Saturday, April 18, 2020

Bookshelf Traveling for Insane Times No. 5

Judith at Reader in the Wilderness hosts this meme: Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times. The idea is to look through a bookshelf or a bookcase or stacks of books and share some thoughts on the books. And of course you can be inventive and talk about books in any context.

I have returned to looking through boxes of uncatalogued books, mostly purchased at the Planned Parenthood Book Sale, in 2018 or 2019. I am pretty sure the books I found this week are books from the 2019 sale. Only purchased about 6 months ago, yet still I am surprised by some of them.

Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin
I have been interested in this book for years but never went out of my way to find a copy. It was originally published in 2007 in Sweden, but published in English translation in 2008. Publishers Weekly calls it a "deeply disturbing debut" but reviews I have read are very positive. It takes place on the Baltic island of Öland and is book 1 in the Öland quartet. The subject is the disappearance of a five-year-old boy 20 years previously.


Dark Fire by C. J. Sansum
This is the second book in the Matthew Shardlake series, published in 2004. The first book is Dissolution, in which Shardlake is a lawyer helping Thomas Cromwell to close down the monasteries in England. Shardlake is sent to investigate the murder of a royal commissioner living in one of the monasteries. The history of this time (1537) is very interesting. In the past I had not read much historical fiction set before the 1900s. Dark Fire is set in 1540 and I am not sure where it takes Shardlake but I liked the first one so I expecting this one to be very good too.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
This is Carson McCuller's first novel, published in 1940 when she was just twenty-three, and it is on my classics list. I don't know much about it and I prefer to leave it that way until I read it. 

The Witch Elm by Tana French
I had completely forgotten that I had bought this book at the sale. It is French's first standalone novel, published in 2018, after publishing six books in the Dublin Murder Squad series. I have read four books in that series and liked them all, and I had planned to hold off on this one until I read the last two in the series. But I found The Trespasser (book 6 in the series) and The Witch Elm at the book sale but not The Secret Place (book 5). So I may break down and read this book sooner than planned.




18 comments:

Cath said...

Dark Fire is superb, really good. And so is the next book, Sovereign, which is as far as I've got. I must get back to the series as the writing is wonderful.

TracyK said...

Cath, I got Sovereign and the next book, Revelation, at the same book sale. I am eager to start Dark Fire. (Except for the length.)

Judith said...

Tracy,
I so enjoyed this post, especially your digging and delving into books purchased from a book sale a bit ago, only to discover new treasures! The same thing happens to me at the library book sales that are very, very good. The C.J. Sansom books have me very intrigued. I have a crime novel by him which I haven't read--Winter in Madrid. I'm still dying to read it.

TracyK said...

Judith, Winter in Madrid sounds like it would be good. I have read a little bit about the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, but I still know very little about that time and place. I will look forward to hearing what you think of it when you read it.

neer said...

Tracy, I think I have one or two Tara French on my shelves, not sure which ones though. Have never read her but sure have heard a lot about her. Winter in Madrid is definitely on the shelves. Perhaps this year, I'll be able to read these books.

Margot Kinberg said...

Oh, the Theorin series is a fine one, Tracy. I truly hope you'll enjoy that one. And Tana French is so very, very talented. I think you'll like that one, too. I look forward to your reviews.

Rick Robinson said...

You completely got me this time, I know nothing of any of the book or authors. Well, I have heard of the last one, but have no knowledge of it. I look forward to any reviews you do.

Kay said...

I'll be curious what you think about The Witch Elm. I've read all of Tana French's books and you could read this one without reading those last two Dublin Murder Squad books. I liked it well enough, but not as much as her others. However, your experience might be different. I tried watching the new TV adaptation of her first two books (which they blended into one story - weird). I didn't really like it and stopped after two episodes. Some books translate well to TV or movie for me and some - not so much.

TracyK said...

Neer, I love Tana French's series of books, but I hate to recommend them to others because they are long and some readers don't like them at all. Of course, if you already have one you can just read a few pages and see what you think. They are sort of independent books because they usually feature two detectives and then only one of them is featured in the next book.

TracyK said...

Margot, I hope I like the Theorin book also. The subject matter seems possibly challenging, but I want to try it anyway.

TracyK said...

Rick, at least I finally brought these books out of hiding, where I hope to get to them sometime this year. I think the one I am most interested in at this time is Dark Fire by C. J. Sansum, the historical mystery. And probably because I have been reading more about those times recently.

TracyK said...

Kay, that is interesting about the TV adaptation of the first two books in the series. I don't think I have access to where that is streaming so we had not worried about watching it. I can see how it would be difficult to portray the characters and the stories well.

pattinase (abbott) said...

THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is great although I am a Carson McCullers fan. It is also a very good movie with Alan Arkin. She wrote this one at age 23, a real genius.
I have read most of French but not this one. I have it but cannot get into it for some reason. My son liked it. I couldn't get into the TV adaption either. I don't like it when they combine books on Bosch and it didn't work here either for me.

TracyK said...

Patti, I am looking forward to read the Carson McCullers book, it does sound very good. It is amazing that she wrote it at 23.

I didn't mind the Bosch series combining books because I have not read that many of them, but not sure how they would make that work with Tana French's books.

col2910 said...

I have the Theorin on the pile and hope to try soemthing from Tana French at some point, but they all seem very long which puts me off.

TracyK said...

Very true, Col, Tana French's books are long. That is bothering me less nowadays, but still, they are a commitment.

Clothes in Books said...

I read a Theorin book, The Asylum, and thought it was compelling and memorable, but a bit too dark for me. Sansom I have loved all the books (even though they are so long).
Tana French - I am just sorry there is nothing left by her that I haven't read yet, I would LOVE to have a new book by her to help with lockdown. I looked her up and I think there may be another one later in the year.
There are only a few authors where I will buy, fullprice, on publication day and read instantly, but she is one. I've probably told you - Wych/Witch Elm was published in US before UK, and I paid to have a copy sent to me rather than wait for a (free from publisher!) copy in UK...

TracyK said...

Echoes from the Dead certainly sounds dark, Moira, I am hoping it is not too bad.

I did not know you had finished reading all of the Tana French books. (My husband read all the Nameless books by Bill Pronzini... even novellas... but is saving the last book. Not sure why.)

I want to read The Secret Place next, so I either have to break down and buy a book (have done too much of that lately) or wait. They are very long so maybe that is OK for now.