Hello from book tour!
One of the best parts of book tour is the long flights. Not because of the airplane coffee or those little cookies in wrappers. No. It’s having five or six uninterrupted hours to read.
As I zigzagged back and forth across the country this week, I read:
— Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers
, about a family from Cameroon seeking a new life in New York right before the financial crisis, with all the ups and downs that entails. The dialect and the details of immigrant life were fascinating, and the way the story played out in the end was not at all what I had expected;
— Kristan Higgins’s Now That You Mention It
. This was my book tour treat to myself. You can never go wrong with a Kristan Higgins novel, and her latest, set on a small island off the coast of Maine, about a doctor returning home to the town she’d fled long ago, was no exception;
— Tana French’s In the Woods
. My original copy of this book was purchased from a book vending machine (best idea ever) at Heathrow an insanely long time ago, but I’d loaned it out and never got it back so…. I did wish I didn’t know who dunnit, but the writing and character development was just as beautifully done a second time around.
And now I’m in a book drought! What should I read next? All suggestions welcome….
What have you been reading this week?
In anticipation of her new one coming out next month, I indulged in a Kristen Hannah reread of Firefly Lane. IMHO no one writes a tear jerker better than Ms. Hannah.
Next up—The English Wife!!! Finally have it in hand and I am READY!
I love Kristin Hannah! Firefly Lane is so good. Did you read Fly Away?
Oh, Tana French is so amazing. The Likeness is my favorite of hers (PhD students in English literature who share a house…go figure), and I highly recommend it if you’ve not read it. She is such an incredible polyglot; I’m in awe of all the different voices she is able to inhabit.
I’ve just started Grave Matter, the third Lady Darby book by Anna Lee Huber, and look forward to spending time with it this weekend.
This week I read Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet, by Charlie N Holmberg (she wrote the Paper Magician series), which was fun. Also my annual re-read of Austen’s Persuasion, and came away this time with a real appreciation for Lady Russell (I love how your experience of the same book can change over time–I used to think or Lady Russell almost as the villain of the piece!). Next, the sequel to Bear& Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower.
I just finished “A Treacherous Curse,” Deanna Raybourn’s latest book, last night. And I’m working on Anna Lee Huber’s first Verity Kent book. I really like them both.
I’ve been searching every room of my house for my old, beat-up copy of The Far Pavilions and I can’t find it anywhere. I have a great longing to read about Ash and Juli again. I guess I’m going to have to order myself a new copy.
Still reading The English Wife? My move from Oregon to Washington this week has prolonged my usual reading time-
But not for long!!
Good luck with the move!
I got the first library copy of The English Wife this week and finished it last night… and now that I know the ending (that ending! Brilliant!) I’m tempted to go back and read it again, looking for the clues I missed the first time.
Others library holds that came in that I read (thus the variety :)) :
The Origin of Others (The Charles Eliot Norton lectures, 2016)- Toni Morrison
Step Aside, Pops (Hark! A Vagrant, #3)- Kate Beaton
Practices of Love: Spiritual Disciplines for the Life of the World- Kyle Bennett
Love Tana French. Reading “I Let You Go” by Clare Mackintosh.
Re reading the entire series of Rei Shimura by Sujata Massey, fun thrillers set in Japan… Love, misteries and yummy food.
Already read The English Wife and loved it (5 stars). Just started Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley since I’m on a 19th century mystery streak about a cook/amateur sleuth.
I’m reading The Dollhouse about the Barbizon Hotel. It goes from present to the 50s. Loving it so far.
I’m still reading More, More France Please by Helena Frith Powell. I’m learning so much more about French culture, the real nuances of it. It’s fascinating!
She’s a Brit living in France, so I love her point of view.
I’m reading If Ever I Should Love You for the Eloisa James book club.
Plan to start Last Christmas in Paris next.
I have been slogging through Ron Chernow’s Hamilton. Very well written, and I love that era, but looong. I took a break and enjoyed the always delightful Miss Read’s Pleasant Retirement.
I’m finally reading KAte Quinn’s The ALice Network. The dialogue is fantastic, the setting amazing, and the story intriguing so far!