Skip to main content

The Sunday Salon


It’s the last day of May, so of course I should probably talk about my reading for this month. I got a lot read—I finished thirteen books and I’m working on a fourteenth (The Chevalier, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles).

This past week, in addition, I read an ARC of Emily’s Ghost, by Denise Giardina, a novel about the Bronte sisters—strangely fitting, since the 160th anniversary of Anne’s death was this past week. Actually, the book is more about Emily Bronte and her relationship with her father’s curate—I’m assuming fictional, or I would have read something about him in the research I did later. The author takes a lot of liberty with the Brontes’ biographies, but it’s an interesting story nonetheless. Also read this past week was Laurie Notaro’s Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death (humorous memoir/ short essays).

Next up—who knows? I’ve got a few novels by Susanna Kearsley that arrived in the mail from Amazon recently, so I’m eager to get to them. I ordered a number of Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels, too, as well as a copy of Barbara Erskine’s The Warrior’s Princess (timeslip novel about a Celtic princess and one that I’ve heard is very good).

Comments

PD said…
Sounds like a lot of good reading! I look forward to trying out Emily's Ghost when I can finally get a hold of it. I'm always amazed by how many ARC books you get!

Paige
(from http://paigeofthebook.blogspot.com)
Jennifer Taylor said…
I wish I had more time to read, but then I'd never have time to write, so I squeeze it in when I can.
Ceri said…
Ooh, Emily's Ghost sounds interesting. I really love the Brontes so I might check that out too :)

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...