A week in books
I'm reading a very enjoyable historical crime novel at the moment, The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin. It's the second in a series featuring Adelia Aguilar, a graduate of the School of Medicine in Salerno, set in 12th century England. I haven't read the first one but it doesn't make any difference, it's easy to get the background. Interestingly, I've just discovered that Ariana Franklin is a pseudonym for Diana Norman. Recently I went looking because I thought it had been a while since I'd seen any new books by Norman. I only checked one of the British books in print databases, though, so never came across a reference to her new publications under the Franklin name.
I've got a week off work coming up so I'm looking forward to catching up on some of the pile of books beside the bed. And the pile on the living room shelves. And the landing shelf. And there's a few in the car too, I seem to remember...ah, bliss.
Last night I finished P.D. Martin's first novel, Body Count. A bit gruesome in places, and I'm not very good at doing gory at the moment, but fast paced and an easy read. It wasn't as predictable as I feared, either. I was convinced that I'd spotted who the killer was very early on, but I was proved wrong at the end.
Recently I've had a pleasant re-read of Maeve Binchy's The Glass Lake and that was just what I was in the mood for at the time, familiar comfort reading.
I finally read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I remember borrowing it when we first bought it for the library back in 2002 but I never got into it. On the recommendation of B at wotrk I took it out again recently, and this time I flew through it. It was fascinating, and so beautifully written. It reminded me quite a bit of To Kill A Mockingbird. It didn't have quite the same feeling of innocence, but there were large similarities between the characters of Atticus and August. A sense of widsom, and calmness and tolerance, and the ability to teach without preaching.
I've got a week off work coming up so I'm looking forward to catching up on some of the pile of books beside the bed. And the pile on the living room shelves. And the landing shelf. And there's a few in the car too, I seem to remember...ah, bliss.
Last night I finished P.D. Martin's first novel, Body Count. A bit gruesome in places, and I'm not very good at doing gory at the moment, but fast paced and an easy read. It wasn't as predictable as I feared, either. I was convinced that I'd spotted who the killer was very early on, but I was proved wrong at the end.
Recently I've had a pleasant re-read of Maeve Binchy's The Glass Lake and that was just what I was in the mood for at the time, familiar comfort reading.
I finally read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I remember borrowing it when we first bought it for the library back in 2002 but I never got into it. On the recommendation of B at wotrk I took it out again recently, and this time I flew through it. It was fascinating, and so beautifully written. It reminded me quite a bit of To Kill A Mockingbird. It didn't have quite the same feeling of innocence, but there were large similarities between the characters of Atticus and August. A sense of widsom, and calmness and tolerance, and the ability to teach without preaching.