Category: Books

Genre: Book  

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Louise Penny

Title:  “Bury Your Dead”

Review:    This top notch thriller is the fifth in the masterful Chief Inspector Gamache series, that is all things Quebec. The complicated yarn delves deep into the Quebecois psyche, with a story linked to Samuel de Champlain, the father of Quebec, and the long fight for Francophile separatism. Along the way, there are terrorist attacks, decades and centuries old murders and the wonderful cast of characters Penny continues to evolve. Most of the he book takes place in the old walled Quebec City, a delight of its own, as Gamache takes up residence with his mentor amidst his own crisis of faith. A perfect book for cold winter day and nights.

Genre: Book

Grade:  A

Notable People: Mark Sullivan

Title:  “Beneath a Scarlet Sky”

Review:    Standalone novel from prolific author who often collaborates with James Patterson. This one took me by surprise and knocked me off my feet. Seventeen-year-old Pino Lella is living the life in Milan in 1943, when the Nazis invade and change everything. He becomes a smuggler of Jews across the border to neutral Switzerland, by mountain climbing and skiing in impossible conditions, and then becomes a driver for the Nazi General who is the architect of Italy’s occupation and devastation…. from which he becomes a valuable spy for the Italian resistance and the Allies. The book follows the trajectory of the war in Italy for its last two years until the Nazi surrender. Filled with rich and real historical characters, death-defying treks over the Alps and a moving love story. This is one you will not want to end.

Genre: Book   

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Cary Groner

Title:  ” Exiles”

Review:    This book, unfortunately, went quickly to the giveaway pile, where I found it in the freebies bin at the library. A shame, since I thought it was a very fine fist novel, by a longtime journalist and short story writer. A heart doctor and his 17-year-old daughter escape their meth head wife/mother, and her crazed biker lover, in Berkeley by throwing a dart on a world map and jabbing Nepal and Katmandu. From there it is a wild ride of self-discovery, loss, adaptation and survival. The book was nothing like I thought it would be at the start and totally captivated me. Very well written and insights into a culture most of us know nothing about. Wonderful character development and you’ll learn more than you ever expected about the Nepali /Tibetan culture. A real sleeper!

Genre: Book 

Grade:  A

Notable People: Georges Simenon

Title:  ” Maigret”

Review:    Talk about retro……ran out of books to read, too cold and snowy to got to the library for a few days…so picked up an old Maigret randomly, which kept me busy for two days……. If you don’t know Maigret…. shame on you…. Simenon wrote this series about the thoughtful and empathetic Lord of Paris detectives from the 1920s through the 1970s…. fifty years Maigret. Originally serialized in the daily Paris newspapers, the series became a genre of its own………extraordinarily psychological for its time……with wit and precision rarely found in any genre…. I happened to pick up “Maigret Has Doubts “(1959) from the home library…. …but it honestly does not matter- …. read any one of the hundreds of these books…and you’ll be well satiated…. Simenon was one of the nine wonders of the world

Genre: Book

Grade:  B+

Notable People: Louise Penny

Title:  ” The Brutal Telling”

Review:    book five in the fabled Gamache series. This one a bit more farfetched, but took a host of very strange and intriguing turns. Lots French Canadian myths throughout and wanders across the continent to the wild Indian lands of British Columbia. The story lost me at times, but the writing is so good, and I’m far into all this Inspector Gamache. Mystery genre? Yes. But these are woks of fine literature as well.

Genre: Book   

Grade:  A

Notable People: Jeanine Cummins

Title:  ” American Dirt”

Review:    Extraordinary!.one of ten best books I’ve read in the last decade, this third novel from Cummins tackles the issue of Mexican migrants in an unbelievably powerful way. It will change your view on this subject-regardless of what your view is. The most recent in a long line culturally sensitive books my daughter lovingly and persistently floats in my direction….is a story for the eons- lovingly told and beautifully written. Mother and her eight-year-old son make the trek by freight trains and foot from Acapulco to El Norte to escape the drug cartels. The many characters they encounter are unforgettable, the intensity beyond words, and the sense of indomitable will to survive and find love and peace……. left me speechless. Stephen King, on the cover reviews, dares anyone to read the first seven pages, and not finish this book. I double the dare. This is an important work for our times- incredibly relevant and topical without being overtly political. Viva la migrante……

Genre: Book    

Grade:  B+

Notable People: Archer Mayor

Title:  ” The Orphan’s Guilt”

Review:    The twenty-sixth annual installment in Mayors’ very long running Joe Gunther series was hit and miss for me. Archer, who is a longstanding acquaintance of ours in Vermont, does a great job of keeping Joe and his troops fresh- though at this point, I would calculate Gunther to be around 95 based on the chronology of the earlier books- but who’s counting? The main characters have graced these pages for over a quarter century and all gotten richer and deeper with time. Mayor also continues to bring back characters he introduced decades ago, with several in this book who were small children in the early books- now thriving and interesting young women. The sense of Vermont in the books remains the best around, with this one criss -crossing the state to many of our regular haunts. And the understated philosophical meanderings about Vermont as a place and state of mind is worth the price of admission. The story in this one meandered a bit for my tastes, though it did eventually reel me in. But sort of petered out at the end, without much of a resolution. I’m being picky, since most of the book in thus series are” A” material for me. It remains an event every October for the release of the next addition…makes me want to make a trip to Gunther’s Brattleboro every time.

Genre: Book      

Grade:  A-

Notable People: David Baldacci

Title:  “Memory Man”

Review:    The first –and origin story- book, in Baldacci’s popular series about Amos Decker; quasi- FBI agent with total recall as a result of a pro football head injury shifting his brain. Decker is wonderfully complex character that you want to work hard to like, though not always easily done. The pot, covering a mass school shooting and flashing back to the unsolved murder of Decker’s family, is tautly written, with great dialog and unforgettable characters. I don’t usually like this kind of bestselling author, but pretty hooked on this series. Got it in LARGE print from the library which is really quite nice.  

Genre: Book

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Louise Penny

Title:  “A Rule Against Murder”

Review:    The fourth book in Penny’s great Gamache- Chief Inspector series, is another brilliantly written novel of life in Southern Quebec. Though the story line in this one felt a bit random and quirky, Penny writes so well, her characters are so well developed and her sense of place………well, just magnificent. The entire boo takes place in a tiny “auberge” on Lake Massawippi in Quebec’s Eastern Township lakes district. You’ll want to go there once Trudeau allows us back in. The setting is based on the very real Manoir Hovey (from her liner notes)- a magical place that we visited may times in the late 90s when the strength of the dollar made such places quite affordable. I’m lining up a reservation for when we can again cross………………and taking a few Penny books with me. Wonderful!

Genre: Book 

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Richard Price

Title: “Lush Life “

Review:    Richard Price is a magnificent modern American writer-though not for everyone. His books are dark and gritty literary essays on angst driven urban life. Alienation, isolation, loneliness, hypocrisy and manipulation reverberate throughout his work. The Lower East Side is his Shangri-La…. but it’s a fearsome and dark place. This novel might seem like a crime novel on first glance, but it’s really a treatise on city life, alcoholism and despair. None do that better. Price is not prolific- he’s only written a handful of novels in 30 plus years, but his work is worth waiting for-especially if you can get through the first 50 pages. A principle writer for Film and TV (The Wire) his books are like watching a film, crisp dialog and all. See if he’s for you- he’s worth it.