Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

I loved the cover, and the reviews on Book Browse, for the most part,talked about the charm of this mystery novel, which is set in a small town in France where Bruno is called the Chief because he's the only policeman, his best friend is the Mayor, he's a gourmet cook, etc, etc, so when I found the book n Chapters in Waterloo, I bought it. It's some 262 pages, and it took me a while to figure out why it was taking me so long to get through it, when I realized my attention was drifting away from it quite easily, and I'd have to force myself back. Then I decided to think about why this was happening, and I realized the author was trying to not only set the stage for this mystery, but was giving us a history lesson too, as well as a taste of life in rural France, and a romance with a karate king police investigator. Too much, way too much, and I ended up being interested in no aspect of this book, except of course for the cover which really is charming and sweet. Was the author trying to educate us, or cash in on the charms of Alexander McCall Smith? No contest- Smith accomplishes far more, and I'm sorry I bought this book. I'll donate it to the library, so someone else can hopefully enjoy it more than I did.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Wow! I love a page-turner, and this was a great one. I read the first in this trilogy last year ( see 2008 entries), enjoyed it okay, but this one was REALLY good, so much better than the first one, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. My only criticism is that the author assumed you had read the first book; I did, but I had forgotten a lot of the details of Lisbeth's earlier experiences. She's a wonderful heroine, completely mystifying to those around her, and she goes through a lot in this book for sure. I enjoy thrillers when they're well-written, which means you just can't surmise what happened and you have to keep reading- you want to- to find out. Great stuff!!

Leaving Earth by Helen Humphreys

This past Saturday, we discussed the novels of Helen Humphreys, and this particular novel sounded intriguing to me, so I borrowed it from Ann. It is based on true events in Toronto in the 30s, more specifically, two women aviators circling the City of Toronto non-stop for 19 days, trying to break an endurance record. On the ground, a 12-year-old girl named Maddy is fascinated with Grace, one of the two women fliers, and even believes that Grace is her mother, not too hard a stretch because her actual mother doesn't appear to care for her. Maddy's family is Jewish, and are persecuted by Nazi sympathizers in the city- I remember reading about this in another novel based in Toronto entitled The Stubborn Season by Laurie Davis. Grace is married to Jack, another aviator who has set a record for endurance flying, and Grace has set off to break this record. Jack, who flies up every eight hours to refuel the two-seater Moth and to bring food, is quite jealous of his wife's attempt, and does everything he can to sabotage the women's efforts.

Humphreys' novels are easy to read, but have a lot of food for thought. This one was my second favorite of them, the first favorite of course being The Lost Garden.

Girl In A Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold

This is a novel based on the life of Charles Dickens, told from his wife's point of view. It begins with Dickens'/Alfred Gibson's funeral, to which his wife Dorothea ( all the names were changed by the author) has not been invited; she and Alfred have been estranged for over10 years. The novel is a really good picture of the Victorian era: how people lived, their relationships, their family life, their loving and living extravagantly and passionately. But I wasn't all that taken with it, first because I didn't like the fact that the names were changed- and even the titles of Dickens' books, which were referred to many times, were changed as well.

I checked Wikipedia for the bio of Dickens, and certainly many of the facts presented in this story were accurate- Dickens' obsession with his wife's sister, his affair with a young actress, his over-the-top way of living, etc.

I think I'll try to read Peter Ackroyd's bio, entitled "Dickens". Girl In a Blue Dress was long-listed for the Booker in 2008: I don't see that it had enough depth to make it to the short list.

Smash Cut by Sandra Brown

A friend from the gym loaned me this, and it was a good story. I was able to read it very quickly. Brown's characters are all over-the-top: the villain is really bad, knows it, and everyone else knows it too. The lawyer with the dog is the hero, and the gorgeous red-head he meets on the plane is the suspected culprit in her lover's death. Everyone is rich and well-dressed or absolutely helpless and a social misfit. Anyway, it's the only one of her novels I've read - skimmed is more like it. It'd be a good one to read on a long, boring flight.

The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys

This was a re-read for Book Club. Our theme this Saturday is Helen Humphreys, a Canadian author who writes beautiful prose and tells a wonderful story in less than 200 pages. I call her a "miniaturist". I read all three of the chosen books - Coventry, The Frozen Thames and Lost Garden - but this one, The Lost Garden is my favorite, so much so that when I found the novel in the BMV near Karen's apartment, I purchased it. It only took one day to re-read it, but it was a pleasure, and I found even more in it the second time. I'm looking forward to Book Club's discussion this Saturday!

February by Lisa Moore

February tells the story of Cal and Helen, from their wedding in the early 70s, through Cal's death by drowning in the Ocean Ranger tragedy in 1982, to 2008, when Helen's son, John, calls to tell her he is about to become a father. This event prompts all sorts of memories in Helen, and it is these memories which shape the book. It is a short book, very easy to read, and it's interesting how Moore frames the story around the Ocean Ranger, describing it as it actually occurred, and also how it constantly weaves its way through Helen's memories. Lisa Moore lives in Newfoundland, and this is the first of her novels that I've read.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

This is how the book jacket for this book reads:

"We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it...

This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again..."

This novel is about politics, ethics, refugees, friendship, moral responsibility, plus how terrible human beings can be to each other. It is truly shocking, and certainly raises questions in your mind which linger after the book is read. I didn't really like Sarah, one of the two female narrators, but that statement alone is worth exploring further to find out why I reacted that way.

I'm not entirely sure what happened at the end, either. I just know Sarah made another bad decision.

Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie

This is the fifth of a series of mystery novels involving two Scotland Yard investigators: Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. The series takes place in England, this one in a small university town where a poet, Lydia Brooke, is found dead, probably from suicide, but five years after her death, a professor named Victoria McLelland, who is writing a biography of Lydia, suspects from her research that Lydia may have been murdered. Victoria is Duncan's ex-wife, and she calls him in to help her investigate. Then Victoria herself is found dead. This is a well-written literary mystery, and I'll look for subsequent books in the series. A light read, but it certainly held my interest.