I’m going to be back to the writing cave shortly with revisions on the Barbados Book, but, in the meantime, it’s such bliss to get to dive into other people’s fiction– new fiction, not books I’ve read a hundred times before. (I tend to stick to old favorites when I’m writing.)
To kick off my reading binge, I began with Amy Poeppel’s Limelight
, a humorous contemporary novel about a Dallas mom and teacher who moves to New York and finds herself, by a twist of chance, personal assistant, aka surrogate mom, to a sulky bad boy pop star turned reluctant Broadway actor. It was funny, but meaningful, too, and with the rare sense that the ending of the book wasn’t predetermined, but was genuinely up in the air throughout.
From modern Broadway, I’ve moved to Winthrop Island in the 30s, 50s, and 60s with Beatriz Williams’s latest, The Summer Wives
(now a New York Times bestseller!). What can I possibly say? As always, it’s intensely atmospheric and gripping; you feel as though you’re living in the space with the characters, a cigarette in one hand, a coupe of bubbly in the other, and the brine of the sea air strong around you.
What have you been reading this week?
Rereading Susanna Kearsley favorites . . . The Winter Sea, Marianna, et al.
I loved both Limelight and The Summer Wives. I’m reading Beck Dorey-Stein’s From The Corner of the Oval now and she is a wonderful writer.
Summer Wives was sooooooo good. I frequently say “this is my new favorite Beatriz book!” whenever she releases a new one, but this one will be really hard to top.
Just finished listening to The Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham and Death Match by Lincoln Child. Long road trip! And I just finished finished reading The Beekeeper’s Daughter by Santa Montefiore.
Re-reading The Hound of the Baskervilles for Book Club, but then I’m playing on reading Tasha Alexander’s Tears of Pearl and J.K. Rowling’s Career of Evil.
I finally started Susan Elia MacNeal’s Maggie Hope series and I love it! Fast paced and wonderful (and scary) suspense. I highly recommend these books as a summer read! And for those of you that may have loved Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand be sure to read The Summer Before The War. Less humorous than Major Pettigrew but such a beautiful story about the small town of Rye – on the English Channel – and the residents as they respond to the beginning of WWI. Helen Simonson definitely has a special touch with her characters.
Discovered Dorothy Cannell with The Thin Woman, a murder mystery from the 1980s that was tea-snortingly funny from start to finish (that particular brand of British snark is hard to top).
Also discovered Mimi Matthews, whose1860s English romances, The Viscount and the Vicar’s Daughter & The Lost Letter were excellently written, well researched entertainment.
Also returned to Westeros via A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which was great adventure and left me wanting more.
A good week!
“The Thin Woman” is one of my all time favorites! Also her “Down the Garden Path”.
I’ve been on an Old World-Arabian kick, so I’ve read Renee Ahdieh’s duology The Wrath and the Dawn followed by The Rose and the Dagger; both were amazing! Love, magic, storytelling like in Arabian Nights, and sword-fights!
Next, I read Roshani Chokshi’s The Star-Touched Queen, and now I am reading the sequel The Crown of Wishes. Excellent kick-butt heroines, complex and touching love stories, and Eastern mythology all wrapped into one incredible series.
I am reading the Bibliophile mysteries by Kate Carlisle. So far I have read Homicide In Hardcover, If Books Could Kill and The Lies That Bind. Next up is Murder Under Cover. I’m really enjoying these cosies set in modern San Francisco.