Weekly Reading Round-Up Returns
I challenge you to say that three times fast! I can’t decide whether it sounds more like a Western or a Sci Fi movie: The Wrath of Weekly Reading Round-Up!
Don’t mind me. I’m just a little slap-happy from Orchid launch.
Here’s some of what I’ve been reading:
— Georgette Heyer, The Unknown Ajax
I know, I know, it’s shameful that it’s taken me this long to read this one! In my own defense, it was only recently that all the Heyers were reprinted.
— Jennifer Cruisie, Maybe This Time
Cruisie’s rewriting of The Turn of the Screw. I really enjoyed the screwball comedy meets ghost story.
— Jennifer Cruisie, Agnes and the Hitman
More Cruisie! And more screwball comedy. As you can tell, I tend to read in clumps.
— Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe’s Triumph
Sharpe at the Battle of Assaye. I wonder if he ran into Rob and Tommy?
As you can tell, I’m badly in need of reading recommendations! What have you been reading?
A while back, someone on this site recommended Interred with their Bones. I’m reading that this week and it’s great!
I am reading a series by CA Belmond. The first one is A Rather Lovely Inheritance. I just finished the 2nd, A Rather Curious Engagement. They are cute, fun reads.
I happen to find them at Borders and saw you had a review on the cover of one of them.
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton;
Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley;
The Queen’s Confession: The Story of Marie Antoinette by Victoria Holt;
Just finished Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer (a great Elizabethan-era pirate adveture)
I’m just finishing up The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer for my GH book club. It was mildly entertaining, but it hasn’t been one of my favorites of hers.
I blew through the second Parasol Protectorate book, Blameless by Gail Carriger. Love, love, LOVE this series! Such a fun blend of steampunk, period romance, paranormal, and mystery.
And I reread the first Stephanie Plum book, One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich. I wanted to refresh my memory on the story since the movie is coming out in July.
I’ve been reading some interesting reviews about a book called “A Discovery of Witches” that’s coming out on Feb. 8th. It’s the debut novel of Deborah Harkness and it’s got a lot of buzz, so I added it to my Amazon wish list.
I highly recommend Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins! It is a young adult romance novel…and a wonderful read!
I just finished My One and Only, the 2011 release of Kristan Higgins. It was, of course, wonderful.
I am also reading (both for a class and for pleasure) the graphic novel Maus.
I am really enjoying One Day by David Nicholls. Great plot twist, and lovely dialogue. The recent romance in three parts by Julia Queen/Connie Brockway/Eloisa James book was fun also.
I’ve been reading The Princess Bride (William Goldman) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson).
The Princess Bride has been one of my favorite movies since I was tiny but I’d never read the book and it’s just wonderful–a lot more acerbic and consciously satirical than the movie, which was more understated in its commentary, I thought.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is pretty creepy and psychologically twisted, if you’re looking for something along those lines. Pretty straight-up American gothic and lots of fun so far.
Finished Julie & Julia this week and it was a great book. It has made me want to cook more. Not that that will happen!! Haven’t had much time to read lately, bummer! Going to start Orchid this weekend and then going to read a book called “Faithful” by Janet Fox that someone here at work loaned me.
I’m working on Americans in Paris, by Charles Glass. It’s about the Americans who were living in/stayed in Paris during the Nazi occupation. (Picked it up when I was in NYC last spring, btw!)
And, whenever Borders deems it appropriate to deliver Orchid Affair to the West Lafayette store, I’ll be dropping everything to read that!
I just finished Dubliners by James Joyce. I had to read it for class, but I still liked it, I suppose. I also recently read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, which is wonderful – hilarious sometimes, profound at others. I adored it.
@Nikki: Reading Julie and Julia made me want to do the same thing, but it hasn’t happened for me either. Oh well.
The Orchid Affair! And a really fascinating biography of the British socialite Idina Sackville, written by her great-granddaughter Frances Osborne.
The Orchid Affair! And a really fascinating biography of the British socialite Idina Sackville, written by her great-granddaughter Frances Osborne, called The Bolter.
Pam, have tried “Haunting of Hill House” yet? It’s also Shirley Jackson (and my standard Halloween re-read). I like it better than “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”– and I still haven’t decided whether it’s really a haunting or a portrait of a mind slowly crumbling.
Allison, how did you get your hands on the new Kristan Higgins??? So. Jealous.
Liz, someone gave me “The Bolter” as a gift last year. How is it?
Not historical or romantic, but a great book set in relative modern time.
Christopher Pike – SATI
Also, Barbara Kingsolver has a series of books
The Bean Tree, Pigs in Heaven, and Animal Dreams. Love them
I am engrossed in Midnight Is a Lonely Place by Barbara Erskine and looking forward to Orchid and (on a different note) Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning.
I have just finished The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley which was fantastic. I also have been working on The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiornato, FLight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier and my first Georgette Heyer, Arabella. All the books have been fantastic!
I’m so glad you have brought this back! I always get great ideas from what everyone else is reading.
I am reading Pride and Prejudice – for my 33rd birthday last year, I resolved to read all of Jane Austen’s novels – I need to get going before May comes around!
I’m also reading For the Love of Mike, the second in the Molly Murphy series by Rhys Bowen and Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell.
Of course, whenever my copy of The Orchid Affair shows up, I will be dropping everything. I can’t wait!
After I finished The Mischief of the Mistletoe last month, I began my current bookclub read, “Birdsong” by Sebastian Faulks. I have had a hard time getting into it and it has taken forever. There are interesting bits. Don’t get me wrong. I’m just not digging it.
I just finished reading “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” to my 6 year old twins and we loved it.
I also have a copy of Georgette Heyer’s “The Black Moth” waiting for after I finish reading Orchid Affair.
Speaking of Orchid Affair, as of 9:45 this morning, the southern Kansas City Barnes and Noble stores still hadn’t received them. I’ll be calling back to check at 2-ish. Oh, the effort I will take to use a gift card.
I loved Agnes and the Hitman. I’m reading their second collaboration “Don’t Look Down”. I’m also reading “And Only to Deceive” by Tasha Alexander.
Well, I just finished “The Orchid Affair”!
Other than that, “The Angel’s Game”, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Clare Darcy’s “Caroline and Julia”, rereading Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles series, and reading “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”, which is quite good so far.
My copy of Orchid is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, which means I need to hurry up and finish Isabel Allende’s Zorro by then! I’ve also got a bio of Alva and Consuelo Vanderbilt that I’ve been reading on and off for awhile—I find it good reading for when I’m between novels. And Everything Rises: a Book of Convergences; it’s a fascinating book of art and essays…
I have fallen in love with Jim Butcher’s series “The Dresden Files”. It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with Raymond Chandler and it’s awesome!
I read Blood Lily and am now reading Once Upon a Scandal by Delilah Marvelle. There is something rather weird about the fact that two books that I’m reading so closely together solely because of their release dates both refer to the same alleged cure for syphillis.
hey Lauren – I read the new Higgins on http://www.netgalley.com. 🙂
I just finished A Game of Thrones–fantasy, which really isn’t my genre, but allegedly inspired by the Wars of the Roses and 100 Years War and since I’m a medievalist … Really enjoyed it, not too fantasy or pseudo-medieval and besides, I’m now ready for the HBO miniseries in a couple of months. And just starting The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins in prep for a theatrical adaptation here in Chicago.
Angie,
HBO miniseries of A Game of Thrones?! Up until now this week has been pretty crappy, thank you for perking it up 🙂
Aside from scientific literature all other reading has been pushed aside for Orchid.
Alexis, yep, miniseries, starting in April I think but it’s up and being pushed on hbo.com. I read a couple of references to it and got a $5 e-copy on borders so I thought I’d give it a try. Really, really enjoyed it.
Henry James, Turn of the screw (and other short stories). Always a fun read
Hi Lauren! I haven’t read The Haunting at Hill House but I’ve always thought it sounded great. I saw that horrible silly movie with Lili Taylor and Catherine Zeta Jones way back when but I assume it has very little to do with the book…
I went on a big Susan Hill (The Woman in Black is her most famous) binge a while ago and did the whole English ghost story thing and now I feel like I should read some American ones so as not to betray the ideals of the Revolution and all that.
Orchid Affair finally arrived (happy birthday to me!) so I’m looking forward to cracking that open later this weekend!
I love netgalley, they are awesome. This week I’ve been on a Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson binge. Werewolves and car mechanics with a heroine far smarter than Sookie Stackhouse. So happy you’re liking Intered with Their Bones Christine.
I’ve been trying to hold off on reading orchid until after the weekend to brighten up a monday so i’ve been reading City of Light by lauren belfer its about Buffalo during the pan am expo in 1901 it is AMAZING the ending was so good.
Arg, I’m sooooo disappointed!!! I pre-ordered my copy from my local bookstore (we live in a small town and 40 miles away from Borders), and it’s not IN. YET.!!! I think the book store is going to call harassment charges on me, because I’ve called several times since the date the book was due to be released (starting with the day previous in hopes that I could finagle the sales clerk to let me have it early :). I’m sure the book will definitely be worth the wait though!
The Unknown Ajax has got to be my favourite Heyer, makes me want to read it again, hope you are enjoying it Lauren. I’m re-reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, even better the second time, and I am Number four which is some nice light fun while I wait for Orchid to arrive in New Zealand.
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Sad sad book but beautifully written so i cant put it down!
Been reading the first book in the Wilder trilogy by Jill Shalvis — Instant Attraction. Read the third part some months ago, so finally glad to get another (and waiting on our illustrious USPS people to ship me the second one!) 🙂
Lois
I just finished “The Fleet Street Murders” by Charles Finch. It is the third in his Charles Lenox mystery series. I really enjoyed them, I am trying to be better about reading books written by men after my husband pointed out I only read books by woman authors! I also have been reading Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series, which I absolutely LOVE!
I found “The Bolter” to be fascinating, especially since I love Suzanne Arruda’s mysteries that also take place in Kenya at the same time. I am currently finishing “A Pirate of Exquisate Mind: The story of Wiliam Dampier”. He was a buccaneer, map maker, all-round fascinating person whom I had never heard of. The husband and wife authors followed in his footsteps and the book reads like a novel. Next up:, Orchid, if it ever gets here !!
To be honest, I dropped all my other books to read this book called The Orchid Affair. I wonder if anyone here heard of it? It’s very good.
I have been reading Juliet by Anne Fortier, Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital by Heidi Squier Kraft, and I just finished the Orchid Affair. Not too long ago I read The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick which was excellent.
I am half-way through The Orchid Affair, and am loving it! (pre-ordered from Barnes & Noble & it showed up on my door-step on the 19th – yeah!) Lauren, I think that is is your best so far. Although, it is hard to beat the “capture” of the Black Tulip scene at the end of Black Tulip.
I have been re-reading the Madoc Rhys series by Charlotte MacLeod (I adore her wit & word-play). And re-reading sereral GH books: Sprig Muslin, The Quiet Gentlman, The Talisman Ring, The Reluctant Widow, and Pistols for Two (her only short-story collection, I think). I got Pistols for Two in a used book store, I don’t know if it has been re-printed.
I am looking forward to reading Steve Hockensmith’s newest “The World’s Greatest Sleuth” (Holmes on the Range series). He is also responsible for “Dawn of the Dreadfuls”, the prequel to “Pride and Prejudice & Zombies”. I always enjoy his books hugely.
Just finished Dracula, My Love by Syrie James. Loved it! I was reluctant to pick up another vampire book, but soon got over. Great book. Can’t wait to read another of her books.
I just finished “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks. I actually picked it up based on a recommendation in a previous thread on this website. 😀 I really liked it! It has a similar framing device to the Carnation books, with a modern-day archaeologist trying to unlock the mysteries of an ancient Haggadah, with flashbacks to the people who created the book. A great read!
as with most others, of course-orchid! am halfway through and loving it. &it has a nice signed bookplate in front, thanks to lauren! i was rereading sense &sensibilty prior to amazon shipping orchid, as i had read sense& sensibility& sea monsters and couldn’t remember some of exactly how the orginal went. and now i want to go re read pistols for two by GH, as it is one of my favorite collections of shortstories; the other being side jobs by jim butcher.