Introduction
Springtime is a popular vacation time. A time to get away from our normal routines. Many of us travel abroad to enrich our experiences, seeing the sites and enjoying the cultures of countries other than our own. However, you can also immerse yourself in the atmosphere of faraway places without getting on an airplane. Just sit back, relax in a favorite chair at home and sink into the books I’m recommending in this issue.
Recommendations
Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon
American Leon Bauer, living in Istanbul at the onset of the Cold War, is pulled into what should have been a routine undercover job but instead explodes into violence and murder. Alone, Baur is left to navigate the consequences that endanger his life. Istanbul, its bazaars, mosques and the Bosphorus that divides the city, is the intriguing backdrop to Bauer’s frantic quests to escape the trap he finds himself in.
April in Spain by John Banville
In the eighth book in the series featuring Dublin pathologist Quirke, he is on vacation with his wife in San Sebastian on the coast of Spain. Quirke, a cynic and problem drinker, finds relaxing difficult. When he spots a woman at a bar, who resembles April Latimer believed killed in Dublin years before, he is compelled to seek out the truth. In April in Spain, Banville creates such vivid images of this vacation paradise in Spain’s Basque Country that we practically feel the sun and the breezes off the Bay of Biscay. Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black.
Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
Venice, where Leon lives, is itself a central character in her Commisario Guido Brunetti series. Brunetti is a Venetian native with intimate knowledge of the city, it’s culture and it’s politics. Through his eyes we experience the city's historic splendor along with its criminal underside.Death at La Fenice, the first novel in the series, is among Leon’s best. Brunetti is tasked with investigating the high-profile murder of a prominent conductor at the city’s opera house. Leon’s thirty-third book in the series, Refiner’s Fire, is set for release in July.Brunetti is far from the stereotypical police officer, hard-nosed and hard drinking. Instead, Brunette is a family man, whose wife and two children are central to his life. He is adept at managing his dim-witted superiors and has a deep understanding of human frailties, even among the criminal class. While he is a tenacious investigator, Brunetti takes time to go home for meals, allowing readers to experience the culinary brilliance of Paola, his wife, a professor of American literature.
Patronize Independent Booksellers
Whenever you buy books, please consider purchasing from independent booksellers, who remain passionate about books, love to share their knowledge and provide a vital link between readers and authors. Also, Bookshop.org contributes ten percent of its sales revenue to independent sellers.Watch your inbox for my next newsletter out in July. In the meantime, please feel free to share your thoughts and recommendations with me. Email me at chrisquarembo@gmail.com
댓글