work, I was feeling a bit "water-logged" after #10 and decided to take a break and go back to Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series.

I read George's first novel, A Great Deliverance in February. I can't recall my reason for not reading more in her series then, but better late then never I suppose. I've managed to get back up to speed with the complicated lives of Lynley, Havers, St James (and wife) and Lady Helen Clyde.

I'll be sticking with Leon and George for the time being. I've only 39 novels to go.

The list for October, 2023 -

The Twelve Chairs     by Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov
Fatal Remedies      by Donna Leon
Friends In High Places    by Donna Leon
A Sea of Troubles      by Donna Leon
Payment In Blood     by Elizabeth George
Well-Schooled in Murder    by Elizabeth George
A Suitable Vengeance      by Elizabeth George

The Reading List for August 2023

 

First on the list of books read in August is Georges Simenon's Pietr the Latvian. I learned of Simenon with his Maigret and the Yellow Dog. As I mentioned in a post from that time, a Facebook friend had mentioned listening to an audio book of Maigret and the Yellow Dog; I did a web search and came across several good reviews of Simenon's novels. That particular book is #6 in the Maigret series. I enjoyed the book well enough to download everything I could find by Simenon with the idea of one day starting on the first book in the series, Pietr the Latvian. Sadly, I was not impressed with this one...Simenon seemed unable to get to the point - he just rambled on. I might possibly return to the Maigret series one day, but frankly, that doesn't appear to be likely at this time.

Second on this month's list is The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle. While looking around for movies of the 1940s, I came upon an adaptation of the book from 1944 starring Ray Milland. I'd never heard of Macardle prior to this, but I was impressed enough with the film to download and read the book. The film makes a few changes - in the film, Milland's character ( Rick Fitzgerald ) is a musical composer. In the book, he's a writer. Some of Fitzgerald's friends in the book don't appear in the movie, but all in all, both versions are entertaining.

#3 for the month was another by Donna Leon, The Death of Faith. This was the sixth book I've read in Leon's Commissario Brunetti mystery series, so it would be right to assume that I've become a fan of Leon's work. Unfortunately, this is my least favorite of her books, so far. A bit too much Catholic Church bashing for me. The book contains all the obvious anti-Catholic tropes. This very nearly put me off the series, but I was willing to give Leon one more try.

Fortunately, her next in the series, A Noble Radiance was much better.

While reading A Noble Radiance I would switch back and forth between it and Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy . I finished both on the same day, so it's really a tie as to which one is #4 and which is #5.

Huxley's book isn't a quick read. He explores similarities between certain aspects of Eastern and Western religious teachings. I've come across many of these ideas before, but having written the book in 1945, Huxley was way ahead of his time.

So, here's the list for the Month of August (2023)

Pietr the Latvian       by Georges Simenon
The Uninvited             by Dorothy Macardle
The Death of Faith   by Donna Leon
The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley
A Noble Radiance     by Donna Leon

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

Five Books

In May, I came upon a list of "the nine books you must read in 2023". As I write this post, I've read five of the nine books and reviewed two - The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy .

I suppose I should say something about the other three - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - and Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon.

Half of a Yellow Sun tells the story of the Biafran War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970). I was a teenager at the time and have some memories of the war from news reports, but I was more preoccupied with the Vietnam War. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was not yet born at the time of the war and obviously her information regarding the war is second hand. The book is no less powerful for that.

The Midnight Library tells of a woman who is able to experience alternate versions of her life. It's all explained by "Quantum mechanics".

Death at La Fenice, is the first in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti mystery series. I don't know why I've never heard of Ms.Leon before now. I've begun reading the 2nd book in the series -I've downloaded all 32. I'm not sure how many I'll read in the series before returning to the "nine books" list.

I can recommend each of the five books I've read so far.

Nine Books

 

When I opened the Chrome browser on my phone recently, I was greeted with a link to the following article - The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. Being ever on the lookout for interesting books to read, I clicked on the link. Here's the list, according to the article:

Sea of Tranquility       by Emily St. John Mandel
The Midnight Library   by Matt Haig
The Talented Mr. Ripley    by Patricia Highsmith
I’m Glad My Mom Died   by Jennette McCurdy
Carrion Comfort         by Dan Simmons
Death at La Fenice     by Donna Leon
Half of a Yellow Sun   by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Dune                          by Frank Herbert
Harlem Shuffle          by Colson Whitehead

Of the nine, three were already in my e-book library; as a matter of fact, The Talented Mr. Ripley was already in my queue of books to read this month.

Of course, I had to download the remaining six.

I'm currently alternating between a book on my Kindle and a book on my phone. Following those two, I have two additional books in the queue, so I'm not at all certain when I'll begin on the above list (other than the Highsmith novel) and I'm not certain in what order I'll read the books. I suppose reading each in the order they fall on the list would work.