What better prompt to kick off the new year than to choose a book "I have been meaning to read". I mean to read all my books, but there are always a few that are more "in mind" than others. A few sit right next to my bed, or I have heard especially tantalizing things about others. I have a sheet of paper I cart around with me, tucked into whatever I happen to be reading at the moment which has reading notes and a list of my in progress books, but on it I also jot down books that come to mind that I feel like reading next. Here is a sampling of those books. Tonight I will tuck into bed with the stack near at hand and peruse until one simply won't be set aside any longer.
The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor -- "London, September 1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul's is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is Richard Marwood, son of a disgraced printer, and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul's, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man's body has been mutilated and his thumbs have been tied behind his back - the sign of a Regicide, one of those who signed Charles I's death warrant. Under orders from the government, Marwood is tasked with hunting down the killer across the devastated city. But at a time of dangerous internal dissent and the threat of foreign invasion, Marwood finds his investigation leads him into treacherous waters - and across the path of a determined, beautiful and vengeful young woman."
Gallows Court by Martin Edwards -- "A heroine called Rachel Savernake had better live up to that dangerous-sounding name, and in Martin Edwards's Gallows Court, she does...Is Rachel a female Moriarty? A lucky dilettante? An avenging angel? Edwards keeps the reader guessing deep into the lively narrative...a clever pastiche of the golden-age mystery." - Air Mail
House of Glass by Susan Fletcher -- "June 1914 and a young woman - Clara Waterfield - is summoned to a large stone house in Gloucestershire. Her task: to fill a greenhouse with exotic plants from Kew Gardens, to create a private paradise for the owner of Shadowbrook. Yet, on arrival, Clara hears rumours: something is wrong with this quiet, wisteria-covered house. Its gardens are filled with foxgloves, hydrangea and roses; it has lily-ponds, a croquet lawn - and the marvellous new glasshouse awaits her. But the house itself feels unloved. Its rooms are shuttered, or empty. The owner is mostly absent; the housekeeper and maids seem afraid. And soon, Clara understands their fear: for something - or someone - is walking through the house at night. In the height of summer, she finds herself drawn deeper into Shadowbrook's dark interior - and into the secrets that violently haunt this house. Nothing - not even the men who claim they wish to help her - is quite what it seems."
The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis -- "Judith Kratt inherited all the Kratt family had to offer--the pie safe, the copper clock, the murder no one talks about. She knows it's high time to make an inventory of her household and its valuables, but she finds that cataloging the family belongings--as well as their misfortunes--won't contain her family's secrets, not when her wayward sister suddenly returns, determined to expose skeletons the Kratts had hoped to take to their graves. Interweaving the present with chilling flashbacks from one fateful evening in 1929, Judith pieces together the influence of her family on their small South Carolina cotton town, learning that the devastating effects of dark family secrets can last a lifetime and beyond.
Outline by Rachel Cusk -- " . . .a novel in ten conversations. Spare and lucid, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing over an oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her students in storytelling exercises. She meets other visiting writers for dinner. She goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her neighbor from the plane. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves: their fantasies, anxieties, pet theories, regrets, and longings. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast, a portrait of a woman learning to face a great loss."
There There by Tommy Orange -- "Tommy Orange’s wondrous and shattering novel follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism."
You'll Never See Me Again by Lesley Pearse -- "Heart-pounding, exhilarating and ever suspenseful, Lesley Pearse's You'll Never See Me Again is a tale of one woman's fight to find her destiny."
Out of curiosity--have you read any of these or heard good things about one or another or are there any that sit on your TBR as well?