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What I read: July 2015



“The Private Patient” by PD James. There’s a shelf of paperbacks at my office, which I assume are for the taking because they come and go.  When PD James died last year I put her on my list of things to read, and this was on the shelf, so I took it (I put three books in its place, just in case, and it had been there a long time, so…) I’m familiar with Adam Dalgliesh, having watched lots of Mystery! On PBS. Nevertheless, the first chapter was a bit confusing, and then I was good to go. I loved how she described the same things from different characters’ perspectives. Description really is POV and character in her hands, so different from the omniscient in those Katherine Kurtz books. She was like 88 when this was published! 

“The Whispering Muse” by Sjon. We were in the Kevlavik airport getting ready to go back to Toronto and trying to get rid of the last of our Icelandic currency, and this book used up every last krona. So obviously I was meant to have it. I read it on the plane home. It was fabulous! It totally charmed me!

“Razorhurst” by Justine Larbalestier. I would have read this back when I met her at a Chapters in Etobicoke, if it had been out yet. I was misunderstanding that at the time. The action took place over a single day, but there were these short chapters that explained background and stuff like that. I wouldn’t have thought it worked, but it did. The glossary at the back was totally unnecessary.

“Three parts Dead” by Max Gladstone. This one has been on my list for a while. I could tell it was going to be fabulous when I finished the first page. All that blah-blah-blah about the priest and the sacred flame, and then he takes out a cigarette. Fantastic. I can see what the hype was about -- a cool blend of different genres and subgenres.
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