What We're Reading

Some read, some in the wings

LUCY BURDETTE: Dearest Reds, I hope you won’t think me dull for suggesting WHAT WE’RE READING for another Monday post! Even if you do, let’s go with it, because it’s my favorite day:). I’ve read some good ones lately… HONOR by Thrity Umrigar is a devastating novel set in modern day India, featuring an Indian-American woman sent to cover an assignment for her: a grisly crime in a village named Birwad on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. Meena, a Hindu woman, and Abdul, a Muslim man, fell in love and married in defiance of the social proscription against interfaith marriage. Infuriated by the perceived dishonor she has caused to the family, Meena's brothers set them on fire in their home. There’s nothing light about this book, but it’s fascinating and well-written and shows sides of India that you might otherwise never see.


ALMOST FRENCH by Sarah Turnbull is the memoir of an Australian woman who falls for a Parisian man and moves to Paris to live with, and eventually, marry him. She describes the culture clash she experienced and her outsider's view of what makes French people French. Fed my Paris/France obsession until I can get back!


Alka Yoshi’s THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR, following her big hit THE HENNA ARTIST. This book is set on the gorgeous palette of India as well. Although Yoshi doesn’t shy away from conflicts of caste, family, and power, her books are less emotionally fraught than Umrigar’s.


I also finished Sarah Stewart Taylor’s second Maggie D’Arcy novel, A DISTANT GRAVE. Even better than the first one I think, and now I can’t wait for another trip to Ireland in the third in the series, coming in June. At this moment, I’m reading THESE PRECIOUS DAYS by Ann Patchett. Essays aren’t usually my reading of choice, but Patchett’s writing is beautiful and her insights deep.


Looking over that list, I think I’m yearning to get back to traveling. What are you reading Reds?



JENN McKINLAY: My favorite book this year (so far) is David Goggins’s CAN’T HURT ME. Hooligan 2 loved it, so now I’m listening to it and what an amazing memoir. It’s impacted me so much that H2 and I are planning to run a 5K together!


As for fiction, I enjoyed Tessa Bailey’s It Happened One Summer a delightful romcom, featuring a king crab fisherman. I also adored an upcoming cozy mystery by Zac Bissonnette entitled A Killing in Costumes - Palm Springs and Hollywood collectibles - so fun!


And I’m reading Suze Orman’s Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ - not fun, but informative! As a person who has always seat of the pantsed her life, it seemed like time to prepare for when the hooligans graduate school and Hubs and I are “free”!


DEBORAH CROMBIE: My absolute delight the last few weeks has been discovering S.J. Bennett's Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series. I admit I was a bit skeptical–the queen as a detective? But a page into the first novel, THE WINDSOR KNOT, and I was absolutely hooked. Then I had to read book #2, ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN, and now will be eagerly awaiting the next adventure featuring Her Majesty the Queen and her assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, and the rest of the wonderful cast.


Also, I think I was the only person not to have read Richard Osman's THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB, but have now remedied that, and have also read THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE. These are absolutely delightful.


Now I'm counting the days until the new Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London novel, AMONGST OUR WEAPONS, releases in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see what's in store for Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale in this one!


RHYS BOWEN: Lucy, I loved Almost French! So insightful as to how the French behave differently. I loved the scene when she goes to a dinner party and takes an hors d’oevre and gets looks of horror because you don’t start eating until everyone is present!

My latest book is Cara Black’s MURDER AT THE PORTE DE VERSAILLES. It’s #20 in the series, really good and suspenseful.


I’ve also read several non fiction biographies on WWII British women who became spies as I’ve sent my new heroine into horrible danger that I don’t really want to write about but have to!


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It’s so wonderful to be doing the live Crime Time interviews for A Mighty Blaze not only to talk to the authors, but because I get to read so many books early. I cannot begin to tell you how I felt when I read THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY by Brendan Slocumb. It’s truly life changing. 

 Lisa Scottoline’s WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BENNETTS is pure Lisa; a fascinating story and an insightful look at justice and ethics. She is so great. Lisa Jewell’s THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED is amazing, a master class, so brilliant. And a book called MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS has just arrived, by Louise Hare. It looks amazing. 

And pleeeese do not miss THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill. Completely meta and brilliant. I keep using the same words–amazing, brilliant. Well, they are what they are.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I've been on a British literary kick, courtesy of a friend who passed a whole bagful of books on to me. I haven't tackled the Booker Prize winner (those always seem more like homework than reading, to me) but I've been enjoying the very funny MAN AT THE HELM by Nina Stibble, the adventures of two prepubescent daughters who decide their divorced mother needs a new husband to be accepted in the small village to which they've relocated after Daddy ran off with Phil from the factory.

 IN A GOOD LIGHT by Clare Chambers is a lovely slice-of-life character study about two siblings living together that moves back and forth to explore their relationship with each other and their circle of friends. Siblings must be my unofficial theme, because the next on my TBR list is UNSETTLED GROUND, which promises to be akin to what might have happened if the sisters from We Have Always Lived in the Castle actually had to relocate and face real life (without, presumably the mass murder and fire.)

HALLIE EPHRON: I've been bogged down with trying to downsize our ridiculously massive collection of books, and took time off to read Flann O'Brien's (Brian O'Nolan) THE THIRD POLICEMAN. He also wrote AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS.) It was written in 1939 but not published until after the author died in the late sixties.

It's unlike anything I've read. Glorious language. Tongue planted in cheek. I'm taking it slowly in small doses.

HANK: I love how our reading is so different….!

LUCY: I love that too, Hank! And now Reds, we can't wait to hear what you're reading!

Are you reading??

LUCY BURDETTE: As you can see from my partial TBR pile, I have plenty of good books ahead of me. And it’s a fabulous season for Jungle Red books, by the way...Jenn’s PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA is out now, and next week we have Hank’s THE FIRST TO LIE, and Rhys’s THE LAST MRS. SUMMERS, and the following week, the paperback edition of Hallie’s CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, and my own THE KEY LIME CRIME. 

I’m definitely buying books, but my reading is slow as molasses. How about you all? Is the pandemic-that-will-not-end changing how you read? What can you recommend?

HALLIE EPHRON: I just finished Susan Cerulean’s (she’s Lucy’s sister) I HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED THE SINGLE BIRD, a beautiful, elegiac work which still haunts me. I’m in the middle of Jenn’s PARIS and loving it. Next up Hank’s FIRST TO LIE (did you see her Facebook post of boxes and boxes and boxes of books to be signed??) In my TBR pile, Carol Goodman’s THE SEA OF LOST GIRLS and Tara Westover’s EDUCATED and THE GLASS HOTEL by Emily St. John.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hallie, I read THE GLASS HOTEL last month and loved it. I’m still not sure I could tell you what it was about, but I couldn’t put it down. I got an early crack at Hank’s THE FIRST TO LIE (loved it!) and am re-reading Rhys’s Royal Spyness series before THE LAST MRS SUMMERS comes out. I love escaping to Lady Georgie’s world, and even her brother Binky’s dank castle sounds good right now, with the temps here in Maine at 90 degrees.

On my TBR pile: One of the big domestic suspense books of the summer, THE SAFE PLACE by Anna Downes. Also a political satire by Christopher Buckley (love his work) titled MAKE RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN - I’ll let you guess what that one’s about. The SF novel waiting in the wings is FINDER by Suzanne Palmer, about an interstellar repo man. The second book in the series, DRIVING THE DEEP, came out in June, and it looked very intriguing, but I’m one of those people who has to start at the beginning, so...

Definitely can recommend: THE CHILL by Scott Carson, a mystery/horror/supernatural thriller with great characters and a brilliant sense of place. As I was reading it, I thought, “This reminds me of Michael Koryta’s supernatural books.” The reason why, as I discovered after finishing? Carson is Koryta. He’s decided on a nom de plume to separate his ghost stories from his decidedly-grounded-in-real-life thrillers.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Here’s the photo..amazing, right? These are all for the Brenda Novak Book Club. Let’s see. Reading. I have my favorite Andrew Wilson’s I SAW HIM DIE, with Agatha Christie as the sleuth. I just adore his books--so clever!  The new Shari Lapena arrived, hurray, called THE END OF HER. I hope it’s as good as her others. Elly Griffiths’ THE LANTERN MEN is waiting for me too. Whoo hoo.  I adored CATHERINE HOUSE by Elisabeth Thomas--so weird and twisty! And truly, Rachel Howzell Hall is a rock star--her PI novel AND NOW SHE’S GONE is gripping and terrific.  Oh and my sister in First Chapter Fun--do you know it?--Hannah Mary McKinnon’s SISTER DEAR  is a fantastic book--so surprising! And more I cannot say. Rhys, Lucy, Jenn! SO excited about your books! 

(And aw, thank you all. I am freaking out in pre-launch crazies, and it’s wonderful to have you here.)

AND! THE FIRST TO LIE is in a Goodreads giveaway! Sign up now! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/309617-the-first-to-lie

JENN MCKINLAY: I’ve discovered a new author Mhairi (pronounced Vah-Ree) McFarlane and I just devoured IF I NEVER MET YOU. A women’s fiction novel set in Manchester that was charming and witty and smart. I loved it. Also, I read Farrah Rochon’s THE BOYFRIEND PROJECT which was delightful. Truly, wonderful romcom about women supporting women. Fabulous. As for mysteries, I have Hank’s THE FIRST TO LIE lined up, having just finished DEATH AT HIGH TIDE by Hannah Dennison, which was perfection! It comes out next month and it’s a traditional mystery featuring two sisters as amateur sleuths who inherit an old hotel on the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall. So fun!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We are having a Reds bonanza!! Last week I read Jenn's PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA, and I barely put it down from start to finish! I loved it SO much!!! This week I'm reading Hank's fabulous THE FIRST TO LIE, and loving that, too. Next week is--yay--Rhys's latest Georgie, THE LAST MRS. SUMMERS. I've just finished Jim Butcher's latest and long-awaited Harry Dresden novel, PEACE TALKS. And up on my TBR pile, Kim Powers' RULES FOR BEING DEAD, S.C. Perkins' LINEAGE MOST LETHAL, Andrew Wilson's A TALENT FOR DEATH, his first book featuring Agatha Christie. I managed to snag a used paperback copy, so excited! I've also got Karen Odden's A TRACE OF DECEIT, which I would have bought just for the cover. It is so gorgeous. 

Then looking forward to Lucy's THE KEY LIME CRIME (I really need some Key West and Haley Snow in my life right now…) and coming in September, the new Robert Galbraith Cormoron Strike novel, TROUBLED BLOOD. I absolutely cannot wait for this one--I LOVE this series. And isn't there a new Vera coming from Ann Cleeves? Oooh, and Jenn's ONE FOR THE BOOKS, coming in September, too!

Oh, and adding one more. I really want to read Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET, a novel about Will Shakespeare that's getting amazing reviews. Has anyone else read this one?

RHYS BOWEN : I am currently in one of my blurbing overloads, with three books currently waiting for my endorsements. All enjoyable, I’m glad to say, but it certainly puts a damper on my reading for pleasure. Which means I’m only part way through Jenn’s PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA and next week I have to find time for Hank and Lucy’s new books. Oh, and next week I just happen to have a new book out myself, which means Zoom events and blog interviews and lots of social media.

I wish someone would give permission for me to just sit and read. Every other summer I’m sitting by a lovely beach, or in an Italian garden or by the River Seine and I can read without being interrupted.

Now it seems I should have all the time in the world at home but as well as book promotion I have writing to do, copy edits coming in, proposal for next novel etc etc.  I am dreaming of my vacation!

Lucy: Rhys, I just said that exact thing to my writing group pals: I need to take the month of September and read, read, read... Reds, are you reading? What must we add to our piles?

The Neurotic Reader @LucyBurdette #amreading

LUCY BURDETTE: I am writing this from a truly desperate place: I am nearing the end of a book I loved and panicked about finding the right one to read next. It's so disappointing to start a book that isn't as good as I hoped it would be, and thrilling to find one that captivates me. I find myself dreading the end of a great book, slowing down the way Tonka does when he's being delivered to the dog sitter when what he really wanted was a walk with his family followed by supper and a nap.

I've read two books recently that I haven't loved, although I finished them both. One was written by an author that I usually admire and enjoy--one of my favorites lately. She writes novels about culture clashes and the complexities of people attempting to adjust to new lives in unfamiliar territories. Good stuff for these times. The other was a novel set in Paris, which for me should be a slam dunk--I'm crazy for Paris. But this one was skimmable. And that raises a neurotic reader's question: Must you finish a book once you start it? If not, how quickly do you abandon it? Or do you skim to the end, wanting to know what happens to the characters, or hoping against hope that it has to get better?

And that raises one more question, do you read reviews before you start a book? If I had read the Amazon reports on the book from one of my favorite authors, maybe I wouldn't have started it. Because plenty of people noted how dark the ending was. For me, life is dark enough--I prefer my fictional endings happy. Or at least to leave the reader with some glimmer of hope. And besides, these characters made some completely foolish life choices that bothered me as a writer, and a person. Why did no one wonder why the man was spiraling out of control? How did that writer feel about following through with an ending that grim?

If you happen to be reading this blog and you are a writer as well as the reader, how does that inform the process? As I'm reading a truly excellent book, I can't help thinking that I can never produce something quite as clever and deep and appealing.

Jungle reds, tell us about the highs and lows of your reading life. And what have you finished lately that knocked your socks off?

And PS, the book I was loathe to finish was THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE by Joshilyn Jackson, and here’s how she describes what kind of book she writes:

“Weirdo Fiction with a Shot of Southern Gothic Influence for Smart People Who Can Catch the Nuances but Who Like Narrative Drive, and Who Have a Sense of Humor but Who Are Willing to Go Down to Dark Places.” 

I wouldn't have described it that way, but I will certainly read more of her books.

Book Addicts, Part Two

Grace Koshida's paperbacks only!

LUCY BURDETTE: We had so much fun talking about books on Monday that I asked Jungle Red Writer readers to share photos of their to-be-read piles. And they did! Enjoy the view...

Joan Emerson's got some work to do-two rows deep!

Hank Ryan is always on the cutting edge!

Grace Koshida's hardcover stash

Kathy Reel part 1

Kathy Reel part 2

Kathy better get reading!

Mary Garrett's cozy book nook!

Margaret Title loves her craft books!

Richard Robinson the two above! Last book read: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Current reading: Ten Years Beyond Baker Street by Cay Van Ash.

Next up: The Mistletoe Murder by P. D. James

Diana Todd, parts 1 and 2!

Pat Dupuy, Library books first!

Add caption

Pat Dupuy, we're waiting!

Deborah Crombie TBR January!!

And most unusual book case/bunk bed, Mark Baker

Alicia Collins was the winner of Krista Davis's MISSION IMPAWSIBLE. The book is on its way!

And the winner of Leslie Karst's A MEASURE OF MURDER is Libby Dodd!