All the Ms: Malvaldi to Manchester

Malvaldi, Marco: Despite starting with an unnamed “he” in the prologue and a “you” in the first chapter, The Measure of a Man is fairly fascinating. It’s about the Italian Renaissance–Leonardo Da Vinci, in particular. The text reads more like commentary than fiction. At one point, the narrator states, “If opinion polls had existed then…” But hey, it’s the Italian Renaissance, so anything goes (Star Trek had an episode about the Italian Renaissance!). 

Mamet, David: Chicago is about a newspaper reporter and, ah, Chicago in the 1920s. Which means, I wouldn’t have started it if not for this project (there’s a man with a gun on the cover). The opening is actually quite interesting–a group of friends talking in a duck blind–and emphasizes that cities have always been more cosmopolitan than labels suggest. The dialog is snappy and feels quite real. I still lost interest. 

Manansala, Mia P. I am always gratified to discover a new mystery author! Homicide and Halo-Halo is a Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery. I honestly had no idea it was a mystery–I realize the title should have been a give-away though a lot of the titles in this list are often ironic–but I quickly figured out the genre when the Filipino narrator referred to “ah, yes, that mess we cleared up last year” in the opening chapter. That opening moves quickly. The narrator has a definite personality and culture. And a police detective shows up by the end of the first chapter! 

Manchester, William: Shadow of the Monsoon felt rather like E.M. Forester meets Sinclair Lewis with M.M.Kaye thrown in for fun.