Weekly Reading Round-Up

It’s been a week of the new and the old. I began with Ruth Ware’s latest, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, a modern Gothic featuring a mysterious heritage, an appropriately waifish and desperate heroine, mistaken parentage, and, of course, a House.

After that, I changed tone and time period and plunged back into the 16th century for intrigue and skullduggery in Scotland with Francis Crawford of Lymond (Lymond!) in Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings. I did my undergrad thesis on just this moment in Scottish history so going back to 1540s Scotland always feels like coming home. And has anyone else noticed that Lymond, in his speech patterns, is a close cousin of Lord Peter Wimsey?

In other news, I’ve been chugging away on the Barbados Book (coming to you May 2019!) and picking up useful bits of information such as the initial publication date of the medical journal The Lancet (1827, in case you were wondering), and the composition of a doll given as a gift in the early 19th century (wax or wood or papier mache but not porcelain).

What have you been reading this week?

8 Comments

  1. Céline on June 8, 2018 at 11:42 am

    I read The English Wife (LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED IT, as I very humbly said on Instagram just now).

    And I’ve just started a time travel book, Just One Damned Thing After Another, by Jodi Taylor. I’m loving the first chapter – and a friend told me it was kinda like the series Timeless (which I love). So… hooked already!

    Concerning the Barbados book… I hope you’re enjoying yourself writing it!! ♥♥

  2. Miss Eliza on June 8, 2018 at 7:18 pm

    I’ve been reading The Beautiful Struggle a biography by Ta-Nehisi Coates for book club, it’s about growing up in Baltimore in the 80s and 90s and it’s odd the similarities and HUGE differences to my own childhood.

    I’ve also discovered Joe Hill’s Locke and Key graphic novel series, big Gothic house, check, mysterious keys, check, something nefarious, check. Loving it.

    And in non-book news, has anyone watched Requiem on Netflix, wonderful Gothic with a hint of The Wicker Man, only half way through but adoring it.

  3. DJL on June 9, 2018 at 2:38 am

    Caught up on the two most recent Lady Darby mysteries, both good.
    Also read latest by Christina Lauren, Love and Other Words, a bit overwrought but then it is told in part by a teenager, so 🙂
    Now reading Juliet Marillier’s Heart’s Blood, and wondering why it took me so long to find this one–it’s great!

  4. Tara on June 9, 2018 at 7:55 am

    Each summer, I fly through a new series I’ve been wanting to read. And, this summer I’m reading Susan Dennard’s Witchlands series. Truthwitch was amazing, and I’m currently devouring Windwitch.

    Picture Renaissance Europe with all its gowns, poetical speech, political intrigue and sword-fighting and add in a hefty dose of magic.

  5. Rachel Adrianna on June 10, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    Have to admit, not much of a book week for me. BUT I have been binge-ing Vera like there’s no tomorrow! Lauren: as an avid British police procedural fan, have you seen these? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1693592/

  6. Bev Fontaine on June 12, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    Lauren, I absolutely love Francis Lymond! Dorothy Dunnett was an unparalleled genius, in my view. I first read those books years ago in my 20’s and rediscovered them a few years ago and shared them with Darcie and Robin, my two history loving daughters. I’m retiring in a couple of weeks and have the Lymond Chronicles in mind to ease the transition. They’re not easy reads, but definitely worth the effort.

    Training my replacement has been stressful, so I’ve been reading a new Clive Cussler book. Great for stress relief!

  7. Alice on June 14, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    Finished Force of Nature by Jane Harper and I loved it! An thriller I could not put down. For a slower bug sweet change of pace, The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. An excellent summer read!

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