April is here. What are you reading?

17 years ago

I am a new member and am delighted to be here. I practically live in libraries and bookstores. My husband bought me t-shirts that say So Many Books...So Little Time and I

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twobigdogs
17 years ago
Welcome suz 1. You are certanly in the right place. There are many RP-ers here who state mystery as their favorite genre (including me).

I did read The Thirteenth Tale. And while it started out well, I personally thought it lost steam 2/3 of the way through. But that's the great thing about RP - we can all discuss books and disagree on books and we all respect each other's opinions.

My very favorite Agatha Christie is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I think it is her best, but then again, I've only read about half of them and then they get all muddled up in my head anyway. I've never read Laurie R. King, but am a big fan of books set in the Victorian Era so I'll have to take a peek at them at the library.

Some of my favorite mystery writers are:
Kate Sedley
Ellis Peters
Margaret Yorke
MC Beaton
Hazel Holt
John Sandford
Elizabeth George

But I like many other authors and genres as well. Currently, I am reading Jasper Fforde's second in the Thursday Next series, "Lost in a Good Book". Not far enough along to form any opinions yet.

Again, welcome to RP.
PAM
Chris_in_the_Valley
17 years ago
Welcome, Suz!

I, too, enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale but still found it vaguely disappointing in the end.

Do you know Carlos Ruiz ZafÃ³n's The Shadow of the Wind, a thriller that begins with a visit to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books?

Arturo PÃ©rez-Reverte's The Club Dumas is fun for a bibliophile. The protagonist is a sometimes unscrupulous rare book dealer commissioned to find a special book of the devil.

I like mysteries but my tastes fall somewhere between the gentle reads and the crime novel. I'm a great fan of James Lee Burke. I once loved all the women mystery writers of the 1990s - Muller, Grafton, Cornwell, ... - but they have lost my interest lately. Sharyn McCrumb, a great favorite, has also disappointed in her recent novels. Joan Hess continues to satisfy.

Thanks to Carolyn I've discovered Margaret Maron, who, now that I think about it, could qualify as a writer of the gentle mystery. You will find many fellow mystery fans here.
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I picked up a book from "New Arrivals" shelf titled Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean (I confess because I liked the cover and the setting --pre WWI) and it is rather awful. One-dimensional characters and plots that seem inspired by daytime soaps. I stopped reading around half-way. On a happier note I discovered a new (to me) historical author: Jude Morgan. Very impressed with her writing and comand of the period. Just read Indiscretion and An Accomplished Woman which are both obviously Austen-inspired, and I'm starting on Passion, which seems like a "heavier" book, the main characters being the women in Byron, Shelley, & Keats' lives.
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So, my head is just surfacing after a few weeks being submerged in work. My reading has dropped off (baah), but I think once things are on a more even keel, I'll be back close to normal levels. I'm still reading that Sandberg management book which has some valid points in it and a nice mix of new info and reminders. As proof of an outside-the-office life, I have finished an NF by Julia Alvarez which details modern day Quinceanearas, a Latina/o celebration of the 15th birthday. (It's most typically for girls, but the celebration is being spread among boys as well in some areas.) It's a fascinating read as Alvarez looks at this tradition through the eyes of herself, one who grew up having one herself (I think) and one who is a feminist. Plus - learned a new term related to the Latino/a culture: Marianisimo (compared w machismo). Most, I would think, are fairly cognizant of the machismo tradition in Latino/a culture, but (as I learned) there is also the Marianisimo which is where women are assumed to have the characteristics associated with Mary (re: Catholic belief) -- virginal, pure, sacrificial etc. Living in Texas, we have almost a majority of Latino/a people (as opposed to Caucasian) and so our cities tend to be quite heavily influenced depending on your area. In my city, we are probably close to one-third Latino (I should check this), and we have a steady population of migrant workers from Latin America. It's going to be interesting to see how this demographic trend affects future voting patterns and the Good Old Boy network.
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I don't particularly like The Daughter of Time as a detective novel, although I did enjoy reading it as I have with all of Tey's Books. I think it's an interesting exercise in research and deduction, but I don't really understand the obsession many people seem to have with the mystery of the princes in the tower. I am far more interested in the reasons why and the mechanisms though which some royals became or were made into villains or heroes by their successors or by the people after they were dead, or even by changing times, and The Daughter of Time gave me some insight into that. Examples include Richard III being painted blacker than he perhaps was for centuries and then little by little becoming to be seen as less bad or even great (depending on the historian), or Richard I being made into the heroic, almost saintly figure of Good King Richard Lionheart during his lifetime and remaining so for centuries after his death, and in modern times being seen as less good or even bad because of attitudes having changed.
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Paris...the Apartment...and I have reached its end. Lucy Foley is a very talented writer. I found the tale to be as you stated, Woodnymph but I thought the ending was a bit rushed. I would have appreciated a more involved telling of the fate of Concierge and the intended future whereabouts of Nick. As much as I appreciated the story...I could not read this book a second time. For me...it was too emotionally draining. I shall, however, look to read other books that she's written. I'm curious about The Guest List. But, at the moment, my next book is Woman On Fire by Lisa Barr.
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biwako_of_abi
17 years ago
Welcome, Suz! (Though it is a bit presumptuous of me to be welcoming new ones when I have been such a sporadic poster here. I love the site, though.)

I also love mysteries, but am another reader who was disappointed by The Thirteenth Tale. I gave up on it part-way through. The older I become, the more ruthless I am about giving up. There are so many good books out there waiting to be read.

Some of my favorite mystery writers have been Elizabeth George, Ngaio Marsh, Anne Perry (A decade or more ago, I read everything by her that I could get my hands on, but since then my interest has cooled.), and Georgette Heyer. Josephine Tey is another favorite who I wish had written more books.

I especially appreciate a touch of humor in a mystery and love the humor in all Heyer's books. Her mysteries are really good, in my opinion. Too bad she didn't write more of them, but then, she did give us all those wonderful regency novels!
sherwood38
17 years ago
I am another reader who found The Thirteenth Tale a disappoinment.

I am currently reading All the Colors of Darkness by Peter Robinson who writes a mystery series set in England with his DCI Alan Banks investigating.

Pat
carolyn_ky
17 years ago
I'm about halfway through All the Colors of Darkness. I really like Peter Robinson. I'm another mystery addict. I also like James Lee Burke, Elizabeth George, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Anne Perry, Margaret Maron (glad you like her, too, Chris), Hazel Holt, M.C. Beaton's Hamish books, Ian Rankin, Charles Todd--really, too many to list.

Do you know about the website Stop You're Killing Me? It lists mysteries by author as well as main character and gives series in order of publication.
sherwood38
17 years ago
Carolyn I had never heard of Margaret Maron so just looked her up on Fantastic Fiction web site (I prefer it to SYKM) and requested Bootlegger's Daughter from the library. I see she is quite a prolific writer and it amazes me that there are still so many good writers out there that I am discovering every day!

Pat
ajpa
17 years ago
I'm glad I saw this thread -- I haven't heard of Stop You're Killing Me or Fantastic Fiction before. Awesome.

I am reading a lot of historical mysteries lately. Mostly Victorian & Regency but I happened on a medieval one last week that I like - Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark. I read it soon after Mistress of The Art of Death, which I also like very much.

Before I got on this historical mystery kick my staple was fantasy novels. I still read them, and some paranormal and romances and straight historical novels. What I love most of all are characters who are truly in their era -- no transplanted modern sensibilities, you know?

I read the Thirteenth Tale but it was just ok ... didn't really care what about the characters.
twobigdogs
17 years ago
ajpa, If you like historical mysteries, do check out Kate Sedley. Her main character is Roger the Chapman, a pedlar in 1400's England. There are about 15 of them - not one has disappointed me.

PAM
carolyn_ky
17 years ago
Pat, I looked and see that you are in California, which may be why you hadn't heard of Margaret Maron. Her books are set in North Carolina, and she has down home southern family conversation and meals down to a tee. I assume she knows whereof she speaks (or writes).

I'm glad you got Bootlegger's Daughter, the first of the Deborah Knott series. She wrote a few earlier books in which the main character was a New York policewoman with an NC grandmother. They were not as good as the Knott books, IMO.

April is here. What are you reading?

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twobigdogs

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