Author: Hanna
-
“A Girl’s Story” by Annie Ernaux
Artists are in search of truth. And yet, even with many writers keeping this in mind, it is tempting to interpret one’s personal experience in a flattering or apologizing light. It’s particularly challenging to keep an observant eye when writing autobiographical books. The 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Annie Ernaux “for the…
-
“Moonflower Murders” by Anthony Horowitz
After solving the mystery in “Magpie Murders,” Susan Ryeland rode off into the sunset – she retired from the publishing business and moved to Greece with her boyfriend. Together they run a small hotel in Crete, but it’s not a smooth ride. Struggling with constant repairs, unreliable deliveries, and demanding guests, Susan misses her life…
-
“Less” by Andrew Sean Greer
Arthur Less, the 49-year-old writer and the protagonist of Andrew Sean Greer’s novel, is on the run. He’s running away from love. The love of his life, Freddie Pelu, is getting married, and Less, in a desperate attempt to avoid attending the wedding, accepts all kinds of literary invitations from around the world. A carefully…
-
“The Things We Do to Our Friends” by Heather Darwent
“But don’t play with me ’cause you’re playing with fire” – these lyrics of The Rolling Stone’s song could be a motto for “The Things We Do to Our Friends” by Heather Darwent. Clare is a young woman who moved from Paris to become a student at the University of Edinburg. Her move was not…
-
“A Line to Kill” by Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horovitz’s mystery novels are like the proverbial potato chips – it’s impossible to just have one. “A Line to Kill” is the third installment in the “Hawthorne and Horwitz.” I enjoyed reading the first two, and fortunately, the author enjoyed writing them enough to continue the series. Daniel Hawthorne is the private investigator who…
-
“The Sentence is Death” by Anthony Horowitz
In the second book of the “Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery” series, the detective/writer duo returns to solve a new mystery. The celebrity divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce, was found bludgeoned to death in his home, and the murder weapon was a bottle of expensive wine, a gift from his client. Soon, Pryce’s old friend dies in…
-
“The Word is Murder” by Anthony Horowitz
After enjoying “Magpie Murders,” I decided I’d like to read more mysteries by Anthony Horowitz. So I came to another one, “The Word is Murder,” the first one in the “Hawthorne and Horowitz” series, and I wasn’t disappointed! Daniel Hawthorne, a former Detective Inspector, approaches Anthony Horowitz, the author of “The Word is Murder,” with…
-
“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro
A lot of research has been done on people’s responses to robots. In a nutshell, it comes to the fact that the more a robot resembles a person, especially a child but also a friendly-looking animal, the more we tend to feel empathy towards the machine, particularly when we see it in distress. Remember Data from…
-
“Devil’s Delight” by M.C. Beaton and R.W. Green
Agatha Raisin is a free-spirited and elegant woman in her 50ties who runs a private detective agency in the Cotswolds village of Carsely. She is on a new case, and this time the case literally bumped into her. While driving with her assistant Toni to a wedding, a naked man suddenly dashed in front of…
-
“Magpie Murders” by Anthony Horowitz
A charming 1950 English village Saxby-on-Avon is the setting of Anthony Horowitz’s whodunit “Magpie Murders.” It’s a little bit of Sherlock Holmes, a nod to Agatha Christie, and perhaps a tad of “Midsummer Murders” (the analogy mentioned in the book.) This story within a story has a book editor, Susan Ryeland, trying to solve an…
Infinite Books 