Blogger-Inspired Wishlist...with a Twist, Ep. 6,5

Blogger-Inspired Wishlist is a feature where I post recent additions to my wish list, which had been inspired by reviews from my fellow bloggers. Now, about the twist...

While browsing Twitter, I sometimes stumbled upon books that interest me. It could be from someone's tweeting about his/her latest book haul, or someone's retweet of book promotion from his/her favorite bookstore. Either way, if the title/cover and its Goodreads' summary attracts me, I'll put it into a list. No summaries, just the links, and several covers (at random).

The Unseen (Ingrid Barrøy #1) by Roy Jacobsen

From @bilanoesque

Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac

From @TheReadingHouse, retweeted by @BL_Publishing

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

From @ConMartin 

Four French Holidays by Anne Hall

From @D_DuMaurier 

Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver

From @MallikaRamacha1 

The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

From @ChasingClues 

The Lost Ryū by Emi Watanabe Cohen

From @MallikaRamacha1 

Death and Croissants by Ian Moore

From @ChasingClues 

Murder in Paris by Andrea Hicks

From @ChasingClues 

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

From @afrolicthroughfiction 

A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell

From @DeanStPress 

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

From @ChasingClues 

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev Marsh (Captain Jim & Lady Diana Mysteries, 1)

From @ChasingClues

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King

From @pippopu 

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

From @ChasingClues 

Temples of Delight by Barbara Trapido

From @stuck_inabook 

Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis

From Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance(Goodreads) 

Death of Mr. Dodsley by John Ferguson

From @Heaven_ali 

A Cat in the Window by Derek Tangye

From @MallikaRamacha1 

The Corpse with Sticky Fingers by George Bagby (1952)

From @ClothesinBooks, retweeted by @SarahM_Matthews 

Have you spotted a favorite or two? Or have I inspired you to acquire one, two, or more to your TBR? 😏

 

A Walk in Paris: Montmartre District #ParisInJuly2023

No, I am not taking holiday to France at the moment. I’m writing this post for #ParisInJuly2023 on my office’s computer, having arrived at the office 30 minutes earlier. But what about the walk in Paris, then? Do you know that a virtual walk in Paris exists? I have found this YouTube channel last year: A Walk in Paris. It's basically videos where a Parisian takes a walk around certain area (different route every time) of Paris. What I love about this channel is that the guy just walks and never talks; it feels like taking a stroll with a friend, agreeing that we’ll leave the other alone along the way. It enables me to be transported to Paris (albeit virtually), soaking up the atmosphere, the buzz, the scenes, snippets of conversations in French (and English) every now and then, while curling up in my bed, inside my air-conditioned bedroom on a hot July afternoon!

Last weekend I was taking a stroll around Montmartre in 18^th arrondissement. I loved this area - I remember walking up the hill alone on a beautiful morning, when I visited Paris 23 years ago. I was too early back then, the shops are still closed, but I could still feel the atmosphere, even today!

Our 1 hour 18 minutes walk is started from Moulin Rouge at Place Blanche. We took the Rue Lepic route to Place Anne Marie Carriere - I ❤ this picturesque place! Then we walked on Rue des Abesses, till we passed Êglise Saint Jean de Montmartre.

picture from: frenchmoments.eu

Next we arrived at a small garden, where I found a blue wall full of murals. It's Le Mur des Je t'aime! (Wall of Love). Apparently it "was created in 2000 by artists Fédéric Baron and Claire Kito and is composed of 612 tiles of enamelled lava, on which the phrase 'I love you' is featured 311 times in 250 languages" (Wikipedia). I wonder whether there's an Indonesian version, and what it looks like! A street musician with quite a decent voice is performing near there. We stopped for a few minutes to watch - I pictured myself throwing some coins; the music did cheered me up!

picture from: francebleu.fr

We got on through Rue la Vieuville, at the end of which we climbed a set of stairs, which brought us up - a bit panting - to Rue Drevet. After lingering for few minutes, we turned left to Rue Gabrielle. At the corner I saw a cafe with coffee-colored awning called Les Rendez-Vous des Amis - a proper name for a warm-looking cafe, non?

At the corner of Rue Ravignan we heard some noisy music, which came from a bar called Bar chez Camille. But along the narrow road, the voices faded to a silence, and I could even hear birds tweeting. Then I saw the first of the famous green Wallace Fountains I've ever seen! It really looks beautiful. If you're not familiar with these fountains, here's some interesting article for you. 

picture from: fabricofparis.com

Our next route is Rue de L'Abreuvoir. If you look up the roof top of the buildings, you'd see the top dome of Basilique du Sacré Coeur hovering in a distant! But don't stop for too long, because down the road you'll find a picturesque pink mansionette in the corner - aha! It must be the famous La Maison Rose, whose pictures I have seen so often on the internet, now I see it with my own eyes! - well, through a video, but still! I'm glad we spent quite a while here, admiring the gorgeous ancient building from every angle. Here's a little history of La Maison Rose.

picture from: afrenchcollection.com

Not far from there, at Rue de Saules, another colorful scenery came suddenly onto my sight. We have arrived at the Galerie d'Art Céramique, where you can buy, or just sight-see, handmade ceramic items with bright colors. Some of these ceramics are hung on the outside wall, providing quite an attraction in itself. I promised myself that if one day I should come to Paris again, I'd stop by this place - and I bet I won't leave it empty handed!

picture from: parisperfect.com

But we didn't buy anything this time :D. Continuing our walks, we passed another famous landmark: Le Consulat restaurant, which was, unfortunately, closed when we're passing there - not that we planned to eat anyway. Just around the corner, there's Place du Tertre. A small square, but crowded with cafes and tourists. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to admire the artists' paintings, as we must soon continue our walk along Rue du Chevalier de la Barre until we arrived at our last destination: Basilique du Sacré Coeur! Strangely, the nearer we were to the vicinity, the atmosphere began to change. There's a solemn hush that you usually feel around churches.

An artist painting - picture from: frenchmoments.eu

A wave of nostalgia burst inside my heart, as I could see myself twenty-three years ago at the same place. There on those steps I had met a couple of middle-aged respectable tourists who took my pictures using my camera (how I worried that they would run away with it, but no... my instinct told me they are nice people). All those memories came back to me, and as our walk ended, I asked myself: Will I ever come back to Paris some day? I don't know. I wish to, but for now, let me just take a (virtual) walk in Paris.

picture from: gpsmycity.com

C’est tout pour le moment, mes chers amis! Next weekend I’ll take another walk in Paris, but not sure to which area, I’ll tell you more on my next update. Until then… à bientôt!

 

#MurderEveryMonday: Summer-Holiday Covers

I have often seen this weekly meme on Twitter, and have been longing to do it. I love crime fiction, and I am a cover-art lover too. It's been awhile since I did my last Judging Book by Its Cover, so this meme might be my consolation. I might do this regularly, at least once a month, and on this blog, instead of Twitter.

Murder Every Monday was created by Kate Jackson @ Cross Examining Crime and @ArmchairSleuth. Put simply, the plan is for readers to take a photo of a crime fiction book (novel or short story collection) which meets a given week’s theme criteria and to then share it online, using the hashtag #MurderEveryMonday.

This week's theme is:

Cover with a summer holiday theme

(Holiday Resort/Suitcase/Sunbathers/Beach/Holidaymakers on a promenade or other holiday destination or facility – Be creative!)

Here're my five picks (I might not use covers of my copy, since I've read mostly from e-book or audiobooks):

The first three are from books I've read by Agatha Christie. Christie loved travelling, so it's no wonder that she sent her detective/sleuth on vacation quite often.

The other two are books I haven't read before, but... don't you just love those beautiful covers from the British Library Crime Classics editions?!

Which cover(s) do you like most?

If you want to participate, here's the list of the weekly theme:

 

The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1907) by Gaston Leroux: A Review

💛 The Mystery of the Yellow Room is where we are first introduced to Gaston Leroux' genius detective, young (he's only 18 years old) Joseph Rouletabille. Like Leroux, Rouletabille is a journalist. But his great logical thinking will soon earn him a new reputation: a great detective. Just like all great fictional detectives, such as Holmes or Poirot, this story was narrated by Rouletabille's sidekick, a lawyer called Jean Sainclair.

💛 The titular yellow room is Mademoiselle Mathilde Stangerson's bedroom at the Chateau Glandier, where she was assisting her father, Professor Joseph Stangerson in his scientific works, that night. At midnight Mademoiselle resigned to her bedroom, locking the door that opens to the laboratory, where her father was still working, and their loyal old servant "Father" Jacques was sitting quietly.

💛 Then the strangest thing happened - it happened so suddenly that the two men were astonished. Loud voices came from inside the room: people struggling, furniture tumbling, Mademoiselle's yelling 'help!', and there's even gun shots. The two men frantically tried to open the window from outside (it's locked), then force-opened the locked door. When they were able to enter, what they found was too impossible. No one was in the room, except Mathilde, lying unconsciously on the floor, bloody hand marks on the wall. Who had attacked her? Why? But most importantly, how did he escape (the door opens to the laboratory is the only door to the bedroom, and there's no chimney)? Even the Police couldn't come to any suggestion.

💛 Joseph Rouletabille is intrigued by this strange incident, and together with Sainclair goes to Glandier to investigate. Mathilde's fiancé is there, and only by uttering a strange sentence to him, Rouletabille is permitted to enter the chateau - something that puzzles Sainclair, much as Poirot often puzzles Hastings with his cryptical remarks.

💛 Formal investigation is run by a top police detective Frederic Larsan from Surrete. He reminded me much of Poirot's nemesis, also from Surrete: Giraud. And like Poirot, Rouletabille also mocks him for not having a great logical thinking, though he works thoroughly on the ground finding clues. Although Rouletabille is definitely humbler than Poirot - he occasionally admires his rival's way - he is as confident as Poirot, that he will win the race.

💛 This is probably one of the first locked room mysteries ever written, and it provides quite a logical challenge for the reader, as much as the detectives. Besides the characters I mentioned above, there are also a grumpy innkeeper, his pretty wife, two concierges, and a flirtatious gamekeeper.

💛 After the first incident, there are two stranger incidents still - one of which is more serious attempt to take Mathilde's life, and there's one more murder. Larsan accused the fiancé, Robert Darzac, who had feeble alibi during those incidents, but Rouletabille disagrees. His explanation in the end causes great astonishment, and I couldn't guess it either!

💛 All in all, it is a satisfying mystery - a good portion of healthy exercise of one's grey cells, wrapped in a fast-paced thriller, with generous sprinkles of exciting actions.

Rating: 4 / 5

 

My 1st book for Paris in July 2023

Shelf Control #3: Hello? Is Anybody There? by Jostein Gaarder

Shelf Control is a weekly feature created by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. Since early January 2023, Shelf Control has moved base to Literary Potpourri.

My pick this time is:

Hello? Is Anybody There? by Jostein Gaarder

Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian novelist, short stories, and children books writer. His books mostly aim to educate children or young adult on philosophy. His most famous work is Sophie's World (also my favorite). I have read most of Gaarder's other books too: The Solitaire Mystery (another favorite), The World According to Anna, Through A Glass Darkly, Vita Brevis, The Orange Girl, Maya, The Ringmaster's Daughter, and his Christmas theme book: The Christmas Mystery.

Hello? Is Anybody There? is another philosophy-theme book for children. It's on my TBR in Google Playbook, though I don't remember buying it! 🙃

Summary from Goodreads:
"While waiting for the birth of his baby brother, Joe is visited by a strange child from another planet, and the two discover that they, and their planets, share many similarities as well as differences."

I think this will provide a fun reading; a cute yet a little thought provoking story, without highbrow lectures on philosophy.

Have you read this book? Or any of Gaarder's?

 

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie: A Re-read

⛱ Poirot is having a holiday at a beach side hotel in Devon. Among his fellow guests, is Arlena Marshall, the kind of beautiful flirtatious woman, to whom men usually drawn to, just like moth to light. She stays at the hotel with her husband, Captain Marshal, and her step daughter, Linda Marshall.

⛱ It's no secret to everyone (including Captain Marshall) that Patrick Redfern is Arlena's current "victim". Though he is staying with his wife Christine, he is clearly infatuated with Arlena. Another guest, a Reverend, tells Poirot that he can strongly feels that evil is in the air - evil under the sun.

⛱ It's no surprise to anyone, really, when one day Arlena is found dead, strangled. She was having a secret rendezvous at Pixy Cove that morning, and never returns. There's no doubt that she was murdered by one of her fellow hotel guests - a man (due to the strangulation), but the question is, which one?

⛱ Along the investigation run by Inspector Colgate and Poirot, it is soon revealed that the case isn't quite straightforward as they've been expecting. Both the husband and the lover (the immediate suspects) had a cast iron alibi. Moreover, there are also other possibilities of motive: drug smuggling is one of them.

⛱ Once again, Hercule Poirot triumphantly solved the mystery, thanks to his attention to tiny little - seemingly - irrelevant details; such as a bottle tossed out of a window, or water running while no one was having a bath. I loved his method of collecting these inexplicable things as pieces of puzzle, and when one of them is answered, he sees then in his head how the pieces of the puzzle placed snugly one by one to its correct place, revealing to him the complete image of what had been happening.

⛱ Evil Under the Sun is just another of Christie's satisfying whodunnit crime novel. It has the summer holiday vibe, red herrings, and mathematically precision of the murder, great deduction from Poirot, and unexpected solution. All of the reasons why we keep reading the Golden Age crime fiction!

Rating: 4,5 / 5

This book counts for British Crime Classics Challenge 2023

For Bingo Card: Set on an Island

For Monthly Theme: Favorite Detective: Hercule Poirot

Six Degrees of Separation, from Time Shelter to The Girl, the Dog, and the Writer in Provence

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme, now hosted by Kate @ books are my favorite and best.

On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

This month we start from:

0. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov

"In Time Shelter, an enigmatic flâneur named Gaustine opens a “clinic for the past” that offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time. As Gaustine’s assistant, the unnamed narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to scents and even afternoon light. But as the rooms become more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic as a “time shelter”—a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present. Intricately crafted, and eloquently translated by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter announces Gospodinov to American readers as an essential voice in international literature." - Goodreads

As was with most of Six Degree Separation I've worked so far, this is a book I have not read, and not of my cup of tea either. For this chain I'll go the easy way by choosing the word from the title: Time, and my first chain is a book I have read so long ago...

1. A Time to Kill by John Grisham

"The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young men. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. That is, until her black father acquires an assault rifle and takes matters into his hands. For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life, and then his own." - Goodreads

It was Grisham during his most glorious days - more than thirty years ago (how time flew by!) Twenty four years after, Grisham published its sequel:

2. Sycamore Row by John Grisham

"Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. The second will raises far more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly? And what does it all have to do with a piece of land once known as Sycamore Row?" - Goodreads

I forgot the story, but it's not nearly as good as the first book. For my next chain, I will use the word Row from the title, which links to...

3. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

"So Cannery Row is about a few blocks of fish canneries in the harbour city of Monterey, California, drawn from Steinbeck's memories when he stayed there. This is a tale about its remarkable inhabitants. Who are they? Mostly, a bunch of good-for-nothings." - my review

As I have linked words from title in the first two, in this one, a phrase from my review of the previous book (in red bold letters) links to another review of another book (in blue bold letters):

4. Why didn't they ask Evans by Agatha Christie

"This is one of Christie's amateur detectives collection. Bobby Jones and Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent remind me so much of Tommy and Tuppence, but they are more amateurish, more foolish than T&T, which make the story much lighter and more entertaining than thrilling. Bobby Jones is the fourth son of a conservative Vicar - by fourth means least expectation has ever been put on him by his father, who thinks he's lazy and good-for-nothing." – my review

Don't amateur detective partners add a sweet touch of romance in crime stories? My new favorite  is from this cozy mystery:

5. The Bookshop Murder by Merryn Allingham

“The start of a brand-new murder mystery series featuring bookshop owner Flora Steele and crime writer Jack Carrington.” – Goodreads - You can also check my review.

For the last chain, I pick another book I loved which has a lovely writer character in it:

6. The Girl, the Dog, and the Writer in Provence by Katrina Nannestad

"HE'S A VAGUE NOVELIST. SHE'S A SHY AND UNUSUAL CHILD. TOGETHER, THEY'RE TRAVELLING THE WORLD, ONE BOOK AT A TIME. Freja, Tobias and Finnegan are back for an all-new adventure through the countryside of Provence." - Goodreads


Does this chain seem too easy for you? I think so too. But I'm not in the right place at this moment for any complicated things, so I made it light and fun... compiling books I've loved to read.

Have you read those books? If you do #sixdegree, how it worked out for you this time?