What We're Reading

 LUCY BURDETTE: It's been a while since we’ve talked about what we’re reading and I miss it! I will describe a couple of the ones I’ve enjoyed recently. But first I must admit that I have stacks and stacks of books in my TBR file (see photo–it’s embarrassing.) I’m an addict. But I am always happy to hear your recommendations and add to the pile.

Laura Hankin’s THE DAYDREAMS: We’ve had Laura visit the Reds several times and I love all of her books. This one is about a teenage TV show that ended dramatically–the characters have been enticed to come back for a reunion ten years later. Lots of drama, revenge, old flames, and so on, plus a dose of understanding the damage that fame can do, especially for young people. I loved it!

J. Ryan Stradal’s SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB: Stradal writes beautifully about the Midwest, with quirky characters and food. If you enjoyed listening to Garrison Keillor's The Prairie Home Companion, this is a book for you. Great characters, delicious homemade food and restaurant life, and a solid Midwestern vibe.

Also I am listening to Julia Whelan read THANK YOU FOR LISTENING, which was recommended by Debs and Jenn. I am enjoying it very much (especially the discussion of the life of a narrator) but realizing I’m not really an audio book reader. For one, at night I fall asleep. And I think I must be a faster reader on the page. How about you Reds, anything to recommend?

JENN McKINLAY: Oh, I loved that audiobook, Lucy. I listen mostly while at the gym or walking the dogs. You can also speed up the audio if the narrator’s pace is too slow for you. Personally, I have been on a reading bender (I believe it is also known as deadline avoidance). 

I just finished the Mary Higgins Clark award winning A DREADFUL SPLENDOR by B.R. Myers. It was fantastic - all the Gothic spookiness my heart desired. I also read THE GAY BEST FRIEND by Nicolas Didomizio. For anyone who has suffered being in a wedding party (seven times for me), this book is for you! 

Next up on my TBR is THE LIBRARY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Felicity Hayes-McCoy. It’s set in Ireland. What more do I need to say about it? Nothing. Then, I have A NOVEL DISGUISE by Samantha Larsen on deck. The premise of this one has me so intrigued. Set in 1784, a spinster has to disguise herself as her late half-brother and assume his role as the personal librarian to a Duke while searching for a lost family heirloom or she loses her home. And then, even though I say I never read literature, I have R.F. Kuang’s YELLOWFACE in the queue because the premise of one author taking another author’s work upon her death and claiming it as her own – well, I’m all in!

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m reading a book I’ve been meaning to read forever: GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson. I loved her HOUSEKEEPING when I read it eons ago. Also reading Kwei Quartey’s first novel, WIFE OF THE GODS, a murder mystery set in Ghana. I was supposed to spend a summer working in Ghana when I was in college, but the trip never happened because the airline overbooked the plane. I’m visiting it now, virtually.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ooh, you know how sometimes you get an especially lovely TRB? Welp. I have Ruth Ware’s upcoming ZERO DAYS (I’m interviewing her in person soon), JUST ANOTHER MISSING PERSON, which is the new Gillian McAllister (if you did not read her WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME, do that instantly!). And I am deeply in the midst of THE PUZZLE MASTER by Danielle Trussoni, which is so twisty and thought provoking! And so clever. Kind of... Dan Brown meets Tom Stoppard. Love it. And oh, do not miss BEWARE THE WOMAN by Megan Abbott. It is life changing and she is incredible.

And I have to add that I am always so enchanted by our different choices.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Of course I picked up books at the California Crime Writers Conference in LA weekend before last! I'm reading (my signed copy of) Jeri Westerson's Holmes pastiche, THE ISOLATED SEANCE, which is such a treat. I hope to see lots more of Badger and Watson! I also bought Adam Sikes' LANDSLIDE, an espionage thriller, as I really enjoyed Adam's panel. Going in a completely different direction, I couldn't resist Syrie James' THE MISSING MANUSCRIPT OF JANE AUSTEN. And then I heard Michelle Gagnon read from her new thriller, KILLING ME, at Noir at the Bar, and there was no way I could pass up the book after that excerpt. I predict big things for this one!

RHYS BOWEN: I am so envious of you ladies. How do you find time to read what you want to? Books you actually choose? Ah, maybe it’s because you are not crazy enough to write two and a half books a year, to agree to blurb every book that takes place in the first half of the twentieth century. I have brought my Kindle loaded with all kinds of juicy books, including Donna Leon’s and Kate Morton’s latest, but the day we arrived I was sent the Sisters in Crime anthology to which I’d agreed to write an introduction, a 1940s mystery novel going to be re-released, to which I’d agreed to write an introduction, and then the page proofs of my upcoming book. So no vacation reading for me yet. One day I’ll say no to everything and sit and read to my heart’s content! 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I wish I could send you a photo of my stack o' books, but I'm also away from home, and therefore relying on my trusty Kindle. Right before I left, I had the honor of interviewing Carla Neggers, so my reading that week was loads of her backlist, including the Sharp & Donovan novels and the Black Falls series. Also on the "just read" list, SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel, who continues to be THE most amazing and inventive novelist working today, and CITY UNDER ONE ROOF by Iris Yamashita, a mystery set in the real town of Point Mettier, AK, where everyone and everything is housed in one high rise building. Highly recommended.

Next up for me: ALL THE DAYS OF SUMMER by Nancy Thayer, because summer isn't summer without a Nantucket book. I'm continuing in that theme with BAD SUMMER PEOPLE by Emma Rosenblum, a mystery described as "The Real Housewives of Fire Island." Who could resist that?

 

What are you reading, Reds?

The TBR Pile

 LUCY BURDETTE: this is a photo of my recent TBR pile. I know we’ve talked about this subject before, but the decision still flummoxes me every time. So here we are again: if you have a stack of books (oh surely you must), how do you decide what to read next?

In this case, all the books were bought by me so I do want to read each of them. And I like to alternate women’s fiction with mystery sometimes. Since taking the photo last week, an online friend told me she had loved Lost in Paris so that’s where I started. Lovely book, especially for Paris nuts like me. Last night I started Sarah Stewart Taylor‘s. It's excellent and I wonder why I waited so long??

So what’s in your pile and how do you choose?

JENN McKINLAY: I’m traveling right now, doing research on Martha’s Vineyard — a hardship, I know. So my TBR pile consists of two books — a women’s fiction novel, LIFE’S TOO SHORT by Abby Jimenez and a sneak peek at an upcoming new mystery PRIDE, PREJUDICE, AND PERIL: A Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery by Katie Oliver — both of which are proving to be excellent! Sometimes packing light works out! 

RHYS BOWEN:  As usual my TBR pile is all books I have to blurb, that will be coming out later this year. The one I’m really looking forward to is called Once Upon a Wardrobe and is about a little boy who is dying and wants to know if Narnia is real. His sister seeks our C S Lewis to find the truth

But I’ve just finished an Indian mystery called a Will to Kill— strangely retro. The Golden Age transported to India.

I’m hoping for time to read my own choice of books on vacation in San Diego...

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I would hate for anyone to see my TBR piles(s), because, yes, there are multiples, all over the house. And that's not counting the blizzard of books on my Kindle!!! What I choose to read next is very capricious. Sometimes something new, sometimes it's books I've been meaning to read for ages. For instance, last week I read Ian Rankin's A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES, which had been in the pile for at least a year. Then I read all three of Connie Berry's excellent Kate Hamilton books, because she'd been on JRW and I thought they sounded just my cup of tea (and they were!) Now I'm reading the new Damien Boyd Nick Dixon novel, DYING INSIDE. This British series is very procedural, and very well done. And next up after that is Sarah Stewart Taylor's A DISTANT GRAVE, which I have been very much looking forward to! Oh, and I may have to order LOST IN PARIS, on Lucy's recommendation.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I love hearing about the piles! On my already read all-star list: the terrific debut ALL HER LITTLE SECRETS by Wanda Morris. Run run run to preorder. Seriously. Do not miss this! Also the debut HER NAME IS KNIGHT by Yasmin Angoe is completely riveting. Double wow. Here's my stack right now: The brilliant brilliant FIVE STRANGERS by E.V. Adamson. SURE to be a bestseller, a true pageturner. The wonderful Tracy Clark'S RUNNER, of course, and the NEW John Lescroart, THE MISSING PIECE! (He is such a genius.) And Sarah Strohmeyer has a new book--a thriller titled DO I KNOW YOU? I cannot wait to read. What a luscious reading future for me! 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I was just rereading Sarah Strohmeyer's THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB - I'm delighted to know she has a new novel coming out. She's such an interesting example of writing across multiple genres: comedic cozy mystery, womens fiction, YA and now domestic thrillers.

 

As for me, my TBR contains the usual mix of science fiction/fantasy and crime fiction, leavened with various reads I arbitrarily deem "summertime." I got a copy of THE SWEETEST DAYS, our recent guest John Hough Jr's exploration of a long-time marriage. I bought Katherine Addison's THE WITNESS FOR THE DEAD, an "in the world of" sort-of sequel to her Hugo- and Nebula award nominated THE GOBLIN EMPEROR. But I've decided I want to re-read the first book, so I guess that's also on deck for my TBR? 

 

Finally, I picked up HOSTAGE by Clare Mackintosh, because who doesn't love claustrophobic thrillers set on a flight? The heroine is a flight attendant who discovers her husband and child are being held by bad guys in London, just as she takes off for a 20 hour flight to Sydney. Of course, the baddies want her to help them...  

 

Okay Red Readers, let's hear what's on your pile and how you choose!