It's been a relatively quiet day today. Nice weather and temps of around 10℃. I went to a foot specialist this morning and he did a great job fixing up my nails and just making my feet feel pretty darn good. Then Jo and I went to lunch where she beat me 3 out of 5 games of Sequence. Bah! I left her downtown as she is working until 7. I'll pick her up then.
Too bad England couldn't manage a win against the US in the World Cup. They need to beat Wales, I think to make sure they move to the next round.
In the past three of my reading updates, I've been showing you what my 2023 Reading Challenges might be. My 4th challenge will probably be a Non-Series Challenge with each Month a different Genre. January will be Canadian Content. Below are a few possible books I might try.
1.
Margaret Atwood -
Alias Grace (1996). I've been enjoying Atwood's work for a long time now. I saw this as a TV mini-series and have been looking forward to reading the book.
"It's 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.
An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?"
2. Catherine Bush - Accusation (2013). I have tried other books by Bush and enjoyed her style.
"An accusation, regardless of truth, has its own life when let loose in the world. The words, released, went on uncoiling themselves.
While in Copenhagen, Sara Wheeler happens upon a touring Ethiopian circus called Cirkus Mirak. Later, she drives its founder, Raymond Renaud, through the night from Toronto to Montreal. Such chance beginnings lead to later fateful encounters, as renowned novelist Catherine Bush artfully confronts the destructive power of allegations."
3. Michelle Good - Five Little Indians (2020). A story about 5 Native children who were sent to residential schools and how they tried to adjust after they are released.
"Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention.
Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission.Fueled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations. Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can’t stop running and moves restlessly from job to job—through fishing grounds, orchards and logging camps—trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew."
4. Miriam Toews - Fight Night (2021). This past year I read Women Talking by Toews, a powerful story.
"Fight Night is told in the unforgettable voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old living in Toronto with her pregnant mother, who is raising Swiv while caring for her own elderly, frail, yet extraordinarily lively mother. When Swiv is expelled from school, Grandma takes on the role of teacher and gives her the task of writing to Swiv's absent father about life in the household during the last trimester of the pregnancy. In turn, Swiv gives Grandma an assignment: to write a letter to "Gord," her unborn grandchild (and Swiv's soon-to-be brother or sister). "You’re a small thing," Grandma writes to Gord, "and you must learn to fight."
As Swiv records her thoughts and observations, Fight Night unspools the pain, love, laughter, and above all, will to live a good life across three generations of women in a close-knit family. But it is Swiv’s exasperating, wise and irrepressible Grandma who is at the heart of this novel: someone who knows intimately what it costs to survive in this world, yet has found a way—painfully, joyously, ferociously—to love and fight to the end, on her own terms."
5. Omar El Akkad - What Stranger Paradise (2021). This was another Giller Prize nominee for this year.
"More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vanna. Vanna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vanna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don't speak a common language, Vanna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy.
In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir's life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair--and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality."
Women Authors Whose Work I'm Enjoying - Donna Leon
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| Donna Leon |
Donna Leon is an American mystery writer who has been based in Venice for many years and bases her mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti there. It's one of my favorite series. The characters are wonderful, the locale is one I've visited and enjoy reading about, the food makes me hungry, and the mysteries are excellent. Since 1992, Donna Leon has written 32 books in the series. Thus far, I've enjoyed 13 books in the series and have another 7 sitting on my bookshelf awaiting my attention. Let's take a look at them to see if they might pique your interest in the series.
1. Willful Behavior (#11 / 2002).
"Mystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon's ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice's beautiful but sinister byways and canals. In Willful Behavior, Brunetti is approached for a favor by one of his wife's students. Intelligent and serious, Claudia Leonardo asks for his help in obtaining a pardon for a crime once committed by her now-dead grandfather. Brunetti thinks little of it-until Claudia is found dead. Soon, another corpse and an extraordinary art collection led Brunetti to long-buried secrets of Nazi collaboration and the exploitation of Italian Jews-secrets few in Italy want revealed."
2. A Sea of Troubles (#10 / 2001).
"The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, draws Commissario Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island, bound together by a code of loyalty and a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the boss' secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra's safety, and his not entirely straightforward feelings for her ..."
3. Suffer the Little Children (#16 / 2007).
"Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series has made Venice a city that's beautiful and sophisticated, but also secretive and corrupt one of mystery fans most beloved locales. In this brilliant new book, Brunetti is summoned to the hospital bed of a respected pediatrician, where he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men had burst into the doctor's apartment, attacked him, and kidnapped his eighteen-month-old son. What could have motivated an assault so violent that it has left the doctor mute? And could this crime be related to the moneymaking scam run by pharmacists that Brunetti's colleague has recently uncovered? As Brunetti delves deeper into the case, a story of infertility, desperation, and illegal dealings begins to unfold."
4. About Face (#18 / 2009).
"The Publication of each Commissario Brunetti mystery is an event anticipated by Donna Leon's many readers. In About Face, she returns with a dazzling mystery that puts Brunetti's own family at risk. Soon after meeting Franca Marinello, the wife of a wealthy Venetian businessman, Brunetti comes across her name in his investigation of a trucking company owner found murdered in his offices. Though charmed by Franca's love of Virgil and Cicero, he must now unravel her connection to the Carabinieri's prime suspect. As Brunetti delves into the murder, he comes face to face with violence and corruption as dangerous as he's ever seen."
5. Drawing Conclusions (#20 / 2011).
"In Drawing Conclusions, the twentieth novel in Donna Leon’s brilliant Brunetti series, young Signora Giusti arrives home after a holiday and senses that all is not right in the apartment below. When she investigates, she finds her neighbor, an elderly widow, lying lifeless on the floor. The autopsy shows that Signora Altavilla’s death was due to a heart attack—a verdict which her son seems to hear with a great deal of relief. Brunetti, however, is convinced that things are not as straightforward as they appear."
6. Beastly Things (#21 / 2012).
"In Beastly Things, the body of a man is found in a canal, damaged by the tides, carrying no wallet, and wearing only one shoe, Brunetti has little to work with. No local has filed a missing-person report, and no hotel guests have disappeared. Where was the crime scene? And how can he identify the man when he can't show pictures of his face? The autopsy shows a way forward: it turns out the man was suffering from a rare, disfiguring disease. With Inspector Vianello, Brunetti canvases shoe stores and winds up on the mainland in Mestre, outside his usual sphere. From a shopkeeper, they learn that the man had a kindly way with animals.
At the same time, animal rights and meat consumption are quickly becoming preoccupying issues at the Venice Questura, and in Brunetti's home, where conversation at family meals offers a window into the joys and conflicts of Italian life. Perhaps with the help of Signorina Elettra, Brunetti and Vianello can identify the man and understand why someone wanted him dead. As subtle and engrossing as ever, Leon's Beastly Things is immensely enjoyable, intriguing, and ultimately moving."
7. Falling in Love (#24 / 2015).
"Donna Leon’s Death at La Fenice, the first novel in her beloved Commissario Guido Brunetti series, introduced readers to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli—then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Years after Brunetti cleared her name and saved the life of her female American lover in Acqua Alta, Flavia has returned to Venice and La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca, and Brunetti has tickets to an early performance.
The night he and his wife, Paola, attend, Flavia gives a stunning performance to a standing ovation. Back in her dressing room, she finds bouquets of yellow roses—too many roses. Every surface of the room is covered with them. An anonymous fan has been showering Flavia with these beautiful gifts in London, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, and now, Venice, but she no longer feels flattered. A few nights later, invited by Brunetti to dine at his in-laws’ palazzo, Flavia confesses her alarm at these excessive displays of adoration. Brunetti promises to look into it. And when a talented young Venetian singer who has caught Flavia’s attention is savagely attacked, Brunetti begins to think that Flavia’s fears are justified in ways neither of them imagined. He must enter in the psyche of an obsessive fan before Flavia, or anyone else, comes to harm."
The complete list of Donna Leon's books can be found at this link. Enjoy your weekend.
