February Reads

February is not only the shortest month of the year, it has the distinction of being the month during which I read the least number of books since?????
It also marked the first time I have not checked out books from the Gibson Memorial Library since joining. When I returned the last stack of January reads on February 2nd, I did not come home with a single library book. Don't think that didn't take will power!
Instead, I decided to read some of "my" books. My daughter and I had a discussion about this - how having books from the library makes reading those a priority, while books from our own library can be read 'anytime'.
So here is my short list of February reads: "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery was a xmas gift from son Mark. It is a French book translated by Alison Anderson. It received the following prizes in 2007: The Brive-La-Gaillarde Reader's Prize, the French Booksellers Association Prize, The Rotary International Prize (France) and The French Librarians' Prize for Culture. I don't know anything about those prizes, but it should be an indication of a worthwhile read.
Barbery, a professor of philosophy, uses two protagonists to tell her story. Renee is the 54 year old concierge of an elegant hotel in Paris. She is "short, ugly, plump and cantankerous". She does all she can to keep her secret: that she is a self taught person who furtively devours art, philosophy, music and Japanese culture. In other words, she is smart and doesn't want anyone to realize it.
Paloma is a twelve year old talented, precocious, also smart, girl who has decided to end her own life on her thirteenth birthday because of what she sees as life's futility. She is also hiding her extraordinary intelligence.
I think it is my love of philosophy that makes this book special. I read right through it the first time. The second time I will read it more slowly. There will be lots of underlining and writing in the margins.
"Amagansett" by Mark Mills is a book my friend Kristina passed on to me several years ago. Usually when she gives or recommends a book I read it right away. I don't know why this one languished so long. The setting is The Hamptons on Long Island in the years after WWII. I love to imagine what it was like when the residents were fishermen and working-class people before the wealthy began buying up the area for summer homes.
This book tells the story of one such fisherman and the murder he was caught up in when his net pulls in the body of a beautiful young woman from one of those summer homes. Mills' descriptions help me imagine what the area was like before development.
I love it when 70-year old people publish their first novels and they are hits. (Makes be believe there is still hope.) Alan Bradley says he was writing another book when eleven year old Flavia de Luce hijacked the story and it became "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie".
Flavia is the youngest of three daughters being raised by their single father in 1950 England. She is an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. When she discovers a dying man in the garden of her family estate, the once grand mansion of Buckshaw, she is puzzled by his last word: "Vale".
Her father is arrested, charged with murder and hauled off to gaol. It is up to Flavia to discover the real murderer and save her father.
Do I still remember being 10 and 11 in the 1950's? Do I still remember imagining being able to set wrongs right and save the day? You betcha'. Thank goodness Bradley's second Flavia book, "The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag" is to come out this month. I just hope Mr. Bradley lives a good long life and we have a whole series of Flavia de Luce mysteries.
My fourth February read was a Patricia Cornwell, Kay Scarpetta mystery: "Black Notice". It was a beat-up paperback I bought at the library's used book sale for just the purpose it served - a road trip book. I've read a few other Scarpetta mysteries. They are what they are: well written, entertaining for we forensics junkies and easy to read. I enjoyed the trip to France to Interpol and the Paris morgue where we met Scarpetta's counterpart and learned they do things a whole lot differently in Paris. I finished the book while at Lorrie's which is where I left it. Seems she is a forensics junkie, too.
Finally, I read Ian Rankin's "A Question of Blood". Dear John Rebus is nearing the end of his career in this one. (I have since read his final book - unless Rankin changes his mind.) I love Rankin's writing and I love John Rebus. He is such a flawed maverick kind of hero. His irreverence kind of reminds me of 'House' and 'Inspector Morse'.
In this mystery, Rebus is under suspicion of murdering his partner's tormentor when two students are killed and one injured in a random shooting at a private school. Rebus dives into the school shooting case only to discover he is related to one of the victims.
Rankin's plot development, red herrings and glimpses into his characters' private lives make for one good mystery book. The Edinburgh settings of the John Rebus books adds to my enjoyment of them.
And that's it. My very short February reading list. Being on the road - on vacation - for 10 of those days contributed to the brevity, I'm sure. March has already begun with a trip to the library......