Sunday, June 17, 2012

Summer Reading

I still haven't figured out the snafoos with posting pics or linking, so until then I am afraid you are stuck with just me and my witty way with words. I've been fairly busy, though it's summer, and I always do a mental job on myself by thinking I'll have all this free time- right. It's always just a different form of busy.

Between tearing down parts of the shed and working out and some other time consuming projects I've been reading:

Howatche's High Flyer. I did not like it. It was like a Peretti novel, with Briticism's, dark and decadent without enough redemption at the end to make it worth while. I've heard a lot of great things about Howatch in one of my reading groups so I stuck with the over 400 pages, but just didn't wake up the next morning feeling like the hours invested had been worth it. I've heard the Starbridge series is supposed to be her crowning achievement, so if I can find it cheap (it's not at the library) I might give it a go.

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All is another delightful little chick lit for Austenites by my fav Austenite disher Beth Patillo. It's a fun, breezy, sit by the pool read, full of just the right amount of sweet Austonian romance to make it right. Modern day Marianne queries, "Where have you been all my life?" Says modern day Col Brandon, "I came as soon as I could." Cheesy, but very smile worthy.

Busman's Honeymoon by Sayers. I'm taking a breather from the brogue in 5 Red Herrings and checking up on Harriet and Peter on their honeymoon. Lots of literary references (Donne figures heavily- I'm so lost but love the dialog. (Dh says, "Good grief, 90% of ther books are dialog! Yes, but can she write dialog, or what?!). The love affair is sweet, if not the idealized. One doesn't wonder very long if Sayers was longing for a man herself who could intellectually and verbally joust in the manner of Lord Peter.  I've enjoyed the distinction between classes that Sayers writes about in this book- maybe more so than in some of the others, and how the title and role of royalty actually meant something significant. A satisfying mystery, but a satisfying continuation of the relationship between Harriet and  Peter, with lots of discussion included about what makes  a good mystery. Discovering this author, this series, has been the high light of my reading this year.

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