"Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most “Summery” book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?"

I'm now reading Songs of Blue and Gold by Deborah Lawrenson, set on the Greek island of Corfu, a sunny island full of bays, beaches, and rocky cliffs.

I also plan to read something more hot, Killer Summer by Ridley Pearson, a thriller set in Sun Valley, Idaho.

I plan to review both books in July!

Andean Express by Juan de Recacoechea, book review

Teaser Tuesday meme courtesy of MizB at Should Be Reading. Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two “teaser” sentences from that page, plus the title and author of the book. Please avoid spoilers!

Andean Express

"He didn't know her very well, but from their few conversations on the train, he concluded that she was going through tough times. Marrying a guy she hated, who'd had a lot to do with her father's death, had clearly been a mistake that was affecting her deeply." (p. 71)

Who is the main character? 
I'm a young high school graduate spending 48 hours on a train from La Paz, Bolivia going through the high Andean plateau to Arica, Chile on the coastline, to join my parents. During the trip, I become unwittingly entangled in the lives of several passengers, including a girl in an arranged marriage.

Review: Reminds me of other train trips such as Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. This is also a murder mystery, described as in the style of "classic noir."

I give this mystery novel 3 1/2 stars, maybe four if I could have read it in the original Spanish! Some things are often lost in translation! The train ride from the bowl of the city of La Paz up to the rim, across the stark and dry plateau, and then down to the coastline of Chile was the highlight of the book for me. Descriptions of the scenery, the sunsets, the people, and the few lonely homesteads on the plateau, were very interesting. I once flew over the Andes on the way from Brazil back to the U.S. and often wondered what it was like down below. 

Also, relationships among mestizos, Indians, and Europeans in Bolivia are revealed on board the Andean Express. Granted this train ride was set some 40 years ago, I believe, and there is a hint in the novel about pending social change by a new political party.

The plot followed the general scheme of Murder on the Orient Express and other mystery train rides, but this "noir" novel is not a traditional mystery.  Alderete has married a young woman from the upper social classes in Bolivia. It's an arranged marriage. Alderete is hated by close to a dozen people on the train, including his reluctant bride. A young high school graduate traveling to Chile to meet his parents witnesses the interactions and is used as an unwitting pawn in the developments. 

Noir and mystery lovers, and armchair travelers, will enjoy Andean Express. 

Library Loot, June 22

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg @ ReadingAdventures and Eva at A Striped Armchair.

Back to the library today and borrowed six books, not three! Yes, I looted the library, but I don't feel too badly. There are so many books there. Four of these I have to return in three weeks!


International Writers:

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Agawa,is described as a story about "family, memory, and math." A young housekeeper is hired to take care of a math professor, who is brilliant but has only eight minutes of short-term memory. Can't wait to read this one!

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a Spanish author who also wrote The Shadow of the Wind, a novel I gave five stars to! This novel also deals with "obsession, in literature and in love." Can't wait to read this one either.

The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley, a New York writer, is about a woman who discovers a family secret after returning to her mother's native land. The book exposes the reader to the "strange and magical history, language, and landscape of Iceland."

Thriller/Mysteries:

Loser's Town by Daniel Depp is set in Hollywood, where anything goes. Can't wait to find out more about L.A.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, translated from the Swedish, is described as a "murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue." Journalist Mikael Blomkvist tracks down the secret behind a wealthy young woman's disappearance forty years before.

Death of a Witch: A Hamish McBeth Mystery by M.C. Beaton, a popular cozy writer who lives in the Cotswolds, England. The book is set in a fictitious, picturesque highland village watched over by the quirky but clever Constable Macbeth.

This list of books is also submitted as part of the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge, hosted by J. Kay's Book Blog.

Virtual Book Tours, June 28 and 29

June 28: Watch for J.C. Daly, author of Black Hole, who will discuss her first novel, a romance and mystery, here.

June 29: Book tour of The Devlin Dairy by Christi Phillips, with questions and answers by that author and a review, here.

Book Review: ILLEGAL and author interview with Paul Levine

Illegal

Illegal by Paul Levine
Published March, 24, 2009; Bantam
Genre: thriller; rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interview with Paul Levine:

1. What are the major factors that inspired you to write the novel, Illegal?
News stories about the horrific incident where several Mexican citizens died in the back of a locked trailer truck on a run across the California/Arizona desert. And....the facts contained here: http://live.psu.edu/story/38537


2. How did your legal background and experience help in writing this book?
Not so much. Very little courtroom in ILLEGAL. It's unlike most of my legal thrillers.

3. Do you plan on writing other books with similar topics?
I think I've exhausted myself and the subject.

4. Are you at work on another book at this time?
I'm revisiting my roots. My first Jake Lassiter novel since 1997. My first one was "To Speak for the Dead," 1990; and the seventh and last was "Flesh & Bones," 1997.

5. Several reviewers on Amazon say that ILLEGAL is the beginning of a new series with your new main character (Jimmy Payne). What do you say to that?
Jimmy Payne on hold until I write the new Lassiter.

My review:

This suspense thriller about the hazardous journey that a woman and her young son make to the U.S. from Mexico is as riveting and suspenseful as it is shocking, to anyone not familiar with illegal immigration issues along the border.

The novel centers around trial lawyer Jimmy Payne, whose life, marriage, and career has spiralled downward after the death of his teenage son Adam in a car accident caused by a drunken worker from Mexico, Manuel Garcia. The accident weighs on Payne's mind as something he could have prevented. He hits bottom low after he keeps some of the bribe money in a sting operation to expose a crooked L.A. judge. The judge, exposed as corrupt, commits suicide, and fellow lawyers start shaking their heads at Payne's folly.

Payne decides to take a new turn in his life. He drives to Mexico to find Garcia, the man who killed his son. In reality, he heads to Mexico to help a precocious and gutsy 12-year-old Mexican boy find his mother, Marisol, who was separated from the boy during their long trip to the U.S.

"Sure, he would do his best to find Marisol Perez. His good deed. Then he would go to Mexico and find Manuel Garcia. His murderous deed."

The boy, Tino, had sought Jimmy out in L.A. as someone famous and sympathetic, someone who had successfully defended several illegal immigrants who had survived a notorious border crossing some time back. The trip to Mexico to trace the route taken by Marisol reveals the hazards she faced trying to reach the U.S., and the new dangers after she arrived. Marisol and others were at the mercy of ruthless people traffickers, drug smugglers, and people running safe houses for illegals in transit from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and other Central American countries.

Marisol's journey leads Payne and Tio back to the U.S. for the story's suspenseful climax. The book is a thriller with no holds barred. It reads like stark realism and has graphic violence, against men and women, but the book 's harsh reality depicts the journeys as full of danger, despair, and death, even for some who make it across the border.

Well worth reading! I recommend the book for anyone interested in the plight of Mexican nationals seeking to enter the U.S.

Book provided by the publisher, for my objective review.

The Cluttered Corpse, book review

The Cluttered Corpse by Mary Jane Maffini


Loved the humor and the organizing tips in this cozy mystery. How does one organize a bedroom that has over a thousand stuffed toys? This is the job Charlotte Adams has until someone is killed in the house, falling down the stairs, possibly slipping on one or two of the fleecy fluffy toys. Or was it a push, and murder?


Lots of action, humor, and a good plot that had me guessing till the end. I would have made the ending a bit simpler - too many crooks tend to spoil the plot. Otherwise, a good mystery that makes me want to read the first in the series, Organize Your Corpses.

A book for feng shui lovers and other organization freaks.


View all my reviews.

Purple Hibiscus, book review

Purple Hibiscus: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie



"That's a hibiscus, isn't it, Aunty?" Jaja asked, staring at a plant close to the barbed wire fencing. "I didn't know there were purple hibiscuses." p. 128

from Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning Nigerian author.

Kambili, 15 years old, and her brother Jaia are brought up by a overly strict father in a wealthy Nigerian household. They are taught to reject the traditional ways for a harsh and distorted version of Christianity. The children find some balance between the old ways and the new in the home of their aunt, a university professor. The children's mother copes with her husband's excessive behavior in an unusual way.

An interesting look at the blending and the clash between the modern and the old beliefs in Africa and an indictment of religion as it is propagated and practiced by some.


View all my reviews.