Weekly Reading Round-Up

There’s something about crisp fall weather and new (or new to me) books that just go together. This week, I’ve dipped into:

— Laurie King’s Pirate King. I leapt over several intervening books to get to this one, but how could any lifelong Pirates of Penzance fan resist the lure of Pirates AND Mary Russell? For context, the very first show I ever saw on Broadway was the Keven Klein Pirates of Penzance when I was four years old– after which I regularly embarrassed my parents by stripping to my frilly petticoat at parties, announcing I was Mabel, and warbling “Poor Wand’ring One”. Sadly, singing G&S songs at parties is not a habit that has entirely gone away with age. I do still have to go back and read the earlier books in the series, but this one can absolutely be read out of order, and is a great deal of tongue and cheek fun. Highly recommended for other fans of G&S and for Miss Gwen, who would have adored Mary Russell. (By a Miss Gwen definition of “adore”, i.e. grimly approve.)

— Louise Miller’s The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living, about a purple-haired pastry chef from Boston who relocates to a small inn in rural Vermont. They had me at the blurb that said, “Okay, it’s Gilmore Girls.”

And now I’m thinking about doubling back and reading Book 2 in Laurie King’s Mary Russell series…

What have you been reading this week?

10 Comments

  1. Gayle Mills on November 17, 2017 at 11:51 am

    Love the Mary Russell series!! I am starting A Strange Scottish Shore by Juliana Gray.

    • DJL on November 17, 2017 at 3:09 pm

      A Strange Scottish Shore was so good!

  2. LynnS on November 17, 2017 at 1:58 pm

    I’m still in the midst of Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft. (It’s 600 pages; it’s gonna take me awhile.) I also read How to Find Love in a Bookshop, which I loved.

    • Freya on November 17, 2017 at 2:48 pm

      Lynn, Romantic Outlaws looks intriguing — thanks for mentioning it! I’m going to track it down. (When I was a history grad student long ago, I invented the idea of “couples biographies”. Now people are actually writing them — I claim the credit.)

  3. DJL on November 17, 2017 at 3:12 pm

    I love the Mary Russell series (I first started it in the autumn, so this time of year makes me think of it). I am woefully far behind, but Pirate King sounds awesome!
    I’m continuing with the Merry Folger Nantucket mystery series, very even and good. Also picked up Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, which is a retelling of a Russian fairy tale set in Soviet time period…sounded interesting. We’ll see!

  4. Jean on November 17, 2017 at 3:29 pm

    Finishing up The Bookshop on the Corner today so looking here for what to read next.

  5. Lauren H on November 18, 2017 at 12:10 pm

    This week I’ve been reading Greygallows by Barbara Michaels, Anne Perry’s first William Monk novel, the Face of a Stranger, and on Wednesday I received a book I won from Goodreads last month, called The English Wife. My schedule has been nuts this week so I haven’t been able to read more than a few pages but I’m so excited about being off work this weekend and being able to binge on it! I have a feeling I’m going to love Janie.

  6. Joan on November 19, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    I’ve been reading (and in some cases re-reading) several Phyllis Whitney novels from the 60’s and 70’s. Thunder Heights, Spindrift, Winter People and Snowfire. I’m enjoying very much.

    • Randi Riddle on November 20, 2017 at 1:47 am

      Phyllis Whitney is always a good read! I have reread her books so many times!

  7. Rachel Adrianna on November 19, 2017 at 3:58 pm

    I received Pirate King for Christmas several years ago and stayed up all night finishing it! This week has been the new Lady Emily, Death in St. Petersburg (AMAZING!) and Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue (AMAZING!).

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