What she read

This is shaping up as a great year for reading. I have read several excellent books already. For starters, CHILD 44 by Tom Rob Smith, in audio format narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, is a nail biter of a psychological thriller, and it's hard to believe it's a debut novel. Set in Russia in the Stalinist era, the mystery poses the question: how do you catch a serial killer if the government insists that in the perfect Soviet life, there is no crime? This is one of those books that people sit in their cars finishing, unwilling to turn off the CD player and go about their business. The premise, the way Smith teases out the story, the borderline bleak horror of the daily existence of Soviet citizens--all add up to a stunner of a novel.

Another book I've enjoyed is Jane Christmas' INCONTINENT ON THE CONTINENT. The author, a middle-aged woman, decides to try to mend her prickly relationship with her aging mother--by taken a six-week trip to Italy. I know, you are all but shrieking, "WHAT IS SHE THINKING?" Part travelog, part family therapy, part Bill Bryson-esque wry look at the world, this book adds up to one of the best books of the travel-to-enjoy-as-long-as-you're-not-on-the-trip genre. It is also something of a revelation how the Italians treat the aging and disabled traveler (not well) and how visitors in general are not always welcomed with open arms (despite the open wallets). Honestly, Italy isn't on my "bucket list" of places to visit "before you die" (in the current fad of books aimed at us aging Boomers) and this book would certainly not change my mind. On the other hand, I'll be on the lookout for other books by Jane Christmas, whose smooth, tongue-in-cheek, and honest style appeal to the armchair traveler in me.

Just one more recommendation for tonight. I read Terry Darlington's NARROW BOAT TO INDIAN RIVER and found it just as much fun as his earlier NARROW BOAT TO CARCASONNE. Darlington and his wife, with their whippet dog Jim, travel in odd places on their English canal boat, seven feet wide and sixty feet long. Navigating broad rivers, bays and (in the first book, the English Channel) is at best tricky. The author and his wife have adventures along the way, many involving Jim the whippet, who hates almost everything about boating. This fun travelog is laced with literary allusions and quips, which are briefly explained at the end of the book. The first book took the couple and their dog from England through France to the Mediterranean, and the new one takes the almost unbelievable trip down the American intercoastal waterway from Virginia to Florida. Another of those good-to-read-about-bad-to-experience adventures.