Yes, it is time for a new monthly reading prompt. I am pleased to say I have actually managed to keep up with my monthly reading choices, and while I think I still need to write about a book or two, I have read at least one book per prompt per month. I am impressed by myself as I rarely actually do what I set out to when it comes to my reading projects. This one has been a pleasure and I have every intention of doing it again next year.
August's prompt, in time for back to school is . . . 'back to school'. I know there are masses of books set in academia and my list was/is actually longer than the pile of books I am sharing here now, but these are the books that were close at hand and where I will pull from initially. I am not sure which one to start with (bit of a toss at at the moment between Laura Lippman and Jane Gardam, but ask me tomorrow and that might well change), but if I can manage two there may be some other book that crosses my path and will call out to me. But for now:
Moo by Jane Smiley -- "In this darkly satirical send-up of academia and the Midwest, we are introduced to Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the study of agriculture. Amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, Moo’s campus churns with devious plots, mischievous intrigue, lusty liaisons, and academic one-upmanship, Chairman X of the Horticulture Department harbors a secret fantasy to kill the dean; Mrs. Walker, the provost's right hand and campus information queen, knows where all the bodies are buried; Timothy Monahan, associate professor of English, advocates eavesdropping for his creative writing assignments; and Bob Carlson, a sophomore, feeds and maintains his only friend: a hog named Earl Butz."
The Secret Place by Tana French -- I love Tana French's work, but I must admit that I have started this book several times and ended up putting it back on the shelf. Maybe its moment has finally come? "In this "dizzyingly addictive"* novel, Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin’s Murder Squad when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of a popular boy whose body was found at a girls’ boarding school a year earlier. The photo had been posted at “The Secret Place,” the school’s anonymous gossip board, and the caption says 'I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.' Stephen joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case—beneath the watchful eye of Holly’s father, fellow detective Frank Mackey. With the clues leading back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends, to their rival clique, and to the tangle of relationships that bound them all to the murdered boy, the private underworld of teenage girls turns out to be more mysterious and more dangerous than the detectives imagined."
Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey -- "Miss Lucy Pym, a popular English psychologist, is guest lecturer at a physical training college. The year's term is nearly over, and Miss Pym -- inquisitive and observant -- detects a furtiveness in the behavior of one student during a final exam. She prevents the girl from cheating by destroying her crib notes. But Miss Pym's cover-up of one crime precipitates another -- a fatal "accident" that only her psychological theories can prove was really murder."
Bilgewater by Jane Gardam -- "Originally published in 1977, Jane Gardam's Bilgewater is an affectionate and complex rendering-in-miniature of the discomforts of growing up and first love seen through the eyes of inimitable Marigold Green, an awkward, eccentric, highly intelligent girl. The Evening Standard described Bilgewater as 'one of the funniest, most entertaining, most unusual stories about young love'." Am thinking of starting here!
To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman -- "Lippman’s brilliant and disturbing tale of three inseparable high school girlfriends in an affluent Baltimore suburb who share dark secrets literally until death, To the Power of Three is this 'writing powerhouse' (USA Today), who has “exploded the boundaries of the mystery genre to become one of the most significant social realists of our time” (Madison Smartt Bell) operating at the very top of her game. Not merely crime fiction, but fiction that gets to the deep psychological, emotional, and human roots of a terrible crime, Lippman’s novel is one that will not be easily forgotten—a must read for fans of Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Jodi Picoult, and Harlan Coben."
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld -- "Curtis Sittenfeld’s debut novel, Prep, is an insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition.' I have yet to read her, though I feel like I should have.
Gotham Academy, volume 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan -- Have to have at least one comic in the mix, right, and this sounds like fun. "Welcome to Gotham Academy, the most prestigious school in Gotham City. Only the best and brightest students may enter its halls, study in its classrooms, explore its secret passages, summon its terrifying spirits…"
I'm excited by this month's theme and my pile of books . . and the fact I get to pick one to read this weekend.