Donna Leon
I have always been a huge Donna Leon fan. I would read her latest Guido Brunetti mystery as soon as I could get the newest ARC from her publisher in America, Grove/Atlantic. Later in my interview you will read about how she created this master detective. All the personality quirks she instilled in him are just the reasons I love him and her books so much.
I was once privileged to take Donna on a picnic when she visited Atlanta. I took her to Piedmont Park where I presented a lovely vegetarian spread from my picnic basket (I knew she was a fellow veggie like me). We had a lovely time and I will never forget that day.
I usually show photos of all the books the authors I interview have written under the cover of their latest one; in this case, she has written so many it would have filled the entire post! Click https://groveatlantic.com/author/donna-leon/ to view her many titles.
Her newest is not a new Brunetti story but a memoir of 30 of her memories. Each memory takes the reader back to a world that is quickly explained and of course, beautifully described. You will learn all about the farm where she was born, her wonderful mother (whose sense of fun she inherited) and her intriguing aunts. Their dog named Sooner and how he was dressed up every Halloween. How we can thank "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear" for helping make Donna the genius she is.
You'll also learn more about when she taught English in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi chapter is priceless! The chapter about what taking the train back and forth between Venice and Switzerland and huge giant crabs have to do with each other is hilarious.
And finally you'll learn about bees and George Frideric Handel, two of Donna's passions.
Don't miss Wandering through Life, as it's just like having Donna Leon in your living room, chatting with you about her life.
Donna Leon was named as one of the London Times Fifty Greatest Crime Writers and
one of Time Magazine’s 6 Detective Series to Savor.
I live in a small mountain village in southeast Switzerland, 7 km. from the Italian border. The local population consists primarily of farmers, and things are quiet.
Where were you living when you were 7 years old? Are they fond memories?
I grew up in New Jersey, about a half hour from New York City, so my sense of humor is that of NY. We were a happy family, and I was a happy kid.
Is there a book that changed the way you look at life? As an example, The Women’s Room by Marilyn French changed me forever and it's why I became a feminist.
Yes, Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States.
Do you have a favorite children’s book and what about it makes it so?
I love The Wind in the Willows, which instilled in me a lifelong fondness for badgers.
Is there a song, person, or group that you listen to when you are feeling a bit down?
Fortunately, I seldom feel down, but the group I most often listen to is Il Pomo d ’Oro, a baroque orchestra with which I work.
I am more cynical about most things, though that in no way prevents my being cheerful most of the time.
I love your chapter on teaching in Saudi Arabia. Do you still have the $audiopoly game you and your friend created?
Yes, I do have the $audiopoly board. Somewhere. I also have the box with all the hand-made paraphernalia. Even after these years, it still makes me laugh to think of the time, energy, and creativity we put into making the board and playing the game.
Tell me why you love Handel so much?
I think it’s impossible to explain why we prefer anything: why white wine instead of red, why the Iliad and not the Aeneid? Who knows? It’s the same with Handel: his music is, to my ears and spirit, the most cheerful and grand-eloquent .
Tell us about how you feel happiness can be passed down through the generations.
I believe that happiness can run through a family line, as can blue eyes. I have no information that suggests it does; perhaps I’m just lucky to have had the example of cheerful people around me when I was a kid.
Here's a question that you've undoubtedly been asked a
million times but here goes anyway, how did Guido Brunetti first come into
existence? What was your inspiration? And what makes me and all your other
readers keep coming back to him and his life time and time again?
I was at an opera rehearsal, 35 years ago (good grief!) with the conductor and his wife, and we started talking about another conductor. Soon there was an escalation, and then we had his body on the floor of the dressing room at our feet, and I thought what a great idea that would be for the opening of a crime book.
Then I had to construct the police officer who would be in charge, and I started to create a man with whom I would want to spend the time it took to write a book (who knew?) He’d have to be a university graduate, probably in law, and he’d probably be married and have two kids. And I’d want him to have a sense of humor, good taste, and appreciate the pleasures of life. He’s Italian, after all. He’d be a serious reader, probably non-fiction, he’d have a sense of justice (as opposed to “law”) and would be intelligent.
So there we are.
Anything no-one knows about you?
It is my dream to have a dog, has been for decades. BUT I travel too much, and it’s impossible. Thus I make a fool of myself every time I pass a hiker with a dog, anyone with a dog. I’ve also been known to page through the Encyclopedia of the Dog in my spare time.
How do you feel about “Independent Bookstores” and their role in your success?
I like the idea of a smaller bookstore, where the owner - who is usually a passionate reader - knows the taste of a client and is happy to make suggestions about what the reader might like.
Donna, IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME
to any period from before recorded history to yesterday,
be safe from harm, be rich, poor, or in-between, if appropriate to your choice,
actually, experience what it was like to live in that time, anywhere at all,
meet anyone, if you desire, speak with them, listen to them, be with them.
When would you go?
I’d like to live in Brook Street in London,
near to the house where Handel lived during most of his career.
I’d go to whichever of the opera houses was presenting his new operas. I would love to meet all the people who sang for him. I’m a Baroque Opera Crazy, and he’s the best of them.
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