Still Life by Louise Penny

Still Life is Louise Penny’s debut novel, published in 2005.  Since then she’s written 7 more  novels each of them featuring Armand Gamache a Quebec detective with a literary bent and an eclectic collection of quotes and sayings sprinkled through his conversations.

Still Life introduces us to the village of Three Pines in Quebec.  This quiet village has been plunged into a murder investigation with the murder of one of its elderly citizens.   The investigation opens old wounds, exposes hidden character flaws and forever changes life in Three Pines.

Penny’s characters are richly drawn and even in this first book there is a suggestion that there is much depth in the main characters who will continue to be featured throughout her books.

I read this book when it first came out and was hooked.  Since then I’ve read all her books and am eagerly waiting for the 9^th one to be published later this year.     Still Life is being made into a movie and so I re-read the book again this Christmas.  It was fun to go back to the beginning and see how much her characters have grown through the next 7 books.    I highly recommend this series if you’re looking for an entertaining, intelligent mystery that will leave you wanting more.

Iscariot by Tosca Lee

I was given an Advanced Reader’s copy of this book due to be published in February 2013 by Simon and Schuster Canada. 

I don’t normally read Biblical fiction.  It just seems so contrived to me and I’m never happy with the way characters are portrayed.  So it was with some hesitation that I accepted this book to review.  However, I was hooked by the end of the first chapter. 

I’ve always considered Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus as an imposter; someone that Jesus allowed among his disciples because of the part he needed to play in the unfolding of Jesus’ own story.  But Tosca Lee portrays him as a devoted follower of Jesus.  The back story that she creates for Judas is completely plausible and it’s fascinating to watch his love for Jesus grow throughout her story.  He is in constant conflict though because he is also a passionate follower of the Law and the belief that the Messiah would come as a conqueror of Rome.  As the story unfolds and he becomes more and more aware of Jesus’ true purpose the conflict in Judas grows.

Lee’s ability to create atmosphere and memorable characters is truly inspired.  I felt like I was there; participating in the various scenes and feeling the emotions of the characters as they try to reconcile who Jesus is with the ideas of messiah that they’ve grown up with.  I felt deeply for Judas and his struggles.  She handles the end of the story with grace and compassion and again I felt that it was an entirely plausible scenario.

Her story is well-researched and very well written and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in a deeper understanding of Jesus and the man who betrayed Him.  I’d encourage you to pick it up in February when it is published.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

My book club decided to read this as our December book.  As I started it I realized I’d never actually read this before; just seen a lot of movies about it.

I think this was one of Charles Dickens best books.  It’s short, only 90 pages and easy to read.  But the descriptions are amazing and once again the characters he creates from ghosts to Tiny Tim are extremely well written and memorable. 

Here’s Dicken’s first description of Scrooge: “Oh!  But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!  A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!”    Here is the description of Scrooge at the end of the story; “he became as good a friend, as a good a master, and as a good a man, as the good old city knew.”   You already know what happened to him in between those two descriptions to bring about the change in him. 

I encourage you to read the story again or for the first time. May we all learn to keep Christmas well.   And a Tiny Tim would say, God Bless us, every one!

The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling

 Worth reading until the end. At times I didn't want to finish it but I stuck with it. I didn't really like any of the characters and mostly I didn't care about the town and it's issues. But by the end I did. She has a great ability to create atmosphere. The characters in Harry Potter were memorable because of the specialness; in this book the characters are memorable because they are so ordinary. She is a great writer. Even though this is an adult book a lot of the main characters were still teenagers dealing with teenager angst things.
 
I hope she lightens up a bit in her next book but even if she doesn't I'll probably still read it.

Poetry

I wonder if every reader wishes at some point that she could write?   Over the years I've tried my hand at short stories.  I've even written the odd script or two for the drama team at church.  But the form of writing I keep coming back to is poetry.  I rarely share my poetry but have lately been playing around with it again. 

A friend has a story blog (Sort and Polish you should check it out) and she wrote a blog that inspired my latest poem.  her blog starts with We awoke to the song of a frog this morning.   I took that simple phrase and came up with this.

I awoke to the song of a frog today

A solo before the chorus joined in,

With the wind keeping time in a breezy beat,

Nature’s band tuned to the pitch of the dawn   

First a bass, then an alto entered the song

While the trill of a bird sang counterpoint

In harmony nature’s song was sung

As if it was meant to be heard today

By The Creator of music;

and me.

 

From Blood by Edward Wright

I started this book on a Saturday morning and neglected everything until it was done!   I wasn’t interested in this book to start with because of the title but I was encouraged to read it and I’m glad I did. 

Shannon Fairchild is a mess.  That’s the first line of the first chapter and is pretty descriptive of the main character.   She’s in limbo in her life having stopped writing her PhD dissertation and started a house cleaning business.    Her world is turned upside when her parents are murdered.  Her mother’s dying words “find them and warn them” sends Shannon on the hunt for some friends of her parents and also for the person who killed them.  In the process of finding out who killed her parents, Shannon finds a mystery about her own past.

The action and plot twists are endless and entertaining.  The characters are believable and I enjoyed the glimpse into the 60’s protests that provides the framework of the story.

My only complaint with the book is the title.  To me it conjured up visions of vampires and such and I am squeamish about violence so I was not inclined to read the book because of that.  But obviously the book is not about any of that.   The title is to do with the motivation of Shannon to carry on with the quest to find out about her parents and their past.  The author describes it as responding to a call that came from her very blood. 

Edward Wright is a new author to me and I fully intend to find and read his other books.  If you want an engaging mystery with nonstop action then clear your weekend and read this book.

Books Read in August, 2012

Summer nights are for reading and I had a week of vacation so there was lots of time to read

 in August.  Following is a list of the books read and my recommendations.

Janet Evanovich –  Pretty much all the same, light summer reading, not recommended if you’re squeamish about language/sexuality talk-but very funny and highly entertaining despite that

·         High Five,

·         Hot Six,

·         Seven up,

·         Hard Eight,

·         To the Nines

·         Ten Big Ones

John Dunning –   Great series about an ex-cop turned bookstore owner/book scout-lots of information about books and interesting mysteries

·         Booked to Die

·         The Bookman’s Wake

Robert Parker – Jesse Stone novels- I’m hooked on the TV movies starring Tom Selleck so decided to read the books.  Good mysteries and great character development about an alcoholic police chief in a small town of Paradise where things are never quite as they seem and murder happens on a regular basis.

·         Night Passage

·         Stone cold

And finally for something completely different I read

• the Disciplined Life by Calvin Miller. 

He passed away in August the day after I had downloaded this small book to read.   Everything by Calvin Miller is worth reading and I highly recommend it.