These stories rarely move at a brisk pace. This one meanders as Brunetti attempts to find connections between the past and present. The ending was very satisfactory (especially for an animal lover) even if it was fairly obvious.

The beauty for me in these books is in the little things, the details of everyday life and small interactions between the city’s people. An atmosphere is created of a place unchanged on the surface but ever changing underneath. Brunetti harbours a certain resentment in respect of the incremental changes ongoing in this place, but isn’t that true of all of us as we reach a certain age? And as the story settles into the investigation of a recognisable crime, he gathers those police officers close to him (characters well known to regular readers) and, between coffees, they ruminate on possible motives and root around to discover information that might lead them to a suspect. As always, it’s beautifully done and once more I experienced a pang of regret when I reached the story’s end and had to say farewell to these people and this place until (hopefully) the next book in the series is published.Donna Leon has a wonderful feel for the hidden evils that lie below the façade of the magical city, and Brunetti, sturdy family man and cynic, is an endearing guide into the machinations of Italian society.” —Marcel Berlins, The Times (London) on Blood from a Stone The structure of the story seemed loose to me--more like vignettes mashed together to form a short memoir. It's not a bad book, but if I choose to read a memoir, I want more depth and less surface. Leon now finds herself living primarily in Switzerland but still spends time in Italy. WANDERING THROUGH LIFE is an eye-opening read that truly fills in the blanks on author Donna Leon while still maintaining enough of a distance to still give readers plenty of secrets still to be uncovered about her. Most of all, it makes me eagerly await her next Brunetti novel which is always a perennial favorite task of mine. What I was expecting - perhaps what I was hoping for – was something that would, at least in part, lead me through the journey the author went on whilst writing the Brunetti books: what inspired her, how she gathered information on how policing works in the city, what the catalyst for some of her stories was. In fact, there was only one short section that touched on these books, and this only in passing.

Leon's elegant, witty prose . . . is a joy. One of the best European novelists around' Amanda Craig Following a childhood in the company of her New Jersey family, with frequent visits to her grandfather’s farm and its beloved animals, and summers spent selling homegrown tomatoes by the roadside, Leon got her first taste of the classical music and opera that would enrich her life. She also developed a yen for adventure. In 1976, she made the spontaneous decision to teach English in Iran, before finding herself swept up in the early days of the 1979 Revolution. After teaching stints in China and Saudi Arabia, she finally landed in Venice. Leon vividly animates her decades-long love affair with Italy, from her first magical dinner when serving as a chaperone to a friend, to the hunt for the perfect cappuccino, to the warfare tactics of grandmothers doing their grocery shopping at the Rialto Market.What kind of person is Professore Renato Molin? What does he seem to value or appreciate? How does his “adult” persona square with his “student” one? Donna Leon starts her memoir fondly recalling one year when her family moved to a small house on the farm, then proceeds to the next phase of her life: the university years, first studying, then teaching. She was a curious, adventurous young woman who loved exploring new places and countries, not as a tourist but as a temporary resident. She spent almost four years living and teaching in Iran and then moved to China to teach English. And then, Donna happily agreed when her Italian-American friend Anita suggested she join her to go to Italy because she would study there. It's important to know that Donna Leon's roots are Irish, Latin American, and German. Her blood shows no trace of Italian heritage; her love for Italy is evident.

In Donna Leon’s sure hands, the crime novel becomes an instrument for exploring social justice and universal truths about human behavior while beautifully telling a compelling story.” —Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Scottsdale, Arizona WANDERING THROUGH LIFE is an eye-opening read that truly fills in the blanks of Leon's life while maintaining enough of a distance so that readers still will have plenty to learn about her. Most of all, it makes me eagerly await her next Brunetti novel, which cannot come fast enough. As in her novels, there are wonderful characterizations and sharp observations of life that are right on target. I’m in awe of their parenting skills, and I would happily sit down to any meal at their dining table.Until around 2015, the author lived in Venice for over 30 years (she has lived in Venice since the 1980s) , however, recently she moved to Switzerland, in her home in Zurich and her other home in a small village in the mountains. Donna Leon is not married and has no partner or an ex-husband. In an interview, she mentioned that marriage is not something that suits her; she prefers to remain single. She does return to the US, albeit infrequently, as she doesn’t feel at home there. Over the years, she has worked at the University of Maryland University College – Europe as its lecturer in English literature, and for 18 years she worked as a professor at the American military base of Vicenza. There is no better literary tour guide to Venice and the surrounding landscape than Leon, and each entry provides complex, memorable characters and storylines that touch the moral center of the human spirit . . . So Shall You Reap is authentic throughout and lives up to the lofty reputation that Donna Leon has rightly earned for this series, which never fails to enlighten with each new intriguing mystery.”— Book Reporter She shares amusing anecdotes about selling tomatoes to fund college, and her mother’s disastrous Christmas turkey. She confesses her love of Tosca, of Handel; and she has a moan about music pollution. No author has delved into Venetian society quite like Leon, whose insider’s view shows how crime seeps throughout the city, touching all strata of society.”— Mystery Scene As always, Brunetti is highly attuned to (and sympathetic toward) the failings of the humans around him.”— Seattle Times

Wondrous . . . A reader who is new to the series can start anywhere and pretty much be up to snuff with Commissario Brunetti, his family, co-workers, and the highs and lows of Venice, his lifelong home. The books are character studies, triptychs and psychological dissertations, all wrapped around the heart of a mystery.” — Bookreporter This is the thirty second installment of this series and I have read all of them. Obviously, I am a huge fan. Leon captures so well the the pulse and rhythm of Venice. Not the Venice that the hoards of day trippers experience, but the real city of the Venetians who reside there. It is a joy to read such a literate writer whose books touch on philosophy, classical literature, political science, history, justice. Wandering Through Life” contains some standout chapters, including one on how bees and beekeeping played an integral role in the plot of the Brunetti novel “Earthly Remains” (2017), and another in which Ms. Leon, now 80, ruminates on “the other end of life.” But although Ms. Leon’s slim memoir proves warm, witty and engaging, some readers and most fans will be left wanting more. She offers an overview of her life rather than an in-depth trawl through it. I’ve been an avid reader of Donna Leon’s Venice based Commissario Brunetti mysteries for many years, reading all thirty two episodes and also passing many of them on to my late mum, who eagerly gobbled them up too. So when I spotted that she’d written a memoir, I was really keen to get hold of a copy at the earliest opportunity. But having read it, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. It certainly wasn’t quite what I was expecting. On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzoowned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim’s interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s.

This is a memoir for people who don't want to read long, chronological stories about someone's life, no matter how interesting the person can be. "Wandering through Life" consists of essays, and such a format reads almost like a friendly conversation with the author. I especially enjoyed the story about the challenges of going to the Italian post office and another describing the older women at Italian stores "waiting" in a queue. They offered me a glimpse into everyday Italy and did it better than lengthy descriptions. On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim’s interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s. For those who know Venice, or want to, Brunetti is a well-versed escort to the nooks, crannies, moods, and idiosyncrasies of what residents call La Serenissima, the Serene One . . . Richly atmospheric, [Leon] introduces you to the Venice insiders know.”— USA Today The firebrands of social equality and universal justice had moved on to a different world,” Brunetti thinks as he considers the lucrative careers pursued by once-radical friends from his student days, much as his father had once predicted (p. 147). Do you agree with this observation that young radicals eventually age into centrists or even conservatives? Why or why not? She describes the career path that ultimately brought her to Italy: four years of teaching English to trainee helicopter pilots in Iran in the late seventies, living under martial law, friendly and generous neighbours, and curfew pyjama parties and. Eventually, evacuation.