Weekly Reading Round-Up
This week, most of my discretionary reading time has been swallowed up by contest entries for a contest I probably shouldn’t name in a category that must also remain nameless. Which means that I can’t list any of it, because it would all be a dead give-away.
Here’s what I can tell you I’ve been reading:
— Anna Campbell, Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed
This had all the classic elements: lady who has been won as a gambling debt (well, it’s her sister who was won, really, but let’s not quibble) forced to surrender herself to the scarred and brooding hero, of questionable parentage, who is wealthy but shunned (in the manner of all the best Judith McNaught heroes), in his storm-ridden, falling down castle. Oh, yes, there’s also an evil cousin. How could I say no?
I seem to remember someone asking a few weeks ago for recommendations for scarred hero stories. You might want to give this one a go!
— Lee Child, editor, Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance
This is MWA’s short story anthology. There are some truly excellent and haunting stories in here. If you liked William Landay’s Defending Jacob
What have you been reading?
I just finished Cynthia Wicklund’s In the Garden of Temptation and was so taken with it that I’m now reading #2 of her ‘In The Garden’ series: In the Garden of Seduction. The stories are Regency romances and the author’s style clearly resonates with my own sense of what I find unique and entertaining. I strongly recommend her.
Fall puts me in the mood for mysteries, so my recent reads are Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie, Hiding from the Light by Barbara Erskine, and Witch by Barbara Michaels. Speaking of Barbara Michaels, there’s a wonderful article online in The Washington Post about Barbara’s 85th birthday celebration — complete with belly dancers, camels, and a hookah! She knows how the celebrate in grand style!
I’ve tackled a couple of Philippa Gregory’s novels this week: The Lady of The Rivers and The Constant Princess. I see spies and treachery afoot around every corner now.
I’m reading the first Amelia Peabody mystery by Elizabeth Peters, Crocodile on the Sandbank. Love how spunky she is!
I’m halfway through 2 books at the moment.. Black ties and lullabies by Jane Graves, which is ok, but nothing spectacular (so far) and a freebie Kindle book called Maids of Misfortune, A Victorian San Francisco Mystery, which I’m enjoying very much!
Next up on my TBR list are Hiss and Hers, the new Agatha Raisin from M.C. Beaton and The Garden Intrigue…. can’t wait!!
Sigh, I wish I had more time to read lately, but no. I finished up Wilkie Collins’s The Frozen Deep and was impressed, very much in the vein of strong but odd heroines that Wilkie was so great at writing.
I than moved onto Terry Pratchett’s Dodger, which is lots of Dickensian London fun. Dodger is a tosher,so lots of times in sewers! Doesn’t sound fun, but it is.
I am reading wool. It is considered sci-fi which I normally do not enjoy but this book is intriguing and well written.
This week I read How to Dance with a Duke by Manda Collins. It was very enjoyable and I am looking forward to the rest of the books in the series. I started J.K Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy but am not sure I am going to finish it. It is very well written, but the story is such a harsh and brutally honest representation of reality that it is a bit much! I am only about 150 pages in and finding it very draining. Has anyone finished it? Is the ending worth another 350 pages? With so many good books out there to read, it is always hard to know whether to finish a book that doesn’t quite work for me!
I read Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer. Rather dull and definitely a mystery! There was a romance, but it was small and not a huge part in the book. Still I enjoyed the detectives and the Pekingese dogs!
Anyway I am really posting in to say I am having the same problem with the causual vacancy as Katie R. I am only 50 pages but her views rang true. I will let you know what I think next week if I am done.