Finished reading this book yesterday. Even though I am busy, waiting for my Mom while she is in doctors’ appointments has the pleasant side benefit of making me sit in one place for an hour or so. Perfect time to read.
I admire Pears ability to plot out almost 600 pages of fiction and keep me guessing right up until the end how the plot will come out. This is no mean feat.
I was intrigued with the temporal outline of the book, moving as it does from from a 1953 funeral in Paris to London in 1909 then to the 1860s in Venice. Pears draws the reader in easily beginning with the funeral of an elderly interesting woman and the story of the mysterious death of her husband a few years earlier, the main character, John Stone.
Somehow he had fallen out of a window to his death from his office at a critical time in his international financial affairs. Did he jump or was he pushed? Could it possibly have been an accident?
At the 1953 funeral, the first of several narrators in the book begins to remember how he is connect to these two people. “Many years earlier” the widow had asked him to investigate her deceased husband’s surprising stipulation in his will that a large sum be given to a child of his that no one knows anything about.
The book is a kind of mystery. It is very historical. The prose flows easily and the author is obviously in love with learning and the surroundings of his story (London and Venice). Great read.
Recently, my brother and my nephew’s partner both mentioned that they buy diazepam from thailand found large books less daunting in ebook form. Eileen bought this book in ebook form last night for vacation for this very reason.
Speaking of vacation, I leave this afternoon for another internet fast. So probably no posts until next week.
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Ira Glass – By the Book – NYTimes.com
I am so far behind in my NYT reading. I have been doing my usual treadmill reading of it daily. But due to a new interface (Times Reader) I am better able to coherent browse and choose articles to read. So I am reading more of it. Takes more time. This interview was from last Sunday.
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Why Waiting in Line Is Torture – NYTimes.com
“[An]… airport decided on a new approach: instead of reducing wait times, it moved the arrival gates away from the main terminal and routed bags to the outermost carousel. Passengers now had to walk six times longer to get their bags. Complaints dropped to near zero.”
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Rick Snyder, a G.O.P. Governor Who Eludes Labels – NYTimes.com
Many of my Michigan liberal family and friends really despise Snyder. I find him a bit more as this article describes.
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China Ex-Police Chief May Face Trial – NYTimes.com
I continue to follow this fascinating real life international murder mystery.
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U.S. Says Iraqis Are Helping Iran Skirt Sanctions – NYTimes.com
What can I say? We have pretty much screwed up the entire area as possible allies.
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A Libyan’s Plea to the S.E.C. on Oil Industry Transparency – NYTimes.com
Excellent idea, but as the author maintains, it will never happen.
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Why Ryan Matters | The Weekly Standard
This is by the neocon William Kristol. I find it interesting and helpful to read stuff from the right like this.
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