First of all, let me wish you all a Happy New Year! Thanks so much to all of you for being here, and I look forward to reading along with this community throughout 2026.
Perhaps you remember last month’s post — my sadly belated October Reading — which I began by worrying about how far behind I’d fallen in my book-blogging. I blamed my fall travels, wondered if I’d ever catch up, and how, and finally decided just to get on with it. Of course, at the time I posted that (December 12th), I’d normally have been posting the books I read in November, but then came Christmas prep and family visiting and illness — a cornucopia of excuses, in other words.
But today, finally, I’m posting my reading for November. It helps that I only read four books that month, two mysteries (in English), an Italian novel, and a French thriller.
As usual, the numbering in this post comes from my annual handwritten reading journal, and the italicized text below is directly transcribed from that journal’s pages (once upon a time, I simply included photographs of those pages, but too many of you found my handwriting tough to decipher, especially in the photographed format). Notes to myself, that is, so that I can remember a book and remember my response to it, rather than any attempt at a more polished, edited review.
I’ve used regular font for any additions to my journal notes and included references to any posts from my Instagram Reading account (although I haven’t posted much there at all lately, and am considering what to do about that; I’m not particularly enamoured with Instagram these days!) .
68. Bad Juliet. Giles Blunt. Historical fiction (TB sanatorium, early 20th cent; Psychological fiction; Mystery; Romance.
I read this after Sue (High Heels in the Wilderness) wrote about it, reminding me that I used to enjoy Blunt’s mysteries and haven’t read his work for many years. This one is quite different from his John Cardinal series; it’s a work of historical fiction set in the Adirondacks in northern New York state. A young academic unable to accommodate the demands of university culture has decided he’s going to try his hand at writing. To make a living, however, he has reluctantly accepted a position tutoring at a TB sanatorium in the Adirondacks where he becomes enthralled by a young woman, Sarah. Not only is she very ill, but she has a tragic story: she survived the sinking of the Lusitania only to find the man she met, fell in love with, and married on board the ship has perished, presumably drowned.
In his work with Sarah, the visiting tutor, Paul Gascoyne, encourages her to write a memoir, and what she shares of that memoir reveals an intriguing and bewildering confusion of truth and fiction. Meanwhile, they are both caught up in the charismatic chaos of a larger-than-life, brash, wealthy suitor for Sarah’s attention, even as the young woman’s health becomes increasingly precarious.
An interesting setting, removed from “the real world” in many ways, but with the reality of death ever-present, patients succumbing regularly. As well, the sanatorium patients are almost exclusively those who can afford its benefits — some through inheritance, others through legitimately earned wealth, others through crime. Very different from the TB patients we would meet in the tenements of New York City at the time . . . As well, there’s the backdrop of WWI, the history of the Lusitania (again, the spotlight on wealth and extravagance).
(For a very different perspective on the sanatoriums of the early 20th century, see if you can find a copy of the beautiful, moving, poignant 1992 film Map of the Human Heart.)
69. L’Accabadora, Michaela Murgia. Italian (Sardinian) Literature; Literary fiction: Award-winning; Coming-of-Age Story; Female Protagonist; Female writer; Mother-daughter; Adoption; Sardinian culture; Death.
Read for the Italian book club even though I was away for that meet-up. It’s a slim enough novel that I decided to read it anyway and I was pleased to have a chance to request a special title in the very well-stocked Feltrinelli’s in Milano Centrale train station.
Sardinian small-town folklore. . . a young girl, Maria, the fourth child of a poor widow, adopted by an older, childless woman, Bonaria. Maria thrives in her new home where she has her own space, is treated with love, kindness, and respect. But Bonaria serves a particular traditional role in her village as one who is sometimes called upon to administer the mercy of death — an accabadora. When Maria discovers this in her late teens through an event she finds shocking, she leaves the woman who has been her mother. She leaves her village, leaves Sardinia, friends, home, for Turin.
Quick impressions: The way she has to fit into that intimidating, impersonal city, into the home of the family that employs her as a sort of governess for two teens. . . her need for connection, the difficulties that leads her into. Above all, her growing awareness over several years of a debt that she must repay.
The return home and her struggle to understand — with the too-slow progress of Bonaria’s illness, the pain, the loss of mobility, the wasting away — the ethics that have governed Bonaria’s choices. Ethics that are woven into Sardinian culture. The choice that Maria herself must make.
This novel is available in an English translaation — Accabadora — by Silvester Mazzarella. Maybe you’ve read it already? Let me know in the comments below/
70. The Patient, Tim Sullivan. Mystery; Police procedural; George Cross series; autistic detective; Set in Bristol, England.
Another in the George Cross series, and besides a well-plotted mystery (involving the supposed suicide of an addict who had maintained her sobriety for years and whose mother refuses to accept the coroner’s ruling), I enjoyed this for the character development. Not only that of autistic police detective George Cross, but also of his colleagues, friends, and father. I highly recommend this series, which I’ve written about before,here and here.
71. La Daronne. Hannelore Cayre. Crime fiction; Thriller; Social Commentary; Dark humour; Paris, France; Paris noir; drug trade; strong female protagonist. Available in English (trans. Stephanie Smee) as Mama Weed.
Read as we moved from Italy to France (began on the train from Milan to Nice) and then during our week in France. Always a good trick to revive my vocabulary and get my brain working in another language.
A “daronne” is French slang for Mom, apparently something like the English slang, “the old lady.” Can also have connotations such as “boss lady,” “matriarch.” The movie version of this book is called Mama Weed in English, while the English translation of the book (by translator Stephanie Smee) is called The Godmother.
The “daronne,” in this novel, Patience Portefeux (played by Isabelle Huppert in the film), is a widowed mother of two grown daughters; she works as a French/Arabic translator for Paris Police. The job pays poorly, not enough for Patience to continue keeping her senile mother in a care home, and she’s worriedly considering her limited options when something unexpected changes her direction.
In the course of her work, she discovers that a friend’s son is going to be caught delivering a huge shipment of hash from North Africa. She tells her friend, who’s able to warn the young man in time for him to ditch the illegal delivery. And then, while he’s in jail, La Daronne decides to find the discarded drugs herself, racing against both police and the criminals to whom it belongs, confident that she will be able to set up her own distribution network.
Hilarious, sharp, tense, tender by various degrees at diverse points throughout, the novel highlights the money France spends on fighting petty crime rather than addressing root causes. Cayre’s protagonist makes wry observations about the social conditions that make the drug trade seem a viable employment option given the dearth of other opportunities for racialized immigrants and their French-born, French-educated sons and daughters.
Huge fun, sharp writing, compelling world-building (i.e. setting 😉
And that gets me to the end of my November reading. My December list should be coming soon — with some lighter (but still substantive enough) books I think you’ll enjoy. But first, it’s time for your comments, if you care to chime in here. What have you been reading at the turn of the year? Any good books in your Christmas stockings or under the tree? Whatever bookish chat you care to serve up, I’m here for it!
xo,
f
I’m not sure I liked Bad Juliet in the end. I wrote my post about it when I was only part way through. Still I like Blunt’s writing and the setting, both place and time, was really interesting. I seem to be doing a lot of picking up books I think I’ll like and putting them down again when I find that I don’t. It’s disappointing after my splurge when we were travelling last fall when I read a bunch of new books for which I had been waiting. I find increasingly that I will not finish a book which does not engage me. Makes me downright cranky. And I have only enough will power to keep to my fitness goals and attempt to shop less. After that reading is purely for indulgence.
Happy New Year, Frances.
Author
I wondered what you thought by the time you’d finished. I was lukewarm-ish about it, but like you, I like Blunt’s writing and much was interesting about it. Didn’t really find the main characters convincing or interesting (lesser ones more so, somehow).
I’m getting to be the same way with books I don’t need to finish — especially if they’re books I’ve requested from the library on someone else’s say-so. I read enough to give them a fair shot, with curiosity about why they were recommended, and then there’s a point where I just look at that book and then at my TBR stack and priorities clarify themselves 😉 HNY to you too, Sue!
I just added Bad Juliet and The Patient to my Libby shelf that is sagging under the virtual weight. Fortunately, like Sue, I have developed the habit of returning books that fail to engage me after a respectable trial reading. We have access to so many books that it is pointless to spend time reading a book that frustrates you.
Author
Exactly so! And only so much reading time left!
I agree with Sue and Joanne, life too short to waste on a book that doesn’t engage. I will try to get the Tim Sullivan book through Libby, though I have a large stack of books by my bed, as yet unread. As well as several waiting in my Libby queue. Wishing you a healthy and happy New Year. Look forward to your book recommendations, though I’m not sure how I will ever read all the books I want to read!
Author
Ah, these large stacks of books! It’s a problem, but such a happy one 😉
Happy New Year, Frances! How impressive that you’ve read books in 3 languages! Numbers 69, 70 and 71 all appeal to me. I love your phrase “world building”. I find that I can easily engage with books and films that succeed at building worlds I’m drawn to, even if I’m less drawn to the subject matter or character development. This is particularly helpful when I’m watching something my husband has chosen and that I’m less drawn to – it gives me a way in and helps sustain me if my interest is flagging.
The Book of Records is excellent. Thank you for the recommendation. As you say, it is a book of amazing ideas, a feat of imagination and very well crafted. It’s so thought provoking and long that I’m reading it slowly but I am relishing the ideas and worlds it explores.
I’m also reading Ina Garten’s memoir Be Ready When the Luck Strikes. What a fascinating woman! Obviously very intelligent, Ina is mercurial, determined and warm-hearted. She’s also funny and a great story teller, with a lightness of tone that seems to easily strike a good balance between openness and sharing too much. Like Julie Goodwin, Ina came to cooking and food writing after a challenging childhood. Both women entered the culinary sphere without formal training or extensive experience in commercial kitchens. Their similarities and differences are fascinating.
Author
Thank you! And Would it be immodest of me to say that I’m also impressed I can now read books in three languages?! It’s not at all that I’m boasting, but for a word-fiend, lover of language, of literature, it’s such a trip to be immersed in another system of communication, each syllable full of cultural history, connotations, etc. So much to savour!
So pleased that you’re enjoying The Book of Recrods. I read it too quickly back in October and must go back and read it again. So rich!
And those two memoirs sound like books I’d enjoy — I’ve read a few other memoirs over the years by women in the culinary-foodie world and I’ve generally found them compelling. It’s such a demanding kind of work, and especially for a women to build a successful career.
I had a brief moment of intense admiration thinking whew! it’s only the 2nd!! Then realized this was the November reading lol! My admiration has returned to regular levels (high, but not intense).
I had to check back to my last comment. I had just finished reading When We Were Orphans. Now we are safely in 2026 I will say I think that was my book of the year. When I got home, my long-awaited library copy of The Unconsoled was waiting (so you can see I was in a mood for Ishiguro and that made my discovery of WWWO even more exciting). The Unconsoled was also very interesting and a challenging read and I think there was a common theme between the two but WWWO really caught me. The most unreliable of narrators.
I’m two days into the War and Peace slow read. So far so good, but last night I forgot what I was doing and read partway into the next chapter. I pulled out the bookmark that indicates ‘stop’ and my eyes just merrily carried on and the next thing I knew I had turned the page. Sigh.
I haven’t read L’Accabadora but it sounds familiar so I must have read about it or seen it on a list. (The difference between life in Sardinia and Torino must be vast.)
Feltrinelli…do you remember if there was a branch in Fiumicino before they renovated? I was sure there was, but I couldn’t find one there earlier this year. I really wanted to do some book shopping and was very disappointed!
Finding it hard to concentrate on writing this after recent events. Anyway, here is what I have read recently.
Portrait of an Unknown Woman, Maria Gainza, translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead. Argentina. fiction. Thought this would be so interesting, the pursuit of an art forger, asking the question of what is art but after a strong beginning the novel turned so dark and complex. managed to finish it but disappointed.
Remarkably Bright Creatures. fiction. an older woman develops a relationship with an octopus as part of her job as a cleaner. a best seller a few years ago which I missed. the animal helps her solve a mystery concerning her son’s death. A feel good book but but also says a lot about animal intelligence and our relationships to other species.
Aftertaste, Daria Lavelle, fiction A young chef realizes he can conjure up ghosts of by tasing a meal which had meaning to the person. Magical realism. not always a fan of fantasy but this was a fun read.
The Black Wolf, Louise Penny, Canadian author. Mystery. Actually the sequel to last year’s The Grey Wolf. I am a fan of the Armand Gamache series but this seemed overly complex at times or maybe it is just my ancient brain
A Slowly Dying Cause. Elizabeth George . Mystery, Inspector Linley series. Another favorite author but again not her best for me. Interesting character development but the ending disappointing. Still. I always like this series.
Culpability, Bruce Holsinger, fiction. A family in a car that is self driving get into an accident where they survive but a older couple is killed. Issues of accountability and also complex question about family relationships, parenting, the environment, AI. At the same time an entertaining read.
The only One Left. Riley Sager. thriller. fiction. A woman who may have killed her mother is caretaker toa woman who is also accused of killing her family. Rather strains credibility but it was in my bookcase and I had not been to the library.
Currently reading an old Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, which I picked up in the used book store right before the holiday. Anyway, Happy New Year!
Author
Yes, those “recent events” make a mockery of any attempt to think about anything else. Still, in order to find and continue to muster hope, and also perhaps to build communities of resistance…
I thank you for pushing through and posting anyway. I felt the same way as you about A Slowly Dying Cause, and/but, like you, I like the series overall.
Have you read The Correspondent? I’ll write a bit about it next post, but meanwhile, if you’re searching for something substantive but ultimately uplifting, this might be for you. Take care, xo
Frances,I didn’t get mail alert for this post ,I’ve just checked to see where we were (the month). Interesting books but I’m not in a mood for serious reading (except I’ve read The Patient). There were a lot of books that I’ve started and didn’t continue at the moment
There was a lot of talking of Fyodor Dostoyevski’s White Night’s on social media lately. I’ve read Dostoyevski in my teens,we’ve had to read Crime and Punishment for our Croatian class some 50 years ago and I was really intrigued what was there for a new,digital generation. I will not review Dostoyevski here,duh,but it was interesting to re-read it and to see how loneliness and relations are something that is universal,not limited by time or generations
I love Louise Penny,Inspector Gamache and Three Pines,so I was looking forward to The Black Wolf. It was dark and threatening and felt so real at the moment. Recommended for those who love L. Penny
Michelle Obama’s Look was such an interesting and entertaining story about clothes and their role and stories in life and politic. Lovely photos
S. J. Bennett’s The Queen Who Came in From the Cold-lovely mysteries with the late queen as the most clever detective of all, with a lot of love for the royals (as opposite,I was listening to Andrew Lownie’s Entitled-The Rise and Fall of the House of York,horrible stories)
Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter,shortlisted for the Booker Prize,fine woven story about two couples,both women newly pregnant,and people connected to them,set in UK,during the Big Freeze of 1963. So many secrets,wounds,including those connected to WW II and Holocaust……between The Old and The New Era
Dottoressa
Author
K, I’m not sure what happened with your email – they went out as normal, and seem to have been received by many subscribers. Have you checked your spam just in case? Thanks for making your way here anyway, and I’ll cross my fingers you get the next one!
Interesting about the Dostoyevski — I’ve also seen a number of references across Social Media to group readalongs of Tolstoi’s War and Peace. Several young (from our perspective, at least 😉 “influencers” have been stirring up interest and I think there’s a general sense of wanting to move away from scrolling toward something more substantive.
Oooh, I really want to read another of the Queen mysteries. I’ve loved the one’s I read. And I should see how long the waitlist is for MO’s Look. The Gamache book, yes, but I have so many of those to read first (I think I’ve only read three so far!