may 2022 books…

Deep Waters (ed. Martin Edwards): I bought three books from the ‘The Three Pound Bookshop’ to help Moira struggle through her Covid; this was of them. A series of short stories involving murder and crime at sea, written in the first half of the 20^th century. Unremarkable, but readily-readable.
Resorting To Murder (ed. Martin Edwards): Another of the books I bought for Moira from ‘The Three Pound Bookshop’. Another book of short stories involving murder and crime under the sub-heading of ‘Holiday Mysteries’. Again, unremarkable, convoluted and ‘of their time’ (1910-1950s)… with a just a few entertaining exceptions.
Agent Running In The Field (John Le Carré): Le Carré was such a brilliant writer. His style seems effortless and yet he was able to convey quite complex spy stories with masterful ease. This one (published in 2019) manages to include his contempt at the “senseless vandalism of Brexit and Trump” (according to one reviewer)(my thoughts exactly!). I haven’t read many Le Carré books (this might have been my fourth?), but they’re quite brilliant in their way of describing the shadowy world of espionage – in which every word spoken or written is being ‘listened to’ by someone. A very satisfying, clever book.
Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut): The novel (first published in 1969) is widely regarded as a classic anti-war novel; it centres on Billy Pilgrim’s capture by the German Army in World War II and his survival of the 1945 Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience which Vonnegut himself lived through as an American serviceman. It’s a semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel and follows the life and experiences of Pilgrim, from his early years, to his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the post-war years, with him occasionally travelling through time(!).
I found it difficult to come to terms with the book’s bizarre and chaotic nature – much of the text felt like a stream of conscience thoughts written while consuming alcohol or taking drugs… anything goes. There’s part of me that thinks this approach is absolutely appropriate, given that Pilgrim (like the author) has just witnessed the horrendous fire-bombing of Dresden (“the greatest massacre in European history”)… and perhaps also suffering from some kind of delayed post-traumatic stress disorder? I had very high hopes of this novel and, although I found it both entertaining and extraordinary (albeit confusing at times), ultimately, I thought it was disappointing. 
Death At La Fenice (Donna Leon): My good friend Ian lent me this book (first published in 1992). It’s the first in the Commissario Brunetti series of crime stories set in Venice. I seem to have been focussed on crime stories recently as some sort of escape from all the UK’s and the world’s troubles – this might not actually be ‘working’ very convincingly, but discovering Leon’s Venetian books has been a definite positive (and there are LOTS of them in the series!). Venice is one of my favourite cities in the world and so I found it easy to get sucked into the descriptions of its twisted maze of canals and winding walkways. I liked the Brunetti character (which helps) and, in this novel, he investigates the death (by poisoning) of a world-famous conductor during a performance of La Traviata at the celebrated opera house, La Fenice. I very much enjoyed it – bring on book 2! *no spoilers*.