More Donna Leon, all of whose books I've probably read and never tired of. It's a mixture of Venetian history, social science, ancient wealth, poverty, mystery, and police procedural. With the great novelty of a chief character, Commissario Brunetti, who has a happy married homelife. Leon is always readable, and I prefer reading her than the audiobooks which I find depressingly voiced.
And since Paola Brunetti, the Commissario's wife is a great cook, learned from her wealthy parents' resident cook, when she's not a tenured university professor, we get the names of the dishes. In Italian, not translated, not described.
So I do a bit of looking up and translating. My Italian to date therefore consists of food terms, which would work if I visited Venice to dine mainly.
I am undyingly proud of not having to translate meluzzo. That's because I learned it from the Lucia books, where she and Miss Mapp are trapped on an Italian fishing vessel for months and ate little else. Oh, you don't know it?? Dear me It's cod. And the Brunetti family had it for dinner.
Then there's this intriguing book, translated from the French, very well indeed, and following a strange picaresque line of narrative. It starts in London shortly after the second world war, dashes off to Brighton, then to further fields to discover her roots, encouraged by a fortune teller in whom she has little faith.
Really engaging storytelling with interesting characters who, blessedly, speak in different voices, the mark of a good narrator.
Then I return to P D James again, for another Adam Dalgliesh police mystery. He's a well known poet as well as a high ranking police detective, a weird combo that works to advance the atmosphere and philosophy as much as the plot.
She's much more than a mystery writer, more of a novelist whose work includes mystery, both physical and existential.
All come highly recommended, especially since I could borrow them all on my Kindle.
I like PD James, though I haven't tried the others. I find it frustrating when reading am confronted with a good longish statement in French, Italian, German (or anything else beyond Spanish) since I speak none of those. big sigh!
ReplyDeleteNone of that applies here, though. Leon simply gives names of dinners. Levy is set in England and totally in colloquial English, in fact I didn't realize it was a translation. Usually where there's a statement in a foreign language it's followed by a translation, in my reading anyway.
DeleteI'd be interested to know where you've run into this lack of translation.
Narrators can certainly make or break an audio version of a book.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten all the way through so-so books due to a great narrator and put down, unfinished better books because of a horrible one.
This is so true. What I particularly throw aside is sad, depressing voicing where the reader's intruding their own mood on the narrative.
DeleteYou have reminded me that PD James has been on my list of authors I would like to try. There are so many and the list is so long! (ps. eureeka, I can finally see!)
ReplyDeleteVery glad to see you back, MA!
DeleteGotta love PD James
ReplyDeleteI can't read her late at night, too haunting! But in daylight, excellent.
Delete