joycesmysteryandfictionbookreviews

Would you like to learn How to Live Japanese? (by Yazawa)

What the author of this book has managed to do in just over 200 pages is amazing! This short volume is an excellent resource on Japanese life, culture, geography, history and customs. The author lived abroad for many years before returning to Japan. He openly acknowledges those areas where he has his own opinions, thereby engaging the reader.
In addition to the informative text, the photographs and illustrations are appealing and often beautiful. Highly recommended for those who want to visit Japan, have visited Japan or want to learn more about the country.

#HowToLiveJapanese #NetGalley

From today’s New York Times

https://nyti.ms/2Nmlcke A link to an article about Little Women.

https://nyti.ms/2NrrYX8 A column on romance novels

What an e-book bargain day for mystery lovers! Turow, King, Penny, Winspear, Finch and Cleeves

When I read Presumed Innocent many years ago, I found it to be suspenseful with a good twist at the end. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is the start of a long series which features Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell. Bury Your Dead is an entry in the long running Chief Inspector Gamache series which is set in Three Pines, Canada. Pardonable Lies is a novel in the Maisie Dobbs series; I have frequently mentioned and recommended Jacqueline Winspear’s books. A Stranger in Mayfair is part of an English historical mystery series, though the books are written by an American. Finally, Telling Tales is by Ann Cleeves, another author whom I highly recommend for both this, the Vera Stanhope series, along with her Jimmy Perez Shetland series. Wow!! What a day for mystery readers.

Louise Penny

The Glass Room (Ann Cleeves)

Almost good-bye to Jimmy Perez: Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves

E-book bargains: Vincenzi, Winspear and Lippman

Children’s Lit Class Updated: Classic Fairy Tales

The Classic Fairy Tales (Second Edition) (Norton Critical Editions) I am so enjoying this class!! Re-reading fairy tales has been such an interesting experience as the tales are often dark, reflect few choices for women and, in the tales of HC Anderson have a lot of religious undertones. I don’t think that I noticed any of that when I was a child.

Yesterday we spent a lot of time talking about Hansel and Gretel. They were described as tricksters; they used their wits in order to survive and trick the witch. An interesting note provided by the professor was that in the original folk tales many of the wicked parents were the children’s biological mothers. However, as time passed, tale tellers did not want to condemn mothers and so we began to read about the many wicked stepmothers. Also pointed out from H and G was the importance of food and how food was scarce for many at the time that the tale was first told. An additional take was that there was more danger for children who were without their mothers.

We also began a discussion of The Little Mermaid which is not very much like the Disney movie. It was noted that Anderson wrote his stories and that they did not come from folklore. Anderson had greater powers of description and gave more of the character’s inner thoughts than earlier writers. Religion was very present in the story.

Try rereading some fairy tales and let me know what you think. i have been fascinated. Next week we move to Alice in Wonderland. I am excited.

E-book bargains: Moyes and Mackintosh

Windfallen by [Moyes, Jojo] Jojo Moyes is best known for writing Me Before You, her breakout book. However, she wrote quite a few books before that one. Windfallen is one of them and it is an e-book bargain today at $1.99.

From Publishers Weekly

Moyes, a young Brit, again proves herself a worthy successor to Maeve Binchy and Rosamund Pilcher with her second novel (after Sheltering Rain), a warmhearted drama. A magnificent art deco house called Arcadia, built on a seaside cliff in the stuffy English village of Merham, stands at the center of her tale. Lottie Swift was born in London’s East End but evacuated during WWII to Merham as a child; she’s eventually taken in permanently by the Holden family and brought up in their bustling household just down the road from Arcadia. When Lottie is in her late teens, an exotic clan of bohemians move into Arcadia, and Lottie takes to visiting, sometimes with Celia Holden, her best friend, but more often on her own. Then Celia goes away to school in London and comes back with a fiance-a man Lottie believes is her destiny. Her love is doomed, but Arcadia provides unexpected solace. Half a century later, interior designer Daisy Parsons comes to Arcadia, hired by a successful but prickly London developer who has bought the house with plans for making it into a fashionable tourist destination. Daisy’s longtime lover and design partner has just departed after their baby is born, but she conquers self-pity and determines to honor the contract by herself. She’s befriended by Lottie, now an acerbic matron who scorns her village contemporaries but is charmed by the baby and volunteers to act as nanny. Moyes deftly handles her involved plot, skillfully exploring the different family dynamics; her thoughtful tone and light touch make this a delightful read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

I Let You Go $1.99 today. I enjoyed this moody thriller and you might too.

One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Crime Novels of 2016!

The next blockbuster thriller for those who loved The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl...“a finely crafted novel with a killer twist.”(#1 New York Times bestselling author Paula Hawkins)

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of British author Mackintosh’s accomplished debut, five-year-old Jacob Jordan lets go of his mother’s hand for an instant on a rainy evening in Bristol, England, and darts into the road, only to be struck and killed by a hit-and-run. The investigation lands on the desk of Det. Insp. Ray Stevens and his eager new detective constable, Kate Evans. Mackintosh alternates between the slow, but fruitless, police work and the movements of artist Jenna Gray, who’s haunted by Jacob’s death and relocates to an isolated Welsh village, where she keeps to herself, warming slightly to the local vet after finding an abandoned puppy, and even then keeping the details of her previous life a secret. Back in Bristol, Ray and Kate work the case to the ground, despite a lack of leads; predictable sparks fly, even though Ray is happily married with two children. Mackintosh easily shifts points of view and keeps readers on their toes, slowly upping the suspense, so that when she does reveal her twists they—mostly—work. (May)

Sarum by Rutherford

Sarum: The Novel of England by [Rutherfurd, Edward] $1.99 today. I bought, but have not as yet, read this. Edward Rutherford is an author who can most easily be described as a British James Michener. He writes long, detailed historical novels that follow families and places over many centuries. This one takes place on the Salisbury Plain, home of Stonehenge. At 1,059 pages, it is a commitment but I have been informed that it is worth the time.

From Library Journal

A first novel, Rutherfurd’s sweeping saga of the area surrounding Stonehenge and Salisbury, England, covers 10,000 years and includes many generations of five families. Each family has one or more characteristic types who appear in successive centuries: the round-headed balding man who is good with his hands; the blue-eyed blonde woman who insists on having her independence; the dark, narrow-faced fisher of river waters and secrets. Their fortunes rise and fall both economically and politically, but the land triumphs over the passage of time and the ravages of humans. Rutherfurd has told the story of the land he was born in and has told it well. The verbosity of a Michener is missing, but all the other elements are present, from geology and archaeology to a rich story of human life. Highly recommended. BOMC alternate. Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Poirot: Christie and Hannah

The Mysterious Affair At Styles: (Illustrated) by [Christie, Agatha]

$1.99 today. Many of you have probably already read this book but, if you have not, here is your chance. A summary from my local library:

“Who doesn’t love a good mystery novel? Curl up with The mysterious affair at Styles, a tale from the pen of Agatha Christie, a writer who is regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the masters of the form. This classic manor-house mystery introduces Christie’s much beloved character, the detective Hercule Poirot.”

Once you’ve read this first Poirot, you may just want to keep going. There are approximately 36 more. You will enjoy them all.

More recently, Sophie Hannah, was asked by the Christie estate to write additional novels in the series. She has written three books so far.

The Mystery of Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) by [Hannah, Sophie] On the first in the series: “We Agatha Christie fans read her stories–and particularly her Poirot novels–because the mysteries are invariably equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging. Sophie Hannah had a massive challenge in reviving the beloved Poirot, and she met it with heart and no small amount of little grey cells. I was thrilled to see the Belgian detective in such very, very good hands. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home.”
— Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

The Mystery of Three Quarters, pictured above, is the latest release. The book is a fun cozy/traditional mystery. Clearly Hannah has read her Christie because her portrait of Poirot with his personality and idiosyncrasies, as well as his genius, comes through. There are death, multiple suspects, country house and school settings. Find out why church window cake can be important in a novel. Find out how the characters connect. Watch {oirot’s “little grey cells” do their job. All in all, a fun mystery to read.

Some praise:

“A puzzle worthy of the skills of legendary detective Hercule Poirot…. Hannah once again nails the style and substance of her beloved predecessor, producing another treat for Christie fans.” (Booklist (starred review))

“Another ingeniously deceptive puzzle…. The gratifying reveal is a neat variation on one of Christie’s own solutions and demonstrates Hannah’s facility at combining her own plotting gifts with another author’s creation.” (Publishers Weekly)

“[Hannah] supplies boundless ingenuity… adding a divinely inspired denouement.” (Kirkus Reviews)

ENJOY!

An adorable bedtime early reader: Good Night Kitty Kitty by Ponnay

I loved this book! It is an early reader with simple language and appealing illustrations. Adults and children who love cats will enjoy watching the unnamed child and Kitty Kitty as they settle down for the night. This is a very cute read!

#GoodNightKittyKitty #NetGalley

E-book bargains: Vincenzi, Winspear and Lippman

Penny Vincenzi writes those books that are called door stoppers because of their length. They can be fun to read though. About The Best of Times:

On an ordinary London afternoon, a truck swerves across five lanes of traffic and creates a tangle of chaos and confusion. As loved ones wait to hear news and the hospital prepares to receive the injured, a dozen lives hang in the balance. A doctor is torn between helping the injured and hiding his young mistress; a bridegroom hopes to get to the church on time; a widow waiting to reunite with a lost love ponders whether she’ll ever see him again; and the mysterious hitchhiker, the only person who knows what really happened, is nowhere to be found.

Filled with suspense, romance, and more twists than a country highway, The Best of Times proves once again why Penny Vincenzi is the queen of happy endings.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Baltimore Blues is the first in the Tess Monahan mystery series. She is a Baltimore reporter.

From Publishers Weekly

Downsized ex-reporter Tess Monaghan spends her days working part-time at the bookstore owned by sexy Aunt Kitty and trying not to fall into the disgustingly polluted Patapsco from her city-owned boat. When rowing buddy Rocky pays her what looks like a fortune to follow his fiance, the trail leads to murder with Rocky the prime suspect. “Uneven” is the word for this first novel-hometown and newspaper backgrounds are alive from page one, but characters are cartoons until chapter 15 (out of 30) when Tess investigates the victim. Suddenly the story perks up to a believable pageturner. If Lippman continues the promise of the second half of Baltimore Blues while adhering to advice attributed to Elmore Leonard to cut out the

parts people won’t read, mystery fans can anticipate an engrossing series.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Among the Mad is part of the excellent Maisie Dobbs series. Best started from the beginning but definitely all worth reading.

The author on the book:

From the time I realized that in Maisie Dobbs I had a series character, I’ve wanted to explore further the phenomenon of the range of war neuroses known to the layperson as “shell shock,” and how we see those whose behavior isn’t always within the bounds of what we consider “normal.” I also wanted to look again, through the lens of story and history, at the manner in which society treats wounded veterans, especially those whose wounds cannot be seen, but are of the mind and spirit. To do this, I drew as much upon personal experience as my research.

As many of my readers know, my grandfather suffered both physical wounds and shell shock in the Great War, and as a child I remember having to be quiet around him, so as not to excite or trouble an elderly man with terrible memories. Later, in my mid-teens, I attended a school where we were required to undertake community service one afternoon each week (and we had to attend school on Saturday mornings to make up for it!). So, on Wednesday afternoons, I joined a small group who visited a psychiatric hospital–to talk to the patients, make the tea, read to them and generally offer kindness and companionship. I can recall many of the patients, some who were obviously not able to live outside an institution, and others who inspired one to wonder why they were there at all–and when you found out, the reason was often shocking. I remember one patient I talked with each week, an astoundingly sharp, intelligent man. He had been a top-ranking surgeon, one who was regarded as almost without peer. He was also a madman, a murderer. I thought of him often while writing Among the Mad.

Last year, during my book tour, a military chaplain came to one of my events and stayed behind afterwards to talk to me. He told me that he recommended my books to the families of those who have suffered loss during the Iraq war, and especially to people who are trying to accommodate the special needs of a soldier suffering from what we today call Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). He added that in reading a story where such losses are suffered in a time of war, yet separated by history, it facilitates a deeper understanding of what the returning veteran might be experiencing, and challenges involved in coming home from war.

The recent news that servicemen and woman wounded by PTSD will not be eligible for the Military Order of the Purple Heart–awarded to US military personnel who have been wounded or killed in a war zone–struck a chord. In Britain during and following the Great War there was much controversy about war neuroses, and many soldiers were denied a pension as a result of a clampdown on the diagnosis of shell shock. In my second novel, Birds of a Feather, one of the characters says, “That’s the trouble with war, it’s never over when it’s over, it lives on inside the living.” Such a sentiment is never more true than in the case of the man or woman who has served their country in a time of war, but who has to live with that war reverberating in their mind every single day for the rest of their lives. Maisie Dobbs is such a person, as is the person she is in a race to find in Among the Mad.

Friendship for the nursery school set: Alycat and the Friendship Friday

This book is a good one for a nursery or pre-k library. In this story, Alycat is looking forward to a school field trip. When she does not get to sit with her best friend on the bus, she at first is sad. However, Alycat figures out a way to have two good friends! In addition, this book has some health information because the field trip involves meeting with Dr. Katz. A bonus is that this book has instructions for making a simple friendship bracelet at the end.