Skip to main content

The Sunday Salon


It’s been a crazy week around here—the only thing I posted last week was a review, and that scheduled in advance. I’ve been very busy with work, though oddly enough I still made time to read five books this week:

The Principessa, by Christie Dickason
Madonna of the Almonds, by Marina Fiorato
Thornyhold, by Mary Stewart
Mariana, by Susanna Kearsley
A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick

My favorite book of the week was Mariana; least favorite was A Reliable Wife. Currently I’m reading Tasha Alexander’s And Only to Deceive, the first Lady Emily Ashton mystery. Aside from the anachronisms, the premise of the novel is pretty interesting.

Comments

Amy said…
You didn't like A Reliable Wife??? Wow I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Michelle said…
Wow! Five books?!? Where do you find the time?
Alyce said…
I've been seeing mixed reviews of A Reliable Wife. It seems to be one of those that people either love or hate.

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars...

Review: Mariana, by Monica Dickens

Mariana is the story of one young girl’s growth towards adulthood during the 1920s and ‘30s. The book begins when Mary Shannon is eight, and traveling with her somewhat flighty mother to Charbury, her grandparents’ house; and continues up through the time that Mary is twenty-four and waiting to hear news of her husband from the war. Monica Dickens (a great-granddaughter of Charles) depicts Mary’s maturation to adulthood with perfection. The reader sympathizes with Mary as she experiences the ups and downs of relationships and careers—experimenting with both seems to be pretty characteristic of Mary, as she grapples a bit with identity and independence. And yet, there isn’t the usual amount of teenage angst that one usually finds in a novel about growing up, which I found to be very refreshing. Mary is a sweet and sometimes naïve girl, but at the same time, she’s also wonderfully sarcastic towards her peers. She’s hard to like at times, but in an odd way, I found myself sympathizing wi...