Review: Murder at the Black Cat Cafe

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have to admit I didn't find either of these stories to be particularly interesting, innovative, surprising or involving. Even giving leeway for the time period, etc. It's too bad.


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Review: The Man Who Loved Dogs

The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a tour de force that is basically about three different people, all while covering one story (about the man who assassinated Trotsky) and, as far as I can tell, is very historically accurate.

What is curious is how, despite being a Cuban novel, it seems so Russian in feel and format. I can't help wondering if that was on purpose for this novel or if Russian literature influenced Cuban literature to some extent.

Regardless, I admit it got confusing at times. And by the end it seemed to drag on somewhat (especially in leading up to the assassination).



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Review: Alla rivoluzione sulla due cavalli

Alla rivoluzione sulla due cavalli by Marco Ferrari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a journey for me. I had no idea what to expect. At all. For some reason I thought it was a murder mystery, and it seemed like the slowest murder mystery to ever get started. After an embarrassing number of pages I realized I was probably wrong, and the book got better. Turns out they made a movie about it as well. The premise is a road trip from France to Portugal of two old friends right after the fall of Salazar.

Anyway, I'm taking advantage of the new partial star rating system. 3.5 stars.



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Review: le forbici

le forbici by Giorgio Cimasoni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting autobiographical essays about growing up in Ticino (mostly around Bellinzona-Claro and a bit around Lugano lake) in the 1930s-1940s.

Most are interesting reminisces, and then suddenly the chapter Don Angelo discusses a pedophile priest molesting children over night. Since these stories are autobiographical, I assume the people involved are all deceased, but I'm surprirsed this didn't create more of a scandal when it was released.

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Review: Pista nera

Pista nera by Antonio Manzini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting protagonist. Not bad as a mystery and talking about Aosta.


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Review: The Habsburgs: To Rule the World

The Habsburgs: To Rule the World by Martyn Rady
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent overview (at least for me) of this family, which functioned as a state, or empire, but unlike Germany, France, etc. did not survive World War I. In many ways it was like the Ottoman empire, although one could argue that became Turkey. A fascinating read.





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Review: Akbar: The Great Mughal

Akbar: The Great Mughal by Ira Mukhoty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess I knew next to nothing about Akbar before reading this book, so for me it was perfect. I see many other reviewers complaining how it skipped this or that, or how it is repetitive. Regardless, I found it rather fascinating and, though I'm not sure how much will stick with me, I enjoyed it throughout.


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Review: La corte dei misteri

La corte dei misteri by Mariacristina Pettorini Betti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I confess I don't understand what the whole sidequest into the 80 year old dead bodies was for. I enjoyed the description and history of Lucca in general, but the murder mystery itself ended up being quite simplistic and repetitive (they literally repeated it all again for the conferenza stampa at the end, which lasted 3 pages).

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Review: Blow-Up and Other Stories

Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aside from Axolotl, I can't say any of these stories really spoke to me. I feel like I just wasn't in the right mindset, finding myself wanting the stories to finish and finding the intricate prose a bit tedious. I may have to give it another go, but only after a break.



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Review: The Black Swan Mystery

The Black Swan Mystery by Tetsuya Ayukawa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have no idea why it would be called the Black Swan Mystery, since the Black Swan is seldom mentioned and doesn't seem to occupy any sort of pivotal spot or anything.

Plus the train schedules and stations just confused me. It probably would've been a lot more interesting if I were more familiar with the trains and stations, or at least with how they were back in 1959.

The ending was somewhat satisfying, with a smart villain.


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Review: Audition

Audition by Katie Kitamura
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I can't really say this book worked for me. I felt lost when the change occurred, but realized quite quickly what the author was doing. And it wrapped up quite predictably and anti-climactically given everything.

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Review: Storie dimenticate. Per una geografia segreta del Ticino

Storie dimenticate. Per una geografia segreta del Ticino by Carlo Silini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a gem of a book. Having grown up in Ticino, I was still completely ignorant about almost every story in this book, and many of them are quite interesting.

From the village being slowly uncovered in Tremona, to the large quarries in Mendrisiotto, to the story of the Ciani brothers, to the witch trials in Val di Blenio, to the "sculpture town" of Ligornetto, to discovering Faido was all posh during the Belle Epoque, to reading about the various plans Italy had to invade Switzerland, and Switzerland had to invade Italy(!), to learning about that weird castle in Torricella, to learning about gay art in the 1930s, to reading more about the Sanitorium in Agra, to the origin of the Jewish cemetery I would always drive by on the highway there in Lugano Sud.

I do wish they had something about the Castle of Trevano. I'm still wondering what that was about and why they demolished it.

But regardless, 5 stars.



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Review: L'assassino è all'ultima pagina

L'assassino è all'ultima pagina by Elena Molini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A murder mystery for book lovers. If I had the time I'd love to read through it again in detail knowing what the goal of the "Frankenbook" was. I'm also amazed at how much time must have gone into creating this.

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Review: New Tricks

New Tricks by David Rosenfelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Still fun and still funny. David Rosenfelt does not disappoint.



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Review: Bullet Train

Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Non-stop action, intricate (but in a great way) and satisfying ending.




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Review: My Annihilation

My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was interesting but very confusing and unreliable. It might have been a bit too much for me. There was hypnosis, brainwashing and some sort of inception going on.


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Review: L'intelligenza artificiale per il futuro dell'Italia: Competenze, casi d'uso e valore nell'Europa che innova

L'intelligenza artificiale per il futuro dell'Italia: Competenze, casi d'uso e valore nell'Europa che innova by Giuseppe Di Franco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Part of me wishes there were sources for all the data in this book, since I found myself wondering where many of the numbers came from. As far as I can tell, they all check out, but still.

This book is sort of a catch-all about technology and its potential in Italy in the near future. Obviously AI seems to permeate every crack and crevice, if not in fact then in terms of possibilities.

Of course, detailing all the possibilities without once mentioning how to mitigate the issues that we are seeing every day (Hallucinations, toxicity, IP issues, confidentiality, Agents going rogue, etc. etc.) seems a bit naive.

It is interesting to read about the possibilities, as well as what is being worked on. Also, despite coming out this year, it feels a bit out of date at points (it mentions Leonardo, but I thought there were better computers out now in Italy).

Anyway, I’m still waiting for a more practical, actionable book about AI possibilities in Italy. I guess we’ll see…


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Review: Danubio

Danubio by Claudio Magris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'll admit I didn't read this in one go, but I came back to it from time to time, which I found the most pleasurable way to go about it. It was like stepping back on this meandering journey that follows the Danube but also meanders through history and literature.

Well, ideally I could read this while actually traveling to the places he mentions as well, so I can see and witness them first-hand, but I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.

Still, the erudition was, at times, a bit much for me, and there seemed to be a huge concentration on World War II (although they were good, and I also enjoyed the parts about Sissi).

All in all it's a great read, but also an endeavor. And maybe that's the point.




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Review: Troppi assassini per una cena

Troppi assassini per una cena by Giulia Gambazzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok, I always have the issue, with murder mysteries, of keeping the characters straight. I was proud of myself for keeping them straight in this novel (and the author did a good job of portraying them), but then the murder mystery "personas" started taking over, and criss-crossing back and forth, and it became way too much. I bookmarked the page with each person's character, but it was still a lot. I'm guessing that was part of the point.

Otherwise it was good, with twists and turns I didn't really expect, although some of them seemed a bit stretched (and we still use "cenci" here in Tuscany!)

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Review: Viaggio in Italia

Viaggio in Italia by Gianrico Carofiglio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun, light read. A trip around the main cities of Italy, this reads more like personal observations and thoughts from each city rather than an in-depth study, but it is also an excellent overview of these cities at a glance.

I am a fan of Carofiglio's detective novels, and it turns out I'm a fan of his other work as well.




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