Sunday Salon Feb. 3 Update

Sunday Salon Feb. 3, 2013 Update

I’m on a roll.  I’ve had another reading/writing week. Thanks to Marie at Boston Bibliophile, I joined The Europa Challenge ( http://europachallenge.blogspot.com ), and it’s already opening new worlds to me. Europa editions, for those who don’t know-- as I didn’t, are European novels translated and published by a New York based company.  They have been publishing both literary fiction and mysteries/crime novels. They are taking the second category and launching it as Europa Noir.  I love good Noir.

 So I started there.  I needed a break after the serious historical fiction  (Bring Up the Bodies) I just read and the classic (Bleak House) I just listened to.

I chose Gene Kerrigan’s “Little Criminals” – reviewed below.  Wonderful Irish writer. Reminds me a little of Elmore Leonard.  (We are serious Justified fans in my house—when it comes to television viewing).

That reading made me remember how much I like Ian Rankin’s work, and so I went to the library and checked out a couple of titles I haven’t read.

 While others were contemplating groundhogs, I spent Friday and Saturday with a hedgehog. Gearing up for the Europa challenge, I had checked out Muriel Barbery’s “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”  from my library. I’ve begun writing that review.
I often marvel at coincidences that have nothing to do with anything. Just as I finished Hedgehog on Groundhog day, I tripped over a news story about  the CDC warning people about hedgehogs spreading salmonella. Apparently people think the cute little things make good pets,  but the pets harbor deadly bacteria.

On audiobooks I decided to take on something shorter. I have begun listening to “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green, the young adult novel that is getting lots of raves. A month into my new Kindle, I find I have only chosen to use it for audiobooks, and I generally only listen to those in my car. We’ll see if this pattern holds.