BOOK: French Lesson by Ellen Sussman

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman, 236 pages

Paris in July

It's Paris in July, and since I am not there, I had to read a book. I was looking for a light read after my last two books, Late Nights on Air and State of Wonder. Both were good, but heavy. French Lessons, a book I won last year from carrie at nomadreader after last years Paris in July, was the perfect palate cleanser.

I really liked the structure of the book. Three French tutors who are hired out by their school to (usually) Americans to practice their French, meet in the morning of one particular day. There are some liasons amongst the two men and one woman, and these young twenty-somethings are looking for love. Then each tutor meets with their opposite sex client and they spend the day. Each of them are struggling with love - a teacher whose married boyfriend has recently died, a neglected wife who has moved with young children and her husband to Paris, and the husband of a big movie star. The tutors each get entangled in some way, and all realize what they want from love. Each day ends at the same scene where the movie star is filming a scene.

Nothing too deep in this book, but a great sense of place - including the walking maps of each tutor. Wonderful start to Paris in July.

also reviewed: carrie at nomadreader;

CHALLENGE: Random Reader Challenge: Debut Novels

The next edition of the Random Reader Challenge focuses on Debut Novels for July and August. I missed the last challenge (John Irving novels) but there are a couple on this list I'd like to read. If this looks interesting, check out the blog page.  You don't need to sign up, just leave a link with your review. I think prizes are only available to Canadians though, but anyone can participate.

Buy, borrow, download (but don’t steal!) and read any ONE of the following books (yes, audiobooks count too!):

Magnified World by Grace O’Connell
A Cold Night for Alligators by Nick Crowe
Touch by Alexi Zentner
Every Time We Say Goodbye by Jamie Zeppa
Shelter by Frances Greenslade (Check out the video trailer!)
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles
Every Day, Every Hour by Natasa Dragnic
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (Check out the video trailer!)

Touch and The Age of Miracles are the two that I'd most like to read, but I'll have to check out some of the other debut titles.

MEME: It's Tuesday, Where are You?

Once upon a time, I hosted this meme every Tuesday. Then I stopped, but I'm going to try it for the summer. The idea is just a way to share what you are reading, by setting. You can answer in the comments, you can make your own post on your blog, what ever you like!

I am in Yellowknife, at a radio station that somewhat reminds me of WKRP (with God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly). I haven't been here in Yellowknife long or often, but what little experience I have says that there will be some interesting characters. People who move North tend to be, well, unique. (Is this true John Mutford?) (Late Nights on Air, Elizabeth Hay)

Where is reading taking you this summer day? Write a post, leave a comment.

CHALLENGE: Orange July 2012

It's that time of year, time to read some Orange Prize nominated books. The list for this years' prize has been one that has intrigued me the most, as already this year, I've read 7 books from the longlist, including the winner, and have plans to read at least two more. Check out the host site to sign up, and visit Jill often, as she's got a book give away every day! There is also the Facebook page, and a group at Librarything. Lots of places to talk about the Orangey goodness.

Some books I'd like to read:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, (2012 SL) 
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2012 LL)
There but for the by Ali Smith (2012 LL)
Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (2012 LL)

Larry's Party by Carol Shields (1998 winner)
Small Island by Andrea Levy (2004 winner)
plus several more I have here if I get ambitious

Books I Read July 2012

1. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
2. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4. There But For The by Ali Smith
5. Larry's Party by Carol Shields

CHALLENGE: The Canadian Book Challenge 6

John Mutford at the Book Mine Set is hosting once again (6 times!) the Canadian Book Challenge. All you need to do is read 13 Canadian books in a year, running from Canada Day July 1st. Last year I read 24 books, including 4 by Carol Shields and 2 by Louise Penny and Helen Humphrys.

Books leftover from my list last year:

  Doing Dangerously Well by Carole Enahoro
  Rockbound by Frank Parker Day
  Larry's Party by Carol Shields (Orange Prize winner 1998)
  Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
  Diamond Dreams by Stephen Brunt
  Getting Over Edgar by Joan Barfoot
  The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

Books I've bought home or noticed since the last challenge:

 Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
 The Age of Longing by Richard B Wright
 October by Richard B Wright
 Bachelor's Brothers Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson (reread)
 The Republic of Love by Carol Shields
 Dressing Up for the Carnival by Carol Shields
 Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
 The Fire-Dwellers by Margaret Laurence
 Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
 In the Skin of the Lion by Michael Ondaatje
 the next Louise Penny mystery

Books I read during challenge: 

1. Late Nights on Air - Elizabeth Hay
2. Larry's Party - Carol Shields
3. October - Richard B Wright
4. Touch - Alexi Zentner
5. The Film Club - David Gilmour
6. Our Daily Bread - Lauren B Davis
7. The Calling - Inger Ash Wolfe
8. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley
9. The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny
10. Ru - Kim Thuy
12. 1982 - Jian Ghomeshi
13. A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley
14. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows - Alan Bradley
15. Whirl Away - Russel Wagnersky
16. Dressing Up for the Carnival - Carol Shields
17. Astray - Emma Donoghue
18. Speaking From Among the Bones - Alan Bradley
19. The Firebird - Susanna Kearsley
20.

BOOK: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, 301 pages

Canadian Book Challenge 5; Man Booker Winner 1992

My "not so much review as comparison to the movie" review:

This might be one of those rare books that the movie is better than. Or that I understood the movie better. Although the book helped me figure a few things out in the movie. But I did like the book, because I already knew the characters. Hmm. They just really go together!

I am not usually a fan of the tragic love story, like Romeo and Juliet. I am much more pragmatic. However, The English Patient (the movie) worked for me. I bought the love story, tragic ending and all. Ralph Fiennes helped a lot! With that background, I quite enjoyed the book. The major difference I noticed was that the movie was about the English Patient and Catherine, his love. The book is more about the nurse and the bomb-defusing Indian soldier, the awesome dude from Lost.  Another reason I liked the book was because I really liked those characters and their love story as much as the English Patient's. After reading the book, I am even more impressed with the movie and how it was put together.

This is one of those modern classic novels I've been wanting to read and I would try another Ondaatje novel. He wrote amazingly intricate characters, about the after effects of war on all kinds of people from war, all in spare yet easy to read prose. Ondaatje gathered this Commonwealth of characters with connections and challenges that are so damaged, physically and emotionally.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Summer TBR Books

This Top Ten List worked so well for me in the spring, that I'm going to make a summer list as well. I'll try to go with the same mix of new releases, older books, mysteries, and in honour of Canada Day on July 1st, Canadian books.

My spring list was a great motivator. I read seven of the nine I listed by name. One of the ones I didn't read, The Age of Doubt didn't arrive until the end of May, and the other one, 1222 by Anne Holt, is still on request at the library. I moved from 11th to 6th spot since March! I don't think I'll add it to the summer list as it looks unlikely that I'll get it before the summer is over. The last title I listed was just Orange Longlisted books, and I managed to read 5 of them (The Sealed Letter, The Island of Wings, Gillespie and I, The Forgotten Waltz, and The Song of Achilles).

What books are you looking forward to reading this summer? Head on over to The Broke and the Bookish to link up and to see what everyone else is saying!

1. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
I received this one from Randomhouse. Love dystopian novels - the world has begun to slow down in its rotation. Can't wait to read this one!

2. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Giller Winning Canadian novel that is the next book for my book club. A book about the north of Canada should be just the thing on a hot summer day.

3. Until Thy Wrath Be Past by  Asa Larsson
This will be my Scandi-crime novel in place of 1222.I have it from the library right now.

4. The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent
My first steampunk novel! This young adult book will be released in the summer, and it looks like a fun book.

5. French Lessons by Ellen Sussman
I have to have something for Paris in July on my list. Carrie (nomadreader) sent me this book last year after Paris in July and I've been holding on to it for this summer.

6. Duma Key by Stephen King
A big ole Stephen King is perfect for summer reading. I can stay up late, get scared, read and snooze on a lawn chair the next day. How perfect does that sound?

7. Deon Meyer: either Dead Before Dying or Blood Safari
Great mysteries with characters I've read before: Mat Joubert and Lemmer. Meyer does great, complicated mysteries with well developed characters, all set in South Africa. He's becoming my new favorite mystery author.

8. Broken Harbour by Tana French
This is going to be my 'new summer book' buy, as I seldom buy newly released books. It is released the beginning of July, and will be the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series.

9. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
I think I get this one mixed up with another book, The Boy in the Suitcase? I've had this one for a while, so let's get it on the summer reading list.

10. Assorted Orange July books - a continuation of reading the 2012 lists (Foreign Bodies, State of Wonder, there but for the..) and other books that I have been planning to read. ( Larry's Party, This is How, etc)

BOOK: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, 340 pages

When She Woke is Hillary Jordan's fantastic retelling of The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, but a futuristic version. Instead of Hester Prynne being forced to wear the red letter A on her clothes, for adultery, after having a baby with minister Arthur Dimmesdale in Puritan America, we have Hannah Payne who is 'chromed' red after having an abortion with evangelical minister Aiden Dale in a future America. Both women refuse to name the father of their child, and in both cases, only the woman is punished.

Sidetrack: I read The Scarlet Letter when it was about to be remade into a movie starring Demi Moore in 1995. I accidentally picked up The Scarlet Pimpernell which turned out to be a far superior book in my view. When I finally read The Scarlet Letter, I was terribly bored. It was the style of writing, late 19th century American writing more than the story which bothered me. The plot and characters were fine, but I cannot stand that prose. I was put off enough by the book that I never did see the movie, but I am glad that I read the book, if only to have the literary references to read When She Woke. Ah, classic novels. We have to read you if only to better appreciate the homages that are written. I loved Bridget Jones' Diary, but after reading Pride and Prejudice, I appreciated it even more.

Back to When She Woke, which is really the beautiful child of The Scarlet Letter and The Handmaid's Tale. I could predict the arc of the story: Young naive girl has never questioned the world she lives in. Suddenly thrust into reality of her world, she meets brave people who rebel against all she has believed, and gradually, through some dangerous situations, faces the truth of the society that has kept her down, and recognizes the wrong in her past beliefs. As predictable as all dystopian novels, Jordan does an excellent job of following the standard steps, and making characters that are believable, and still adding some plot twists to keep the reader entertained. As I carried this book around in the past week, I pushed and or recommended this book to all my reading friends.

There is a religious aspect to the novel, as Hannah is forced to examine her beliefs, and her God. Jordan exposes Hannah to several extremes, and while the author's view comes through (I think) she does present different sides, (kind of like Stephen Colbert does!) This book was only released in October 2011, so it is still a fairly new release.  I saw it was picked as a possible Orange nominee on a couple of predicting lists, which is what piqued my interest. Fans of Jordan's first novel, Mudbound, will be especially impressed with the author's versatility and talent.

also reviewed: sophia at page plucker; lavender lines; leeswammer's blog; rhapsody in books; softdrink at fizzy thoughts; kailana at the written world; bookfool at bookfoolery;

CHALLENGE: Paris in July 2012

I had a lot of fun last year reading for Paris in July, so I am pleased that Karen at Bookbath and Tamara at Thyme for Tea are again hosting a Paris in July event. During the month of July, read your book, eat some food, watch a movie. Something French.

Books I might read:

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Immoveable feast : a Paris Christmas  by John Baxter
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman
Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick

from last year's list:
a mystery by Fred Vargas
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (some year I'll get this actually read!)
Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman by Francine Gray (I started reading this on dailylit.com last year)

Movies I might watch:
Coco or La Vie en Rose

What I Read in 2012: 

1. French Lessons - Ellen Sussman (novel)
2. Foreign Bodies - Cynthia Ozick (novel)
3. The Paris Wife - Paula McLain (novel)
4.

BOOK: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, 336 pages

The synopsis (teenagers with terminal cancer) is really not a selling point for a lot of readers, and only being familiar, and a fan of, John Green's writing that inticed me to read this book. He does his usual wonderful thing, with characters that feel real, and full of witty teenage humor. How does a family with one child deal with a cancer diagnosis? How does a person live with, not die from, cancer? (I think I stole that line from a Rent song.)

It's as good as all the rave reviews say, it's as sad as you would imagine, and it's still a good book. I do enjoy a book that makes me cry, and I started well before the last hundred pages. There are a few leaps of faith the reader has to make in the plot, which has some coincidences at the end, but by then you are so invested, and emotionally involved, you let them slide a bit. Because by then, you can't stop reading (oh, dear, how is it going to end?) so you keep reading.

It's a really great book that is as much about living as dying.

also reviewed: sprite at into the stacks; pam at sidewalk shoes; laura at musing by laura; alison from piling on the books; katie at katie's book blog; softdrink at fizzy thoughts; rhapsody in books; heather at capricious reader; marg at reading adventures; kailana at the written world; michelle at 1morechapter; raych at books I done read; suey at it's all about books; nymeth at things mean a lot;

Wow! I really was one of the last people to read this book. I actually pre-ordered it from Chapters, and received a signed copy. However, I thought I'd be smart, and preorder another book not released until May. My evil plan was that even though I picked free shipping, and they tell you that it will be shipped in one package (hence, May) my experience has been that they send a book once it was available, and you wait for the later book. But Chapters decided not to reward my attempted sneakiness, and didn't send either book until The Age of Doubt was released in May. So I preordered The Fault in Our Stars, and then didn't get it till May. But I didn't pay shipping.

BOOK: Dissolution by C.J.Sansom

This meme (highlighting crime fiction titles or authors) was run first on Mysteries in Paradise in 2009-2010 and was re-run in 2011. This week's letter is the letter C. Head over here to see what other books are being highlighted this week.This week I"m highlighting author C J Sansom and his mystery series.

Dissolution by C.J.Sansom, 439 pages

Tudors! Murder! What's not to like?
First in the series with the hunchback lawyer, Matthew Shardlake, associate of Thomas Cromwell. Shardlake is sent in to a monestary to discover who killed the representative who was sent in to possibly disband the monks. Lots of motive, lots of great characters. And then another murder, or two.

Shardlake is an idealist about religous reform, and I fear in later books he may be disillusioned by Cromwell's ambition and questionable methods. This was hinted at in this book. He's a great main character because his physical ailments make him an outsider, not the usual person in power, but his skills as a lawyer and his intelligence overcome his hunchback. This series is like a more modern Brother Cadfael mystery - no matter the time, there will be people behaving badly. Looking forward to more of Matthew Shardlake.

ARMCHAIR BEA: Crem Della Crem

Share some of your favorite books so far this year, and/or the the books being promoted at BEA that you hope will end up among your favorites for the year!

Books I'm looking forward to. I have no idea if they are being promoted at BEA, but they are the books by favorite authors that I am very much looking forward to.
Broken Harbour by Tana French
Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason
Seven Days by Deon Meyer

Broken Harbour by Tana French

Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason

Seven Days by Deon Meyer

Books from 2012 I've read and really liked 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green     
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones   
White Horse by Alex Adams

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

White Horse by Alex Adams

ARMCHAIR BEA: Introductions

Sometimes, there are events that happen in the blogosphere that many of my google reader participate in, but I might watch from afar. Today, all my favorite people seem to be Armchair BEAing, and I want to be part of the fun! I'm a little late, but here I am:

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

I'm a forty-something female; married, with 3 kids; high school teacher; living on beautiful PEI.
I've been blogging a little over 5 years, but I seldom remember to note the anniversary. I came for the place to talk about books, stayed for the people that I've met.

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I'm reading The Known World by Edward P Jones (for the first meeting of the first real book club I've ever joined) and The Age of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri, one of my favorite mystery series.
Favorite reads so far in 2012: Half-Blood Blues, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Fault in Our Stars, plus a few more. I've had a good year reading so far.

3. What is was your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews, memes, something specific to your blog)?
I haven't been as creative as I once was on my blog. I really enjoyed doing It's Tuesday, Where Are You?, giving people a chance to tell what book they were reading by the settings. Like a lot of blogging, it took time and planning, and it seemed to be dropping off in participation.

4. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why? And What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

Watch me find a way to combine two questions in one: I would like to travel with Bridget Jones to Sicily, home of Inspector Montalbano (of The Age of Doubt), to sit on the beach and have a few drinks.Yes, drinks with Bridget on the beach of Sicily sounds very nice.

5. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

Just all the wonderful people I've met from around the world who share a love of reading, and of keeping lists of their reading. Now when I think of planning trips, I think about who I might meet if I travelled there.

Now I'm off to check out the Armchair BEA host site and see what else is happening this week. People shouldn't be having fun without me!

BOOK: Isaac Newton by James Gleick

Isaac Newton by James Gleick, 258 pages

I knew a lot about Isaac Newton, but had never read it all in one place. I teach high school physics, so I thought I should read about him, so that I can feel more confident about any anecdotes I tell. Most of what I read was familiar, but I can speak better about his time at home from university during the plague (I may have thought he was in an institution, so there's one correction), his feud with Robert Hooke (a lot of it comes down to communicating through letters, kind of like email) and Leibniz, the German mathematician. Newton and Leibniz independently developed calculus, and then fought over the notation and who did what first. Egos!

It's a scientific biography, containing pages and pages of notes and references, but I still found it readable. Not engrossing, but readable. I referred to the notes at the back as I read, as some of them provided additional background to the story. I've got a better picture of Newton, the man and the scientist, and still am completely amazed at his insights and theories, many of which were not confirmed or built on for years. He had theories about everything! Gravity, light, forces, the idea of mass, just even how Newton defined terms that were in use, to get scientists speaking the same way.

True or False
- Newton sat under a tree and 'discovered' gravity when an apple fell on his head
- Newton worked as an alchemist under another name
- Newton was born in the same year that Galileo died
- Newton removed all references from the second edition of his book of Flamsteed, whose ideas about comets helped shape Newton's gravitation

 Every year I attempt this challenge, as I do like to read nonfiction science books. Count Newton as book number one.

Here's the link to this year's project: Science Book Challenge

BOOK: Swann by Carol Shields

Swann by Carol Shields, 397 pages

Canadian Book Challenge 5

This novel is sometimes called Swann: A Literary Mystery, but as a reader of mystery books, I would say that title is a bit of a stretch for this book. There is a slight mystery, but the main one, Who was Mary Swann? is more of philosophical question. The end result is there really wasn't much to learn about Mary Swann and I would rank this near the bottom of Shields' books so far in my reading adventure.

Four main characters - a feminist literary critic, the poet's biographer, a small-town librarian, and a crusty, brilliant newspaper editor each get a section, giving the reader their own background, as well as fleshing out the character of Mary Swann. Well, it tries to, but there is precious little information about the uneducated farm woman whose poetry is 'discovered' after her brutal murder. I felt that Shields was commenting on the world of literary scholarship, as so many people were commenting and making conclusions about Swann that went far beyond what Swann herself would have meant or understood. It was often my view of poetry while I was in school - who am I (or my teacher) to say what the theme or symbols meant? Because the four characters have their own motives for what they say about Swann, what is concluded has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially as we get to see them all change or omit facts that further their opinions. Which now makes everything I read suspect! Who recorded this information, and why?

The final section, where all the main characters meet at the Swann Symposium, is written as a screenplay, after stating that all the characters were fictional. This threw me a little bit - how can the characters in the novel be described as fictional? What then is the next part? Anyway, the slight mystery of who is taking the Swann artifacts is explored in this section, and the characters get to interact. Throughout it all, Shields characteristic writing of details and characters development is here. I just kept hoping there would be a little more plot to the story. If I was more of a literaty scholar or historian, I would have enjoyed it more.

MEME: Crime Fiction Alphabet: Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

The Alphabet in Crime Fiction - a Community Meme.

This meme  (highlighting crime fiction titles or authors) was run first on Mysteries in Paradise in 2009-2010 and was re-run in 2011.  This week's letter is the letter B. Head over here to see what other books are being highlighted this week.

Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood, 208 pages

Aussie Author Challenge; Series Challenge (book 6 of 18 in this series)

Phryne (fry-knee) Fisher is the coolest detective around, especially in 1920s Melbourne, Australia. She is rich enough to do as she likes, with whom she likes, and she does, with at least one new handsome fella each book. As she joins the circus in this book, friend that she is of some gypsies, she gets to meet some 'freaks' and clowns, and sleep with some new guys. The books are more than Phryne sleeping around though. By joining the circus and learning to ride bareback on horses, she leaves her servants and 'people' and learns that she can survive on her own, a powerful lesson. The mystery is generally forgetable, but getting to spend some time in another time and place with the definition of a cool chick, is always enjoyable.

BOOK: The Girl Who Chased the Moon and The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Sarah Addison Allen has written some wonderful books with just the hint of magical elements. Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen were both delightful. Her books contain strong Southern women, learning to be happy and to trust their instincts. Maybe a mysterious past that needs to be uncovered.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon, by Sarah Addison Allen, 269 pages

A teen girl, recently orphaned, is sent to live with the grandfather she had never heard of. The grandfather is a giant! Huge man. Emily meets a boy from the strange family who never comes out at night, and learns gradually why her mother left the town and never talked of her previous life. There is a neighbour who bakes magical cakes and looking for love. This was just enough magical elements, just enough southern charm, just enough mysterious past to make this a sweet, charming read.

The Peach Keeper, by Sarah Addison Allen, 273 pages

This had the elements: two thirty year old women who have never been friends, but attended high school together and still live in the same town have neither found love. Their grandmothers were best friends but they don't acknowledge each other. There is a old mystery involving their grandmothers and a salesman who bewitched the town. However, something was missing. I usually never notice this, but it was too much telling about the characters, not enough of them actually living. Paxton and Willa should have been great characters, but they seemed to be making the same decisions but it was described differently as they were 'opposites', never likely to be friends. And then they became best friends, because they should and their grandmothers were? Way too pat.

It was a cute, light read, but compared to the other books of Allen's, this was my least favorite. A nice surprise was the caterer, Clare from Garden Spells, making an appearance.

BOOK: The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright, 229 pages

Orange Prize Shortlist (2012); Ireland Reading Challenge; 2nds Challenge

I am one of the few people who enjoyed The Gathering, Enright's Man Booker Prize winning book back in 2007 (my review is here). Her writing matches the way my brain thinks, and I seem to relate to her female characters, even though they are not necessarily likable or that I've had their experiences. Something just really clicks for me.

In my absence, the party had shifted up a gear. You can never catch the moment when it happens, but it always does: that split second when awkwardness flowers into intimacy. This is my favorite time. Those who were drinking had drunk too much, and the ones who were driving had ceased to matter. p88

Here we have Gina, telling us how she ended up with Sean. It begins romantically enough, with her description of when she first saw him in her sister's garden. As the story progresses, it turns out they had an affair, breaking up the two marriages. Her backward story allows her to justify how it happened, how her marriage was falling apart.

We did not fight until New Year's Eve. I can't remember what triggered it. Money probably. We used to fight about money. His mother. I mean, tick the list. p72

The book is actually divided into three sections, each covering a major upheaval in the life of a thirty to forty year old: affair, death of parent, illness of child. And that may be part of what I related to; I know people who deal with all of these major stressful life occurrences. Gina was sad, making some terrible decisions, and then justifying them afterwards, but some people have sad lives and make bad decisions. Sean was no catch, which I think Gina eventually realized, but by then, so many live had been disrupted, she didn't feel she could change her mind. So sad.

Aileen's worry had become impossible. She had worried so hard and for so long, it had transcended itself and turned into a rapture of care. p 197

Evie was always a bit of a barreller, a lurcher; her elbows are very close to her unconscious. p 218 

Look at all the quote I noted. I can read many books and not pick out one phrase that resonates with me, but I found all these.This is the second of the short-listed books for the Orange Prize to be announced the end of May. I'd be happy with either this or Half-Blood Blues so far. That makes me two for two.

BOOK: The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

 The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, 298 pages

nominated for Edgar Award - best novel, 2011

I've really enjoyed Miyuki Miyabe's Japanese crime novels (I've read three already) so when I saw The Devotion of Suspect X  by Keigo Higashino was nominated for best mystery novel, and that my libary had a copy, I grabbed it.

What happens when a brilliant but lonely middle aged math teacher puts his mind to work to help his 'adored from afar' neighbour deal with the death of her creepy ex-husband? It turns into a game of chess between the man and an old college associate, who happens to be a friend of the police detective investigating the death.

Criminals never get away with their crimes, because they continually commit crimes until they get caught. The best chance to get away with a crime would be one well thought out plan, and then no more crimes, which is what might happen in this book. A great, well plotted story, with characters that seemed real, faults and all.


also reviewed: jackie at farm lane books; kerrie at mysteries in paradise; les at lesley's book nook; wendy at musings of a bookish kitty;

BOOK: Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, 608 pages

Orange Prize Longlist 2012

You know amazon's feature, May We Recommend? If you like these books, then try? Here's my recommended reading list for Gillespie and I: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, Arthur and George by Julian Barnes,  The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale and maybe a little Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.  So, Victorian mystery book, and if you enjoy narrator's that are possibly unreliable? Get yourself a copy of Gillespie and I!

Harriet Baxter decides in 1933 London that she must write the biography of the obscure Scottish painter, Ned Gillespie. In her words, who better to tell his story? Through flashbacks, Harriet tells of her meeting of the Gillespie family in Glasgow at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888 and her growing friendship with Ned, his wife, their children, and his mother. The deliciousness of the story is reading between the lines of Harriet's story, and deciding how the family sees her. The first half of the book sets the scene, and the second half deals with the aftermath of an incident, all from Harriet's view.

Harris writes in an easy style, and the book was a real page turner. Really, the less you know, the more enjoyable the read, although as Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory would say, now I've spoiled you to the fact that there is something enjoyable or surprising about the book.