Sunday Salon: The Memory Police/ Tahoe Deep/Gun Island

Currently reading:

The Memory Police

by Yoko Ogawa

August 13, 2019, Pantheon 

What would it be like to lose memory of things and not miss them? And what if you do remember the things you lost, but were not allowed to, what then?  

I'm in the middle of this fascinating dystopian-like novel where Memory Police make things disappear and make the memories of them also disappear. The people who resist and do and can remember are also made to disappear. 

A study in memory and what a suppressed memory or lost memories can mean for a group of people as well as for the individual.

In this novel, a young woman hides her book editor, one of those whose memory of things that have disappeared make him a target for the Memory Police, who make sure no one stays who remembers what have been taken from them.

See my goodreads review.

Finished reading:

Tahoe Deep

Tahoe Deep by Todd Borg, August 1, 2019, Thriller Press

Genre: mystery, thriller set around Lake Tahoe

Source: review copy from publisher/author

Review: I have been following Todd Borg's Owen McKenna Mystery series for quite a while and enjoy reading his thrillers set in this lovely mountain, lake, and ski resort area in California and Nevada.

When a 90-year-old man is found beaten in his home and a body washes up on the beaches of Lake Tahoe, PI Owen McKenna is called on to investigate. His sidekick Spot, a giant Great Dane, is always there to help, as is his girlfriend and entymologist Street. The mystery involves the scuttling years before of the SS Tahoe Steamer, which lies under the lake's deep and cold waters.

A boy saw people board the steamer before it was sunk, and this becomes dangerous for him, even though this boy is now a 90-year-old man.

McKenna takes us on an investigative ride with thrills, suspense, and danger, especially involving diving or free diving (diving without equipment) in Lake Tahoe. 

The author has made Lake Tahoe and its surroundings the setting for his series, and it is still a magnificent and unusual place, lending its aura and uniqueness to the mystery novel. Highly recommended.

Other reading:

I am in the middle of another fascinating book, a literary novel about a young traveler in a new place, who must find out who she really is and where she really belongs. 

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, March 12, 2019, Knopf Publishing Group

I'm also reading Swedish crime writer Viveca Sten's Guiltless,  Sandhamn mystery #3,  and plan to finish the entire series of 9 books. A new one, the 10th,  comes out later this year. 

E-Books borrowed:

Gun Island  by Amitev Ghosh

September 10, 2019, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The novel is described as a "globetrotting, folkloric adventure novel" involving family and heritage.  A young man leaves India and takes a trip of discovery from India to Los Angeles and then Venice. Seems like the book for me!

What are you reading this week?

Memes: 

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

Sunday Salon: Exciting New Books

Books on my reading list: 

Tahoe Deep

Tahoe Deep by Todd Borg, August 1, 2019, Thriller Press

Genre: mystery, thriller set in Tahoe

In 1940, a teenage blind boy named Danny Callahan witnessed the scuttling of the SS Tahoe Steamer, the grandest ship to ever sail Lake Tahoe. Eighty years later, a killer beats up old man Daniel Callahan, demanding to know the truth about a secret that went down with the ship. (publisher)

A Killer Edition

A Killer Edition by Lorna Barrett, August 13, 2019, Berkley

Mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Tricia Miles overhears an argument in a bookstore, and later finds that one of the people in the argument has been killed. 

My lucky library find:

The Dragonfly Sea

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, March 12, 2019, Knopf Publishing Group

I opened this tantalizing cover of a book at the library and found a dedication to  the author's mother, whose name I thought I recognized. Sure enough, the author is the daughter of a former college classmate of mine from over 50 years ago. We had lost contact, but are soon to be in touch. How amazing and exciting to recover a friend through this book! 

Setting: island of Pate, off the coast of Kenya

Book description: a coming-of-age novel about a young woman struggling to find her place in a vast world--a poignant exploration of fate, mortality, love, and loss.

Memes: 

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