Reading in Reykjavík

This book is the memoir of Maria Grammatico, owner of a famous pastry shop in Erice in Sicily where she uses recipes learned while living as an orphan in a convent in the town. Simeti recorded her story, translated it and organised it for the book, which is the narrative of Grammatico's life, her 15 year stay with the nuns and a little of her impoverished childhood in the Sicilian countryside before that.The loss of her father threw the family into even deeper poverty, and her mother was forced to send her and one of her sisters to live with the nuns, who took in orphans, so she could could feed the rest of the family and ensure the two girls were well looked after. What followed were years of hard work and deprivation, but also of opportunity. Grammatico learned to form and prepare the pastries the nuns sold to supplement the convent's income and, being a clever girl, she was able to learn the recipes - which the nuns guarded from the girls - by simply watching them bei...

Originally published in March 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. This is a wonderful, sweet memoir about mature love, between the author, a divorced American food writer and chef, and Fernando, a Venetian bank worker who fell in love with her from afar but only found the courage to approach her when she returned to Venice a year later. Within a few months she had tied up her life in the USA and moved to Venice to be with him. The book tells of their first three years together, getting to know each other, marriage preparations, their life together, adjustments to a new culture, and Marlena’s other love affairs, namely with Venice and food. At the end there is a chapter of recipes for some of the food she mentions in the books, with some truly mouth-watering recipes. Rating: A lovely, tasty combination of true romance, travel and food. 4 stars.

This is my third Gothic challenge read and the first classic Gothic novel I read for the challenge. Genre: Gothic novel; historical Year of publication: 1764 Setting & time: Medieval Italy, during the  Crusades Conrad, son of Manfred, Prince of Otranto, is crushed beneath a gigantic helmet on the day he is to be wed to the Princess Isabella. Manfred, determined to secure a replacement for his only son and heir, decides to divorce his wife and marry Isabella, who objects and seeks sanctuary in a nearby church with the aid of a mysterious young man. These events are only the beginning of a convoluted and suspenseful story. This, the very first Gothic novel, is a defining novel of the genre, with its air of perpetual menace, supernatural events, gloomy setting, driven villain, missing heirs, convoluted plot, thrills, shocks and revelations, noble heroes and damsels in distress. It is highly entertaining, although to me, a modern reader, probably not quite in the mann...

Genre : Thriller, cosy Series and no. : Homer Kelly, # 8 Type of detective : Professor of literature, lawyer and former policeman Year of publication : 1991 Setting & time : Florence, Italy, contemporary. Harvard Professor Homer Kelly is invited to teach for one school year at a new school for American students in Florence, Italy. One of the teachers has been in prison in the USA for murder, another one is a boring creep, the students are the usual mixed bunch, including one socially-inept stalker type and a ravishingly beautiful female student with issues, and the school secretary really works for the city’s top drug baron, who is planning to use a religious fanatic to assassinate the pope, whose anti-drug campaign is affecting business. I picked up this book mostly because of the title. I haven’t read The Divine Comedy , mostly because I couldn’t decide which of the many English translations to choose, but I did wish I had the one quoted in the book on hand – I believe i...

Year published: 2005 Genre: History, portrait of a city Setting & time: Venice, 1996-2003, with historical background going back farther John Berendt arrived in Venice a few days after La Fenice (The Phoenix), Venice’s opera house, went up in flames, and visited it repeatedly over the next 8 years, interviewing people and doing extensive research. The book is a portrait of the city’s artists, aristocrats and glamorous expatriates at that time, with the story of the Fenice fire and its aftermath up to the grand re-opening as the backbone of the narrative, even when discussing other matters, like the debacle over Ezra Pound’s papers. The book begins with a gripping account of the night of the fire, looking at it through the eyes of some of the people whose portraits he draws later in the book, and continues with a tightly woven tapestry of words. Berendt, like a good journalist, always keeps back and is rarely in the forefront of the narrative, so the book can’t really be called a...

Original Italian title: Il cane di terracotta Translator: Stephen Sartarelli (2002) Genre: Mystery Year of publication: 1996 No. in series: 2 Series detective: Inspector Salvo Montalbano Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Sicily, Italy; 1993 Story: When working on a case, Inspector Montalbano discovers a sealed-off cave and inside it the dessicated bodies of two young people, murdered 50 years before. The bodies have been ritualistically surrounded by a life-size terracotta dog, a water jug and a bowl of money. While on sick-leave, Montalbano has time to investigate the case and makes some interesting discoveries. Review and rating: As with the previous books I read by Camilleri, I found this one to be a good mixture of skilful writing and plotting and great storytelling. Combined with the humour, some quite poignant but never sappy scenes and some of the most mouthwatering descriptions of food I have read in any mystery, it makes for great reading. And of course...

Genre: Psychological thriller Year of publication: 1955 No. in series: 1 Series protagonist: Thomas Phelps Ripley Setting & time: The USA (beginning chapters), Italy (remaining chapters); contemporary Teaser: How on earth do I synopsise the beginning of this story without giving away too much? I’ll try, but don’t blame me if you haven’t read the book and see something in here that you consider to be a spoiler. A Mr. Greenleaf asks the protagonist, Tom Ripley, to go to Italy to persuade his errant son, Dickie, to come home to America. Once there, Ripley easily befriends Dickie, but when clouds start gathering on the friendship horizon Ripley decides that he deserves to be in the situation Dickie is in: financially independent and living in wonderful Italy; whereas Ripley is poor and unemployed and once his travelling money from Greenleaf senior runs out he must return to the USA to an uncertain future. Review: Herein you will definitely find SPOILERS. The book is very well wri...

I think it was Maxine who first recommended Donna Leon to me, and after that I got several more recommendations for her books, so I decided to include her in the challenge. Series detective: Commissario Guido Brunetti Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Venice, contemporary -- Title: The Death of Faith (alternative title: Quietly in Their Sleep ) No. in series: 6 Year of publication: 1997 SPOILERS ahead Story: A young nun who has left her order comes to Commissario Brunetti with a story of some deaths at a nursing home where she worked that she finds mysterious but that at first appear to be perfectly normal. She seems to suspect that members of her order or of the Catholic church may be involved. When Brunetti starts digging, the nun is attacked and Brunetti’s boss tries to have him stop the investigation, which just makes him more determined to get to the bottom of the case. Review: The writing and characterisations in the book are very go...

Translator: Stephen Sartarelli Series detective: Inspector Salvo Montalbano Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Vigàta, Sicily (and neighbourhood), Italy; late 20th century This time, I read two books by the author. Note that the given year of publication is for the original Italian publication. Title: The Shape of Water Original Italian title: La forma dell'acqua No. in series: 1 Year of publication: 1994 Type of mystery: Death under mysterious circumstances (possibly murder), police procedural Story: A famous and respected Sicilian political leader is found dead from a heart attack. There is no doubt of the cause of death, but as the circumstances of the finding of the body and the place where it was found are rather suspicious, Inspector Montalbano decides to get to the bottom of it, despite pressure from the authorities to close the case. Was it an accidental death during a sexual encounter with a prostitute, or was the heart attack manufactured, making i...

Subtitle: In search of the hidden villages of Sicily Year published: 2002 Genre: Travel, memoir, social life and customs Setting & time: Sicily, 1980s & 1990s Theresa Maggio, a third generation Italian-American, describes her many visits to her grandparents' native Sicily over a number of years where she visited not only their native village, but also many other small and remote villages. Her purpose was to both to discover her heritage and to record the ways of life of Sicilian villagers, both traditional and modern. Rating: A very enjoyable and informative book about a love affair with Sicily that is enough to make anyone want to visit the place. 4+ stars.