After reading something full of despicable people, I wanted to read something fun and light. Next up – Lisa Kleypas’ Someone to Watch Over Me. Apparently this is the first in a Bow Street Runners series she did in the late 90s/early 00s. Someone centers on Grant Morgan, a Bow Street Runner (i.e., private detective kind of?) with renowned success, remarkable height, and distinctive green eyes. He gets a ‘call’ about a body floating in the Thames. He is surprised to find when he rolls […]
Crappy People, Decent Book
I often enjoy books where you have at least one character for whom you can enthusiastically root. Caroline Kepnes’ You is not one of those books. You is the story of Joe Goldberg and his obsessive love for Guinevere Beck, a sexy writing student who happens into his bookshop one day. Joe is smitten from the beginning, and lucky for him, Guinevere Beck is a pretty unique name and soon he is off and running on his foolproof plan to get more Beck in his […]
Deadly Chemistry
I have an obsession with true crime documentaries, shows, movies and books. I am fascinated by the motivations and methods of criminals. Up to this point though, I have delved more into serial killers and single murders (Serial season 1, Zodiac, Jack the Ripper, etc). My book club selection for March brought a new subject to me – poisoning and forensics. Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York is an encyclopedia for anyone interested in […]
The Dutch Used to be Uptight
Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist hits many of the marks of books that immediately draw my attention: It’s centered in a long-ago time period (17th century) and a far away place (Amsterdam), has an intriguing and lovely cover, a protagonist coming of age, and a potential magical bent. I also had several friends rate it highly on Goodreads, so I definitely had high expectations. It’s perhaps for that reason that I think this fell flat for me. I didn’t dislike The Miniaturist, but I didn’t love it […]