Voice of the Violin | #A2ZChallenge23

Voice of the Violin is early in the Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri, and I’m wondering how I’ve managed to get to V without doing more than mention the series under M.

The plan for the month is to feature daily a book I’ve reviewed in the past (or review it that day), and also highlight others: not all are included each day.

• review/featured
• spacetime challenge (I host this reading challenge – you can join here)
• middle grade (childrens) choice
• series (love a good series – there’s a challenge for finishing those, too)
• ‘notable’ reads
• ‘outstanding’ books
• my books!

Featured Book: The Voice of the Violin (Montalbano #4)

It’s hard to believe that I reviewed this nearly ten years ago. My style was different then, and I did it in a comparison with two other sleuths. I appear to have stopped reading Montalbano books after about four more. Maybe it’s time to return to my favourite Sicilian detective.

TheVoice of the Violin is one of the best, certainly. Just rereading my review I could remember substantial detail. Maybe it’s helped by having seen it on tv first, but even so, ten years… The clues are in my review: the style of the female characters, the wisdom of the old woman dismissed by the inept carabinerie, called in to displace Montalbano’s department (Italian police structure is different, to say the least), and a hint of the ongoing problems between our detective and his lover… and an orphan rescued in a previous book.

I enjoy the Camilleri style, the scenery is gorgeous, the characters just daft enough to avoid being total caricatures of dim policeman, and the more I read, the more I enjoy them. 

from my review Dec 2013

And now the last Montalbano has been published, although Andrea Camilleri wrote it some time ago, and put it in a vault to be published after his death. My brother has read it. I really must catch up.

Spacetime Read

The Voyage of the White Cloud ticks one of my favourite things in space opera – long distance travelling. And I keep mixing this up with one of Becky Chambers (the Galaxy and the Ground Within). This one has a whole community travelling, for generations. And not surprisingly, a mythology develops about their journey and its purpose. Original objectives are lost in the reality of the here and now. It’s brilliant.

Series

I’m including the Viridian System series because I haven’t got another to offer! Three science fiction adventures, same characters, who develop over time, no cliffhanger endings. Aliens in all shapes, sizes and evolutionary lines. I hope it’s fascinating, exciting, and enjoyable. Plenty of space travel in books one and two, and a search for missing people and more ground-based suspense in the last one.

Notable Books

The Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. I was planning to read and review this last autumn, but I read the biography of James Lovelock instead (He Knew He Was Right) and didn’t have time to fit this in. I will probably do it this year, perhaps on Lovelock’s anniversary. I have every confidence it will be full of doom, but maybe with some silver linings. [goodreads link]

Venus in Copper (Falco #3) by Lindsey Davis.[goodreads link] By contrast I read this several decades ago! It’s the third in the series, so I would estimate reading it in the early 1990s. I recently did a catch up on Kindle editions, thanks to several emails offering me these at a discount. Maybe I will go and reread them. I know they’re worth it!

Voyage of the Lanternfish (Lanternfish #1) by C S Boyack. I’m on safe ground here, I reviewed it last year and finished the rest of the series during the winter. It’s fabulous. Do not miss it. Especially the ‘monsters.’

That’s all for today, so come back tomorrow for more. I’m hoping to meet more people who like the same kinds of book, so feel free to recommend something you’ve read beginning with the letter of the day!