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| Recently finished and currently reading. |
If you haven’t read Jim Kelly’s books, and you like moody mysteries where landscape is so important that it’s almost a character in the novel, you should try them. I’m very fond of his Philip Dryden novels, set in the flat and watery Fenland area around Ely. The main character in this series is journalist Philip Dryden. Stranded in the fens because his wife is in a coma in a local hospital, following a tragic car accident where he was driving, Dryden ditches his big time job in London and finds another writing for a small local paper, so he can stay close to his wife. He is so traumatized by the accident, he’s unable to drive. And he relies on a local underemployed cabby named Humph, who seems to do little but sit in his car, eat take-out food, wait for Dryden, and listen to foreign language tapes. Humph has his own problems, estranged from his wife and missing his two young daughters, he eats, and plans foreign trip after foreign trip, but never leaves home. Kelly’s first book in the series is The Water Clock, and there are six more after that one. I envy the luck reader who hasn’t sampled this series yet. I love this one.
I think I like Kelly’s Dryden series even more than the Shaw/Valentine books. Partly because they are so quirky. Partly because the setting is so evocative. Even Dryden comes to love the Fenlands. And partly because Dryden’s wife’s condition gradually gets better and better with each book. Phew. If Kelly had killed her off I would have been right royally pissed at him.
In a post in early January I wrote about Jim Kelly’s new Nighthawk series, the first book of which I really enjoyed. Funnily enough that post was about being sick. And here we are in early February and I’m still coughing. Sheesh. Anyhoo, Kelly has two more books out in that series. The Mathematical Bridge and The Night Raids, neither of which I’ve read. I’m about to remedy that, though.
Other books that I’ve read recently…
The Body in Question by Jill Ciment. I saw on Frances’ book blog that she had read this, and ordered it. I had a hard time putting this one down. Felt totally pissed off at the characters most of the time, and I remember saying to Hubby when I was done, “Wow… so glad that I am not going on trial in front of a jury of my peers.” My faith in regular people as jurors is certainly dashed. Still it’s a well written novel, and definitely worth a read.
Hubby and I have both been reading Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series… backwards. We read her years ago starting with A is for Alibi. But somehow she fell off our radar, but where the heck in the alphabet we were we have no idea. So we’ve started at the end, or the last book Grafton wrote before her death. I read Y is for Yesterday, and now Hubby is reading it. I also gobbled up X (that’s the whole title, presumably because what goes with X anyway?), and then W is for Wasted. I really like this series. It’s set entirely in the eighties, which is kind of interesting actually. How quickly we forget we once had to use paper telephone books. Ha. Grafton is a competent writer. I don’t think she’s on the same level as Jim Kelly. But her plots hang together well. And in an age where so many writers go off on a weird tangent at the end of a novel, for added thrills one presumes, that is saying something. I like how as a reader we puzzle along with Kinsey as she unravells the clues. And I like her characters. Grafton’s books are perfect sick room reading, I think.
So that’s what I’ve been reading. And this is what’s waiting for me on my bookshelf.
My book club buddy, Rachel, lent me Linda Grant’s novel The Clothes on Their Backs about a family of Jewish-Hungarian immigrants who arrived in London in 1938 with nothing but the proverbial clothes on their backs. Apparently it’s a novel about identity and belonging… and clothes. I took a verrry, verrry quick look at a review to get that much, mostly squinting with one eye so I didn’t read any more than absolutely necessary. Ha. I hate reading reviews of books I’m about to read. I don’t want to be told too much too soon. Weird, eh?
I wanted to use my trusty Christmas Chapters/Indigo gift card to order Tobi Tobias’s Obsessed by Dress, which was recommended as required reading by Grant in her book The Thoughtful Dresser. I’m sure that most of you have probably already read Grant’s novel The Clothes on Their Backs, and Tobias’s book. I’m behind the curve here, I know.
Sadly, I was unable to acquire Tobi Tobias’s book at Indigo. Bu-ut.. I just found that I can get Obsessed by Dress here. Yeah! The delivery of a new book will cheer up the sickroom to no end. I’m thinking that any book recommended by Linda Grant is required reading for this Thoughtful Dresser devotee.
And when I’m done those two, I’ll be going to Paris with Mrs. Harris. On Dottoressa’s recommendation, seconded by Frances over at Materfamilas Writes, I’ve ordered from our library Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. Ha. Are you spying a theme here, folks? I should add I’ve finished Mrs. ‘Arris. It was soooo good for people sipping tea and getting over a nasty cold. I smiled all the way through it. 🙂
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| First on my “To Read” list |
Linking up with Catherine at #ShareAllLinkup.
65 thoughts on “Books To Survive Winter. Maybe”
Wow,so many new books and writers,thank you!
I can understand you-winter is too long ( to specify: the real winter,with snow and ice-a lot!-started in February,I've thought we've creeped out ,but no,no
I am restless waiting,although in the months ahead we expect a lot of rain
What I've needed were some nice mysteries,although I ended with books like Judas by Amos Oz .
I've read Jane Harper's The Dry lately (and a lovely novel situated in Italy around 1500 ,The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park-recommended by Frances-a story about the young Jewess and lot of italian history,art and politics ,as added value. It is over 700 pages-longer,when you google people and events :-)-,but she did her research very well)
Dottoressa
I'll order the Jane Harper book. Thanks. I love novels set in Australia. Did you enjoy it?
I'll leave the 700 page one for when I'm less likely to pitch it in a fit of impatience:) I get cranky this time of year…as you can tell. Ha.
The Dry has very good reviews and I was curious to read the mystery set in Australian small city and farms around it
I've liked it,maybe will order the second one ,but I didn't fall in love 🙂
D.
I had high hopes for The Dry also, given the review I had read and my interest in Australia. I tried really hard to find something edifying about reading it, but I did not succeed. While the author writes well, the subject, setting, characters and the tone of this book were just plain grim (or worse), and its plot was horrific. That the author conveyed those core aspects of the book so pervasively may be a mark of her writing skill, but it is also what ultimately made the book almost unreadable to me. (In fairness, I must add that maybe if I had not read it during the impeachment “trial” in the U.S. Senate, and when bush fires were still consuming or threatening much of Australia, I would have been in better fettle and could have appreciated this book in some respect. Instead, I gave up about 3/4 through and just skimmed the rest of it.)
I think you may be onto something, Leslie. I read The Dry and really loved it. And I think that Jane Harper is a really good writer. But when I tried to read her third book, The Lost Man, even though my husband loved it, and several readers whose opinion I trust as well, I couldn’t stick it. Like you I think I was influenced by everything that is happening in the world these last few months and I couldn’t take the bleakness. So I gave up and read a Sue Grafton mystery.
Hi Sue! I’ve woken up to snow this morning, not as cold as with you -2, feels like -9. 🙂 Having said that, walking home last night, after meeting my daughter for drinks, I honestly thought it didn’t feel that different from the -23 I experienced in Zermatt!! Rekaxing by the fire reading, whilst hubby cooks dinner does sound pretty good! 🙂 I’m curled up in bed with a coffee contemplating making some cinnamon and nutmeg porridge with apricots! Followed by a walk in the snow, then (the worst bit) clearing and defrosting the car to drive to meet my husband at the station …
You write such enticing reviews of the books you’re reading… I’m particularly keen to read the Peter Lovesey ones, due to their setting in Bath! “Mrs ‘Arris goes to Paris”, definitely sounds like one to try, based on the topic and all the recommendations!
Soon all the snow will have melted, temperatures risen and you’ll be feet up, sitting on your deck in the sun!! … remembering the crazy temps when we visited Ottawa … you really do experience both extremes!!
Rosie
A walk sounds wonderful. We've no where to walk at the moment. All the trails are knee deep in snow or ice. Hopefully soon. Once the sun comes out the cold is manageable when you're dressed for it. But oh… I am so tired of my winter boots!
Interesting you mentioned your boots! I’d planned on wearing one of my smarter and higher pairs when I went out last night and “dressing up” a little … …. but ended up wearing my “Swiss snow boots” 🙂 grey jeans and a black cashmere roll neck … being warm and not slipping on the ice was priority!!
Come visit us on the West Coast. Snowdrops, crocuses, and daffs all out together today. And the first cherry blossoms. If you can't get here, then have you tried Margaret Maron's Bootlegger's Daughter series? I lived one year in Ottawa. Didn't love the ice but did love all the blue sky compared to the Vancouver grey and wet.
I'd love to, Sara. Daffodils… sound wonderful. I haven't tried that Margaret Maron series. I'll see if they have it at the library.
We have snow here again in England, not a huge amount but it is now very cold and grey. I do not care for unseasonable weather and realised yesterday that, had this appeared on Christmas Eve, we would all have been delighted. Now, merely a chore. Some of these sound fascinating so I shall trudge off to my local library – lucky to have one here in our village – and see what can be selected. Mysteries suit the season, it seems to me. I am waiting to buy myself the latest Neil Gaiman for an Easter trip to Sussex, am toying with reading The Book of Dust, still have The Pickwick Papers on standby next to the bed, a book on Roman Britain by the bath and a good history of the East End next to the loo. To say nothing of China Mieville down in the sitting room. I am nothing but a tart when it comes to reading. Faithless.
You are well prepared for any reading emergency… in any room of the house. I've never read Neil Gaiman. I must look him up.
We too have snow again when we should have daffodils by now . Plus such a nasty wind , cruel for us dog walkers . So it’s not just you getting weary of the weather . But aren’t we lucky to have our books . I’m on book 12 of D & P , Dalziel is seeming more like a cuddly but bad tempered teddy bear & I'm worried about Peter & Ellie . Peter Lovesey is a favourite too & I’ve been to the fens with Jim Kelly ( Ely is a lovely little spot in real life ). The Paul Gallico book is on the list . A book I can recommend to cheer you up , & laugh out loud even , is Delete This At Your Peril by Neil Forsyth .
Wendy in York
How I envy you your reading of Hill's novels. His later ones are simply wonderful. I loved the ones with the Franny Roote character. And Weild is my special favourite! I will look for that book at the library. Thanks, Wendy.
P.S. I don't envy you your daily dog walks in that weather.
Susan, so many good recommendations by you and your readers. Thanks to all. 🙂
I'm currently enjoying Gabrielle Zevin's 2014 novel, "The Storied Life of AJ Fikry." I bet you have already read it, since it received positive review buzz when it was released. After I recently failed to slog through to the end of an earnest book club selection that was an exercise in suspense — and, sadly, more exercise than suspense — I am appreciating the snappiness with which Zevin has written/edited her novel. When winter hangs on like this, I am not in the mood for backstories that never shut up and prose that drones on forever. As our writing teachers told us, "Show, don't tell!"
And in the super-lightweight reading class, I recently schussed rapidly through "Crimes Against a Book Club" by Kathy Cooperman. It's definitely not literary, but it tickled my fancy because it's based on an adorable scam-scheme wrought against some untypical victims. I'm making it sound weirder than it is. 😉
Ann in Missouri
I haven't read the Zevin book, so thanks for the suggestion. And the book club one. Over the years I've found myself being ornery when a book is recommended as a good choice for book clubs…. a description which garners a groan more often than not. I know… so shallow:)
P.S. Just checked out my first Reginald Hill Andrew Dalziel novel today at the local public library. It's "Recalled to Life" published in 1992, which has a good chance of being the earliest Dalziel book in my local library, even if it's not THE first. Thank you so much for pointing me to this author — about whom I'd never, ever heard. Jeez! The stuff I don't know yet is infinite.
Ann in Missouri
So happy that you are enjoying Hill's book. And so many more to read.
I love your book posts and have gotten so many good recommendations from both you and your readers. I just finished "An American Marriage" and it's the best novel I've read in years. Absolutely stunningly fantastic. A real "don't miss" book. I'm looking for something different to read now – like a mystery, so I'll be taking a look at some of these that you just read and other commenters too. For a good page turner, I really enjoyed "The Woman in the Window" – couldn't put it down.
Thanks, Kathy. I haven't read An American Marriage. So I'm off to the library website to check it out, now.
Ha! (Says the woman under a blanket, surrounded by The New York Times, a long novel (halfway through) and newly purchased Trumpocracy waiting in the queue.)
I alternate between current events (skyrocketing my blood pressure, which warms me, I suppose) and soothing take-me-away fiction to cool me down.)
Jeez… Hot and cold. It’s like menopause all over again. !?!#@!!
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Wishing that all of us suffering from lingering menopausal hot flashes would have some effect on the weather!
I've been feeling exactly the same way! For some reason this winter seems endless. I recently finished reading The Nazi Officer's Wife, How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith Hahn and I've just started Rising Sun, Falling Shadow, a novel by Daniel Kalla, set in the same era but in Shanghai. I'm a couple of curves behind you, so I'm going to have to have my library bring in Obsessed by Dress and The Thoughtful Dresser!
Hope you like The thoughtful Dresser. It's lighter fare than what you've been reading! Although the opening deals with a pair of red shoes that Linda Grant saw at a museum at Auschwitz. So it does have its serious moments.
Sometimes you need a light read! 🙂
Like you will be so glad to see the back of winter. We have had so much snow and it's taking its time to go although the weather is warming up.
Always enjoy these book posts and your thoughtful insights. Also appreciate the comments as well and have learnt about new authors through you all. I am a book addict and always have to have at least one book on the 'go' at any one time. I like to mix it up between light and more thoughtful and deep reads. I have just read A Lady in Arabia which is a compilation of the diaries and letters written by Gertrude Bell. Although sometimes a challenge to understand time and place as a result of the way the book is structured it gives an insight into the political situation in the middle east today. Have also recently read I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh – a psychological thriller that was a real page turner.
That Gertrude Bell book sounds really interesting. I just Googled her to see if she was any relation to Vanessa Bell's husband, and could find no link between the two women. I've always been fascinated by the Bloomsbury group.
Gertrude Bell sounds like a formidable woman. I may look to see if our library has that book. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.
I find these intrepid Victorian women explorers fascinating . Isabella Bird is another one . To leave their often restricted home life to travel alone apart from a handful of servants – so different to the usual image of Victorian ‘ ladies ‘.
Wendy in York
I just finished The Nightingale, which two friends recommended. It was good, but I need something lighter after reading about WWII. Going to pick something from my pile that has no Nazis in it.
I went out on my 3 mile walk today because the sun was out, but the wind made it SO cold. At least it's light longer now — that's what keeps me going in March.
–Laurel
I hear you. I was on a WWII kick a while ago. I needed a break. Your walk sounds good, except for the wind. Stu and I walked today on a trail where we usually ski. Too icy to ski, and the trees cut the wind, and it was sunny … so it felt great!
Have you read British Golden Age Mystery writer Margery Allingham? She wrote wonderfully eccentric characters. Albert Campion is her detective, in some books, particularly the early ones he is a central character, in others he is more on the periphery and the mysteries are a vehicle for writing about people and places. The Fashion in Shrouds was hailed at the time of publication as being her most literary novel, but my favourite of her books is The Tiger in the Smoke. It's set in fifties London (the Smoke, named for the pea souper fogs) with evocative descriptions of a place and people still feeling battered by World War 2.
Brrrr, I can't imagine the cold of -15 degrees. We're heading into Autumn here in southern Australia after a dry summer and what we hope will be the last of the bushfires for this season at the weekend. No human lives lost thank goodness, but many houses and livestock burned. The fire authorities are saying fires this late in the season are another manifestation of climate change but we still have politicians who deny it!
Lilibet
I haven'r read any Margery Allingham in years. I must have a look at the library to see what is on their shelves. I'll bet I can also get it in audio… Audible.com has a really good selection.
Good that the fires are winding down for this year. We were in an area in Victoria which was hit hard by the wildfires in 2003. Only months after the fires it was amazing to see the regeneration. Hard to believe what politicians everywhere will deny, eh?
An extended winter is the perfect time to sit back, slow down and read or re-read a book from the shelf. At the moment the novel 'Queenie' by Michael Korda is keeping me entertained while waiting patiently for the snow to melt…a Roman-a-clef about movie star Merle Oberon and later made into a movie starring Kirk Douglas and Mia Sara the story moves from the Calcutta slums to London to Hollywood during its Golden Age.
Have bought bouquets of spring flowers to brighten the house and the smell of hyacinths is doing wonders to make me feel spring is not that far away….nibbling on a chocolate truffle Easter egg before a long walk in the sunshine helps the winter doldrums wonderfully too! Cheers, Alayne
I will look for that book. I remember reading about Merle Oberon's performance as Titania when I was researching A Midsummer Night's Dream one year. Think it was in a very old book of my grandmother's… Shakespeare's plays, with photos of various productions.
Just wanted to suggest Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache books which take place in the beautiful Eastern Townships of Québec… We just returned from our second visit to Le Manoir Hovey in North Hatley where the action takes place in a few of the books. Ms. Penny has quite a cult following, among them Hilary Clinton who made the trek en famille to Le Manoir last summer. It's a 3.5 hour drive from Ottawa so doable as an overnight stay…high heels in the wilderness meets haute cuisine on the lake!!
I've read a couple of Louise Penny's Gamache books. A visit to Le Manoir sounds like a lovely short break:)
The Armand Gamache series has become so much more than detective stories. I highly recommend it.
Have been a reader of your blog for a while – first time to comment. I have been reading the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon. I truly did not expect to be so captivated- I normally do not care for "romance" novels…. but these are SO much more than that – fantastic characters and story-telling. The history of the Jacobite rising in Scotland is particularly interesting to me since my highlander ancestors emigrated to Nova Scotia after the Scots were put down.
Oh, and the mini-series that STARZ is producing is amazingly well-done. Casting is spot on – hard not to love the main characters!
Welcome to the conversation, Christine! Always lovely to see a fellow Maritimer on my blog. I have a Diana Gabaldon sitting unread on my shelf. It was given to me by a graduating student, an avid reader, who adored Gabaldon. I should dig it out and read it! Thanks for reminding me:)
It’s very good of you to make the effort to reprise a blog post when you are so poorly but please take care of yourself . Rest , rest , & more rest now . Lots of drinks , bowls of soup & some easy reading . We are having a trying day here so far . Torrential rain with wind of 60 mile an hour plus gusts . The poor dog didn’t enjoy being dragged out in thunder & lighting for his little walk . We’d normally batten down the hatches but the weather has caused a big sootfall in the sitting room & it has to be cleared up . Not easy getting out to the dustbins even . So enjoy your nice cosy bed & get yourself properly well – give nurse Stu my sympathies too 😁
Thanks, Wendy. Sounds as if you’re having a terrible day. The soot being the icing on the cake, albeit black icing. Yuk.
Just finished The Lost Man, by Jane Harper. I am looking forward to The Island of Sea Women.
I do hope you recover soon. It has been a long, difficult bout of illness for you.
Thanks, Cosette. I’m ready for it to be over, I can tell you. Ha.
Thank you for the new reading recommendations. I am presently working my way through the Elly Griffiths series from one of your previous posts and enjoying them immensely, especially this morning as a new layer of snow blankets us here in Minnesota. SO ready for Spring! Hope you feel better soon and thanks for posting when you feel lousy.
Glad you’re enjoying the Elly Griffiths series. Some of the later ones get a bit less wonderful, but then she regains her edge with the last one. IMO.
I hope you feel better soon!
Thanks, Jen. 🙂
Aargh, just wrote a long comment commiserating and sending sympathy and then somehow clicked out before properly filling in all the forms! Duh! And aargh again! Just said I know how impatient you must be, and that I hoped your antibiotics start working soon. That I abhor sinus infections, especially when they settle in and go systemic, that I hope you’ll help the antibiotics by sleeping lots and drinking all the hot fluids. And that hibernating with good books and some shows to stream (and with a good in-house cook) is really the only way to go). Now watch me leave the room (okay, blogpage) much more carefully this time…xo
Drat that internet; it’s tricky sometimes. I must try to leave a comment on my own blog to see what the process is. Today I decided no stressing over trip arrangements, or trying to do laundry and change beds, etc etc. Just reading and resting. Even if I am getting bored to death!
Lots of hot honey and lemon tea might help. Get well soon.🌹
Thanks Yuling. Hope all your family back home is well. I’ve been thinking of them.
Thanks, Susie. My family are doing well. They are just staying at home and waiting for this chaos to pass.
So glad to hear that, Yuling.
Aww… hope you feel better soon! Take care of yourself and we’ll all be here waiting when you’re up to posting again.
Thanks, Elaine. 🙂
I’m so sorry about your cold Sue-hope that you are feeling better soon!
Thank God for books,especially digital ones,when one is bedridden!
I’m reading Ann Pachett’s The Dutch House
I’ve seen on your IG that you were reading Peter May’s The Snakehead-so scary in light of current events,don’t you think?
All the best
Dottoressa
You are so right, Dottoressa. Gad. I may have to limit myself to some old favourites until the world settles down a little 🙂
Oh no, get well soon. How I empathise with you as we’ve got a really nasty virus going round (and it’s not that one!) which lasts for weeks. Not been well at all and not been able to blog about anything which is very unusual for me. Anyway thanks to your recommendations I have read two of Peter May’s China Thrillers back to back, and what a good read they were. Can’t resist buying the next one! And also just bought a Kindle version of Kelly’s Water Clock. Thank you so much for these recommendations – really appreciate good writing through these winter months.
Hope you feel better soon, Penny. Hubby now has my cold. How he resisted for four weeks, we’ll never know. I think (fingers crossed) that I’m slowly getting better each day. I’m happy you enjoyed the Peter May books. They were such a find for us since they were written long before the other May books we’ve read. Enjoy that Kelly book… I think you will like it. 🙂
Just finished a new Elly Griffiths “The Stranger Diaries” and thought it was excellent. I really enjoy about 1/2 of her books and this one fell into the “love it” category. Maybe it could be the start of a new series, I’ve rather gone off Ruth Galloway, although perhaps the newest one will turn that around. The same library trip got me a new JA Jance (“Sins of the Fathers”) and a new-to-me historical historical series by Priscilla Royal which I am pursuing.
Hope you are about done with the worst of your illness; it sounds like you are doing all the right things to get through it!
ceci
I enjoyed The Stranger Diaries too, Ceci. I listened to it on Audible. It was a nice break from Ruth Galloway who was beginning to annoy me. However in the last Ruth Galloway book, Griffiths was back on form.
Hope you are feeling better by now. I hate a cold that creeps away and comes back fighting. These conversations on books are so interesting. I just finished “The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire,” by Francesca Cartier Brickell. It is a long but interesting story, with a bit of history, drama, glamour and business.
Ah… sounds like my kind of book. Thanks, Beverly.
Thanks so much for making the effort to get a blog post out there. I have read several of your book recommendations in the past and enjoyed them. My appreciation for those books knows no bounds. I am a mystery fan and a suspense fan from way back, and my favorite authors include Dick Francis and Mary Stewart. Now, on your recommendation (if I remember correctly), my current favorite author is Peter Grainger. I fell for DC Smith, but I am also loving the new Kings Lake books (a new one just came out a few days ago) and the Willows and Lane ones. These are some of the best police procedurals and best characters I have ever read. As for some suggestions for your reading pleasure, I don’t know where I came across them (if it was through you then yet another thank you is in order, and you should, of course, skim right on past) but if you haven’t read them, I would recommend Nicola Upson’s Josephine Tey mysteries, T.E. Kinsey’s Lady Hardcastle mysteries, and Sara Rosett’s many mystery series. She’s an acquired taste, but I also recommend Anne Cleeland’s books, some of which include a mystery series. Some of the above qualify as cozy mysteries, if those appeal. I regularly go back and reread Georgette Heyer’s mysteries (all her books are on regular rotation), as well, so there’s that option. Hope you are improving rapidly and therefore back to normal asap.
Thanks, Cynthia. So glad you like the Peter Grainger books. I just love DC Smith’s character, and all the characters actually. I was relieved that Grainger carried on the series after Smith retired. I also like his Willows and Lane series… I’m going to go look for that new one right now!
P.S. And thanks for the other suggestions as well. Some new names for me. 🙂
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