Weekly Reading Round-Up
The rain is pouring down today in proper Gothic fashion making today the perfect sort of day to stay in and read ghost stories. (I can totally just not pick up the kids from their schools, right?)
This week, I continued my Miss Silver marathon, with the rather disappointing The Vanishing Point, but made up for it with a brand new T. Kingfisher, The Hollow Places. I would read a phonebook if T. Kingfisher wrote it. (And if people still, you know, used phone books.) In this one, fresh from a divorce, the heroine goes to babysit her uncle’s small town museum of curios and curiosities and discovers that a portal to a dystopian and deadly universe has mysteriously opened in the wall behind some vintage taxidermy. And the fun goes on from there.
What I love about T. Kingfisher’s heroines is that they’re so eminently sensible. If they wind up fighting the powers of evil, it’s because they’re cornered into it and left with no other choice. None of that, ooh! Let’s go take this flickering flashlight and go down the spooky old stair for fun! stuff.
Right now, in keeping with the weather, I’m reading one of my favorite Simone St. James ghost stories, Silence for the Dead, in which a desperate woman takes a job at a secluded mental hospital just after World War I– but finds that it’s not the living who are the real threat.
What have you been reading this week?
I’ve been reading some history this week, The First European Revolution 1776-1815 by Norman Hampson and The French Revolution and Human Rights: a brief documentary history. Before that I read The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde, which was amazing as always.
I didn’t know there was a new Jasper Fforde. Fortunately, my library has it!
Continuing with the Coromoran Strike series, now on #4 Lethal White. Enjoying the extreeemmmmely slow burn element of the relationship between the main protagonists.
Simone St James books seem to me perfect for Halloween–all of them are so creepy & atmospheric. Particular fave continues to be The Haunting of Maddy Clare.
I am reading the 2nd Elly Griffiths book The Janus Stone. I am enjoying this series very much.
I’m finishing up The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellows. I’m really enjoying it.
Sometimes I just feel like rereading an old favorite. I choose the audio book version of
A Year in Provence. I painted, listened to Peter Mayle read his book and fell in love with Provence all over again. There is something special about an author reading their own book.
I’d love if you could send some of that rain my way … only heat and more heat in Southern California.
I adore Simone St James (and Miss Silver 😊). I prefer the WW 1 settings, but all of us are great! I’ve been re-reading Martha Wells Ile-Rien books, starting with The Element of Fire. There is comfort in old favorites.