Weekly Reading Round-Up

With the apocalypse a-coming, I’ve been taking the time to re-read some old favorites. (Okay, so maybe it had more to do with it being rainy and grim outside.) You may have seen some of these mentioned on this page before:

— Lisa Kleypas, The Devil in Winter.

It’s a toss-up for me whether this or Secrets of a Summer Night is my favorite Kleypas. Kleypas is brilliant at evoking emotion, and Sebastian, the hero of Devil in Winter, bears a certain resemblance to Lord Vaughn in his quick wit and self-serving attitude.

— Kristan Higgins, Fools Rush In.

Higgins’ first, and possibly my favorite. I love the descriptions of small-town Cape Cod life. Oh, and in happy news, Higgins just signed a deal to write four more! Huzzah!

— Dorothy Sayers, Unnatural Death.

Everyone has a series blind spot, a book in a series that you just keep missing. I’ve read Gaudy Night at least a dozen times, but, somehow, I’d never read Unnatural Death before. There’s death, and, yes, it is unnatural.

What have you been reading?

p.s. has anyone read Game of Thrones? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

26 Comments

  1. Sarah on May 20, 2011 at 12:32 pm

    I’ve read Game of Thrones, and while it’s a very well written fantasy series, it was hard to read because it has such a dark, gritty world. The TV series is amazing, though, and you should definitely check that out if you can.

    Currently reading Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. I’ve read all of his other books but never got around to this one. So far it hasn’t disappointed me. =)

  2. Toni on May 20, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    I’ve been reading some of the Miss Julia books by Ann B. Ross. Their really good. Also a few LoveJoy Mysteries, by Jonathan Gash.

  3. Angela on May 20, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    I just finished reading the first Game of Thrones book. I really liked it. Got sucked in to the whole world. It is very gritty and shocking.

    I am reading my Science Fiction/Fantasty book club selction right now, “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin.

  4. Bridget on May 20, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    I just finished reading Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Sarah Giffen. I thought they were great, I’m going to look into her other books as well.

  5. Katie on May 20, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    I had been having the worst Friday, then I saw the Reading Roundup post on facebook and it honestly felt like a lifeline! Thanks for making my Friday!
    I just finished reading Water For Elephants. It wasn’t what I expected and I hated a lot of the things that happened in it but it had a great ending and was well written. Right now I am reading The Lost Queen by C.W. Gortner. It is about Juana of Castile. This is the first book I’ve read about this queen so it is pretty interesting so far!

  6. Am7 on May 20, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    I read Nora Roberss’ Vision in White, book 1 of her Bridal Quartet. It was readable and fun. Not an all time favorite pf mine but I am going to read the rest of the series.
    I also read Wilder’s Mate by Moira Rogers. Really funky, and I liked it a lot.

  7. Joanne M. on May 20, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    Two books recently have piqued my interest in the book world….A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and the other is A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (coincidence)! Both have received widely differing responses ranging from “the best ever” to “ack–don’t waste your time!” Books like this make me curious to find out what all the buzz is about and make a decision for myself. I’m only a few chapters into Witches and so far it is interesting. I’ll let you know what I think about Game of Thrones here on Reading Roundup when I’m finished.

  8. Elizabeth aka Miss Eliza on May 20, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Yeah for the Shades of Grey love! The GRRM books are great, and thankfully the new one is coming out this summer! Over five years late, but at least it’s here. The only thing I’d say about the books is don’t get attached to anyone, as everyone has says, they are gritty. Also he does have the fantasy writers love of characters temporarily bcoming lesbians.

    I’ve been on a reading frenzy (no school yeah!) I read Love Letters by Katie Fforde, which wasn’t very good. Then I moved onto Shopaholic and Baby, which entertained me, but the characters are kind of dicks. Then I re-read the 10th Sookie book and am now reading the newest one. So far so good.

  9. Samantha on May 20, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    I have been working my way through JD Robb’s Eve Dallas mysteries and they just seem to be getting better and better! Such a great series with fantastic characters! Each time I pick up a new one I’m literally on the couch reading most of the day since I get sucked in!

    I am also about half way through Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn and I am loving it! I’m definitely going to have to read the others in the series!

  10. Valerie on May 20, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    I really liked A Game of Thrones!! I also got sucked right into the books and read through them quickly. I would also recommend A Discovery of Witches.

  11. CĂ©line on May 20, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    My one and only is reading A Game of Throne too and he is really sucked up into the book. He garantees me that I’m going to love it too. So a big thumbs up for him!!!

    I intend to read A Discovery of Witches as soon as the people that have borrowed it at the library give it back! 🙂

  12. Ashley on May 20, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    I am reading the Meaning of Night by Michael Cox. I swear this book has one of the best first lines I have read: “I killed the red haired man and then took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” The book has all the elements of a Victorian mystery – long lost heir, a confession, gloomy foggy London streets, a murder, English country house…

  13. Virginia on May 20, 2011 at 7:46 pm

    I started the week by finishing off Heather Graham’s Devil’s Mistress. I enjoyed it, what’s not to like about a sea captain lord sweeping in to rescue a damsel in distress? But I’ve got to say I enjoyed her trilogy set during the Civil War more.

    And for something completely different I then read The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan. Juvenile zombie books are surprisingly intense.

    I just started Water For Elephants. We’ll see how I like it.

    I’ve read the first two books of Song of Fire and Ice (Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings). I thoroughly enjoyed them and plan to read the rest in the series. They were a bit dark, as everyone has said, but not out of the norm for fantasy novels.

  14. Joanne M. on May 20, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    Re: the coming apocalypse….Noooooo! I haven’t finished reading my TBR pile yet! And we need to find out what happens to Eloise and Colin…type faster, Lauren!

  15. Teje on May 21, 2011 at 1:06 am

    I did read Game of Thrones many years ago, and it is a definite thumbs up for me.

  16. Anwen on May 21, 2011 at 2:13 am

    ‘Game of Thrones’, (and the others in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series) is fantastic. Definite thumbs up. You completely disappear from real life while reading them, and live in the Martin’s Westeros. I’m re-reading them right now to prepare for the next one coming out (Huzzah!), and have read the series well over ten times through since my sister first introduced me.

  17. Sheila on May 21, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    Meanwhile, back at Morland Place…I just finished book 6, The Long Shadow. I do love this series…28 more to go.

    In my car, I am listening to The Scarlet Pimpernel. There’s nothing like going to the source. A bit dated, but still tons of fun.

  18. Pam on May 21, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    I spent the week packing for Italy and re-reading Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia series. I loved them just as much the second time around! I’m eager to check out A Discovery of Witches, though that looks possibly like the kind of book I want to have in print rather than on the Kindle.

    Thanks, everyone, for your great suggestions for abroad reads! I’ve already read all Deanna Raybourn, Charles Finch, and Tasha Alexander’s books. I’ve put The Glassblower of Murano, The Rossetti Letter, and the first Jane Austen mystery on the list. Joining them are one of Donna Leon’s superb Commissario Brunetti mysteries, Arabella (Heyer!), Marlena de Blasi’s A Thousand Days in Venice, Eat Pray Love (I know…), a bunch of Agatha Christie, the Father Brown stories, and Poison by Sara Poole. Also some embarrassing chick-lit.

  19. Jo3 on May 21, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    Anything by Lisa Kleypas but especially the Wallflower series (Lauren, I have to give the nod to Scandal in Spring) and the Hathaway series.

    Rose Melikan’s trilogy featuring Mary Finch and Captain Robert Holland. Great historical reads just wish the romance was a bit more “Willigesque”.

    Madeline Hunter’s Rarest Bloom series.

    Judith Rock’s The Rhetoric of Death (the second book in the series will be out in September).

    Deanna Raybourn’s Julia Grey series – YUMMY!!

    Joanna Bourne Spymaster series.

    The Sebastian St. Cyr series by C. S. Harris – mystery, action and romance. Also check out her mystery/romance novels written under the name Candice Proctor.

    Thanks for your great suggestions. Happy reading!!

  20. Jane F on May 21, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    I haven’t read game of throne’s but I respect TLo’s opinion:

    http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/2011/05/t-lo-is-watching-game-of-thrones-treme.html

  21. Katie on May 22, 2011 at 10:00 am

    The trick to Game of Thrones is to read past the first book, not that the first one is bad, it’s just exactly like the War of the Roses. Lannister/Lancater, Queen whose famiy fought on the other side of the war and now has illegitimate kids, brother-like figure who gets regent (“Hand”) position, and much much more. Its the Sunne in Splendour but with ghosts and dragons. After the first book though, he breaks the form and gets unperdictable; instead of Richard III vs Henry Tudor with a bit of Perkin Warbeck, you EVERYONE vs EVERYONE and maybe that Sir Francis Lovell wasn’t as trustworthy as he could be, that’s when it gets really fun.

  22. Rachel on May 22, 2011 at 10:07 am

    I too am reading Silent in the Grave. I saw so many people comment on the Lady Jane books in the WRR that when it was on super-clearance-sale @ my going-out-of-business Borders I just couldn’t resist.

    I’m also working on A Reliable Wife on my nook. It’s really good so far. Full of action and deception … I’m definitely looking forward to how it unfolds.

    And I too love both the Wallflowers and the Hathaways series by Kleypas. But I’m with Lauren, Sebastian is by far my favorite hero … and truth be told, if I lived then, I’d have been Edie …

  23. Christine on May 22, 2011 at 11:22 am

    @Rachel – I’d love to hear what you think of the rest of A Reliable Wife. I really liked the first two sections but I hated the third.

  24. Hortencia on May 22, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Love Kleyplas! Reading her first books now. I also love the wallflowers series and the Hathaways!

    Deanna Raybourne Julia Gray series. need to read the last two of that series.

    Sookie stackhouse and the latest book. Need to catch up there as well.

    I’m so behind on my reading. Also have a friend who likes the game of thorns books, but I think I’m sticking to the series on tv. When I get a chance I want to tackle it!(sometime in summer?)

  25. AnneK on May 24, 2011 at 8:17 am

    My husband and I are reading the Game of Thrones and are just about finished with the first book. It does seem (like Katie said earlier) ALOT like war of the roses, but with a little Name of the Wind (awesome read BTW). We watched the first few episodes on HBO and honestly it’s a little easier to follow (GASP!) only becuase you don’t have to wait for 5 or 6 chapters to remember what so-and-so is doing. Having said all of that, the book really does suck you into its world and characters. It is pretty grim and many times shocking. The male characters seem pretty honest in their personalities, but the female characters fell a forced from time to time.

  26. Liz on May 27, 2011 at 11:15 am

    I just finished readinf Kirsten Lobe’s French Trysts… omg, it was hysterical! Definately a must read:)

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