Weekly Reading Round-Up
Happy Friday!
I have so many piles of new books, but I’ve been having such fun revisiting old ones.
Interviewing Marie Benedict at the Strand about The Mystery of Mrs. Christie inspired me to revisit the early Miss Marples. I hadn’t realized what a long time it had been since I read them– or how much the character evolves over the course of the series– until I went back to Murder at the Vicarage and The Body in the Library.
There have been so many Bridgerton-inspired discussions about historical romance recently, and I’ve been enjoying myself tremendously recommending books for those who have never experimented with the genre before– but it also made me realize what a long time it had been since I’d read Jo Beverley. I went back to my first and favorite Beverley, Winter Fire, and found myself completely enthralled by her Georgian world and her sensible heroine. In keeping with the Jo Beverley winter book theme, I skipped from there to one of her Regencies, Christmas Angel, which… was not one of my favorite Beverleys. (Admittedly, Winter Fire sets a very high bar.)
Right now, I’m debating whether to go back to the eighteenth century with Heyer’s Devil’s Cub or actually read one of the books on the towering pile of ARCs I’m meant to be reading.
What have you been reading this week?
Read Sharpe’s Rifles, good Bernard Cornwell military fare, set very early in the Peninsular Wars.
Reading now The Parfit Knight by Stella Riley, Georgian romance and first in her Rockliffe series. Great so far!
Reading Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart and loving it.
That was one of the very first romance/suspense novels I ever read back in high school.
One if my mom’s favorites, which she introduced to me years ago!
Oh, Winter Fire added to my library hold list! I read The Miniaturist, which I didn’t really connect with. Loved the first half but the second half alienated me, so as a palate cleanser I’m reading The Dead of Winter which is set in Colorado during the days of the wild west and is about a husband and wife team of supernatural bounty hunters… so Buffy during the gold rush basically. Had a really good plot twist that makes me can’t wait to finish it. Next up as an ARC of the newest Patricia Briggs book, Wild Sign.
I’ve been immersed in 1930-1940 noir mystery suspense by Leslie Ford. I bought all of her Col. Primrose/Grace Latham novels from ebay. Rue Morgue Press has refused to reprint Ford’s work bacause some of her language as regards race and gender are not currently politically correct. I find rather studpid. Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers were very (to say the least) anti-semitic in their novels from that time period. I tried watching Bridgerton on netflix, but it was too god awful to finish even one episode!
Treated myself to some magazine reading near a fireplace for my birthday weekend… and started the latest Veronica Speedwell (by Deanna Raybourn). And making my way through Pink #1 in anticipation of the book club- annotating and making lots of notes!
Rereading an old favourite, Sea Glass by Anita Shreve.
(It’s so sad, but also, so good.)