By Its Cover by Donna Leon

"...There's nothing to understand. People steal them for money....That's the only reason that animates thieves. Forget the articles about the men who suffer a mad passion for maps and books and manuscripts: that's all romantic nonsense. Freud in the library...People steal books and maps and manuscripts, and they cut out single pages or whole chapters because they can sell them."
                -Contessa Morosini-Albani to Commissario Brunetti

This was the first novel I've read by this author. The book was chosen for the Page Turners by one of the members who is a fan of Leon. I must admit the story grew on me but I can't give it higher than 3.

The setting was one of my favorite things about the novel---the city of Venice. I was intrigued by police taking boats to the scenes of crimes and it was a fun challenge to figure out some Italian phrases from the context. Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate some significant thefts from a renowned Venetian library. In the process a murder is discovered and it is probably related to the thefts. The suspect list is not extensive but includes a mysterious library researcher who is supposedly American. I found the ending abrupt and disappointing but I'll not be a spoiler.

One interesting thing about this author, who apparently has written a series of mysteries featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, is her mention in another book I read very recently. In The Little Paris Bookshop set in France, a character is listing books, among them "who-dunnits by Donna Leon." It seems she is well-known in Europe.

Well, I won't rule out another of the series but it will likely be a while. So many books in my queue!

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When the Page Turners met on our usual day, several regulars were missing but the discussion was great! The group average rating was 3.3 with most members liking but not loving the novel. I don't believe any of us had read this author before (well, maybe the one who selected it). Apparently Leon is quite prolific and well-known in Europe. Perhaps we will try another of her "who dunnits" one of these days.

Most in the group enjoyed the setting and we found Commissario Brunetti plenty resourceful and a bit more simpatico than most detectives. It was interesting hearing everyone's take on the value of antique books and/or pages of the same. And discussion about the possible theme of "You can't judge a book by its cover" was thought-provoking. Several of us admitted the plot thickened when the murder took place. The most common complaint about the book was the abruptness of the ending. You are warned!

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

"Like my own patients, I had to face my mortality and try to understand what made my life worth living---and I needed Emma's help to do so. Torn between being a doctor and being a patient, delving into medical science and turning back to literature for answers, I struggled, while facing my own death, to rebuild my old life---or perhaps find a new one."
                      -Paul Kalanithi

I believe this book was recommended to me by a friend some time ago and I had seen it on the Best Seller list for many weeks so I requested it from the library. When it arrived I put it off in favor of others in my book queue. When I saw that it was on hold and could not be renewed, I began reading and finished in a day and a half. I was hooked by the Foreword by Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone, one of our book club selections years ago. His impressions of Paul Kalanithi, the author of When Breath Becomes Air, were so beautiful I just had to keep reading.

This memoir by a gifted neurosurgeon/neuroscientist was the most powerful book I have read in ages! Just over 200 pages contain the story of an amazing and brilliant doctor with a terminal cancer diagnosis and his poignant advice for living and dying. It reminded me so much of The Last Lecture, a memoir written by Carnegie Mellon University professor and computer guru Randy Pausch who also died of cancer. Both are beautifully written, very inspiring and could appropriately be represented by Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young."

I found this book to be a page-turner even with its medical jargon way above my head. My rating is definitely a 5! Although it was very sad that Kalanithi's life was cut short (he was only in his mid-30's) he left an amazing legacy through the patients he helped and the writing of this book to share his journey as physician and patient as he confronted what was most important in life.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

"Books are more than doctors, of course. Some novels are loving, lifelong companions; some give you a clip around the ear; others are friends who wrap you in warm towels when you've got those autumn blues. And some...well, some are pink candy floss that tingles in your brain for three seconds and leaves a blissful void. Like a short, torrid love affair."
                        -Jean Perdu, from the novel

The word Paris in the title drew me to this novel since my husband and I will be traveling there in October. Right in the front of the book there is a map showing Paris and some other places we'll be visiting along the Rhone River, among them Lyons and Avignon. If that wasn't enough to hook me, the title bookshop is on a barge in the Seine River. Add to all that the fact that I am a fan of bookshops and this novel became a must-read for me!

The story involves Jean Perdu, the owner of the floating book store, known as la pharmacie litteraire (literary pharmacy) because Perdu prescribes books for his customers according to their emotional needs. The reader realizes early on that Perdu is grieving  a lost love---one who is not even named for several chapters---merely represented by a blank, for example "He fought off the blurry picture of himself sitting at this table, not alone but with _____."  This mystery woman sent him a letter some 20 years prior after she had left him to return to her husband. He has never opened it out of fear or bitterness, I am not sure which. When he finally does open the letter, he is in for a shock and a mountain of guilt. By the time we get to the first excerpt of "Manon's Travel Diary" we learn the identity of Perdu's lost love and some of their back story.

I had trouble settling on a quote to begin my post because there were many rather poetic and/or profound expressions, especially having to do with books. I liked The Little Paris Bookshop at the beginning but later I found it a bit tedious. I neither loved nor hated it but I am rating it a 3 because I am glad I read it. Here's why: the ending held a bit of a surprise. Also the mention of the "Saint Benezet Bridge, which had been  immortalized in song." I remember "Sur le Pont D'Avignon" from high school French class and we will see this bridge at Avignon in person soon. Also in one of Perdu's letters, he suggests how to organize books by genre and mentions "whodunits by Donna Leon." My Page Turners book club is reading By Its Cover by Donna Leon this very month.

The book jacket calls this a "warm and charming tale of love, loss and the power of reading." Most readers will find it so.