Lis went "all Italian" on us for this month's book club. The colors of Italy's flag are red, white and green. Lis decorated the table in those colors. She turned a lamp into a sign post with Italian cities on it and added red, white and green streamers to the banister. She even had pasta in a wine glass as one of the decorative objects. The living room was awash in romantic candlelight. Who says friends can't be romantic?
We went all out on our Italian meal as well. For appetizers, Diana made a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad also in the colors of the Italian flag. Lis made a blue cheese and pineapple pepper jelly served with crackers. Janie brought cornbread salad and Robbie sent a cauliflower salad. Carla G made a green salad with 2 choices of Italian dressing. Lis made a meaty pasta dish. Janie also made Stromboli and Denise brought beautiful cupcakes. As usual, it was all delicious.
We missed Tammy, Arnora, Pam and Leslie.
We got the chance to hear about Denise's amazing trip to Ireland and Laura's new job at OU's Goddard Health Clinic. Next month, we'll get to hear about Arnora's trip to Paris and Pam's trip to Washington State.Our book this month was a murder mystery entitled, "Aunti Poldi and the Sicilian Lions." Those that read the book enjoyed this lighthearted mystery as told by Aunti Poldi's nephew. As we discussed the book, we realized that the nephew is telling the story from his point of view and never names himself. He is a writer who is having trouble with his most recent project and ends up focusing on the latest mystery that Aunti Poldi has recently solved.
Aunti Poldi is an interesting protagonist. She is 60, German by birth, widowed and, a former costume designer. Early on we learn that "murder seems to follow where she goes." One of the characters refers to her as Ms. Marple of the Agatha Christie series and I also thought of Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher. The difference being that Aunti Poldi has a rather provocative sex life. I rather enjoyed a character who is in my age bracket still exploring her passions.
Aunti Poldi has retired to a town in Sicily where she rather hopes to sit on her balcony watching the ocean and drinking herself to an early grave in response to her widowhood. But, life has other plans for her. Soon her handsome young handyman goes missing and is discovered murdered. Discovered washed up on the beach by Aunti Poldi, no less. Soon there is an investigation, a smoldering police inspector, a romantic entanglement, one false lead after another and, a rooftop showdown coinciding with a volcanic eruption. Through it all Aunti Poldi, remains perfectly poised even if her wig is slightly tousled.
I think several of us had a few issues with the writing. The author, Mario Giordano, did seem to tell more than he showed. And, he relied a bit too much on "list making" for his descriptions. But, all in all it was a fun read. The book rated a 3.5.Laura said that she finished in time to go back and start over. She was glad she did because she was able to see how he foreshadowed many of the events and the clues were always right in front of us. . Her handyman was, unknown to her, involved with a profitable black market organization that stole antique tiles and other architectural figurines i.e., the Lions, to resell for new construction.
When I was googling for some more background information, I stumbled on a photo of the author. He was not what I had expected. He is quite handsome. I expected someone older and more rumpled. I don't know why. Mario was born in Munch, Germany. His novel, "Black Box" was based on a true story of an occurrence (Stanford Prison Experiment) and adapted to Film as Das Experiment. He received the Bavarian Film Award for the best screenplay.Our next book is Ray Bradbury's, "Something Wicked This Way Comes." And, we will meet at Tammy's.
