I've meant to share this photo for a while now, and the bad thing is I have another new pile of books sprouting up alongside it. So, first these and I'll share the others later. One was a gift, another a used book, and most of the rest bought with a gift card from my birthday a few months back. It's been a while since I selected a few of these so I can't remember now what exactly was my reasoning, but I can't wait to read them in any case.
I knew I wanted Mary Stewart's My Brother Michael, but I think This Rough Magic was an impulse buy (you know how you drop your selection in the virtual cart and then they tempt you with other books 'you might like'--darn these online booksellers anyway). The first is a thriller set in modern day Greece (that would be late 1950s Greece actually). The second book is set on Corfu and features a young actress. Stewart's books are basically romantic suspense, but sometimes they're just what I'm in the mood for.
As Cynthia Harrod-Eagles's publisher is dropping her after they publish book #34 of her Morland Dynasty series I am keeping an eye out for the books as they are published as I suspect they will quickly go out of print. The Foreign Field is book #31 and begins in 1917. I've got all the books from 1-31 now, so I really need to get back to reading them.
I plan on reading the book before watching the remake of The 39 Steps, but I wanted to have the film adaptation on hand (and be able to buy it with a gift card while I had one as I tend to plow through them pretty quickly).
Another impulse buy is Gillian Galbraith's Dying of the Light. Has anyone read her? The mystery series is set in Scotland and features Detective Sergeant Alice Rice. This is actually the third book in the series (I like to read in order usually). It sounds like it might fit well in that "gritty crime read" category, which I've been in the mood for lately.
After enjoying Nicholson Baker's The Anthologist earlier this year I've wanted to try something else by him. I've had The Mezzanine recommended to me. It uses a "one story escalator ride as the occasion for a dazzling reappraisal of everyday objects and rituals." Flipping through the book I see he uses lots of footnotes, which looks like fun.
I've got Maria McCann's newer book, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize on hand, but after hearing how great her earlier book was (and some think much better) I had to find a used copy and give it a try. As Meat Loves Salt is "a dark, erotic tale of passion and obsession. A gripping portrait of England beset by war, and the harrowing tale of a man on the edge of madness."
When I first saw the Orange longlist I did a little shopping for titles that appealed, though M.J. Hyland's This is How didn't make the initial cut. After reading a bit more about it, I've become curious about it, though it sounds a bit dark (dark is good sometimes). Looking at the text it seems made up almost entirely by dialogue, which should make for interesting reading.
Whew, this is getting long. Only a few more to go. If you happen by here occasionally you probably already know I am a fan of Katharine McMahon's novels, so I had to round out my collection and get A Way Through the Woods, which is set in post-WWI England.
Although I've not yet read Anne Perry's William Monk mysteries, I have this feeling I am going to like them, enough to read more (I should probably do a little less 'collecting' before reading and assuring myself I like the books), so I bought A Dangerous Mourning.
Kay's post on Christina Sunley's The Tricking of Freya made me want to read it. It's a story of family secrets set in part in Iceland.
Last but not least John Brewer's A Sentimental Murder: Love and Madness in the Eighteenth Century, which was another recommendation and sounds like something I would like (perhaps along the line of Kate Summerscale's book or Chloe Schama's Wild Romance, which I need to get back to.
Yes, I really do need more reading time!