Reading report for May 2012

I finished 15 books in May. As spring moved into summer I found myself seeking out typical beach reads – books that can be read quickly without too much effort, mostly mysteries and romances, among them a few rereads. In among the lighter fare there are a few more substantial books, e.g. the James and McCrumb novels, and a couple of non-fiction books. One is a biography of the early life of Elizabeth I of England, and the other Walter Lord‘s history of the sinking of the Titanic. I thought it was about time I read it, considering that this year is the 100th anniversary of that disaster.

The Books:

Suzanne Brockmann: Hot Target. Romantic thriller. Reread.
Rachel Gibson: Any Man of Mine. Romance, contemporary.
Rachel Gibson: True Confessions . Romance, contemporary.
Rachel Gibson: The Trouble With Valentine's Day. Romance, contemporary.
Rachel Gibson: See Jane Score. Romance, contemporary. Reread.
Cyril Hare: Tenant for Death. Mystery.
P.D. James: Devices and Desires. Mystery.
Diana Killian: High Rhymes and Misdemeanors. Mystery, romantic.
Walter Lord: A Night to Remember. History.
Sharyn McCrumb: The Songcatcher. Novel, partly historical.
J.D. Robb: Divided in Death. Mystery, futuristic.
J.D. Robb: Visions in Death. Mystery, futuristic.
J.D. Robb: Naked in Death. Mystery, futuristic. Reread.
J.D. Robb: Survivor in Death. Mystery, futuristic.
David Starkey: Elizabeth. Biography, history.

Comments

Book 40: The Martian by Andy Weir, audiobook read by Wil Wheaton

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List love: 10 recommended stories with cross-dressing characters

This trope is almost as old as literature, what with Achilles, Hercules and Athena all cross-dressing in the Greek myths, Thor and Odin disguising themselves as women in the Norse myths, and Arjuna doing the same in the Mahabaratha. In modern times it is most common in romance novels, especially historicals in which a heroine often spends part of the book disguised as a boy, the hero sometimes falling for her while thinking she is a boy. Occasionally a hero will cross-dress, using a female disguise to avoid recognition or to gain access to someplace where he would never be able to go as a man. However, the trope isn’t just found in romances, as may be seen in the list below, in which I recommend stories with a variety of cross-dressing characters. Unfortunately I was only able to dredge up from the depths of my memory two book-length stories I had read in which men cross-dress, so this is mostly a list of women dressed as men. Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb. One of the interwove

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I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I loathe movie tie-in book covers because I feel they are (often) trying to tell me how I should see the characters in the book. The edition of Deborah Moggach's These Foolish Things that I read takes it one step further and changes the title of the book into the title of the film version as well as having photos of the ensemble cast on the cover. Fortunately it has been a long while since I watched the movie, so I couldn't even remember who played whom in the film, and I think it's perfectly understandable to try to cash in on the movie's success by rebranding the book. Even with a few years between watching the film and reading the book, I could see that the story had been altered, e.g. by having the Marigold Hotel's owner/manager be single and having a romance, instead being of unhappily married to an (understandably, I thought) shrewish wife. It also conflates Sonny, the wheeler dealer behind the retireme

Reading in Reykjavík

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