Skip to main content

The Sunday Salon


Is it really Sunday already? It’s been a beautiful day here today. Today my parents, grandmother and I went out to brunch—my mom’s birthday is coming up this week. I’d really like to tell you all what my dad is getting her, but since she’s probably reading this, I’ll wait until later. Suffice it to say that it’s good!

As far as reading goes, currently I’m reading The Shadowy Horses, by Susanna Kearsley. In it, a young archeologist goes to Scotland to work on an ancient Roman archeological dig. Ghosts and the supernatural are promised in the near future. I’m only about forty pages in so far, but enjoying it immensely, as I usually do with Kearsley’s novels. It’s the perfect read for summer.

Also read this week: The Jewel Box, by Anna Davis, and The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, by Syrie James. Both were highly enjoyable, and reviews of both will be forthcoming sometime this week or next, whenever I get around to writing them. I’ll also post a review of Sarah Dunant’s new book, Sacred Hearts, when it’s released on the 14th.

In other news, I’m planning the details of my trip to London in September—just bought tickets to see The Mousetrap! I read the play years ago, and I’m excited to see it onstage.

Comments

DesLily said…
turning green with envy here that you are going to England!! Take lots of photos please!
who will be starring in the play?? Where else will you go while in England?
Anonymous said…
I can't wait to hear what you thought of the secret diary of charlotte bronte - it sounds like a good one!
London? That's so cool!! You're gonna have such a great time! Better take lots of pictures for us to drool over =)

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

Six Degrees of Barbara Pym's Novels

This year seems to be The Year of Barbara Pym; I know some of you out there are involved in some kind of a readalong in honor of the 100th year of her birth. I’ve read most of her canon, with only The Sweet Dove Died, Civil to Strangers, An Academic Question, and Crampton Hodnet left to go (sadly). Barbara Pym’s novels feature very similar casts of characters: spinsters, clergymen, retirees, clerks, and anthropologists, with which she had direct experience. So it stands to reason that there would be overlaps in characters between the novels. You can trace that though the publication history of her books and therefore see how Pym onionizes her stories and characters. She adds layers onto layers, adding more details as her books progress. Some Tame Gazelle (1950): Archdeacon Hoccleve makes his first appearance. Excellent Women (1952): Archdeacon Hoccleve gives a sermon that is almost incomprehensible to Mildred Lathbury; Everard Bone understands it, however, and laughs