Symbolism

So I didn't actually read them, but I did the next best thing--listened to them!  I can't read books while I work, so I use audio books.  I don't get the whole story most of the time and do have to keep going back on the CD's because I miss a lot, often.  [I do have to think sometimes while I work and thinking with listening doesn't always work]. 

What am I talking about?  The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons (still listening to this one).  I find it a little odd that the first book (DVC) is actually the second and is full of symbolism, while the second book (A&D) is really the first, but not so full of symbolism.  Of course we get to hear about the Papal household and the Conclave, which is awesome! 

I find the symbolism tangents to very interesting and enlightening.  However, I also enjoy a good mystery and it's really hard to stick with the mystery when we keep going off on tangents.  Also, if someone doesn't know a whole lot about symbolism or the church for that matter, it's a little hard to keep up.   For those who really enjoy all the secrecy and the scandals revolving around the church, these are the books for you!  If you really enjoy hearing about the landmarks and cultures in ancient cities, again books are for you.

More Mysteries

I have to start with a new warning.  I have added a warning that there might be adult content on this blog because even though I add a great deal about students and young readers, many of my posts also include adult reading.  Some adults do not like their children reading about this stuff.  I don't use "bad words" or "offensive language".  I keep it as real as possible and draw from the language of the authors I write about.  Take what I say in context and no one should be offended.

That said--thanks, Mom for another great author!  Louise Penny writes mysteries, set in Canada.  According to Sarah Weinman (have to look up her credentials), Penny writes in the same style as Agatha Christie.  AC is one of my very favorite authors, so it's not unusual I've gotten to really like the Chief Inspector Gamache series.

Amazingly enough, a great many murders seem to take place in a very small and sleepy township in the middle of nowhere, Canada.  The town of Three Pines isn't even on maps!  You instantly form a relationship with many of the characters of the town--the Morrows, Olivier & Gabri, Ruth, Kay, and Myrna.  Of course, those from Montreal's Surete are just as memorable--Gamache, Beauvior, Lacoste, Nichol, Lemieux.  You never know what is going to happen either.  There are secrets not only in the town's past, but also in the past of Gamache.  CI Gamache is constantly in conflict with the higher powers of the Surete because of a decision he made in a previous case.  Penny refers to bits and pieces, but doesn't fully reveal what happened.  Even in the second book, A Fatal Grace, we only hear the end result of the case and why potentially Gamache could be on the chopping block.  In the meantime, we read about the current mysteries.

Penny has a way of leading you to different potential suspects with iron clad motives.  Only in the end, true to a Poirot-like reveal, Penny pulls away the wool to reveal the real clues and the real suspects.  In true modern fashion, she also creates a great deal of suspense and the possible, and sometimes actual, loss of innocents.  A good reader can follow the clues and help to solve the mysteries.  Just like Poirot, Gamache likes to exercise "the little grey cells".