July Books

     Hi everyone. It's time for another book post from me. Once again I did a lot of reading last month. I read some more recent releases, as well as some older books. In fact, my month was kind of all over the place when it came to reading, and my books were set in many different places on the globe.

     And yes I did read a lot , but between a heat dome that kept me mostly indoors  for almost a couple of weeks and also two 5 hour shifts every week at the boat ramp, I did have a lot of reading time in July.

     Again, I write these posts to keep track of my own reading, but if you love reading about books (like I do), then I hope enjoy some of these titles.

     My first book was this really interesting biography of the Durrell family by Michael Haag.  If you’ve watched the PBS series or read any books written by  this  interesting family, you might enjoy this  biography. If you aren’t familiar with the Durrells, they were a British family who spend several years in the 1930's on the island of Corfu in Greece. The older son, Larry, became a fiction writer, and the youngest son Gerry was a born naturalist. Plus there was a son named Lesley and a daughter named Margo and also the Mom. This book gives a bit of background about the family before Corfu, talks about their "real" life in Corfu, and then wraps up by going into their lives after Corfu. 

     The Durrells of Corfu was not only an interesting read, but it contained a lot of illustrations and photographs, as well as being indexed.  It was also just about 200 pages, making it a quick and easy to read book.

     What I found really interesting is how much exaggeration and untruth there was in both the tv series and the Corfu trilogy by Gerald Durrell. Not that the entire stories are made made up,  but at times Gerry’s experiences were those of one of his siblings.  And of course, his characterizations of family members were often more for readability and to make the  the story entertaining rather  than being actual the truth. Learning this does not take away from the actual books Gerald wrote however, and maybe actually makes them more interesting.   I also didn’t know that Lawrence Durrell (the oldest child), who was a literary writer, was actually nominated for the Nobel prize in literature.  During the settings of Gerry's books Larry was actually an adult living his own life, sometimes at home with the rest of the family, but not always. Also, all that time while I watched the TV series and  read Gerry's trilogy, Larry was married to his first wife, but there is no sign of her in those stories. I am now interested in Larry's writing also. 

      As the cover says, the real life story of members of this family is fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed this biography.

     I then moved onto this book 4 which is the latest release in the Kyoichiro Kaga mysteries by Keigo Higashino. I read it is the final book in this series, but I’m not sure the book ended  in a way where there couldn’t be anymore Inspector Kaga mysteries in the future.

         It took me a little bit to get into the rhythm of this story, but once I did, it was a good mystery read. This book starts off with Kaga collecting his mother's ashes. She disappeared out of his life many years earlier. Then the story moves onto  the murder of another woman who was also estranged from her child and whose death shares a lot of characteristics with Kaga's mother.   The book then jumps to a famous fictional Japanese actress of the stage, and the story focuses on her.I wondered how this was going to tie into the beginning of the book, and eventually the story does pull together. And when it does pull together, it is quite unexpected.

    This was another good police mystery in this series. There’s a section about 12 bridges in Tokyo, and I thought that was not only a great clue but also brought about a great explanation later in the  story. Higashino is a very creative mystery writer, not just for the bridge clue.  He writes a solid and unique story with great characters. If you like mysteries and haven’t read any of his books, you might enjoy this series.  And it’s fun peek into Japanese culture too. 

     My next book was The Lost Van Gogh, a fast paced mystery by Jonathan Santlofer.  The premise was that Luke Perrone’s  girlfriend Alex buys a painting in an antique store. Perrone, who is an up and coming NYC artist, is one of many characters in this mystery but I think the most main character along with Alex and  an Interpol detective named Smith. When Perrone's girlfriend Alex shows her shopping find to  Luke, he says it’s a paint over and he proceeds to remove the top layer of the painting.  It appears there’s a Van Gogh self portrait underneath. Alex then attempts to take the portrait for a second look by another expert (to back up her own art history expertise) and on the way she is mugged and the painting is stolen. 

      This begins the story of the lost Van Gogh.  This book moves along quickly, and it jumps around between  Luke Perron, Alex, Smith and a few other characters. They all tie the story together, but there is more going on besides just authenticating the Van Gogh painting. I actually started listening to this book, and although I could follow the events, I found it hard to know what character was doing what. I  was happy to see it was a borrow free with Kindle Unlimited, so I switched over to reading it. It's not a hard nor heavy read, and it's one of those books where the action speaks louder than the character development. 

       Part of this story is set at the end of World War 2, and I found  that part  really fascinating. I also found the part about a missing Van Gogh interesting. I wish the story hadn’t included the underground crime ring buying stolen art and had stuck more to Luke and Alex’s search for the painting’s history.  But I guess since this book is a mystery novel it needed more than just a painting search.  There were parts set in the Netherlands and France, and those parts were also interesting.  

       I looked  up online how many Van Gogh pieces were thought to be missing, and if that internet source is correct, 85 of the artist's paintings are missing or in some unrecorded place. So there could be a missing Van Gogh (or more) that is painted over.. I also enjoyed the fact section the author included at the end of the book. Overall  I enjoyed this book; it was a good summer work at the lake book.

   

   The Mystery of the Blue Train was first published by Agatha Christie in 1928. This is another good Agatha, but I read on-line that this was Christie's least favorite book. It is interesting to note  that this was the book she was working on when she "disappeared".

  Ruth Kettering is a wealthy late twenty-something woman. She and her husband are not a match made in heaven, since they both have other "people" in their lives. Ruth's father, a wealthy American millionaire with whom Ruth is very close to, wants her to divorce her husband. Dad has just bought Ruth some historic and large rubies as a gift, and he tells her to leave the stones in London when she heads out of town on a planned get away. Ruth tells her father she is going to the French Riviera, but her real plan is to meet her lover. She is heading out on the luxurious Blue Train.

     Then Ruth is found dead in her cabin. The day before her death Ruth "unloads" her troubles to another passenger, Katherine Grey, so when Ruth is found strangled, Katherine is called in and questioned.  But with luck, Hercule Poirot is  on the Blue Train. What is the story of missing rubies? Do they have anything to do with Ruth Kettering's death? Not only is the mystery solved by the man with the mustaches, but some people find more than they expected on their journey.

      My next book  was Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which Barnes and Noble has picked as one of the best books of the summer. It also has a 4.4 rating with over 98,000 reviews on Amazon.  I'd also read some good reviews for this book online from various sources, but still I was a bit reticent to read it. Why? Because the main characters are gamers, and I'm not really interested in video gaming. Then I read one review from a woman in her 60's who isn't a gamer and loved this book that convinced me to read it.  I am really glad I did because I not only enjoyed it, but it is a well written novel. 

      The 3 main characters are Sam, Sadie and Marx, and you get to follow them from their college days in 1990's up until they’re in their 30’s. You also get some childhood flashbacks. I love books where you really get to know the characters and where they change and develop over time. And these characters are actually quite likable too, which makes the book even better. 

      Sam, Sadie and Marx start up their own gaming company while they are in college. I knew (and know) nothing about game development, and this book describes it as quite a creative endeavor. The three are quite successful. That is really the extent of the gaming, because most of this book is about friendship and how people interact and connect. And even how friends can become family.

    I enjoyed this novel. I thought ending could have had a bit “more” to it, but it still worked. Don’t let the gamer part out you off either. 

     This next book is a collection of letters and journal entries by and about Agatha Christie’s  and her husband Archie’s tour of some of the British colonies in 1922. Most of this trip was paid for and was part of the  British Empire Exposition.  Archie had been invited to go on this many months journey to a few of the big British colonies,  and since he was married to Agatha at the time, she was included on the trip. They did have to leave their very young daughter at home, but it did seem like too good an offer not to go. Something about traveling in that era, before planes and a million tourists, makes it sound adventurous and quite a romantic time.

     Their first stop was South Africa. There were various scheduled “events” as well as personal side trips like a visit to Victoria Falls. Then it was off to Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Canada with more official events and some personal side trips. Before the Canada visits, the Christies had a break from the tour with a vacation in Hawaii. The organizer and head of the group, a Mr.Belcher, was definitely difficult to deal with.  Yet this trip lead to lots visits to places normally a tourist wouldn’t see such as orchards, sawdust factories, canning facilities and lumber yards to name a few.

  This was a short read. I enjoyed the included photographs and the vintage travel stories. Some thing still haven’t changed like getting  a  less than desirable hotel room or not finding anyplace good to eat. Yet I can see a lot of fodder for the future mysteries Agatha wrote. Plus I loved all of Agatha’s surfing stories .

     This book, The Fossil Hunter, was a book David at Travels with Birds had read and recommended.  It is a biography of Mary Anning. Mary Anning lived in the early 1800's in Lyme Regis in England. Her father taught her to look for the fossils that were very common along the beach near their home. Her eye was very good, and she became a premier fossil finder and that lead to her discovering many long extinct species.

   Mary lived during a time when geology and paleontology was just becoming a science. Fossils were being discovered and new theories about what they were being formed.  Society still generally believed that the time periods of the earth were only as described in the Bible, and Darwin had yet to published his book on evolution that shook up those beliefs. Although religious, being a member of a congregation outside of the Church of England made it difficult for Mary to  be a part of mainstream society.  Plus she was the wrong sex and also came from a lower class family.

    Mary wasn’t given credit at that time for her finds. Many famous scientists did buy and make discoveries using her fossils; in fact Mary was known among these people as a top fossil finder. Yet those male scientists took the credit for the scientific discoveries and she wasn't credited for her finds.  Many of those discoveries and theories are described in this book, as well as the customs and some history of the times Mary lived. Mary today would have been a superstar, discovering the first  pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs,  and a few other fascinating creatures. 

      This is an excellent biography of someone who ended up being quite important in the development of paleontology, but who went unnoticed until relatively recently. You might have also read or heard of the book by Tracy Chevalier called Remarkable Creatures. which was a fictional novel about Mary Anning that was published in 2010 and is also a good read.  (But not an actual biography.)

     Last summer Mae recommended book 1 in this series to me, and I enjoyed it so much I read the first 4 books in a short period of time. Book 5 ( this book, Boys Who Hurt) was recently released. Liking the series as much as I do, I pre-ordered it and jumped right into reading it.  If you like a dark Nordic mystery, this is an excellent series set in Iceland. 

     Elma is back to work after her maternity leave. Her partner, Saevar, is home with their infant daughter, on paternity leave from the same police station in Arkanes, Iceland. Elma's first case back is when a man named Thorgeir is found murdered in his family's get away home. He has been stabbed 7 times and a message is left on the wall. The message, which is a line from a hymn, brings Elma and Saevar out to a summer camp and a death that happened many years earlier. That leads them to the question if  the 2 events are connected in any way.

     Aegisdottir is a master at her craft, dropping lots of clues and developing the story into a really excellent mystery. I like the return of the characters and how their lives have changed over time.  You really do need to read these in order; book 1 called The Creak on the Stairs.

I finished up the month with a couple of fairly quick reads.

     This book, Diavola by Jennifer Thorne, was an entertaining and at times riveting listen with some Gothic style mystery and fright. It is not what I'd call gory (although there was some blood and a lot of insects) nor would I call it a really scary book, but definitely in parts it was suspenseful. (That is unless you call family vacations with grown children, grandchildren and significant others scary. 😏) I have to say the family  drove me nuts at many points in the book, but I was curious to find out more about the ghost. I was expecting some kind of predictable twist as I read this book, but I'm glad there wasn't one because a twist would have been disappointing after all the build up.

     Anna Pace, her parents, her twin brother with his significant other, and her older sister with her husband and 2 children have all rented a  villa in rural Italy outside of Sienna.  This is the year's summer vacation.  Families being what they are, it is not always a good time. However, Anna, who is rather the black sheep, starts experiencing some strange things, and then, other members of the family experience strange things too. There's something in the locked upstairs room of the villa. And when that something connects herself to Anna, Anna's life takes some big changes.

     This book could have been a bit less drawn out in a few places. There was a bit of a surprise (for me) at the end. It was definitely a satisfying read overall.  I'd rank it a 4 out of 5, and I'm glad it was just scary enough and not any more frightening. If you like "ghost" stories then you might enjoy this novel.

     Last month I reread The Eight by Katherine Neville, and since I enjoyed it I decided to  try another book by the same author.  This time instead of searching for magical chess pieces from Charlemagne’s reign the story, A Calculated Risk is about modern (1980s modern) banks. 

     Verity Banks is a go getter at the Bank of the World. When her boss nixes her chance to work at the Federal Reserve, Verity decides to get back at him by stealing money from the bank. Maybe if she does that he’ll learn how much the bank needs more security measures, and he’ll wish he recommended her for the Federal Reserve.  With the help of her genius friend  Zoltan Tor, (and along with his  twist on her idea), Verity plans a high level robbery that is supposed to teach a lesson but also keep her out of trouble.  Hopefully.

    This book was good, although the banking story didn’t really interest me as much as the chess pieces did in The Eight.  However I liked all the unique characters and the fast paced  story. This book definitely had an 80s or 90’s vibe going which was good at times but outdated in other ways.  In some ways I felt like I was reading The Eight again, the only difference being the storyline. But saying that, this was an enjoyable read if you like fast paced adventures with a bit of (and in this case hot) romance thrown in.

     That's my book list for July. And if you read anything you want to recommend, please do. Enjoy what's left to your weekend and the start to the new week. And I hope you weren't too bored with my reading choices. (grin)