A Work in Progress

GermanLit Month Reading Choices

First up for new books for November is the German Literature Month pile of potential reads!  Although I wanted to join in in any case, it was helpful that I am already in progress with Alex Beer's The Second Rider, which is newly published by Europa Editions.  I have been very tempted by most of their newest releases.  And things are not looking good for my pocketbook for their forthcoming books either.  

The Second Rider is a first book in what is likely going to be a series of mysteries set in post-WWI Vienna featuring Inspector August Emmerich.  He is a curious character and I am not sure yet what I think of him.  He fought in the war and has come home 'damaged' as so many men did.  Although he was only wounded he walks with a limp and his leg pains him to the point of needing to rely heavily on pain killers.  He is somewhat taciturn on the surface, but there is a real affection for his partner Luise and her three children.  But things have become complicated in his life--both with a set of murders he is investigating (and which everyone is determined to call suicides) and in his personal life.  There is a very good, though not overdone feeling of place and time to the story and I think this will be a good start to an atmospheric series set in a place I am interested in reading about (but finding a scarcity of novels that take place in Vienna).

A few other books that look interesting and that I want to read (one is on my TBR pile and two are library finds/borrows).

Jarmila by Ernst Weiss is a novella by another Austrian writer who committed suicide in 1940 when the Nazis invaded Paris where he had been living.  "Set in the idyllic landscape of rural Bohemia in the 1930s, this is the tragic love story of Jarmila, the village beauty, and a toy maker who falls under her siren spell. The wife of the far older local feather-merchant, Jarmila enjoys all the pleasures her husband's wealth can buy, yet still longs for true love which she hopes to find in her affair with the penniless toy-maker. When she conceives a child by him, he urges her to leave her husband for a life of love and freedom in New York. Guilt-ridden and suddenly facing a destitute life in a strange country, Jarmila refuses lo leave. Her devastated lover asks for one more meeting and tragedy ensues. The typescript of this novella was discovered recently at Prague University. Stefan Zweig, a friend of Ernst Weiss, believed it to be Weiss' best work."  I have a feeling that the slightness of this book might be misleading and it will be more  challenging that I expect.  From what I have read he was influenced not only by Freud and Kafka but also the writers of "literary Expressionism".  So, we'll see about this one.

Now Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher and translated by Niall Sellar might be far more approachable.  I really want to see the series that is streaming on Netflix, but I wouldn't  mind reading the book (the first of I am not sure how many by the German author).  "It’s 1929 and Berlin is the vibrating metropolis of post-war Germany―full of bars and brothels and dissatisfied workers at the point of revolt. Gereon Rath is new in town and new to the police department.  When a dead man without an identity, bearing traces of atrocious torture, is discovered, Rath sees a chance to find his way back into the homicide division. He discovers a connection with a circle of oppositional exiled Russians who try to purchase arms with smuggled gold in order to prepare a coup d’état. But there are other people trying to get hold of the gold and the guns, too. Raths finds himself up against paramilitaries and organized criminals. He falls in love with Charlotte, a typist in the homicide squad, and misuses her insider’s knowledge for his personal investigations. And as he gets further entangled with the case, he never imagined becoming a suspect himself."

I really want to read Maybe Esther: A Family Story by Katja Petrowskaja and translated by Shelley Frisch, which I am almost certain has either won awards or is up for an award (perhaps a translation award?).  I have seen her writing compared with W.G. Sebald, so it is likely more challenging that I am expecting, too, but I want to give it go anyway.  "In a series of tightly connected stories, Petrowskaja charts a remarkable cast of characters. Her grandfather joined the revolutionary underground and split his branch of the family from the rest. Her great-uncle was sentenced to death for shooting a German diplomat. Five generations of her Jewish relatives dedicated their lives to deaf-and-mute children, and her grandmother ran a school for wartime orphans. Her Ukrainian grandfather spent years in a POW camp and disappeared after the war, only to reappear forty years later. And, finally, the most elusive figure, her great-grandmother whose name may have been Esther. She alone remained in Kiev at the outset of the war and was killed by a Nazi guard outside her house in the city center.  How do you talk about what you can’t know, and how do you make sense of the controversial past? To answer these questions, Petrowskaja reflects on a fragmented and traumatized century, and brings to light family figures who threaten to drift into obscurity. Maybe Esther is a poignant, haunting investigation of the effects  of history on one family as well as a deeply affecting exploration of memory."

I have loads of other books in my TBR that are translated from German, but I am trying to keep the choices narrow so I don't go even more overboard with new books next month than necessary (even as I try and whittle that in progress pile down).  If I finish the Beer novel I will be thrilled and anything more is just a cherry on top of an already sweet treat of a reading month.

A Busy Reading Month: November!

Just when I set myself the task of catching up before the end of the year (or sweeping away and cleaning off), what happens?  I am pretty dependable at getting myself in over my head when it comes to having too much to read and not enough time to read all aspire to.  But then I have bookish friends who lure me off in other directions.  Okay, I admit, I am a pushover.  A willing participant.  But if I can do double duty on some of my reading projects then surely it could conceivably be manageable?

So, it seems that November is going to be a very busy reading month.  Keeping in mind my own wishes and desires, now I have a whole slew of other reading, shall we call them, possibilities?  Here is a little run down of all that can be achieved in November if a reader set her or his mind to it.  Some of these are my own ideas but most of them are organized by others and I hope to tag along behind.

November is German Literature Month hosted by Caroline at Beauty is a Sleeping Cat and Lizzy at Lizzy's Literary Life. Since I am already reading the newly published The Second Rider by Austrian author Alex Beer, I am conveniently reading something translated from German even as I type this post.

November is also Margaret Atwood Reading Month (to coincide with her Birthday on the 18th) hosted by Buried in Print and Naomi at Consumed by Ink.  It's been ages since I read any of Atwood's work and I am sure I have a book or two by her on my shelves that is as yet unread.

I am also joining in BiP's ongoing Mavis Gallant short story reading project.  I had already been dipping into another Gallant short story collection (and she ranks high up on my list of favorite short story authors), so I have From the Fifteenth District in my book bag and am already reading the first story in the collection, "The Four Seasons".

And I just discovered that November is also Novella Month hosted by Rick at Another Book Blog.  I had no idea, but I think I can manage a novella or two.  Reading in Bed gives a little rundown of the history of the event if you are curious.  I  might have something translated from German on my shelves.  Or maybe just a classic or something I have long wanted to read.  And there is the attraction of a short read and so instant gratification (as I try and meet a goal of books read by the end of the year).

Stefanie of Weeds (formerly So Many Books) and I have an ongoing postcard correspondence.  And being the good sport she is, has kindly agreed to read a book I came across that looks interesting, Call of the Cats: What I Learned about Life and Love from a Feral Colony by Andrew Bloomfield.  My nonfiction reading this year has been almost nonexistent so many reading in the company of another book and cat lover will help me stay on track!

Oh, and I think I have my theme ready for November's prompt, though not a list of books yet to choose from (I have a few ideas, but must scope out my book piles).  I shall share soon, I have lots and lots of potential November reads to share this week as a matter of fact.  Why play it safe with books when you can dream big, right?

And What I'm Not(!) Reading Now: Notes

Do you remember when I was doing this?  Sharing the state of my nightstand and the books on it?

And then I did this and cleaned it all out!  I finished those three books in the bottom photo.  I think I still have some unfinished books in that top photo.  I can't quite see the spines but I may well have returned a number of them to my bookshelves and a few I 'wanted' to finish but they are still sitting there waiting.  I just have this constant compulsion to start new books.  And my reading is all over the place, which I guess is just the new normal for my reading these days.  

I wonder if this is representative of my mind or my life--unable to finish what I set out to do, eager to begin new projects, but my attention and desires and interests all over the place.  I think we are almost too close to the end of the year to create a master list of books I really want to finish before the years runs out (in order to have a neat and tidy night table to start 2019 with).  I can make a list, but the problem is whether I can actually read from it exclusively without adding ever more new books to my reading pile.  Okay, so sure, let's go ahead and make that list.  Or lists as you see.

2018 Finishes Wishlist:

1. Lovesong, Alex Miller
2. Curtain Call, Anthony Quinn*
3. The Dragon Man, Garry Disher
4. November Road, Lou Berney
5. E is for Evidence, Sue Grafton*
6. The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Kate Morton*
7. The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
8. Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2018*
9. Second Rider, Alex Beer
10. As yet to be decided November prompt

The Waiting List:

1. The Killing Floor, Lee Child
2. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal
3. Believing the Lie, Elizabeth George
4. My True Love Lifes, Glen Offord

The Wishful Wishlist:

1. Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton
2. Sand, Wolfgang Herrndorf
3. IQ84, Haruki Murakami
4. Wild Strawberries, Angela Thirkell

The top list are books I am actively reading and hope I will finish in any case sooner (this year) rather than later.  The asterisks are for books I want to finish and will start another or the next (in the series) as soon as I am done.  The middle list are books I was reading this year, not so long ago, that just fell to the bottom of the reading pile.  Now I need to decide whether I do want to keep going or maybe they should go back to the shelves.  And the bottom pile are books I "want" to finish, but there is just not as much reading time in my life as I need to get them all read.  The Murakami is good and I often think of picking it up, but it is just such a big book that maybe it is not feasible to try and finish (along with all the other books, that is).  Oh, poor Angela Thirkell.  She is quite the holdover.  The Herrndorf is also really good, but as with NYRB Classics, it is something that takes time and effort--a good read but not a quick one (which is good, but you know how it goes--that time thing again).  The Wharton will sit there forever I fear.  Because I can't seem to get going on Classics this year.  

I'll never be able to change my reading habits I fear.  So every year I will go through this clean up process the closer the end of the year comes.  

(And maybe this is not a good time to admit that I have library books waiting on the hold shelf, which I am going to pick up soon).  Ah well, it's all good, though.  I am reading lots of really good books as you can see.  It's the journey, not the destination, right?

What I'm Reading Now: A Few Notes

Just a little reading update today.  I don't think I've been talking much about what I am reading other than the wonderful Kinsey Millhone books.  I am now up to letter E.  I just start it a couple of days ago, so there is just scene setting so far.  It is Christmastime in Santa Teresa and Kinsey is on her own for the holiday.  She doesn't seem to mind and tucks herself away with a good book for the holiday.  She had started working on a seemingly easy claim job for California Fidelity--the insurance company she used to work for.  She is writing up a report on a fire that occurred in a warehouse.  It all seems pretty straightforward, but you know it is going to end up being complicated (and maybe even deadly).

While I know where I stand with Kinsey and am happy to be in her company, quite settled into the storytelling, loving the character, I have to say I am struggling a little with Hank Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, which is the next B&N Book Club Read (and I need to finish reading by next Wednesday).  Although I am beginning to warm up to the story I have been having a really difficult time connecting with the book.  What do you do when a novel has gotten all kinds of really positive press and accolades and the reviews seem to be all five-stars?  But you feel really tepid about the whole experience? 

The story is perhaps a cautionary tale about what happens when you become the "It" person on social media.  You know how things go viral?  Well, in this story the two characters post a video on YouTube about a statue that appears in NYC--thinking it is just a fun thing to joke about.  But then overnight it just takes off and the whole world is talking about the statues, which have appeared in more than 60 cities.  So I totally get the premise and I even find it fairly appealing, but I guess I just want more "story" or more character development or something.  So here is a story about social media, and I am lamenting reading it--on social media.  The prose is very chatty and maybe a little slangy for my tastes.  As I bailed out on the last book club book, I am going to try and persevere.  It does read quickly and the story is moving along at a clip since there is the suggestion that maybe those statues are "external"--as in alien . . .  As far fetched as that sounds, it actually makes it more interesting to me.  So I keep reaching for it even as I am looking longingly at other books.  

I forgot how good Josephine Tey is--I just finished an Inspector Grant mystery, which was this month's prompt, so I will have more to tell you about that in the next week or so.  I need to get back to my vintage crime novel reading, I guess.  I am also reading Anthony Quinn's Curtain Call which fits the prompt quite nicely, too.  I have read him before and enjoyed his writing and he has several (I think three) books, starting with this one, which are loosely linked.  As I have and want to read the lot of them I decided it was time to get moving on those (how many of these authors who revisit characters and that I 'mean to read' do I have on my shelves all neglected?--Here is one I am getting to anyway).

Speaking of prompts.  My next one is "it was a dark and stormy night" but I am not terribly enthused by it.  It's my own project so I should  not feel guilty about changing it mid-stream, should I?  Maybe I will pick something else.  Some book with the color blue or green in the title.  Or, any ideas?  Throw some ideas out at me.  I don't have a particular book in mind, but I want something fun that would inspire me to go searching my shelves!

I am reading a lot of crime novels at the moment.  I am in the middle of Lou Berney's November Road which I have heard is "the" crime novel of the year.  I am just getting to the part where two disparate characters (the criminal and an unhappy housewife) are about to cross paths and I can't wait as I expect the story will really take off then.  I am enjoying it but I am waiting for that moment that sweeps me away.  Alas, maybe my next prompt needs to be something the calls out for a book decidedly Not a crime novel or mystery!

I think what I really want to reach for but can't seem to squeeze in exactly is Kate Morton's The Clockmaker's Daughter, which I just barely started before I had to pick up my book club book.  I like that one of the plotlines (this is one of those parallel stories story) concerns a young woman who works in an archive and comes across a satchel with a sketchbook in it--there is a story there, right?  And I like that the story set back in time concerns a group of artists.  I am intrigued that one of the narrators seems to be a ghost--well, that is what I am thinking she must be.  I want to pick it up and spend an afternoon sorting through the story and getting into it properly, but the clock is ticking on other reads that need to be finished first.  

I am hoping to carve out some serious reading time this weekend.  I need to find a quiet corner with few distractions.  I feel like life has been really busy lately and it has left me a little worn out, so when I do get down time and sit to relax, I relax myself to sleep!  But we'll see what I can accomplish this weekend.  Happy reading everyone!

Ten Books I'm in Line For . . .

It's an old story, one that never changes.  My wishlist of books (and the books I am in line for at the library) seems neverending.  There are all sorts of great new books that are coming out in the next six months or so.  It is not (at all) like I don't have plenty to choose from now (far too many to read actually), but there is always some small corner of my mind that is on the horizon and the books that are coming soon.  Here are ten of them.

Love is Blind by William Boyd -- ". . . a sweeping new novel that unfolds across fin-de-siècle Europe as it tells a story of ineffable passions--familial, artistic, romantic--and their power to shape, and destroy, a life."  "Moving from Edinburgh in 1894 to the far-flung Andaman Islands in 1906, and smoothly landing in various European cities in between, Boyd's affecting novel follows a young Scotsman's ardent pursuit of a woman and its treacherous consequences."--Booklist

Farewell my Orange by Iwaki Kei -- "Two immigrants, Salimah and Sayuri, navigate isolation, a new language, and devastating loss on their way to a lifelong friendship. Far from her native country of Nigeria and now living as a single mother of two, Salimah works the night shift at a supermarket in small-town Australia. She is shy and barely speaks English, but pushes herself to sign up for an ESL class offered at the local university.

One Day in December by Josie Silver -- (I think this has just been released) "Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away.  Certain they're fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn't find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they "reunite" at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It's Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.  What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness."

Well-Behaved Women: A Novel of the Vanderbilts by Therese Anne Fowler -- "With a nod to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton, in A Well-Behaved Woman Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman. Meet Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, living proof that history is made by those who know the rules―and how to break them."

The Craftsman: A Novel by Sharon Bolton -- "Florence Lovelady's career was made when she convicted coffin-maker Larry Grassbrook of a series of child murders 30 years ago in a small village in Lancashire. Like something out of a nightmare, the victims were buried alive. Florence was able to solve the mystery and get a confession out of Larry before more children were murdered., and he spent the rest of his life in prison.  But now, decades later, he's dead, and events from the past start to repeat themselves. Is someone copying the original murders? Or did she get it wrong all those years ago? When her own son goes missing under similar circumstances, the case not only gets reopened... it gets personal."

The Patron Saint of Lost Girls by Maureen Aitken -- "It’s the Midwest in the 1970-80s, and Mary is growing up in Detroit, where the recession hits hard, and jobs are scarce. In a set of linked stories, Mary tries to conjure the spirits of protection to confront economic struggle, violence, addiction, and death. Mary moves to cities across the Midwest looking for work, all the while learning the healing power of dignity from the true patrons: her community of friends and family who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. An ode to the creative spirit’s ability to transcend hardship, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls paints an unflinching portrait of women’s resilience in the face of injustice."

The Orphan of Salt Winds by Elizabeth Brooks -- "Elizabeth Brooks’s gripping debut mirrors its marshy landscape―full of twists and turns and moored in a tangle of family secrets. A gothic, psychological mystery and atmospheric coming-of-age story, The Orphan of Salt Winds is the portrait of a woman haunted by the place she calls home."  This one sounds great--right up my alley but I have to wait until mid-January to get my hands on it.

The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr -- "A post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future, in this captivating debut novel in the gothic tradition of Wuthering Heights and The Thirteenth Tale.  Kris Waldherr effortlessly spins a sweeping and atmospheric gothic mystery about love and loss that blurs the line between the past and the present, truth and fiction, and ultimately, life and death."

The Gown by Jennifer Robson -- "From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it."  Another tempting one I can't wait for.

The House of Gold by Natasha Solomons -- "Vienna, 1911. Greta Goldbaum has always dreamed of being free to choose her own life's path, but the Goldbaum family, one of the wealthiest in the world, has different expectations. United across Europe, Goldbaum men are bankers, while Goldbaum women marry Goldbaum men to produce Goldbaum children. Jewish and perpetual outsiders, they know that though power lies in wealth, strength lies in family.  So Greta moves to England to wed Albert, a distant cousin. Defiant and lonely, she longs for connection and a place to call her own. When Albert's mother gives Greta a garden, things begin to change. Perhaps she and Albert will find a way to each other.  But just as she begins to taste an unexpected happiness, war is looming and even the influential Goldaums can't alter its course. For the first time in two hundred years, the family will find themselves on opposing sides and Greta will have to choose: the family she's created or the one she was forced to leave behind."

My reading pile is pretty top heavy with mysteries and novels of suspense or thrillers, and it makes me feel a little fidgety.  If there is too much saminess going on in my reading I start looking at my TBR.  I need to look at my "set-aside-partially-read" pile and see what I can recover and finish from that stack, but I am drawn to something new.  Maybe something just family drama-ish with a hint of romance?  Maybe the new Susanna Kearsely that I snapped up not so far back.  Or maybe one of my unread novels by Jennifer Robson or Simone St. James.  Even as I think this, I know I shouldn't.  Focus on the current reading pile.  But variety usually triumphs when it comes to my reading.  

I need to do a little reading update soon, so I'll let you know how it goes and what ends up in my pile.  And where is your reading taking you at the moment?

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I like the word play on Rainbow Rowell's novel Attachments.  It could mean something you attach to your email.  It could mean the attachments we make with friends.  Or it could mean something of a more romantic nature.  All of which come into play in her debut novel.  I'm very remiss as Rainbow Rowell is a local author and it has taken me far too long to read any of her books.  I remember when she was a columnist for our city newspaper and now she is known worldwide and has a string of successful novels behind her.  I heard her speak several years ago and she is just as amiable and humorous as the characters in her novel.  Attachments is a charming story, great fun in the telling and even more appealing since the setting was a thinly veiled Omaha circa 1999--just before the Y2K worries and lots of local happenings too, all of which I remember quite vividly.

This is a novel with a "meet cute" moment written all over it.  When the characters do finally come together, and you hope and expect they will, it just has to be a meet cute or it would be too disappointing.  The thing about this story is the characters "meet" but sort of unbeknownst to each other and only virtually.  It's once of those "truth is stranger than fiction" occurrences.

I love the premise of the story.  The setting is the offices of a local newspaper.  Two young women work as staff writers in different department and they have a tendency to email each other rather humorous and perhaps slightly too personal emails.  Beth and Jennifer have this wonderfully witty and amusing friendship and their affection for each other comes out in their epistolary conversations.

Lincoln, who works at night, is saddled with a job that is mindless easy but one which he has mixed feelings about.  He was hired as a security officer in the technical department, which means he essentially has carte blanche to read the employees' emails.  The security software marks questionable emails, which he must go in and check to make sure there is nothing inappropriate going on virtually.  Beth's and Jennifer's lighthearted banters get the occasional checkmark, so Lincoln must follow up.  He should be calling them out on their non-work-related emails, but he so enjoys their lively conversations he can't bring himself to take them to task.

Jennifer is happily married and contemplating starting a family.  Her husband wants nothing more than to have a child, but Jennifer is uncertain.  Beth is in a settled relationship with a highly attractive musician.  It seems a dream relationship as the two are comfortably together, but the relationship seems to lack the spark that Beth wishes for.  On top of that she has to be a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding and must endure wearing the worst and most unattractive dress ever.  The two commiserate and laugh and try not to cry and it is easy to see how Lincoln would get absorbed in their lives. 

You see where this is leading, don't you? 

The story almost verges on the slapstick.  If it was a movie (and why has nobody scooped this one up?) it would be a rom-com.  There is this guilty voyeurism going on on both sides.  Lincoln, unhappily single, begins to fall for Beth--a girl he has never actually met.  Beth is unhappily paired and sees this rather cute guy around the building.  She talks about him in her emails to Jennifer.  Lincoln reads the emails and then . . . Neither is never quite sure the other is talking or thinking about the other.  So it is a matter of missed opportunities and missed signals and conversations (maybe even the kind that go on in the privacy of your own mind) spoken at cross purposes.  

See?  Meet-cute.  This is a thoroughly enjoyable and mostly light-hearted story filled with just a bit of drama.  The biggest voyeur is, of course, the reader.  I mean you read over the characters's shoulders.  You know they have to meet, but how can it be pulled off without coming out a little predictable and cheesy.  Rainbow Rowell manages it quite nicely.  I thought there might be a stumble on the unraveling of the drama, but she is never tripped up.  The story comes together quite nicely in the end, but you shouldn't take my word for it.  If you've not read this yet, I can warmly recommend it.  This was my September prompt, "dear diary, dear friend", a perfect modern take on the epistolary novel.

Books, etc: Catching Up

This was meant to be a Tuesday or Wednesday sort of post, not a nearly the end of the week Thursday post!  I am sorry I seem so absent here these days.  Time just gets away from me.  I'm not quite sure what is keeping me so busy, but I spend less time on the computer than in the past (which is not an entirely bad thing, but I do miss all the bookish chatting).  

Anyway, over the weekend I went to my public library's monthly (every first Saturday) book sale.  It had been years since I regularly went, but I stopped in last month and they had such a great spread of books I couldn't resist going again this month to see what I could find.  And as you can see, I found quite a lot!  I have been find more of the Kinsey Millhone mysteries and as you can see they are in almost new condition.  How can you beat a 50 cent paperback you know you will be reading sooner than later.  (And the money goes to the Friends of the Library, so a win-win situation).

Years and years ago I belonged to the Book of the Month Club.  I thought, to be honest, they were defunct, but I came across them on Instagram and my curiosity was sparked.  It is set up now like an Audible subscription.  You 'buy' a credit and then you can choose a book to apply it to that month or the next.  So I bought a credit and as a new subscriber also got a free credit.  I have one in reserve and used my other one for Kate Morton's new book.  I couldn't wait to start it, and it is so good so far!  I tend to be hit or miss with her books, but I love this one.  It is one of those dual storylines, one set in contemporary times and the other in the Victorian era.  There are artists and a bookish young woman.  Maybe a ghost . . . so far so good!  Is anyone else reading this right now?

Ooh, and last but not least.  I have once again pulled out my sampler.  I had run out of the main floss color, London Fog, and dug around in my stash over the weekend and found a spare skein, so I am back to work.  Honestly I wouldn't mind starting something new, but I will persevere with this as I am getting close to finishing.  The wording is from a Christmas Carol so it seems a good sampler to work on now.  I desperately need to go through my stash and do some serious weeding.  What to do with all the old charts and kits that I don't think I will ever work on?  I have more than I could complete in several lifetimes, I think.  Do I give it to the Goodwill?  Any stitchers out there have ideas of what to do with unneeded stitching supplies?  I would definitely prefer to let people who like needlework to have the designs I am no longer interested in.  I will still keep my favorites, kits that are ready to go with really nice supplies (silks, etc) and my floss and linen collection.  But I think it would not be a bad thing to thin the collection down a bit.

What is everyone else up to?  Having a good Fall (it is colder than normal and really wet and rainy here).  Reading lots of good books?  Doing any crafting?  Traveling?  Planning for the holidays.  Yikes, holidays?  I am feeling out of touch, but as always I do hope to still regularly post (what to do about those books I have read and not written about?).  Until next time!  Happy reading!

B is for Burglar & C is for Corpse

I wrote about Sue Grafton's alphabet mystery, A is for Alibi, but I kind of glossed over B.  Maybe for my own record I might just expand a bit on B but then properly tell you about C is for Corpse.  After a while all the details of the mysteries go a little fuzzy, and I like to have some kind of notation at least of what I read.  Mostly, though, I like learning a bit more about Kinsey with each new book.  Grafton seems to expand just a little about her characters and the sense of place or season with each new book and it is fun to see those details all roll out.  

I think B is for Burglar is my favorite book, mystery-wise, so far.  I do like how Grafton throws in some nice twists and solutions that you don't quite see coming.  And I like how methodical Kinsey is in her detecting work.  I think these early novels were written somewhere in the middle 1980s so technology is pretty limited.  No cell phones, no ipads, no fancy cameras.  Kinsey is lucky if she can ask one of the detectives (mostly Jonah so far who I think we are going to see more of . . .) in the police department to run searches on their very limited databases.  So it is literally pounding the pavement and asking questions, lots of questions, and then noting down information on her index cards and typing up the clues on her portable Smith-Corona.

So B starts out pretty straightforwardly with a job trying to get a signature on a document concerning an inheritance.  Beverly Danziger is annoyed with her sister Elaine Boldt who seems to have gone missing.  Elaine likes to spend part of the year in Florida but has been incommunicado for some time and for Beverly and the others listed on the will, a signature is needed before any money is released.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Well, Elaine ends up being far more elusive than anyone expected.  Kinsey flies to Florida to check on Elaine but finds a strange woman staying in her apartment claiming Elaine allowed her to sublet the apartment while she goes off traveling.  But Elaine is nowhere to be found.  And when a mysterious fire and a body come into play, it all becomes more complicated than Kinsey expected.  What I like so much about this book are the feisty older women who are Elaine's neighbors both in Santa Teresa and Florida.  When I say both women are "characters" in their own right, you will probably get the picture.  She cracks the case with aplomb but not without managing to get shot in the arm and banged up in the process.

It is during her recovery and recuperation from the Elaine Boldt case that she gets involved with Bobby Callahan in C is for Corpse.  This is a very adept title as corpses kind of abound.  And they play quite important roles in the story, too.  Kinsey is working out in a local gym as part of her rehab when she meets Bobby.  He is also in recovery from a car accident from which a good friend did not survive.  Bobby is sure the accident was not an accident at all and that he was not meant to walk away from it.  He did, but not without a serious brain injury which has left him with mobility problems and worse with a spotty memory.  He tells Kinsey about a small red phone book which is worrying him as he cannot find it.  He asks Kinsey to investigate and try to find who sent him skidding off the road. 

Unfortunately Kinsey does not get far in her searching before Bobby has a seizure while driving and a second crash finishes him off.  Kinsey, being Kinsey, decides as Bobby has paid her retainer fee, dead or not, he is still her client.  So she pushes on with her investigation.  The ending is very suspenseful and more than a little freaky since it takes place in a hospital morgue, a building off on its own and at night when there are not others around.  Unless you count the dead bodies.  And the killer, of course.

Sue Grafton always gets down to business right away in her books.  They are very much of the hardboiled variety and Kinsey is as matter-of-fact as they come.  But with each book I feel like I learn just a little more about her and she becomes just a bit more rounded and interesting.  She has felt flesh and blood since the first book, but now she feels even more human and flawed, yet I would still trust her to be able to take care of business.  Now there are more bits about Kinsey in the books and I feel like I am getting to know her more personally.

I knew she had been raised by an unmarried aunt, but the circumstances surrounding her parents were not clear.  When she was only five her family was on a Sunday outing when a boulder smashed through their windshield.  Both parents were killed and Kinsey was crushed in the backseat and it took hours for her to be rescued.  I am curious about her childhood which she alludes to in this story.  Her aunt sounds quite social and she would take Kinsey on her social calls and tell her to amuse herself, which Kinsey apparently did by snooping around.  No wonder she is so good at her job now.

She is still living in a converted garage, her landlord Henry, although in his 80s is still a very handsome and 'crushable' man.  There is a side story in this book about Henry and a new lady-friend he has acquired.  A woman of questionable intentions that Kinsey has doubts about and for good reason as the story develops.  Kinsey likes to have a glass of wine now and then.  She often pulls out a bottle from her fridge and sits down to work.  And she still hangs out at the local dive, Rosie's.  Rosie is in her 60s, of Hunagarian extraction.  A most excellent cook but bossy and prone to pouting.  She does not warm up easily to strangers.  Kinsey finds her (as do we the readers) completely fascinating.

Oh, most interesting.  Finally a little hint at Kinsey's previous relationships.  It sounds like she was once dumped and once did the dumping.  She was twice married and divorced and not easily convinced now to get into a new relationship.  It's not that she won't under the right circumstances, but she is, I'll say it again, no pushover.  One of her husbands happens to be a jazz pianist named Daniel Wade.  He is now in NYC.  Their marriage was brief but Kinsey recalls it with some fondness and she is not entirely sure if he came back into her life that she would turn him down.  Alas, his musician's ways, despite his talent, just are not conducive to a happy relationship.

And now I am midway through D is for Deadbeat.  It is a little uncanny how often someone will hire Kinsey and then end up being killed or have an accident.  There is some of that going on now, too.  It is Fall in Santa Teresa, too, and boy is it raining there.  Kinsey took a day off (too wet to investigate) to snuggle under a blanket with her book and a glass of wine!  I was beginning to worry her only hobbies were running three miles a day and murder investigations!  I'll be thrilled if I can finish D this weekend but in any case I hope to start E sometime next week.  And as there might be a visit to this month's library sale, I might see if I can find any more used copies to have on hand.  I think I have F waiting in the wings, but as these are quick indulgences it would be good to have a few more on hand!

October Prompt: Exit Stage Left

Happy October everyone!  Can you believe the year is nearly over.  Yikes.  So many books on my nightstand and they are just sitting and slowly being read.  (The story of my life, I know).  Best think about something more pleasing (rather than unfinished books).  How about a new book for a new month for a new prompt!  This month it is something theatre or stage or acting-oriented.  I am thinking more theatre than movies and my pile reflects that. 

I am actually, just by chance, am reading a book that fits nicely into that category, but I think I will choose another book anyway.  I am in the middle of Anthony Quinn's excellent Curtain Call.  I have this idea that I want to read some other books by him and it seems I read somewhere that the books, while they can be read individually and on their own are also somewhat loosely connected.  So, Curtain Call is an early novel.  it is set in the mid-1930s in London's West End and is a bit of a thriller!

Now on to the business at hand.  I had more theatre-setting novels than I realized.

Pretty Face by Lucy Parker -- It’s not actress Lily Lamprey’s fault that she’s all curves and has the kind of voice that can fog up a camera lens. She wants to prove where her real talents lie—and that’s not on a casting couch, thank you. When she hears esteemed director Luc Savage is renovating a legendary West End theater for a lofty new production, she knows it could be her chance—if only Luc wasn’t so dictatorial, so bad-tempered and so incredibly sexy."

Town in Bloom by Dodie Smith -- A determined young Lancashire girl arrives in London intent on a stage career - this tale from the author of I Capture the Castle is told with the candour and authenticity that derives from Dodie Smith's own experience of the theatre world. "

Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff -- "It's a book about show business, where fame is the stock in trade. Each year there are hundreds of stagestruck kids arrive in New York determined to crash the theatre, firmly convinced they're destined to be famous Broadway stars or playwrights."

Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard -- I had been rereading this quintet of books (actually had only ever read three of them but now want to read them all ... alas, quite a while it has been since I reread the first book, but . . .).  "The wonderful sequel to The Light Years returns readers to Britain in September, 1939, as war breaks out. Sheltered Louise, now 16, goes from cooking school to London parties. For 14-year-old Polly, the terrors of war cannot forestall the pangs of adolescence. And though Clary's father has been reported missing since Dunkirk, she holds to the belief that he's alive."

Fallout by Sadie Jones -- "Luke is a young playwright—intense, magnetic, and eager for life. He escapes a disastrous upbringing in the northeast and, arriving in London, meets Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer, and the beautiful, fiery Leigh Radley, the woman Paul loves.  The three set up a radical theater company, living and working together, forging a romantic connection in candlelit rehearsal rooms during power cuts and smoky late-night parties in Chelsea's run-down flats. The gritty rebellion of pub theater is fighting for its place against a West End dominated by racy revue shows and the giants of twentieth-century drama."

Stage by Stage by Jan Jones -- " . . .is about Beth (an English teacher and mother of two teenage children) whose husband leaves her after twenty-five years of marriage mainly because she is an English teacher and mother of two teenage children. In order to supplement her severely depleted income, Beth opens her Cambridge house to Bed & Breakfast visitors. Three of her guests are Cate - the young ASM-with-attitude of a touring musical theatre company, Seb - the newest actor in the company who happens to be staggeringly good-looking and with whom Beth's daughter Natalie immediately falls in love, and a character actor of about Beth's own age called Owen Pendragon..."

Shilling for a Candle by Josephine Tey -- "A woman's body is found on the English seacoast, and twisted in her hair is an article screaming murder. For Inspector Alan Grant, the case becomes a nightmare, as too many clues and too many motives arise."

Lucky Break by Esther Freud -- "Over a decade, three young actors grapple with haphazard tours, illogical auditions, unobtainable agents, deluxe trailers, rocky relationships, and red-carpet premieres. This dazzling new novel from Esther Freud uncovers a world of ruthless ambition, uncertain alliances, and the many-sided holy grail of Success."

The Stand-In by Deborah Moggach -- "From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Jules is an unknown English actress with a precarious career and a wayward but irresistible boyfriend, Trevor. But then she gets the break of a lifetime - a part as stand-in for Lila Dune, American film star and sex-symbol - and her world is transformed."

I know I have far too many to choose from as it is, but I cannot help but ask if you have a favorite novel (or nonfiction book) set in the theatre world?  Do share.  If I don't read it now, I always like to have titles in reserve!  (Am nearly finished with last month's prompt and will be telling you about it soon!).