Maybe it's the weather, which while no longer sunny as it was early this morning, is still warm enough to allow me to open my windows and wear short sleeves, but I'm in a very lazy mood, so expect a very lazy post. As a matter of fact, this whole week may be filled with lazy posts, save for tomorrow when I need to write something about Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus, an extremely rich and often challenging read. While the reading didn't defeat me (I had a few iffy moments truth be told) the writing about it just might. But I'll worry about that later and instead share some of the books I found at my public library's most recent book sale.
It's always good to see readers out in force looking for the perfect book, but my first thought when I got there was that a swarm of locusts had swept through as the shelves seemed awfully empty and picked over. I almost despaired finding anything worth taking home until I started looking more closely. As you can see I found plenty in the end.
The Silence of Herondale by Joan Aiken was purely an impulse buy. I've come to appreciate those pulpy, dramatic covers of the 1960s. This is a gothic story with an ancestral mansion, and a young governess--in the Mary Stewart vein.
I've watched every episode of Prime Suspect and think I'm ready to move on to some of Lynda La Plante's fiction. From what I've heard some of her books are a bit uneven, but I'm willing to give her a try. Above Suspicion is the first in a series featuring Anna Travis, a rookie female detective.
I had never heard of Francis Beeding's Death Walks in Eastrepps, and while the book design does little to recommend the story, I picked it up anyway and was glad I did. This was written in 1931 and according to the book description this is/was regarded as a masterpiece of the mystery genre.
I'd also never heard of Sara Jeannette Duncan who wrote The Pool in the Desert which is a series of "portraits of women who attempt to defy convention". The Canadian author was the first woman to achieve international success as a journalist. The backdrop of the novellas in the collection is India.
How had no one already snapped up the lovely Europa edition of A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé? I was happy to take it off their hands. This is apparently a mix of literary genres (including mystery) and a tribute to bookselling.
I've not forgotten my season of spy novels. It's just a long season. Alan Furst will fit in quite nicely somewhere in my reading this year. Dark Star is set in Paris, Moscow, Berlin and Prague in 1937.
Jetta Carleton's The Moonflower Vine is a rediscovered classic. I like that as I'm very much into finding good books that have fallen out of vogue and gone out of print. It was published in 1962 and is set on a farm in Missouri. I suppose it would fit in the "family drama" category (though I sometimes hate categorizing books like that as it puts some readers off). It's about four different daughters and I've already got this one sitting on the top of the pile.
Just recently I discovered Robert Goddard and from the comments I've received it sounds as though he's an author worth reading. I totally lucked out when I found not one but three of his books (and have since ordered yet another that was recommended as it has a WWI setting). I brought home Borrowed Time, Sight Unseen, and Play to the End, which all sound like good suspenseful stories.
I'm quite tempted to start one of these now. Should I give in to impulse? I could go and sit out on the porch and read!