Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Leon, Donna (A Question of Belief)

It's been quite some time since I read a Donna Leon mystery, but I've realized I can't read them more than once every 9 months. Here's why:

1. She invariably paints Venice in a horrible light, be it bureaucracy or trash or smelly canals or the deplorable influx of tourists or whatnot. Well, I have loved Venice all 3 times I've been there, I'm obviously a tourist, and I don't really want to hear how awful it is while I'm reading something essentially fluffy.

2. I like that all the 'good guys' like each other, but I've known that for 10 novels, so stop telling me it.

3. She's starting to enjoy the sound of her own voice too much, so we now have to read puns, overly dramatic scenes, and ridiculously complicated conversations in which every nuance has to be described down to the nth degree.

4. There's just too much heavy English literature sprinkled throughout. Everyone reads James or Pinter or Brontë, and no one reads something... like this, for goodness sake.

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