July: What are we reading?

Happy July, everyone! How are you kicking off the second half of the year? I'm starting the month with Lois McMaster Bujold's Komarr...this series just keeps getting better and better! What are you reading?

Normal (by Graeme Cameron) — a POV1 serial killer suspense thriller sort of like Dexter and sort of like Joe (You by Caroline Kepnes); but British and very good with the “psych-outs” which keeps the pages turning. There’s a follow-up, Dead Girls though oddly neither book is listed as part of a duology or series. Anyway, plan on finishing both by the end of this long weekend!

I'm starting off this month great - I've already finished Alex and Me by Irene M. Pepperber and Live Bait by P.J. Tracy. I'm carrying over a couple that I'm not making much progress on - Nathan Coulter by Wendell Barry and Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. And I'm almost finished with A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler for my RL book club next week.

I polished off two quick books, This is Our Story by Ashley Elston and A Wagon Train for Brides by Kent Conwell and now have moved on to Hell by Henri Barbusse and Galina Petrovna's Three-Legged Dog Story by Andrea Bennett.

I finished two books also, the new Ruth Galloway, The Locked Room and The Maid. I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for next.

I've just finished Anthony Berkeley's Jumping Jenny and am reading Margery Sharp's Four Gardens.

I finished both Normal and Dead Girls (by Graeme Cameron). These are suspense thrillers set in England and are told from the POV of a serial killer and an investigation officer respectively. The tension, “psych outs”, and overall plot are very good; but I feel like I missed something key in Dead Girls and it’s enough to leave me scratching my head as to why the story ended the way it did. I’ll think about it some more before I write my reviews.

Next up: Zero History (Blue Ant Trilogy #3; by William Gibson)

I breezed through a light Regency romance, A Feather to Fly With by Joyce Harmon, and am now starting A Woman of Consequence by Anna Dean.

Just finished Fly Girl, a memoir by Ann Hood about her time as a flight attendant for TWA.

I finished Grandkids Gone Wild which was a very light and humorous mystery in the Garden Girls series. I also skimmed two for NetGalley: Donut Disturb and Ashton Hall.
I am currently reading His Amish Sweetheart by Jennifer Beckstrand.

Currently reading Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie and The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah.

Currently reading (2/3 of the way through), Zero History (Blue Ant Trilogy #3; by William Gibson) and hoping to finish this evening.

Next up: The Betrayal of the Blood Lily (Pink Carnation #6; by Lauren Willig)

I'm excited to start Eight Faces at Three by Craig Rice.

Just finished His Amish Sweetheart by Jennifer Beckstrand after a late night reading marathon. Not sure what to read next. . . .

I've just finished a short overview of Ukrainian history, Borderland: A Journey through the History of Ukraine by Anna Reid. It took months, but it was interesting and I now feel like I am somewhat oriented as to the basics. Embarrassing how little I know about that whole part of the world.

I've just started Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, and if the first few pages were anything to go by, I will love this one. I'm also reading Complicit by Winnie M. Li. I'd read her previous novel, which was not great but I thought she was interesting enough for a second look and this one is much better. It's loosely based on Ronan Farrow's investigation of Harvey Weinstein, with a lot of details about how the film industry works.

And (because I am a polyamorous reader) I'm reading We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama. I picked it up at the library because I'd never read anything by an author from Nepal.

I really liked Our Jubilee is Death, my first Leo Bruce, so am now reading his Case for Three Detectives.

I’m about a quarter of the way through The Betrayal of the Blood Lily (Pink Carnation #6; by Lauren Willig) and should finish either over the weekend or early next week and;
I’m on track to finish The Woman in White (by Wilkie Collins; narrated by Glen McCready, Rachel Bavidge and others) by the end of the month!

I've started Circe by Madeline Miller and I'm picking up A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte Elkins at the library later today.

I’m alternating between Slammerkin and The Beautiful Dead.

>16 pamelad: Ooh, I really liked A Case for Three Detectives! So far I haven't been too impressed with Bruce's other novels, though. I'll keep a lookout for Our Jubilee Is Death.

I've begun Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik, book #7 in the Temeraire series. The end is in sight!

I'm reading two fun books with The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi and The Rains by Gregg Hurwitz.

Finished reading Matrix, not far of finishing listening to The Messenger of Athens.
Next up for the eyes of a short publication entitled The Birth of Radar: A Short History of what happened at Stowe in Northamptonshire on 26th February 1935. Surprisingly (not) no-one else seems to have that on LT.

I am about one third through The Brighter the Light by Mary Ellen Taylor.

Finished listening to The Messenger of Athens. Save yourself the bother and avoid. For a book published this century, it felt very dated.

Next up is Black Dogs

I just finished an enjoyable Regency romance, Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare, and am now beginning The Key to Deceit by Ashley Weaver.

I finished The Brighter the Light and started Mint Chocolate Murder and Full of Beans.

Finished The Betrayal of the Blood Lily (Pink Carnation #6; by Lauren Willig) and currently (re-)reading Henry VI, Part 3 (by William Shakespeare). I’m about to finish Act II but don’t expect to wrap it up until the weekend. This is the play where I also need a crib sheet to track who is on which side in the War of the Roses!

I'm enjoying Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley...it's really making me wish I were in an Italian villa right now! :)

Currently I am finishing up Bloodline by Mark Billingham, the 8th book in the Tom Thorne Series and I am about to start The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis.

Now that I've finished the Disney+ show Ms. Marvel, time to read Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1 for comparison.

I finished listening to Black Dogs and am now listening to Cat's Eye.
Not a deliberate animal juxtaposition, but I like it!

After enjoying the new adaptation of Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, I decided to re-read the book and am liking it a lot.

07/15 - Wrapping up some extra reading about Henry VI, Part 3 (by William Shakespeare) and about to start Silence (by Shūsaku Endō) this weekend.

07/17 - Finished Silence (by Shūsaku Endō) and have started my first Georgette Heyer, These Old Shades!

I'm reading Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout. Enjoying it.

Started Cover Your Tracks, by Claire Askew. If I'm speedy I can finish it tonight or tomorrow morning. It's due back at the library in 2 days and can't be renewed.

I've finished Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry and Restoration by Olaf Olafsson and have started A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher.

I am currently reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell and just about to start Real World by Natsuo Kirino.

Finished These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley #1; by Georgette Heyer) and have started Nettle and Bone (by T. Kingfisher).

I read Fatal Flowers and Mint Chocolate Murder for NetGalley. I need to try something else now instead of cozy mysteries, as I got bored with both of these, despite some unique twists in each.

I just finished Nettle and Bone (by T. Kingfisher). The cadence of the first lines:

The trees were full of crows and the woods were full of madmen. The pit was full of bones and her hands were full of wires.

are like an incantation into this occult fairy tale. The writing was lyrical, the characters and plot surprising and all it left me wanting more stories set in this strange world. Definitely one of my favorite reads of 2022!

Next up: Warlock (by Oakley Hall) - The first of a trilogy written in the 1950s about The Old West.

Currently reading Starboard Secrets by Hope Callaghan, first in a series set on a cruise ship. We miss our cruises! Maybe 2023??

Currently I am reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and I am about to start The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson.

Just finished Starboard Secrets and starting The Walker on the Cape.

True to form in >35 rabbitprincess: I'm reading another book to get it finished by the due date: Outside, by Ragnar Jónasson, translated by Victoria Cribb.

I'm also getting back into Serial Reader with what I imagine will be an easy read: Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit.

>40 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Thank you for this passage, Tanya. I have added this book to my wishlist!

I'm re-reading The Alienist (though I have no memory of what I read the first time through) and The Vixen. I'll be in hotels several nights this week and am bringing "Vixen" with me. It should be a good one for the evenings after work is done!

I just picked up a couple of books from the library, but may only get one finished before the end of the month. They are Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson and A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong.

I'm currently trying to finish Educated and Death of a Red Heroine by the end of the month.

I'm reading Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson, which is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility set in the DC political world.

I finished Mrs Mohr goes missing which I cannot recommend. I am now re-reading (for the umteenth time) A Morbid taste for Bones

Still listening to Cat's Eye

>50 Helenliz: Yay Cadfael! I still have a few more books to read in that series.

I think I'll take A Loyal Character Dancer back to the library. Not quite what I'm in the mood for.

I've started the audio of Gods in Alabama by Joshlyn Jackson which was a BB I took from Kay a number of years ago. Not sure this is right for me either, but I'll keep going for a while.

And I've started The Personal History of Rachel Dupree by Ann Weisgarber, another BB - this one from Judy.

I'm starting The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo and hoping to finish it this month for the Asian authors CAT!

>53 christina_reads: I started that book a while ago but had to return it because greedy me had too many books from the library that I wanted to read at the time. I hope to borrow it again soon!

>54 lsh63: Too many library books is a problem I know well! All my holds seem to come in at the same time...

>51 christina_reads: He's a darling. I envy you coming to them for the first time. I started reading them in my teens. To me, he's was in mischievous great uncle territory.

Finished A Morbid Taste for Bones and (on a Cadfael kick) next up is One Corpse too many.

They help fill a couple of years in my challenge to read a book published in each of the last 50 years I've been alive. These two fill 1977 and 1979. I could just run through the rest of the series and fill in a few from the 1980s as well, which are looking rather thin. But I feel that might be a bit sneaky.

I've finished A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher and I think I might be able to finish A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh before the month ends.

Finished One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters as my physical book. Next up is Trojan Women by Euripides.
Still listening to Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.