Books from the last three weeks or so

I've been letting this blog grow cobwebs of late, being simultaneously occupied with Easter, my daughter's sixth birthday, buying a house, and a case of bronchitis. The house is going to keep me occupied indefinitely, but Easter and the birthday are over and my lungs are on the mend.

Anyway, I figure it's high time I caught up my book blogging, at least.

A Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol. I (Larry Gonick, 1997) is an irreverent yet well-researched account of our history from the Big Bang up to Alexander the Great. And I should really go put Book 2 on hold...

I've now read All Mortal Flesh (2006) and I Shall Not Want (2008), so I'm fully caught up on Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries...just in time to learn that the next book, One Was a Soldier, has been delayed and won't be out to 2011! Woe!

I love this series, I really do. Wonderful characters, brilliant writing, perfect combination of humor and angst. I don't want to give away spoilers, since these should be read in order, but suffice it to say there's more motion in the "soap opera" part of the plot than in previous installments. After reading All Mortal Flesh on Easter afternoon, I was so eager to find out what happened next that I couldn't wait the few days for the library to deliver I Shall Not Want, so I bought it for my Kindle and stayed up till 1:00 AM Thursday finishing it despite the whole bronchitis thing.

This Week in Books

I seem to be falling into a pattern of one Julia Spencer-Fleming mystery and one other book per week. I'll be sad when I catch up on this series--what will I read then?--but that doesn't seem to be slowing me down.

This week's "other" was Chalice of Roses (Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, Barbara Samuel, 2010). It's an anthology of romantic novellas featuring heroines from assorted historical eras who are charged to use the Holy Grail to bring peace and/or protect England. I enjoyed it, though the romances were a bit too magically predestined for my taste.

To Darkness and to Death (2006) is another unconventional mystery--it doesn't open with a body, but with a missing person the reader knows to be still alive, and solving the murder that eventually occurs doesn't even remotely solve the story problem. Oh, and Russ and Clare's forbidden bond continues to grow more complicated and poignant.

Books

I seem to be having better luck finding fiction I enjoy this year than I have in awhile, which is a good feeling. There's nothing more relaxing for me than escaping into a good fictional world.

This week's reading had an unlikely commonality: time-line jumping.

Out of the Deep I Cry (Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2005) is the third mystery featuring Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and small-town police chief Russ Van Alstyne. Rather than the usual mystery pattern of a dead body in the first chapter or two, this entry gradually reveals what happened in a missing person case from the 1930's that's left a long impact on the people of Millers Kill. The book flashes back and forth from the present to various points in the past, and it's very effective. (I do love this series and am rushing to catch up with it in time for One Was a Soldier to come out next month.)

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Lauren Willig, 2005) is a swashbuckling romantic romp set among English spies operating in Paris during the Peace of Amiens in 1803, with a framing device of a present-day history student finding a cache of papers revealing the long-hidden identity of the super-spy previously known only as the Pink Carnation. I liked the 1803 story much more than the modern bits (of course I did, since a good 90% or more of the fiction I read is set in the past), but I thought the whole thing was fun in a smart chick-lit way. I'll definitely seek out the rest of the series.

Books!

I've been trying to read more for fun lately, and a bit less for research or because I feel like I should read certain books. I recommend it. It's fun.

In honor of the upcoming baseball season, I got the Maple Street Press 2010 Mariners Annual, a series of articles for the diehard Mariners fan, mostly written by leading lights of the M's blogosphere. Lots of good stuff for the baseball geek, but I think my favorite piece was Derek Zumsteg's article about Ichiro, "The Man Who Will Not Slow Down." (Basically, Ichiro is 36, but he doesn't play like it.) Among other things, he compares Ichiro's stats to those of 1909's leading players, and said that if Ichiro had played in the dead ball era, he and Ty Cobb "would have been rivals until the point Cobb's racist head exploded with frustration." I like that image.

Proof By Seduction (Courtney Milan, 2010) is an extremely promising debut historical romance. It's not a perfect book, but it's fun and well-written, and between it and Rose Lerner's In For a Penny, I'm feeling more optimistic about the state of the historical romance than I have in a long time. I don't like its cover, not at all. I do, however, enjoy Milan's sense of humor about it. For the record, I'm not against sexy covers, I just like them tasteful enough that I don't have to worry about how I'd explain them to my daughter or feel self-conscious about having them in my blog sidebar. I'd be totally happy, f'rex, if/when I'm published, to have a cover something Jacqueline Carey's upcoming release.

Just this evening I finished A Fountain Filled With Blood (Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2004), second in the mystery series featuring Episcopal priest Clare Ferguson and small-town police chief Russ Van Alstyne. This outing takes place about six months after the first book and shows our characters continuing to fight their feelings for each other while battling a possible string of hate crimes.

Books catch-up

I've had a bit more time to read lately, but not so much to blog about it. The new job is keeping me busy, and why was I ever crazy enough to think I'd have MORE time once my kid was in kindergarten rather than daycare? So, here's a brief catch-up.

Break Into Fiction (Mary Buckham and Dianna Love, 2009) uses worksheets and examples from popular movies to show writers how to apply the Hero's Journey structure to plotting their own work. A timely read for me, since plotting is one of my weak points. My last manuscript went through three full drafts--not rewrites, but full drafts--because it took me so long to figure out what the plot actually was. And I like that it uses the Hero's Journey, which feels more organic and flexible to me that other approaches I've seen, such as Goal-Motivation-Conflict. (Full disclosure: Mary Buckham is a member of my local RWA chapter.)

The House of Hope of Fear (Audrey Young, 2009) chronicles the experience of a young medical resident at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where I worked in a non-patient care role 2007-09. This should be required reading for anyone opposed to health care reform, since it shows what a mess the current system is. (I try not to be political on this blog, but sometimes I just can't help it.)

In the Bleak Midwinter (Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2002) is the first in a mystery series set in upstate New York and featuring a police chief (Russ) and an Episcopalian priest (Clare) as sleuths. It's very, very good, with strong writing and appealing characters. I'm normally really put off by stories that call upon the reader to root for divorce or adultery (Russ is married, not miserably but not all that happily either), but in this case I had sympathy for everyone involved.

In For a Penny (Rose Lerner, 2010) is the debut book of one of my critique partners. And it is wonderful. If you're tired of wallpaper Regency historical romances and are looking for something grounded in its place and time, this is the book for you. It's very well-written with sympathetic, engaging characters, too.

Alexandria

I've been a fan of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries for years, and Falco and Helena Justina are one of my all-time favorite romantic pairs in any genre. Naturally I was quick to pick up Alexandria (Lindsey Davis, 2009), the 19th outing in the series.

As usual, it's the ongoing comic family saga that most holds my interest, in this case as Falco takes his pregnant wife, two young children, teenage foster daughter, and brother-in-law to Egypt so Helena can see the Pyramids before their third child is born to render travel even more challenging. The mystery, involving dead bodies turning up in the Great Library, wasn't quite as compelling to me--possibly because I work on the fringes of academia, and the bureaucratic squabbling and jockeying for power felt all too realistic and everyday! Which is part of the fun of the Falco series, that combination of historically accurate detail with modern tone and world-weariness that comes from being a cog in a giant, complex society. This time it was just a little too close to home for me.

I hope there isn't a two-year gap before the next book like there was between 2007's Saturnalia in this one. I want to know how Helena's pregnancy turns out, and if I'm right in spotting potential romantic angst involving two secondary characters...

The Sky Took Him

Donis Casey is high on my list of authors who deserve to be much better known. The Sky Took Him (2009) is the latest in her series featuring Alafair Tucker, farmer's wife and amateur sleuth in early 20th century Oklahoma. Lovely voice, lovely local color, and I especially enjoyed this entry's romance subplot involving Alafair's independent oldest daughter. And there was a nice balance of obvious clues that even mystery-clueless me could spot and unexpected twists that were subtly but fairly foreshadowed.

A Dead Bore

Sheri Cobb South is high on my list of obscure authors who deserve a wider audience. Her books are published by Five Star, a small publisher that focuses mostly on the library market. You're unlikely to find them in bookstores, but your local library may well have them, and of course they're available on Amazon.com.

A Dead Bore (2008) is the second in a series of Regency mysteries featuring Bow Street Runner John Pickett and Lady Fieldhurst, the newly widowed viscountess he cleared of suspicion for her husband's murder in In Milady's Chamber. In this story, set a few months after the first one, Lady Fieldhurst accepts an invitation to a house party in Yorkshire to escape London gossip about her husband's scandalous death. When the local vicar dies in what looks to be a fire started by a lightning strike, she senses something is off and invites Pickett to come investigate, and naturally he's eager to comply.

The mystery is good, and the developing attraction between Pickett and Lady Fieldhurst is even better. I love a good slow-blossoming romance, and I've always had a thing for cross-class pairings in historicals where the woman is the aristocrat. I'll be looking forward to the next entry in this series, and I hope I won't have as long a wait between volumes!

A Secret and Unlawful Killing

A Secret and Unlawful Killing (Cora Harrison, 2008) is the second in a series of mysteries set in 16th century Ireland and featuring Mara, a brehon (judge/magistrate) in the Gaelic legal tradition. For the most part it's a gentle, pleasant read, despite the necessary presence of several dead bodies and a certain sense of melancholy as Mara and others who've kept the old ways see the encroachment of English power and English culture even in their isolated corner of western Ireland.

The Sword-Edged Blonde (Book #24)

The Sword-Edged Blonde (Alex Bledsoe, 2007) is a genre-bender--fantasy crossed with noir whodunnit. It's a clever combination, and I think it works, though I liked the book rather than loving it.

Having established a precedent of griping when I dislike a cover, I can't let this one go by without comment. Obviously the publisher was going for a sort of campy retro look, but I think they could've gotten that effect across more attractively.

Big Boned (Book #22)

Big Boned (Meg Cabot, 2008) is the third, and I believe the last, in Cabot's frothy mystery series about an ex-pop star turned assistant dorm director. As usual with Cabot, this is a well-tuned fun read with a solid voice, but I did think the romance subplot got short shrift and was too hastily resolved.