When you’re dealing with cranky small people with flu, only comfort re-reads will do.
This week, I resorted to Daniel O’Malley’s The Rook
, which passed the test of being just as amusing on a second read. A sci fi/mystery combo, the book follows a woman, highly placed in a top secret paranormal organization, who comes to without her memory and a series of letters from her old self to her new self, apprising her of her duties and warning her that she’s being targeted by a traitor. All I can say is that the writing is brilliantly, tongue-in-cheek, snort-your-honey-and-lemon-tea funny, and if you like the humor of the Pink books, you’ll probably enjoy this.
Also on the list of the week’s comfort reads: Georgette Heyer’s The Quiet Gentleman
, in which the earl returns home and is promptly faced with both a very commonsensical heroine and a series of murder attempts. (If you’re going to be targeted by a murderer, it’s good to have a commonsensical heroine about.) It lacks the madcap humor of some of Heyer’s other novels, but there’s something very soothing about the mix of mystery, romance, and Heyer wit.
Right now, I’m just starting Lauren Graham’s Someday, Someday, Maybe
, about a struggling actress in New York in 1995. It’s a love letter to a New York I remember well (my senior year of high school!), a New York of hair in scrunchies and tokens for the subway and Caller ID being a new and novel thing. It’s also making me want to binge watch Gilmore Girls
. If only I didn’t have a book to write…. Must. Resist. Gilmores.
What have you been reading this week?
Ooooh, I loved The Quiet Gentleman! Hadn’t read that one until this last year, actually, and it’s quite possibly moved into my Top Ten Heyer Novels List 🙂
This week still reading The Girl in the Tower, and enjoying it. Have been thinking of going on from there to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Craft of Her Own Making by Catherynne N Valente–has anyone read it yet? If so, thoughts?
The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner. Liking it so far and the setting takes me away from the gloom of the Pacific Northwest in January!
The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey. Fascinating true life mystery!
Just finished The English Wife (2 thumbs up!) and am currently looking for my next read.
Read The English Wife which was fabulous. I wish it had been longer as i didn’t want it to end. A Treacherous Curse, The next Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn. It was ok. This series has not grabbed me like the Julia Grey series. The character development seems really slow and I find the stories to be on the boring side. Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood which was also ok. I found it hard to connect with the H and h. Finally, something fun with Deadly Fashion by Kate Parker. A quick easy mystery series.
Settle for the Gilmore vibe with shorter commitment by watching Miss Maisel?
I needed a comfort read so it re-read the first book in Lev Grossman’s Magicians series, now I’m reading Spoonbenders for book club, which is about a family with psychic gifts… some less psychic than others… not sure where it’s going as the mafia just randomly showed up…
Speaking of comfort re-reads, I am currently cozying up with Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, the illustrated edition 🙂
Jojo Moyes, Last letter from your lover 🙂
Finished Last Christmas in Paris – wonderful! Now reading The Women in the Castle.
Hope the little ones get well soon. Stay well, mama.