More 'best books'

The New York Times best books of the year lists now include 25 books chosen by Marilyn Stasio, the newspaper's crime fiction reviewer, and it's an eclectic mix. 

I haven't read any of the books and have heard of only a few. I'm glad to be reminded of Walter Mosley's The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey with its 91-year old protagonist. I'm really intrigued by her descriptions of two books: Colin Cotterill's Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, which features the national coroner of Laos, and Simon Lelic's A Thousand Cuts, in which, Stasio says, "a teacher goes berserk, shoots three students and kills himself — for reasons that will floor you."  I've already heard good things about Stuart Neville's Collusion set in Belfast during the Troubles. There are several other historical mysteries and what Stasio calls "weepers," including John Harvey's Far Cry. And Stasio includes the latest from my new favorite author.

Did you have any favorite books this year?

Correction

Not being familiar with Icelandic names, I didn't realize Erlendur is the first name of the detective in the series by Arnaldur Indriđason. His full name is Erlendur Sveinsson, but apparently everyone refers to one another by first name in the books. The opening line of Voices, for instance, is "Elìnborg was waiting for them at the hotel." Her full name is never mentioned and Elìnborg is her first name. I don't think Erlendur's full name is ever mentioned either. Maybe it is in the first of the series, Jar City, which I may sit down and read today as snow has knocked out our satellite.

The former reporter in me just wanted to clear that up.

Casting Erlendur

Finished Arnaldur Indriđason’s Voices. The book is really three mysteries, all revolving around children. The main story is about a doorman murdered at a popular Reykjavik hotel during Christmastime. Doubling as Santa for the hotel’s holiday parties, the doorman is found dead dressed in his red suit and in an, uh, awkward pose. The setting provides many suspects, including several hotel workers and a British guest. Little is known about the victim, although he’s worked at the hotel for 20 years, making the task of narrowing down the suspects difficult for the lead detective, Inspector Erlendur, and his crew. The case starts to open up when the police discover something about the doorman’s childhood. (It’s revealed early on, but I don’t want to spoil it for potential readers.)

 

A second mystery involves an ongoing case of suspected child abuse being conducted by another detective, Elìnborg. By the end of the book, the main mystery is solved and the second one is figured out if not entirely resolved, while the third is unsolvable. It involves Erlendur’s childhood and is not a mystery in a whodunit sense, but what happened will never be fully known.

 

That mystery haunts Erlendur, who lives in a sort of limbo. He literally moves into the hotel during the investigation, as much to be on top of the investigation as to escape his personal life. He’s followed there by another child, his grown daughter, with whom he has a tentative and tense relationship after ignoring her and her brother for many years. His inattentiveness to his children is another sort of mystery, at least to Erlendur and especially to his daughter.

 

All the storylines are about the complex relationship between children and their parents, the responsibility parents feel, or don’t feel, for their children and the often overwhelming responsibility children feel for their parents.

 

It’s a wonderful book.

 

Voices is the third Erlendur book. I bought the first in the Erlendur series, Jar City. It was made into a movie by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur. It’s available on DVD. I’m curious to see the actor playing Erlendur. I tried to imagine who I’d cast as Erlendur as I read Voices. He’s an odd character, compassionate but judgmental, an anti-authoritarian authoritarian. And he’s funny in a deadpan sort of way. He doesn’t like meaningless chit chat, but he never seems to censor himself.  I was thinking possibly Jeff Bridges, although I think there is another actor who would perfectly capture Erlendur and the name just hasn’t crossed my mind.

 

If you’ve read Indriđason, any suggestions for who could play Erlendur?

My love affair with cold-country mysteries continues

I’ve been slow to read Arnaldur Indriđason’s Voices and don’t want to write about it until I’m done, but I am very pleased to have discovered it. It’s my first but his third in a series of mysteries set in Reykjavik featuring Inspector Erlendur. I picked it up at a recent library book sale. My library – or Friends of the Library to be accurate – has half a dozen book sales a year. They divide the books into categories – history, politics, cookbooks, etc., and then they divide hardcover fiction by gender of writer. I’d never seen it done that way before and found it odd and mildly upsetting at first, as if women were only interested in reading other women and men just want to skip to the manly table. But if you’re looking for something specific it’s somewhat helpful. I wish they would separate mysteries out, and I really wish they did that on the library’s shelves. My library has a system of colored dots on the books’ spines, representing mystery, romance, etc., which is almost useless. I’ve been to other libraries that shelves mysteries separately. If you’re going to bother to label them why not just give them their own shelves? 

 

In the meantime, while I strive to finish Voices in the next couple days, maybe someone could solve the mystery of why Bristol Palin is still on Dancing with the Stars.