a day late and
I don't think it's Wednesday anywhere any more, but last night I was too brain-fried to post anything, so here you are today, what I've been reading lately.
Recently Read
Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer
Another Heyer murder mystery. This one was perfectly readable, but it didn't charm me the way Heyer usually does. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and while a long familiarity with Heyer's tropes meant that I recognised Randall as the romantic hero and definitely not the murderer, even he didn't particularly appeal to me. The murder was clever, but I felt that the choice of murderer with the whole blackmail plot was less than perfect, it was a bit tacked-on to the intricate family drama Heyer's set up. Not quite 'the butler did it' but close.
Brothers in Arms by LM Bujold (audiobook)
As ever. It is fun reading the series in publication order and seeing Bujold develop the characters and their backstories and interconnections. I think the series gains a lot from being written out of chronological order, it adds richness to the chronologically earlier books. BiA is still my pick for the most perfectly plotted book, I adore how it all leads up to the pivotal scene where Mark shoots Galen, and then unwinds from there, every action matched with a reaction and every plot thread accounted for.
The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau by Julie Ferry
This was great. It's the history of how wealthy American heiresses married into the English aristocracy, told with a fairly tight focus on the lives of a couple of women who married English aristocrats themselves and then, for a generous fee, performed introductions and set up encounters between other young women they deemed suitable, and impoverished heirs to assorted titles. Lots of detail about upper-crust society in New York and London and on the Continent, lots of fascinating detail about how the social networks worked and how women climbed and fell and what their motivations were. It makes me wonder if this is a setting much used for romantic novels, and if not, why not. Also it makes me want to read the works of Edith Wharton, who is much quoted in the book for her novels which apparently contain thinly fictionalised versions of many of the historical women, who were her contemporaries and in some cases friends.
ETA: this book apparently now is titled 'The Million Dollar Duchesses', for mysterious reasons, so if you want to find it you might need to search for that instead
I did also skim-read Gentleman Jole for fanfic reasons, no prizes for guessing which fics I wrote in a recent exchange... It was pretty readable, perfect for a really hot, sleep-deprived day in which 'nothing happens and everyone is fine' was a positive bonus.
Currently reading: not sure whether to pick up a history of the Roman roads in England, which seems likely to amuse, or a history of Bomber Command. I borrowed both from the library, somewhat in a hurry to choose anything because Cub's finished school and they don't like you abandoning your kids in the children's section while you browse at leisure, but it's hard to pick out books when someone's dancing around your feet complaining about boredom.
Crossposted at https://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/153499.html. There are
comments there.
Recently Read
Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer
Another Heyer murder mystery. This one was perfectly readable, but it didn't charm me the way Heyer usually does. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and while a long familiarity with Heyer's tropes meant that I recognised Randall as the romantic hero and definitely not the murderer, even he didn't particularly appeal to me. The murder was clever, but I felt that the choice of murderer with the whole blackmail plot was less than perfect, it was a bit tacked-on to the intricate family drama Heyer's set up. Not quite 'the butler did it' but close.
Brothers in Arms by LM Bujold (audiobook)
As ever. It is fun reading the series in publication order and seeing Bujold develop the characters and their backstories and interconnections. I think the series gains a lot from being written out of chronological order, it adds richness to the chronologically earlier books. BiA is still my pick for the most perfectly plotted book, I adore how it all leads up to the pivotal scene where Mark shoots Galen, and then unwinds from there, every action matched with a reaction and every plot thread accounted for.
The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau by Julie Ferry
This was great. It's the history of how wealthy American heiresses married into the English aristocracy, told with a fairly tight focus on the lives of a couple of women who married English aristocrats themselves and then, for a generous fee, performed introductions and set up encounters between other young women they deemed suitable, and impoverished heirs to assorted titles. Lots of detail about upper-crust society in New York and London and on the Continent, lots of fascinating detail about how the social networks worked and how women climbed and fell and what their motivations were. It makes me wonder if this is a setting much used for romantic novels, and if not, why not. Also it makes me want to read the works of Edith Wharton, who is much quoted in the book for her novels which apparently contain thinly fictionalised versions of many of the historical women, who were her contemporaries and in some cases friends.
ETA: this book apparently now is titled 'The Million Dollar Duchesses', for mysterious reasons, so if you want to find it you might need to search for that instead
I did also skim-read Gentleman Jole for fanfic reasons, no prizes for guessing which fics I wrote in a recent exchange... It was pretty readable, perfect for a really hot, sleep-deprived day in which 'nothing happens and everyone is fine' was a positive bonus.
Currently reading: not sure whether to pick up a history of the Roman roads in England, which seems likely to amuse, or a history of Bomber Command. I borrowed both from the library, somewhat in a hurry to choose anything because Cub's finished school and they don't like you abandoning your kids in the children's section while you browse at leisure, but it's hard to pick out books when someone's dancing around your feet complaining about boredom.
Crossposted at https://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/153499.html. There are
comments there.