Book # 102 Aphrodite - Isabel Allende
A bit of an odd book, genre-wise. It`s a mix of memoir, cook book and list of aphrodisiacs. It`s about adding ( literally ! ) spice to your life, rather than anything especially naughty ; there`s a lovely recipe for a rice pudding ( with cinnamon ) which sounds good, and recipes for various chocolate mousses and salad dressings.
Book # 103 The Sum of Our Days - Isabel Allende
The follow-up to Paula, a memoir which detailed the death of Isabel Allende`s daughter from a hospital mistake when she was being treated for porphyria. It`s at times sad, at times very funny, and above all uplifting. One thing in particluar I took from the book was the idea of ` replenishing the well ` : when you hit a low point and take care of yourself by being kind to yourself, by meditating outside, by treating yourself to new experiences.
Book # 104 Mr Palomar - Italo Calvino
When I was 1/3 of the way through this book, I was looking forward to dumping it on my ` out of the door to the charity shop` pile. When I finished it, I was looking forward to re-reading it. It`s a strange book, like a series of chapters, each with three short essays on a subject ( like a visit to the beach, or the cheese shop ) , taken from different angles. Weird, but ultimately more than a literary experiment. Book # 105 Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter - Mario Vargas Llosa
A book which I couldn`t quite get into. Set in Lima, it`s the story of 18-yr-old law student Mario and his affair with Julia, the 32-yr-old divorced wife of his cousin. Interspersed with their story, are stories of a radio soap opera, which become increasingly intermixed and confused. Book # 106 The Prisoner of Heaven - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Fantastic ! Less of a sequel or prequel, more of a tangent-quel, it`s the follow-on from The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel`s Game. It fills in the back story of one of the characters from the other books ( Fermin ) and shows the previous stories from a new angle, then it sets the stage for the final book in the series. It`s not as mysterious or satisying as the first two books, but it`s still a lovely read ( “People with a meagre soul always try to make others feel small too.” ).
Book # 107 Night Train to Lisbon - Pascal Mercier
Nice storyline, which reminded me a bit of Possession or The Shadow of the Wind, but really didn`t have the same brilliance of execution. It didn`t help that there were editing mistakes, either. Bern classics teacher Raimund meets am mysterious Portugese woman, then stumbles across an obscure book by a Portugese author. Suddenly he throws in his job and take a train to Lisbon, researching the author and meeting people who knew him. The plot is a good deal better than the prose ; there were sentences which went on for so long, that I`d forgotten the start of the sentence by the time I got to the end. Plus, Raimund imagines things as if they were really happening, so you get confused by what`s really going on.
There`s a recent film with Jeremy Irons, which I think I`d have preferred to see.
Book # 108 The Late Scholar - Jill Paton Walsh
The latest in the Lord Peter Wimsey series. Manservant Bunter is particulary Bunter-ish, and there`s a fun plot about Peter and Harriet going back to Oxford to sort out a problem at one of the colleges.
Book # 109 Falling Star - Patricia Moyes
A film star is killed on set, and Henry and Emmy Tibbett investigate. The book is written from the viewpoint of one of the film`s producers, which relegates the Tibbetts to secondary parts, which I didn`t find that satisying. It`s still a very clever plot though.
Book # 110 Dead Cold - Louise Penny
Someone gets bumped off during a winter curling match, in the small village of Three Pines , near Montreal, and Inspector Gamache investigates. The real delight are the characters in the village, especially the artists Clara and Peter. Book # 111 High Rising - Angela Thirkell
A gentle, comic novel, similar to Barbara Pym though not as deep. A fun, quick read.
Book # 112 Plum Lovin` - Janet Evanovich
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum goes on another adventure with the mysterious Diesel. Lots of fun and action. Book # 113 Fool Moon - Jim Butcher
The second of the Dresden Files series. Harry Dresden comes across werewolves. Laughs, scary bits and some touching moments. I especially liked the Cubs.
Book # 114 Airs above the Ground - Mary Stewart
Vanessa`s husband tells her he`s on business in Stockholm, and she gets postcards from him... Going to lunch with a friend of her Mother, she`s told that her husband has been spotted in Austria, and sets off to find him. Cracking storyline and a fun heroine. Book # 115 Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich
Diesel turns up again, for another Stephanie Plum adventure. A bit dispoasble, but a lot of fun.
Book # 116 Outsider in Amsterdam - Janwillem Van de Wetering
The first of the Grijpstra & de Gier mysteries. 70`s cops in Amsterdam investigate a suicide, which turns out to be a murder. It feels more of an action thriller than police procedural ( a good thing, I felt ) , with car and boat chases, though it also manages a lot of character development ( with much banter between the two cops ). One of the policemen has a lovely cat, who gets plenty of scenes to himself. Occasionally, it feels a bit sexist, though maybe that changes as the series goes on. There`s much about the drug scene and about a suspect from PNG ( the outsider of the title ).
It reminded me of Maigret, in that there`s an emphasis on the characters and their home life. Looking forward to the next book. Book # 117 Doctored Evidence - Donna Leon
Inspector Brunnetti 13. Wealthy, elderly woman is murdered by her Romanian cleaning lady. Case closed, until a neighbour comes back from abroad and points out that the cleaner was innocent. Scarpa refuses to accept this, and Brunnetti ends up investigating. Not as satisfying as other books in the series, though I still enjoyed the `visit`. Book # 118 Underworld - Done DeLillo
I must`ve had this for 15 years in my TBR. After reading its 800+ pages, I still have no idea what it`s about. It`s got interconnected characters and jumps around in the timeline, from the late 40`s till around 1992. There are big themes about baseball and waste management, art and crime, but I just couldn`t get into it. The prose flows well, which helps to keep you reading, but I had to force myself to pick the book up again the next day, otherwise I wouldn`t have finished it. One of those `other people might love it` books. Book # 119 The Cruellest Month - Lousie Penny
Inspector Gamache 3. Someone ends up dead during a seance in Three Pines, in a house which previously saw murders. It turns out that there are demons from the past to be battled, by various people in the book, including the Inspector himself. The plotline keeps you hooked, but the real joy is catching up with the characters of the Three Pines village.
Book # 120 Many Deadly Returns - Paricia Moyes
Henry and Emmy are summoned to a birthday party at a country house. The elderly matriarch fears that she`s going to be bumped off, and Henry is there to prevent it... There`s a very clever howdunnit, and Henry and Emmy visit Lake Geneva, Paris and Holland. Book # 121 The Murder Stone - Louise Penny
Inspector Gamache and wife Reine-Marie go to an exclusive hotel for their anniversary and someone gets bumped off. The series becomes funnier and funnier, though still manages to have bitter-sweet, touching moments. The village of Three Pines is nearby, and Ruth ( curmudgeony poet ) has some nice scenes.
