December's Bookish Art

Sir John Lavery - Miss Auras, The Red Book

Read. 

Read anything. 

Read the things they say are good for you, 

and they things they claim are junk. 

You'll find what you need to find.
Just read.

--Neil Gaiman

An Icelandic Mystery

It's supposed to be a relaxing New Age health resort on the west coast of Iceland, but Jonas Juliusson, the new owner, thinks it's haunted. So he calls in his lawyer, Thora Gudmundsdottir, to come investigate. But Thora's investigation quickly takes a dark turn when the young architect working at the resort is murdered on the beach and found naked, beaten, and with pins stuck in the souls of her feet. Now Jonas is one of the prime suspects. Thora, along with her German boyfriend, Matthew Reich, must act quickly to find out who the real murderer is before it's too late.

My Soul To Take by Yrsa Sigurdardottir is Nordic crime fiction at its best. There's something haunting about it. Sigurdardottir expertly weaves Iceland's unique culture and history into a deliciously compelling mystery. And Thora and Matthew are great characters; they also appear in Sigurdardottir's first novel, Last Rituals, which is a much darker and more disturbing mystery. I liked this novel better. It's fun and fast-paced and will keep you guessing until the very end.

Happy Reading!

Also by Yrsa Sigurdardottir: The Day is Dark

A Bookish Wishlist

What do I want for Christmas? Hmm. I wouldn't mind a new condo or a 2015 Mini Cooper, but who has that kind of money? Luckily, there are a few other items on my list that anyone can afford. What are they? Books, of course! So here it is, my bookish wishlist.....

Three bookish favorites I'd love to own:

 An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston

Three more I'd like to read:

Valentine by George Sand

The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola

The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen

And three that are out of print...and (sadly) out of reach

(but a girl can always dream):

The Summer Birds by Penelope Farmer

The 4-H Filly by Patsy Gray

Growing Up With the Impressionists - The Diary of Julie Manet

What's on your bookish wishlist this year?

Happy Reading!

Mistletoe and Murder

"What, after all, would life be without puzzling death?"

It's Christmastime and Buckshaw is abuzz with excitement. A film crew has arrived at the de Luce family home to shoot a movie starring the famous Phyllis Wyvern. While there, Phyllis agrees to give a benefit performance at Buckshaw for the local villagers; the whole town comes to Buckshaw to see her play Juliet one last time. As always, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce is right in the middle of everything, from pestering the film crew (and her sisters!), to concocting her own homemade fireworks, to setting a trap on Christmas Eve to catch Father Christmas. All her plans change when one of their visitors turns up dead. Everyone is suspect. With a blizzard outside and a murderer within, it's up to Flavia (and Inspector Hewitt) to figure out who did it. 

What a perfect December mystery. I think Alan Bradley's I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is my favorite Flavia de Luce novel so far. Flavia is as delightfully incorrigible as ever. Her plans to trap Father Christmas and prove his existence made me laugh, and I loved how she puzzled out the who and why of this Christmas murder. This is definitely a fun yuletime read. 

Happy Reading!

The first Flavia de Luce mystery:

     The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Taking a library leave of absence...

Lately my library books have been coming between me and the books that I own. I love going to the library, but always having a stack of library books on hand keeps me from reading anything else. (I blame those pesky due dates.) So, when Lory at The Emerald City Book Review suggested going an entire month without checking out any library books at all I thought it was a great idea.

Check it out! One whole month to read (and re-read) books from my own shelves; one month to whittle away at my TBR pile with no library books getting in the way. What a great way to start the new year. My only problem will be in deciding which of my books to read first. Feel free to join in and enjoy a library-free January.

Happy Reading!

P.S. Thanks Lory!

From the Z Shelf...

Author: Zeltserman, Dave

Title: Monster, A Novel of Frankenstein 

For me, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is more sad than scary; truth be told, I've always felt sorry for the monster.  Zeltserman must feel the same way. His retelling of Frankenstein is told from the monster's point of view (and his portrayal of Victor Frankenstein is not a very flattering one--in his version Frankenstein is well-acquainted with the Marquis de Sade). Zeltserman's sympathies lie with the "monster" who once was a man. Before he died, Friedrich Hoffman led a scholarly life and had a fiancee he loved very much; now his fiancee is dead, the world thinks he murdered her, and he's become an abomination thanks to Frankenstein's experimentation.

"I am a dead thing brought to life by dark satanic forces. There is no cure that could help me. ... As Friedrich Hoffman I led a gentle life with barely any harsh thoughts pervading my mind, and certainly never any regarding revenge and murder. Now I was consumed with such thoughts, and it worried me that my soul might become as coarse as my outer appearance."

It's the other side of the story. Still not a happy one, but an interesting take on Mary Shelley's classic novel. I liked Zeltserman's writing and his imaginative portrait of a monster and a man. (Who are sometimes one and the same.) Friedrich Hoffman, while far from perfect, is still a sympathetic character...and one I liked. This book was definitely a serendipitous find from the Z shelf. See what happens when you go to the library without any lists in hand? Maybe Reading the Alphabet wasn't such a bad idea after all. Here's hoping I find some equally serendipitous reads from authors whose last names begin with X and Y.

Happy Reading!

A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen

The books of Jane Austen. A possible murder. A literary mystery. Two witty bibliophiles--Sophie Collingwood and Eric Hall--and an Austen-worthy romance. Combined, these five elements make First Impressions by Charlie Lovett one of my most favorite reads this year. It's every bit as good as his first novel, The Bookman's Tale (which I loved). The chapters in this book alternate between past and present, between Jane Austen and Sophie Collingwood, a narrative style that normally drives me crazy but which I actually didn't mind here. In fact, I enjoyed reading both story lines.

Here's the first line of the first Jane Austen chapter:

 "Fond as she was of solitary walks, Jane had been wandering rather longer than she had intended, her mind occupied not so much with the story she had lately been reading as with one she hoped soon to be writing."

And here's the first few lines of Sophie's story, present day:

"After five years at Oxford, Sophie Collingwood had mastered the art of reading while walking ... This was a useful skill for someone so absorbed by the books she read that she often pictured herself at the center of whatever romance or mystery or adventure played out on their pages."

 These first lines lead to a delightful tale of old books, intrigue and mystery, friendship and romance, and some of Jane Austen's best writing. I thought it was a lot of fun. I'm glad Charlie Lovett wrote it...and even more glad that I got to read it !

Happy Reading!