What I've been reading #3

In the last weeks I have read some truly wonderful books!
Away by Amy Bloom was recommended by my good friend Ellen, who is in Maine. She and I worked together and have a very similar taste in books. I always trust her recommendations, and she has lead me to some wonderful authors. Away is the story of Lillian Leyb, who immigrates to The United States from Russia in the 1920s. Lillian fears her daughter Sophie was killed during a pogrom but finds out she is still alive and so sets off to find her. Lillian is an engaging heroine, determined to do whatever she has to to make her way. It is well written, funny, and not as sad as one might think.

It reminded me of another book I read on Ellen's recommendation The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens. This is another immigrant story, this time Irish and told by Fergus O'Brien. Fergus relates his story as he is driven off his family's small holding by the potato famine, and travels to Dublin, Montreal and Boston. Behrens is a wonderful and poetic writer and I will be looking out for more books by him.



souvlaki from avlyx, via flickr.

I love reading mysteries of most varieties and have read two wonderful ones recently. Nice Try by Shane Moloney is the third in the Murray Whelan series. It felt a bit like a souvlaki to me - immensely satisfying in a slightly guilty way. It is very funny, and being set in my part of the world even more interesting to me.

I went to hear Ian Rankin on his recent book tour, and he was saying that a number of well known authors are living in Edinburgh now. He mentioned that Kate Atkinson is writing mysteries, and he recommended them. I read One Good Turn and can endorse it with enthusiasm. Great characters and lots about the Edinburgh Festival from a somewhat sardonic view. And the plot twist that is revealed on the last page was a kicker!

What I'm Reading #2

This week I took a holiday from Perdio Station, I haven't given up on it yet and I will probably finish it, I'm still not sure what I think about it.

Meanwhile I read Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney. I saw it in a Horizon Books in Traverse City (which by the way is a truly wonderful independent book shop, and well worth a visit), and my sister-in-law pointed out it was Australian, and asked if I had heard of it. I hadn't heard of Monica McInerney at all, but made a note of the name so I could look out her books on my return. Well, I DID read it, not my favourite kind of read. Why in books like this (three sisters torn apart by a terrible fight, feisty grandmother, romances, etc, etc) does someone ALWAYS have to get cancer and die in a very elegant and beautiful way? Everyone is very sad, but they get over it in a heart warming fashion and go on with their lives. Maybe I'm a bit jaded and twisted, but I find it all a little light weight and tedious. That being said, she is compared to Maeve Binchy, and I can see why. Enough said, I would certainly recommend her books to others based upon what sort of books they like to read, but not for me.

I also read Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson. Much more my thing. One of the Alan Banks series, this is a thoughtful and well written police procedural. This being said I don't think it is the best in the series, a bit too much time spend on the lives of the two police officers and a bit too little on the actual crimes. I do enjoy the sense of place in his writing though, a quite different view of the Yorkshire dales than that seen through James Herriot's books!

The book I enjoyed most this week was Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid. Another police procedural, featuring Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. Having seen the TV show I always see Robson Green in my mind when I read about Tony Hill, and that's not a bad thing! A good book, a complex investigation that certainly kept me guessing and enough character development to keep the series going along. We do learn a little more about Tony Hill's past life, and find out what has helped to make him the strange person he is. Maybe that's why I like him so much!