WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING by HARUKI MURAKAMI

When I turned the last page, after (I think) the 3rd time of reading this book, it was with the same sense of regret. I could read Mr. Murakami’s gentle unassuming words for ever. He sounds so nice and reassuring and thoughtful. The kind of person I’d love to run …

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer & Annie Barrows

A second reading of this book was most definitely called for, after seeing the trailer for the film of the same name.  (The film is  yet to be seen, though I’m saddened by the lukewarm reviews it got).  I’d read the book almost immediately after it was published in 2008 …

The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon

In “The Girl of his dreams”, the 17th in the wonderful Commissario Brunetti series, we once again are privileged to witness the author Donna Leon on top form. Every single book in the series is excellent. Each book, and they are all stand-alone books by the way, is a love-song …

SALVATION OF A SAINT by KEIGO HIGASHINO

A couple of years ago I read and reviewed the first novel by Keigo Higashino, “The Devotion of Suspect X” which I loved.  Actually let me clarify that statement – this was the author’s first novel translated into English and I read the translation. Comparisons are odious, I think the …

The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi

This slim book, winner of the Prix Goncourt, and translated from French by Polly McLean, is extraordinary on every level.  It is poetic, lyrical, moving, crude, tragic, sometimes funny in an earthy way, and absolutely engrossing. The plot is simple, the action confined to one room, the characters very few, …