I don't think I have been doing too badly when it comes to finishing those last gasp books I shared a week or so ago. I have managed to line off three books from the list that I finished reading. Five days left in the year and five books to finish (see sidebar nightstand books), though I think that is only very wishful thinking. Maybe if I had the better part of each day to do nothing but read I could actually finish them, but it is probably not very realistic. Three lined off, and I am now working on the next two. Maybe I could even add one more leaving just a couple of carryovers into the new year. Not so shabby really.
The closer we get to turning over that calendar page the more excited I get to start the new reading year! Yes, I am jumping the gun just a tad, but the anticipation has been too much (I can only be 'good' so long before I cave into the call of those books). I knew I was going to pick out a new vacation read, something good to take into the new year. But then I received a book for Christmas and then I realized my nightstand is devoid of a mystery novel at the moment, and now I find myself with not just one book but three. But three books I am excited about, so let me share a teaser from each. My vacation choice is a modern classic, the gift book is short stories and my mystery is a second in the series (and I have lately been wanting to try and not let my series books not languish too much).
Last year one of my NYRB subscription books was Chocky by John Wyndham, which I loved and have ever since wanted to read more of his work. I am finally getting around to picking up one of his novels, The Midwich Cuckoos, which is "a classic take of aliens in our midst". The premise--a silver object appears in the sky striking a whole village down but they awaken unharmed . . . except that women who are all pregnant. I find that really freaky! It starts:
"One of the luckiest accidents in my wife's life is that she happened to marry a man who was born on the 26th of September. But for that, we should both of us undoubtedly have been at home in Midwich on the night of the 26th-27th, with consequences which, I have never ceased to be thankful, she was spared."
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My friend Cath surprised me with a collection of short stories, Something Like Happy, by Scottish author John Burnside. This is such a perfect gift since I love short stories and Cath is a poetry lover. So there is this wonderful connection between two friends each appreciating some aspect of one author's work. I had been pondering which collection to start my new year off with and that question has very conveniently been answered. I am in the midst of reading the first story now which happens to be the titular story.
"The first time I saw Arthur McKechnie, he came into the bank with some cheques. I had just started working there, fresh out of school and a bit nervous, I suppose, and I liked the way he behaved all polite and nicely spoken, which was more than I could have said for some of the other customers. By the end of that first, almost wordless transaction, I had already decided he was someone I could have liked, but I had also noticed he was a bit too different, one of those men who thinks too much about stuff nobody bothers with, or he doesn't pay enough attention to other people to understand what they might do, when push comes to shove."
I was unfamiliar with Burnside though some of the stories appeared in the New Yorker. He's been called the Scottish Raymond Carver, which seems recommendation enough to me to try his work. So far I like what I see (read) very much.
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It would seem I am ahead of the game with the second Mirabelle Bevan mystery, London Calling, which is not due to be published here in the US until the end of March 2017. I read Brighton Belle last summer and was pleased to make Mirabelle's acquaintance. Actually I liked Vesta, Mirabelle's neighbor and friend, just as much. The two women are perfect partners really and promise to make a most entertaining and successful team. There are five mysteries already out in the UK with a sixth forthcoming next year, so I have some catching up to do. The stories are set in 1950s Brighton and are a mix of mystery and espionage. Mirabelle worked for the Secret Service during the war and will put her skills and expertise to good use as a sleuth. This story begins at the end of January 1952.
"Mirabelle Bevan turned up East Street from the front, the wind forcing her round the corner so she almost lost her footing. Her hand went up to check if her hat was still pinned into place, which she achieved miraculously without losing the morning newspaper tucked under her arm. From behind the long Georgian windows of her flat on The Lawns, the winter sunshine had appeared deceptively warm that morning, though now she came to consider it the waves had looked choppy as they broke on the pebble beach. Mirabelle had had a turbulent night."
Mirabelle has an interesting back story as she not only worked for the Secret Service but she had been having an affair with one of the agents who happened to have been (an unhappily) married man until he died of a heart attack. He had been the love of her life and now she is still trying to pick up the pieces of her life. Mirabelle is an interesting character and I hope to spend more time with her this year.
I've definitely got a nice selection of new books to start the new year off with (and a few others waiting in the wings, too).