April 2018 Wrap Up

Books Read:
Landscape in Sunlight by Elizabeth Fair  4/5 stars
Fair's gentle, amusing, perceptive novel follows the residents of Little Mallin for the few months leading up to the church's Festival (known by many as "the Day").  Fair's characters breathe and her locations become visible to the reader.  The plot is light and fun, with a great deal of human nature thrown in.

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham  4/5 stars  (my review here)

An Artist of the Floating World  by Kazuo Ishiguro 4/5 stars (my review here)

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran 5/5 stars  (my discussion here)

Audio Books Completed:
A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King  3/5 stars
The third in the Russell/Holmes series, a Letter of Mary sees them investigating the death of a female amateur archaeologist.  The writing has improved greatly with this novel, and I was completely entertained until the somewhat down-letting denouement.  I still plan to continue with the series, because I genuinely like the Russell/Holmes characters and partnership.


Food: A Cultural Culinary History (The Great Courses) by Professor Ken Albala Ph.D. Columbia University  5/5 stars
This is not an actual book, but an 18 hour course of lectures regarding the history of food.  It is fascinating and informative, giving historical background in addition to the actual gastronomy history.  Dr. Albala presents his information well, and is easy to understand.  The course was truly worth listening to, and provided food for thought.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan  3/5 stars  (my review here)
A note on the audio book: don't.  Just don't.  The reader is terrible, making all male characters speak in a hesitating. one. word. at. a. time. pattern.  It was really hard to get past that, and I nearly quit the book on several occasions.

A Certain Justice by P.D. James 5/5 stars
When a criminal lawyer is found murdered in her chambers, Dalgliesh is called to the case.  James is a master story teller, and the disconcerting ending makes this one of her best.

The Best Friend by Shalini Boland 3/5 stars
When Louisa's young son starts a new school, she finds a best friend in one of the other mothers, Darcy.  The friendship is wonderful to begin with, until Darcy begins to take over Louisa's life.  This is a well-written, mostly believable thriller.  Boland creates an atmosphere of unease from early on.  Despite it's good points, it wasn't enthralling for me, though other readers may find it so.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet 
Kahlil Gibran
1923
5/5 stars

Not a book that can be lightly reviewed, the Prophet's poetic prose gives Gibran's mystical views of  varied aspects of the human condition, such as death, love, beauty, work, pain, and laws.  It is a moving, thought-provoking work that will leave the reader both enlightened and confused.

I usually discuss the classics I read, how it made me feel, what it made me think.  Reading the Prophet is a highly personal experience, though, and I find myself reluctant to share.

My copy; notice all the marked passages.

Read for my Classics Club challenge.

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

An Artist of the Floating World
Kazuo Ishiguro
4/5 stars


In post-World War II Japan, Masuji Ono, an ageing painter, looks back on the years of his career before and during the war. The novel is written as a conversation with the reader, and Ono wanders from subject to subject, revealing more than he realizes. The reader, desirous to find what Ono is hiding, will eagerly consume this novel.  Ishiguro is an excellent writer, and this is written with charm and perception.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Matthew Sullivan
3/5 stars

Lydia, only survivor of a gruesome tragedy as a child, lives a quiet life, working at the Bright Ideas bookstore, living with a solid boyfriend, and trying to act like she is as normal as anyone else.  One midnight at closing, she finds the body of Joey, a young and lonely ex-con, hanging from the ceiling with a childhood photo of her in his pocket.  Left with his books, Lydia finds the puzzle Joey left for her to solve, the solution of which leads her reluctantly back into her past.

This book, Sullivan's first, has a good premise and intrigues the reader from the beginning, but isn't able to keep up momentum.  Once it is discovered that the answer hangs on one unbelievable coincidence, the book looses it's force all together.  It moves quickly, though, and the prose is good.  It's not that this is a bad novel, it's just not fully credible.

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham

By Nightfall
Michael Cunningham
4/5 stars

Peter Harris, moderately successful art dealer, lives a normal life on the surface, but underneath it's roiling with uncertainty.  His daughter currently hates him, his marriage seems stale, and suddenly, his much younger brother-in-law arrives to make Peter question everything.

On the face of it, I didn't particularly enjoy this book.  Then, I realized that the uncomfortable feelings were intentional, a reaction to Cunningham's skillful portrayal of Peter's inner turmoil.  Cunningham's stream-of-consciousness style and unquestionable talent made this book (that I didn't "like") a compelling read.  By Nightfall isn't as powerful as his Pulitzer Price winning The Hours, but it is excellently plotted to tell a lot of story in a small amount of time, masterfully drawing the reader into Peter's vulnerability .

March 2018 Wrap Up

Angela Thirkell

Books Read:
The Excellence of the Rosary Conferences for Devotions in Honor of the Blessed Virgin by Math Josef Frings   5/5 stars
This is a set of lectures given for a conference by Rev. Frings in 1912, and they are still relevant today.  These lectures, though scholarly, are easily read.  They explain and expound upon the various parts of the Rosary, giving the layperson a deeper understanding.  I highly recommend this short book.  (This book is available free for Kindle.)

Growing Up by Angela Thirkell  4/5 stars  (my review here)

Audio Books Completed:
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones  4/5 stars  (my review here)

Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block  3/5 stars
Bernie Rhodenbarr is a professional burglar who has been framed for murder.  To save himself from prison, he tries his hand at solving the mystery.  This is smartly written, and though the solution was a bit hard to believe, all the pieces fell together nicely.  I'll definitely read the next in this series.

Upon a Dark Night by Peter Lovesey  4/5 stars  (my review here)

In the Midst of Death by Lawrence Block  4/5 stars
In this third Matthew Scudder book, a prostitute is murdered, and a whistle-blowing cop is framed.  Matt is hired to clear the cop's name and find the real killer.  Block effectively drops the reader into the middle of the action in this hard-boiled mystery.  It is generally well-written, with believable characters, though I found the solution a bit weak.

Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh  4/5 stars
This, an excellent mystery that revolved around the scales of fish, was well-written and well-plotted, as is usual with Marsh.

Did Not Finish:
The Wedding Walah by Farahad Zama
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two by Zama, and looked forward to revisiting the characters in this novel.  It lacked the life of the first two, and I wasn't able to get more than a quarter through it before putting it down.