Book review: Skin Deep

Posted on May 22, 2023 by WordsAndPeace

📚 Skin Deep
by Antonia Lassa
Translated by Jacky Collins
Llevar en la piel
was first published in Spanish in 2023
Mystery
4/30/2023
by Corylus Books
136 pages
Epub received from the publisher for review
– book tour

Basque author Luisa Etxenike, aka Antonia Lassa, has published more than ten novels, short story collections, plays and a poetry collection, and won literary awards.
She has also contributed for many years to weekly columns on culture and politics in El País and El Mundo.
She is fluent in Spanish, French, and English and has herself translated several books from the French.

However, this is the first time one of her books has been translated into English, thanks to translator Jacky Collins and the indie press Corylus.
Skin Deep is an engrossing novel, with a large part given to the senses, not surprising if you keep in mind that Antonia Lassa is also a professional enologist.

Click to continue reading

Book review and Friday Face Off: 120, rue de la gare

Posted on February 10, 2023 by WordsAndPeace

The Friday Face-Off was originally created by Books by Proxy:
each Friday, bloggers showcase book covers on a weekly theme.
Visit Lynn’s Books (@LynnsBooks) for a list of upcoming themes.
Please visit also Tammy at Books, Bones & Buffy (@tammy_sparks)
thanks to whom I discovered this meme.

This year, there’s no weekly theme, you just choose a book you have recently read.

On Monday, I finished reading a French classic mystery, that has a nice collection of covers.
And as I had not posted my review yet, you have a bonus with the review here below.

📚

Click on the picture below if you want to identify the various editions
You can also right click and ‘open image in new tab’ to zoom in

Some covers here totally baffle me. Like, why this all red cover for the Spanish edition?My favorite cover is the Swedish edition: the black and white is perfect for the story, plus the incognito look, and at the top we can see a train, which is also very important in the plot.
And now to my review:

120, rue de la gare
(Nestor Burma #1),
by Léo Malet
1946
215 pages
French mystery/noir
Goodreads

Read with one of my French students
It counts for The Classics Club

I can’t believe I had never read anything by Léo Malet!
This is so good that instead of reading 120, rue de la gare in four weeks with one of my French students, we decided to read it in two, because we just couldn’t wait that long to know the end!

Click to continue reading

Friday Face Off: Black covers

Posted on October 28, 2022 by WordsAndPeace

This week, the theme is
“Black covers“

Last time I participated in this meme was a month ago! These past weeks have been super busy, and I thought I wasn’t going to have time this week either. But something got cancelled in my end of week schedule, so I used this extra time to prepare this post. It’s good to be back!

I thought right away about this book I read a few months ago and enjoyed a lot:
Confessions, by Kanae Minato
“This is a very smart story about bullying and revenge, with many twists. ”
Please come this way to read my full review.

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Click on the picture below if you want to identify the various editions
You can also right click and ‘open image in new tab’ to zoom in

My favorite cover is the Vietnamese edition.
I like the black, with the blur — intentionally low digital resolution — to feature both the students’ tables and the teacher’s. And that is very important for the story.

Have you read this book?
WHICH COVER IS YOUR FAVORITE? WHY?
My next participation will be on Friday, November 4:
“Red skies at night – Covers that are red”