Mar 262011
Books I plan to read this week and the next:
- Hemovore - Jordan Castillo Price (not sure, I bought this almost two years ago!)
- Not Quite a Lady – Loretta Chase (historical romance)
- Mr Impossible - Loretta Chase (historical romance)
- Lord Perfect – Loretta Chase (historical romance)
- Miss Wonderful - Loretta Chase (historical romance)
- Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua (memoir; four friends sent me print copies of this book. I’m still not sure what is going on as I was completely off-line during the online fuss.)
- The Winds of Heaven - Judith Clarke (YA; the cover sucked me in, damn it, and the fact it’s set in Australia)
- Song of Scarabaeus – Sara Creasy (futuristic romance)
- Impulsive - HelenKay Dimon (contemporary romance)
- Pale Immortal - Anne Frasier (mystery; what an awful cover!)
- Lies - Michael Grant (YA, third book in the Gone series)
- Bad Influence - Kristin Hardy (Harlequin Blaze)
- The Devotion of Suspect X – Keigo Higashino (psychological thriller)
- Belle - Lesley Pearse (historical fiction)
- Heartbreaker - Diana Palmer (contemporary romance in comic format)
- House Rules – Jodi Picoult (mainstream fiction)
- The Edge of Impropriety - Pam Rosenthal (historical romance)
- Amber by Night – Sharon Sala (contemporary romance in comic format)
It’s going to be weird to do nothing but relax and read. I look forward to it. Not sure which to start off with. I think I’ll go down up the list in alphabetical order.
Well, I really liked Song of Scarabaeus. Pale Immortal is very well written and compelling but really not my thing. I am not a fan of Jodi Picoult, but many people are. I am a Rosenthal fan but I don’t remember which book that one is, and if I’ve read it. Mixed reaction to the Chases.
The rest I haven’t read and/or know little about, though I must read HelenKay Dimon one of these days.
Have fun!
@Jorrie – I have heard a lot about Picoult’s books but never read any. So I thought I should give it a try. I usually like Anne Frasier/Theresa Weir, so I suspect I might enjoy it. I hope so, anyway. Loretta Chase… it’s usually a hit and miss. More misses than hits, I think. Mostly because, I think, I have an issue with her habit of demonising women who aren’t the heroines.
Song of Scarabaeus is the one I truly want to read right now, but I’m resisting for a little longer because I’m petrified that it’d not live up to my currently high expectations. I adore SF/futuristic romances. Such a hardship.
Thank you!
I didn’t have much in the way of expectations for Song of Scarabaeus, which was kind of nice. I wasn’t even sure which genre it was. I think I thought it was UF!
Actually, so did I! I saw the cover a while ago and assumed it was UF so I didn’t pay attention until the DA review came up. Heh.
I enjoyed the Chase trilogy, in this order: Mr. Impossible, Miss Wonderful, Lord Perfect. Have not read the other one.
I had the Picoult on my syllabus for my narrative medicine course, but my students talked me into My Sister’s Keeper instead, so I am reading it right now. I hope to read House Rules too, though.
Will look forward to your take on tiger mother.
the Rosenthal did not work for me, but others love it. For one book, I had an amazing online book club — Miriam of the sadly defunct Rape and Adverbs, Tumperkin, RfP and me, and that was our pick. Alas, it was not to be.
@Jessica
I cheated by reading the Picoult book instead of Rosenthal and Sala’s stories first. So far, it seems she’s given Jacob all worst traits of Asperger’s syndrome, which I find a bit disconcerting, manipulative and somewhat misleading. One aspect of the plot as a whole reminds me a lot of the one in a South Korean film, Mother, which makes me suspect how House Rules might turn out. But I’m half-way through so it might not go in that direction.
Have you read any by Scottish author A. J. Cronin? Many of his novels revolve around medical situations that might interest you. He’s probably best known for his serial works Dr. Finlay’s Cases, but his novel The Citadel might be of some interest. Weirdly, I didn’t know about this novel until I watched an Indian film Madhura Swapnam, an Indian-set adaptation of Cronin’s Welsh-set novel.
RfP? It’s familiar to me, but I can’t remember what it stands for. Such a shame that the online book club didn’t work out. I hope it’ll be revived some day.
RfP is Read for Pleasure — she had a blog that was never too active, I think more to give herself a web identity. She makes wonderful comments on many blogs, including a comment on the SonomaLass thread about NewGalley currently in ful force.
I am glad the Picoult get some things wrong. I am finding that to be true of My sister’s Keeper. In class, we are considering the ways the popular medical narratives affect what people think about medicine, for good and for ill. It is often for ill, literally and figuratively.
Thanks for the rec. Never heard of Cronin.