Trace Elements – Donna Leon

Trace Elements - Donna Leon
Trace Elements – Donna Leon

It’s a sweltering July in Venice and Brunetti and Griffoni, with occasional assistance from Vianello and Signora Elettra, are investigating the last few cryptic words of a dying woman. They wind up investigating environmental crime revolving around a water sampling company, and a murder.

Plenty of pertinent observations about food, friendship, misogyny and modern life in Italy – and Venice in particular.

Publisher page: Trace Elements – Donna Leon

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Joy - Arundhati Roy
The Ministry of Utmost Joy – Arundhati Roy

I loved Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and have vivid memories of devouring it on a wet afternoon in a guest house in northern Laos many moons ago.

Twenty years later, and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is equally wonderful, albeit a long novel with difficult themes: Insurgency in Kashmir, Indian Army torture and murder, the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, ethnic and religious conflicts between Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities, the extremes of poverty and wealth.

But there’s plenty of love and joy in there too, revolving around the outcast communities of Old Delhi.

Publisher page: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – Arundhati Roy

Anita Felicelli puts it far better than I can in her review: Outside Language and Power: The Mastery of Arundhati Roy’s “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” – LA Review of Books, 21 June 2017

Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata (Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)
Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata (Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

A very short novel (novella?) about a not-so-young woman working in one of Tokyo’s many convenience stores.

She’s very literal and has never seen the world “as normal people do”. Working in the shop, with its rules, routines and procedures suits her very well. So well that she’s been there 18 years.

And then the arrival of a not-so-compliant co-worker brings changes, both good and bad, depending on your perspective.

Publisher page: Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata (Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal – Dervla Murphy

The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal - Dervla Murphy
The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal – Dervla Murphy

I struggle with Dervla Murphy* but I love the places she visited decades ago. In The Waiting Land, it’s Nepal, primarily the Tibetan Refugee Camp in Pokhara and the capital, Kathmandu, in 1965.

* in this case: “Tiblets”, “Tibland” and thinking she’s better than most other westerners in Nepal.

AboBooks page: The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal – Dervla Murphy