Weekly Reading Round-Up

I’ve been on a mystery and suspense kick this week, with an odd bit of sci fi thrown in. Here’s what I’ve been reading:

Echo Burning, Lee Child

I wouldn’t have thought suspense novels about a perpetual drifter would be my thing (after all, how can there be a happy ending?), but this book, about a series of murders in a small Texas town, had me totally hooked.

Bowled Over, Kasey Michaels

I may have mentioned a time or two how much I love Kasey Michaels’ Maggie series, mysteries set around a novelist who discovers that her Regency era hero has come to life in her living room. And there’s a new one! I was also rather amused to find that the heroine was griping about running out of Lee Child novels. Funny timing, that.

Out of the Deep I Cry, Julia Spencer-Fleming

I often read series out of order, based on when I find them in the bookstore. Sometimes I read them very out of order. With Julia Spencer-Fleming’s mystery series set in the Adirondacks, I started with the last book and worked my way around to the middle. Whichever order you read them in, though, they’re wonderful.

Jaran, Kate Elliott

Part of a care package from my college roommate (hi, Claudia!), who likes to expand my reading tastes from time to time. This was sci fi with an epic sweep, involving a hyper-evolved heroine who finds herself on a seemingly primitive planet.

The Snake, the Crocodile & the Dog, Elizabeth Peters

Last week, Tasha Alexander and I were comparing notes on our favorites in the Amelia Peabody series (mysteries involving a swashbuckling, late nineteenth century, archeologist husband and wife team). We agreed that this was one of the best. So I decided to go back and re-read it. For those who haven’t read the series, best to start at Crocodile on the Sandbank and work your way through. (Yes, Amelia Peabody was the primary inspiration for Miss Gwen.)

After all these mysteries, I find myself in need of some good romance novels– anyone have any suggestions? What have you been reading?

16 Comments

  1. Jessica S. on May 28, 2010 at 10:53 am

    My husband and I are leaving for Ireland and France tomorrow so my lineup for the trip is as follows:

    James Joyce, Dubliners
    Oscar Wilde, The Portrait of Dorian Gray
    WB Yeats, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales
    Wes Davis (Ed.) An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry

    I anticipate picking up some books in France, at the very least the original French version of “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” (which sounds a little like one of yours, Lauren!)

    For recommendations, I’m going to repeat my recommendation of Adriana Trigiani’s books. They are mostly set in NYC, so you will have an appreciation for the details that I can’t have. (Like when I read Jen Lancaster’s references to Purdue).

  2. Lauren on May 28, 2010 at 11:33 am

    Have a great trip! I love Yeats’ Fairy and Folk Tales– I found a mini edition last time I was in Ireland and it lived in my bag for a while as fallback reading when stuck on the subway or otherwise in transit.

  3. Debra Callaway on May 28, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    I have been on an absolute reading binge lately, covering a little mystery, a little romance with a few pages of a biography thrown in for good measure. Since last week, if i wasn’t reading an actual book, I was listening to one. So here’s what I’ve “read” since last week:
    I finished the last 2 chapters of Queen’s Dollmaker by Christine Trent (very easy read, reads to me like a YA book). I Also was re-reading Elizabeth Petrs’ “The Snake, the Crocodile & the Dog and finished the last few pages of that one (yes I was reading two books at the same time-one at work and during the ride home and one after I got home). I also read Laurie Brown’s What Would Jane Austen Do? and MC Beaton’s Agatha Raisin mystery, Love, Lies & Liquor (I like his Hamish MacBeth mysteries better), and The Oscar Wilde Mystery “A Game Called Murder” by Gyles Brandeth and when I was quilting I listened to Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander’s Touch and Beyond the Highland Mist.
    Yesterday I started Re-reading one of George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books, Flashman and the Tiger.
    Yes, I am a voracious reader and often go through several books a week Though this weekend I don’t plan to read at all as I’ll be listening to music (mostly Celtic and Sea Shanties) at a folk music festival here in Seattle and partying with friends I only see once a year.

  4. Ingrid on May 28, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Lauren, I also like Amelia Peabody. The interaction between the characters can be so such fun. I’m currently reading a Sherrilyn Kenyon BAD novel (“Silent Truth”), and I’m looking forward to diving into an Elizabeth George (“A Suitable Vengeance”) after that.

  5. Ashlee on May 28, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Debra: How did you like Laurie Brown’s What Would Jane Austen Do? It’s on my to-be-read list 🙂

    I’ve been reading Julia Quinn’s new book Ten Things I Love About You as well as Lisa Kleypas’s It Happened One Autumn in the Wallflower Series. Yes, I also read a few books at the same time (although, to be honest, Quinn’s book was just released and I HAD TO HAVE IT, so I put One Autumn to the side for a couple days, haha).

  6. Debra Callaway on May 28, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    Laurie Brown’s What Would Jane Austen Do?–I liked it, it was a fairly quick read, it read with an even tempo. It wasn’t stupid like some “bodice rippers” and it wasn’t “too tame” like some ordinary romances are. Not too explicit but not chaste, I liked the ending and kind of hope she brings the ghosts back when the main character’s children hit the age for romantic entanglements. It’s not on my top 10, but it was a nice cosy read.

  7. Liz on May 28, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    I just got Amandine by Marlena di Blasi from the library, and while I’m only a few chapters in it is wonderful so far!

  8. Nikki on May 28, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    It is cold and rainy here at the North Enterance of Yellowstone where I live so I’ve been reading a lot this week. I had to wait for Elm Creek Quilt book 6 to come in the mail and instead of ready some of the other books I have around the house (“Moloka’i” by Alan Brennert, “The Colony” by John Tayman & “The Rose of Sebastopol” by Katherine MacMahon) I re-read the Pink Carnation and am half-way through Black Tulip to refresh the stories for the release of Mistletoe.

  9. Rebecca on May 28, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    I’m still in the midst of reading “Writing Jane Austen,” and I’m really loving it so far. And based on your descriptions alone, I want to read the Kasey Michaels and Elizabeth Peters series. They sound so great!

    As for romance novels, have you read Jennifer Donnelly’s “The Tea Rose” and “The Winter Rose”? Talk about beautifully written historical romance! The final one in the trilogy is coming out in 2011 and I can’t wait!

    I also recommend Sara Donati’s “Into the Wilderness” and the following books in the series. Happy Reading!

  10. Sara G. on May 29, 2010 at 12:32 am

    I also read The Queens Dollmaker, which was a really easy read but very entertaining 🙂
    As of now, from recommendations from my roommmate & mom The Frankenstein Series by Koontz. I have a pile of boks to read (again! 😀 ) After I just finished the last stack lol!
    In that stack, is the companion novel to The Forest of Hands & Teeth, then the last book in the Millenium Triology, which I’m very excited about, by Stieg Larsson(sp?) who sadly died in 2004, but turned in the manuscripts for the triology, some Sarah Dressen(sp?) books thrown in along with another series by Alison C something or other! Lol, sorry about the butchering of the names 🙂

  11. AngelB on May 29, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    Just picked up Jane Feather’s “All the Queen’s Players”. I’ll let you know how it goes.

  12. am7 on May 30, 2010 at 4:05 am

    I am in the middle of
    Julia Quinn’s When He Was Wicked
    Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ This Heart Of Mine
    and beginning Georgette Heyer’s Sylvester
    Thanks Lauren for responding to my post the other week. Hope to write soon.

  13. Sheila on May 30, 2010 at 10:29 am

    Espresso Tales, by Alexander mcCall Smith. This is the second in his 44 Scotland Rd series, which is immensely entertaining as we get to live with some very interesting, yet everyday folks types, characters. Who said “Everybody’s got a story” ? I will never give up my historical romance and mystery habits, but I also loe reading about ordinary people dealing with ordinary, and extraordinary, problems

  14. Marissa on May 31, 2010 at 7:12 am

    Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith and A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris. Tea Time is part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which is so lighthearted and enjoyable. A Touch of Dead was a good way to pass the time as I sit somewhere in the 20s for my turn for the latest one! I am about halfway through The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown now.

  15. Susan on May 31, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    I keep rereading Georgette Heyer mysteries, though I always love the Regencies too! Her rather British dry humor is delightful!

  16. Carole on June 1, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    Once again, I’m late to the weekly read-round up thing. Darn. Ha.

    I’m nearly done with Her Only Desire by Gaelen Foley

    ANd I’m rereading Interview with the Vampire by Anne rice. I simply adore that book! It’s a great read.

    Also, I randomly picked a book from my library, just because it made me laugh: Romeo’s EX by someone (i’m blanking on her name at the moment). It’s quite literally about Romeo’s ex-love, Rosaline. It’s a hoot.

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