So what if the temperatures are a bit lower than what you'd like for this time of the year? So what if the shelves are a-bursting with books you haven't found the time to read (yet - always yet - hope eternally does spring after all!)? I say it is high time to start planning that favourite activity I like to call "summer reading". Which is basically reading, which is when you think about it really as everyday as, say, brushing your teeth, only way more fun.
To me, spring hasn't really arrived until I have managed to get my paws on the latest Harlan Coben standalone. This has become a ritual of some ten odds years: me reading Coben while watching the White Witch slowly yet mercilessly thawing.
As I'm writing this, 2013 is stifling a yawn and getting ready to go to sleep. Really deep – c'mon, name that lyric, you know you want to! And no, this time it is not, shockingly enough, a Morrissey lyric…
What are you reading right now? Just finishing off Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda, the first book to be published on Dennis Lehane's new imprint. Incidentally - accidentally, I should think not... - it is rather reminiscent of Mystic River, although in a more ethnically diverse Brooklyn setting. Gritty, real, and beautifully written with a terrific sense of place.
The effortlessly genre defying Joyce's new novel takes place in the blistering summer of 1976. David, a young student, has come to the coastal town of Skegness to work at a holiday camp and, hopefully, watch his life begin.
For this month, I thought I'd try something new and post shorter reviews of some of the books I've been reading lately/am reading at the moment. All of the titles are, I daresay, ideal for the warmer season, whether you're looking for spine-tingling horror, light, fun beach reads, or simply a plain old good book. Enjoy! I will be writing all about my summer reading plans shortly, so stay tuned for that!
On 2 May, this year's Edgar Award winners will be announced during a big banquet in New York City (would have loved to have tickets, incidentally). I have read the seven nominees in the Best Novel category and found some real gems, made several new friends, reunited with old ones, and, in a few cases, been mildly disappointed.
With 2013 already well underway, am I correct in thinking it is high time to focus on some of the most anticipated new books of the year? Why yes, of course I am! This is in no way a definitive list, seeing a) how new releases tend to keep popping up throughout the year, b) how some of the best reads of the year will be dark horses; titles and authors that somehow have managed to slip under my radar, and c) how there is something to be said for spontaneity. It is, however, somewhat consistent with my current literary cravings. So, without
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Modern Fiction Book of the Month – June 2022
One summer can change everything… Ruth and Hannah are sisters. Bonded by love and friendship, they are perplexingly different characters. Hannah is radiant, organised and hard working. Ruth is forever single and totally aimless. Together they are invincible. Every summer they go on a budget holiday together where they bicker, laugh, fight and make up. But this time is different. Something bad happens. And now everything is changed forever.
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This bittersweet love story is about needing someone else as much as they need you. It is an ode to our most powerful bonds, how they build us and break us, and how, when all seems lost, we can find joy in the most unexpected places. A Sunday Times bestseller. Subscribe to the book-of-the-month!
There’s fowl play in Follet Valley! Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it. One day, however, one of his older guests disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. Another guest, the enigmatic Valérie, persuades a reluctant Richard to join her in investigating the disappearance. Then things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens. The disappearance of a guest is one thing, but you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens! – ’A tricksy whodunnit, and a really, really funny story’. Subscribe to the book-of-the-month!
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