Although May is still a few days off, I think it might be wise to perhaps start one or two new books now, as May is going to be a busy reading month! Along with my daily Anna Karenina reading these are the books I'd really like to get to as they are either book group books or books for the Classics Circuit and one is an ARE that is also going to be a group read. Of course along with these I will still be dipping into books on my sidebar, too.
Mignon Eberhart's The Mystery of Hunting's End is my choice for the Classics Circuit's The Golden Age of Detective Fiction Tour. I'm really looking forward to this, especially after having read P.D. James's Talking About Detective Fiction. Although Eberhart was writing at the same time, she is probably what you would call a second tier author. She is also American and was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. The book is set in the Nebraska Sand Hills, so this should be interesting reading. I'll be writing about it on May 28. I thought it would be fun to read a more traditional Golden Age author, and you can't get more traditional than Agatha Christie. I've pulled out Murder at the Vicarage to read as an extracurricular book. I've never read any Miss Marple mysteries, and I believe this is the first one where she was featured.
Claire at Paperback Reader and Verity at The B Files are hosting their annual Persephone Reading Week from May 3-9, so of course I have to join in. It's been far too long since I've picked up a Persephone title and am very much in the mood! I've decided it has to be a Dorothy Whipple book, so I'm giving Someone at a Distance a whirl. I've heard so many good things about this author that I am happy to finally read something by her. A little warning, though--I'm going to have to cheat and start early and I might finish after the actual week, as I am not the fastest of readers. In any case I'll set aside a day that week to post something about the book.
Cornflower has chosen Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel as her next book group read to be discussed starting May 22. I read this when I was younger and am only too happy to read it again. I loved Rebecca more the second time around, so I'll be curious to see what I make of My Cousin Rachel (though to be honest I have forgotten quite a lot of it, so it will probably be like starting from scratch).
I know I have already mentioned The Slaves of Golconda will be reading Lorna Sage's Bad Blood to discuss beginning May 31, so I probably won't be starting this one right away yet. I've already got a copy ready to read, however, checked out from the library.
My lone ARE is Edith Pargeter's The Brothers Gwynedd. I struggled with Margaret Irwin's novel on Elizabeth I, so I hope I have better luck with Edith Pargeter as I am going even further back in time with this story. Is anyone familiar with her work? The book is comprised of four novels, and there is a group of us reading it. We are going to read just one novel a month for the next four months, so I'm not overly worried about the size of the book (nearly 800 pages!). I'll only have to worry about the first 200 in May. I'll be writing about it May 19.
I'm going to be busy in May, aren't I. I hope that it won't be too overwhelming as things are staggered a bit and the book groups are set up so you can join in as you have time.
Oh, and I mentioned wanting to find a good thriller. I started with Michael Robotham's Night Ferry and have been glued to its pages from the very beginning! I do have Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sitting in reserve, though I think I will wait to start it. It's probably not a good idea to have too much excitement going at once when it comes to thrillers!