Thursday, April 30, 2020

Books from the Backlog


Books from the Backlog is a weekly linkup hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books. As she says, "Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread.  If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks."

I really haven't been able to make myself do a lot of reading lately. Just can't seem to settle down long enough. Keep feeling like I should be making masks or disinfecting something.

What I have been doing is spending a huge amount of time going through my "Want to Read" shelf at GoodReads. I started out thinking I would thin it out a bit, but of course just ended up adding more books to it. The thing that really surprised me was just how far back my TBR list goes – I started it back in 2008! One of the first books I added was Daphne, by Justine Picardie (first published 2006, by Bloomsbury).



Here's the description from GoodReads:
It is 1957. The author Daphne du Maurier, beautiful and famous, despairs as her marriage falls apart. Restlessly roaming through Menabilly, her remote mansion by the sea in Cornwall, she is haunted by regret and by her creations—especially Rebecca, from her most famous novel. Seeking distraction from her misery, Daphne becomes passionately interested in Branwell, the reprobate brother of the Brontë sisters, and begins a correspondence with the enigmatic scholar Alex Symington as she researches a biography. But behind Symington's respectable surface is a slippery character with much to hide, and soon truth and fiction have become indistinguishable. 
In present-day London, a lonely young woman, newly married after a fleeting courtship with a man considerably older than her, struggles with her Ph.D. thesis on du Maurier and the Brontës. Her husband, still seemingly in thrall to his brilliant, charismatic first wife, is frequently distant and mysterious, and she can't find a way to make the large, imposing house in Hampstead feel like her own. Retreating instead into the comfort of her library, she becomes absorbed in a fifty-year-old literary mystery… 
Daphne is a tale of obsession and possession, of stolen manuscripts and forged signatures, of love lost and love found: a tantalizing literary mystery that takes its reader into the heart of Daphne du Maurier's world. 

Daphne du Maurier's classic Gothic novel Rebecca is one of my favorite reads, and I've always been fascinated by the Brontës, too. So Picardie's book sounds like something I'd love. You wouldn't think it would take me more than ten years to get to it. Would you?

So what d'ya think? Sound good to you? Like something you'd read? Or maybe you've read this one already? I think I'll keep it on the Want-to-Read list. For now, anyway.

Happy reading, everyone!

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Book Beginnings: Gin & Daggers


Gin & Daggers (Murder, She Wrote #1), by "Jessica Fletcher" and Donald Bain (first published 1989). These are the book's first lines:
"Care to take a closer look, Mrs. Fletcher?"
"Well, I suppose so," I said.
"Hold on, then, here we go." 
My heart, which had been nestled securely in its usual place, now moved up to my throat and lodged there, beating as though a crazed bass drum player were doing a paradiddle on it.

About the Book:
Jessica Fletcher is off to London to deliver the keynote address at a mystery writers convention. She's also looking forward to seeing her mentor, Marjorie Ainsworth, who's hosting a party on her estate to celebrate her latest book. But a routine business trip becomes murderous business–when Jessica discovers Marjorie stabbed to death in her own bedroom. 
Gossip about Marjorie's failing health and an unknown ghostwriter takes on more serious meaning now that everyone–including Jessica–is a suspect. Inspector George Sutherland of Scotland Yard is eager to help with the investigation for reasons that go a bit beyond the professional. And Jessica's sleuthing introduces her to a whole new side of London, populated with some very colorful–and sinister–characters. (Publisher's description)

Initial Thoughts:

Actually, my very first thought after reading that opening, was that I wasn't at all sure what a "paradiddle" was. I've heard the word before, but only had a vague notion of what it really meant until today when I Googled it and found this definition:
... one of the basic patterns (rudiments) of drumming, consisting of four even strokes played in the order left-right-left-left or right-left-right-right
Also found a bunch of YouTube videos of drummers showing how it's done. Amazing! Just shows, you're never too old to learn something new and interesting.

But I digress.

I loved the Murder, She Wrote TV show back in the '80s and '90s. I'm still watching the reruns just about every night on the Hallmark Movie channel. So I was definitely intrigued when I found out that someone had written a series of mystery novels based on the show, and I've been meaning to give them a try for years now. And for once, I decided to start out with the first novel in the series! (How unique is that?)

So far, Gin & Daggers has been very enjoyable and sounds very much like something the TV Jessica Fletcher might have gotten herself involved in. (Uh-oh! Jessica would never end a sentence with a preposition.) It's definitely lifting my spirits, and goodness knows they can use some lifting right about now. I might just read nothing but Jessica for the rest of this increasingly dismal year.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!



Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Book Beginnings: And Be a Villain


And Be a Villain (Nero Wolfe #13), by Rex Stout. First published 1948. These are the book's first lines:
For the third time I went over the final additions and subtractions on the first page of Form 1040, to make good and sure. Then I swiveled my chair to face Nero Wolfe, who was seated behind his desk to the right of mine reading a book of poems by a guy named Van Doren, Mark Van Doren. So I thought I might as well use a poetry word. 
"It's bleak," I said.

About the Book:
Madeline Fraser, radio talk show host extraordinaire, had a natural dread of dead air. So when one of her on-air guests "signed off" at the mike after drinking a glass of a sponsor’s beverage, it was a broadcaster’s nightmare come true. Enter Nero Wolfe. He agrees to take the case, with his sizable fee contingent on his solving the murder. But to Wolfe’s surprise, everyone connected to the case now tells lies in unison about it. And as the portly detective soon discovers, the secret worth lying about only hides another worth killing for. (--GoodReads)

Initial Thoughts:

I've been looking for soothing reads lately, to take my mind off the current depressing situation, and what could be more soothing than a Nero Wolfe mystery? I read quite a few of these when I was much younger, but there are so many of them (Stout published 33 Nero Wolfe novels, and 41 novellas and short stories between 1934 and 1975), I've still got a huge selection to keep me occupied and calm.

This one begins, as so many do, with Nero Wolfe's assistant and legman Archie Goodwin lamenting how bad Wolfe's financial situation has become. Not to worry — the great man will come up with some high-profile, high-paying case to pursue very soon. Miscreants will be punished. And readers will be dazzled.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!



Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.