Random Things Tours: Service by Lauren Mooney

I am very honest with my reading lists, and no matter how FOMO I am - answer: a lot - there are specific genres I am usually avoiding, unless are recommended by people of high literary taste. Hence, I ended up spending some time with a Gothic novel of workplace inspiration: Service a debut by Lauren Mooney. 

To be fully honest, the workplace part weighted the balance in favor of this book. I am my own employer for ever and used with the duress, but from my memories of working in an office, no matter how fancy it looked and was described, the horror genre comes very close. 

Danielle, the main character of Service is in her 30s, broke, hating her job and just broke up with her boyfriend. This may lead to a romantic entanglement, or to some journey of discovering herself or who knows what other positive thinking magic. Danielle of Service though is invited by her glamorous boss, Jeannie, to spend some time in the noble mannor in England. 

But the next step isn´t a kind of countryiside romance or not even an entrepreneurship plan, but a couple of interactions and there is Jeannie, who seems to literally own her. The workplace drama continues, but with a moderate taste of horror. An old mannor will stay an old mannor, after all.

The whole story is a chain of unexpected situations, some explained in a humoresque vein, some just creepy, some both. There are expectations and laugh and mystery too.

There is a certain theatrality of both the setting of the book and the dialogues, which may be because the author herself is a dramaturg as well.

I´ve read the book over the last torrid weekend and it was the most inspired literary choice in a while. It is a debut novel to remember, and hopefully it will not take too long until Mooney will be back with a new novel. The waiting will be worth it, anyway.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden

´I am about to cross a line. And once I do, I won´t be able to go back. Then again, this has been a long time coming´.

Very very late, but still here, I am joining the massive readers of Freida McFadden. I am self-diagnosed with FOMO therefore I couldn´t miss it, no matter how much I resisted the temptation, and how many books I have on my TBR - the mountain of books waiting for me is only getting higher and higher, up to the sky and back.

Dear Debbie, is her latest, and felt lucky to get it from my library freshly after the publication. Debbie - a writer of a modest chronicle in a local newspaper. For the rest of her time, she is taking care of her garden - growing way too many poppies - and of her two teenage daughters. Her husband is about to finally request a promotion. 

Suddenly, everything is failing and Debbie is having a very bad day - she is getting fired, her husband resigns, her daughter are facing different issues. Plus, her much awaited photo shooting of her garden for a specialized magazine is cancelled because the neighbour may have a much beautiful rose garden, after all.

And then suddenly as well, people and roses are starting to die. What to expect from a lady who is wearing a dress with blood stains by design. 

The books sets very slowly, with fragments in the story that do not promise nothing good next. Debbie, a coding prodigy, had to leave MIT after being raped, a secret she is well keeping. This episode however shaped not only her next steps in life, but also her connection to other people around her. You may not be born a dangerous psychopaths, but created by your circumstances. 

The crescendo of the revelations is shortly towards the end. There are so many mismatched situations and even people that it´s hard not to sigh in awe. 

Dear Debbie is exploring the forms of a basic human emotion: vengeance, through the story of a very bourgeois and unsurprising lady. Until she isn´t. 

I´ve read the book in few hours, in between my working breaks. The writing and the story may keep you connected, although it´s not the smartest crime writing around. But it was definitely worth trying it, and as long as the TBR allows, would be more than keen to give to this author yet another try.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Cover Reveal: The Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous

 

Will 20 dates save a 19-year old marriage of two people that seems to not have too much to share any more? The Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous promises a lot of fun and thought about relationships at adult age, with some ups and downs and romance in between.

As for yet, I only had access to the book presentation, without reading it, but I am delighted to take part to a virtual cover reveal event. The space is carefully portioned, with a burning red used as a background, with elegantly styled lettering, and minimalistic images. No human portrayed, just two desks presented from the front, opening a couple of questions about to expect in this story.

If this book seems interesting for you, here are the link for purchasing the book, to be launched the 8th of October this year:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twenty-Dates-Empty-Nesters-Book-ebook/dp/B0H5G54FXK/

https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Dates-Empty-Nesters-Book-ebook/dp/B0H5G54FXK/

As usual, many thanks to Rachel´s Random Resources for having me.

Le Perfezioni by Vincenzo Latronico

 

Although with less speed as in the previous months, I´ve conntinued this month my Italian reading agenda. This time, I got Le Perfezioni/La Chiave di Berlino by Vicenzo Latronico, a book set in Berlin at the end of the first decade of 2000s. The book was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and was translated into several languges, including English by Sophie Hughes for Fitzcarraldo Editions. 

As someone who moved to Berlin during the same time, I felt compelled to read this book. The author left Italy at almost the same time - those were the times when I made a lot of Italian friends, brought to Berlin by Berlusconi´s governments, but he is currently back in Italy.

His life in Berlin is reflected in the accurate description of places and events, ways of being and expectations of people the novel - an offline, third person account of the - almost perfect - life of Anna and Tom, Italian creatives, having the best of their life in the city.

Latronice, a member of anti-gentrification collective in Milan, is observing the silent yet radical twists taking place during those time: as Berlin is becoming more international, sought-after, its identity is getting more standardized and the city soulless. The living costs are high and the available apartments dire. The image of the city is turning into an illusion, a projection of what people expect to find here: maybe a smaller or bigger slice of ´home´, a promise of freedom, but at a lower prize.

Anna and Tom may explore other similar ´paradises´: Portugal, Sicily - while turning back and forth to Berlin in their subletted apartment - who may lose an apartment in a city where scarcity is pushing natives out of its urban borders?

The language - for an Italian student - is relatively sophisticated, C1 level and up, in my opinion, but highly literarily enjoyable. The ambiances, including the olfactive moments are very vivid and immersive.

For a contemporary novel set in the 2000s, the show-format, without characters and a proper story, the short length - 136 pages in the original Italian version - suits very well. But exactly this unclear space between essay - on gentrification and spectacle-society we are more and more each day immersed into - and hipster story leaved a space for expectations that wasn´t properly filled.

Berlin is still the hype, even when it is not what it used - or we expected it - to be, therefore, it is still so much to say and in so many different ways. Le Perfezioni uses the commonality of the inspiration, but ends up in many respects mostly as an exercise in imperfection.

Rating: 3.5 stars 

Random Things Tours: The Interpreter´s Secret by Andrew Rosenheim

Cold War may theoretically be over since the 1990s, but its reminiscences and especially behavior patterns are still easily recognizable in the current state of international affairs. As a passionate consumer of international politics, I am always curious about world affairs, although sometimes this curiosity is plainly morbid. 

The Interpreter´s Secret by Andrew Rosenheim, published by No Exit Press is inspired by real events: the meeting between presidents Trump and Putin, with only one interpreter present, who was minutiously searched for possible recordings or notes upon leaving the room. 

The interpreter in Rosenheim´s book is attending an off-the-record meeting with a Russian general, witnessing and translating a terrific arrangement between Kremlin and the White House. But compared to the real interpreter, he saved a trace of the meeting, an accidental recording, the only historical testimony that the event ever took place. 

This recording will clearly define his fate and his life from now on, as the book is evolving into a complex intrigue where corruption of all kind meets high national interests. 

Both the story and the characters are well-crafted and suspenseful. I particularly loved the idea of a professional yet politically uninvolved character being caught in a world bigger than life, and the absurdity of an accident - the digital pen recording the conversation - challenging the simple life for good. 

The Interpreter´s Secret is a meeting of spycraft and literary talent, creating a suspenseful story of corruption, life´s random destiny and also translator´s fate. A recommended read if looking for an intelligent international spy story.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Orenda Books BlogTour: Love, After All by Ewald Arenz translated by Rachel Ward

Some books and authors do wait until show up on my reading radar. Although I read at least one book - novel - in German every week, I haven´t discover until now the books by bestseller author and teacher Ewald Arenz. Love, After All, translated into English from the German version - published as Die Liebe an miesen Tagen - by Rachel Ward, it is published by Orenda Books, where other books by Arenz were translated.

As usual, Orenda stands for high literary quality and Love, After All did not disappoint. 

Clara, a widowed photographer, and Elias, a younger actor in his 30s, met in the most unlikely life sequence. Clara did not believe in love any more, and Elias is caught into a problematic relationship. As their connection grows, they are slowly falling in love, but Clara´s working circumstances may break the romance. But as Elias is getting sick, it seems that destiny has a dfferent plans for them.

One of the things I´ve loved the most at this book is the deep humanity of the characters and their circumstances. As a reader, one gets closer to the characters because they are so relatable, with their flaws, indecision and vulnerabilities. The fragility of human existence is told with so much tenderness that thanks to the excellent translation survives through languages´ exchange.

A beautiful and humanly insightful story I will remember for a long time.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book club but the opinions are, as usual, my own

The Persian by David McCloskey

There is a new generation of ex-CIA analysts who turned into (very talented) spy (what else?) novels writers and them leaving the Agency enriched the choice of topics and settings of spy thrillers. Particularly when the topics they are writing about are burning the first pages of the media nowadays. When politics and politicians themselves are unable to make any sense of literally anything, maybe the ex-analyst can bring the much awaited clarity in a fictional key.

I haven´t read anything by David McCloskey before, but I´ve read some great recommendations about his work. The topic of his latest book - the intelligence war between Iran and Israel - is politically actual and interests me, therefore, I was grateful to have been offered the ARC of The Persian. 

Set between Iran and Israel, it is built around the Iranian Jew Kamran Esfahani´s final confession while in Evin Prison, waiting for his death sentence. Accepting to spy for Mossad for financial reasons, as he was in a professional dead end as a dental practitioner in Sweden, Kam is sharing the details of his recruitment and training, and his contribution to spectacular Mossad operations within Iran. (The meme-famous general Esmail Qaani is also part of the cast).

Although the story has a high percentage of spectacular moves and unexpected twists, the most important parts are actually concerning the human costs of espionage, particularly how simple life of family members can be for ever affected or at high risk. 

The writing is a pleasure for the soul, and it focuses so carefully to the smallest details, from the sound of the street to the colours of the crayons used to write the confession. 

But there is a part that didn´t work for me at all: the ending is way too syrupy for my spy taste. It just left me speechless but for all the wrong reasons.

Nevertheless, The Persian was a tensed, intelligent and knowledgeable read.  

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

99p. PROMO BLOG BLITZ: The Time of My Life by Samantha Tonge

If you are looking for a good summer read, that is happening in a summery destination, The Time of My Life by Samantha Tonge may be your right choice.  

Currently available for the ridiculous 99p. is about the meeting between two very different women and a couple of secrets. Carrie - 26, she is about to start a completely new life in Greece, leaving behind her old life and selling all her belongings, plus a cat. Eliza, about to celebrate her 75th birthday, is interested in buying everything from Carrie. And this is just the beginning of a story of friendship and many secrets.

It sounds like a tempting book to keep you busy when not busy to enjoy your summer time of your life.

Here is the purchase link: https://mybook.to/TheTimeofMyLife

Many thanks to Rachel from Rachel´s Random Resources for having me for this PROMO BLOG BLITZ.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri translated into English by Jhumpa Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz

There are authors that emotionally connect me with my carefree times, when reading and discovering myself through various languages were taking the most of my intellectual concerns - I am still doing it glutonously, but while I am taking much more personal and professional responsibility in other fields. One of them is Jhumpa Lahiri whose works I was reading in the morning only to be ready to discuss with my intellectual friends in the evenings. 

Long after, I followed her testimonies about learning a new language of writing, Italian, that she is using since regularly for writing her new books. My latest read by her doesn´t have anything to do with language, at least not directly, but was written in Italian: Roman Stories, a collection of nine very different stories, that she translated into English, together with Todd Portnowitz. 

I am having my very intense Italian moment right now, but I couldn´t find the book in the Italian version, therefore, I delighted into the English version. Also, I haven´t read short stories in a while, therefore this collection suited my relatively short attention span those days.

Rome - this is where ´Roman´ in the title comes from - is the very discrete background the stories are taking place. Sometimes, we may assume but the specificities of the city are in most cases not relevant for the story - although some residential details, the elegance of women and the summer parties may be. Therefore, there is nothing aimed at increasing your interest towards Rome. Rather, its focus is on human emotions that connect us beyond languages, social status and city of residence. All those are accidental, but the empathy or lack of, are what really define us.

One of my favorite stories in the collection is The Steps where several life-stanzas of individuals living at the top of a densely staired street are brought together, and finely intertwined. The individual stories however aren´t connected. What connects them - nameless characters - is the deep human context and the beautifully chiselled prose.  

Some part of the stories are emotionally demanding, dealing with loss and grief, racism and loneliness, but those feelings are so seamlessly tied to the plot that there is nothing out of place or forcing you to believe.

Roman Stories was a very insightful encounter with a world that shaped and encouraged me to keep doing what I always love: read and connect to beautifully written stories.

Rating: 4.5

Gaslight by Femi Kayode

While requested to investigate the disappearance of the wife of a powerful priest based in Lagos, accused of killing his wife, detective psychologist Philip Taiwo may get caught into the nets of corruption of the highst holy level. 

Gaslight by Nigerian writer Femi Kayode is the second in the series featuring detective Philip Taiwo and my first read by this author. Mixing investigation techniques with psychological observation and deep knowledge of the well oiled machine of local corruption, Gaslight is a paced murder mystery taking place in challenging circumstances.

The story - told by Taiwo himself - operates perfectly in the local environment, seamlessly adapting to it. Hence, the very authentic ambiance and the specific twists of the story that cannot make sense anywhere else. As a side thought, it shows how distorted the realities shaped by corruption of all kinds could be.

The suspense is built through the intermezzo of the fragments attributed to the victim preparing the unexpected dramatic ending.

Through Taiwo´s family story, especially her daughter challenges to adapt to the new school and social environment in general, there are also some no-crime related thoughts about beauty standards and self-acceptance worth considering.

I´ve enjoyed personally reading this book, also because I had the chance to discover a new Nigerian author, and new murder series that hopefully will continue soon.

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: Diagnosis or Death by Jake Lynch&Annabel McGoldrick

One may expect from books set in Oxford a bookish highly intellectual ambiance, maybe at the limit some exquisite noble mystery. But - surprise, suprise - in Oxford live very normal people as well, with everything that includes this category, including very mundane crimes.

As her colleague is unexpectedly killed, Janna Rose feels compelled to contribute to solving the investigation. A psychoterapist specialising in the very special Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and a former journalist, she is ingeniously looking for hints and explanations, although she may need to cope with extremely complex challenges built by the malevolent use of AI.

Diagnonsis or Death by the Oxford-based BBC-trained journalists duo Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick was a very interesting encounter both in terms of the writing as well as the subject. The second in the series featuring Janna - a blend of the authors´ names - but my first - it has a dense prose while bringing in the forefront topics like local corruption in the social housing and benefit fraud. The story in itself is engaging, but in subtext tries to explore the genesis of human motivation under different circumstances.

For me, it was a very intense read, while bringing up interesting topics in the very challenging context of new technologies. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu

 ´I wanted to live a big life too´.

Some books may ignite mixed reactions in the reader, but the challenge may just encourage the precious critical thinking. 

Soila, the character of Lucky Girl, the debut novel of Kenyan-American writer Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu left for the US in order to break the control of her over-protective and over-achieving mother. As she is growing up as a person, writing her own life story and breaking with tradition, she is caught in the boiling cauldron of choices. She followed a career for the sake of her mother´s expectations, and she will keep practising it long after she regained her own independence until a personal turn of events will convince her to follow her passion for photography.

Although I enjoyed the story milestones and the main character, as well as the change of perspective between African Amerians and Africans on issues like race and priviledge and the insightful take on dementia, I had some issues regarding either the plot or the characters´ development.

For instance, Soila lacks consistency, and so do her relationships: we are told about she having boyfriends, but there is no story. 

But despite those shortcomings and my mixed reactions, I´ve learned some interesting intellectual nuances from Lucky Girl that will keep in mind when thinking about race and priviledge.

Rating: 3 stars

Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Al-Essa translated by Nada Faris

´Was there a hidden meaning behind this hell?´

Literary journeys are even most open minding as the simple discovery travel. They open up the eyes towards worlds we accepted to ignore, deeply diving into our own self-sufficient bubble. I am a passionate reader of elaborated crime novels but unfortunately, for many reasons - translation being one of them, my limited literary proficiency, another - I am mostly stuck into the European-North American realm. But I know there are so many brilliant ´noir´ authors outside this realm and Lost in Mecca by bestseller Kuwaiti author Bothayna El-Assa translated into English by Nada Faris encouraged me to be more determined in discovering different literary voices.

Last year I´ve read several reviews of the book and was on my TBR for a long time, but nothing prepared me for the deeply trauma valiantly told. 

Lost in Mecca is a story of a kidnapping. A little 7-year old boy of Kuwaiti origin is getting lost and subsequently kidnapped while being separated from his parents during the circumambulating the Kaaba in Mecca. The happy normality of a rich normal family trying to fulfill their duties is shaken by the realities of a world where survival is beyond any other human consideration. 

Told from different perspectives, including the shivering testimony of the kidnapped child´s, during less than three weeks chronologically, but within the framework of a fluid time, this is also a story of how life cannot go as usual after the encounter of tragedy. Belief is shaken, relationships are shaken, trust is eroded. 

The realities surrounding the circumstances are far from what we usually associate with when talking about rich countries like Saudi Arabia. A region where illegal immigration and human trafficking reaches peaks we aren´t aware of (as a side note though, some ´facts´ regarding organ trafficking/harvesting in the region may miss some double checking and rather follow some ideological patterns). As we are also rarely aware of the randomness of life in some parts of the world. In the book, one (bad) character asks the other (very bad) character: ´Is it really possible to live a life - normal life - away from the world we currently inhabit?´. It is a rhetorical question, but the answer may be that we rarely can. The - terrible - fate of the little boy - is an example. Moral compass may lead to hunger. 

I have another book by Bothayna Al-Essa on my TBR and definitely will read it in the next weeks, but as for now, I am deep in the thoughts ignited by Lost in Mecca. That´s how good books are shaking our mental comfort.

Rating: 4 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: Wild Italian Nights by Christy McKellen

 

Good girl Juno meets Playboy Alessandro and both of them they have one full Italian (wild) week to enjoy life at its fullest. From Florence to the hills of Tuscany there are not enough places where they can literally feel the world. But could it be more? Should it be? Is there any place for more than passion?

Wild Italian Nights by Christy McKellen is spicy, passionate, even funny...a little bit of everything that one may need to for the hot season. As the title already suggests, it is definitely not for the prude of heart. 

I really enjoy the reading and the uneven meeting of the characters, in addition to the irresistible Italian environment which resonates very well with the hot feelings and adventures of the characters. I really appreciated that the characters, especially Juno, are more than protagonists in a hot setting, but they do also evolve according to their feelings and interests too.

For me it was the first encounter with this author, but from now on, I know where to look when I am in need of a spicy reading adventure.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary

DS Joseph Ashe is the sole survivor of a tragedy that happened 17 years ago. A bus carrying young people drove in Edenscar and all drowned but him. This miraculous survival is haunting him until now. As a detective he is requested later on investigating a crime that may bring him closer to elucidating an old mystery haunting him to this day. 

I´ve found the book from the very beginning emotionally challenging, but in the good literary sense. Both the atmosphere of the book and the characters - the bad and the good ones equally - are very well developed, with many hidden secrets that are dramatically challenging the plot in unexpected twists. 

Particularly Ashe is a world in itself, articulated and memorable. The choice of place and location in general may be surprising, as such a crime may work very well in a highly urbanized area. The eerie, spooky even, Peak District - situated in central-northern England - adds however additional elements of surprise to the challenges of the characters and of the story itself. 

The quality of the writing goes well beyond the usual police procedural investigation and this adds an additional quality to this very unique book.

The Drowing Place is the first in a series dedicated to Joseph Ashe and would be curious to continue with the next installments. For me, it was also the first encounter with this author that will definitely keep on my future radar.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own