So far I’m really enjoying this homage to Agatha Christie’s locked-room mysteries. The setting, the weather, and the mysterious characters make this the next-best-thing to a new Christie novel.
Category: Currently Reading
Finished, Reading, Will Read Next
Finished: The Cabin at the End of the World
Brief Summary: A band of four weirdos show up at the New Hampshire vacation cabin of a married couple, Eric and Andrew, and their daughter Wen. The weirdos tell Eric and Andrew that unless one of them willingly kills the other, the world will end. Are they wackos or visionaries? Who’s getting out of the cabin alive?
My Report: Meh. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you absolutely love horror novels and are looking for something that’s well-written and creepy. I just didn’t love the way it played out.
***
Reading: The Clock Dance
Brief Summary: Willa Drake revisits pivotal moments in her life, beginning with the day her mother disappeared in 1967.
Initial Thoughts: Anne Tyler can do no wrong. Charming and insightful as usual. Tyler is a deceptively thoughtful writer. By that I mean that you almost forget how profound she is because she makes it seem so easy.
***
Will Read Next: The Book of Essie
Why I Put It on My List: It’s about reality TV and a cult-like religion and a female protagonist who begins to question everything. Yes, please.
Currently Reading
“A razor-sharp and deeply felt novel that illuminates the pivotal role of work in our lives […] that captures the emotional complexities of five HR colleagues trying to balance ambition, hope, and fear as their small company is buffeted by economic forces that threaten to upend them.” –Amazon
“So far…meh.” –Me
Finished. Started. Anticipating.
Finished
If you love time travel, history of the Middle Ages, and the black plague, you must read this book immediately.
It could’ve used a stronger editor because it was a little bloated at times. I can forgive that, though, because the characters were solid and the research really brought this time period to life.
I’m not sure I’ll tackle the sequels right away, but I really did enjoy reading this one.
Started
Oh, how I love a good unreliable narrator. I’m only about 15% into this one, but the sociopathic narrator is exactly the kind of manipulative mind I like to examine from afar.
Reviewers are calling it dark. It absolutely is. If you don’t like the kind of psychological thrillers that mess with your head, this one isn’t for you.
So far, it reminds me a bit of You: A Novel by Caroline Kepnes.
Anticipating
I have this on hold from the library. I know nothing about it except the blurb below.
“They were on a lark, three teenage girls speeding across the greens at night on a “borrowed” golf cart, drunk. The cart crashes and one of the girls lands violently in the rough, killed instantly. The driver, Jo, flees the hometown that has turned against her and enrolls at a prestigious boarding school. Her past weighs on her. She is responsible for the death of her best friend. She has tipped her parents’ rocky marriage into demise. She is ready to begin again, far away from the accident.”
I’m pretty sure I heard about it from Liberty Hardy on the All the Books podcast. She rarely steers me wrong!
Birthday Haul
The best part of being a book lover is having book-loving friends. It was my birthday last week, and I got exactly what I wanted: Books (and a nap).
Here’s what I’ll be reading next:
Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent (present to myself from myself)
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Penance by Kanae Manato
Choose Your Own Adventure by Dana Schwartz
Vacation Time!
I’m on vacation next week, and my reading list has been determined by the holds that just came in from the library. So here’s what I hope to read next week:
I cheated and started The Good Daughter last night; it scared the liver out of me. After the first 10% I decided that maybe I didn’t have the constitution to keep reading it. I put it down and turned out the lights. Ten minutes later I got up and starting reading more. So I guess I’m in this one for the long-haul, even though the book is deeply disturbing and I fully intend to have nightmares for a week.
Cheers!
Currently Reading
I’ve been reading less this week than last, in part because I’m in the midst of a few large writing tasks. But I did finish two books: The Queen and I and The Last Mrs. Parrish. I liked certain things about both of them, but I have a couple of rants to make, especially about The Last Mrs. Parrish. A review is coming.
I started two more:
And received July’s Book-of-the-Month from my club of one member (me):