Bel Canto by Anne Patchett

"Music conveys moods and images.

Even in opera, where plots deal with the
structure of destiny, it's music, not words,
that provides power."
Marcel Marceau


Sometimes when you choose a book for a book discussion, you never know how it will go over. I have chosen books and thought I would have a nice size group, and hardly anyone showed up; I have chosen books that I think won't fly~~and it's a hit!


When I chose Bel Canto, I was curious: how was a book about hostages, terrorists, South America and opera go over. The night of the book discussion was a nasty, rainy, chilly night...if I hadn't had to go out I would have stayed home curled up with a good book. Imagine my surprise when fifteen hardy readers showed up!


Great questions; would terrorists really hold hostages for over four months? If you don't speak the same language, can you fall in love with each other? How come the government didn't do something sooner? Would hostages and terrorists form bonds with each other like is described in the book? Would someone really refuse to leave when offered the chance? Does music really sooth the savage beast (terrorists)?


In Bel Canto, we have people from all over the world attending a birthday party for a high powered Japanese CEO. The only way they were able to get him to attend was they had his favorite opera singer, Roxanne Coss, performing. When the terrorists appear and  make it known that they are there to kidnap the president of the country...they are shocked to find out that he decided to stay home and watch his favorite soap opera instead of coming to the party....which gave us all a chuckle. The terrorists, having over two hundred hostages, decided to let the women, children and sick hostages go, but not before one of the hostages had died. That left forty-nine male hostages, and one female, Roxanne Coss.


We felt that because of the death of the one hostage, the others formed a silent bond among themselves  not to attempt to escape. They didn't want any of the others death on their conscience. The bonds formed between some of the hostages and the terrorists seemed to come about because of the age of the terrorists. Except for the three generals, the dozen or so terrorists were all young. They could have been someones son, daughter, grandchild..not these gun slinging "babies."

When Roxanne Coss found one of her fellow hostages played the piano, she began to practice everyday. We talked about the description of when she sang, time seemed to stand still, even the birds stopped singing to listen to her. Even the terrorists sat and listened captured in the rapture of her singing.

We talked about who was the core character? Roxanne, as the only woman? Was it Gen, the translator who could speak almost all the languages of the hostages? Was it Mr. Hosokawa, whose birthday party it was when all this happened? One group member thought it was Roxanne Coss, which led to  quite a lively discussion. Not everyone agreed, one of my group said quite pointedly, "Well, Ma'am, I disagree with you!"  He felt it was Gen because he could communicate with everyone...some of the group nodded in agreement. Then some of the group pointed out that when Roxanne sang, everything stopped. Everyone walked into the room when she sang, hostages and terrorists alike, outside, the police stopped yelling through the bullhorns and, as Patchett describes, the birds stopped singing, even the wind seemed to stop. While Gen could communicate with everyone, Roxanne communicated to everyone through opera.  (That's why I picked the quote at the top...it fits perfectly with this book.)

We all agreed that the book stayed on a level tone until the last three pages. The ending was not what some of us expected. Some felt we would have liked more of an ending, more closure.

I love when a book surprises me, and when it brings so much out in people. A good book,  a great group and a good discussion~~one of our best as a matter of fact.

***Bel Canto is loosely based on a event that happened in the late sixties in Lima, Peru where terrorists took over a house and kept hostages for over four months. (There was no opera singer.)

Happy Reading!

Mystery/Thriller Summer Book Discussions

At least half mystery novels violate the law
that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.
Raymond Chandler

The thriller is the most popular literary genre
of the 20th century.
Ken Follett


This summer we did some book discussions. I have been asked over the years to do summer book discussions, and this year I finally said okay, let's give it a go. We met every other Tuesday at 4pm, a group ranging from two to fifteen folks got together to discuss two of my favorite genres....mysteries and/or thrillers.  I thought it would be fun to read an author's first book, or the first book in a series of books. (And of course, some books that I had already read.)

We kicked it off the end of June with Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon. This is the first book of a fabulous series set in Venice. Inspector Guido Brunetti, the vice-commissario of police, has to solve the case of who killed the Maestro? Seems there are several suspects. In the end, it will come down to what is the right thing to do? We loved the setting of Venice,  the interaction between Brunetti with his family and his fellow police people. Leon gives you feeling you are there with the characters, and there in Venice. Leon's description of Venice made us all want to go. (We also loved the food described in the book.)  We could sense that Brunetti was going to be an even more interesting character as the series progresses. The best part of this discussion for me? That the folks there said they enjoyed this series so much they were going to continue on with it.

Next up was The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva. (I know, your surprised I have a Silva book included) This was Mr. Silva's first book and the one that got me hooked on his books. Set in England during WWII, the book is fiction, but it is based on real events. How does British Intelligence (MI5) confuse Nazi Germany about their D-Day plans when it seems they know about them? They also thought they had captured all the German Abwehr agents in England, but there seems to be some sleeper agents ready to be activated in England. One of those agents is determined to get the information to Germany no matter the body count.
We talked about Churchill and how he used people to achieve the safety of England: his friendship with history professor Alfred Vicary to convince him to work for MI5,  match his wits with the Nazis and hopefully keep MI5 one step ahead of them: U.S. Navel Officer Peter Jordan, because of his poor judge of character, ends up being blackmailed and used to spy. We enjoyed the twists and turns in the book. It was a page turner...many said they finished it in two days because they had to know how it ended. Big question for the group? Just WHO was the Unlikely Spy? We all had different answers and every time a different character was mentioned by someone, we would all think about it and realize.....
One of our members, who rarely reads this genre, liked it and had her other book club read this book too~~she told me they raved about it.
For those who were new to Mr. Silva, he now has several new fans.

Dennis LeHane has one of my favorite duos in a mystery series, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Set in Dorchester, Mass, we get to meet these two private detectives in A Drink Before the War~~the kickoff to this terrific series. Great discussion on how an investigation into a missing cleaning woman led to involvement with prostitution, blackmail, gang-warfare, corruption and murder. We chatted about Kenzie and Gennaro, their cast of friends, how some of the things the two uncovered affected some of us and LeHane's writing style. For me, Le Hane reminds me of the noir style of writing:  hard-boiled, cynical, snarky characters surrounded by smokey shades of grey. (Think Raymond Chandler) One great comment by one of our group was "This doesn't happen in real life!"  This led to another great discussion on what is real life and what isn't.
If you watched the move, Gone, Baby, Gone, you have met Kenzie and Gennaro. This movie was based on book four of the series.

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. As you can guess, this one was the hit of the summer book discussions. Over fifteen people showed up. The discussion was about how popular the trilogy has become. Set in Sweden, we meet Mikael Blomkvist. He has just finished being the defendent in a high profile trail...where he was found guilty. When he is offered the job of finding Harriert Vanger, who disappeared forty years ago, well, he has nothing else to do...We agreed that while the names took some getting used to, the style of Larsson writing was intelligent and some said it was the best book they had read in the last five years. The character who was the groups favorite was without a doubt was Lisbeth Salander, who Blomkvist hires to help him on the case. Salander is brilliant, a computer genius,  antisocial and has a lot of emotional baggage. We loved her. Mikael Blomkvist was a good secondary--not that that was Larsson's intent. Blomkvist, never realizing what Salander felt for him, made some of us want to shake him and say "wake up!" The book has many twists and underlining plots, family secrets and discovering what did happen to Harriet Vanger~~all made for a great discussion. I had warned some readers that they needed to get past the first 100 pages before the book took off. I assured them that the payoff would make it all worth while.  I promised we would do book two in the late fall and book three in the late winter...if I can get the copies.

Scott Turow is probably one of my favorite legal thriller writers. Years ago, I read Presumed Innocent and enjoyed it...full of political corruption, betrayal, courtroom drama and of course, murder, what was there not to like? I thought since Turow had come out with a sequel to it, Innocent, (twenty years later) if would be fun to reread it and then catch up with the characters in the sequel. The group were surprised with how they got hooked right away. We talked about the insight he gave into the justice system and how using the present tenth made us feel we were right there watching what was going on. One group member said they felt like yelling "look out!" during one section of the book. The best part? We all agreed that we were shocked and surprised by the ending. (Well, not me because I had read it before.)  Seemed nobody expected the ending to be what it was at all while reading the book, and when they found out  who the murderer was, they were shocked. 
I will say that the movie based on the book, starring Harrison Ford, is terrific too.

We finished up the summer book discussion with Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. This was another great series many in the group became hooked on. Who robbed a bank, shot the cashierand just disappeared into thin air? Outside of trying to remember the characters and keeping the names straight, it was a great read. Norwegian Detective Harry Hole takes us on a whirlwind of a  ride from Norway to Brazil, as he tries to find the killer....and prove himself innocent in the mysterious death of someone he knew. There were multi-layered plots that did end up connecting toward the end. The big part of the discussion was the comparison between this book and the Larsson book. Several felt this book was better then Larssons and look forward to continuing to solve murders with Harry Hole.
Unfortunately this was book three in the series. The first two books were being translated into English and there weren't sufficient copies for me to get for the group. Nobody thought they had missed anything from not having read the first two.
**When Nesbo isn't busy writing books, he plays in the Norweigian rock band, Di Derre.

One question about the two European authors, Larsson and Nesbo, was the concern that anything was lost in translating the books from Swedish and Norwegian to English? From everything I read about both of them, the answer seems to be no. The translators seem to have done a superb job of translating both books.

We had some great discussions with these books. In fact, we had such a great time, many in the group requested we continue the mystery/thriller book discussions...and we will.
If you are looking for a new series, check some of these out. Want to read a popular author's first book, here you go with some good ones. Any one of them I would highly recommend. 

Up next will be The Poet by Michael Connelly on October 19th at 4pm.This was Connelly's first book and it was one that you couldn't put down....

Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva

Nobody does it quite the way you do,
Why'd you have to be so good?
Carly Simon

When I want a good spy thriller, I can always count on Daniel Silva to deliver. For those of you who read my blog, come to the book discussions, stop by my desk to chat about books~~looking for a thriller? Do I have an author for you, the best...Daniel Silva.

Gabriel Allon and his lovely wife, Chiara, are retired from being Israeli spies, and living on the coast in Cornwall, England. Peace and retirement go out the window when old friend and art dealer Julian Isherwood shows up and needs Allon's help. Someone has stolen his Rembrandt, worth $45 million dollars, and killed the art restorer Isherwood had hired. While initially Allon resists Isherwoods pleas to help him find it, he figures how bad could it be....find a painting. Allon wouldn't being working for the Mossard, shouldn't take long to find the painting and return it. When Allon's lovely wife, Chiara, tells him he needs to do this, after all, Allon is an art lover and he has to be curious to see the Rembrandt. How long can it take? How hard would it be?

What should have been relatively easy ends up taking Allon to Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and Lake Geneva. It becomes a mad dash to stay ahead of the person(s) who also want the Rembrandt, and will do anything to make sure Allon never sees it. When Allon realizes he needs help, that there might be more to this Rembrandt then meets the eye~~he calls in his friends from Mossard. He also gets help from his  friends in the CIA and MI5. Looking for a lost Rembrandt has uncovered secrets that were long hidden, and now opened up unhealed wounds. As Allon discovers, this Rembrandt has a long and bloody history, and those who are in possession of it usually have bad luck.


I always like the way Silva immerses humanity into his thrillers. While Allon can kill someone without blinking an eye, we are reminded that he is not a just a cold bloodied killer. He feels deeply for those that work for him, and with him. He carries with him  ghosts of some of those he has killed, and when something happens to someone he cares about, he never forgets. Allon will also set out to right wrongs he comes across, no matter how old they may be.


I love the story Silva takes us on. We go behind the scenes of the art world that we wouldn't know about; we're reminded about world politics, which here is to keep a close eye on Iran and those that profess to disagree with what Iran is doing; the Holocaust, while several years ago, still carries scars; and remember, not everyone is really what they appear to be.

I have followed Gabriel Allon since Silva introduced him in The Kill Artist. The growth Allon has gone through, both personally and professionally, are not something I see many authors do. Kudos to Mr. Silva.


I know that when I read one of Silva's books I am in for a treat.  I am never disappointed.  Better yet, those patrons I have recommended him to (and continue to recommend him too) are never disappointed. Thank you Mr. Silva for writing books I am happy to give to people and have them come back and tell me, "What a great book! Thanks!"


Have I mentioned I am big Daniel Silva fan?

The Lion by Nelson DeMille

"We're all pilgrims on the same journey-
but some pilgrims have better road maps."
Nelson DeMille


We first met John Corey in Plum Island, where he was a  New York City policeman recovering from multiple gun shot wounds out on the East End of Long Island. (My stomping grounds.) Seems Corey is a character that readers want to visit more often.


The Lion is the fifth in the DeMille's Corey series. Corey is part of  the FBI's Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF), and his wife, Kate Mayfield, is an FBI agent. While you really don't have to read this series in order, I strongly suggest you read The Lion's Game before you read this one. It will set everything up and help with understanding what happens in The Lion.


As promised at the end of The Lion's Game, Libyan terrorist Asad Khalil, aka the Lion, comes back to deal with unfinished business. While killing Corey and Mayfield. is tops on his list, he has other business that he needs to take care of first, like finish killing those on his jihad agenda that Corey and Mayfield prevented him from completing before. Khalil is well known for his inventive ways of killing people and always seems to be one step ahead of them. Then he makes a big mistake. Unfortunately for Khalil, he  goes after Mayfield first, thinking that killing her in front of Corey will make it easier for Khalil to go after Corey. It's just not nice to mess with Corey's wife~~~


The Lion starts with a bang, levels off, then picks back up again as the action becomes fast and furious as we come to the end of the book. Some of what happens here might give you a chill down your spine if you live in NYC, it will make you wonder if this is fiction based on fact.

Can Corey bring Khalil into the net set for him? Who's financing Khalil? What is it Khalil has been hired to do and will he succeed? Yes, DeMille has another thriller that will keep you turning the pages.

I like DeMille's characters in this series. Sadly, some that have gotten killed off, as per the required story line, I find I miss them when their names pop up. While I usally enjoy Corey's sarcasm, it can make me smile and it does help ease some of the tension building in the book, sometimes it's also over the top in places, which I find annoying. Snarky has it's place, but in my opinion, don't overdo it.


I always enjoy a visit with John Corey, so I enjoyed this one too. I do feel better knowing that there are people like Corey protecting our country.

I think my favorite book in the Corey series is Night Fall. This one is about that horrible night on July 17, 1996 when flight TWA 800 crashed(?) off Long Island. I can still remember seeing that fireball over the ocean. In Night Fall, DeMille shares the opinion of many, was it or wasn't it a terrorist attack? I thought this book wrapped up to soon.

 Some of my other favorite books by DeMille:


Word of Honor--Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam. What happens when a secret comes back to haunt him and possibly destroy the life he has made for himself since the war?

Charm School-What really happened to all those U.S. pilots that disappeared during the Korean and Vietnam War. Had me on the edge of my seat...

Cathedral-An IRA mastermind takes over St. Patrick's Cathedral, which makes the NYPD not to happy.

Talbot Odyssey-Russian mole has been inside the CIA for forty years (yes--40 years) Now it's time for him/her to complete her assignment!


These are some of his oldies, but they still are a great read and I highly recommend any of them.


I must confess, I did not care for the Gold Coast nor the sequel, Gate House. They were just not my cup of tea.  Not a likable main character for me.

Hopefully you find one of these to like!

Happy Reading!