In 1996, an Australian rare book conservator travels to Bosnia to inspect the Sarajevo Haggadah, a 500-year-old book with illuminated Hebrew text. The history of the book is presented as historical fiction: creation in Spain in the late 15th century, rebinding in Vienna in 1844, and preservation from Nazis in World War II. Importantly, there are critical roles for Muslims and Catholics in the history of this book. Mysteries are revealed, with a backdrop of contemporary intrigue. Overall, very entertaining.
Category: Location / Setting
A Table For Two – Amor Towles
Towles is a great writer of novels (A Gentleman in Moscow, The Lincoln Highway). This book features his shorter fiction. First, there are six short stories set in contemporary New York: art in the Metropolitan Museum, dining at Balthazar, music at Carnegie Hall – what’s not to love! These stories feature brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise in a marriage. And second, the book contains a novella set in 1938 Los Angeles featuring Eve from Rules of Civility in a noirish role, in a classic crime caper. Towles writing is stylish and compelling, as always.
In Winter I Get Up At Night – Jane Urquhart
Ms. Urquhart is a Canadian literary treasure and this book is one of her best. In the 1920s, the McConnell family travels from Ontario to the Northern Great Plains (aka Saskatchewan). Emer is a young girl whose life is transformed by a catastrophic injury and slow hospital convalescence separated from her family. What follows are transcendent images and memories revealed in a looping non-linear narrative, in other words, the mind of a child with confused imaginations and an adult’s poignant nostalgia. Emer has a profound and moving life – a must read book in my opinion.
Midnight and Blue – Ian Rankin
Amazingly, this is the 25th Rebus novel! The arc of the Rebus character is fascinating, from a detective willing to bend or break rules to a retired Edinburgh cop willing to meddle. Now Rebus is in prison for an attempted murder, and what a surprise, there is the brutal murder of an inmate in a locked cell. And also, a missing persons case is investigated by police colleagues which reveals secrets and rivalries. Simply put, this is a delicious crime thriller by a master writer.
The Blue Hour – Paula Hawkins
By the acclaimed author of The Girl On The Train, this new psychological thriller about art has complex and often toxic relationships with a shifting female friendship confronting the power and entitlement of the patriarchy (aka the art establishment), with a web of lies and secrets and yes, infidelities. Key events occur on a Scottish island isolated from the mainland by the tide and severe weather. Suffice it to say that there is missing art and a missing person and much more. Can neediness by pathological? Surprises persist right to the end of the book which makes for a very entertaining read.
Juiceboxers – Benjamin Hertwig
Simply put, this amazing first novel is one of the best books I have read this year. It is unquestionably a “guy book” because all the major characters are male. In 1999 in Edmonton, four remarkably different “boys” meet as cadets; they are not really friends but have a type of camaraderie. Then there is army training and finally deployment to Afghanistan in 2005. Hertwig describes the Army mood and male behaviour perfectly: boredom, a lack of purpose, too much drinking and pornography, and yes, racism and bloodlust. And then there is the senseless violence of war, the chaos of conflict. Finally, there is the brutal aftermath of war, with PTSD. Hertwig’s writing is evocative with brilliant metaphors. Highly recommended, a must read book.
The Bookbinder – Pip Williams
This is a fine example of historical fiction by the author of The Dictionary Of Lost Words. Once again, the setting is Oxford, but the time is 1914-18. Peggy and Maude are 21-year-old twin sisters working as bookbinders at the Clarendon Press. Peggy is driven by her love of books and a desire to study literature at university; Maude is a special extraordinary woman, vulnerable with an honest simplicity. Their lives are disrupted by the war and an influx of injured Belgian soldiers, and then by the influenza epidemic. This is a story about the love of books, about knowledge that is withheld if you are female, and the formidable barriers experienced by women. Highly recommended.
The God Of The Woods – Liz Moore
This is a superb thriller. In 1975, a teenager (Barbara) disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. Eerily, Barbara’s older brother vanished from the same camp in 1961. This is an extraordinary story of both investigations, and of course complicating secrets abound. The characters are richly described, both well-meaning (but flawed) people and some dastardly villains. Highly recommended – very entertaining.
Landbridge – Y-Dang Troeung
Simply put, this is an exceptional book that is heartbreaking to read. Ms. Troeung was born in a Thailand refugee camp, one of the last Cambodian refugees admitted to Canada in 1980. This is an autobiographical story of her life in Canada and Hong Kong with frequent trips to Cambodia to research the genocidal history. So it is about refugee histories, about refugee survival, to research the lives of the lost during the Cambodian genocide. And it is deeply personal, in part because letters written to her son Kai are included. Tragically, Ms. Troeung died of cancer in 2022. Overall, this is a work of outstanding humanity and honesty, a must-read book.
What David Read 