I find myself getting more involved in the Canadian political situation, joining my neighbours and many other Canadians this past weekend by proudly hanging out my Canadian flag. Donald J. Trump might think we all want to be Americans, but you know what? He's wrong! Our next election will be very important, I believe. I have put my hopes in the new leader of the Liberal Party, hoping it's Mark Carney. I think any of the Liberal hopefuls would be much better than the American wannabe, Pierre Poilievre. We'll see what happens.
Anyway, on to books. I've received a few new ones since my last update. I've also completed 3 books and started a couple. Let's take a look.
Completed
"(Warning: Without trying to ruin the story, it does deal with sexual assault and rape and its after effects)
Speak: The Graphic Novel is the graphic novelization of Laurie Halse Anderson's 1999 Young Adult fiction novel. I bought the novel because I had been searching for books / graphics that Emily Carroll had either written or inked. Speak was one such novel. In her foreword, Anderson states -
'The story and form seemed to be a natural fit, but only in the hands of the right artist. Emily Carroll is that artist. Her artwork combined with my story have created a new expression of what it feels like to have your voice stolen from you...'
This is a powerful, distressing story. Melinda Sordino is starting high school. Something happened over the summer and she finds herself shunned. The story tells of her trials and tribulations of her life. Melinda has no friends, previous friends now shun her. Only Heather, another new girl, tries to be her friend. But Melinda is shrunk into herself. She doesn't speak. She hates her classes, won't talk to her parents, who are also constantly arguing.
The only class she seems to like is art class, even though she's not enamored with the topic. Her teacher has given each student an item that they must draw, design, etc throughout the year, Melinda's being a tree. This is a constant theme throughout the story.
We learn that Melinda is shunned because of an instant that occurred during the summer, where she called the police while attending a party. They don't know the reason but it does come out as the story progresses.
Melinda's marks are awful, her parents are stressed, she is placed in after school detention, but even with all of that, she does begin to make some contact with some students. She also finds herself a hidey hole in an old janitor's closet where she spends her peaceful time alone. But she meets 'IT', the cause of all of her troubles and spirals downward.
IT is a senior whose actions have caused Melinda to lose her speech and when she discovers that IT is pressing his attentions on her 'ex' friend Rachel. Should she finally 'speak out'? I don't want to tell much more about this story, suffice it to say it's a powerful, disturbing story about abuse and its effect.
The story is stark and the artwork powerfully reflects the story's impact on Melinda. The story has been banned. Professor Wesley Scroggins said the novel was 'filthy and lacked morality'. I shake my head when I read this. Another decried the sexualization of teenagers. Another has also 'challenged it due to a political viewpoint claimed to biased against male students.' *shakes head*
It's a story that should be read and discussed. Life for teenagers can be difficult enough. School should be a sanctuary, not a place filled with threats. (4.5 stars)"
"I always enjoy a Maigret mystery and Maigret and the Wine Merchant by Georges Simenon was no exception. This was the 71st book in the series and by now, as you'd expect, Simenon is quite comfortable getting into Maigret's mind and skin. The story flows nicely and smoothly, draws you in and ultimately comes to a satisfying conclusion. (Maybe I should just stop there, eh?) Oh well, let's talk about the story a bit.
Inspector Maigret is cleaning up a case involving the murder of a grandmother by her grandson when he's called away to investigate another murder. Oscar Charbut, a wealthy wine merchant, has just been murdered, shot 4 times, as he left a house of ill repute. Maigret and his capable assistant, Lapointe head to the site.
The house is operated by Mme Blanche, who has had dealings with Maigret previously. It seems that Charbut frequents the place quite regularly. On Wednesdays he tends to bring his secretary, nicknamed the Grasshopper, for their regular dalliance. But as Maigret discovers, Charbut has affairs with many women and his wife knows about it and accepts it. Charbut is an aggressive businessman, rubbing many people the wrong way, and also an aggressive womanizer, having affairs with the wives of many of his social acquaintances. So there appear to be a number of suspects.
Poor old Maigret is suffering from a very bad cold / flu and his ever-patient wife, Mrs. Maigret takes excellent care of him. Maigret's temperature keeps spiking but he continues to work the case, taking many breaks to sleep at home. The investigations takes in family, friends and his office staff. Everybody seems so reasonable and accepting of Charbut's attitudes and actions. Mrs. Charbut is a common sense woman and plans to take over the wine business. The Grasshopper is outgoing and also very common sensical and provides much info to Maigret.
Even through his sickness, Maigret makes progress. He begins to get phone calls at his office from someone who seems to know a lot about the investigation (a witness or maybe the murderer himself?) and sees a man watching him at various locations.
It's an entertaining story and moves along at a nice pace and keeps your attention. Maigret, as always, is a grumpy investigator, made more so with his flulike illness. But he's also a likable character and surrounded by good people. Especially his lovely wife. Entertaining, an excellent story. (3.5 stars)"
"Crime Machine by Giles Blunt is the fifth book in the John Cardinal mystery series set in Algonquin Bay (in reality, North Bay) Ontario and because I never read them in exact order, my final read of this excellent series. It was also turned into an excellent TV series, Cardinal. Oddly enough this was the last episode that I watched in the series and I never saw the end so this closes both out nicely for me.
So.... it's been a year or so since the death of Cardinal's wife. He's moved out of his house on Trout Lake and into an apartment that looks out on Lake Nipissing and is just down the road from his partner, Lise Delorme. The Algonquin Bay crime squad has been tasked with cleaning up old cold cases and they are thrilled with it.
In a separate story, young native girl, Sam Doucette is meeting with her boyfriend, married realtor Randall Wishart, at one of his 'for sale' properties on Trout Lake. After their evening of love making, Randall leaves first and while Sam is getting dressed, she hears someone else in the house. It seems like 3 people and she hides under the bed hoping to leave once they have left. Suddenly she hears gun shots and panicking, she breaks the bedroom window, jumps out and run through the snow covered woods to her car while the killer chases her, trying to kill her.
Cardinal and Delorme are called to the house the next day to investigate the murder and find a disturbing scene, two headless bodies, seated at the dining room table.. and we're off and running.
The story now moves between the killers, a sort of family... in the vein of Charles Manson and the investigation, which will also involve an FBI agent, Mendelssohn and a nosey reporter from New York, Donna, with whom Cardinal will develop a bit of a relationship. And don't forget Sam Doucette who fears she is being stalked by the killer (she's very good with a cross bow, he says as an aside) and the fur trade and even Russians.
It's an excellent story with neat twists and turns. The villains, Pop and his gang of three, are creepy and dangerous. They hold an old man captive in his isolated house in the woods and continue their actions in Algonquin Bay. There are other murders, but who is committing them? Some excellent surprises there too. For all the impending threat that flows through the story, there is also a nice humour, between the cops, especially. Blunt knows how to spin a yarn. Cardinal is an excellent cop and has been well - fleshed out by this 5th story. Lise Delorme is a favorite of mine, as Cardinal says at one point, 'she doesn't realize how beautiful she is'.
The tension ramps up, the weather gets worse (a snowstorm hits Algonquin Bay) just as Cardinal and Delorme are heading into a crisis situation and the ending is exciting and ultimately satisfying. Great relationships, great characters and great mystery with twists and turns... (4.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"When Edwin Garland died of a heart attack, no one outside the expectant circle of his relatives was concerned. But when, on the evening of his funeral, his son was shot dead, the situation changed dramatically and Superintendent Wycliffe was called in to investigate the seemingly motiveless murder. The disappearance of another relative and a further death occur before Wycliffe manages to unravel a story that had begun several years before, with the death of a famous Cornish artist. Only then is he able to identify the killer."
"When it comes to alien invasions, bad things come in threes. Three landings. One in England, one in Russia, and one in the United States. Three long legs, crushing everything in their paths, with three metallic arms, snaking out to embrace -- and then discard -- their helpless victims. Three evil beings, called Tripods, which will change life on this planet forever."
New Books
"In her moving and insightful new book, Joan Didion reassesses parts of her life, her work, her history and ours. A native Californian, Didion applies her scalpel-like intelligence to the state’s ethic of ruthless self-sufficiency in order to examine that ethic’s often tenuous relationship to reality.
Combining history and reportage, memoir and literary criticism, Where I Was From explores California’s romances with land and water; its unacknowledged debts to railroads, aerospace, and big government; the disjunction between its code of individualism and its fetish for prisons. Whether she is writing about her pioneer ancestors or privileged sexual predators, robber barons or writers (not excluding herself), Didion is an unparalleled observer, and her book is at once intellectually provocative and deeply personal."
Erica Slaughter went to hell and back in Archer’s Peak, but that may be nothing compared to the events that forged her at the House of Slaughter. What events brought Erica to the House of Slaughter? And what did she have to do to join the Order of St. George? Erica Slaughter’s origins are finally revealed in this volume of the Eisner Award-nominated series from GLAAD Award-winning author James Tynion IV (The Woods, Batman) and artist Werther Dell’Edera (Razorblades)."
After a year since we last saw her in Archer’s Peak, Erica Slaughter resurfaces to take on the case of a girl who’s seen a new kind of monster, one with terrifying implications. But Erica’s broken ties with the House of Slaughter and that can have deadly consequences. The Order of St. George does not forget nor do they forgive. Even as Erica goes on the hunt, she must keep an eye out for the mysterious figure on her trail in order to survive the coming storm. Erica Slaughter returns after the Archer’s Peak Saga in this volume of the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated series from GLAAD Award-winning author James Tynion IV (The Woods, Batman), artist Werther Dell’Edera (Razorblades), colorist Miquel Muerto (Bleed Them Dry), and letterer AndWorld Design (Nightwing).
Collecting Something is Killing the Children #21-25."
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