June 2013

Stuff I’ve Been Reading

1. Death Comes to Pemberley by James, P. D.
2. Dodger by Pratchett, Terry*
3. East by Pattou, Elizabeth
4. Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, Ray*
5. London Falling by Cornell, Paul
6. The Golem and the Jinni by Wecker, Helene
7. Good Omens by Gaiman, Neil, and Terry Pratchett*
8. Sailing to Sarantium by Kay, Guy Gavriel
9. Lord of Emperors by Kay, Guy Gavriel
10. D.A. by Willis, Connie
11. Cybele’s Secret by Marillier, Juliet

Italics indicate library books, asterisks indicate audiobooks, and I didn’t finish reading (or listening to) numbers 2, 3, and 4. For the reasons of not great as an audiobook, 250 pages longer than it needed to be, and read by a terrible narrator, respectively.

This month I loved the Sarantine Mosaic duology by Guy Gavriel Kay and also highly enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni and Cybele’s Secret. Considering that I moved, ended a job, took a vacation, and started a new and better job, eleven-including-three-audiobooks is a respectable turnout for what was a very eventful month.

Plus I wrote a bit of Chapter Two to a Chapter One I hadn’t touched since March, so that’s good too.

April 2012: 2 of 4

Stuff I’ve Been Reading: April 2012

4. Cover Her Face by P. D. James. This first novel by mystery doyen P. D. James is a classic country house / locked room mystery. However, the detective, Adam Dalgliesh, is not as prominent as I typically like in a mystery novel; the novel’s point of view is sometimes omniscient, whereas I like it to be third person limited, tied largely to the detective’s perspective. Even better if the detective has personal insight beyond official training to help him solve the crime. Here, Dalgliesh is simply good at his job.

5. The Believers by Zoë Heller. Occasionally my husband tolerates me whenever I moan about the horrible decision of choosing which book to read next. In this case, without looking up from his computer screen, he pointed to the bookcase. The Believers turned out to be a pretty good choice; it’s about the deconstruction of a New York family after Joel Litvinoff has a stroke. Rosa, the eldest daughter, skeptically investigates Judaism; Karla, an overweight social worker, finds the courage to have an affair; and the adopted drug addict Lenny escapes his bitter, disillusioned, enabling mother Audrey. This literary fiction book is not about events but characters, who clash and, perhaps, grow.

6. Unnatural Causes by P. D. James. The second Dalgliesh book was much more satisfactory. On vacation, Dalgliesh is plagued by the apparent murder of his aunt’s neighbor, a mystery author who is killed in the manner of a character in his novel draft. The setting and the character of the detective play a greater role in the tale this time; although I deduced whodunit fairly quickly, I enjoyed this read more than the first one.

So long and thanks for all the books

It’s the final five days of the Borders closing sale in the city where we live.  My husband coaxed me down to the store one last time (not that I took much convincing, as I have grading to put off), and we bought thirteen books.  At a final sale price of $55.40, we spent an average of $4.26 a book–a nice number in and of itself.  But since most of the books were 70-80% off, we saved $140.10.

One hundred and forty dollars, people.

Here’s the loot:

• Bernheimer, Kate, ed.  My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales.  A lot of big-name authors have contributed to this collection that has been on my wishlist since its release.
• James, P. D.  Talking about Detective Fiction.  These essays about the art and craft of detection are said to be a must-have for every writer’s shelf.
• King, Laurie R.  Touchstone.  I understand this to be a stand-alone mystery novel (something increasingly difficult to find) by the author of my favorite Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series.
• Makkai, Rebecca.  The Borrower.  I’ve enjoyed Makkai’s short stories every time they appear in the Best American Short Stories series, and I’m very much looking forward to her first novel about a librarian.
• Marillier, Juliet.  The Well of Shades.  This is the third book in a series I haven’t started reading yet.
• McKillip, Patricia A.  The Bell at Sealey Head.  I saw McKillip’s Od Magic at the closing sale and was attracted to the cover art; what was inside was just as pleasurable, and I hope the trend will persist.
• Shakespeare, William.  Henry V.  For the giant price of sixty cents, I picked up a Folger paperback edition of one of my favorite plays.
• Wells, H. G.  The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds.  Though I own two of these novels already, this hardback Everyman’s Library copy has an introduction by Margaret Drabble that I’m quite looking forward to.
• Zipes, Jack, trans.  Little Red Riding Hood and Other Classic French Fairy Tales.  While I’ve read the Norton fairy tales collection with several of these tales included, I couldn’t resist this portable edition with its focus on French tales.

Can’t wait to read them!