Last night I finished Silent in the grave by first time novelist, Deanna Raybourn. It was a thoroughly entertaining mystery. While there might be some kinks you would expect in a first book, all in all I thought it was quite well done (and I expect she will only get better in future installments). Part of the draw for me was the Victorian England setting. It was an unconventional mystery filled with unconventional characters, which I suppose was part of its fun. The badinage between Lady Julia (our sleuth/heroine) and Nicholas Brisbane (our other sleuth and her possible future love interest) was very amusing. It's not often that I find myself flying through a 500+ page book at the rate I did with Silent in the Grave! And she kept me guessing at the end--she was a little tricky, and I wish I could say more, but I don't want to ruin the surprise if you happen to read this. She has left a few things open and unanswered, so I expect more adventures for Julia and Nicholas in the future. I will definitely be watching for her next book (and since this one came out in January of this year, I have a bit of a wait ahead of me!).
Not that I am at a loss for something else to read... As a matter of fact I know I have a few too many books started, and I need to do some serious whittling down once again. I was all set to start reading Wilkie Collins's The Law and the Lady. As a matter of fact I have already started reading the introduction (never can decide whether to read those or not). My problem is library books. I have two that are interlibrary loans, which I know I should be working on (but haven't been). And then last night I stopped by the public library to pick up a documentary on Shakespeare (more on that in some later post), and made the mistake of glancing at the new fiction shelves. Usually I come away very disappointed. Of course the minute I already really do have too many books started, they have several really tempting books just waiting for me to come along and check them out!
I am already in line for Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, but they happened to have a 14 Day Loan copy just sitting there (meaning you only get two weeks rather than three and cannot renew it, but there is a line for the regular copies, so I couldn't if I wanted to anyway). First I just left it there and walked on, but about a minute later I went back for it. Another historical mystery--this one is set in medieval Cambridge. Jenclair recently reviewed this, and I always get such great mystery recommendations from her. Now how many books can I possibly have going at once? It sounds like this is another page turner (less than 400 pages this time around, so maybe I can squeeze it in?). I also found The Wayward Muse by Elizabeth Hickey (loved her novel The Painted Kiss about Emilie Floge, who was muse to Gustav Klimt). This time around she is writing about the Pre-Raphaelites. Consequences of Sin by Clare Langley-Hawthorne also came home with me. It is another mystery--this time set in Edwardian London. I'm getting a rather steady diet of historical fiction these days, aren't I? I feel like I should find a good contemporary novel to read to balance things out.
If you stop by here at all regularly, you will have noticed my many lists. Lists of books I think are good, books that are going to be published that look interesting, wannareads, and then there is This List. Those books I constantly say I am going to read, want to read, and then ignore. So I made a list and said I am going to read them. Thus far I have not. Until Now. I have finally picked up Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. You know--even though it is not going to have a happy ending--I am liking this book. I'm really enjoying his writing style and the descriptive passages of the countryside. It can be very hard, however, when I reach for a book. There are too many really good ones to choose from at the moment.
One last thing. The Slaves of Golconda are choosing their next book to read. Please consider joining us. You can pop on over and leave your vote as well. There is a nice variety of books to choose from!
Now to decide which books to work on this weekend!