Peachy Reads

This is the book of the moment, the must-read that is capturing the imaginations of readers everywhere and has become the favorite of bookclubs.   It combines some plot elements that are proven successes—a feral child, young love, a murder trial, and a surprise ending.   All that plays out against a background of swamp ecology that is fascinating in its own right.  

Welcome back to the supernatural side of London, where river deities exist and there are fairies, wizards, and other magical beings.   Peter Grant is a junior member of the division of the metropolitan police that is in charge of the paranormal.   Things ratchet up in this installment, ending with a little time travel and the apparent demise of the Faceless Man (but who can really be certain?).

This is the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series by J.K. Rowling (I mean Robert Galbraith), and while I l ove, love, love the characters (including the City of London), I didn’t like the overly complex plot this time around.   Tighten things up.   I’ll give number 5 a go though!

This is one of those mega books, 800+ pages, that took me a bit to get through.  The novel contains many interesting episodes from 54 B.C. to the 20th century, but when you tackle 2,000 years in one volume, character development is going to suffer.  In spite of the many fascinating London insights in this book, for a true sense of multifaceted personality of this city, I might recommend Peter Ackroyd’s London:  The Biography , which at 801 pages is only slightly shorter than London:The Novel.   But if you're a quicker reader than I am, you could read both in half the time it took me to read one!

This book provides insight into the Italian railways through the eyes of an expat (prize-winning author Tim Parks).  He delves into their unique course of development in Italy, how the railways define the modern Italian nation, how the differences between the Italian North and South are also expressed in its railways, and perhaps most interestingly-- the interpersonal interactions that occur on a daily basis between point A and B among travelers, train conductors, vendors, and ticket window attendants.  This book is probably more about people than rails, and it feels like taking a trip on the Ferrovie dello Stato .

A fire nearly destroyed the Central Library in Los Angeles in 1986 in an epic conflagration of mysterious origins that nearly consumed its collection and the historic edifice in which it was housed.   While the fire and the subsequent investigation into its cause form the backbone of this nonfiction work, Susan Orlean ( The Orchid Thief ) fills alternating chapters with history of the library’s founding and development, glimpses into the lives of its sometimes quirky head librarians, and the ultimate renovation of the historic building.   Also included are sections which show the mission of the library today—its service to hard-to-reach populations, the homeless, new citizens, teens, early literacy, special collections, and reference work in the era of Google.   I like the way this piece of nonfiction reads like a novel, with interesting asides and characters.   Libraries are a touchstone for many of us, and this book may provide particular interest and enjoymen...

This was one of those books that was in such high demand at the library that my curiosity finally got the better of me and I had to see what the excitement was all about.   For someone who loves historical fiction, this is a perfect fit.    A member of the Russian aristocracy, Count Alexander Rostov, is sentenced to permanent house arrest in the luxurious Hotel Metropole off Red Square.   As the days unwind, and days become months, months become years, and finally decades, we experience an abbreviated history of modern Russia, and are witnesses to Rostov’s life, a surprisingly rich life that includes love, loss, friendship, and family. Reading this novel reminded me somewhat of how I fell down the rabbit hole of All the Light We Cannot See —the history, the characters, the settings.   It’s another one of those books that the reader will remember long after it's been put down after the final page has been turned. Kenneth Branagh is to play the role ...

Just on the edge of historic Bath, England, when they’re knocking down a row of terrace houses to clear space for a modern grocery store, a strange discovery is made.   When a hole is opened up in the   garret space—a skeleton is revealed,   sitting upright in a chair, dressed in the tatters of authentic 18 th century clothing with a men’s period wig sitting upon his skull.   Peter Diamond is put on the case, but what appears to be an 18 th century murder might be a crime that was perpetrated quite a bit more recently.   It is quite a tangled web that connects all the strands of this whodunnit, and by the end, the suspenseful ending is probably nothing the reader would have been able to predict. I particularly enjoyed this mystery since it referenced a lot of the historic landmarks of this wonderful city that I had a chance to visit last summer.