Oh my…

It's been a while since I last wrote about the books I'm reading. This doesn't mean I haven't done any reading lately. I just didn't have the time to write it down.

So, I finished "Nemesis" by Lindsey Davis. This detective is set in the Roman empire under emperor Vespasianus. It's one of the stories around Marcus Didius Falco. He's an informer and is requested to do research into a brutal murder on the Via Appia. As a historian specialized in the age of the Roman republic, it is always fun to read an author's impression of an time long gone. And yes, the Roman republic ended in 31 B.C. and Vespasianus was emperor from 69 till 79, but still, some essentials stay the same. Thus, Falco looks into this brutal murder and discovers a gang of imperial freedman who are making trouble in a district near Rome. Protected by someone high in the imperial organization, this gang feels free to do what they want, and this includes multiple murders. Luckily, Falco isn't frightened easily. In the end it all comes together. Together with his friend Petronius he unravels the plot and had the gang arrested. All in all it's a fun read.
This was not the first Falco novel I ever read. A long time ago (1 or 2 years?) I read "A body in the bath house". This book isn't on my shelves anymore, so I apparently discarded it. I can't even remember, so it didn't make that much of an impression. That story was about a murderer (ah, again) who Falco traced all the way to Britain. Without any planes or cars that's a long way. Ah well, the stories are nice, but this one will also be searching for a new reader.

 

I've still got "Brisingr" lying on my bedside table. I can't actually remember the last time I read a few pages of this book. Not a good sign, not a good sign at all. Now I'm thinking about giving it up all together – temporarily – and just put the book back on the shelf. And maybe in the months to come one day I do have the energy and will to finish it.

Also lying on my bedside table is "A certain justice" by P.D. James, a handover from a friend. She finished it and was very happy to pass it on. This is actually an Adam Dalgliesh novel. One among my very first of lately. At first I wasn't too enthusiastic, so I left it lying there (on top of "Brisingr") for a long time. I picked it up again two days ago, and I have to say, it deserves a second chance. The style of writing is quite pleasant and the story is developing in an unexpected way. Who ever thought a respectable lawyer having an affair. Definitely a second chance. I never saw any of the tv-interpretations of Dalgliesh, makes me even curious. I'm currently on page 112 and still, the lawyer is still alive and Dalgliesh has yet to make his first appearance.

 

In my handbag I'm carrying "The book of air and shadows" by Michael Gruber. Never leave home without a book. This is about an undiscovered play by William Shakespeare. It already made people kill for it. It has three layers: it starts with an IP-lawyer, Jake Mishkin who is hiding in the woods for some unknown bad guy. He tells his tale, but is very elaborate. Then there are parts written in old English. Very difficult to read: it's a letter written by Richard Bracegirdle to his wife, after he was mortally wounded in some battle in 1602. The third part is about a man, Al Coresetti, working in a book antiquary, falling for the wrong woman. These lines eventually get together around page 260. Oh, and it also includes a murder and a very desirable, lost play by William Shakespeare. It storyline sounds really good, but so far I don't find it really interesting. It kind of keeps me in limbo: it good enough to read in the train and on the other hand… I will give it this week. If it doesn't improve, it goes back on the shelf. The special Oxfam shelf. There it can keep other books company.