My reading as of late has been a bit haphazard, I will admit. I also have multiple books going and I rotate between them as my mood suits. But the past month or so has been enormously stressful and I’ve found it difficult to concentrate long enough to read a few pages. A fewer major milestones at work have passed so I am working to get back into a rhythm again. Click any cover image for more information.
The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell
I gobbled this one up in a couple of bouts of insomnia. Always great with a Gothic story, I liked this one even better than Purcell’s The Silent Companions. (The Poison Thread was published as The Corset in the UK.) Watch for my full review soon.
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books (June 18, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143134051
ISBN-13: 978-0143134053
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee
I knew nothing about this or Columbus’s son. And reading this, I realize how very little I knew about the history of the voyages themselves. It’s eye-opening and jaw-dropping.
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Scribner; 1st Edition edition (March 12, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1982111399
ISBN-13: 978-1982111397
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
Throw Me To The Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
I’ve read about a third of this and I’m not sure what I think of it yet. It’s a strange detective novel — it is compelling though. I keep picking it back up.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (April 23, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1620401517
ISBN-13: 978-1620401514
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
The Organs of Sense by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
Centered around scientists in the 17th century and an impending eclipse, it’s an absurdist novel about a blind astronomers.
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (May 21, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374227373
ISBN-13: 978-0374227371
Books I “DNFed”
The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr
“A post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future, in this captivating debut novel in the gothic tradition of Wuthering Heights and The Thirteenth Tale.” Based on this description, I should love it, but I’ve tried reading it three times and I just can’t get in the groove.
“A young detective who specializes in “tiny mysteries” finds herself at the center of a massive conspiracy in this beguiling historical fantasy set on Manhattan’s Westside—a peculiar and dangerous neighborhood home to strange magic and stranger residents—that blends the vivid atmosphere of Caleb Carr with the imaginative power of Neil Gaiman.” Again, it sounds right up my alley but it’s a slow start.
Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Patina Gappah
“A powerful novel of exploration and adventure in nineteenth-century Africa telling the captivating story of the loyal men and women who carried explorer and missionary Dr. Livingstone’s body, his papers and maps, fifteen hundred miles across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England and his work preserved there.” I often have trouble finding the voice for novels based on real events.
What are you reading right now?