Weekly Reading Round-Up
Happy Friday, all!
I started the week with a recent thriller: Sarah Vaughn’s Based on a True Story, in which an elderly and beloved children’s book author summons her family, friends, and colleagues for a 70th birthday bash at her newly purchased (and, of course, isolated and cliffside) estate in Cornwall, while a BBC documentary crew comes along to film a retrospective of her long and storied career. But is anything about the author, the party, and the guests what they seem?
After that, it was back to my beloved Mary Stewart with Madam, Will You Talk and Wildfire at Midnight. Confession: some Mary Stewarts I’ve pretty much memorized, but I tend to avoid Madam, Will You Talk. It annoyed me the first time I read it and I never forgave it. On a reread, there are still aspects that annoy me (well, one major aspect– if you know the book, we can discuss!), but there was so much of her signature wit on display that I’ve revised my opinion up.
I rounded out the week with two cozies by a new to me author, Faith Martin, starting with the first in her new Oxford Detective Society series, The Oxford Detective Society, in which a biographer finds herself digging up old and unsuspected crimes when she’s hired to reinvestigate the legacy of a woman history has written off as a posh rock ‘n roll groupie who committed suicide in her own lily pond. Or did she?
The second book isn’t out yet, so I picked up one of her older books, The Lavender Lady, about a forty year old widow who joins a ghost-hunting team as a favor to a friend. I never can resist a ghost hunt…. (Also, the cover features a grand stone house. You cannot expect me to resist a book with a grand stone house on the cover.)
What have you been reading this week?
Madam, Will You Talk is a forever fave; the French setting, the superb pacing, the perfect use of ‘exit, pursued by bear’…chef’s kiss. My absolute favorite of hers is This Rough Magic (all the Tempest quotations, with the Much Ado nod at the end, just elevates that one for me) but The Moonspinners gets Honorary Best as the first work of hers that I ever read (thanks to my mother, from whom I always get best book recs). I do love when authors use quotations at the start of chapters (it’s a thing for me) and looking back I believe I can place the blame squarely on Mary Stewart!
Yes! I trace my love of quotations at the beginning of chapters to “Nine Coaches Waiting”, which was my first Stewart and still my favorite. My Stewart hierarchy has bounced around over the years: I loved “Touch Not the Cat” as a teen, and then went eh on it; hated “Ivy Tree” when I first read it and now count it as a frequent re-read…. But I love how rich her books are that they can read differently to you at different points in your life.
I love Mary Stewart and used to sneak read in algebra class while the nun was distracted at the chalk board. Madame Will You Talk and Nine Coaches Waiting were top of my list (anything at that time set in France fascinated me). I really love all her books though except the merlin stuff–not my cup of tea!
I read the “found document” book by Leigh Bardugo in her Grishaverse, “A Darker Shore: Letters from Ketterdam” which was sold as a mystery, but really isn’t. I enjoyed seeing my old fictional friends and the cool cards and pictures included made up for a lack of plot. Now I’m reading a book on the history of Masterpiece Theatre. I don’t have much hope for it as there are already many inaccuracies. How could you mislabel a picture of Brian Blessed!?!
I adore Mary Stewart! I discovered her novels in high school and quickly tore through her entire catalog. I’ve been re-reading several lately. Madam Will You Talk has always been a favorite, along with This Rough Magic and Nine Coaches Waiting. I just finished listening to the audiobook of Airs Above the Ground and absolutely loved it this time.
I also have been reading what I can find from Hazel Holt per your recommendation and am enjoying her work also.