Weekly Reading Round-Up
What with one thing and another, this is a slightly belated Weekly Reading Round-Up this week! I’ve been revisiting old favorites, Nancy Mitford’s Love in a Cold Climate
I also– moment of gloat!– have a very, very advance copy of the new Susanna Kearsley to read. It’s called A Desperate Fortune and it comes out in spring of next year.
What have you been reading this week?
The Holiday Home, by Fern Britton, great fun, and a “house book”
, but available here only in a very expensive kindle edition (It was left here by my English visitor)
The Dead List, a thriller by James Hall, so -so. I got the killer in the first 8 pages, despite numerous red herrings.
The Disenchanted Widow by C McKenna. I adored The Disremembered Man, but this one not so much. The writing was terrific, but it took a long time to like any of the characters.
Misremembered Man, not dis, excellent book
That Summer!
Am trying to set aside time to finish it today!
Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien and The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson. (This will be something like my 9th Bryson book… The man’s just too prolific!)
Although I did just see that a few of Courtney Milan’s books are on sale at amazon, so perhaps I’ll have to do some shopping.
Actually rereading the Pink Carnation series to be ready to read the new one! On book eight.
Just finished Patrick Taylor’s An Irish Country Girl. It’s in the middle of his Irish Country Doctor series. The series is set in the 60s, but this one is about his housekeeper’s teenage years in the 20s in a small village in Cork. Full of faeries and Irish folklore. I really enjoyed it.
Now I’m reading Louise Allen’s Scandal’s Virgin.
Love all of Patrick Taylor’s Irish Country Doctor series and anxiously await his new release each year, which usually happens in October – the characters are so alive!
Have you read the newest Harriet Vane by Jill Paton Walsh, The Late Scholar? It’s wonderful. I find her books almost as good as the originals. Also re-reading the Georgie series by Rhys Bowen in anticipation of her new one coming out… Guess I should start the Carnations after that…..
I finished the final book in Deborah Harnkess’s All Souls Trilogy. It was ok… just a few too many battles not enough fun history this round.
I’m currently re-read That Summer for the re-along in August. Seriously, I think it’s even better the second time around!
Oh that’s disappointing. I’m slowly chipping away at The Book of Life and I was hoping it would be as good as the first two.
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. I’m at the point where Diana goes to London…..bored out of my mind. I haven’t picked the book up in two days. It reads like a soap opera!
Yes! I agree! So boring. It’s just, well, blah. Also, it doesn’t get better, FYI.
Read the new Evanovich, “Top Secret 21”, Balogh’s “the Escape” (not as good as the 1st 2 survivor novels). Am now reading Grace Burrowes'”The Captive”.
This week I’ve read The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams. She just gets better and better! Also Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison. And 2 Edith Maxwell books in a new series: A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die and
‘Til Dirt Do Us Part. Finishing up Woo’d in Haste by Sabrina Darby. Tomorrow I’ll start Jacqueline Winspear”s The Care and Management of Lies.
A new Susannah Kearsley? Oh boy!
I finished listening to Mary Higgins Clark’s Two Little Girls in Blue.
I am trying to figure out what to read next. Thinking mystery….
Or maybe something summer-themed…
Listening to The Goldfinch which I started with much trepidation because she does not write lovable characters. However, am really enjoying this book ( the narrator is excellent) and would highly recommend. By the way, love Weekly Reading Roundup – it is my go to list for what to read next!
Finished Diane Haeger’s Courtesan – the story of Henri II and his true love Diane de Poitiers – historical fiction at its best. This book was well-researched, extremely well-written with detailed description of the time period (1530’s – 1560 France). There were so many poignant moments. I will read more by her.
Now reading Treachery by S.J. Parris – the 4th book in the series built around true life Italian monk Giordano Bruno, although purely historical/ mystery. So I moved ahead to to 1580’s England during the reign of Elizabeth. Main historical character is Sir Francis Drake. Could not find this book in the US – had to order from Amazon, as it was only published in the UK thus far, but I really needed to get back in touch with Bruno – another great read!
An advance Susanna Kearsley? Super jealous! I read Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan and Euphoria by Lily King. Now I am rereading This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart — my favorite one of hers. 🙂
I finished Susan Elia MacNeal’s third Maggie Hope mystery, His Majesty’s Hope, and am about half way through the fourth, The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent. The series seems to get better and better with each book. They are absolutely gripping and the descriptions of wartime Britain and Germany are so vivid I feel as if I am there.
I have finished That Summer and with apologies to Lauren, I too felt unsatisfied with the ending. But I won’t dwell because I’m looking forward to Midnight Manzanilla! And for all of you who listened to my whining, I finally finished Wolf Hall. Too long and wordy but a fine historical novel, none the less. Hilary Mantel knows her Tudor history and tells a great tale.
I just finished A Talent for Trouble by Jen Turano which is the second of a series of four novels that take place in New York City just before the turn of the 20th century. The author’s heroine is a hoydenish young lady with a far too trusting heart. The hero is an English aristocrat recently returned from China who is under suspicion for being involved in the lucrative opium trade. Having already read #1 in the series, A Change of Fortune, the author’s stock in trade is her use of humor, action, children, and a side-board of characters ranging from eccentric to downright dangerous. Although the series contains 4 volumes, the stories can stand alone as complete reads but, like the Pink Carnation series, characters make appearances in all of her works. Looking forward to reading #3 and #4.
I read The Storied Life of A.J. Firky by Gabrielle Zevon and The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri for the selection committee for our area community read. For fun, I read A Highly Unlikely Scenario by Rachel Cantor, a wonderfully weird little thing that reminded me of a combination of Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store and the Thursday Next series, finished The Bees by Laline Paull, and am now reading Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye. In between I also started Sauntering Vaguely Downward by Nessa Warrin, but I never really get into contemporary romance and I decided there wasn’t much to this one except for the appeal of the setting at Dragon*Con. I *really* don’t get into…. I can’t call it straight romance because that sounds like I mean heterosexual, and not only is that not what I mean, but this is actually M/M. But it’s romance unmixed with other elements where the sole plot is the romance (meaning not romantic adventure, romantic suspense, etc). Anyway, I really don’t get into books that are just romance that also go fade-to-black with the sex scenes.
It’s been a slow reading month for me so far. I read Janet Evanovich’s Top Secret Twenty One. I got a big kick out of Grandma Mazur’s bucket list. I also read part of Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson which takes place during WWI. I’m not sure I’ll finish it. I liked the part I read but I’m not feeling any greater desire to finish and I have a lot of other books calling my name.