Several mysteries this month and what a variety of settings and investigators! A pony in New York (and LA and points inbetween). Teddy bears in Japan. A Vietnamese women in Paris searching for the man who may be her father. Three generations of women seeking their roots in a Cornwall garden. Treasure searchers in Nova Scotia. A teenage girl tracking down her stolen bear (live, not plush) in New Brunswick. And true (unsolved) crime in the Galápagos.
Fiction:
Elevator in Sài Gòn by Thuận; translated from the Vietnamese by Nguỹên An Lý
Wonderful! Wandering the streets of Paris. Very like Modiano. Wish I could get more by her.
Playground by Powers, Richard
Confusing at times but very good.
Blue Light Hours by Dantas Lobato, Bruna
A quiet gem. A Brazillian mother and daughter try to stay connected while the daughter is at college in the US.
Our Evenings by Hollinghurst, Alan
Really liked this, though it's not my favorite of his works.
The Forgotten Garden by Morton, Kate
This has everything: family secrets, mystery, a search, romance, artists, a writer, jumping back and forth in time in place, twists and turns. I loved it!
Pearly Everlasting by Armstrong, Tammy
A girl and her bear in turn of the century (1800s/1900) New Brunswick. I waver between three and four stars...
Small World by Evison, Jonathan
Four families cross paths in the 19th Century and then three generations later in the 21st Century. Irish immigrants, a Miwok Indian, a fugitive slave, and a Chinese prospector are the forebears. Their descendents are a train engineer, a battered wife running from her marriage, a single mom and her basketball playing son, and a woman who is trying to simplyflify her life. The are all headed to Seattle on a northbound train which has an accident....
The Evolution of the Gospelettes by Oberhausen, Tammy
A family of gospel singers gets mixed up with a shady evangelist and his mega TV church.
The Boxcar Librarian by Labuskes, Brianna
Advance Review Copy via Goodreads. Three women and heir stories come together in 1920s & 1930s Montana.
Friends in Napa by Marikar, Sheila Yasmin
Rich couple who have just purchased a winery invite old college friends for a lavish weekend celebration. Mayhem ensues.
Don’t Forget to Write by Confino, Sara Goodman
A pleasant bit of fluff, not at all deep coming of age (20 year old sheltered Jewish girl).. Set in the summer of 1960 in a New Jersey resort town.
Pony Confidential by Lynch, Christina
A mostly fun read but maybe could have been a little tighter. The pony had too many adventures,
The Treasure Hunters Club by Ryan, Tom
Another fun mystery, this one set in a seaside village in Nova Scotia.
The Story of the Forest by Grant, Linda
Family story of Jewish Latvian immigrants in Liverpool. Time period: about 1913-2000.
Ophelia's Voyage to Japan by Clise, Michele Durkson
Stuffed bears have an adventure.
Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Haddon, Mark
I didn't much care for these. I'm tired of retellings of classics.
Contents: The mother's story -- The bunker -- My old school -- D.O.G.Z. -- The wilderness -- The temptation of St Anthony -- The quiet limit of the world -- St Bride's Bay.
Nonfiction:
The Position of Spoons: And Other Intimacies by Levy, Deborah
Essays on women's writing and art plus other subjects.
The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice by Parkin, Simon
Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II by Kahler, Abbott
True crime on Isla Floreana in the Galápagos.
The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Dunne, Griffin
Sub title is a little misleading since almost everyone in the family was dead when Griffen Dunne published this gossipy book. Most of the people whose names he dropped are also gone so there's not many left who can challenge the reliability of his narration.
The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime by Maclaine, Shirley
Everybody was wonderful and (mostly) photogenic too. Gee.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Bechdel, Alison
Memoir of a troubled childhood in small town Pennsylvania funeral business.
A Gentleman from Japan: The Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court by Lockley, Thomas
This might have made a good article in a history magazine but there is not enough information about Christopher (the title figure) to make a full length book, There is a lot of historical background and much "Christopher might have seen..." or "Christopher must have thought..." and a lot of made up conversatuions and scenarios. It was rather boring.
Online:
On Project Gutenberg. I've been reading this off and on all year. It's best taken in small doses.
"A youthful obsession with Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother turns to frustration over how its subject, Florence Owens Thompson, an Indigenous woman, has been misperceived."
Whose döner kebab? Why the beloved late-night snack is at the centre of a meat-fuelled food fight by Ute Junker, Ute
