Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

I have a new guilty pleasure in the form of Louise Penny.  I can't get enough of her mysteries.  I've mentioned to others that I really enjoy her main detective, Armand Gamache.  I suspect this is primarily because he is different from most other literary detectives.  He's a nice guy, who happens to be a really good detective (no dark, flawed personality lurking beneath the surface).  Like Penny's previous novel, this one is set in the small Quebecois village of Three Pines and is filled with the same quirky and engaging characters.  To sum up the story, an unwelcome and disliked newcomer (not without cause) to the village is murdered.  Gamache's team is assembled and descends upon the village.  The twists and turns associated with a mystery case ensue and my Saturday afternoon disappears.  A great piece of escapist fiction!

Friday, October 12, 2012

The Larnach's - Owen Marshall



I read this book in anticipation of a trip to Otago, where we plan to visit the Larnach Castle.  I was interested in knowing more about the family that lived there and this book fit the bill.  Unfortunately, I didn't love the rambling style (read like a journal entry).  And, while the characters initially appealed, they quickly grew quite tiring.  My issue with the characters however, can not be blamed on author Owen Marshall as this is an account (though thfictionalised) of real people.

Essentially, this tells the story of a young bride who marries the much older William Larnach and subsequently falls in love and pursues an affair with his son Dougie (with very severe consequences).  The two characters in many ways seem oblivious to the consequences of their actions, so I struggled to form a connection with either of them.  The book is told from the perspective of the bride Conny and Dougie, each of whom ultimately seem very self-involved.  I did initially appreciate the suffragist angle related to Conny, but even that could only take her character so far before she became distasteful.

I suppose that I'm happy that I did this read in advance of our trip, but don't know that I'd recommend the book to anyone else.