As you are reading, do you imagine a movie or TV series produced based on the book? I do and am thrilled when I see that a producer thought likewise. Slow Horses is now a series on Apple+. There are 15 books involving these characters, so copious of content for the screenwriters. There is no word yet about The Pretenders, but it could easily do six or eight installments given the complex story.
Are we racially temperate enough to take Oreo to the screen – or more likely the stage? It would be hilarious but could be offensive to Jews and Blacks. Surprise, surprise the Duffer Brothers are developing Babs Dionne for the screen. In addition to Babs, there will be great character roles in that production.
The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie (Putnam, 2025)
An interesting slice of history brought up to date in an opioid epidemic crime thriller. Though set in Watertown, Maine, the likely setting is Lewiston, which had a section called Little Canada. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, French Canadian migrants to Maine faced discrimination and formed close French-speaking communities.
They came to Maine for mill jobs. Canadian farmland was expensive, and jobs were scarce. But the mills did not provide sufficient income to support the large Catholic families. Children were frequently placed in orphanages to reduce the burden on their parents.
Babs Dionne and her family grew up in this environment. She is a tough, loving mother and manager who controls an opioid distribution network primarily composed of fellow mothers. Havoc rains down when Babs’ ladies skim a bit too much of the take and the supplier sends “The Man” to take out Babs.
I liked the book, but it’s gritty and downbeat.
Slow Horses by Mick Herron (Soho Press 2010)
A delightful British spy novel set in London. Slough House is the work home for spies ostracized from MI5 for mistakes such as leaving a computer floppy disk of informants on a city bus. Their grumpy, portly, disheveled boss has long been in disfavor with Home Office. But is it also possible that he engages in a long-term plot with some senior MI5 officers?
Our protagonist is a young spy whose granddad was an iconic MI5 officer and taught his grandson the ropes. The characters are well developed, the writing is concise, and the plot is engaging. Enjoy.
Sea Wife by Amity Gaige (Knopf, 2020)
I loved this book and practically read it right through. However, going back to write these comments, I could not remember the story. So, it is ephemeral, but delicious.
Full disclosure: I spent three months in 1968 on a 50-foot sailboat in the Western Caribbean and sailed in exactly the places that main characters Juliet and Michael sail. My job was dogsbody helping a husband, wife, and 11-year-old boy conduct research among the Cuna Indians of Panama and charting the remote shores of southern Panama. I felt geographically at home in this book.
The first chapter establishes that the plot centers on a tragedy. Gaige alternates between Juliet’s memories and lamentations and Michael’s ship log – an interesting and fast-moving style. Why, oh why would a couple, in their mid-30s, with children seven and two, agree to sail as a family when the husband is still a boy and the wife is plagued by depression? Enjoy this page-turner and find out.
Oreo by Fran Ross (Northwestern University Press, originally published by Grayfalcon House, 1974)
The 1970s saw outstanding Black U.S. writers like Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley. And there is Fran Ross, who published one book, Oreo, and died in 1985 before publishing her second.
Oreo stands apart from the often angst-driven works of other Black authors. This is a satire about growing up half-Jewish, half-Black. It is wise-cracking, laden with Black and Jewish patois. It is sad as our protagonist goes on a search (based on the classical odyssey of Theseus with a feminist twist) for her Jewish father in New York.
The version I read included an introduction by Harryette Mullen. Read this after you read the book if you must. The introduction almost ruined the book for me. Mullen’s pedantic analysis is the antithesis of Ross’s lively plot and dialogue. Also, Ross’s own notes, she calls them a Speedreading Guide, do not really enlighten the book unless you are curious about the ties to the Theseus legend. Recommended for adventurous readers.
Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag, translated from Kannada by Srinath Perur, (Penguin Press 2013)
A short, moving story about the effect of new money on an Indian family in Bangalore. The title means “pieces of tangled thread” – and this family is in knots. Oh, you just want to grab the protagonist by the shoulders and make him take positive action. Shanbhag is an engineer, and his writing has the clarity of the profession.
This book is a slam-dunk if you enjoy peeking behind the curtains of Indian home life.
The Pretender by Jo Harkin (Knopf, 2025)
I wanted to love this big (500 pages) historical fiction about Tudor/York England in the early 15th century. I did not. The story begins with a royal child sent to live safely with a farmer’s family outside London. He attends Oxford for his education during adolescence.
Each move requires a name change to protect his identity. As a teenager, he moves to Ireland, an environment where he prepares for his future role as a knight seeking his royal position. From there, the book cascades downward as it introduces too many characters and too much plot contrivance. (This could be a factor of my age. I find many books character laden.)
There is constant reference to male and female genitalia and coitus. It is not usually a problem but boring for me. Harkin frequently employs words from Old English. Contextually, these are easy to understand. But I could not escape the feeling that she selected 50+ words and used “find and replace” to replace the contemporary words in the manuscript with Old English.
There are four pages of genealogy in the front of the book. Normally this is enlightening. Here, only a few characters appear at the bottom of the genealogy, unhighlighted – resulting in wasted space.
Many readers enjoy this book. I did finish it, but only because I refused to give up. I will enjoy hearing your comments and respect those who loved it.
Perspective(s): a Novel by Laurent Binet, translated from French by Sam Taylor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025)
What a fun concept! Letters exchanged among Renaissance royalty, scholars, and artists concerning a murdered artist in Florence. Perspective(s) is a historical epistolary detective novel.
Key strengths include: engaging portrayals of the Renaissance period, thoughtful explorations of art, a well-developed historical context, a compelling plot, and effective use of letters as a narrative device. Most characters are authentic. Only a few minor ones are fictional.
Reasons not to like it so much: stilted writing style because these are 16th century letters, too many characters, a bit too long.
Three years ago, Goodman Theatre in Chicago produced The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, adapted and directed by Mary Zimmerman. Mostly the play visually displayed how artists worked with perspective to help two dimensional paintings contain the third dimension. These include the use of focal point and sizes of figures based on geometric proportions from the focal point.
The play was not a bellringer, but it illustrated in 3D the techniques Renaissance painters discovered and used. In the book Perspective(s), Binet lets his artists discuss this subject and how it influences their work. Hence the title has a dual meaning.
I read this right after The Pretender and enjoyed the light-hearted relief.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What books are on your reading list for August? Where did you hear about them? Have they been turned into movies or plays?
