Weekly Reading Round-Up

Have you ever bought a book and found that it’s missing a large chunk of pages in the middle? I have very vivid recollections of sitting on the train from New York to Boston with Julia Ross’s The Wicked Lover only to discover that I could read one segment of the story twice, but the next segment not at all.

The very first time this happened to me was with a Barbara Michaels novel: The Grey Beginning. This was back in the late eighties or early nineties, way before the internet. The defective book had been the only copy in my local bookstore. So I put it aside and forgot all about it– until last week, when it occurred to me that, with the wonder of the internet, it might be possible to read the Only Unread Barbara Michaels novel.

So that’s what I’m reading right now. I’ve also been lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy of Juliana Gray’s How to Master Your Marquis, which is coming up next in the queue.

What have you been reading this week?

7 Comments

  1. Pat D on November 1, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    I finished a couple of books: Diana Mott Davidson’s The Whole Enchilada and John Searles’ Help for the Haunted. Just started Anne Perry’s WW1 novel No Graves as Yet. And I have a couple of books waiting at the library for me, one mentioned here earlier this week, The Exile of Sara Stephenson.

  2. jeffrey on November 1, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Slow week…

    Continuing the group read of Mansfield Park over at http://www.pemberley.com

    About half way through Haunting Ellie by Patti Berg and am totally engrossed in this ghostly tale of romance, haunting, and redemption. (I know it is that good when I sneak reading just a couple of pages on my Kindle at every free moment I can get)

  3. Céline on November 1, 2013 at 6:11 pm

    It did happen to me too! I had borrowed the book at the library. It was Juliet, by Anne Fortier, a book that goes back and forth between the present day in America and Italy in the 15th century, with a story of a woman who discovers that she might actually be Shakespeare’s Juliet’s descendant…
    I was at the middle of the book when I realized that around 50 pages were missing. I had to bring the book back to the library, and wait for another month to get the other copy of the book that had – of course – already been borrowed when I discovered that there were pages missing…
    In the end, I did not like the book that much, something about the modern heroin put me off. She had no respect of the ancient artefact that she had inherited, if I remember correctly…

  4. HJ on November 1, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    I bought a book at the airport, excited because it was a new book by Dick Francis. I was reading it in the hotel at my destination and found I had the same problem as you – a chunk of pages repeated, with a chunk the same size missing! I couldn’t get a replacement copy until I got back home again, and I was mightily frustrated.

  5. Alice on November 2, 2013 at 12:48 am

    I love “The Grey Beginning!” Reminds me a lot of “Nine Coaches Waiting.” Reading the latest Lady Emily by Tasha Alexander. It’s pretty good. Just finished “A Midsummer Night” by Deanna Raybourn. The latest Julia Grey novella. Am so enjoying being with these characters again!

  6. Pam on November 2, 2013 at 1:12 am

    The Grey Beginning is really fun. It takes a little while to get going but stick with it!

    I have a chapter due like yesterday so no recreational reading for me (or sleeping, or eating). I did download Deanna Raybourn’s new novella as a treat for when I finish, so that’s something to look forward to!

  7. Yvette R on November 2, 2013 at 8:39 am

    The audio book version of missing pages … the last 20-30 minutes of GH’s A Convenient Marriage was missing from the Audible file when they first acquired it. I had read it as a paperback, but it was still frustrating. It took Audible several months to get a complete recording from the publisher to replace the incomplete one. Horatia had just gotten to the secret meeting, and then “Audible hopes that you have enjoyed this program”. Aargh!

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