Reading in Reykjavík

My fourth What's in a Name challenge book was this delightful short novel, the first in a series of (I think) 5 books that have also been used as the basis for a television series. The challenge category is # 6, the something you'd find on a calendar , that of course being the month of May. Cedric Carlton, a clerk from the Internal Revenue office arrives at the Larkin family farm to find out why Pa Larkin hasn't filed his taxes. He meets the Larkins' oldest daughter, Mariette, and falls in love with her at first sight, which comes in useful for Pa, who clearly has no intention to pay his taxes and uses Cedric's infatuation with Mariette to dodge all questions about the matter. Cedric, renamed Charley by Pa, quickly forgets why he came and takes sick leave in order to stay with the family and be near Mariette, who seems quite interested in him too. This is one of those lovely novels in which a formula as old as literature is used to good effect to tell an en...

Such drama! Such romance! I must admit to having gone through a bit of a crisis with Georgette Heyer a couple of years ago. I love her historical novels but I got so thoroughly fed up with a couple that prominently featured silly-beyond-suspended-disbelief young females making trouble that I was filled with dread every time I tried to pick up a Heyer novel I hadn’t already read. You might say I was suffering from a surfeit of farce. This weekend, however, I finally got up the momentum to read The Spanish Bride , which I knew was based on a true story and took place during the Peninsular War and the battle of Waterloo, but beyond that I had no clue. The cover for it is pure romance, but what I discovered was actually a history of certain battles the male protagonist, Harry Smith, took part in, tied together with the story of how he met his wife, Juana, and their first four years of marriage. The military theme may be daunting to some, who like me are not particularly interested ...

I went on a reading spree over the weekend and finished three books, all of which I started and read from cover to cover with only short breaks. One was the Katie MacAlister book I quoted from in the previous post, which turned out to be good, mindless fun, full of steamy sex, violence and hot vampires, and another was a Regency romance by Loretta Chase, Viscount Vagabond , which I enjoyed despite, or perhaps because of, the improbable plot. The last was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , which makes it 7 books I have finished in the Bibliophilic Book challenge . Not only is it about a book club, but each member of the club has his or her favourite book or author, which they frequently mention. Year published: 2008 Genre: Novel, epistolatory Setting & time: London and Guernsey, Britain, 1946 Writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, Dawsey Adams, telling her about a book he owns that was once in her possession and sparking her curiosity with a men...

Title: A Very Long Engagement Original French title: Un long diamanche de fiançailles Year of publication: 1991 (original), 1993 Type of mystery: Missing person Type of investigator: Amateur Setting & time: France, 1917-1924, with flashbacks and flash-forwards Number of corpses: Many Some themes: Love, hate, perseverance, truth, war crimes I had originally intended to review One Deadly Summer ( L'été meurtrier ) because I had seen and enjoyed the film, but I didn't like the first person narrative style of the book and gave up on it. I also suppose it was not that exciting for me to read because I already knew what the surprise twist was. When I came across this book I remembered that there had been a critically acclaimed film of the same title and a random reading of a few lines told me it was not written in the same narrative style as the other book, so I bought it. Story: In the winter of 1917 five French soldiers who have been sentenced to death for cowardice ...

I read three of Peters’ books: two non-series romantic mysteries, and the first book in the Amelia Peabody historical mystery series. I think I have got a pretty good sampling of her work. Peters also writes suspense stories under the name of Barbara Michaels, and I have one of those books in my TBR stash that I plan on reviewing. Title: Crocodile on the Sandbank No. in series: 1 Series detective: Amelia Peabody Year of publication: 1975 Availability: In print Type of mystery: Supernatural (?) Type of investigator: Amateur Setting & time: (mostly) Egypt, 1880’s Some themes: Archaeology, stalking, mummies, adventure, feminism, romance Story: Amelia Peabody, a spinster in her early 30’s, is left a considerable fortune by her father and decides to go on a Grand Tour of Europe and Egypt. In Italy she rescues a young, destitute English lady, Evelyn, who has been “ruined” (loss of sexual innocence without the blessings of marriage was a big deal for women in those days) and cru...