A Tortoise and a musician

Listening to Nick Hornby's Juliet Naked, 2009, in the car. It's a tale of musicians and messy relationships and it's good - very Nick Hornby - but good. Very well read so it's an enjoyable listen.

Just started Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant, 2009. I think I will like it. Took me awhile to figure out the Tortoise has a voice. The main character, Audrey, flies home to St. John's to deal with family. Not sure where the tortoise is going to end up, she's back in Portland being looked after. Found a good video clip of the author talking about the book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGzjzl57hjE

books

Finished another pair of socks but no time for photos. In the car I had Benjamin Black's Elegy for April, 2010, playing and enjoyed it. Not sure why, it's as dark as all the others. Dark and cold in 1950's Dublin with alcoholic Quinn crashing his way through another dark inquiry. But like it I did.

Also finished the Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese. I wish he had written more books. He writes very well. This one was hard to read at times, his descriptions of addiction being as raw as his descriptions of surgery are detailed. Good book set in El Paso in the early 90's. Found some good video clips on youtube of Abraham talking

And for a nice light change, I'm now listening to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, Annie Barrows, 2009. Very entertaining. So nice to read about book lovers.

Also reading Douglas Copeland's book on Marshall Mcluhan, in the Extraordinary Canadians series. There's a bit too much Douglas in there but it is interesting. What a strange person MM was.

a couple of abandoned mysteries

Gave up on two, and cannot even remember the name of one of them, popular Swedish author. It was an audiobook and I could not stand the reader so skipped the final 3 CDs. The Laughing Policeman, by Per Wahloo, that's what it was. The other I was reading and it was due at the library. Pretty good but didn't hold me enough to finish it properly. The Last Child by John Hart, 2010.
I am listening to a good one though, the Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. Characters I am interested in, and Quebec, which I am interested in.

And I have other good books on the go: The Imperfectionist​s: A Novel by Tom Rachman . Just started and really like it. Good writer.

Finished My Own Country and really liked it. Such a good writer. I've started his other book, The Tennis Partner and like it too. An interesting man who writes about the people in his interesting life.

the never ending Northern Clemency

Whew, thought it would never be over. 22 CDs to listen to the Northern Clemency. Not sure why I continued but I was ever hopeful I would start to like a character or be interested in what was happening. It doesn't even end, it just peters out. Very glad it is over.

Reading Love and Summer by William Trevor, 2010, a good writer but the book is odd though. It feels like he's writing about Ireland a century ago but I think it's supposed to be contemporary Ireland. Small town Ireland.

Books

Half way through the Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher, a very long book. It's a good read but not sure I like it. I don't like any of the characters, and there are no animals in it. It's about 2 Sheffield UK families, in the 70s and 80s. Reads like literate coronation street. I doubt I will seek out another book by this author.

On the final pages of Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard, which is a good book. His plots are interesting, his characters likable. It moves between Antwerp in 1939 and London in 1976. A Jewish diamond trader fled Nazi Europe, leaving his priceless collection of Picasso paintings and diamonds with a friend who takes them to London. The boat he fled on sank, leaving no survivors. Where is the proof of forgery and why was Eldritch Swan in prison for 36 years?

Good books

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 2009. Very good book, the story told by our friend the grim reaper as he gathers many souls during WW II in Molching, Germany. Liesle is the main character and the thief. Characters you grow to love. Sad, but good.

My Own Country: A Doctor's Story by Abraham Verghese, 1995. I liked Cutting for Stone so much I bought the other two books he wrote. Here he tells the story of his return in the fall 1985 with his wife and newborn son to Johnson City, Tennessee, where he had done his internship and residence. He is the doctor of infectious diseases dealing with AIDS as it infects the small town. This is a well written memoir that reads like a novel.

And a good mystery, Beyond Reach by Graham Hurley. Again we are left wondering where Winter will end up. The doubting detective is good - does police action do more harm than good? Set in Portsmoth UK, DI Faraday seems to be questioning his career.

books

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, 2009. Good novel, but disturbing. Good writer, main character a 20 year old US mid-westerner who meets a troubling boy friend, an aggravating employer. Race and terrorism sneak in. One of the characters puts her kids library books in the oven to kill the germs. What a concept!

Started reading Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training by Tom Jokinen, 2010, and really like it. Had to take it back to the library so I have ordered my own copy. What really happens to our bodies when we die? I will be finding out. The crematorium was an education already.

Also started P.D. James' non-fiction book written this year Talking About Detective Fiction. It's very interesting.