Weekly Reading Round-Up

My Halloween treat this year was re-reading Simone St. James’s The Broken Girls, which was, impossibly, even better on a second read. I never thought I’d love anything as much as Simone St. James’s 1920s ghost stories (Because, 1920s. And ghost stories. Enough said.), but this modern/1950s dual timeline story is even better. It comes out in March, so snatch it up when it appears!

I felt like I gave Halloween short shrift this year (usually I do more theme reading), so I followed that up with a suggestion from the comments here and read Donna Andrews’s Lord of the Wings, a Halloween entry in her Meg Langslow series set in murder-beset Caerphilly, VA. That place is beginning to rival Midsomer County or Cabot Cove for body count! I lost track of the series a while ago (if you haven’t read it yet, the first one, Murder with Peacocks, is excellent and still snort-out-loud funny), but Meg’s world is easy to hop in and out of, even when you’ve missed, oh, ten books or so along the way.

Right now, I’ve succumbed to one of my periodic Mary Stewart urges and am re-reading one of my all time favorite books, Nine Coaches Waiting, which is and will always be the perfect Gothic novel.

After that… something new, I think. But I’m not sure what yet.

What have you been reading this week?

10 Comments

  1. Freya on November 3, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    I’m yearning to read The Broken Girls. Meanwhile, I’ve been rereading Sarah Waters’s utterly brilliant Fingersmith. It’s one of those novels that I read over and over, just because I want to get into its dark, lush, Wilkie Collins-gothic world. I’m also reading The Seance by John Harwood. I was enthralled by Constance’s narrative, but now that the narrator has switched to John Montague, I feel my enthusiasm waning a bit.

  2. Jean on November 3, 2017 at 2:25 pm

    Having finished Death in Nantucket, I’m reading The Bookshop at Water’s End by Patti Callahan Henry.

  3. Heather H. on November 3, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    Due to schoolwork, and the wedding of my boyfriend’s best friend yesterday, I’ve only been able to read one book. Luckily, it’s a pretty interesting one: “Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch” by Sally Bedell Smith. I recently binged “The Crown,” so I’m indulging the craving of learning more about the current British monarchy.

    • Tara on November 4, 2017 at 6:37 am

      I absolutely loved that book! And, I loved The Crown as well (Season 2 comes out December 8th)! I read anything good I can get my hands on about the British Royal Family. They are utterly fascinating to me.

  4. Miss Eliza on November 3, 2017 at 6:05 pm

    I’ve been reading Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber for book club… a very uneven set of short stories, some so short they are literally a page. The title story is good, but so far the only other one I liked was about a vampiress.

  5. Christina Karnes on November 3, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    I’m so jealous you’ve already gotten to read Broken Girls. I adore Simone.

    Today I bought all the Mary Stewart’s for my Kindle. I’ve only read Madam Will You Talk? because she is hard to find at the library. I’ll ration them out to myself 😉 I haven’t had much reading time this week. I’m trying to finish Thr Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian & A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas before I see them at Texas Book Festival on Sunday.

    • Miss Eliza on November 4, 2017 at 3:37 am

      Christina, if you have time go see Natasha Pulley. I saw her at the Wisconsin Book Festival tonight and she was lovely, historical fiction with fantastical elements, she’ll be there too!

  6. DJL on November 4, 2017 at 1:38 am

    Hurray for Lord of the Wings! That’s a fav of mine for Halloween. FYI, Donna Andrews releases another Meg Langslow set at Christmas this year, titled How the Finch Stole Christmas!
    Mary Stewart is also grand, This Rough Magic is my fav of hers, but Nine Coaches Waiting is awesome, too.
    Alas, not much reading time this week, hopefully will have more next week.

  7. Amy on November 4, 2017 at 3:35 am

    I read the new Tessa Dare (the Duchess Deal).
    Wild Ride (Crusie/Meyer) as a Halloween read.
    And in honor of Halloween I’m continuing reading Nora Roberts’ In The Garden trilogy. (Lauren you would love these.)

  8. Sheila on November 4, 2017 at 10:53 am

    Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin was a fun romp, with some magical shape-shifting.

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