So Many Books...........

I think I will list "books read" each month with a tiny review. I'm not the writer my daughter is, so won't try to give more than a brief outline of the story - as I write it when I've finished each book. So here goes.


 Necessary as Blood - Deborah Crombie - The most recent of Crombie's books, and a good one. Kincaid and Gemma are back again - There is a missing mother, a murdered father and a sweet little girl. Gemma is very taken with the little girl - and Gemma and Kincaid are about to be married - maybe.


A Lonely Death - Charles Todd - This is the first Todd book I've read in a long time. I began to tire of Rutledge and "Hamish" after the first six books, but this was a fast read, and interesting. Someone is killing the young men in a village by garroting, and it looks as if it has something to do with their service in WWI.


Fearful Symmetry - Morag Joss - The second of her books I've read, and to me not as good as the first. This one was funny in places, but the "mystery" took a long time to develop. Sara Selkirk - the heroine of the first book - is a cellist. This story concerns a "community opera" written by an unknown composer, a composer who will remain unknown, and an unruly bunch of performers. Sara and Andrew, who is probably the least involved Detective Inspector I ever read about, are the star-crossed lovers.


A Change in Altitude - Anita Shreve - A couple living in Kenya climb Mt. Kenya. There is a tragic accident that leads to problems with the young couple. A depressing story, not helped by my reading it while down with pneumonia!


Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny - How I do love reading these books! Having lived in Quebec and recognizing some of the locations makes the stories even more interesting to me. This one weaves three threads of mystery - a terrorist plot, finding the burial place of Champlain and discovering a killer.


The Season of Second Chances - Diane Meier - A debut novel about a woman professor who decides to change her life by changing jobs - from teaching at Columbia University to teaching at Amhurst - buys a Victorian house that is a definite fixer-upper - becomes involved with various men and finds her life quite changed. A fun, quick read.


Whistling in the Dark - Lesley Kagen - Another first novel about two little girls in a very dysfunctional family in 1959. Something of a mystery, but more about growing up and discovering life. Not a comfortable read.


Up at the Villa - W. Somerset Maugham - A real change of pace. One of Maugham's well-known short novels about an English woman - a young widow - living in Florence who is trying to decide whether she should accept a proposal from a much older man. She gets into some rather terrible difficulties, and finds she needs the help of a somewhat disreputable younger man. A quick read that was recently made into a movie starring Sean Penn.


Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel - Oh my. This is a great book. Winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2009. Excellent historical novel concerning the reign of Henry VIII during the time Anne Boleyn becomes Queen. Told from the view of Thomas Cromwell. I enjoyed this long book!


The Tiger in the Smoke - Margery Allingham - Written in 1952 this Campion mystery is still intriguing, and not too dated. Campion is older in this story, not as "posh", and not the central character as he is in Allingham's earlier books. 


Silence of the Grave - Arnaldur Indridason - The second of Indridason's Icelandic mysteries I've read. Similar to the Swedish Mankel stories, but this one at least is much less violent and more character-driven. This story concerns Erlandur's daughter, a skeleton discovered in the foundation of a new house and a long-ago mysterious disappearance.


The Fugitive Wife - Peter C. Brown - Good story set in 1900 during the gold rush to Nome, Alaska. A woman fleeing her husband finds adventure, new friends and herself. The hardships of the era are detailed and interesting. The gold fever that hit in the mid-1880's and on up into the 1900's was rather amazing. Some of the characters in this story were actual people enhancing the tale.


The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver - Wow! I'm cheating a bit because this is February 1st and I just finished this wonderful book. I bought Kingsolver's latest novel back in the fall, but kept pushing it aside as I didn't enjoy her last two books very much. This one is terrific. I'm not going to tell anything about it because I think it needs to be discovered by each reader without a review or even telling a bit about what it is about. Just know that it is one of the best I've read in years.

This Body of Lies

It's always satisfying to read a new book by an author you've enjoyed over the years. The first Elizabeth George book I bought was in a book store in Trafalgar Square many years ago. At the time I assumed that George was a British writer since the books were based in England. At any rate, I've always liked her books, although as A Garden Carried in the Pocket noted, the last two weren't as good. I have liked the TV series, but never felt that Lynley was cast properly and Havers was much too pretty! But when I found I could order This Body of Lies from The Book Depository I jumped at it.

It's a hefty book - 594 pages - and it took me a week to read it, even though I stayed up late reading. It is very good. The 'mystery' is quite involved, but the characters make the story.

Now it's on to another author I learned about on a blog - Susan Hill. I've read some of her books already, and this is her latest, I believe - The Shadows in the Street. What fun to have good books waiting on the shelf! And the bonus of bloggers telling about new authors.

Reading Joys

 Lesley gave me a book years ago in which I started writing about the books I had read, but I'm not very disciplined and I soon got 'way behind and quit. When I discovered I was buying and re-reading books I had read years ago I decided the time had come to do better! So this year I've read forty-eight books and have given them a rating and a few brief words telling about the book. It has been something of an eye-opener. I have read mostly mysteries - not thrillers - but have a couple of 'chunkers' mixed in, and one that I just couldn't get into. There have been no non-fiction books, but that is by choice. I'm pretty old, and think that I should just enjoy reading and not try to become too enlightened by what I read. Non-fiction requires a lot of thinking, and I'm more into entertaining books!

 I still try to keep up with the news, and read a news magazine every week, but we have even given up our daily newspaper. This was not my choice, but our paper has become very expensive with very little real 'meat' to it. So dear husband said we should no longer buy it daily. We do get the Sunday paper, and that is one of my favorite times of the week. I love the lazy time of reading every section, and cutting out articles on travel and finance - some that I send to my children - whether they want them or not!

Since I volunteer at our library book sale every week I have a plethora of books to choose from. We have a good library, but can only check out books for two weeks. I usually finish a book within a week or less, but don't like having a deadline. So each week I take books back to be sold, and come home with a bag full of new books. Last week I brought four books home and discovered that one is written by the writer on the top sellers this month - Justin Cronin, the author of The Passage. The book I'm reading now is his second novel, I think, and I'm finding it quite enjoyable. Several weeks ago The Passage was in our "tall books" or trade paperback section and I grabbed it - for $1.00! I'll read it later this year, but after I finish Cronin's The Summer Guest, I'll read another mystery!