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

Maigret and the Yellow Dog

I was not familiar with Belgian writer Georges Simenon or his fictional detective Jules Maigret until recently when a Facebook friend posted that he had just finished listening to an audio book of Simenon's Maigret and the Yellow Dog. Of course, I had to do a web search.

I learned that Simenon had published 75 mystery novels and 28 short stories featuring his police commissioner.

I found a copy of Maigret and the Yellow Dog as mobi, and put it to the queue of books to read this month.

Naturally, I couldn't help by mentally compare Maigret with Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. It isn't, however, a fair comparison. I enjoyed the story....enough to download the entire 75 novel collection. Unfortunately, I'm unable to read these mystery novels in the original French, so I'm forced to read English translations. When reading Christie, I'm reading a master of the English language. Simenon's story is top notch, but being a translation, the words don't flow with the same smoothness as in Christie's novels. That's not a criticism of Simenon or his mystery novels......this is my weakness, not his. 

This particular novel is #6 in the Maigret canon. I'll eventually get around to reading #1, Pietr the Latvian but not this month. I've still books by other writers in the queue.