A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

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...

Happy Sunday! Because of Memorial Day Weekend, it definitely doesn’t feel like the end of the weekend, so we’ve got another day to go! I'm not complaining, since it promises to be 90 degrees out here tomorrow. The month is essentially over, so I figured I might as well do my reading wrap-up for May now. Here’s what I read: How Did You Get This Number, by Sloane Crosley Still Missing, by Beth Gutcheon The Reckoning, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles The Tulip Virus, by Danielle Hermans A London Child of the 1870s, by Molly Hughes Legacy, by Susan Kay Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen The Circular Staircase, by Mary Roberts Rinehart Airs Above the Ground, by Mary Stewart Shadow Princess, by Indu Sundaresan No Angel, by Penny Vincenzi They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple Flapper, by Joshua Zeitz I read 13 books this month, so basically the same amount as last month. I read more nonfiction this month as well. My favorite books this month were easily They Were ...

Pages: 374 Original date of publication: 1981 My edition: 2010 (Persephone) Why I decided to read: it’s a Persephone; what else can I say? How I acquired my copy: Persephone website, April 2010 When I heard that Persephone would be reprinting this one, I was both excited and apprehensive at the same time. On one hand, the plot sounded interesting; on the other, it’s completely different from what Persephone usually publishes. One day, Susan Selky sends her almost-seven-year-old son Alex off to school. He disappears, seemingly without trace, and the following nine months, while Susan, her ex, the police, and many others conduct a manhunt for Alex. The novel contains a pretty strong statement about a mother’s long-lasting hope and belief that her son is still alive somewhere, and not dead, as many people fear. There’s also a pretty strong statement here about how well we really know the people around us: our neighbors, and the people we let into our homes. The strength of thi...

What books do you have next to your bed right now? How about other places in the house? What are you reading ? Literally on my bedside table right now are The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet (I’m steeling myself to read the second book in it, but I’ll wait to do so after Memorial Day weekend). I also have review copies of Indu Sundaresan’s Shadow Princess and Sloane Crosley’s How Did You Get This Number, both books that I’ve read and written reviews for, and which I need to reshelve at some point when I’m not feeling lazy. In the bookcase next to my bed, I have about a hundred books to read (a full list can be seen here ). A few of these are review copies (including a LTER book that I need to get around to reading and reviewing sometime soon), but this upcoming weekend, with the holiday and all, I really only feel like reading fun stuff. I’m thinking some Mary Stewart, or Elizabeth Chadwick, especially To Defy a King . Currently, though, I’m reading the 15 th book in the Mo...

Pages: 278 Original date of publication: 2008 (in Dutch) My edition: 2010 (Minotaur) Why I decided to read: a blogger mentioned this a while ago and I decided to try it for myself How I acquired my copy: from the library, April 2010 The premise of The Tulip Virus centers around the tulip craze of the 1630s. The 1636 murder of a tulip trader in Alkmaar is contrasted with the murder of Dutchman Frank Schoeller in modern-day London. Alec Schoeller, the nephew of the man murdered in the present day, arrives at his uncle’s home to find him dying. His uncle gives him a book—a catalogue of tulips from the last great auction before the tulip bubble burst in 1637. Alec’s search for his uncle’s killer leads him into the dangerous world of tulip trading. The differences between Science and religion are sharply drawn in this story of greed. The mystery of the novel sort of fizzles out—the motive for murder is clear from the beginnings, even if the jacket copy doesn’t give it...

Teaser Tuesday asks you to: --Grab your current read --Let the book open to a random page --Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12 --You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from—that way people can have some great recommendations if hey like the teaser you’re given! “All the Duke’s close attendants were aware of the change in their master. Alencon, the rake, the cynic, the irrepressible little egotist, was behaving like a schoolboy in love for the first time.” --From Legacy , by Susan Kay

Pages: 397 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 210 (Ballantine) Why I decided to read: I read and loved The Last Queen last year How I acquired my copy: LTER I’ve been looking forward to reading The Confessions of Catherine de Medici ever since reading CW Gortner’s other book, The Last Queen , last spring. I think it’s difficult for an author to have a strong second novel follow up on the first, but Gortner rally pulls it off with his novel about Catherine de Medici—a queen who in and of herself was a complicated woman. She’s an intriguing woman however—a member of one of the foremost families in Europe, she was alternately a duchess, dauphine, queen, queen mother, and regent. And yet, she was maligned as a witch, accused of masterminding the Bartholomew’s Day massacre among other things. Writing from the point of view of someone as famous as Catherine is, is tricky. On one hand, there’s a wealth of information out there on her; on the other, the trick l...