Veneno de cristal (Through a Glass, Darkly) Book

Donna Leon has essentially given up on writing mysteries and/or police procedural books in favor of writing whatever's on her mind that day. This book is not a mystery - Brunetti wanders around for the first half of the book wasting police time even more egregiously than usual, until someone he's talking to is conveniently murdered - and it ends in the least satisfying way possible. As I've said before on far too many occasions, I luckily do not read the Brunetti books for their mysteries, but rather for passages like this:

Brunetti found himself back in the court of the Emperor Heliogabalus, one of his favorite monsters. Ah, the excess of it, the violence, the utter corruption of everything and everyone. The lasagne had layers of ham and thin slices of artichoke hearts interleaved with layers of pasta that he suspected might have been home made. He would have preferred more artichokes. He shared his table with decapitated senators, evil counsellors, barbarians bent on the destruction of the empire. He took a sip of wine and ate another bite of lasagne.
I know that this is not compelling reading for 99% of the people on this planet, but I EAT THIS UP. For whatever reason, these books tickle me and act as the perfect palate cleanser between two books I actually want to read. This book took me six days to finish, which would be alarming with any other mystery and/or novel but for Leon is par for the course. I can now safely move on from Navajo wars to YA steampunk.

Favorite features of this installment include:

- The time devoted to lunch at Nanni's on Murano, where the waiter is careful to recite the menu slowly only if you're with locals
- The very enjoyable two pages in which Brunetti eats lunch with Gibbon (see above)
- The long and detailed description of drinking done by Italian workmen, from un'ombra at 11 to the grappa before bedtime
- The number of times Brunetti reflects on Veneziano vs. Italian, which to many older Venetians is a foreign language they don't care to speak
- Signorina Elettra practicing English with Patta ("does this bus go to Hammersmith?")
- The long, detailed descriptions of the glassblowers on Murano going about their business

See you in a couple weeks, Leon!