A perfect, late summer Sunday in Frankfurt, 33 C -

I love spending such days by the pool or a lake, reading and swimming. At the end of August a little melancholy is mixed in, it is almost save to say these days are numbered. During the summer, my reading taste very often drifts towards mysteries or thrillers and if you feel the same way, I maybe have a new recommendation! 

For several summers now, I have been reading the mysteries by M.L. Longworth. When her first book "Death at the Chateau Bremont" came out from Penguin US, I fell in love with the very charming main characters, Judge Antoine Verlaque and his girlfriend Marine Bonnet and their way of life. If you want an inexpensive armchair trip to Aix-en-Provence, the vineyards, customs and food of the Provence - voila, you got it!  After reading her first book, I thought the best way to describe M.L. Longworth to my colleagues and customers was "the Donna Leon of Aix-en-Provence". And this is indeed how most reviewers describe her now. I just finished the fifth novel, "The Mystery of the Lost Cezanne"". What is believed to be a lost painting by Cezanne is discovered by Rene Rouquet, the owner of the flat Cezanne used to rent years ago and pretty soon he is found dead. The canvas is missing and a mysterious New York art professor is standing next to the dead body when the police arrive. The painting is eventually rediscovered but the smiling portrait of the woman painted in more explosive colors then the usual Cezanne palette gives cause for several questions. Who is she? Is it a real Cezanne and who killed Rene Rouquet ? 

You can finish the mystery during a weekend and this is pretty much what I did. They are light-hearted but the plot is always excellent, never dull, you learn a lot about the French judicial system along the way and in this particular case something about Cezanne and his life in the 19th century Aix-en-Provence.  I always get an urge to pour myself a glass of wine as Antoine Verlaque is drinking whiskey, superb wines or champagne throughout the novel. The man and his girlfriend certainly know how to enjoy the finer things in life.  If you enjoy Donna Leon’s work, you will most certainly enjoy M.L.Longworth's characters. 

Irvin Yalom: Creatures of a Day and other tales of psychotherapy , Basic Books

I came across Irvin Yalom by chance and the description of the book struck a chord with me. It felt it might hold some answers to questions I  had been asking myself a lot as of late, death in particular, after two very dear friends had been diagnosed with cancer and being in my 6th decade myself knowing that most of my life had been lived.  So why on earth download such a heavy book on my Kindle when going on vacation one might ask? I never regretted it, quite the opposite. It was anything from heavy, to me uplifting and inspiring.

Irvin Yalom is one of these wise Elders you just hope for when hitting a rough corner in your life. In selecting therapy sessions which left a profound impression with himself as a therapist, these patients sessions provide answer to some of the most profound questions and inspirations for our own lives.  The astonishing approach Yalom shows in choosing an intimate, non-textbook like relationship with his patients, often relying on sheer instinct, show his compassion and unwavering support for the human being in front of him until arriving at a turning point for his patient.  These stories deeply impressed me. As he says himself in his afterword, this is a book for people interested in the human psyche and personal growth, providing encouragement when battling our own personal demons. This gem of a book delivers on all fronts, thank you Irvin! 

Lucky for us,  Yalom has been a very active author, (God knows how he does it!) this will definitely not be my last book by him. 

There is also a fantastic film out which gives one an impression of this great man: http://yalomscure.com/about-the-film/

About me

I have been in the book and publishing industry most of my life and when I stopped working to retire in May of this year from Penguin Random House,  I wanted to continue my passion: to read of course, to talk about books, after all this is how I earned my living , and new: to write about them, ergo this blog -  to purely entertain myself and food for thought for the reading community perhaps, hopefully inspiring other readers to check out my reading choices themselves.

Since I mostly read English originals, my postings will be mainly in English but I will also read German books and share my view in German.  In my opinion, how one feels about a book is a deeply personal affair, all kinds of moods and factors affect our reading choices. A book one tossed into the corner a few weeks ago , feels just right all of a sudden. I have often had my problems with literary reviewers and very often begged to differ.   I will share with you how I personally feel about the very book I just read and hopefully you will enjoy my postings.  Of course you are very welcome to have a completely different view.

Ray Celestin: The Axeman's Jazz, 9781447258889, Pan Macmilian UK

Ray Celestin's  " The Axeman’s Jazz "  is one of these thrillers where one feels slightly cross when you have to get up to do something else. I just could not put this book down! 

“The Axeman’s Jazz”  is based on real events. Between 1918 and 1919 the Axeman killed 6 people in New Orleans. This very unusual debut absolutely deserved to win the New Blood Dagger of the “Crimex Thriller Award” as best first novel of 2014.  Capturing perfectly the mood and times of New Orleans in 1919,   “The Axeman Jazz” is about a serial killer stalking the “Big Easy” and three colorful characters setting out to find the murderer  who always leaves a tarot card by his victim , going as far as announcing his murder beforehand in the local newspaper proclaiming that those playing Jazz will be spared.  Of course a frenzy ensues.

Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot, reminds me a bit of a character out of Chandler novels,  a  melancholic, decent  policemen hiding a secret of this own who heads up the official murder investigation in a city that is ripe with intrigues and a corrupt police force.  Enter former detective Luca d’Andrea whose dealings with the Mafia have earned him some time in the slammer and ruined his career with the police. Having very little options after leaving prison and being told to resolve the crime by the mafia, he sets out on a quest that leads him into jazz bars, Simone, the herbal doctor living in the bayous, backrooms of gambling joints ripe with shady characters and prostitution.  Ida is a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency with high ambitions of her own. When she stumbles across a clue, she sees this as her one chance to improve her life. Helping to resolve the mystery of the murder, she enlists the help of her childhood friend Louis Armstrong.  Colorful engaging characters suck you right in from the beginning  of  this highly atmospheric, finely woven story  and I promise , it takes until the very end before you get an idea about  “who’s done it”.

I hope you will enjoy this riveting read as much as I did and what is even better, the end gives me hope for a possible sequel!!!!

Rachel Kushner: Telex from Cuba, Vintage / Penguin Random House, 978099586999, GBP 8, 99

Rachel Kushner: Telex from Cuba, Vintage / Penguin Random House, 978099586999, GBP 8, 99

A writer who manages to be nominated for the National Book award for first (Telex to Cuba) and second novel (The Flamethrowers), has to be exceptional – no other author has achieved this before. 
My interest in Cuban history stirred me towards “Telex from Cuba” which starts in 1952 with a multilayer of characters and events portraying the last years of US “ownership” of Cuba and Castro’s revolution.  My unintentional but timely choice of reading was spot on, as the US just opened up their first embassy in Cuba since Castro’s revolution  while I was reading this novel.

Rachel Kushner’s language is superb, lush and meticulous in its description of events, characters, nature and politics of Cuba in the Fifties, up to the final days of American “ruler ship”.  "Telex to Cuba" is made up of several colorful characters who tell their story, such as KC, a young boy, whose father is the director of the United Fruit Company or Unifrutico, virtually owning the island.  The American companies had Cuban politicians in their back pocket and dictated who became part of their privileged lifestyle. Unifrutico also controlled the price of food Haitian and Cuban laborers had to pay in the company stores as there was nowhere else to go to buy food turning them virtually into US slaves.   Everly Lederer , a young girl who loves anything Cuban and particularly Willy their Haitian gardener, keenly observes the decadent life style of her parents which is paid for by the back breaking work of  sugar cane cutters.  Del Sites, KC’s brother has run off to join  Castro's rebels in the mountains, a fact which is hidden as long as possible from the expat community.  Rachel K, cabaret dancer in Havana’s Cabaret Tokio and mistress of the current president Batista and also of the former president, persues her own interests and is deeply entangled with a French agitator called Maziere who sells his knowledge and skills to anyone who will pay for it. This colorful cast of characters kept me in thrall throughout reading.  It is a perfect literary summer read, I virtually felt myself part of this vibrant time in modern Cuban history, could literally feel the tropical temperatures and the boredom of the American wives in their alcoholic stupor flowing through the pages. I look forward to reading Kusher's other novel, "The Flamethrowers"