osprey_archer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
osprey_archer) wrote2014-02-12 08:23 am
osprey_archer) wrote2014-02-12 08:23 am
Wednesday Reading Meme
What I’ve Finished Reading
Charles Finch’s An Old Betrayal, the latest of his Charles Lenox Victorian-era London mysteries, to which I am quietly devoted. This is one of the good ones: Finch wove all his subplots together nicely, and the mystery was beautifully twisty without ever feeling unnecessarily so. (I realize that mystery writers need twists, but sometimes I end up thinking “No one plots a murder this complicated, this is getting ridiculous.”)
Also Rumer Godden’s Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, about a little girl who makes a dollhouse for two Japanese dolls she receives. Or, actually, her cousin does most of the actual making, because he knows how to work wood; she just makes some pillows and things.
It’s a somewhat disappointing book, because most of the details of the actual making were moved to endnotes, as has most of the cultural information about Japan. It’s as if the book itself is simply a brisk summary, and all the meat of the story has been shuffled off to the back.
What I’m Reading Now
Still drifting through Eva Rice’s The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp. I’m really enjoying it so far; right now we’re still in Tara’s childhood in the English country, where Tara sings in the church choir and Tara’s sister Lucy has fallen in love with the great country houses of England.
Also Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America, 1927, which is about aviation, Calvin Coolidge, botched murders, Babe Ruth, Prohibition, Henry Ford, and all the other strange and fascinating things that were going on in America in the summer of 1927.
I think Bryson’s writing was fresher and funnier in his earlier books, but I should add that this is partly because he set himself a high bar in those earlier books: even with the drop-off in quality, this book has made me laugh out loud a number of times. And I find the organization interesting, too: it’s easy to follow and immensely readable, even though it’s basically just a hodgepodge of disparate things that happened around the same time. There’s a sense of how big the world is.
What I Plan to Read Next
Charles Finch has written his first non-Charles Lenox book, The Last Enchantments, which I have decided to read. It’s about, uh - maybe I should have checked what it was about before deciding to read it… it’s about a passionate love affair during a year’s study abroad at Oxford. Well, this could be awesome, as long as it’s not too painfully autobiographical. (We are talking about the man who gave his detective his own first name, after all.)
Also Jo Baker’s Longbourn, because![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladyherenya wrote such a great review of it. I am way, way down on the holds list for this one, though.
I’m also contemplating whether I should try Ibbotson’s adult novels, particularly A Countess Below Stairs or A Song for Summer or A Morning Gift. Does anyone have an opinion about them?
Charles Finch’s An Old Betrayal, the latest of his Charles Lenox Victorian-era London mysteries, to which I am quietly devoted. This is one of the good ones: Finch wove all his subplots together nicely, and the mystery was beautifully twisty without ever feeling unnecessarily so. (I realize that mystery writers need twists, but sometimes I end up thinking “No one plots a murder this complicated, this is getting ridiculous.”)
Also Rumer Godden’s Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, about a little girl who makes a dollhouse for two Japanese dolls she receives. Or, actually, her cousin does most of the actual making, because he knows how to work wood; she just makes some pillows and things.
It’s a somewhat disappointing book, because most of the details of the actual making were moved to endnotes, as has most of the cultural information about Japan. It’s as if the book itself is simply a brisk summary, and all the meat of the story has been shuffled off to the back.
What I’m Reading Now
Still drifting through Eva Rice’s The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp. I’m really enjoying it so far; right now we’re still in Tara’s childhood in the English country, where Tara sings in the church choir and Tara’s sister Lucy has fallen in love with the great country houses of England.
Also Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America, 1927, which is about aviation, Calvin Coolidge, botched murders, Babe Ruth, Prohibition, Henry Ford, and all the other strange and fascinating things that were going on in America in the summer of 1927.
I think Bryson’s writing was fresher and funnier in his earlier books, but I should add that this is partly because he set himself a high bar in those earlier books: even with the drop-off in quality, this book has made me laugh out loud a number of times. And I find the organization interesting, too: it’s easy to follow and immensely readable, even though it’s basically just a hodgepodge of disparate things that happened around the same time. There’s a sense of how big the world is.
What I Plan to Read Next
Charles Finch has written his first non-Charles Lenox book, The Last Enchantments, which I have decided to read. It’s about, uh - maybe I should have checked what it was about before deciding to read it… it’s about a passionate love affair during a year’s study abroad at Oxford. Well, this could be awesome, as long as it’s not too painfully autobiographical. (We are talking about the man who gave his detective his own first name, after all.)
Also Jo Baker’s Longbourn, because
ladyherenya wrote such a great review of it. I am way, way down on the holds list for this one, though. I’m also contemplating whether I should try Ibbotson’s adult novels, particularly A Countess Below Stairs or A Song for Summer or A Morning Gift. Does anyone have an opinion about them?
no subject
Too bad about Miss Happiness! But that's what a distance of decades does for memory. Maybe it improved in memory, or maybe I was just so fascinated by the dollhouse at the back that I decided the story was good even though it was thin. (I'm pretty sure I'd be disappointed if I reread…)
no subject
It was too bad about Miss Happiness. But the library has a stack of other Godden books, so hopefully some of them will more hit the spot.
Oh, and I finished The Night Circus. I enjoyed it, even though the plot remains quite thin (and gets a bit sappy), because the circus is just so enchanting. The audiobook narration was one of the best that I've heard, too.
the night circus
Re: the night circus
no subject
I am quite fond of A Countess Below Stairs and A Company of Swans especially. They are romance novels that do rely on particular tropes, like misunderstandings, that are not everyone's jams. But everyone's so nice. And charming. And there are fun historical details. To me, those two are comfort reads.
The Morning Gift I enjoyed, but found a bit forgettable. Magic Flutes is similar. I have not read A Song for Summer.
Basically, A Countess Below Stairs is probably the best to start with, and if you like that, I'd recommend A Company of Swans too. (It has ballet! That's a draw, right?)
no subject
And yes, books with ballet are always a draw! But unfortunately the library here doesn't have A Company of Swans. I'll have to check at the libraries near my parents' house.