Weekly Reading Round-Up
Happy Friday, all!
I started the week with Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, in which a librarian is driven out of her cozy berth in the library by a rebellion in the capitol, along with her talking spider plant and a pile of rescued spell books. Returning to her remote home island, she has to figure out how to make a life for herself with the resources at her disposal– and some help from unexpected friends. This was absolutely a warm hug of a book and reminded me a great deal of The Boxcar Children, if the Boxcar Children were using magic to grow giant raspberry bushes instead of foraging for blueberries. But there’s that same satisfaction out of making something out of very little and seeing it flourish.
After that, I moved on to the latest in the Marlowe Murder Club series, The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts, which was a thoroughly satisfying installment, including upsets at the local constabulary, a murdered footballer and thriller writer, and finally, finally learning just what happened in Judith’s past…. If you haven’t read these yet, go back and start with Book 1, The Marlowe Murder Club.
From one English village to another, it was back to my Miss Silver-a-thon with Books 30 and 31, The Fingerprint and The Alington Inheritance. One left, and then I’m going to have to pick another vintage cozy series to chain read!
What have you been reading this week?
Oh, I NEED to know what happened in Judith’s past, I can’t wait! The Spellshop made in my top ten of last year. It’s just a warm hug of a book with found family, some of which are plants. Still on my Deborah Harkness All Souls binge.
Finished The Far Pavilions, which I absolutely loved–with exception of the last page…the hand wave of an ending (hopefully happy? amidst all the potential pitfalls of illness/climate/local populace, who can say?) struck me as a bit abrupt.
Now doing a read of MM Kaye’s Shadow of the Moon, again set in 19th century India, and also reading nonfiction Raj by Lawrence James. Both goid so far!