Books I've been reading lately....

"McCarthy's Bar" by Pete McCarthy.
Irish/Brit writing about his journey in Ireland. Dipping into it rather than reading it all. Quite amusing and was especially interested in the chapter on St. Patrick's Purgatory on an island in Lough Derg in Donegal. Whe we were in Ireland we visited the boat launch area hoping to see pilgrims aarriving or departing but were there between times. We were curious to see people who pay to walk around in bare feet doing knee crunching prayers, deprive themselves of sleep and food (recently they have begun catering to the softies by allowing one "meal" a day of a piece of toast & coffee, tea, or water)

"The Evening of the Holiday" by Shirley Hazzard.
An early work...her first novel, I think. Very well done and great atmosphere of Italy during the time period.

"The Captain and the Enemy" by Graham Greene.
I'm quite sure I had read this but enjoyed it again. Very good depiction of a child "won in a backgammon (or possibly chess) game".

"The Full Cupboard of Life" by Alexander McCall Smith.
As charming as the first few were the storyline does get a bit tired.

"The Dogs of Riga" by Hennin Mankell.
I had heard good reporst of this Swedish mystery writer and when I saw this title in the Victoria airport on our way to Riga I couldn't resist buying it. Culturally interesting especially seeing the country but very much of a police procedural type of story...o.k. but not really my type of mystery.

"Fraud" by Anita Brookner.
I think I read this before but seemed to get more out of it this time...ending a bit contrived I felt.

"Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown.
I bought this for plane delay reading but didn't get to it until I got home. A real page turner like the Da Vince code. He does have a formula that works.

"The Way the Crow Flies" by Ann-Marie MacDonald.
On our Sept bookclub meeting but was avoiding reading it as the summer doesn't seem like the time to read a 700 page novel that you know will be somewhat dark, break your heart, etc. It's all of those things and really wonderful writing. Congrats to MacDonald for writing a second novel that lives up to her first. It is quite suspenseful (guess that's why I found a cheap advance reader's edition in a mystery bookstore). I could barely put it down for the first 500 pages...slows down when we move to adulthood of Madeleine and her eventual dealing with her sexual abuse as a child. Yes...all that stuff again but different and Madeleine is such an engaging character that you can manage reading about it all again. (There does seem to be a bit of a break in novels about sexual abuse,thankfully). She captures the experience of being a child so perfectly and manages to sustain it wonderfully.