What We're Reading in February

Joanna here, and it's What We're Reading time. 
What are the Wenches enthusiastic about this month?

Looks like mystery, suspense, and magic abound.

Now me, I'm reading CS Harris' Why Kings Confess, the latest in the Sebastian St. Cyr historical murder mysteries. (The first in the series is What Angels Fear. That's where I'd start.)

These mysteries are so perfect for me. They're gritty, exciting stories, full of intrigue, and set in my favorite historical period. This latest book — set in London — winds in and out of the downfall of the French Monarchy and the politics of Napoleonic France.

All these books are full of intricate, intricate plots and indirections. Complex characters. Sneaky stuff. Love stories.

I'm also enjoying Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural by Howard Schwartz.  What we got here is a collection of traditional folk stories of magic and mystery. Old stories, told with a little humor, of marriage with demons, wandering spirits, werewolves, and the occasional possession by dybbuks. Nice stuff to read at bedtime.

Cara/Andrea says,

 

I’m a big fan of historical mysteries, and there are several series I particularly enjoy, and Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series is one of them. So it was with great pleasure that I finally had the time to pick up her latest, The Counterfeit Heiress, and dive in.

Set in late Victorian England, the books beautifully capture the ambiance of upper crust society—and yet the protagonist, Lady Emily and her dashingly attractive husband Colin, are anything but conventional aristocrats.

Colin investigates sensitive situations for the government, many of which involve murder. Lady Emily, a classics scholar, is also very good at sleuthing, and together they form a formidable team.

In this book, someone posing as a famously eccentric female explorer and world traveler crashes the Duke of Devonshire’s costume ball, only to be recognized by one of Lady Emily’s friends as an imposter. She manages to flee the party but when she’s found murdered, it’s up to Lady Emily and Colin to delve into the mystery and untangle the twisted threads . . . well-written, with great characters and great descriptions of London and Paris, it’s a fun read.

 

 I also love quirky historical non-fiction books, and Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed World History by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson is a delightfully offbeat journey through chemistry (don’t shriek—it’s done in a very fun way) showing how 17 basic molecules have shaped civilization. (think glucose, as in sugar, and piperine as in pepper and the spice trade) It’s a fascinating perspective on how expected forces have shaped our world, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

 

Nicola here. This month was all about thriller/suspense novels for me.

 

Ever since I read Gone, Girl a while ago I have had a taste for what’s being called domestic thrillers, books about relationships, with an element of psychological drama. I don’t find them comfortable reads. There are almost always aspects of the stories that disturb me but I do enjoy studying how the authors construct the suspense element and I like being kept on the edge of my seat.

This month I read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. As I don’t want to give away any spoilers, I’ll just quote the blurb from Amazon:

“Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.”

 

This was a pretty tense book and I did enjoy it but I guessed fairly early on who the villain of the piece was going to be. I also felt the book was a bit long-winded and repetitious but as it’s a number 1 bestseller and has loads of rave reviews I’m probably in a minority! I far preferred the other thriller I read, Sister by Rosamund Lupton. This was a fabulous read about the lengths a woman would go to find her missing sister and it was clever and beautifully written.

In my crimefest I didn’t totally forget historical romance, though. I was lucky enough to be given an advance copy of Bronwen Evans’ next book in her Disgraced Lords series, A Touch of Passion, and it is a fast-paced, sexy and romantic adventure I enjoyed a lot. 

Anne here.

After being in a bit of a reading slump for a while, where nothing seemed to catch my interest, I picked up the first book in a fantasy series (that I think someone here had recommended) and ended up eagerly glomming the whole series (5 books), finding myself so impatient for the next book and the next that I bought them on instant download.

It's the Tairen Soul series, by C.L. Wilson. It's fantasy and romance and adventure and a battle between good and evil — with the lines often deliciously blurred. The heroine is  wonderful — Ellie, the woodcarver's adopted daughter — who finds she is the "truemate" of the beautiful, tortured, magnificent faerie king, Rain Tairen Soul -- a man who can change into a Tairen - sort of a cat/dragon.

He's used to commanding worlds, but Ellie makes up her own mind about things and has a lovely stubborn streak that often frustrates Rain. I won't describe the plot, but as well as a wonderful love story, there is a page-turning adventure plot and a truly evil villain -- actually, several villains of different magnitude, as well as a wonderful cast of minor characters.

 

Pat Rice says:

While gearing up the courage to scan some of my earliest books into the computer, I’ve been taking time to just read. If I can find enough good material, maybe I’ll give up the foolish idea of editing thirty-year-old books!

One of my favorite new series by an author I’ve just discovered is Books of the Kindling by Donna June Cooper. I just finished Making Magic, and this third in the series is still as strong as the first book. Of course, she’s writing about people with otherworldly gifts and a magic mountain, while embracing environmental responsibility, so she’s pretty well nailed my interests!

 

And ever since I picked up a few of their books at RT, I’ve sought out contemporary romances from UK publisher Choc Lit. So far, I haven’t read a bad one. My most recent encounter was Jane Lovering’s How I Wonder What You Are.  Again, I was enticed by the hint of UFOs and mysteries of the universe, but this really is a book about love and overcoming fears and insecurities, which also appeals to my need for great characters. If you like contemporary Brit romance, poke around on www.choc-lit.com and see if you don’t see a few things you’ll enjoy.

 

And Mary Jo, just back from vacation, joins us with:

I've mostly been reading research books and RITA entries, but Pat Rice said that she enjoyed the contemporary romance Imperfect Chemistry by Mary Frame, so I decided to give it a try.  I'm glad I did. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Lucy London, a 20 year old prodigy who has a PhD in microbiology but is totally clueless at reading people or understanding emotions.   However, she jolly well has to learn those things if she is to write a proposal so she can secure a grant and her place at the university.  Working as a campus peer counselor isn't helping since her advice tends to send students fleeing from the room in order to register complaints about her. 

Ever logical, Lucy decides to ask her hottie next door neighbor, Jensen, if she can study him and his social life to help her develop her grant proposal.  The idea rather freaks him out, but eventually she wears him down, and her study develops in--unexpected ways.  I found the story smart, fun, and original.  There's a second book now available in her Imperfect series, and it's already downloaded into my e-reader.  <G>

 

And Jo Beverley says:

This month I've been reading for an award. It's always interesting to have my reading chosen for me, including books I might not have picked up otherwise.

It's been stimulating. I remember once deciding to read from my public library starting with the first book in general fiction beginning with A. I didn't stick with it for long, but it was interesting. I'm wondering if any Wench readers go out of their way to find a random read.

So, what are you reading this month that has you pleased and excited, or intrigued and enlightened?  What are your favorite books of the month?

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Sarah Webber]

For every book I actually finish, I add 5 more to my to be read shelf. You ladies aren't helping. I've gone back to Eloisa James and will probably read everything she's written by the end if it.

[Quantum]

Thanks Wenches, for the recommendations.

I picked 'Imperfect Chemistry' and 'Lord of the Fading Lands' to try. A rec from a favourite author is always worth a look :)

I recently read 'Catalysed Fusion' by Francis Fairley. The author is a retired particle physicist and he gives a tongue in cheek insight into research at CERN where fascination with the universe apparently interlaces with seething passions. You don't need more than a passing interest in physics to enjoy this one! LOL

I used to read a lot of romantic fantasy (Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind was the last .... highly recommended) and Anne's introduction to C L Wilson re-stimulated the old fascinations.

[Gram]

Imperfect Chemistry sounds like The Rosie Project, a book everyone but me seemed to love.
I always add book to my list when I read what you gals are reading and this month is no exception. I already read C.S. Harris, but put Napoleon's Buttons on my library list.
Thanks again for your reviews.

[Donnajunecooper]

So honored to be mentioned among such talented authors! And get the chance to pick up some good reads! Thank you, Patricia and thanks, Word Wenches!

[Anne Hoile]

Joanna, I am so jealous you are reading the new C.S. Lewis. We recently moved to South Carolina and the library system is pathetic. No money virtually for new books and those on the shelf are ancient. I adore Sebastien and the mystery of his parents, his love life and friends. Everyone else's choices sound interesting, especially Napoleon's buttons.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, Catalysed Fusion sounds wonderful! A friend has gotten me very interested in physics, and I've seen the documentary Particle Fever about the hunt for the Higgs Boson at CERN. So can't wait to read this! (And have already ordered Imperfect Chemistry!)I always fun fun things in thi post.

[Andrea Penrose]

Gram, I think you'll enjoy Napoleon's Buttons.

[Beverly Abney]

I have read and enjoyed many of the authors mentioned here, and written down the names of several more to check in the library catalogs. I sometimes wish readers didn't mention new-to-me-authors and make them sound so appealing. So many books, so little time!

[Karin]

It's a great time of year to curl up with a mystery. I'm in the middle of "A Broken Vessel", the second Julian Kestrel mystery by Kate Ross, and it's excellent. Lots of stuff about the seamier side of London.

[Janga]

I too just downloaded Imperfect Chemistry. I recently read Anne Tyler’s latest, A Spool of Blue Thread. A former student once described Tyler’s Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant as “the most important book I ever read because my life is in these pages.” I think Tyler creates that feeling often in her books about families that are both flawed and loving. In the new one, one of her characters looks at her husband of nearly five decades and realizes “And then that clear-eyed, calm-faced boy would shine forth from Red’s sags and wrinkles, from his crumpled eyelids and hollowed cheeks and the two deep crevices bracketing his mouth and just his general obtuseness, his stubbornness, his infuriating belief that simple cold logic could solve all of life’s problems, and she would feel unspeakably lucky to have ended up with him.” That’s the kind of illumination that keeps me reading Tyler’s books. I also reread Mary Balogh’s The Famous Heroine, an old favorite that never fails to leave me smiling. And I am in the midst of How to Be a Heroine, Or What I’ve Learned from Reading Too Much, a delightful combination of literary criticism and memoir in which journalist and playwright Samantha Ellis, daughter of an Iraqui-Jewish refugee, looks at the literary heroines who have influenced her from The Little Mermaid through Flora Poste of Cold Comfort Farm. She hooked me beginning with her introduction where she decides she has made a mistake in trying to be Cathy Earnshaw when she should have been following the pattern of Jane Eyre.

[Sue W. McCormick]

Jo Beverley said that she once decided to read the library from A to Z.

I actually did that for a while. An employed mother with 3 children, one under 5, I took them to the library every Saturday morning. First we made the selections in the children's room, then walked through to the Adult Fiction stack. The pre-schooler liked to curl up on an empty book shelf (pretending I don't know what), which could have been a disaster, sime some shelves were two-sided, opening into a lower level reading room. So I grabbed some books from the A authors. This soon morphed to one A, one B, one C, and one D author. I discovered Albert Camus (The Stranger, and The Plague) that way. And I read ALL of Charles Dickens (except Edwin Drood). When the youngest learned to read, I could return to selecting my books.

[Joanne Bourne]

I have the same problem. The books go onto my shelf and then, late at night, they giggle and shuffle and squeak and in the morning there are MORE of them.

[Joanne Bourne]

Absolutely if you like Goodchild there's an excellent chance you'll like CL Wilson. Same broad-canvas / high-stakes feeling.

I do like me some epic.

[Joanne Bourne]

I am so very pleased with CS Harris. Readalikes might be Anne Perry, Nita Abrams, Deanna Raybourn ... and maybe Tasha Alexander.

[Joanne Bourne]

We call 'em as we see 'em, so you deserve the good company you're in. *g*

[Joanne Bourne]

I am sorry you're in a town with a poor library system. That is so sad.

(I have to say my town library is excellent! I don't know why I've lucked out.)

[Joanne Bourne]

"So many books. So little time."
That is my theme song.

We at Word Wenches are trying to soak up all your leisure time into the book universe.

[Joanne Bourne]

Oooh. Yes. Kate Ross.

There are so many great writers who just drop off the edge of my consciousness for some reason. I think it's because I don't have a lot of time to read.

I think of the library as my overflow stacks for the TBR pile.

[Joanne Bourne]

Now I want to go reread Tyler -- another writer I liked and then haven't picked up for a while.

Soon .... (jo pokes the muddy, quiescent WIP) Soon.

Those are all beautiful suggestions, beautifully described. I have to go to twitter and tell folks to come look at the comments.

[Joanne Bourne]

There's something beautiful and determined and wholly human about reading through the library A to Z. It's like some kinda high crusade. Mythic stuff.

One's life is so shaped by the kids. There are books of mine I will never think of without remembering the hard gym floor, the cold concrete wall at my back, and a class of kiddie karate jumping and yelling in front of me.

[Anne Gracie]

Quantum, three more wenches have joined you in buying Imperfect Chemistry, and one other has bought Lord of the Fading Lands, so you're in good company. We can compare notes. :)

I haven't read Terry Goodkind — thank you for the recommendation. I, too used to read a lot of fantasy. Among others, I liked the Marion Zimmer Bradley Darkover series.

[Anne Gracie]

CS Harris is wonderful. Do you know she also used to write historical romance as Candace Proctor -- also highly recommended.

[Anne Gracie]

Janga, what wonderful recommendations. I love Anne Tyler's writing, and will immediately order A Spool of Blue Thread (love that title).

And I might have to try How to be a Heroine as well. It sounds delightful. Yes to not following Catherine Earnshaw. Might have to read Cold Comfort farm for the umpteenth time, too. And you can never go wrong with Mary Balogh.

I'm so glad you pop in here sometimes with your recommendations — I miss your blog.

[Joanne Bourne]

I had kinda vaguely heard that before and forgotten it. I will have to track down Candace Proctor, obviously.

[Bronwen Evans]

Hi Ladies and Nicola

Thanks for mentioning my book today! Every Word Wench is an auto buy for me. I'm thrilled Nicola liked my book.

cheers
Bron

[Nicola Cornick]

A pleasure, Bronwen! I love some adventure with my romance and it is a lovely book!

I also picked up Imperfect Chemistry on the recommendation of fellow wenches and really enjoyed it. I've ordered the second book in the series. Now I'm going to look out for Napoleon's Buttons and The Counterfeit Heiress. Love the WWR for all these reading ideas!

[Janice]

I just finished rereading the second Mary Finch book, The Counterfeit Guest, by Rose Melikan, and am hunting for the third, which I know I have. Somewhere. Other than that, I've been working my way through Alan Furst's novels and a stack of used vintage Signets (tonight's read was A Heart in Peril by Emma Lange - a bit on the melodramatic cheek biting side with a revenge AND an attempted murder plot, but they don't get in the way of the story ;) After that I dunno yet.

[Janice]

I think it was the late Avram Davidson who wrote a story about the after-midnight antics of physical objects. Nighttime is when they mate and increase. You have plenty of paper clips one day but you wake up and there are none to be found, but there are a lot more coathangers than you think you had. In the story, the process proceeds to the bicycle stage, at which point the lead character finds out and the bicycles get him. So you see, Jo, you're not crazy, yet.

[Joanne Bourne]

One of the things I look forward to in any upcoming month is looking down my shelves of TBR and picking out the next books I'll read.

I am RICH in TBR books.

[Julie B.]

I loved Rosamund Lupton's Sister. It was one of those books that keeps you turning the pages late into the night. I also loved Gone Girl and Before You Go Sleep by SJ Watson.

[Vicki W.]

I'm glad to know I wasn't the only person who ever set out to read all the books A-Z. But I was a young teenager (early 70's) so I started in Young Adult. I did start with A and I think I made it to Z. I'm not sure I read every single book but I did read the vast majority.

In fact I remember going back to A, B, C, etc and checking to make sure I hadn't missed any books because someone had checked them out.

Now that I think about it, I did something like that when I was in Junior High...read all the books A-Z in fiction and biography.

[Joanne Bourne]

I've gone down the rows looking at every book in an alphabetical way. Most I don't read though. Not enough time.

Maybe I'm a slow reader ...?

[Joanne Bourne]

'Sister' has garnered lots of praise. I've got it on my list

[Janice]

As others have said, I have so many in the TBR piles that it's hard to choose, so that's when I pull out an old favorite for a reread. Happily engrossed in Secrets of the Heart again.

[Joanne Bourne]

The rereads are the best reads. I have dozens of books on my shelf I'm looking forward to rereading again.

Dunnett, Sayers ...

[Kathy K]

Hello, Wenches: Thank you for the tip on C. L. Wilson. I purchased and read the first 2 in the last 2 days and have gone ahead with buying #3,4,5. Really interesting fantasy. I haven't seen anyone mention Diana Gabaldon. If you haven't read her there's a BIG treat waiting. BIG because her books run to about 1800 pages and there are 8 of them so far. Another series I absolutely adore is the Liaden Series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. They describe it as a Regency Romance mixed in with Space Opera and that's accurate. I hope that fellow readers will enjoy these recommendations.

[Joanne Bourne]

Oooh. The Liaden Series sounds interesting, as I love both Regency Romance and Space Opera. *g*

[Michele]

Thank you for these suggestions! I can see that I'll be spending some time with my library's online catalog this afternoon. And regarding the catalog and Jo Beverley's mention of how she picks random reads, when I search a name or a subject in the online catalog, I try to scan through all of the "hits." As you all know, library catalogs tend to offer the most specific matches first and then the more general suggestions. I reserve first what I'm looking for, so I don't forget, but the search results help me to discover books, movies, music and subjects that I'd never even considered.

[Joanne Bourne]

Hi Michele --

You're right about searches. So often the top one or two picks answers my question.

But then I scan onward and find the most interesting things. What comes to mind in particular are Google image searches. That is a wonderland I can just fall into and come out an hour later ...