Sunday Salon: What I'm Reading and Watching

 What I'm Reading

Happy Mother's Day! 

There are lots of concerned mothers in this book that I'm now reading

The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames ( July 23, 2024), Knopf, NetGalley

Book description:  Set in Calabria, 1960. One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets. The best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling—by turns funny and moving—novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy.

Enjoying: The historical info on the region of Calabria in Southern Italy, fluid writing by the author, an intriguing story of a lost/missing boy from years past,  atmospheric descriptions of a small and isolated Italian village, its inhabitants, and their lives. 

I hope to finish The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames before going on to the myriad of saved ebooks on my list. 

What I reviewed

The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani

Publication July 2, 2024; Soho Crime

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tokyo, 1979. An intriguing mobster/yakuza novel about Shindo, a brawny woman kidnapped and forced to be the bodyguard of the mob boss's daughter. Shindo nevertheless grows to become friends with her ward, Shoko, who is tougher than she appears. The world of violence and revenge they endure from then on is portrayed well in spite of all the gore.

The story jumps without warning at the end to decades in the future. It's a surprise but, nevertheless, gratifying to see the women surviving the hyper masculine world they lived in.

What I watched/am watching

For May, which celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I am continuing watching Asian dramas on TV. These include the ever popular Kdramas, Jdramas, Cdramas, and even a Vietnamese drama I just discovered. The Last Wife. a period piece set in the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam, is about a reluctant third wife whose life is changed when she meets her childhood lover again by chance. 

I've also just finished Special Ops: Lioness a TV series starring  Nicole Kidman, about CIA agents who send a tough young woman undercover to befriend the daughter of their Middle Eastern target. I did enjoy this action thriller series though it's shorter than others.

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves