Since finishing War and Peace (thank the sweet Lord) I've had fun reading other stuff. First stop was back to one of my favorite characters: Arkady Renko. Damn that Martin Cruz Smith sure has pegged the Russian soul (русский дух). If I didn't know the author's name or background, I would have believed the book was translated from the Russian.
This time I read Red Square. Renko is back in the (semi-)good graces of the prosecutor's office after his time afloat. As usual his investigating nose is getting him into trouble with 'the man.' Another great story, and set at a time that I lived through in one of the settings of this novel: 1991 in Berlin.
My father came to visit me and my wife in Berlin in summer 1991. We took him to Brandenburg Gate where I was stunned to see, over the former killing fields between East and West Berlin, a crane from which for a mere 100 deutsche marks one could bungee jump. It was surreal.
That exact scene that my father, my wife and I all experienced took place in this novel. One paragraph for what to me has been decades of memory. It simply blew me away.
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| (c) Martin Cruz Smith |
Then came the coup against Gorbachev. Both in real life and in this novel. So close to home. What a great read.
After Renko I read the hilarious and quite quick Twain novella The Diaries of Adam and Eve. Holy crap it was so funny. This can't be the first ever 'he said, she said' in literature, is it? Maybe not, but it might possibly be the best. I had such a good time with it. Despite the terribly sad ending.
I'm still reading The Monks of War by Seward and just started Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John. When I finish those two I will have officially completed my 2020 reading challenge (70 books) on Goodreads. But I'll probably get a few more books in before 00:01, 1 Jan.
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