It’s Monday – June 11

As we launch into summer, I’m trying to get a handle on my reading (and review) list for the next couple of months. I know — a largely futile task. Here is a look at what I am reading now.

“It’s Monday…” is hosted by Book Date

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Melmoth the Wanderer
by Charles Maturin

This has been on my TBR pile for a long time. Now that Sarah Perry has a book called Melmoth coming out this fall, I knew I had to read it before her release date. It’s a large book so it’s a bit slow going but I’m enjoying it.

Paperback, Penguin English Library, 707 pages
Published May 2012 by Penguin Books (first published 1820)

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City of Devils
by Paul French

I loved Midnight in Peking and am glad to once again be immersed in the bizarre world of 1930s Shanghai. French has written this nonfiction book in the style of a hardboiled detective novel. The tone took some getting used to but I think it works.

Paperback, 320 pages
Expected publication: July 3rd 2018 by Picador USA

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The Mystery of the Three Quarters
by Sophie Hannah

Prolific mystery writer Sophie Hannah was tapped the Christie estate to write a series of new books featuring Hercule Poirot. The first, The Monogram Murders, was pretty enjoyable. What Hannah did best was capture the little Belgian in his mannerisms and sayings.

Hardcover, 368 pages
Expected publication: August 28th 2018 by William Morrow

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Conan Doyle for the Defense
by Margalit Fox

Arthur Conan Doyle was more like his great creations — Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson — than modern readers might realize. He worked to exonerate (at least) two wrongful convictions in his time. The story of George Edalji was the subject of the novel Arthur & George and a PBS special. Here Fox tackles the more complicated case of the murder of Marion Gilchrist in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hardcover, 352 pages
Expected publication: June 26th 2018 by Random House 

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What are you reading this week? 

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