Saturday, March 16, 2013

What are you reading?

I've become an impulse buyer, which is pretty amazing for someone who lives almost two hours away from the nearest big city. It's all thanks to the internet, of course. And my impulses are restricted to books. I HEART The Book Depository. With cheap prices, free shipping worldwide, and with an easy peasy two click buying setup, this place is a dream to shop.
I mean... I do love physical bookshops and I know they're struggling... and I support them when I'm in town, but for my current lifestyle, online shopping is a wonderful lifeline to my favourite activity -- reading.
It's addictive though. Being a regular online, I'm often hearing or reading about great books -- so I trot over to TBD to take a look, and next thing I know it's ordered. :) and about ten days later, I get a lovely surprise at the Post Office.
So what have I been reading and plan to read?
Most of February was taken up with the seven books I had to read and judge for the RITA award. But apart from those books (some of which were great) these have been my favourite reads this year so far.
I loved Anne Gracie's The Autumn Bride, the first book in her new Chance Sisters series. The world Anne creates with Lady Bea and the girls is enchanting. All the characters are unique, strong and engaging. It made me think of Louisa May Alcott meets Georgette Heyer.
I read about Mhairi McFarlane's  You Had Me at Hello on amazon.co.uk... it was selling super fast and I wanted to know why. I discovered it's the most delightful book from a debut author with an incredibly distinctive and wonderful voice. Mhairi had me from Line One.
I've met Kristin Hannah at Romance Writers of America conferences. When we go to the Literary signings, we sit next to each other (it's alphabetical) and I've seen the long line of readers who want to talk to Kristin, so every so often I reward myself with one of her books. Home Front is about a wife and mother posted to Afghanistan and the implications of this for her marriage and her family (and it's currently a terrific price). I wasn't disappointed.It's a very powerful story.
My editor at Penguin sent me Monica McInerney's The House of Memories and I enjoyed it SO much. It's a very emotional premise, but while this is treated with due depth and sincerity, there's also a lovely lightness about this book, which the author arrived at, no doubt, via the quirky secondary characters. It's my favourite MM so far.
And now, with the judging of other books out of the way, I'm looking forward to this little cache.


And I also have more coming in the mail, of course. One is Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier which was highly recommended by a friend. She says the Juliet Marillier is her favourite Australian author. The other book I've ordered is ML Stedman's The Light Between Oceans. After reading raves about this debut book on Goodreads, (something like 27,000 reviews) I couldn't resist.

So what are you reading? Any really strong recommendations?

2 comments:

2paw said...

Fiona McIntosh came to our local bookshop and signed my Lavender book and sprayed it with lavender perfume!! I have all her books but this one is a little extra special because of the setting. (Spoilers avoided I hope)TBD is a wicked place, it makes me buy books!! I am always grateful that the Library is just a few minutes away. We can borrow books from all over the State, so there's a great selection. Happy reading.

Barbara Hannay said...

How lovely! I love lavender. I remember reading a romance in my teens where the hero bought the heroine a lavender farm. I thought it was the most romantic thing ever. I'm sure Fiona enjoyed meeting you too, 2paw.