Sunday Caught My Interest

Another week has gone by with a last surge of hot weather and continued smoky skies from fires in Eastern Washington. Himself went off mid-week for a rocket launch in Nevada where unfortunately his rocket became one with the desert. He took A Canticle for Libowitz with him to read during down time. I don’t know how far he has gotten but I look forward to talking the book over with him. I had hoped to get a lot of reading and writing done but finishing the patio and cleaning the garage took more time and energy than I anticipated. I did finish Skios by Michael Frayn which was so-so and Chapman’s Odyssey by Paul Bailey which was much better. I have two books to finish by Wednesday – Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse and The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I may have to put life aside to get them finished.

On a note of jealousy, youngest spent the weekend in Vienna and said the Opera was an amazing experience. Rotten kid!

Here is what caught my interest this week:

I don’t know if I have mentioned this book before but after reading Cat’s review (Tell me a Story) of the book I felt it deserved mentioning again. I grew up reciting A.A. Milne poems and remember sitting on the couch while my mother read the original Winnie the Pooh to my brother and I. A.A. Milne wrote a mystery story called The Red House Mystery, which Cat describes as a “classic country house mystery with a nice little twist at the end to stamp its own individuality on it.” She also includes a quote from the book that makes me want to read even more. And for Kindle uses, it is available free.

Alyce of At Home with Books is currently reading a book she finds “incredibly creative, and more importantly completely readable and compelling”. It is a debut, self-published novel by Justin Blaney called Evan Burl and the Falling. I went to Amazon and read the preface and I have put this book on my list. Evan is an orphan who is a prisoner of his less than savory uncle along with a lot of other orphans. Evan tries to protect the group but he knows that at age sixteen he will become something evil. I generally shy away from young adult work but this one sounds more promising than most – just reading the author’s bio on Amazon made me laugh.

Finally I had no idea that Daphne du Maruier had a sister who was also a writer, (author of fourteen books). Fleur Fisher reviews Angela Du Maruier’s book The Frailty of Nature which sounds fascinating – it is the story of three vicars, and three wives in three generations of a family. Sadly it is out of print but I am putting it on the “look for list” as it sounds well worth reading.

Happy reading.

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