The Drowned by John Banville, Faber and Faber 2024
strong characters in a many-layered mystery, but it’s really all about the language
Terra Incognita by Connie Willis, Del Rey 2018
three novellas, Willis is always interesting and entertaining
The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rohan, Soho 2024
lively, off the wall mash-up of Judge Dee and Sherlock Holmes in 1924 London; some interesting historical notes but I prefer Dee at home
The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann, translated from the German by Amy Boding; (c2020) Soho Press 2023
sharp humor carries the story of murder in a seniors group home
The Devotion of Suspect X by HIGASHINO Keigo, translated from the Japanese by A. Smith; (c2005) St. Martin’s 2011
an ingenious plot and compelling psychological portrait; a very superior mystery story
(book group)
Will by Jeroen Olyslaegers, translated from the Flemish by David Colmer; (c2016) Pushkin Press 2019
Antwerp under Nazi occupation; the reader is drawn into a young man’s struggle with the moral quandaries of collaboration and survival
The Gardens of the Dead by William Brodrick, (2006) Penguin 2007
unusual and engrossing mystery concerned with the difficulies of justice and the moral choices of the characters as much as with solving the case
Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert, 1950 Hodder & Stoughton
very clever and entertaining mystery, much humor at the expense of lawyers and the Law
Mild Vertigo by KAUAI Mieko, translated from the Japanese by Polly Baxton; (c2002) New Directions 2023
largely the internal monologue of a Japanese housewife whose swirling thoughts and memories collide with the ordinary routine of life; intriguing and compelling once one gives over to the flow of words
A Scream In Soho by John G. Brandon, (c1940) British Library 2014
a brisk Bulldog Drummondish adventure tale from the reliable series British Library Crime Classics
The Boy and the Dog by HASE Seishu, translated from the Japanese by Alison Watts; (c2020) Viking 2022
dog journeys home interacting with several humans along the way; less sentimental than most such
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald, translated from the German by Anthea Bell; Hanser 2001
memory and history intertwine; elusive and haunting
(book group)
Trust by Hernan Diaz, Riverhead 2022
intricate multi-threaded story; invites reflection on various kinds of story telling, personal and literary
(book group)
The Strudlhof Steps by Heimito Von Doderer, translated from the German by Vincent Kling; (c1951) NYRB 2021
a huge immersive novel of Vienna in the early 20th century
Standing Heavy by Gauz, translated from the French by Frank Wynne; (c2014) Biblioasis 2023
the African migrants to Paris “stand heavy” all day working as security guards in fancy shops
Sea Room: An Island Life In the Hebrides by Adam Nicolson, North Point Press 2001
beautifully written description of the natural and human history of the small obscure Shiant Islands
Deep River by ENDO Shusaku, translated from the Japanese by Van C. Gessel; New Directions 1994
Endo suggests essential spiritual unities to be found in the experiences of Japanese pilgrims/tourists visiting India
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry, Doubleday 2024
gorgeous language elevates this story of doomed love in the Old West
Death Doesn’t Forget by Ed Lin, Soho 2022
very engaging and entertaining mystery set in Taipei
The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble, Farrar, Straus, Giroux 2017
story elements carry the observations and musings on old age and death
I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination by Francis Spufford, 1997 Faber & Faber
wide-ranging cultural history of the (often) fatal attraction for polar exploration and its meanings to Victorian England
I Will Show You How It Was, The Story Of Wartime Kyiv by Illia Ponomarenko, Bloomsbury 2024
Kyiv-based journalist takes the reader through the events leading to the invasion of his country and the first few months of war; very personal and vivid
The Stasi Poetry Circle by Philip Oltermann, Faber and Faber 2022
a fascinating and appalling investigation of the E German Secret Police obsession with poets and literary writers, recruiting some for an official poetry writing unit and subjecting the independent to crushing surveillance and harassment
A Cut-Like Wound by Anita Nair, Bitter Lemon Press 2014
interesting detective works in Bangalore, heavy on the local color
The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta, Bloomsbury 2013
Vienna 1948 is the star of this many-layered thriller, great sense of time and place
The Wealth Of Shadows by Graham Moore, Random House 2024
a very entertaining fact-based thriller about the efforts of a small unit of the US Treasury Dept to use money as a weapon in WWII
The Strangled Queen by Maurice Druon, translated from the French by Humphrey Hare (c1955) Harper Collins 2013
the second volume of The Accursed Kings is fast moving, filled with colorful characters struggling for advantage and survival in medieval France; solid history in an entertaining package
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak, Bloomsbury 2019
in her last moments, a woman thinks of her friends – outcasts and misfits struggling to make a life in Istanbul; an affecting critique of contemporary Turkish society
House of Names by Colm Tobin, Scribner 2017
compelling telling of the story of Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra
The Stars Turned Inside Out by Nova Jacobs, Atria Books 2024
enjoyable mystery blending classic story elements, academic rivalry, and particle physics
A Time To Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor, (c1957) NYRB 2007
looking for a quiet place to finish a manuscript, Fermor is drawn into the timelessness of monastic life and finds unexpected peace of mind in keeping silence
White Jazz by James Ellroy, Knopf 1992
final volume in the LA Confidential set; staccato prose, improvisational feel to the narrative of the 1950’s LA we’ve come to know – still corrupt, violent, brimming with craziness and desperate longings, a fragmentary justice achieved
Kingdom Cons by Yuri Herrera, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman; (c2008) And Other Stories 2017
fable-like story of a young singer who sees a drug lord as a king in a medieval court, gradually his corridas change with his understanding
A Chance To Harmonize by Sheryl Kakowitz, Pegasus Books 2024
interesting account of the work of the little known Music Unit, an arts project of WPA, emphasizing the role of two women in collecting folksongs
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald, Flamingo 1995
a life of the Romantic philosopher and poet von Hardenburg/Novalis, his passionate imagination grounded in a superbly imagined world of late eighteenth century, from laundry day to Goethe
(book group)
All Passion Spent by Vita SackvilleWest, (1931) Vintage Classics ed. 2017
a wry, gently satiric story of an elderly woman determined to live as herself rather than a wife (now widow) or mother
Untraceable by Sergei Lebedev, translated from the Russian by Antonina W Bouis; (c2020) New Vessel Press 2021
an absorbing novel spun from the real political poisonings of Putin’s critics; explores the psychology of scientist, spy, and resistor
Fateful Mornings by Tom Bouman, WW Norton 2017
familiar hard-boiled elements in the hard country of rural PA/NY mountains; strong characters and evocation of place
A Whispered Name by William Broderick, Overlook Press 2008
a very cold case for the lawyer turned monk in the fine Father Anselm series; investigation of events around a WWI court martial
Cruz by Nicolas Ferraro, traslated from the Spanish by Mallory Craig-Kuhn; (c207)Soho 2022
this is real noir – violence, cruelty, betrayal, a flawed hero who may have fought through to a redemption
Nothing But The Bones by Brian Panowich, Minotaur Books 2024
polished new-noir set in north Georgia mountains; only neo-noir for too many good/likable characters and an improbable happy ending
The Iron King, Book One of the Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon, translated from the French by Humphrey Hare; (c1955)Harper 2013
great fun, a historical adventure/romance novel set in 14th century France
L. A. Confidential by James Ellroy, Hachette 1990
third stunning segment of the L.A. quartet, everyone holding secrets and fighting demons
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy, Mysterious Press 1988
’50’s LA, social history as noir crime novel; utterly compelling storytelling, one enters his world and doesn’t look up until the end
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, The Mysterious Press 1987
vivid, compelling story of a horrific and notorious murder in 1947 LA
Packing My Library: An Elegy and Ten Digressions by Alberto Manuel, Yale 2018
packing 35,000 books gives much opportunity for thought; leisurely reflections and learned digressions on libraries, reading, words and their meanings
Skulduggery by William Marshall, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston 1979
One of the author’s mysteries set in the Yellowthread Street station, a shabby back alley outpost of the Hong Kong Police; this is a particularly ingenious and demented entry in an always amusing series
The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell, (c1978) NYRB 1999
an absolutely brilliant novel about the final days of British Singapore and the coming of WWII in SE Asia; many memorable, some endearing characters; remarkably funny even when most critical of the colonial system; vivid evocation of the world of old Singapore; beautiful narrative flow becomes as gripping as any thriller as the Japanese invasion concludes
(book group)
Ash Child by Pete Bowen, St. Martin’s Minotaur 2002
set in Metis Montana country, enjoyable variation of a western mystery
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez, Riverhead Books 2018
in short mock-journal entries Nunez writes movingly of grief, the relationship of humans and dogs, and the nature and purpose of writing; she has a distinctive voice
(book group)
My Friends by Hisham Matar, Random House 2024
a moving story of a young Libyan exile in London; he reflects on the lives he and his friends have struggled to make, the nature of friendship, the longing for family and home, the power of literature. The beauty and elegance of the writing makes this a exceptional reading pleasure.
Athenian Blues by Pol Koutsakis (author’s translation), Bitter Lemon Press 2017
fast paced mystery, strong characters, interesting look at contemporary Athens
Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination by Adam Shatz, Verso 2023
collection of intellectual biographical essays from London Review of Books; focused on how political committment/identification shape the writers work for good and ill; careful, discerning and nuanced journalism by an excellent stylist
City of Bohane by Kevin Barry, Vintage 2012
wildly imaginative language, a distinctly Irish dystopia, very entertaining
Goodbye, Eastern Europe, An Intimate History Of Divided Land by Jacob Mikanowski, Pantheon Books 2023
an impressive, exhilarating immersion into the history and peoples of a region scarcely known
Palm Beach Finland by Antti Tuomainen, translated from the Finnish by David Hackston, (c2017) Orenda Books 2019
I love his books; another nordic gem of dark, but not too dark, comedy
Children of the Street by Kwei Quartet, Random House 2011
well drawn characters , smoothly written mystery set in Ghana
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen, Farrar 2021
story of Katherina Kepler, mother of Johannes Kepler, tried for witchcraft; interesting companion to the Banville novel
(book group)
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez, Riverhead 2018
after the death of a friend, the narrator takes in his dog; written as a journal, reflections on the loneliness of the writer’s life woven among the account of their grieving together
Death on Gokumon Island by YOKOMIZO Seishi, translated from the Japanese Louise Heal Kawai; (c1971) Pushkin 2022
another fiendishly complex mystery solved by detective Kindaichi
Shutter by Ramona Emerson, Soho 2022
Navaho woman’s work as police photographer is complicated by the fact that she sees ghosts; interesting premise, evokes the landscape well
Kepler by John Banville, Martin Secker and Warburg 1981
Renaissance life in its astounding range of squalor, violence, and intellectual ambition
(book group)
Three Assassins by ISAKA Korato, translated from the Japanese by Sam Malissa; Overlook Press 2022
very entertaining; improbable Tokyo underworld story unexpectedly grounded by the “hero”, a grief stricken ordinary man looking to revenge the death of his wife
The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler, translated from the German by Charlotte Collins; (c2012) Picador 2016
a complex , unexpected tale of a naive country boy who comes to Vienna on the eve of the Anschluss; witty, delicate, sad
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Riverhead Books 2023
chock full of characters and plot
Bread by Maurizio De Giovanni, translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar
one of the Bastards of Pizzofalcone mystery series; well developed characters and atmosphere of Naples, satisfying complexity to the plot
The Makioka Sisters by TANIZAKI Junichiro, translated from the Japanese by Edward G. Seidensticker; Knopf 1957
wonderful portrayal of family life in the last days of old Japan
Beside The Syrian Sea by James Wolff, Bitter Lemon Press 2018
engrossing thriller with an Everyman hero
Lost Names, Scenes from A Korean Boyhood by Richard E. Kim, (c1988) Univ. of California 1998
a boy grows up in Japanese occupied Korea; very moving tale of endurance, lovely details of country life
Sleep Well My Lady by Kwei Quartey, Soho 2021
very enjoyable mystery series set in Ghana
In Search of Lost Books by Giorgio van Straten, translated from the Italian by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre; (c2016) Pushkin Press 2017
the forgotten stories of eight mythical volumes and their phantom lives among those who search or speculate about them
The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner, (c1948) NYRB 1988
a singular historical novel, a curiously engrossing immersion into the life in and around a small community of nuns in the 14th century; vividly conveys the dailiness of life, good bit of humor, conspicuosly little interest in the spiritual (book group)
The Gate by SOSEKI Natsume, translated from the Japanese by William Sibley; (c1910) NYRB 2013
graceful, delicate prose somewhat melancholy in tone but balanced with humor and affection
Mr. Bowling buys a Newspaper by Donald Henderson, (c1943) Collins Crime Club 2018
a man commits murders in order to be caught and punished; an uncommon mix of darkly comic/ironic elements and a deranged longing for redemption
Ridgeline by Michael Punke, Holt 2021
smoothly told historical novel building the characters and events leading to the Battle of a Hundred in the Hand (the Fetterman Massacre)
Ruritania, A Cultural History from the Prisoner of Zenda to The Princess Diaries by Nicholas Daly, Oxford Press 2020
interesting, readable history of the extraordinary popularity of the Zenda novels and the continuing popularity and adaptability of imaginary kingdom stories
A Bookwoman’s Holiday 