Weekly Reading Round-Up
Hello from book tour! I’ve been having the best time roaming the country talking about The Summer Country (if I saw you on the road this week, hi! And if you’re in Chicago, come see me tonight at 57th Street Books! But I digress).
The other great thing about book tour? Tons of travel time to read.
This week, I re-read Mary Stewart’s Wildfire at Midnight, one of her classic 1950s stories of romantic suspense, set in Scotland in the outer Hebrides. I adore her writing, as always, but I do have some issues with the heroine’s relationship with her ex-husband (i.e. why she immediately suspects him of murder). Fellow Mary Stewart fans, discuss?
Then I moved on to the new novella from Ben Aaronovitch, October Man, which is sort of like Rivers of London in Germany, with Rivers, but no London. It’s as fun and clever as the books, once I got used to the idea that the viewpoint character wasn’t Peter Grant.
Right now I’m reading Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and wondering what on earth took me so long.
Thinking ahead, for my long flight home from Arizona on Sunday, I have Karen White’s The Christmas Spirits of Tradd Street stashed away in my bag (please do not try to rob my luggage, serious Karen fans– I’ll do a give away when I’m done reading it!)
What have you been reading this week?
If you’re at a loss for books, good news! The English Wife, my last stand alone novel, set in Gilded Age New York, is currently on sale for $2.99 across all e-book platforms. I’m not sure how long the sale will last, so get ’em while they’re reduced! You can find it on Kindle
Meanwhile, if you happen to be in Chicago, Scottsdale, or New York over the next few days, I’ll be speaking in Chicago tonight (57th Street Books in Hyde Park at 6:00), Scottsdale AZ tomorrow (The Poisoned Pen at 2:00), and my hometown New York on Monday (86th Street B&N, 7:00).
Hope to see you on the road or on the internet!
Just started Queen Bee by Dorothea Benton Frank! I have the English Wife on my nightstand so it will be on my reading list this summer.
This week I finished The Summer Country, and now I’m reading The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan. It starts in 1793 with this gentleman who fancies himself a scientist advertising for somebody to live in isolation two floors underground for seven years.
Just beginning The Savior by J R Ward.
I just finished Heads You Win by Jeffery Archer and The Pines by Barney Crouch. I am listening to The Devil’s Triangle by Catherine Coulter.
Finished “Resistance Women” by Jennifer chiaverini and loved it. I liked how the book begins in the early 1930’s so you get a sense of how Hitler slowly crept into German society. Then “The Girl He Used to Know” by Tracy Garvis Graves. It was ok. I liked how the heroine was autistic which added a different layer. However I found the book rather ho hum as I felt the past and present stories were exactly the same.
Seriously, as I said last night, SO GLAD you’re reading a loving The Night Circus, it’s a favorite. Also, you now have me wanting to read Wildfire at Midnight, because I have a friend actually visiting the outer Hebrides at the moment… I’m finishing up Ruth Ware’s The Death of Mrs. Westaway, and it’s really picking up, sadly had to go to sleep so didn’t get to finish it last night. Next for my fiction read I think the newest Flavia De Luce is in order… while for non-fiction I’m reading the new Edward Gorey bio, Born to be Posthumous.
I’m reading Leigh Bardugo’s Wonder Woman: Warbringer. What an incredible backstory for the beloved Wonder Woman; I feel like I’m really getting to know the iconic superhero who in the story starts off a the age of seventeen.
Love Mary Stewart. Always felt, in Wildfire at Midnight, that though the two mains actually start off further along than many of her couples (having married and divorced before story starts), they don’t actually know each other all that well, so heroine is more willing to believe…almost anything about hero.
I had problems with the attitude to cheating (forgo your pride or lose your husband!). The hero in the book had just gone through over 5 years of a grueling war (England was in from 1939 until 1945). The heroine was 18 or 19 and very glamorous LOOKING, but she was just an inexperienced kid. Neither of them knew how to cope. Wildfire was not one of my favorite Mary Stewart novels. Much preferred Nine Coaches Waiting and Airs Above The Ground. I just finished the 4th Lady Montford mystery by Tessa Arlen and have enjoyed all of them. Hoping she continues the series.