Weekly Reading Round-Up
While I’ve been powering through the Victorian Book (100,000 words down, 20,000 more to go!), I’ve been re-reading favorite old mystery novels, since they retain my interest without distracting me too much from the manuscript at hand.
This week I revisited Dorothy Sayers’s The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
I have a huge pile of new books waiting for me as soon as I finish writing the Victorian Book, so I promise more interesting Weekly Reading Round-Ups in the not too distant future!
What have you been reading this week?
I finally got around to reading The Ghost Writer. I was told it would be scary. I would definitely say creepy but not scary. The first 95% was great – definitely a page-turner and I really wanted to know what happened. But I hated the ending. The “twist” was something I saw coming like 100 pages in and I just really didn’t like the way it ended.
I’m currently in the middle of Code Name Verity, and have just been notified that the library has 2 books I’ve been waiting for ready for me – Serena by Ron Rash and Mr. Churchill’s Secretary. Why do they always come in together like that?!
Just started Catherine the Great! Oh and I finished A Kiss At Midnight in 24 hours!
I just finished “The Marriage Plot” by Jeffrey Eugenides, and I wasn’t that impressed. I’m also reading some mysteries this week – today, it’s book 4 of Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series, “I Am Half-Sick of Shadows.” I really enjoy this series!
Oh, sorry to hear about “The Marriage Plot” I had hopes for that book. I ADORE Flavia so much, it’s crazy!
I finished The Cowboy and the Cossack and then started several books that didn’t pass the fifty page test before settling into The Liar’s Gospel by Naomi Alderman.
Just started Beautiful Darkness. I enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, both the book and the movie (still in theaters!) so I thought I’d keep going in the series.
This week, I read the lastest installment in the TimeRiders series, called The Pirate Kings, which did not disappoint.
Right now, I’m reading The Secret Keeper, by Kate Morton, which was finally available at the library. I’m barely to the first third of the book (just started the second part, about Dorothy) but I’m loving it!
Did you read it in the end, Lauren? I remember you saying that some people compared it to Ashford… Are they similar in any way? Because from what you told us about Ashford and what I’m reading in The Secret Keeper, I can see why they could be compared… which, if possible, is making me even more impatient to read Ashford!
I’m just getting into The Bridegroom Wore Plaid by Grace Burrowes, which I largely bought because the title sounded silly but am now happy to report that I love it.
I also just started In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall because I’m going to see her speak in the next couple months, so that’s exciting! I wish her writing were a bit more science-based, but perhaps later books are more focused on that.
Let’s see…
I finished the 2nd book in the Lunar Chronicles, and was disappointed. The retelling of Red Ride Hood wasn’t nearly as cool or original as Cinderella in the first.
Then I moved onto more Nancy Mitford, loving Love in a Cold Climate (re-read) and not really liking Don’t Tell Alfred (everyone acted too much out of character).
Following which, because it’s so cold here I thought, I want to read something in Egypt, therefore, Amelia Peabody to the rescue with The Hippopatamus Pool.
Now I’m reading Poison Penmanship by Jessica Mitford (very uneven, but when it’s awesome, so awesome) and Red Shirts, a “Star Trek” parody, that is nowhere near as good as say Red Dwarf…
In the middle of Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart, after hearing all of the recommendation here. Love it! It has sent me on a quest to find more of her books. Next up, One Good Earl…
“The Aviator’s Wife” about Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Charles Lindbergh comes off like a real jerk. Also, “That Summer in Cornwall” by Ciji Ware. Not bad.
Did you watch the recent PBS documentary on Lindbergh? They think he orchestrated the kidnapping of his own child because the baby was not quite right. How horrid if true!
Oh wow, I didn’t see that documentary. How crazy if true. He was quite racist and really believed in the whole “racially superior” thing. I read a book about the Lindbergh kidnapping and the author kind of leaned towards that conclusion as well.
Scary!
Oh Alexis, so jealous of you because you have all the Mary Stewart books to read for the first time! You’ll love them all.
If only I could find them!!
I just finished the third book in Anna Dean’s Dido Kent series, “A Woman of Consequence”. The premise is Jane Austin meets Miss Marple. A 36 year old woman, Dido has an insatiable curiosity and a clever wit making her good at solving mysteries. I really enjoyed it!
Next up – my first foray into P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves…
1356 by Bernard Cornwell
In Dublin’s Fair City by Rhys Bowen
Sally by Marion Chesney, quite unusual, but excellent as are all her Regencies.
This week I enjoyed “The KIng in Love – Edward VII’s Mistresses” by Theo Aronson and “Victorian England ” by W.J. Reader and just started reading my first Elsie Lee – “Prior Betrohal”.