Okay, a fresh infusion of blood books. You'll notice that Linda Olsson's Astrid & Veronika sits atop the pile. It's due at the library in just a couple of days, and as it was the only book I couldn't renew I had it in my bookbag to drop off when I went to the library. I guess the excitement of a trip to the library was too much as I completely forgot I had it, remembering it only about a block away from my house (and I wasn't in the mood to walk back to the library--I live close, but not that close). So I am taking it as a sign. It was determined to return home with me, so perhaps it is calling out to be read? I'm going to give it another try. So now that will be three library books started.
As back up I found a few more titles that all sound good, so surely there will be something in the (growing) pile to tempt me. Georges Simenon wrote some non-Inspector Maigret books, and Red Lights is one of them. Set in 1950s New York City, this one sounds very noir-ish. I mentioned that I recently discovered Europa Editions, which publishes lots of books in translation. When I spotted one of their titles I thought it might be worth a try. Elena Ferrante's Troubling Love is "one of the most celebrated Italian novels of recent decades." I thought the author's biography was interesting: "The writer known as Elena Ferrante was born in Naples, Italy. Though one of Italy's most important and acclaimed contemporary authors, she has shunned public attention and chosen to keep her identity a mystery." I can't think of the last time I read a book by an Italian author, so I plan on trying to get to this one.
Litlove reminded me of Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver mysteries. I read the first in the series ages ago and have always meant to read the next. These are set in 1920s Scotland. The Burry Man's Day sounds promising. The blurb begins: "Supernatural forces at play, or simply good old-fashioned murder?" A nice, cozy mystery actually sounds really good at the moment. And lastly I recently read about James Long's Ferney on a couple of blogs. This is supposed to be a combination of time travel and sweeping passion. That makes it sound a little fluffy, but the blog posts I read gave the book a slightly more serious spin, so I'll take their word that it's good.
I did sneak one other book in the photo. Susan Rowland's From Agatha Christie to Ruth Rendell: British Women Writers in Detective and Crime Fiction was recommended to me (along with a few other titles--this is the only one my library had and one of the others I've ordered). The author looks at the work of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James and Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine (all of whom I've had the pleasure of reading). I may not read it straight through, but will probably pick and choose the sections that seem most interesting. I'll be searching (yay for ILL) for the other books recommended on detective fiction. My latest project it seems.
Now I'm off to read a library book!