The Sunday Salon

Happy Easter, folks!

I spent this past week catching up on work after going on vacation—who knew that I would have so much to do? I enjoyed my vacation, but I also felt weirdly glad to be back at work. I did yoga for the first time in my life (the type where you hold poses for ungodly amounts of time), and then last Sunday I went horse back riding, and worked out immediately afterwards. As a result, the muscles in my back hurt for a couple of days! But now everything is back to normal.

I guess, since this is the first Sunday in April, I should do a reading wrap-up. I read an astonishing 15 books this month, so nearly one for every two days of the month! The books:

The Love Knot, by Vanessa Alexander

The Marsh King’s Daughter, by Elizabeth Chadwick

The Creation of Eve, by Lynn Cullen

Of the Ring of Earls, by Juliet Dymoke

The Lady Tree, by Christie Dickason

The Queen’s Pawn, by Christy English

31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan

Paths of Exile, by Carla Nayland

Fitzempress’ Law, by Diana Norman

Miss Marjoribanks, by Margaret Oliphant

Hester, by Paula Reed

The Far Cry, by Emma Smith

A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel, by Melvin Starr

My Brother Michael, by Mary Stewart

High Rising, by Angela Thirkell

I read a lot of really great books this month, especially the Vanessa Alexander and The Far Cry. The Marsh King’s Daughter was also excellent, as was High Rising (though the edition I read was truly dreadful, more on that when my review of it is published) and Paths of Exile.

Other books I’ve been reading lately are an ARC of Mistress of Rome, by Kate Quinn; and review copies of Confessions of Catherine de Medici, Every Last One, and Spooky Little Girl have showed up within the past week or so. Even though the latter two are to be published next week, and I’m just dying to read CW’s new book, I’m reading something that’s been on my TBR pile for a long time: The Expendable Man, by Dorothy Hughes, a contemporary (1960s) novel about a young intern doctor who picks up a hitchhiking teenager on the road to Phoenix. When she’s later murdered, he’s the first suspect I’d brought this to Arizona with me on vacation, but my eyes were too big for my stomach, and I just didn’t get around to it! I’m only about 100 pages into the book so far, and it’s very atmospheric, redolent of something that Patricia Highsmith would have written except maybe not so polished.

Yesterday I also picked up couple of books at the library: The Peacock and the Pearl, by Jennifer Lang, a novel about late-14^th century England; and Down the Common, by Ann Baer, a novel about a year in the life of a medieval peasant woman that was recommended to me through Library Thing. Recently I also bought a copy of Annette Motley's Green Dragon White Tiger, a novel about 7th century China, Susan Kay's Legacy, and Jorvik, by Sheelagh Kelly, a novel about Viking-era York. So I’ve got tons and tons of good-looking books to read; the trouble is finding time to read them all!