Short Circuit

Finished August 9

Short Circuit by Wolf Haas, translated by Jamie Bulloch

This fascinating thriller novel was inspired by the artwork of M.C. Escher and jigsaw puzzles. One of the main characters is Franz Escher, a man who works as a funeral orator and lives a quiet life. Years ago, a woman gave him a birthday gift of a jigsaw puzzle of one of Escher's pictures and he became hooked. Now he has bookcases filled with jigsaw puzzles. He does them often. His other hobby is reading about the mafia, both fiction and nonfiction. Some time ago Franz wrote a fiction book about working in the funeral business, that drew heavily from his real life and real people, including a co-worker named Nellie. Nellie had not gotten angry exactly, but she brought up certain elements of the fictionalized version of herself, and why he made certain choices. Franz felt embarrassed at his literary work, and took the small advance he earned from it and invested it in an online bookstore that he read about that was doing badly financially and expected to go into bankruptcy. He just wanted the money to go away. 

Franz has a faulty outlet in his kitchen, that has been getting gradually worse, and now has a loose connection that makes him nervous. He only has the one countertop outlet, and must constantly unplug appliances in when he wants to use a different one: kettle, coffeemaker, toaster. He has called for an electrician and while he waits he first finished a jigsaw puzzle, and now he is reading a book about an Italian mafioso turned informant Elio Russo. Russo is awaiting being released from prison into a witness protection program. 

Meanwhile, Elio is nervous about his upcoming release and can't sleep, so he is reading a book about a man named Franz Escher, who is waiting for an electrician to come fix a faulty outlet in his kitchen.

As we move back and forth between these two stories, and a third voice related to one of the protagonists, we find ourselves in a surreal world as we wait for them to realize what is happening. 

Thoroughly enjoyable.

The Breakwater House

Finished June 18

The Breakwater House by Pascale Quiviger, translated by Lazer Laderhendler

This literary novel follows Lucie as she goes through a difficult period in her life, with flashbacks to her past. Lucie grew up with her single mom Aurore, struggling financially. Early on she meets Claire, who is only five days apart by birth, but who lives with her wealthy mother Suzanne. The girls are almost inseparable. Aurore wove stories about her own past and relatives that she told the girls, but when Lucie turned fifteen, Aurore left and began a life elsewhere. Lucie grew even closer to Claire and when Lucie in turn has a child on her own, Claire moves in with her and becomes another parental figure in her daughter Odysśee's life. 

When tragedy comes into their lives, Lucie struggles, and she eventually finds a house by the sea, where an older woman lives, that is for sale. When she moves to the remote house, with no connection to the rest of the world she finds strange occurrences, odd dreams that bleed into her waking life, and time that passes in an elusive fashion. 

This is a story of grief and loss and how one woman experiences it. Captivating. 

The Cat Who Saved the Library

Finished May 25

The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

This thoughtful novel follows thirteen-year-old Nanami Kosaki, a girl who loves to read. Her mother died when Nanami was young and she and her father live a quiet life. She suffers from asthma, which means that physical activity is often tiring. She spends a lot of time at the library and lately she's observed that there are some blank spots on the shelves. She knows that books get taken out and returned, but this seems different. One day she sees a strange gray man near a section of books and goes there after he's moved on, only to discover the first ten books of a favourite series gone. After talking with Tiger, a nearby cat, she and Tiger follow the man. The hallway begins to glow and extends into another world, where she finds herself following him to a castle  As they follow past armies of gray blank-faced soldiers, they see evidence of book burning and book theft. When faced with danger, they find an unexpected exit manned by Rintaro that takes them into Rintaro's bookstore, Natsuki Books. 

With mentions of classic titles from east and west, this book offers lots of ideas for future reading. It also takes us into the benefits of reading from learning to empathy and connection. Issues we face now, such as censorship, authoritarianism, lack of respect for learning, and self-interest as a guiding force for those in power all come into the story in a thoughtful and meaningful war. 

The Glitter Scene

Finished January 28

The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm, translated from Swedish by Katarina E. Tucker

This literary mystery novel is told out of chronological order and from a variety of viewpoints. 

The story starts with the most recent time period, from 2004 to 2006. Johanna lives with her aunt Solveig in a house outside of town. When a girl a little older than her Ulla, tells her of a tragedy nearly forty years earlier, where an American girl died and then her boyfriend killed himself, she is intrigued and wonders where her parents, who were children at the time, fit into the story. She knows her father, Solveig's brother, is dead, but she doesn't know who her mother is. 

We then jump back in time to a story about a mask and some shoes, with the intriguing subtitle "an entirely different story, or maybe not?" and a second story about a girl who pretends she is a wild child from far away. We see Solveig and her twin sister Rita, girls who plan to become swimming stars; a brother and sister, Tom and Maj-Gun Maalamaa; Solveig and Rita's brother Bengt; their cousin Bjorn; and Doris, a girl looking for a more welcoming home than the one she was born into.

From there we move to 1989 when Maj-Gun and another local girl Suzette are in their late twenties and still unsure of their futures. When the two girls reconnect, a friendship of a sort is formed, but Suzette has secrets she doesn't want to share. 

This is a complex read, with interactions between locals and a wealthier group of people who move into a new, gated development that has repercussions. 

Live Fast

Finished December 24

Live Fast by Brigitte Giraud, translated by Cory Stockwell

This is an interesting novel as the author looks back on the accidental death of her partner, Claude, decades before. She recounts the chain of events that led up to the accident, and for each of them wonders what if something different had happened. It is something that I think anyone who has lost someone due to something that was preventable wonders, but seeing it all spelled out takes this to another level.

One can sense the loss that the death was, and how the present day event of leaving the house that the couple had just bought, but not yet moved to, would trigger this reflection. 

I was touched by the everyday events that she described and the way that small choices bring us to a different reality. 

An amazing read. 

Lady with Chains

Finished December 1

Lady with Chains by Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman

This is a novel that is a combination of two stories. One is the story of the unnamed lady of the title. It is not said in so many words, but my impression was that the lady was one of the nobility imprisoned during the French Revolution, that then found herself on the docks and brought onto a ship to the new world. She does seem to be a lady that was imprisoned and mistreated, and then unexpectedly freed and placed on a ship to Quebec. 

The second story is of Virginie, a young woman of Quebec who meets Victor, a soldier, at a dance. He plans to claim a piece of land and build a house on it, to marry and have children, and to live a good life. Virginie agrees to marry him, and finds herself making her way through a blizzard to the cabin he's built, and things go horribly wrong on the journey. Virginie finds herself plotting revenge against Victor, intending to poison him. She waits through the winter and intentionally doesn't speak to her husband at all, but keeps her plan in her mind. She finds herself strengthened by the idea of the Lady with Chains, who persevered despite the terrible things that happened to her. 

It is a strange novel, with a flavour of the wilderness of Canada, as well as some of the bureaucracy, and there are surprises along the way. 

A Man and His Cat

Finished October 6

A Man and His Cat, Volume 1 by Umi Sakurai, translated by Taylor Engel

This manga is a feel good story about an older male teacher who adopts a kitten and develops a close bond with it. We see the man both in his professional life and in the home he now shares with this chubby neurotic animal. We also see the cat's thoughts as he waits for the man to arrive home and as he interacts with him. As a person who has owned several cats over the years, the thoughts of the animal didn't fit with my relationships. My cats have shown more independence and crazy behaviour than this cat. The cat, named Fukumaru, did fill a void in the man's life, improving his mood and attitude. 

The colours used a warm and cosy while not being energetic or unexpected. The cover reflects the colour choices. 

Simple, and without a lot of plot, this was a quick yet relaxing read.

The Square of Revenge

Finished August 8

The Square of Revenge by Pieter Aspe, translated by Brian Doyle

This novel takes place in Bruges, Belgium, and begins with an unusual crime. When a longstanding jewellery store owned by Ludovic Degroof is robbed, the police and owners are surprised and shocked to find that nothing was actually stolen. Instead, the jewels have been dissolved in jars of aqua regia, an acid. The intruders also left behind a scrap of paper with a strange square drawn on it. 

Inspector Van In is in charge of the case, but his superiors start getting involved almost right away, wanting to keep the crime out of the news. He soon finds himself teaming up with a new assistant district attorney, Hannelore Martens, and the two begin looking at the Degroof family more closely. 

Notes with this unusual square are found on letters sent to family members, and when one of Degroof's grandchildren is kidnapped and another destructive act is part of the price the kidnappers are demanding, their focus on the patriarch of the family grows more intense. 

There has been a lot of planning put into the crimes here, and the trails that Van In and Martens follow as they put together clues aren't easy to follow, sometimes leading to what looks like a dead end. 

This is a slow-moving mystery, with the intelligence of the two central figures standing out, and an attraction between them adding to the suspense. This is the first book in a series that looks promising. 

Command Performance

Finished July 23

Command Performance by Jean Echenoz, translated by Mark Polizzotti

This novel is quite different from anything else I've read. It's ironic and reads like a send-up of mystery suspense with a central character who is not very bright and rather inept, but doesn't realize his own limitations. It also has a literary style of writing in many respects, and that comes through in this translation from the French. 

The main character is Gerard Fulmard, a man who used to be a flight attendant, but something (we aren't told what) happened that made him lose his job. Now unemployed, he decides to try his hand a being a private detective, and gets hired by an obscure political party that is in the midst of infighting about their future direction and choice of leadership. 

The book opens with a piece of a satellite landing on the grocery store in Gerard's neighbourhood, followed by a kidnapping related to the political party previously mentioned. As Gerard is drawn in to the dynamics, it is unclear whether he is to be an information source or a fall guy. 

With cliché phrases flung in to add to the style, this book surprises and entertains. 

Echenoz is one of France's most respected contemporary writers, and is known for his plot twists and distinctive voice. Definitely a great read. 

The Lovers

Finished June 10

The Lovers by Paolo Cognetti, translated by Stash Luczkiw

This novel is set in an unnamed time, but it doesn't mention technology that we use today like cellphones and internet, so it feels pre-1990s. Fausto is in his 40s and freshly divorced. He has left his home in Milan for solace in the mountains, renting a small home in the alpine village of Fontana Fredda. After some time spent hiking and trying to write, he is running low on funds and takes a job in a seasonal restaurant someone going through a similar life change ran. The other cook trained him, and he found himself liking the job. He also found himself attracted to a young waitress and he finds that she likes him as well and they begin a relationship. We watch as the work their way through the seasons, part and reunite and work out some of the questions they each have.

I can see why this novel was a bestseller, even though it is slow-paced and quiet. It has a real sense of place, and is understated. Thanks to the bookstore Mr.B's in choosing it for me. 

We Are All Equally Far From Love

Finished May 19

We Are All Equally Far From Love by Adania Shibli, translated by Paul Starkey

This collection of stories, loosely connected to each other, feels curiously dispassionate for stories that are about love. Most of the characters are referred to without names, so as a reader, I wasn't always sure if the characters were the same in different stories. There is a woman who writes letters to a man, gradually developing feelings for him, and then the letters stop coming. 

There is a young girl, removed from school by her father and placed in the post office, where one of her tasks is to read letters for political reasons, but she finds a particular collection of letters interesting and useful for a different reason. There is a woman who finds herself falling for a man who is performing a service for her. There is a man who dreams of a woman and then sees her sitting on a bench and debates whether or not to talk to her. There is a man who drives away after being told a relationship is finished, not sure how he will move forward. There is woman who worries about a man who she ended a relationship with, and whether he will take actions against her. There is a daughter who overhears her father talking tenderly to a woman who isn't her mother, which results in a variety of actions she takes from self-love to familial love to love with a stranger. The final story reads almost like thoughts of the writer about her own stories. An unusual collection. 

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish Volume 1

Finished April 13

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, Volume 1 (Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong) written by Xue Shan Fei Hu, translated by Yuka Mimi, illustrated by Ryoplica, Bonus Illustration by Kura, Cover illustration by Changle

This book came to my attention through one of my students, opening my reading world to a new subgenre, danmei, a Chinese romance between male characters. Here, the novel also employs an intriguing format where the narrator, Li Yu is a modern young man who wakes to find himself a fish, a carp, in the world of a book he'd recently read. (The Chinese pronunciation of the name sounds the same as the word for carp.) After a few terrifying adventures, he finds himself himself rescued by Prince Jing. 

Following that he makes two additional discoveries, the first of which is that he appears to be inside some sort of game. He learns this when he hears an announcement in his head that says that he has completed the first part of the 'Moe Pet System' main quest, and that he won't turn back into a human unless he completes the entire quest. The second discovery is that he is inside a recent webnovel that he'd read and he learns that the purpose of his existence here is to improve the tyrannical male lead's personality. 

As he learns how to be a fish, how to connect to his new owner, and how to navigate his way through the Moe Pet System, he also learns that there are side quests that he can take, that he can store things in his inventory, and that he can earn rewards, all of which are part of his expectations of a game system. 

He grows closer to Prince Jing and undergoes many more adventures, some of which change him, and some which give him different abilities. 

There is romance, but no descriptions of sex here, and the story is only the first part of a longer work, so it leaves you at a place where you want more. 

A very interesting and intriguing read that grew on me as I read it. Apparently the majority of readers of this type of book in China are heterosexual women, which is interesting. 

Tomb of Sand

Finished March 26

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell

This book is about character, history, family and memory. It was the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize, and the winner of the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, as well as awards for translations into other languages. It was the first novel translated from Hindi to win the International Booker Award. 

This is an extraordinary novel, that is rooted in the life of an eighty-year-old woman in India. Ma, as she is referred to, has lived with her eldest son Bade since before the death of her husband. Since that loss, she has shrunk into herself, spending much of the day in bed. When her son retires, he must leave his government house and move into an apartment, which he is renovating. 

After Ma goes missing on an unexplained nighttime outing, it is decided that she will live with her daughter, Beti, who lives an unconventional life as a writer. Never married, she's had lovers, and lives on her own in an apartment. Soon after Ma moves in, she starts to receive visits from an old friend, Rosie Bua, a person who is gender fluid, and who involves her in crafts and planning a trip to Pakistan. 

I just loved this book. It is so interesting, and the writing is beautifully done, with the story seemingly wandering off at times, but really giving us information that is important to the story, background information and information about relationships and important objects, such as canes and small statues. 

We also learn about birds that become part of the story, crows that live outside Beti's apartment window in the nearby trees. Trees that have their place in the plot. 

The novel describes Ma as a woman growing smaller, and Beti as a woman growing bigger, in an interesting way that the story evolves. The first chapter grabs you, gives you hints about what is coming, and doesn't let go.

A tale tells itself. It can be complete, but also incomplete, the way all tales are. This particular tale has a border and women who come and go as they please. Once you've got women and a border, a story can write itself. Even women on their own are enough. Women are stories in themselves, full of stirrings and whisperings that float on the wind, that bend with each blade of grass. The setting sun gathers fragments of tales and fashions them into glowing lanterns that hang suspended from clouds. These too will join our story. The story's path unfurls, not knowing where it will stop, tacking to the right and left, twisting and turning, allowing anything and everything to join in the narration. It will emerge from within a volcano, swelling silently as the past boils forth into the present, bringing steam, embers, and smoke. 

There are two women in this story. Besides these women, there are others who came and went, those who kept coming and going, those who always stayed but weren't as important, and those yet to be mentioned, who weren't women at all. For now, let's just say that two women were important, and of these, one was growing smaller, and the other bigger.

There were two women and one death.

Two women, one death. How nicely we'll get on, us and them, once we all sit down together!

Two women: one mother, one daughter, one growing downwards, the other growing upwards. One laughs and says, I'm growing smaller by the day! The other is saddened, but says noting when she sees herself growing bigger. The mother has stopped wearing saris now that she must stuff more than half the fabric into her waist and raise the hems of her petticoats a little higher each day. Does gradually growing smaller make you catlike, so you may slip through tiny cracks and escape? Puncture a border and slip right through? Develop a knack for near-invisibility?

This must be the reason that the mother was able to slip through to the other side of the border while the daughter was still fretting over how stuck they were. It's also possible that the smaller woman truly was innocent when she refused to confess to any crime of her part, be it regarding legal permissions, debates over names, or accusations of theft. 

Those who didn't understand her arguments considered her crazy, maybe even vicious. They suspected her of purposefully misleading.

She pointed out that men always get the high-quality dal and women just get leftover mash, don't they? Hmm? She spoke fearlessly. So? So does that make it right?

But if you stare at them fearlessly, will the border guards understand? You have crossed the border, they reprimand.

She chuckles. Anything worth doing transcends borders. Should I do nothing at all?

No, they retort, and no one is foolish enough not to know this. Even goats and cows know where not to stray. And your eyesight isn't so bad you can't see, so how can you be forgiven?

Who's asking for forgiveness? She roars with laughter and the growing-bigger daughter weeps. And is this all there is to see? Perhaps I too have seen a thing or two. Try seeing with my eyes for once. 

If she were to fall, she did not with for it to be facedown. Wherever the bullet came from, whenever it his, she would fall straight back and lie supine on the ground. Regally. Her eyes filled with sky.

Let me practise, she'd tell her daughter

The mother had started hiccupping all the time. She hiccupped and hiccupped and hiccupped. If the daughter had not been in such a state, she'd have grown suspicious as to whether these hiccups were real or fake. They won't stop with water; give me a slap on the back! the mother would command. If the slap isn't hard enough, then try a running kick, boom! Try it on my back or in my stomach or on my sides, and make sure I fall down, but on my back, eyes open, forehead facing up; then the hiccups will surely stop. It was a strange remedy, but the daughter did as the mother asked. She kicked and kicked, boom boom boom, and with this new game her mother kept falling over bam bam bam. After a bit of hullabaloo, observers would also burst out laughing--Can you beat it? This old lady's too much! But the mother told the daughter that she needed to be prepared.            

Anyway, long story short, what happened was this: a bullet did come flying towards her, but by then the mother had become an expert at falling backwards. A bullet came, punctured her body, shot through and out the other side. Anyone else would have sprawled facedown in the mud, but Ma flipped backwards like she was doing a somersault. She lay back on the ground in an attitude of victory, elegantly, faceup, as though she was reclining on a soft bed, the sky her coverlet. 

Those who consider death to be an ending took this to be hers. But those in the know knew that this was no ending; knew she'd simply crossed yet another border. 

So there's no harm in starting the story right here, that is, the way we're doing it right now.

You can see the way the story engages, draws you in, and makes you want to know the story for yourself.

The tone is light and a little amused, as if it is playing with us. She plays with many things here, and many borders, Highly recommended. 

You Dreamed of Empires

Finished March 15

You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer

This historical novel takes us to a very interesting place and time. It is 1519, and Cortes and his troops enter the city of Tenochtitlan. As part of his entourage, Cortes has Aguilar, a friar who had been a captive of the Nahua, and knows their language, so can interpret from Spanish to Nahua. He also has Malinalli, a Nahua princess who had been enslaved as a concubine to an Aztec leader. She can interpret from Nahua to the Aztec language. 

Cortes is a less than gracious man, bad at interpreting situations, and a man without respect to his host. When first meeting the emperor Moctezuma, he attempts to embrace him, and nearly gets killed. After a short rest, the Spanish group is given a welcome meal by the empress, Atotoxtli, sister and wife of Moctezuma. We see the subtle messages being given and received, and we begin to see what some of those at the banquet, as well as those not attending, are thinking. 

Allowed into the thoughts of one of Cortes; captains, Jazmin Caldera, who begins to question their hosts intentions, and into the thoughts of Malinalli as she strategizes what to interpret, what to add, and what to leave out. We also understand some thoughts of Moctezuma, as his reliance on hallucinogens becomes an issue, and those of his sister wife Atotoxtli as she tries to appease him while also influence him.  

Tenochtitlan is a well-planned city, managing its resources well, and working well for its inhabitants. Enrigue gives us a sense of the size, details, and impressiveness of the city and its amenities. 

As we begin to understand the complexities of the situation, Enrigue takes us into an alternative ending to the encounter, a development that takes us into 'what if' questions. 

An amazing and enlightening read. 

The Door-to-Door Bookstore

Finished March 8

The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn, translated by Melody Shaw

This is a novel of loss, loneliness, books, and human connection. Set in a small town in southern Germany, the story follows seventy-two-year-old Carl Kollhoff, who works for the City Gate bookstore and delivers books to people's homes. Carl's friend. Gustav Gruber owns the shop and Carl has worked there for years. Recently, Gustav has moved into a care home, and his daughter Sabine runs the store. Although she grew up thinking of Carl as a kind of uncle, she seems to resent him now, and he tries to keep a low profile while at the store, as he also helps regulars find the perfect book for them. 

Carl has a number of people he delivers to, and he wraps these books carefully before setting off on his deliveries. He has nicknames of a sort for these customers, based on literary characters they remind him of. From a nun who is the last resident of her abbey to a retired schoolteacher, he knows each client's reading habits and a tiny bit about their lives. He also has a relationship with a cat he meets along his route, one that makes odd noises and is happy to have short interactions with him. 

One day, as he sets off along his delivery route he is approached by a schoolgirl who seems determined to accompany him. She calls him the Book Walker and introduces herself as Schascha. Over the days, as she keeps returning, she gradually insinuates herself not only into his life, but also the lives of those he delivers to. She helps him learn more about these people and try to help them in different ways. But Schascha has secrets as well, and some of hers have an impact on Carl's life in large ways. 

This is a story of unusual friendships, of people looking for love and meaning in their lives, and of how books make a difference. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Finished December 4

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot

This book is the first in the series names for this title. It is a book set in a small basement coffee shop in a back alley in Tokyo. The shop has existed for decades and there is a legend that the shop also gives customers the chance to travel back in time. 

In this book, there are four stories, each with a customer visiting the cafe with the hope that the legend is true and that they can make such a journey. But there are rules around these journeys: One is that the traveller cannot change the present, no matter what they do. Another is that you can only meet someone who has visited the coffee shop. A third is that there is only one place in the shop that you can sit to travel, and you must remain in that seat for the duration. A fourth rule is the limit of the visit, the time is takes from the coffee being poured until it gets cold. And the visitor has to drink all the coffee or they will be stuck as a ghost. 

The visitors here go back for various reasons, and we see all of these visitors in the introduction to the first story. Here Fumiko wants to go back to have a different conversation with her boyfriend Goru who recently went to work in America. 

In the second story, Kohtake wants to go back to before her husband Fusagi, who has early-onset Alzheimer's, forgot who she was. A staff member at the shop says that the reason Fusagi wanted to go back was to give her a letter, but that she can go back to get it herself. 

The third story is the story of sisters. Hirai runs a snack bar near the coffee shop. She came to Tokyo from the outskirts of Sendai, a city a few hours north of Tokyo, where her parents ran an inn. Her younger sister Kumi comes often to the cafe to try to meet Hirai, but Hirai won't talk with her. Hirai left because her parents expected her to take over running the inn and she didn't want to, and they eventually transferred their expectations to Kumi. When something happens to Kumi, Hirai knows that she wants to have that conversation with her sister that she's been avoiding. 

The fourth story shifts the conversations around travelling in time to contemplate travelling to the future and the difficulty of determining whether the one you want to meet with be there at the time you travel to. One of the coffee shop workers decides to do it, with the others promising to do what they can to ensure the meeting takes place. 

I liked the premise of the book, and the parameters around these travels in time. They are very different from what we often see in novels with time travel as a concept. 

A feel-good read that will appeal to a variety of readers. 

Shubeik Lubeik

Finished November 27

Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed, translated by Deena Mohamed

This graphic novel trilogy in one volume is set in a version of our world where wishes are a commodity that can be bought and sold. One man, Shokry, is the owner of a kiosk in Cairo, where he sells a variety of goods. In conversation with one of his regular customers, Shawqia, he reveals that he has three first class wishes, given to him by his father, but his father also counselled him never to use them. 

Shawqia urges him to sell them, and one of her young relatives makes him a sign. 

We gradually learn more about the world, including the bureaucracy around wishes in Egypt and internationally, and later about the history of these particular wishes. 

Each part of the trilogy deals with one of the wishes and what happens to it. We see the struggle each of the users of the wish undergo as they determine how to use it, and how their situation in life affects that use. The first wish user, Aziza, comes from a working class background and struggles with personal loss, survival, and a bureaucracy that isn't fair. The next wish user, Nour is a college student from a wealthy background and struggles with depression. Nour isn't sure how or whether to use the wish to help himself with his mental state. The last user is Shokry himself, who struggles with the vast need he sees across his community, the personal health of a woman he has come to know, and his father's and his religion's stance regarding the wishes. 

This trilogy was originally written in Arabic and the book is still structured for the right to left reading of it. The novel won awards in its original form, and gives insight into a culture and place I am not personally familiar with. The translation of the title is a fairy tale rhyme that means "your wish is my command" and thus fits perfectly with the contents. 

We Know You Remember

Finished October 9

We Know You Remember by Tove Alsterdal, translated by Alice Menzies

This book won the Swedish Crime Novel of the Year award and is the first of Alsterdal's books to be translated into English. Set in a more northern area of Sweden, this story begins with Olof Hagström, who is delivering a car back to Stockholm, stopping at the house he grew up in, impulsively.

Unfortunately, he walks into a situation. When he retrieves the key from the hiding place he knew, following the barking of a dog inside, he finds not only the dog, but his father dead in the bath. 

As police officer Eira Sjödin, follows the clues from this death, she also finds herself wondering about the investigation of the crime that Olof was accused of back when he was fourteen.

Olof was accused of raping and murdering a local girl a few years older than him, but her body was never found. Olof was forced out of his home by his family into an institution, and his life since then has been a sad and lonely one. 

The case was notable in the town, and although Eira was only nine at the time, she was aware of it, as well as noting the fear that it aroused. Her investigation also leads her to another old crime, one solved years ago, but one that has a long tail, as one of the men involved in the crime has been recognized recently and talk has started. 

I found it interesting that Alsterdal based that crime on a real one that happened in Sweden, one that resulted in legal changes as the crime in the novel did. 

Eira is a capable officer as sees that this case opens opportunities for her. But she has also seen how her area has become a training area for new officers, ones who spend a year or two there and move on, and she feels that she doesn't want to be like them. She wants to made a difference in her community. It is her knowledge of the community, both past and present, that makes the difference in this case, and she is aware of that. 

So in more than one way, memory plays a role in this novel, as does the idea of guilt. There are those that are fearful of discovery, and those who would protect those they care for. Alsterdal digs into this with the various cases at hand, in a way that is engaging and thought-provoking. 

The Paris Lawyer

Finished July 11

The Paris Lawyer by Sylvie Granotier, translated by Anne Trager

This novel revolves around Catherine Monsigny, a young lawyer in Paris. When she was a young child, Catherine was the only witness to her mother's murder, which happened in a park near where they lived in the Creuse, a department in central France. She didn't see what happened but heard it and remembers a few things. The murderer was never caught. 

She and her father moved away, as he found it hard to live in the area without her mother. They have a reasonably good relationship with each other, but aren't close. He has told her little about her mother, despite her questions. 

As the book opens, Catherine is heading to court to defend a man, Cedric Devers, accused of assault and battery. She is also trying to convince her boss, Renaud, to let her take defend a case of murder, allegedly by a woman whose husband has died. The woman Myriam Villetreix, is an immigrant from Gabon, brought to France by a family as a domestic, who escaped and showed up at a Paris refugee center. A farmer, Gaston Villetreix had posted an advertisement looking for a wife, and the two ended up getting married. After six years, he died. Some time after, Gaston's cousins accuse her of murder by poisoning, and she is now in jail awaiting her trial. 

As Catherine works on the murder case, memories of her childhood begin to resurface. She feels that there is something she knows that might solve the case of her mother's death as well. 

She also sees Cedric again, and a casual relationship develops between them. 

This is a very slow-paced mystery novel, with time spent wandering in the countryside, talking to people in the area, and doing research. As Catherine works her way closer to answers and to getting the accused to trust her, she finds herself unnerved by certain events. Only in court is she confident and calm, determined to do her best for her client. 

I found it interesting to see this brusque matter-of-fact character soften a bit as the reader gets to know her. She is ambitious, but also nervous. She wants love, but isn't sure what love really is. It took me a while to get into the story, but I did find it more captivating the further I got into it. 

A Meal in Winter

Finished March 18

A Meal in Winter by Hubert Mingarelli, translated by Sam Taylor

I came to this book through a new book subscription service I decided to try out. It's from a shop in Wales called Mr. B's and they have a long form to fill out to get a sense of what books you like, and since I teach Readers' Advisory, I found it really related to the interview aspect that's a part of RA work. So this was the first book I got in the subscription, and I'd never heard of the author before, which was great. I love discovering new authors.

Because this book was somewhat dark in subject, I took my time with it, dipping in now and then over a couple of months to read it. It is beautifully written and translated, and really spoke to me emotionally. There are extremely touching passages, and elements of humour in their thoughts and conversations, and all the time there is the shadow of their task and its outcome hanging over them. 

The story is about three German soldiers in World War II in Poland. The camp that they live it looks for Jews and then the soldiers that are based there shoot them in a formal event every morning. These soldiers absolutely hate having to do this, and so they ask to go wander about the countryside and search for the Jews, a task they would rather do than shoot them. 

When they unexpectedly find a Jewish man, they go through a process where they are torn between their natural bent to let him go, and the expectations of their superiors. They know that if they prove successful in bringing someone in, they will be allowed to go out again and skip the actual execution task. 

As the title indicates, it is winter and very cold and even in the camp food supplies are low, so the men are constantly hungry. When they find an abandoned house and break in, they find a single room with a stove and decide to light it and make a meal with the food they have. 

Another interesting part of this book is that one of them, Emmerlich, is a father who worries about his son. The first time he does so here is when the men have stopped to smoke a cigarette and he worries that his son will start smoking. The worries about his son are ongoing, and the other two men talk him through them, and give their input on the situation. This is one way the author humanizes the men. This discussion also includes a foreshadowing of a future event that provides an eerie echo to what the men are doing now. 

A moving story, beautifully told.