Halloween Treats

Now this is the sort of Halloween treat I like--no calories, hours of entertainment and they were even inexpensive.  The top three are second hand books and the bottom two were freebies.  I've been accumulating them over the past few weeks.  Top to bottom:

An Imperfect Lady by Sarah Harrison - More Edwardian family drama.  I've been enjoying The Flowers of the Field so much, I had to look for more of her books.  Another comfort read, and I still am waiting for one other book by her to arrive in the mail.  Check out her website here.

Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard - I read her Cazalet Chronicles years ago (wonderful--and am due for a reread soon), and only recently discovered she had written a memoir.  It sounds like she had quite an eventful life, so this should be good.

Rosamond Lehmann by Selina Hastings - Another biography that looks very good (I'm very  much in the mood for biographies at the moment, so I had better get back to Emily Post, so I can progress on with the rest that are now staring at me expectantly).  The Spectator calls this "utterly gripping" and the blurb says the life of Lehmann was "as romantic and harrowing as any of her fictional heroines".

Goldengrove by Francine Prose - The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this.  I have never read Prose, but she is an author I always mean to get to (I have one or two of her older books waiting for me), but I will start with her newest.  It has been compared to Henry James's The Awkward Age and L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between (I haven't read the James, but I've started the Hartley, which so far has been excellent).

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson - I lucked out and won a copy of this from Tara (again, many thanks).  I have a little catching up to do here.  I really liked Case Histories, but I haven't yet gotten around to One Good Turn (it's in the pile!).  They both sound good, so I can't wait to read them.

Happy Halloween all--I hope you get only treats, too, and no tricks!

Comments

[Andi]

That's my kind of Halloween!

[Danielle]

Andi--Wouldn't it be fun to go trick or treating and get books in your goodie bag? Ha!

[Dorothy W.]

Oooh, a biography of Lehmann! How interesting. I know nothing about her life. I've been meaning to read Atkinson for a while now but haven't gotten there yet -- maybe soon! I'm glad you liked Case Histories because that's the one I've got.

[litlove]

These all look good. I've also got that Lehmann biography and am looking forward to it, and having enjoyed Prose's non-fiction, I'd also like very much to read one of her novels. I've read Slipstream and it was riveting.

[Danielle]

Dorothy--The Lehmann bio looks really interesting. I think I'd like to read more of her fiction first, though. And Case Studies is a good place to start since it is the first Jackson Brodie mystery. I like her work--her other books are sort of unusual, but she's a good writer.
Litlove--I think you might have told me about Slipstream (or perhaps you mentioned it in your writing somewhere). I have such a great stack of biographies--I can't wait to get to them! I've just barely started the Prose book, but it looks good.

[Lelia]

I've read a couple of F.Prose books. Blue Angel & Francine Prose's A Changed Man. I thought A changed Man was really really good!!

[Danielle]

Lelia--I have a copy of Blue Angel, though not yet gotten to it. I've just barely started Goldengrove and it looks to be good. I'll have to check out her other work.

[iliana]

Good stuff! Of course I pigged out on way too much candy - should have gone to the bookstore instead :)

Very curious about Goldengrove so look forward to your thoughts on that one.

[Tara]

Another great stack! I'd be interested in the Elizabeth Jane Howard as I loved the Cazalet books. And I'm curious about Sarah Harrison since you've been mentioning her lately.

[Danielle]

Iliana--I was lucky and ended up giving away the whole bowl of candy I bought! I usually like to hoard some, but it didn't end up that way this year! And what I've read of Goldengrove I've liked. I need to get back to it, though.
Tara--I'm about half way through Flowers of the Field by Harrison and am really enjoying it. I'm glad I have a couple more to look forward to. And I'd love to reread those Cazalet books as well!