Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!

A New York Times Notable Book • An Entertainment Weekly “Must List” Pick • “Prepare to be dazzled.”—Paula McLain • “Quite simply astonishing.”—Sarah Blake
I noticed that this excellent historical novel is currently only $2.99 for the digital edition.  This is the author’s wonderful first novel.  It is about Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell.  There are insights into the girls’ early family life and then of course, the reader spends time with Leonard Woolf, Roger Bell, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant who are all members of the Bloomsbury group.  This is an easy and absorbing way to learn more about Virginia Woolf, her mental illness and those who cared about and for her. It raises interesting issues about sibling bonds and responsibilities.

I saw the movie “The Theory of Everything” and adored it when it first came out.  Inspired by what I had seen, I wanted to know more about this remarkable couple.  I then read Travelling to Infinity and found it to be a fascinating read.  In this memoir/biography both Stephen and Jane come to life as real people, not icons.  Highly recommended if you want to think more about the life of this influential scientist as a man, husband and father.

This is the first, but will not be the last, book that I read by this author. Her novels are now being published by the wonderful Poisoned Pen Press, a great place to find new authors and series.
The Rowland Sinclair mysteries take place in the 30s and Rowly reminds me of that great thirties sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey. He is an artist who is surrounded by his communist leading friends including the lovely Edna, a sculptress. This novel picks up where the prior one ended with the group escaping from Germany at a time when the Nazis were rising and brutal. They come to England where they try to alert the government to upcoming perils and to solve the mystery of an upper class man who is found dead. Subsidiary figures abound including H.G. Wells and Evelyn Waugh.
I truly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to fans of historical mysteries. I look forward to reading more. Thanks for this one, Poisoned Press and NetGalley.

Note:  I will now try to add author’s names to the titles of the posts in order to make the site easier to search.

Last week, my class on Adultery in 19th Century Literature, was finishing up discussion of Madame Bovary.  There was so much more to explore but it is the nature of classes to keep moving on so…here we are.  Next up is one of the best known and I think loved novels, Anna Karenina.  This is a long one so I will need lots of time to read or should I say reread as I read this many years ago.  Going back is always interesting because the book stays the same while the reader changes and may bring different insights the next time.  Thus far, I am getting to know the characters including Prince Oblsonsky, his wife Dolly, Levin and Kittty.  In the next few pages Anna will come in.  The writing is so rich that I want to savor this novel as I go.  I will share a snippet or two below.

First the opening line which is one of the best known in literature.  “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”  What do you think?  Do you agree?

Next Prince Oblonsky (Stiva) and his reflections on himself, marriage and adultery. He…
“was a truthful man concerning his own self…He repented only that he had not managed to conceal things (his affair).”   How does each of us rationalize, justify and hide things? Is this self-knowledge of the Prince useful?

More to come…hope you are interested because I think that there will be a lot to say.

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If you have read and enjoyed books by Susan Wiggs, I saw an offer today that you might welcome.  Between You & Me will be published in June.  For today only, you can preorder the ebook for $4.99 from sites like Amazon.  This is good news if you tend to buy this author’s new releases.  Below is Amazon’s summary of the novel:

I read I Let You Go when it was released in 2016.  This was the author’s first novel. A former police officer, the author knows her crime details.  The book told the story of a mother who lost her child after a brief moment of inattention when picking him up from school.  This is not a spoiler; you learn this early on. What happened in the hit and run?  Who was responsible?  How does the mom, Jenna, cope? Where does she go to try to recuperate?  This atmospheric novel had me turning the pages quickly and left me looking forward to reading other books by this author.

Today is the release date for Let Me Lie which promises to be a good read as well.  I will let you know once I have made my way through it…something to which I look forward.

#TheGigglyGuideOfHowToBehave #NetGalley

This book is adorable! Your child will probably enjoy it and I think that the adult doing the reading will find it quite amusing. Each example of how to behave is illustrated with an animal drawing that shows what the result of bad manners would be. I especially enjoyed the beginning of the book with the rabbit and the turtle. Look at the book to see how cute this is! Talking about manners does not always seems like fun but this short book may make the subject more appealing in your household.

 

I read The Paris Wife when it was released in 2011 and loved it.  Paula McLain did a marvelous job of bringing Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, to life.  Many secondary characters in the novel were also well known figures from the time, including Sara and Gerald Murphy and the Fitzgeralds.  Settings came vividly to life including the Midwest, Paris and France, as well as Spain.  Here are some of the accolades for this novel:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
WINNER—BEST HISTORICAL FICTION—GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People • Chicago Tribune • NPR • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Kirkus Reviews • The Toronto Sun • BookPage

If, by any chance, you missed this one, pick it up now before Love and Ruin is released.

I have just started Love and Ruin which is about Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn.  First there was Hadley, then Pauline, then Martha and then…My full review will follow.  I will say for now that Paula Mclain does a masterful job of capturing Martha’s voice and experience.  Hemingway, once again, come very much to life with his complex personality.

As I write this, I am free associating to other great fiction about real people.  I would also highly recommend Loving Frank if you have not read it.  This is about Frank Loyd Wright’s early life both professionally and in terms of his personality and relationships.  SPOILER…there is tragedy but the book is so well written and involving that this just adds to its impact.

by Nancy Horan

Happy reading!

Recently I blogged about a book called Everything Love Is.  If that book seemed like your kind of book, I am pretty certain that you would like to read Nina George’s novels.  I adored The Little Paris Bookshop with its story of how one can become isolated and yet have a richer and more meaningful life when moving beyond that unsatisfying safety.  From Amazon:  “Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. (INTERJECTION BY ME…WHAT COULD BE BETTER?)  From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can’t seem to heal through literature is himself; he’s still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.”  Will Perdu open the letter?  If he does, what will this mean to him?  Find out in this lovely book.

Confession…I have Little French Bistro but have not as yet read it.  I have been holding on to it because once I read it, I will not be able to read it for this first time ever again.  Does that make sense?  I surely do look forward to it though.

Twenty-one Days is an offshoot of Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. I read the first Charlotte and Thomas book, The Cater Street Hangman, in 1979. I can still remember not wanting to arrive at my destination on the subway because I wanted to keep reading.
So, it was with much anticipation that I began this novel in which Charlotte and Thomas’s son, Daniel, is the protagonist. He is all grown up, has attended Cambridge and is a newly qualified lawyer. Daniel is assigned several cases in this story, the 21 days has to do with the number of days it will be until a man convicted of murder will be hanged…or will he? Is he guilty? Read the story for a complex and engrossing solution.
It was lovely to see Thomas and Charlotte as peripheral characters and to read about Jemima, Thomas’s sister, who is now in New York. Victor Narraway and Aunt Vespasia also are mentioned.  There are also new and very likeable characters as well.
If you like Anne Perry, read this! If you don’t know Anne Perry, read this and then work your way through the series starting with the book mentioned above. Highly recommended by me. Many thanks NetGalley!!

#Twenty-oneDays #NetGalley