Weekly Reading Round-Up

First off, so many thanks to everyone who came out to the Boston Public Library on Tuesday night! It is always a joy to talk books in such great company.

The other great thing about heading out to Boston? Reading time on the train. (I wasn’t meant to be reading. I was meant to be writing. But… these things happen.)

The two highlights of my recent reading spree are:

— Karen White’s The Night the Lights Went Out. And I’m not just saying this because Karen knows where all of my skeletons are buried. (And, if she went after them, would undoubtedly do so in a coordinated outfit while using a Kate Spade shovel.) I loved this book for both its send-up of the modern insanity of private school parenting and for its poignant look into a Georgia childhood during the Depression. The two halves of the book, modern affluence and past struggle, provided the perfect contrast– and set up an excellent mystery.

— Tana French’s The Trespasser. I first stumbled on Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad books via a book dispensing machine– I kid you not– at Heathrow Airport lo these many years ago. The book was In the Woods, the first of French’s psychological– and highly engaging– police procedurals, and I was hooked. Each book focuses on a different detective, each with his or her own personal issues and slant. Each contains a highly twisty mystery told in lyrical prose. I have only one complaint: why has no one made these into a tv mini-series yet?

What have you been reading this week?

13 Comments

  1. Beverly Fontaine on March 3, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    Last night I finished “A Novel Revenge” by Ashley Weaver. I love Weaver’s Amory Ames books! They’re fun and filled with 1920’s atmosphere.

    I’ve also recently discovered Giles Milton. His books are described as “popular history.” The one I’m reading right now is about British spies in Russia in the early 20th century. It’s called “Russian Roulette” and is fascinating. His new book was released this week and I can’t wait. It’s called “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” Sounds like it’ll be a great read.

  2. Sheila on March 3, 2017 at 12:39 pm

    i have been catching up on Flavia de Luce, also really enjoyed A Traveller in Time, thanks to hearing about it here. Lucinda Riley has an interesting series, The Seven Sisters, and I have read the first two. They start a little slow, but are really great once some exposition is done.

    Liane Moriarty’s What Alice Forgot, which I think is her best.

  3. Diane (bookchickdi) on March 3, 2017 at 1:56 pm

    I loved The Trespasser- one of my favorites from last year. I just finished Hidden Figures and it was amazing.

  4. Rachel Adrianna on March 3, 2017 at 6:06 pm

    The past week or so I’ve read The Memory of Us
    (Di Maio, Camille), Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things (Lawson, Jenny), The Wicked City (Williams, Beatriz), American Housewife
    (Ellis, Helen), and Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice (Sittenfeld, Curtis).

    All utterly fantastic- especially The Wicked City!- except for Eligible… I couldn’t get into this re-telling.

  5. Miss Eliza on March 3, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    I’ve been enjoying an ARC of the newest Mercy Thompson book, out next week. What’s really fun about this installment is that it’s set in Europe!

  6. Lara Naregatsian on March 3, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    A few months ago I started a French period mystery series by Jean-Francois Parot set in Paris, timeline starts in 1761. The main character is a young man, Nicolas Le Floch, who moves to Paris to become a police detective with an interesting personal story.
    The author is a career diplomat with a real interest in history.
    I’m on the third book and I love it!
    The books are available in English and there’s a French TV series – I don’t know if there’s an English version.

    • Betty Strohecker on March 4, 2017 at 10:41 am

      Sounds interesting!

    • Lauren on March 6, 2017 at 11:54 am

      Putting this one on my TBR list!

  7. Lauren H on March 4, 2017 at 2:22 am

    I’m actually right now about half way through a copy of Karen White’s The Night the Lights Went Out, and really loving it. The contrasting stories go so well together and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

    Also been working on Pardonable Lies, the third Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. And The Mothers by Brit Bennett. It’s not historical or romance, but it has this really cool Greek chorus-like element.

  8. Tara on March 4, 2017 at 7:02 am

    I’m currently reading The Ashford Affair. I absolutely love it. I adore Addie and Clemmie and Jon.

    • Lauren on March 6, 2017 at 11:55 am

      Thanks so much, Tara! I’m so happy you’re enjoying “Ashford”.

      • Tara on March 9, 2017 at 8:03 am

        Yes! Frederick is intriguing as well. He’s got a bit of classic bad boy in him, mixed with a troubled soul.

  9. Betty Strohecker on March 4, 2017 at 10:50 am

    I’m currently rereading Tracy Grant’s Mayfair Affair in a reread event on her Google+ site.

    Also reading the first in a series by Julie Klassen, The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill.

    In addition I’m enjoying a companion book to the Victoria PBS series, Victoria, the Heart and Mind of a Young Queen.

    Recently finished Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale – an amazing and powerful book.

Leave a Comment