What with working away on The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla and a certain little someone deciding that sleep was highly overrated, there hasn’t been much in the way of recreational reading for me this week. But a box of books I was waiting for just arrived, so stay tuned….
I just finished The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah. Wow! If you are a Susanna Kearsley fan you will like this book. About to start the second book in Anne Perry’s WWI series.
So glad you liked Exile of Sara Stevenson, Pat. I think you would enjoy Angel of Blythe Hall, too – same beautiful writing with some interesting historical events. Is Anne Perry’s WWI series good? I have read two of her Christmas books Also, loved The Walnut Tree (Charles Todd), another book set during WWI.
Philippa Gregory’s The White Princess, not so great, but the characters were very unsympathetic anyway.
I read a fabulous find, Miss Buncle’s Book by DE Stevenson. A woman writes a novel based on her own village, and mayhem ensues when her neighbors read it. Great fun, reminded me of Miss Read.
More Dr Who books… but I’m also reading The Island of Dr. Moreau for book club. Love the descriptions of the island, soon to be followed by re-watching the cheesey Val Kilmer movie, you know, before he expanded like Carey Elwes.
I am on a nonfiction kick. Just finished “The Boys in the Boat.” An amazing true story of the 1936 US Olympic rowing team that won gold in Berlin. Really incredible story and very well written. Then, “Prairie Bitch” by Allison Arngrim. The true story of the girl who played Nellie Olsen on the “Little House on the Prairie” TV series. Funny, sad, insightful. Highly recommended.
For me? “The Real Jane Austen”. For my book club? “The Book Thief”. “Book Thief”? Hard to read and a bit depressing. “Real Jane…”? Best biography I’ve read in ages.
Well let’s see…
I read
All He Ever Desired by Shannon Stacey. It was good, but the ending seemed a bit rushed. I wouldn’t start here in the series.
One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer Fleming
Not happy with the ending or the series…
and finally
I read Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Excellent even if that ending was a bit sad.
We are about half way through the group of Mansfield Park over at Pemberley. I’m still amazed at the rich detail that comes out of this particular novel, even after after perticipating in an earlier group read!
I also read the novella Flight of Fancy by Catherine Gayle and I’m now into another in her Bexley-Smyth series Rhyme and Reason. Light-hearted easy reading.
I am being very retro-mystery right now. After reading Agatha Christie’s “Murder is Easy” (1939) for the first time, I ran across a few Mary Roberts Rinehart mysteries that I had not read yet. I just finished “The Yellow Room” (1945), and I will soon read “The Album” (1933). Mary RR wrote mysteries during the first half of the 20th century: 1908 through the 1950’s. She is both fun and scary, and her stories are usually full of complex relationships, intricate plots, and period detail. Right now, I am in the middle of Edmund Crispin’s “Burried for Pleasure” (1949), which is complex and full of laughs.
I just love the period detail available in well-written contemporary mysteries written decades ago … so many changes! One of the clues in “The Yellow Room” involved a pitcher, and the accompanying set of bedroom china (pitcher, basin, mug, and the “unmentionable” chamber pot), that had been replaced “a few years ago” when upstairs bathroom had been put in. Thankgoodnessformodernplumbing! Also, the large numbers of telephones removed from private use during WWII … they were owned by the phone company then
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson, because I’ve just got such a writer-crush on him. I’m not that far in yet, but so far it’s discussed in great detail American aviation and Charles Lindbergh, and baseball/Babe Ruth. It’s excellent.
Just finished reading The Jackal’s Head and Legend in Green Velvet, two of Elizabeth Peters’ stand alone novels. I just can’t resist a good Elizabeth Peters book. And now I’m rereading The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen since it is set in my home state during the fall.
Just finished Dracula and am glad I finally read this classic. I’m particularly awed by Stoker’s weaving of the story through journal, diary, and letter entries, and his ability to present believable female dialogue and feelings. It’s a real turn off when male writers create dialogue for their female characters that is just too unreal. I had previously read Dracula, My Love by Syrie James and then Deanna Raybourn’s The Dead Travel Fast before Dracula – all three of these go well together. Am now going to enjoy Deanna’s Julia and Nicholas novella.
If you like the Dracula stories, you might want to try The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. It looks at the Dracula story from more recent times, and I thought it was fabulous. Now I’m inspired to read Dracula, since I haven’t read it yet.
Thanks, Alexis. Is it extremely graphic with the violence? I believe I read something about it and stayed away from it because I got that impression – I do have a squeamish stomach. But I will look into it after Christmas. Another very well done vampire story is Nocturne, also by Syrie James – well-written and the characters are so engrossing.
I just finished The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah. Wow! If you are a Susanna Kearsley fan you will like this book. About to start the second book in Anne Perry’s WWI series.
So glad you liked Exile of Sara Stevenson, Pat. I think you would enjoy Angel of Blythe Hall, too – same beautiful writing with some interesting historical events. Is Anne Perry’s WWI series good? I have read two of her Christmas books Also, loved The Walnut Tree (Charles Todd), another book set during WWI.
Philippa Gregory’s The White Princess, not so great, but the characters were very unsympathetic anyway.
I read a fabulous find, Miss Buncle’s Book by DE Stevenson. A woman writes a novel based on her own village, and mayhem ensues when her neighbors read it. Great fun, reminded me of Miss Read.
I’ve been reading Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin all week.
Just read Sisterland, by Curtis Sittenfeld, and re-reading my Jen Lancaster collection.
More Dr Who books… but I’m also reading The Island of Dr. Moreau for book club. Love the descriptions of the island, soon to be followed by re-watching the cheesey Val Kilmer movie, you know, before he expanded like Carey Elwes.
That made me laugh so hard! Seriously though, what happened to Val? He was pretty hot in “The Saint,” and then… a balloon. So sad.
I know Alice, I still weep over it.
I am on a nonfiction kick. Just finished “The Boys in the Boat.” An amazing true story of the 1936 US Olympic rowing team that won gold in Berlin. Really incredible story and very well written. Then, “Prairie Bitch” by Allison Arngrim. The true story of the girl who played Nellie Olsen on the “Little House on the Prairie” TV series. Funny, sad, insightful. Highly recommended.
For me? “The Real Jane Austen”. For my book club? “The Book Thief”. “Book Thief”? Hard to read and a bit depressing. “Real Jane…”? Best biography I’ve read in ages.
Well let’s see…
I read
All He Ever Desired by Shannon Stacey. It was good, but the ending seemed a bit rushed. I wouldn’t start here in the series.
One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer Fleming
Not happy with the ending or the series…
and finally
I read Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Excellent even if that ending was a bit sad.
We are about half way through the group of Mansfield Park over at Pemberley. I’m still amazed at the rich detail that comes out of this particular novel, even after after perticipating in an earlier group read!
I also read the novella Flight of Fancy by Catherine Gayle and I’m now into another in her Bexley-Smyth series Rhyme and Reason. Light-hearted easy reading.
I am being very retro-mystery right now. After reading Agatha Christie’s “Murder is Easy” (1939) for the first time, I ran across a few Mary Roberts Rinehart mysteries that I had not read yet. I just finished “The Yellow Room” (1945), and I will soon read “The Album” (1933). Mary RR wrote mysteries during the first half of the 20th century: 1908 through the 1950’s. She is both fun and scary, and her stories are usually full of complex relationships, intricate plots, and period detail. Right now, I am in the middle of Edmund Crispin’s “Burried for Pleasure” (1949), which is complex and full of laughs.
I just love the period detail available in well-written contemporary mysteries written decades ago … so many changes! One of the clues in “The Yellow Room” involved a pitcher, and the accompanying set of bedroom china (pitcher, basin, mug, and the “unmentionable” chamber pot), that had been replaced “a few years ago” when upstairs bathroom had been put in. Thankgoodnessformodernplumbing! Also, the large numbers of telephones removed from private use during WWII … they were owned by the phone company then
Sorry! The last few sentences got a little weird when I tried to edit that last bit through my on-screen keyboard … no arrow keys!
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson, because I’ve just got such a writer-crush on him. I’m not that far in yet, but so far it’s discussed in great detail American aviation and Charles Lindbergh, and baseball/Babe Ruth. It’s excellent.
Just finished reading The Jackal’s Head and Legend in Green Velvet, two of Elizabeth Peters’ stand alone novels. I just can’t resist a good Elizabeth Peters book. And now I’m rereading The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen since it is set in my home state during the fall.
Just finished Dracula and am glad I finally read this classic. I’m particularly awed by Stoker’s weaving of the story through journal, diary, and letter entries, and his ability to present believable female dialogue and feelings. It’s a real turn off when male writers create dialogue for their female characters that is just too unreal. I had previously read Dracula, My Love by Syrie James and then Deanna Raybourn’s The Dead Travel Fast before Dracula – all three of these go well together. Am now going to enjoy Deanna’s Julia and Nicholas novella.
Betty,
If you like the Dracula stories, you might want to try The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. It looks at the Dracula story from more recent times, and I thought it was fabulous. Now I’m inspired to read Dracula, since I haven’t read it yet.
Thanks, Alexis. Is it extremely graphic with the violence? I believe I read something about it and stayed away from it because I got that impression – I do have a squeamish stomach. But I will look into it after Christmas. Another very well done vampire story is Nocturne, also by Syrie James – well-written and the characters are so engrossing.