A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Pages: 384 Original date of publication: My copy: 2013 (Harlequin MIRA) Why I decided to read: Copy offered for review How I acquired my copy: Amazon Vine, April 2013 Set in 1923, the novel focuses on Delilah Drummond, a daringly modern woman who is forced to take a “break” from society when a scandal threatens her reputation. She goes to Kenya and her stepfather’s estate, Fairlight, and quickly becomes acclimatized to the way of life there—meeting, as she does so, Ryder White, a hunter/tracker. I’ve had a taste of British colonial life in Kenya—Frances Osborne’s The Bolter is about a famous colonist of the period, Idina Sackville, and the five husbands she “bolted” from in order to set up a new life in Kenya (where she continued her adventures, many of them sexual). So there are pretty obvious comparisons to be made between Idina Sackville and Delilah Drummond, as there are between Dennis Finch-Hatton (of Out of Africa fame) and Ryder White. Still, there’s enough...

Pages: 318 Original date of publication: 2008 My copy: 2008 (WW Norton) Why I decided to read: saw Mary Roach speak at a conference How I acquired my copy: Denver airport bookstore, October 2012 In Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers , Roach explored the topic of the human cadaver and how it’s used in science. In Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex , she does pretty much the same thing, except with sex and sexuality. Roach wanders out into the fringes of scientific exploration in her books, into the areas that aren’t considered “typical,” and she writes her books with a liberal amount of humor. Roach traveled all over the world to witness—and even participate in—clinical trials involving sex. Every now and then she footnotes her writing with random stuff, including a note about who Millard Filmore’s running mate was (trick question!). From start to finish, Bonk is an entertaining read—even if I did get a few odd looks as I was reading it in public....

Pages: 303 Original date of publication: 2003 My edition: 2003 (Norton) Why I decided to read: saw the author speak at a conference How I acquired my copy: Denver airport, October 2012 I saw Mary Roach speak at the annual meeting of the American Medical Writers Association in Sacramento at the beginning of October, where she was presented with an award at a luncheon I attended. Her talk was so humorous and interesting that on my way home I was able to find copies of her books in a (gasp!) real bookstore in the Denver airport (I saw Flaubert lurking behind the counter along with Jane Eyre ). For Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers , Roach harangued everyone from morticians to doctors to body farm personnel others whose work brings them in proximity to cadavers. In this book we see how cadavers are used for everything from medical student anatomy lessons to crash test dummies (the impact that cars have on cadavers is more realistic than if they were to use cra...

Pages: 331 Original date of publication: 1933 My edition: 1986 (Virago) Why I decided to read: It’s on the list of VMCs How I acquired my copy: Charing Cross Road bookshop, London, September 2011 Ordinary Families is the story of an English family living in the small village of Pin Mill. Lallie is one of four children to a former adventurer, and they spend their days boating and hunting in Suffolk. This is one of those classic coming of age stories in which one girl struggles to figure out her place in a large family, overshadowed as she is by her beautiful older sister. I liked Robertson’s descriptions of the family, especially Lallie and her father, but I also thought her descriptions of the family’s boating excursions were a bit, er, overboard at times. Robertson is good at character development and exploring the relationships between the various family members. It’s also very frank, for the 1930s, about various aspects of growing up. Because the plot moves along at a very slow pac...

Pages: 217 Original date of publication: 1913 My edition: 2008 (Persephone) Why I decided to read: I was in the mood for reading another Persephone How I acquired my copy: the Persephone shop, September 2011 In 1909, Maud Pember Reeves and the Fabian Society conducted a social experiment in one of London’s poorer neighborhoods (in Lambeth Walk) to explore the daily lives and living conditions of those people. Round About a Pound a Week is a report of that venture, in which Pember Reeves outlines what she and her coworkers found. They focused on poor, working-class families, but she is quick to point out that the subjects of her study weren’t the poorest in London. The book is divided into chapters that explore in (sometimes excruciating detail) housing, furniture, budgets, food, children, and attitudes to marriage. For example, Pember Reeves gives the exact breakdown of several families’ budgets. Interesting to note is how much these families spent on burial insurance. Pember Reeves do...

Pages: 387 Original date of publication: 2011 My edition: 2011 (Mira) Why I decided to read: I’m a fan of the Lady Julia Grey series How acquired my copy: Amazon pre-order, June 2011 I’m always nervous when I embark on reading another book in the Lady Julia Grey series. Will this one be as good as the last? Or, for that matter, the first? I think the appeal of the series lies in the interaction between Julia and Brisbane; I’m always worried that the spark between them won’t be there anymore. Julia and Brisbane are back in London from their honeymoon, trying to juggle married life and Brisbane’s career as a secret enquiry agent. One of his new clients is Julia’s older brother Belmont, an MP and pillar of the community who’s the last person you’d expect to ask Brisbane for help. Julia, of course, insinuates herself into the case, and her and Brisbane’s enquiries lead them to the Ghost Club and a medium called Madame Seraphine. Murder, arson, blackmail, and grave robbing—these are all pre...

Pages: 388 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 2010 (Mira) Why I decided to read: Heard about this book through the author’s website and blog How I acquired my copy: Amazon Vine, October 2010 Dark Road to Darjeeling is the fourth book in the Lady Julia Grey series. This time, Lady Julia and Nicholas, nine months married, are headed to India, where Julia’s sister Portia’s friend, Jane, has recently been made a widow. Jane suspects that her husband has been murdered, and so Lady Julia goes to investigate. Lots of people have reason to want Freddie Cavendish dead—and the child that Jane carries. I love that Deanna Raybourn took Julia out of England for this one. India is always a stellar place to set a novel, and I loved the descriptions of Darjeeling and Calcutta. I was nervous about seeing what would happen now that Julia and Brisbane are married; but the tension between them is still alive and kicking (and Deanna Raybourn depicts their relationship much ...

Pages: 437 Original date of publication: 1994 My edition: 2001 (Harper Torch) Why I decided to read: I discovered this one browsing on Amazon How I acquired my copy: Barnes and Noble, April 2010 Shinju is a novel that introduces its reader to Sano Ichiro, a member of the shogun class who serves as a yoriki, investigating crimes in seventeenth-century Edo (Tokyo). It’s a position he’d rather not be in, since he gained his position through connections; and many of his contemporaries resent him for it. When the daughter of one of the most preeminent families in Edo turns up dead in the company of a lowly artist, everyone assumes that they were a double love-suicide, or Shinju. But Sano Ichiro suspects otherwise, and his search for a murderer leads him into dangerous territory—especially since the family of the dead girl would rather keep the matter closed. This is a very strong start to what seems like an interesting series. Sano Ichiro is an unusual investigator—anyo...

Pages: 209 Original date of publication: 1908 My edition: 2009 (Barnes and Noble) Why I decided to read: it was on a list of 100 best mysteries of the 20 th century How I acquired my copy: Barnes and Noble, May 2010 The plot of The Circular Staircase is, like the staircase of the title, rather roundabout. There are a lot of elements in this novel—murder, embezzlement, robbery, and arson, just t name a few of the crimes perpetrated by the characters in this book. Rachel Innes is a rather prickly middle-aged spinster and the aunt of Gertrude and Halsey. After renting a house in the countryside one summer, in which ghosts are said to live, a man is shot dead at the foot of the house’s circular staircase. The dead man is the son of the owner of the house, and he and Jack Bailey (a friend of Halsey’s who also happens to be engaged to Getrude) may or may not have been involved in a bank scandal. Rachel, who claims that the detecting gene is in her blood, spends the cour...

Pages: 320 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 2010 (St. Martin's Press) Why I decided to read: I won this through LTER How I acquired my copy: mine from LTER never arrived, so I borrowed from the library instead, March 2010 Hester is the continued story of Hester Prynne, flawed heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel. In this novel, which takes place roughly between the years of 1649 and 1660, Hester moves back to England, where she comes to the attention of Oliver Cromwell, who appreciates her for a certain talent she has: the ability to instantly see a person’s sins just by looking at them, a talent (or curse, depending on how you look at it) she acquired as a result of committing her own sins. The novel has a lot of ground to cover, seeing as it takes the reader through the Protectorate of Cromwell and just beyond. What I didn’t particularly care for is that things happen rather quickly here. Hester strikes me as being a very strong woman, but also as someone...

Pages:309 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 2010 (Mira) Why I decided to read: I’m a fan of the author’s Lady Julia Grey series How I acquired my copy: ARC from the publicist Theodora Lestrange is a budding author who receives an invitation from her friend, Cosmina, to stay in her fiancee’s castle in Transylvania. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to gain inspiration for the novel she’s always wanted to write, Theodora goes to Transylvania—and finds herself immediately attracted to the castle’s owner, count Andrei Dragulescu. I’m not quite as fond of this novel as I am of Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series, and I’ll tell you why. Theodora Lestrange is a pale copy of Lady Julia, I’m afraid, unrestrainedly modern and not quite as interesting. There’s not quite the same amount of wittiness that Lady Julia gave us time after time. There are also a lot of discrepancies in her character, especially when it came to her friendship with Cosmina. I can’t help but compare this ro...

Fire From Heaven is the story of Alexander the Great, the legendary fourth-century BC king and emperor who succeeded after his father was killed. He had a short lifespan (he died at the age to 32), but he had an incredible life and career, which Mary Renault attempts to recreate in this novel. Alexander in this novel seems much older than he really is; but that’s because he’s precocious. Alexander’s a fascinating man, made even more fascinating my all that he accomplished in 33 years. Alexander is pretty much legendary, so Mary Renault was a bit ambitious in the writing of this novel. I have to admit that I’m a bit out of my element here in terms of the historical period, since I don’t read much fiction set in ancient Greece. But the historical detail is deeply evocative; King Phillip’s court is beautifully rendered here. It’s clear that Mary Renault really, really researched her subject matter before writing, and that she has a deep understanding of, and empathy for, Alexander. But m...

New York: The Novel is an ambitious book. Covering nearly 350 years of New York, and by extension American history, this book is the story of about a half a dozen families living in the city at various points throughout its history: the Dutch van Dycks, English Masters, Irish O’Donnells, German Kellers, southern Italian Carusos, Jewish Adlers, and the descendants of the slave Quash, who are given the last name River. The novel opens in 1664, when New Amsterdam is bought from the Dutch by the English and becomes New York, and ends in the summer of 2009. New York is the third of Rutherfurd’s books I’ve read, after Sarum and London. His previous two books covered all of English history, from prehistory to the present; New York only covers about 350 years. There are good and bad things about focusing on such a (relatively) short period of history. On one hand, it’s a lot easier to keep track of the generations through the years, and there’s a lot more room for character development. On th...

Julien is a young English scholar who goes to Sicily to be the envoy and secretary to Roger II, the twelfth century king who was able to unite the south of Italy, becoming involved with the papal politics of the age. On behalf of his employer, Julien, an admirer of Peter Abelard, is sent on a number of diplomatic missions to various parts of Europe. Along the way he meets Claire, and manages to marry her, against the odds. Italy in the twelfth century isn’t a place or time I know much about, despite my interest in medieval Europe, so I was interested in picking up this novel. The book is at its best when sorting out the convoluted politics of the 1120s and ‘30s, but falters a bit when it comes to the fiction bits. It was very hard for me to really believe Julien and Claire’s relationship; one moment they dislike each other and the next they’re declaring their undying love for one another. There’s also very little passion involved; most of the time, Julien seems to just go through the m...

The Nun’s Tale is the third Owen Archer mystery. It’s 1366, and a nun, gone missing a year before, appears, claiming that she’s been buried alive. Pretty soon, other people who have been involved in her disappearance turn up, dead. In come Owen Archer and his wife, the apothecary Lucie Wilton, to solve the mystery. Is Joanna Calverley really what she says she is? Or is she simply mad? In any case, she’s a frustrating study in contrasts: virgin or Mary Magdalene? Victim in the case or perpetrator? The story itself is slightly more grim than those in her other books; not just murder is at stake here, but something more sinister. There’s very little suspense to the mystery, but Candace Robb excels at portraying the relationships between her characters, developing them more and more with each book in the series. I liked how the author developed the tenuous relationship between Lucie and her father, Sir Robert, too. Jasper Melton, who features in the previous entry of the series, The Lady ...

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is the sequel to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. This time the tables are turned—a young 19th century woman named Jane Mansfield wakes up in the body of Courtney Stone, a 21st century woman living in LA. Jane here has more challenges to overcome than Courtney did, as she learns to adopt herself to a totally new life. Along the way, she becomes attracted to Wes, one of Courtney’s friends. She also learns a lot about herself, and she learns that the 21st century isn’t so much different from the 19th, after all. This book was a quick read; I finished it in two sittings. It’s enjoyable for the most part, and funny. There’s good character development, but only insofar as Jane/ Courtney goes; the other characters aren’t as well defined. The ending of the novel was very open-ended, too. There’s not much focus on how or why Jane and Courtney exchanged bodies (yes, Courtney hit her head in a pool and Jane fell off her horse, but that doesn’t quite ...

Death at the Priory is the true story of a murder. In 1876, a London lawyer named Charles Bravo was poisoned to death in his suburban home, the Priory. Suspects abounded—the man’s wife, Florence; her ex-lover, Dr. James Gully; the housekeeper, Mrs. Cox; and the groom. But the case was never fully solved. In this book, James Ruddick offers a convincing solution to the mystery. The book is divided into two parts; the first covers the events of the murder and inquest, while in the second the author outlines his theory, narrowing the suspects down one by one. This fewer-than-200-page book began in the late 1990s as a series of research papers, by an investigative journalist. As a result, the book is highly readable, with short, snappy chapters. But because the book is so brief, it really fails to even scratch the surface of what Victorian domestic life was really like. And the author makes a lot of generalizations about the Victorians (“theirs was a heavy drinking age”), without backing i...

The Last Days of the Romanovs is the story of the last fourteen-ish days of the lives of the Romanov family during their stay at Ipatiev House (aka “The House of Special Purposes”) in Yekaterinburg (oddly, Rappaport spells it as “Ekaterinburg” here), up until their murder two weeks later, on July 17th 1918. It may be a nonfiction account, but parts of this book read as though they’re fiction. Each chapter ostensible covers each day leading up to the murders, but the author gives her reader a lot of background information on the Revolution, the Romanov family, and the people involved in their demise. It’s a pretty readable book in the sense that the prose is fairly straightforward, and there are no footnotes to bog the reader down. Rappaport portrays the Romanov family sympathetically, as a group of people victimized by circumstance and out of control of their own destinies. This book is a good introduction to the subject, and a good work of popular history overall. There was a lot of ...

I’ve been anticipating Silent on the Moor ever since I tore through Silent in the Sanctuary , and Silent in the Grave before that. I can't remember when last I've enjoyed a series as much as the Lady Julia Grey books. This time, Lady Julia Grey travels to Yorkshire with her sister Portia, where Brisbane has recently purchased a decrepit mansion on the moor. Living there too are Lady Allenby and her two daughters, the descendents of Saxon kings but living in reduced circumstances after the death of Lady Allenby’s son, Redwall. I greatly enjoyed this story of poison, romance and revenge, compounded by a number of sinister and rather twisted family secrets. We learn more about Brisbane’s past, and we get to see more of his and Julia’s relationship—never smooth, but they have wonderful chemistry together. Julia’s maid Morag is back, too, still as feisty as ever. What I love about Deanna Raybourn’s books is that she’s so good at character and plot development, and Silent on the Mo...

The Lady Chapel is the second in Cadace Robb’s series featuring Owen Archer—Welsh bowman and apprentice apothecary—and his wife, Lucie Wilton. Here, it is 1365, and a wool merchant is murdered near York Minster, his throat slit and the only witness an eight-year-old boy. The solution to the problem which doesn’t come easily for our unusual hero, involves the international wool trade, as well as King Edward III himself and his mistress, the wily Alive Perrers. The writing style of this novel is a little dense, especially when talking about the politics of the time period. I also got the feeling that the speech patterns of the characters were a little anachronistic. The strength of the Owen Archer books lies in their plots, usually centering around something much larger than would appear at first, and The Lady Chapel is no exception. Robb does a great job intertwining the historical places and figures with the fictional. The best part of this series is, however, the characters; Owen and...