On the reading pile this week

Just finished reading (for book club)

Deniro's Game by Rawi Hage

Although my alter ego would be over-the-moon enthusiastic about this award-winning novel by a Montreal-based author, I remain ambivalent about whether or not I liked the writing. Sometimes uneven. Sometimes unnecessarily ornate. The plot, however, was definitely riveting. I would say more but book club rules being what they are...

Best quote (kind of)

The first morning, I took the metro and walked to the Eiffel Tower. Tourists like little ants strolled under the monster's metal feet. They looked up at it, protecting their eyes with small plastic cameras, posing underneath it like smiling statues, pressing their index fingers on tiny buttons to suck the light from their smiling faces...

Currently reading (thanks to Bram L. for the borrow!)

The Seance by John Harwood

I have only read the first part, narrated by Constance Langton, but I was immediately drawn in because:

(1) it is set in 1880s London (the time frame of my own dear project)

(2) it reminded me of Berkeley Square, a short-lived series from the BBC that I loved from the first frame

I barely lifted my head from the book to eat dinner. It has the page-turning suspense of Wilkie Collins, and is written with a crisp, well-paced prose that is effortless to read.

Best quote:

Mr Montague came to see me on a freezing January morning. I was standing by the window when Dora showed him into the drawing room, and he paused as the door closed behind him, seemingly struck by something in my appearance. He was tall and spare, and slightly stooped, with grey hair receding markedly at the temples. His face was lined as if by suffering or illness; his skin had a greyish tinge, and there were dark shadows like bruises beneath his eyes.

About to read

Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes by Stieg Larsson

Because everybody on the metro seems to be reading this book. Because my colleagues can't stop talking about it. And because Larrson's story is so compelling and tragic.