Archive for World Literature
March 30, 2008 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Fiction and Literature, Mystery and Suspense, World Literature
43. Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie (Mystery) 288 p.
This novel, like several others written by Agatha Christie over her long career, was actually expanded from a short story. Yellow Iris first appeared in the Strand Magazine in July of 1937, and has since been published in two collections: The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories and Problem at Pollensa Bay. As I actually own both of these, it’s not surprising that I recognized the basic plot of Sparkling Cyanide right away: a year after the death of his wife, George Barton arranges a dinner at the same restaurant, and with the same guests, as on the night his wife supposedly committed suicide.
Thankfully, in writing this novel, Christie did more than just flesh out Yellow Iris. Although some of the characters are the same, new ones have been added, and the solution to the mystery is quite different. Hercule Poirot was cut from the story, and instead the investigation is carried out by a Chief Inspector Kemp and by Colonel Race, who had previously appeared in three other novels (alone in The Man in the Brown Suit, and alongside Poirot in Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile.)
Sparkling Cyanide is divided into three parts, a format I think worked remarkably well. In the first section, each of the six dinner guests in turn remembers the past: the events of that one night, their relationships with the late Rosemary Barton, and their various motives for murdering her. In the second section, George Barton arranges and holds another dinner party with the same guests: his secretary Ruth, Rosemary’s younger sister Iris, Iris’s boyfriend Anthony, and a well-known political couple, Stephen and Sandra Farraday. Barton has received several anonymous letters which say that Rosemary killed herself, and so he intends to set a trap for the guilty party during the dinner. Instead, he himself drinks a glass of champagne laced with cyanide. In the third section, Colonel Race and Chief Inspector Kemp investigate the two deaths, but they’re hampered by the evidence of several independent witnesses, which seems to suggest the no one at the table could have committed the crime.
I am pleased to say that I never had the slightest idea who the murdered was, or even how the murder was committed. Christie was also at her best with the characters, all of whom are interesting, although not necessarily likable or sympathetic. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this story, and I was surprised and satisfied by the solution. After all these years, I never imagined there was such a gem among those of Christie’s works I hadn’t read. To think I wasn’t sure the Anything Agatha Challenge would be worth joining for a Christie fan(atic) like myself!
Pages read: 11,984
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, 888 Challenge, Agatha Christie, Anything Agatha Challenge
March 30, 2008 at 6:14 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Fiction and Literature, Mystery and Suspense, World Literature
42. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (Mystery) 272 p.
This is my first read for the Anything Agatha Challenge, and the first of the six Christie detective novels I’ve never read. Unfortunately, although it’s true this book was new to me, the story wasn’t, since I’d already seen A&E’s 2-hour version. Still, even though I remembered how the murder was committed, I didn’t remember any of the surrounding details.
Murder in Mesopotamia is narrated by Amy Leatheran, a trained hospital nurse. Through a series of events, she finds herself at a dig in Iraq, taking care of Mrs. Leidner, the charming and beautiful wife of a prominent archaeologist. Mrs. Leidner is very nervous and jumpy, and although no one takes her fears very seriously, it soon seems they were justified: Mrs. Leidner is murdered. Local police welcome the help of Hercule Poirot, passing through on his way to Baghdad.
The case is an interesting one, and Nurse Leatheran is an engaging narrator. Another character, Dr. Reilly, describes her writing style as “vigorous, individual and entirely apposite,” and it’s true. Christie also takes the opportunity to make little jokes with her fans, as Miss Leatheran makes observations about Poirot that are funny if you know the truth about him. I also liked the little details of her reactions to archaeology, and her comments about some of the other characters.
I think the real test of quality for any mystery novel is the re-read. Of course, it’s true to a degree for pretty much every book, but more so in the mystery genre. I would never count any mystery novel as a success unless I can fully enjoy it even when I already know the solution. Murder in Mesopotamia passes that test, perhaps not with flying colours, but well enough that I’ll count it among some of my favourite Poirot novels.
Pages read: 11,696
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, 888 Challenge, Agatha Christie, Anything Agatha Challenge, Poirot, What's in a Name?
February 25, 2008 at 6:06 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Fiction and Literature, World Literature, Young Adult Literature
21. Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai (YA) 274 p.
Amrith is a kind, sheltered fourteen-year-old living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Raised by his mother’s childhood friend, Auntie Bundle, and her husband, Uncle Lucky, after his parents’ deaths, he has no blood relations of his own, and no close friends. That changes when his Canadian cousin Niresh arrives for a visit, and the two boys become close.
As usual, Shyam Selvadurai draws a wonderful portrait of Sri Lanka, this time of Colombo in August, 1980. Amrith is a very charming character, polite and intelligent.
I bought an ARC of this book without realizing it. It’s the first time I’ve ever read one, so I was pleased to discover only a few errors, mostly missing words and a few mistaken words (like “whetted” for “vetted”.)
I’ve always enjoyed Shyam Selvadurai’s writing, so I wasn’t surprised to find myself absorbed in Swimming in the Monsoon Sea. It was Selvadurai’s first young adult novel, though, and it’s nice to see that he made the transition from adult to YA fiction without any signs of difficulty.
Pages read: 6,472
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Shyam Selvadurai, What's in a Name?, World Lit Challenge II
February 25, 2008 at 5:38 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense, World Literature
20. The Chinese Lake Murders by Robert van Gulik (Historical Mystery) 204 p.
This is my second experience with a Judge Dee Mystery, and if anything, it was even better than the first. I’m still intrigued by the details of life in Tang-dynasty China, and The Chinese Lake Murders contains three very good mysteries for the judge to solve.
Although this book was written after The Chinese Bell Murders, it’s actually set earlier, during one of Judge Dee’s earlier appointments. It is A.D. 666, and Judge Dee is the new magistrate of Han-yuan. Although near to the capital, the town geography isolates it, so that few newcomers ever settle there or pass through the town.
The sinister atmosphere of the place is heightened by the presence of a mysterious lake. The bodies of those who drown in it are never found. However, at a party on a flower boat, a banquet given in honour of Judge Dee, a drowned body is found—that of a young courtesan, Almond Blossom, who only minutes earlier had danced for the guests.
Judge Dee has only just began to investigate the murder of Almond Blossom, when an even more puzzling crime comes to light. The case of a young bride found dead on the day after her wedding takes a strange turn when first the groom, and then the bride’s corpse, both disappear, and the murdered body of a poor carpenter turns up in the bride’s coffin.
Robert van Gulik never ventures into the private lives of any of his characters, which is a shame, because I would have liked to see Judge Dee’s home life. I still enjoyed The Chinese Lake Murders quite a bit, though!
Pages read: 6,198
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Judge Dee, Robert van Gulik
February 14, 2008 at 8:21 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense, World Literature
11. The Chinese Bell Murders by Robert van Gulik (Historical Mystery) 254 p.
Judge Dee, the protagonist of Robert van Gulik’s series of mysteries set in ancient China, is based on a true historical character. After van Gulik found and translated a Ming-dynasty work featuring the Tang-dynasty judge solving a series of mysteries, he decided to write his own novels along the same lines. The Chinese Bell Murders was the first of these.
The novel opens with a framing narrative, wherein a retired tea merchant of the Ming dynasty, a collector of objects relating to famous crimes, has an unsettling experience in a curio shop. He proceeds to tell the tale of Judge Dee’s arrival in his new district of Poo-yang and his first few cases there.
The brutal rape and murder of a young woman, an old and bitter feud between two wealthy merchant families, and the suspicious powers of a group of Buddhist monks to cure barrenness in rich and attractive women, all provide ample space for Judge Dee to exercise his formidable intellect.
My copy of this book calls Judge Dee “the Sherlock Holmes of Ancient China,” a comparison not without some truth to it. Although he doesn’t use Holmes’s methods, he is often able to deduce facts about a case from very little evidence, or from factors that others have overlooked.
As a window into some aspects of life in Ancient China, The Chinese Bell Murders is quite entertaining. I only find it unfortunate that van Gulik didn’t take it further; I would have liked to see more domestic scenes, for example. I like the very upright, moral Judge Dee, but aside from his performance as a magistrate, the reader doesn’t get much of a glimpse of his personality, or of anyone else’s, for that matter.
The three mysteries solved by Judge Dee were interesting, although the book wouldn’t have been worth reading on that basis alone—it’s the setting, the details about life in another time and place, that made this a worthwhile read.
Naturally, the book focuses on the justice system, which at the time routinely included torture as a means of extracting a confession after a successful investigation, as well as some pretty gruesome forms of capital punishment, which (thankfully) aren’t graphically described.
Van Gulik resists the temptation of imposing his own cultural mores onto Judge Dee, allowing him to be a very honest and moral man who nonetheless oversees many brutalities in the name of justice. A lesser writer might have given him anachronistic guilt about, or opposition to, some of his actions, but van Gulik is wise enough to avoid that trap.
All in all, an interesting mystery set in a historical period I’m not familiar with; I’ll be sure to check out more Judge Dee mysteries.
Pages read: 3,449
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Judge Dee, Robert van Gulik, World Lit Challenge
February 13, 2008 at 3:46 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Mystery and Suspense, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, World Literature
10. Snake Agent by Liz Williams (Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction) 267 p.
Detective Inspector Chen Wei is Singapore Three’s snake agent, the police officer who deals with the city’s supernatural crimes. He is approached by the wife of a prominent citizen whose daughter, a young girl who ought to be among the peach orchards of Heaven, has instead been photographed in Hell. Investigation at the funeral parlour shows that all Pearl’s paperwork seems to have been in order, her entry visa properly filed, so Chen has no doubt that something sinister is going on. He teams up with an agent from Hell’s Ministry of Vice, while his wife, Inari, deals with problems of her own.
Snake Agent isn’t quite like anything I’ve ever read before. It blends elements from a number of genres—mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror—into a cohesive whole. The story takes place in the near future, in a modern city, but with a background of Chinese Taoist culture and beliefs. While this isn’t the best book I’ve read recently, the sheer novelty of the setting and some of the characters more than made up for it, and there are even a few funny moments:
The ghost-tracker scuttled along, casting about itself with its long whiskers. Its claws clicked on the pavement. Passers-by took one look at Detective Inspector Chen hastening down the road with a lobster on a string, like one of the more eccentric French surrealists, and gave him a very wide berth. (85)
I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for the next books in the series, The Demon and the City and Precious Dragon. (Frankly, the books in this series are worth buying for the cover art alone, which I loved as soon as I saw Carl V.’s recommendation—not surprising, since they’re drawn by Jon Foster, who is probably my favourite cover artist ever.)
Pages read: 3,195
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Detective Inspector Chen, Liz Williams, Unread Authors Challenge, What's in a Name?, World Lit Challenge
October 24, 2007 at 1:36 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense, World Literature
112. The Camel of Destruction by Michael Pearce (Historical Mystery) 189 p.
An instalment in Michael Pearce’s Mamur Zapt series. Pearce depicts 1910 Cairo with humour and historical accuracy. Edwardian Cairo is a labyrinth of old streets, new construction projects, competing (and confusing) legal systems, and disparate political interests. The man in charge of the British political department (i.e. the Chief Spy) is the Mamur Zapt, Captain Gareth Owen. Owen finds himself tangled in a murder case with both political and economic complications—and runs into some economic complications of his own.
Pearce’s Egyptian mysteries are always intriguing and funny, and this one is no exception.
Books read: 112
Pages read: 33,243
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Mamur Zapt, Michael Pearce
October 24, 2007 at 1:32 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Fiction and Literature, World Literature
109. Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama (Fiction) 288 p.
I always enjoy Gail Tsukiyama’s books, so it’s not surprise that I liked this one. Her novels tend to follow individuals or families through many years, as this one does. In this case, the main characters are Joan and Emma, the two children of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman and his society wife. World War II and the Japanese occupation change the family’s fortunes, but they always manage to get by. Emma goes to school in America, while Joan begins a career in Chinese cinema. Through it all, they have the support of the older women in the household.
If you’re going to try any of Tsukiyama’s books, this isn’t a bad place to start, although the duology of Women of the Silk and The Language of Threads is probably her best work.
Books read: 109
Pages read: 32,412
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Gail Tsukiyama
October 24, 2007 at 1:31 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Fiction and Literature, World Literature
108. Chocolat by Joanne Harris (Fiction) 242 p.
World Lit Challenge: France
Most people have probably seen the movie, but although the basic plot is somewhat the same, the entire tone of the story was changed, while many of the characters and events were cut. It’s entirely understandable, since I’m not sure the book as it is would make a very good movie, especially a Hollywood movie. Both the book and the movie are good, but very different.
Vianne Rocher and her little girl, Anouk, arrive in the small French village of Lansquenet just before Mardi Gras. Vianne opens her chocolate shop, La Celeste Praline, just in time for Lent. Much to the dismay of Lansquenet’s priest, it is a success, and the unwed, atheist Vianne becomes popular with the villagers—much more popular than the Father himself.
I really liked the book. The two first-person perspectives, those of Vianne and the priest, are a perfect way to tell the story. They see things so differently that it isn’t the slightest bit boring to read about the same events twice over. Joanne Harris has a real talent for characterization: her likeable and unlikeable characters and equally fascinating, and she makes many of them endearing without sentimentalizing them.
I’ll have to re-watch the movie soon, and see how it compares. Plus, Johnny Depp!
Books read: 108
Pages read: 32,124
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Joanna Harris, World Lit Challenge
September 8, 2007 at 10:28 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Fiction and Literature, World Literature
98. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (Fiction) 357 p.
World Lit Challenge: Australia
Ed Kennedy is nineteen years old. When he’s not earning a living as an underage cabdriver, he’s spending time with his best friends Marv, Ritchie, and Audrey, or his dog, the Doorman. After he stops a bank robbery, he receives a playing card in the mail: the ace of diamonds. On it are written three addresses. Ed begins to realize that he has been chosen to deliver messages to the people at those addresses—and that it’s up to him to figure out what messages these people need to hear.
I am in love with this book. I am in love with Markus Zusak. I will read The Book Thief as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.
Ed isn’t at all the kind of character I could imagine myself liking, at least not at first glance, but he’s incredibly endearing, and he really grows on you. He lives a life nothing like mine, but his ability to appreciate love and beauty (sounds stickily sentimental, but I can’t think of any better way to put it) lets me connect with him.
The Book Thief is the Zusak book everyone recommends, and I’m dying to read it, but someone recommended I Am the Messenger to me for my world lit challenge. I was lucky enough to find it used a few days ago, and it was worth every penny.
Books read: 98/100 (98%)
Pages read: 29,305/30,000 (98%)
Two books or 695 pages to go! (Although I have 50 or 60 books left to read for various challenges this year.)
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Markus Zusak, World Lit Challenge
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