A Secret Garden in Paris (2024) by Sophie Beaumont #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

🌺 Paris and gardens are two of my favorites subjects, so of course I was delighted to win this book from #ParisinJuly2025 - thanks Emma! This book is about three women who have two things in common - they are in struggles, and they love flowers or gardens. First, there's Australian Emma who is grieving over her mother's death. There's a secret of her mother's past which she had had no time to tell Emma before her death - a secret about Emma's biological father's identity. Now, sad and wondering, Emma is staying at her Parisian grandmother's; and to busy herself, she decided to make over the garden, which had been neglected after her grandfather's death. One day, she visited a flower stall at the Marché aux Fleurs, located at île de la cité - a site which is actually in my "go-to" list of Paris (fingers crossed that I would have chance to visit one day, but if not, let me just dream about). 🌺 Arielle Lunel, a young widow with two little children (twins), works as florist at one of the stall, and she's an unusual one. To Arielle, flowers are not just plants, but they are also representing human emotion. That's why many of her customers visits the stall regularly whenever they need a flower arrangement. Just like this young man, David, who visits everyday, either to buy flowers for his mother's grave, or for ehm...other personal reason, who knows? Arielle's problem is related with her controlling parent-in-law who are proposing trying to take away the twins. Last but not least, there's Charlotte Marigny, a successful middle-aged garden designer with a marriage problem. Her husband Tom has been gradually reserved and withdrawn from his wife and children. Distressed, Charlotte fled to Paris; and during one of her wanderings, she visited Arielle's flower stall. 🌺 After presenting each of these three women's cause of troubles, which lead them to fruitful friendship and beautiful journey around flowers and gardens - their mutual passion - the story dwindles a little. The solution to each problem is too easy and too sudden, and felt rushed. I get the idea of using Paris and gardens for a healing point, but still, they are too suddenly resolved. Emma's garden, for instance, despite the fact that she's never been gardening before, and only learns from internet and book, yet the embryo of the garden 'miraculously' emerged just like that. Charlotte's husband also 'miraculously' awaken from his previous reserve - I had even thought it a much more serious case, like the beginning of Parkinson's disease, for example, which often changes the sufferer into a more reserved and withdrawn personality. 🌺 Fortunately, the gardens provided a much better angle for this book. My favorite part is when Emma had to take a friend of a friend (a tourist from Australia) on a garden tour (visiting gardens around Paris, in place of the usual tourist landmarks). It was her grandmother Mattie - my favorite character in this book, by the way - who came up with a nicely-curated tour. Not only that, Mattie - who had worked as illustrator - also produced a specially illustrated map for the tour, with a little scribbled note on the historical background. I would love to pay for such a tour - if only for the illustrated map. The route is as follows: they started apparently from Place des Vosges, and headed for Jardin de l'hotel de Sully, through the door to the secret garden. From there, to Rue des Rosiers, to visit Jardin des Rosiers through the grilled entrance into the hidden garden behind, where they enjoyed quiet times, accompanied by birdsongs. Next, they walked across Pont Marie, over Ile Saint Louis, to have lunch at one of the cafes or bistros, and ice cream at Berthillon at Rue Saint-Louis. Of course, after that they had to visit the Marché aux Fleurs at île de la cité. Their last destination was Jardin de Luxembourg, where the dancing faun statue "reminds us that in letting go, in trusting to the moment, we open ourselves to the gift of joy." [p.153] 🌺 So, you can see, that this book's main charm is in the gardens and flowers, and everything that they represented, either hope, joy, love, or just our connection to the nature. And I loved this book solely for that reason (and a little for the character of Mattie)! Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Hidden in Paris (2011) by Corine Gantz #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

 

🎀 It was on the summer solstice in Paris, that this story had begun. The French has their own celebration on that day, La Fête de la Musique. Annie, an American housewife, has been living in a big house in the 16e arrondissement de Paris, with her husband Johnny and three little boys. Theirs are a happy marriage - or so thought Annie - until, on the way to some dinner and dancing, Johnny grimly told Annie that he "have something I have to tell you". You can only imagine what it was, because in the next chapter, Annie (already at home) got news that Johnny had been killed in a car accident - a combination of booze and speed. 🎀 Fast forward to two and a half year later, Annie still lives in the same house. The boys apparently have accepted their father's death - they never even said anything about their dad, at least that I remember. But Annie, well, she's doing it rather badly. Annie becomes anti-social, neglecting her appearance, and her home - especially her kitchen - and her boys have been her only solace and protection. Them, and an old friend called Lucas, a blue blooded handsome Frenchman, who had been a loyal friend of Annie and Johnny. Nowadays, he comes visiting almost everyday, and the only friend Annie has. It was he who's get Annie realizes of her financial problem, and advised her to sell the house. But Annie loves her house so much, and finally came out with a solution: tenants! 🎀 Two American women and a young man are the three tenants that ends up living with Annie - three persons bringing three personal problems to Paris. Lola with her (verbally) abusive husband and unhappy marriage; Althea with her anorexia, rooted from abusive mother. Last but not least, there's Jared, who is drained after caring for his dying mother and grieved over her death. Annie thinks the womanizer Lucas is attracted to Lola, with her Hollywood celebrity appearance, but she's completely wrong. Lucas had been in love with her for ages. And when nobody would think the emaciated Althea is anyway attractive, Jared is instantly in love with her on first sight. Lola, on the other hand, is always haunted by the thought that she's done a crime by bringing the children to France without Mark's knowledge. 🎀 Along the book, all these characters are struggling and evolving amidst the charm of Parisian "joie de vivre" mannerism, its people and culture, and its culinary (brought in perfection at Annie's kitchen most of the time). Annie's home is the catalyst of the changes in every character, especially in Lola and Althea. That, and the charm of Paris, of course. I could not relate to any of the characters, but I felt pity for Althea. Her mother was a true bit*h, and she should have not raise any children! I was a little surprised with Annie - she befriended Lola easily and took to herself to help Lola with her problem, but ignored Althea completely. Why hasn't she tried to reach for her? If not befriend her - which was impossible as Althea closed the door for social interaction - at least tried to sympathize and more understanding, instead of ignoring her completely. Luckily, there's Jared. All in all, this wasn't a bad book, at least it entertains you with the Parisian vibes. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for: Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Still Life (2005) by Louise Penny

🎨 Still Life is the first book in Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, a crime mystery series penned by Louise Penny. It introduces us to Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and some of his team of Surete du Quebec provincial police force. Gamache and his colleagues were summoned to investigate the death of a local artist called Jane Neal. We were provided a little opportunity to know Jane shortly before her death. She was a teacher with gentle, affectionate manner - the kind that is usually loved by the students. Hence, her death shocked most of the inhabitants of Three Pines, a small peaceful village - so peaceful that they don't have any local police force. Jane Neal was pierced by a hunting arrow near the deer trail. The question arises, whether it's an innocent accident or a deliberate murder.

🎨 I don't usually like mystery with too many characters, but it somehow fits nicely in this one. The police force itself has several characters. Jean Guy Beauvoir is Gamache's sidekick, with opposite personality from Gamache. Then there are a few other agents, and Yvette Nichol, a rookie agent in the Surete whose first assignment is to work under Gamache's command. She tends to show off her knowledge, which leads usually to blunders instead of appreciation. Near the end of the case Nichol is finally sent back to Montreal by Gamache, after he has been patient enough to try to guide her without avail. Her appearance in the mystery offers more of hilarious moments than anything else, and as her faith isn't conclusive, I am hoping that she will return in the next cases.

🎨 The more the case progresses, the more we get acquainted with the characters and the village itself. In the end, I even feel like visiting it myself. I can picture myself staying at the B&B owned by a gay couple Olivier Brulé and Gabriel (Gabri) Dubeau. They are charming chatty-duo, the foods are scrumptious, and the B&B itself seems a jolly place to stay. My favorite character is Clara, Jane's most intimate friend, who's an artist, just like her husband Peter. Jane was actually murdered (of course it turns out to be murder) just after she invited her friends to her house - where hitherto no one had ever been farther than the kitchen and mudroom (why had she been secretive of her inside house; what had she been hiding?) Gamache soon realizes that the key to the murder is in Jane's painting titled Fair Day, which is going to be exhibited at the gallery. The painting is depicting the end of a fair day, the day her friend, Timmer Hadley, died of a longtime illness. Was Jane's murder related to that other death? Or was it triggered by an assault aimed to the gay couple, in which Jane scolded the perpetrators?
🎨 I loved it that the murder is all about art and artists. I have a little suspicions of that from the title: Still Life. Armand Gamache is your perfect chief inspector too; they way he led his subordinates is exemplary. I guessed the murderer correctly - I think it's quite clear after Gamache settled that the murder is all about the painting. There was a red herring, but I know instantly it's a false trail. All in all, it's a nice mystery with a little suspenseful action in the end. I might like to continue down the series, if not to appease my curiosity over agent Nichol's future, then to read more of the eloquent Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (I love the sound of his name too!)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chasing Vermeer (2004) by Blue Baillett

 

👨🏻‍🎨 First of all, I was quite surprised by the mixed reviews this book gets on Goodreads. There are many two stars, but also four stars. I always liked books where people either love or hate. This book has average stars of 3.72, not that bad. So, why not? Thought I. In the end, I'm glad I have decided to read it. It was an entertaining story about art theft (Vermeer's A Lady Writing painting) and coincidences, full of puzzles and codes, and some suspenseful actions; not mentioning the history of art (particularly Vermeer), that this story induces to middle grader. What not to enjoy?

A Lady Writing by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Calder and Petra, who live in London, are ordinary high school students, but with intelligent and extraordinary passions. Calder is obsessed with pentominoes that he always keeps in his pockets. Pentomino is a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge [wikipedia]. Whenever he is unsure about something, he would pull one block from his pocket, and the letter it represents would be his "guidance" to what he should do next. He and his friend Tommy even created a code using all letters from pentominoes. Petra, on the other hand, is an imaginative girl, who, at present, is obsessed with a book titled Lo, written by Charles Fort, who believes that life is not a series of coincidences but is an interconnecting web of patterns.

The Pentominoes

👨🏻‍🎨 Their class assignment required Calder and Petra to write their interpretation of art - what-makes-an-object-art kind of thing. Calder found out that the painting on the curio box he owns, was none other than Johannes Vermeer's The Geographer. He found that out when delivering books order of to a Mrs. Sharpe's house, and saw the painting. Curiously, Mrs. Sharpe is the previous owner of the book Lo, which Petra has taken from a giveaway box outside a bookstore. Stranger still, an unknown woman in lemon yellow jacket with ribbons on her hair, has appeared in her dream, asked to be rescued. Who is she?

The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Meanwhile, more strange things are happening. Three persons in London have received a mysterious anonymous letters asking for their helps to solve an art mystery. On the other hand, a valuable painting of Vermeer, A Lady Writing, has been stolen when in transit between the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and The Art Institute of Chicago, where it would be exhibited. An equally strange advertisement has been published in newspapers, apparently from the thieve, claiming that he/she had stolen it for a good cause: to raise awareness that someone else painted some of what we believe are Vermeer's works. From so many coincidences - or are they 'interconnecting patterns' in Charles Fort's theory? - Calder and Petra believe it is they who must solve the mystery, and find the stolen painting. Can they do that, while FBI has failed?

👨🏻‍🎨 Needless to say, this was an exciting read for me. I always love books with art theme, especially paintings. And Vermeer is one of painters I always admire (Girl with A Pearl Earring is my favorite by Vermeer). Apart from the far-fetched dream of Petra (the Lady asked for help and guided Petra to her location), this is an educational and entertaining read for middle grader. Just as common people who don't have interest in art before, become art connoisseur, thanks to the thief's challenge, so do middle graders who read this would have been interested more in Vermeer and his works. Such a good idea from the writer! I also love the coincidence, or strange phenomenon topic in Charles Fort's book Lo, which does really exist. Is coincident real? I believe so, co-incident means more than one incidents that occur at the same time, concerning one particular object, right? So, if two people with some interest gather forces in one project, they would be focusing in the same field, and so, there's bound to be many such co-incidents happening all around them. Charles Fort's Lo also taught us to be more open minded to strange occurrences - that we cannot fathom what's happening, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

What an entertaining, educational, and inspirational this book proved to be!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Housekeeper and the Professor (2005) by Yōko Ogawa #WITMonth #20BooksofSummer2025

🔢 In 1975, a brilliant Professor of Mathematics had a car accident, which caused a severe head injury, with a peculiar side effect. His memory of events before the accident is intact, but after 1975, the Professor lives with short-term memory of only eighty minutes. It means that after eighty minutes, his memory would be completely erased, except for that of 1975 and before. "In the simplest terms, it's as if he has a single, eighty-minute videotape inside his head, and when he records anything new, he has to record over the existing memories."

🔢 A housekeeper who works for an agency, was hired by the Professor's widowed sister-in-law, to keep house for the Professor, who is now on his sixties. He lives in a small cottage, adjunct to the sister-in-law's house. Eight other housekeepers had been hired and left, and so this one (we never get to know her name) was a little apprehensive when she arrived at the first day. The Professor is quite peculiar in appearance; his suit was worn, and several scraps of notepaper with his handwriting were pinned on it. It was his way of remembering important things. The most important one seems to be the one with "my memory lasts for eighty minutes", but after the arrival of the new housekeeper, he has a new one that says: "the new housekeeper" with a sketch of a woman's face. And that appears to be the beginning of a deep friendship.

🔢 The Professor is fond of numbers. His first greeting to the new housekeeper was: "What's your shoe number"? It's an odd way to say to a new acquaintance, but it's his way to cover his nervousness or awkwardness. After one produces him any number (shoe, telephone, birthdate, and so on), he would give you a theorem of prime numbers or factorial numbers. But the story gets much more interesting when the housekeeper's son came into the scene. He was nicknamed "Root" by the Professor, as the top of his head is flat, just like the square root symbol. Apparently the Professor cares so much for the boy, and since then, an intimate friendship wrought itself between the three unlikely persons. Either around the dinner table, or the baseball stadium, they were always happy in each other's company.

🔢 I think the biggest question that the author, Yōko Ogawa, wanted us to reflect is, whether it is possible to have an intimate relationship when one does not have memory. How can you have a deep affection to someone whom you completely forgot you've ever met before? That is something I have never thought before. Is our relationships built from things we enjoyed in the past? And if we're get rid of that; if we see the other as a stranger each time, will we recognize the bond, even if we don't understand why or how? Interesting isn't it?

🔢 On the whole, this is a thought provoking story. You'll enjoy it more, perhaps, if you love Math and/or baseball. I don't both, but I still enjoy the trio's deep relationship.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Healing Season of Pottery (2023) by Yeon Somin #WITMonth #20BooksofSummer2025

🏺 My first interest of this book was pottery. I always admire people who are passionate about something - either hobby or career; and you rarely read about pottery. Add "healing" with that, and an image of a cat sitting near the potteries - well, it sold me instantly! And I think it would be a good choice for this year's #WITMonth. A feel-good story with a tinge of slow-burning romance, set in an Asian country.

🏺 Jungmin has just quitted her job as broadcasting writer, and is now living as a recluse at her apartment in Chestnut Burr Village (what a name for a village!). After days of holing-up, without ever once going out, Jungmin suddenly emerged. She wanted to find a cafe, but stumbled instead upon a quiet pottery studio. The owner invited her in, and what with a cup of coffee and fresh smell of clay, Jungmin felt calm and composed for the very first time after a long while. And so, it's not a wonder that Jungmin started to learn about pottery.

🏺 As the story unfurls, we get to know more of the other members of Soyo Workshop, and most importantly what Jungmin had had experienced to shape her like that. I loved the interaction of the owner, Johee, and the other members: Jihye, Gisik, Jun, and Hyoseok. They all had a troubled past, and were struggling to build a future. Working the pottery wheel seems to be what everyone needs to shake off the past, while shaping a way to better future. In short, pottery was portrait here, not only as a hobby or pastime, but a way to embrace life.

“Whether it’s pottery or life, it takes more than one attempt for them to come out right. And all that effort makes the end product more valuable, too.”

🏺 As is in most Japanese feel-good novel, the pace is quite slow. I enjoyed it every time they work on the pottery; I could almost see the end products. It's pretty satisfying when they sold out all the vases, dishes, and bowls during a bazaar. And I agree, that a handmade pottery product, no matter how imperfect it was, is a perfect gift to someone who means a lot to us - it's private and unique; especially when the dish or vase had been made with that person always on the maker's mind.

🏺 As a feel-good novel, this is actually a bit dark. What Jungmin had experienced is deeper than what I had thought at first); it's a layered psychological problems that I think need more than pottery to heal. But on the whole, it's a slow-paced heartwarming read. I loved the end!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Upside Down River (2000) by Jean-Claude Mourlevat #ParisInJuly2025

 

🚣 While searching for an audiobook of Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil - an essay by Jean-Claude Izzo - I've planned to read for #ParisInJuly2025 (it's a satisfying essay to read, by the way), I came across this audiobook by another Jean-Claude - a middle-grade fantasy story. And it turned out to be a gem, I loved it! The Upside Down River is a two-parts story. The one I listened to is the first, which is subtitled: Tomek's Journey. 

🚣 Tomek is a seventeen year old orphan boy who runs a store that sells everything. By everything, it means everything you can name. One day, a girl of his age came to the store, buying some barley sugar. When the girl asked for a drop of water from river Qjar, Tomek realized three things: one, that his store doesn't sell everything after all; two, that he's actually been bored for a long time, and longed for an adventure; and three, that he's fallen in love with the girl, whom he didn't have chance to ask the name.

🚣 From an old man whom he always calls grandfather, Tomek learned more about river Qjar - it's a magical river; an upside down river that runs from sea, up to the mountain. And drinking a drop of water for that river is believed to make the person immortal. Tomek was intrigued, he wanted to meet the girl, whom he knew would be on the quest of river Qjar, and he also wanted to bring the old grandfather a drop of its water. So, off he went for his journey one fine day. And what a journey and adventure it would proof to be, and what interesting characters he would meet on the way! My favorite is Marie, a widow who travels with her cart and a donkey that farts a lot :)). He met her just at the edge of Forest of Oblivion, inside which one would forget everything that happened before entering, but right after leaving, the memory would return. Not mentioning the colony of huge bears that lived in the forest, and who were blind, but had sharp hearing. Marie was a good travel company, and it's she who give Tomek encouragement to go on his journey.

🚣 But the most exciting of all, is perhaps when Tomek finally met Hannah - the girl who bought barley sugar - and they'd go together to the river Qjar. But not before Tomek went into a sort of comma after smelling a poisonous big blue flower, and got rescued by a group of farmers; and several others strange adventures. But would Tomek and Hannah succeeded to find the river Qjar? And would they get the drops of water from it, up on the summit of the mountain, to bring home? Hannah wanted to save her most beloved bird, I forgot to mention. 

🚣 All in all, it's a short read, but packed with fun adventures. Jean-Claude Mourlevat is, surely, a great fairy tale, fable and fantasy books writer! I might perhaps get to read (or listen) the second part of this book someday (Hannah's Journey), but for now, it's my last read for #ParisInJuly2025, and a very satisfying one to wrap it up! Thank you for Emma for hosting it this year. Au revoir!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

The Martian (2011) by Andy Weir #20BooksofSummer2025

🗼 Science fiction is never my cup-of-tea, but from time to time I would read one that's interested me. I have bought a copy of The Martian solely because I have watched the movie - and quite liked it. Now I read it for year 2011 of my A Century of Books project. And it's not disappointing!

🗼 The story was told from Mark Watney's perspective. He's one of six NASA astronauts who were sent to Mars to collect samples. Each of them has unique expertise, and Mark's are botanist and engineer. One day during their works, a severe dust storm occurred, caused them to frantically returned to the hub, but Watney. He was injured, and since the other crew couldn't found his location, and thought him dead, in the crucial moment, they left Mars without him. But Mark Watney wasn't dead - he's alive and uninjured! For now at least, but how would he survive in Mars, alone, with limited quantity of food and supplies, and - with the communication tools dead thanks to the storm - without a way to communicate to Earth that he's alive?

🗼 And so, the heroic, relentless, and grueling efforts of Mark Watney to survive begins, the essence of this remarkable book. His ingenuity - farming potato in Mars, for instance - and his MacGyver-ish capability of quick thinking and assembly stuffs from limited equipment are wonderful. But most of all, is his determination to never quit. I think his huge courage helps - when one is not hampered by the scare of death, one could think more clearly, and decision making in every step would be much easier. That's my opinion , at least. I admired how Watney is always able to decide the next most crucial task he has to tackle first, after an assessment post incident. There are a lot of things to do, but he's never daunted by this. One thing at a time, is always his approach. The possibility of death is so huge, but he doggedly thinks and works to survive - at least for the present. 

 🗼 The Martian is not only a science fiction, with tons of scientific and technical jargons which, though I only understand perhaps 20% of it, still was entertaining. But the message behind Mark Watney's struggle of surviving is the most important element of this book: the beauty of humanity at work. The save-Mark-Watney project turned out to be, not only national, but international, interest. Though I doubt it will happen in reality, but I was really touched by this united warm humanity showed all over the world. This made the book awesome - not mentioning the dry and sarcastic humour showed by Watney; kudos to Andy Weir to draw the character so deeply!

🗼 Even when I don't really care much for science fiction, there's a priceless lesson to be drawn from this book: how to not succumb to desperation. Everytime I were in desperation, I'd remember Watney's attitude. He'd go from swearing, whining, then quickly to his optimist self once more. Like in this scene, right after something goes awry:

"Just once I'd like something to go as planned, ya know?...."

But then 3 sentence later...

"Okay, enough self-pity. I'm not doomed. Things will just be harder than planned."

I'm not doomed. Things will just be harder than planned - would be my future magic sentence to self control!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Red Notebook (2014) by Antoine Laurain #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

📕 Antoine Laurain has become a staple author for me. His books (so far) are always highly entertaining, and so I had decided two or three years ago that I will read at least one Laurain's every #ParisInJuly. This year, The Red Notebook was my choice - red is my favorite color too - and again, I loved it! Laurain never disappoints, and I can't wait to read more of his next year. Now to the story...

📕 The red notebook belongs to a Parisian woman in her forty, who had been mugged one morning, and lost her handbag. Her head got hit quite hard from the incident, and for several days she was in hospital, having a coma. Meanwhile, the thief thrown the bag (after stealing the smartphone and purse, of course) on nearest garbage bin.

📕 That morning, bookstore owner Laurent Letellier was on his morning stroll when he noticed a mauve handbag discarded on top of a garbage bin. On impulse, he saved the bag, intended to drop it at the police station. But one thing led to another, he ended up taking the bag home to his apartment. Searching for any identification (which was none), he was fascinated to read the contents of the red moleskin notebook, which was a diary. Little by little Laurent came to "know" the woman, though not her name or address. Laurent was then on a mission to track down the woman, using some of the bag's contents as clues: a dry cleaner's receipt, a key ring with hieroglyphics, and a signed copy of Patrick Modiano's book. Would he succeed in his quest? 

📕 A little mystery, a quest, and a budding romance are the best ingredients for a lovely light book, and this one has all of them. Rare glimpses of the exotic profession of a Gilder added the charm; not mentioning the everyday life in Paris' apartment buildings, streets, and cafés which seeped through every lines of the story. Together, they create a little bubbling of happiness I always feel during #ParisInJuly, especially while reading Antoine Laurain's! ;)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Dalai Lama's Cat (2012) by David Michie #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksOfSummer2025

🐈 My first choice for Mallika's #ReadingtheMeow2025 has long intrigued me. I don't know why, but I'm always fascinated by Tibet. Reading Herge's Tintin in Tibet more than forty years ago might be the first trigger. Tibet has been some sort of magnet for me ever since. Then, when you add the cat element in it, how could I ever resist? Hence, it had been my first choice, and I'm not disappointed - it's simply delightful and inspiring.

🐈 I love it when an animal tells a story from its point of view. This story is that - the titular cat told the story of its wonderful life, from near death to the highest point that could possibly be achieved by a cat. She was rescued by the Dalai Lama when, as a kitten, she was being snatched from her mother by two naughty boys who wanted to sell her and her siblings. It was in the street of New Delhi, and Dalai Lama passed by in his car from a visit. She soon became Dalai Lama's pet. And people call her various names, from His Holiness' Cat (HHC) - by Dalai lama himself and his entourage; Rinpoche (meaning precious) - by a cafe owner who's a Buddhism enthusiast; Snow Lion; and The Most Beautiful Creature that Ever Lived - by Dalai Lama's chef.

🐈 Living with Dalai Lama, it's no wonder that HHC gets used to listening to many Buddhism lessons as she's always around when Dalai Lama receives visitors. She's even practicing (or trying to) meditation, in fact, she aspires to be a bodhicatva!🐱 And HHC has a lot of weaknesses to be righted; gluttony is one of them. With her status of His Holiness's Cat, there're people who want to please her. And how one pleases a cat if not by offering foods - delicious foods, which HCC could not resist. And that's how she's getting fatter and fatter. But Dalai Lama's advice to a visitor inspired her to overcome her greediness. That's just an example, she is also guilty of pride, jealousy, and insecurity. She is attracted to a tiger tabby, but feels insecure about her own (non) breeding, and so, plays hard-to-get all the time. Is it wise, though? She just have to sit still on the windowsill of Dalai Lama's study, to get the answer.

🐈 In short, this is a book "written" by a cat who tells you her own story, while at the same time imparts spiritual lessons of how to live a happier and more wholesome life. I love it when a cat writes a book, especially if it has a well-balanced proportion between cat's daily life and its interaction with human beings. Of course, HHC's observation on Dharamsala and Jokhang monastery and temple life, brought to me by the cat's point of view every time she perches high on the magazine shelf at the cafe, or while wondering on the Dharamsala streets and alleyways - it made this an even wholesome book. Even if you aren't a cat person, this book is funny, charming, and inspiring, without being preachy.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Reading the Meow 2025

hosted by Mallika

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Convenience Store Woman (2016) by Sayaka Murata #JapaneseLitChallenge18

🏪 Keiko Furukura grown up as an unusual child. She never fits in, neither at home, nor at school. It's just that she thinks differently from other children. Like, when they found a dead bird, while the other children were devastated or crying, Keiko was thinking that her father would like to have the bird cooked for dinner tonight. I think I will feel similar to Keiko - dead bird is just, well... a dead creature. It would be different if it was my pet, but a random dead bird is just natural. That's just one example, but Keiko's family was worried, and always think she needs to be cured.

🏪 At eighteen, Keiko still doesn't fit in in college. At this point, she took a part time job at a convenience store. It was a God-send to her, so to speak, as she finally found peace inside the regulated small world of convenience store. When one works in a convenience store (the kind that are numerous in Japan, as well as other Asian countries), one becomes a store worker; no matter what one's gender, sex, education, race, or social background is. One is only expected to perform based on the store manual. One would not be expected to be, to feel, to look like anybody else, since during working hours, they are all one entity, convenience store workers. Then, and only then, does Keiko feel happy, safe, and comfortable. No wonder that she never leaves the job, and becomes more and more attached to it.

🏪 Now Keiko is in her thirties, still a part-timer, still unmarried. Her family and friends are uneasy, often annoy her with their comments, insinuations, persuasions. Apparently, Keiko still doesn't fit the society. What is her fault? She lives independently, doing a good job, doing no harm to others, and more especially, completely happy and peaceful with herself. What's wrong with that? Well, it's wrong because the society dictates that a normal person should marry and procreate, and he/she should always improve in career. Being comfortable in one place for the rest of one's life isn't normal. It seems that all the Keikos in the world have only two choices: being happy of their own values, but being shunned forever from the world, for rejecting the society's convention; or accepted in the society, but forever living as a soulless creature, always conform with others.

🏪 Who would have thought that this seemingly nice and sweet little book is actually so thought-provoking, though in a fun and easy going way, without judging or condemning? Beyond the main theme, I loved its convenience store dynamic atmosphere as the background, but also, almost, as a living entity in the story. As an Asian, I, too, can't live without convenience stores. We even have four inside the apartment complex, two of them with ATM machine, where I can buy bread, fresh fruits, and sometimes hot snacks in about five minutes walk. Very convenient indeed!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Japanese Literature Challenge #18

hosted by Dolce Bellezza

The Bird Found the Body (2023) by Bailey Booth

🦜 As I love birds, naturally I was drawn to read a cozy mystery where the bird has significant role in the investigation. Moreover, I have read Bailey Booth's cat-themed novella a few years ago. It was okay, a promising debut, at least. And I was curious whether her writing would be improved in this new series. Well, it is not, significantly. I found it just another okay, but a very cute story if you are a bird lover.

🦜 Keela arrived at a tropical island of Half Moon Cross with her cockatiel, Chicken. She was summoned by her Aunt Astrid, to take over her business, a bird-pirate-themed tour company called Parrots of the Caribbean. However, just on her first day of leading a tour, Chicken, her cockatiel - dressed in cute pirate costume, no less - led the group into finding a dead body. It belonged to a former employee of Parrots of the Caribbean too. It was a terrible way to start a new job. Worse still, the police suspected Aunt Astrid to have committed the murder, since the deceased had been seen quarreling with her before she left the company. Keela couldn't let that happen. First of all, Aunt Astrid is a kind, compassionate person, and secondly, if her aunt went to prison, what would happen to Parrots of the Caribbean, and where she would stay, considering that she has just left her former painful life behind?

🦜 But who had the motive and opportunity to murder Vanessa, the former employee? Keela is a newcomer, and she needs more time to know everyone. Especially Ruby, the scarlet macaw belongs to Aunt Astrid, who is the mascot of Parrots of the Caribbean. It is more attached to another employee, whose ambition makes him one of Keela's suspects. The other is the owner of Parrots of Caribbean's competitor. But not only them, Keela even, at one point, had a little apprehension whether her new friend - also employee to the company - might have done it. The same applies to a handsome bartender and ex-police who has a crush on her. 

🦜 All in all, it's a cozy mystery which is too cozy for my taste. The premise is cute and refreshing - the birds, the sanctuary, even the pirates-themed tour, but I couldn't get my myself absorbed into the mystery. It's entertaining enough, but not a cozy mystery series I'm going to follow closely.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Greenglass House (2014) by Kate Milford

❄ It's few days before Christmas, and twelve year old Milo had expected a quiet holiday with his parents (foster parents, since he was adopted) at their inn, the Greenglass House. But to his great dismay, one guest arrived, then another, then another, until there are five guests staying in the house, plus the cooks who are helping. Christmas holiday is practically ruined. Or so thought Milo, before he found a strange map, and a girl his age, the cook's daughter Meddy, who invites him in a role play game.

❄ Greenglass House is not a regular inn. It had belonged to a famous smuggler, and to that day, smugglers are among the inn's frequent guests. The building itself is a unique one. Five stories high, with colorful glass windows, and located on top of a steep hill. To reach it from the bottom, the guests must use a rail car. I have been to Paris in the 2000, and I imagined this rail car is like more rustic model of funicular I took to reach Sacré Coeur in Montmartre.

❄ Milo found an usual map, like a navigator's one but with strange pictures, on the snowy ground, that one of the guests must have dropped. But whose is it? And what is the map about? It was to solve this mystery that Milo and Meddie started the game in the first place. Then some guests belongings begin missing, and one of them is seen entered another's room suspiciously. Is there a thief in the house? They also notice that the guests seem secretive; their reasons of coming to Greenglass House aren't for holiday, but for their own, which are related to the house's history. What's happening? Who's the thief, and what's the motive?

❄ This story has everything you'd want to read during the season - adventures, mystery, snowy nights, smugglers, big house with attic full of interesting stuffs, and a tiny touch of gothic (which I won't reveal so as not to spoil the story). And last but not least... the surprise. It is so unexpected, yet I should have known from the first - the clues are there from the start. Anyway, this is the only Christmas-themed story I'd read this year, and I'm glad I had. It's satisfying, heartwarming, and full of fun. I loved how Milford delving into a mildly serious issue of  Milo's insecure related to his being orphan. It added a bit of depth into the already satisfying read. This will also be my last reviewed book of this year.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (2002) by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader)

The old man's eyes struck me first. They rested deep in their sockets, and he seemed unable to take them off me. Granted, everyone in the teahouse was starring at me more or less unabashedly, but he was the most brazen. As if I were some exotic creature he'd never seen before.

💓 Julia Win came to Burma to seek answer. Answer to her father's mysterious disappearance four years ago from New York, and from her and her mother's life. One day his father Tin Win left abroad, but never returned. They found out that he went to Burma, instead of the country he intended to. But there his traces disappeared. Four years later Julia read a love letter to her father written by a Burmese woman called Mi Mi. Who is Mi Mi? And why had her father never spoken about the first twenty years of his life in Burma to anybody, not even his wife? Julia decided to go to Kalaw, Burma, to get to the truth.

💓 In Kalaw, she was met by a strange old man called U Ba. That's the encounter in the opening line. He told her a wonderful story of her father - the first twenty years of his life he never told anyone before, including his relationship with Mi Mi. And what a story that is!

💓 The story U Ba told Julia was, for Westerner even at that time (1960s), extraordinary. Superstition and astrologer were two dominant things in Burmese people in every step of their lives, typical of South East Asian country whose people were poor and low educated. Tin Win was born on the "wrong day", and so their parents expected only bad things to him and themselves. Every calamity was blamed on Tin Win; and he grew up as a sensitive, affectionate, intelligent boy, capable of great love, but never been loved.

Friday 56 Quote (hosted by Heads Full of Books):

Tin Win's life had not spanned twenty-one days when, at least from his mother's perspective, its whole course had been decided. Lived. Forfeited.

💓 When his mother, who was his only family left, abandoned him, it was too much for Tin Win. I literally wept with him. How could a mother do that to her only child? No matter how stupid or superstitious one is, surely a mother should have had an instinct to protect her child! But she left and never returned, so Tin Win was brought up by a very kind neighbor, a woman called Suu Kyi, as her own son. Then, another calamity came, little Tin Win got a rare cataract on both eyes and gone blind.

💓 A wise monk at the monastery taught Tin Win that human being is capable of perceiving things much better and sharper when he use all his other senses besides the eyesight. And Tin Win began to be aware of even the most imperceptible sounds around him; the flutter of a butterfly's wings, the rustle of certain leaves (every tree made different sound), and even... the heartbeats of people around him. Particularly, that of a girl of his age, named Mi Mi.

💓 Mi Mi is crippled, she couldn't walk due to her stiff legs (polio?), so she crawled on all four to get anywhere. The most undignified way a human being could imagine to move, but surprisingly, Mi Mi always moved very gracefully. She was always patient and never complained of her condition. Soon Tin Win and Mi Mi became inseparable. Everyday, year after year, Tin Win was seen carrying Mi Mi on his back, while the girl is guiding him, becoming his eyes, during their excursions. And just as they are dreaming of marriage, and what they will do to build a future, a summon from a rich uncle in New York came - Tin Win must go away from everything he loved in the world - his Kalaw, his home, and his love, Mi Mi. And that's how he later met Julia's mother. What happened then? Had he ever met Mi Mi again? And will Julia reunite with his father in Burma? Does he live with Mi Mi? You must read this amazing story to find the answer.

💓 Suffice to say, this is a magnificent book. It's been quite a long time since I last read a book that has left deep Impression in me long after I finished it. And I have no doubt this would be my most favorite book of the year. I can't find appropriate words to describe it - it's a humbling experience to read this book. It's tender, deep, touching, and written so beautifully it made me want to cry. I admire the kind of love between Tin Win and Mi Mi. It's not a passionate one that leaves you wretched when you're separated, nor is it a selfish one that you have to have the other for yourselves no matter what. No, it's much deeper and beyond all that; no pain, no jealousy, just contentment that you have loved and been loved, and no matter how far away you are from each other, that love is always in you, no one or nothing can take it away from you.

Two of my favorite quotes:

"And so there must be in life something like a catastrophic turning point, when the world as we know it ceases to exist. A moment that transforms us into a different person from one heartbeat to the next. And if these turning points are real, are we aware of them as they happen, or do we recognize the discontinuity only much later, in hindsight?"

"Do we leave the dead behind or do we take them with us? I think we take them with us. They accompany us. They remain with us, if in another form. We have to learn to live with them and their deaths."

Rating: 💓💓💓💓💓

The Golden Mole: and Other Vanishing Treasure (2022) by Katherine Rundell #NonFicNov24

🦒 In The Golden Mole, Katherine Rundell introduces us to some of the world's most exotic creatures which are also endangered. Among these animals, some are no strangers to us, like the crows, wolves, bear, or elephant. We often hear or watch about hare, giraffe, or hedgehog, though we might not see them physically. But how many of us are familiar with wombat, lemur, narwhal, or pangolin? This book talks about all of them, and several others.

🦀 However, this is not some kind of encyclopedia about exotic animals, it's much more interesting. Rundell slips stories, myths, or anecdotes related to each animal, sometimes even concerning prominent historical personages whose stories had been linked to certain animal. The most fantastic is that of Coconut Hermit Crab. You must have been familiar with Amelia Earhart's story of disappearance over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the world in 1937. One of the many theories believed that some Coconut Hermit Crabs must have eaten Amelia Earhart's body. She was probably stranded on Nikumaroro island, known as home of these crabs. Some human bones were found there many years later, but they're lost on the way to investigation, so we still don't know the truth. But it's an interesting fact nevertheless.

🐨 Another interesting story is involving Wombat. The creature - some says it's a mixture of capybara, koala, and bear cub - was a favorite pet of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet. He had sketched Mrs. Morris (Rossetti's model and muse) taking a wombat on a leash, both with halos over their heads. A wombat had also been gifted to Napoleon's wife, Josephine, by a ship's captain. Speaking of gifted exotic animals, do you know that Cleopatra had once gifted a giraffe to Julius Caesar who then brought it to Ancient Rome?

🐻 A funny anecdote came from the inimitable Lord Byron concerning bear. He used to keep a tamed Bear while studying at University of Cambridge, as dogs were forbidden. When he was asked what they should do with it, his answer was, "It should sit for fellowship" 🤣

🦔 But two animals resonated more to me personally than others. The first is Hedgehog. Whenever I hear the word 'hedgehog', an image from my first picture book, which my mother introduced to me when I was very little, comes immediately to mind. It's a hedgehog with an apple stuck on his spikes, stealing it from two animals who picked it from the tree (the apple falls right to its spikes). That image stuck with me, that I always assume hedgehog eats fruits. But this book taught me that it's just a myth, its diet actually consists of insects and worms. Another animal from my childhood picture books about flora and fauna (my parents bought me a lot of these), is Pangolin (Trenggiling in Indonesian). Its name came from a Malay word 'panggiling' which means roller, from the way it rolls its body while in danger. Their scales were used for Chinese medicine.

🕊 Some more interesting bits from this book:

• The unihemispheric sleep in swifts (birds), they are able to shut up half of the brain at a time, while floating in the air inside the clouds. Amazing, right?
• The reclusive creature of Lemur who's able of changing eye color, is another wonder. One of the species is even superstitiously believed to be able to prophecy death.
• I didn't remember this, but the Seal has capacity of learning language. Ahab in Moby Dick recognized the seals' voices.
• The Narwhal's tusk were once mistakenly thought as unicorn's horn. Queen Elizabeth I was presented at least two narwhals by some voyagers.
• The Crows are the Einstein among birds. On an experiment, they punish some boys who're wicked to them, but were known in real life to have rewarded those who fed them.

🐘 Elephants are actually afraid of bees, they sting elephants' soft tissues inside their trunks. Elephants are gentle and caring creatures. When finding bones of dead friend, they will salute it by lightly touching their bones. An elephant returning to its group would get a ceremonial embraces by intertwining their trunks. Seahorse is the only creature that it is the male who gets pregnant (a fact I learned from TV series F.R.I.E.N.D.S, when Ross wants to calm the pregnant Rachel down by pointing this fact out. What about the Golden Mole, who lent its name to the title? As a species, it's nearer to elephant than ordinary mole. It is the most mysterious animal from all that is discussed in this book. We know almost nothing about it, other than its iridescent quality, from which we called it 'golden' mole.

⭐ All in all, it's a wonderful book about nature and its wonder, told in an interesting and sometimes funny way that will interest non-biologists reader like me.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Nonfiction November 2024 #NonFicNov24

hosted by Liz, Frances, Heather, Rebekah, and Deb

A Christmas Murder (2024) by Mary Grand

🎄 I don't usually read something Christmassy in October, but this seemed like a decent cozy mystery, and I ran out of good audiobook, so I dug in. And I'm not disappointed, it is a wonderful murder mystery, which can actually happen anytime during any season. It's not really Christmassy, I think, just a midnight mass, Christmas meals, and some gifts.

🎄 Susan was asked for helping as a host at the Bishopstone Manor hotel by the owner, an Indian woman called Meera. Their upcoming family guests are prominent figures, and this gig is very important for the newly re-opened establishment. Duncan Fern, a newspaper mogul, is now bringing his extended family for annual Christmas holiday. His second wife Kirsten, his famous crime writer son Bryson, his sensitive daughter Hailey are there. Also coming are Bryson's food critics Victoria, Hayley's fitness enthusiast boyfriend Lewis, and the last one is Duncan's second man Antoine.

🎄 Between making sure that their bedrooms are cozy enough at night, and in charge of the music during dinner, Susan has first hand opportunity to get to know (rather too intimately) the family members. How Duncan is mean to his family, using threats against them, for example. He is the victim, by the way, which I knew right from the first. He died of poisoning from his own medication. Susan woke at night witnessing one of them sneaking outside the manor, and into Duncan's room. Her job enables her to snooping around their belongings, leading to finding clues after clues of the murder. Contrary to police's opinion, it was, indeed, murder, because Susan was twice attacked by one of them. It only shows that she is onto the right track. But who is the killer? Everyone had the motive, and seemingly opportunity to commit the murder.

🎄 This is actually quite a proper murder mystery, instead of a sloppy cozy mystery I thought it would be; a psychological soft thriller if you like. Everybody had secret and dark past, and not until near the end did I guess the murderer. Susan cleverly deduced how the crime was done, but not the why or the real motive (cause everyone had prospect), and certainly not the who.

🎄 Like in usual cozy mystery, there is the love prospect for the heroine, and a bit of struggle in her personal life (her ex husband). But I loved that these aspects were just a small background of the main stage, which was the crime mystery. I loved this one, and would like to read more from Mary Grand.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mr. Niyogi's Last Audit (2024) by S.N. Rao #Netgalley

Thanks to Copperplate and NetGalley for providing me review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader):

I was feeling cold, so I opened my eyes to find myself in a cold room. It was unfamiliar room, and I could not recollect how I got here. The room was dimly lit. I did not know what time it was; the curtains were open, and it was dark outside. I needed to pee. I took a deep breath, turned onto my left side and pushed myself into a sitting position. My arms trembled with the effort, and I felt a pain in my left shoulder.

👴🏼In his 77 years of age, Mr. Vikram Niyogi is struggling with Parkinson's - the same disease my late father had had in the last years of his life (he passed away last year). That was the main reason I picked up this novel in the first place, a story I could surely well relate. Moreover, my father was also an accountant like Mr. Niyogi, before retirement. And it is a way, I hoped, to better understand the extend of what my father must have had through - something I hadn't fully appreciated at that time, as those were quite distressing times for me and my mother.

👴🏼 Mr. Niyogi is a retired accountant for an airline company of Bengaluru branch, India. He had been an invaluable member of the enterprise before retirement. Now that Parkinson's is eating away his movement as well as his dignity - causing him more dependent on his wife, daughter, and a caretaker - he felt more desperate to be useful in life. But what can he possibly do, when, even for basic activities like eating, walking, and peeing he can't do without help?

👴🏼 The answer came in two ways. His former company faced a serious money embezzlement, and only a senior accountant like Mr. Niyogi could trace it. Then his daughter Archana has a friend, whose son was hopelessly stranded on a small island in Maldives with 200 other miners, when their employer went bankrupt, with no one able to help as most institutions are focusing in recovery after Covid-19. It should not be of Mr. Niyogi's concern, however he starts hearing the stranded young man's voice, urging him to send for help. But what can he do? Maybe if he helps Saran airlines in his last audit for them, they in turn might be persuaded to send boats for the stranded miners. But that would be an impossible task for Mr. Niyogi - or is it?

👴🏼 I applauded S.N Rao for the writing. Either he has been dealing with Parkinson's patient before, or he has done a thorough research; painful dealing with Parkinson's disease were captured vividly throughout the story and become one of the strong points of this book. Mr. Niyogi's meal, for instance, was pictured in minutest detail from preparing the liquified food to the injection to his feeding tube. Or the procedure of various treatments given to Mr. Niyogi to ease his rigid muscles, were described in chronological detail that I felt like being trained as a nurse. It might bored some of you who dislikes medical or uncomfortable scenes in a book, but it's interesting if you want to know more about Parkinson's disease, and felt relatable for you who have dealt with it.

Quoted for Friday56 hosted by Head Full of Books :

I was nervous. Ever since I got Parkinson's, I hadn't been confident or sure of myself. I was not sure how I would do here, but I decided to give it a try nonetheless.

👴🏼 Most of Mr. Niyogi's symptoms were also experienced by my father. Once he came back from a grocery store (he went alone as he could still walk at that time) with treacle of blood flowing from his eyebrow, without remembering what had happened. I think he had experienced a combination of one-second blackout and muscle-freeze. Luckily it happened right in front of the store's glass door, so his forehead bumped the door instead of completely falling over. We never let him go alone after that incident.

👴🏼 Hallucination had also happened once to my father, he saw flowers everywhere, on the wall, on the bed, on the floor. He's really freaked out that he's going crazy, but luckily it never happened again. Mr. Niyogi's hearing the minor's voice is hallucination, by the way, if you've been wondering. My father also had throat muscle rigidity that his diet was limited to only very soft porridge and steamed egg custard (chawanmushi) or soft tofu during his last year. Thank God, except during his last days in the ICU, he never needed feeding tube. I can't imagine the trouble and cost we'd have to bear if it happened.

👴🏼 All in all, it is an intriguing novella about struggles and resilience, sacrifices and humanity, with an elaborate theme of Parkinson's disease. The writing style is a bit too formal to be an entertaining novel, but other than that it has quite a perfect balance on all sides.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2


** Mr. Niyogi's Last Audit has been published in August 15th, 2024 **

Snow (2020) by John Banville #JohnBanville2024 #20booksofsummer24

❄ Snow is the second book of St. John Strafford series, a crime fiction sets in the 1950s Ireland by the inimitable John Banville. I have read the first book, The Secret Guests, earlier this year for Reading Ireland Month 2024, which was slightly disappointing. So, I approached this second book with not a little apprehension. But I've determined to read at least three books for Cathy's #JohnBanville2024 reading event, so... here it is.

❄ A parish priest was found murdered at Ballyglass House, a house of the aristocratic family of Osborne, in Wexford county. St. John Strafford was summoned to investigate. He found out that the priest was stabbed behind his neck at night during his stay at the house. Not only that, his genitals were then castrated. Catholic Church ruled Ireland with iron fists in the 1950s, and you can imagine what will happen when the news of brutal murder of a priest at a Protestant family house reaches the public. This makes Strafford's investigation more difficult than it is. Not that it's relatively easy so far.

❄ The crime had happened when the house was snowbound. No forced entrance was found either, meaning that the crime was most likely be done by insider. But which one? Colonel Osborne? His insomniac frail wife who'd found the body? The idle son or the spoiled attention-seeker daughter, maybe? Or even the coquettish maid? Strafford's interviews were fruitless, he didn't have any lead for some time. When it began to be rather boring, the next chapter brought a startling revelation about the late priest. Well, actually it's not very surprising, a priest, mutilated on his genital organ, is quite suggestive on what kind of priest he might have been, isn't it? The revelation is for our- readers'-benefit, though. Strafford kept struggling until near the end.

❄ All in all, it's a gloomy read for me. The snow took almost a center part of the story. It's as if there are two villains here, the murderer and the snow. I think the mystery itself could have been a nice one; murder in a country house, snowbound house, body found in the library - very Agatha Christie-ish. However, it lacks one important element - the detective figure.

❄ St. John Strafford is the most distracted, unfocused detective figure I've ever come upon. He doesn't fit anywhere, physically not very fit, and his mind strays to his own family or hometown much too often while performing his duty. Not even Banville's beautiful eloquent prose could help raise this book to my taste. I'm afraid this is the last straw, I will not continue this series after all. Maybe another Banville's non-mystery for next read? Let's see...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

A Year with John Banville #JohnBanville2024

hosted by Kim @ Reading Matters & Cathy @ 746 Books

20 Books of Summer 2024
hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books