All the Devils are Here - Louise Penny

 A great mystery- detective novel by Penny.  Set in Paris for a change.  Incredibly twisted plot that is full of surprises.  The focus is on the misdeeds and cover ups of large corporate powers, and also on the corrupts relationships between government, media and these large corporate powers.  

A Knife to the Heart - Barbara Nadel

 Another Inspector Ikmen novel.  Like John Rebus, he is aging.  His wife has passed away.  He is retired and feeling lost.  As usual the characterizations are good and it is nice to revisit some parts of Istanbul.

A Song for Dark Times - Ian Rankin

 Latest Rankin novel.  John Rebus has now been retired for a while and is aging noticeably - he actually moves out of his apartment because of difficulties with the stairs.  He is looking like an old man.  The focus this time is on the shady world of financing big development projects and also on the shocking land ownership situation in Scotland where a few people, more and more of them rich foreigners, own vast amounts of the country - I think the statistic is around 90%, but I could be a bit high there.  A leftover from the closing in of the commons and the expulsion of tenant farmers by noble land owners and clan chieftains in the late 18th and early 19th century.

A good read, but maybe not quite as good as many of the previous.  I wonder how much life is left in Rebus as a character...

Allah n'est pas obligé - Ahmadou Kourouma

 Un livre par un auteur du Côte d'Ivoire.  Il raconte l'histoire d'un jeune enfant qui se joigne aux armées privées en tant qu'enfant soldat.  C'est un récit des événements de sa vie, mais il y a très peu de batailles.  C'est surtout une présentation des croyances, du zeitgeist, des gens qui habitent dans la région, et de ce point de vue, c'est très intéressant.  Ils vivent dans un monde ou la raison compte pour rien.  Tout est expliqué par la magie, par les croyances traditionnelles, par une sorte de folie collective.  Et ce n'est point un portrait romantique ou nostalgique de cette mentalité - cela ne mène qu'au désastre.  

J'aimerais explorer un peu plus cette littérature africaine en français.

The Myth of Capitalism - Jonathan Tepper

 A book that take down the myth of the American capitalist system as a system of competition and constant renewal.  He outlines how the actual American economy has become both monopolistic and monopsonistic with a small number of companies controlling huge areas of the economy, setting prices, wages and even what suppliers will be paid.  Innovation and new company creation are steadily slowing.  Smaller firms are more and more swallowed up by a few big ones.  The end result is lower wages for everyone, the disappearance of family farms and businesses and higher prices for everyone too.  This is actually the driving force behind growing income inequality:  wages shrink, prices go up, large corporations and big share holders grab more and more of the wealth. 

Since slavery the basic American economic model has been highly exploitative.  Then came colonialism/imperialism on the world stage.  Now they are back consuming their own people to get rich.  

Nothing is done because money runs politics.  Congress works for the wealthy shareholders and corporations by granting monopolies, increasing regulation that makes it harder for small companies to get started and changing laws that benefit large companies and the wealthy.  He underlines the importance of how government advisors and top administrators move back and forth between the private and public sector.  

This problem is particularly important in the U.S.  Canada and Europe are far more stringent in applying anti-trust and anti-monopoly rules.  The U. S. has given up on this.  

This book explains why Google and other large tech companies have been having legal problems and being fined large sums of money in Europe whereas nothing is happening in the U.S.  

Worth rereading for the details,

Circe - Madeline Miller

 An excellent story based on Greek mythology.  Most of the characters come from Greek mythology or Homer.  She brings real human insight to both the ancient stories and the characters she works with.  It is a novel about vanity, about finding one's own identity, about mortality and death.  It also has things to say about some modern issues - our worship of fame, power and celebrity culture; the self-centred, self-indulgent life, our desire for everything to come easily.  

This is the first book where I actually feel Greek mythology has come alive.  She uses the characters from mythology but she bends them around the meaningful story and themes she wants to write about.  

Il Treno dei bambini - Viola Ardone

 Libro eccellente che racconta la storia vera di un gruppo di bambini da Napoli mandato a Bologna durante l'inverno dopo la guerra per togliergli della povertà e della fame.  E la storia di chi vive senza un senso chiaro d'identità tra due mondi.  Il personnaggio principale scopre un mondo diverso quando vive colla famiglia a Bologna e non può piu tornare alla vita stretta e dura della sua madre a Napoli.  Lei anche lo respinge nel senso che non può accettare quel nuovo mondo che il suo bambino ha scoperto.  In quel senso è anche un libro su come la gente  può tenersi prigioniero nel sua propria vita e idee.  

Una storia emotiva ma non eccessivamente - va bene con il tema dei bambini.