Tiny Little Meetup! And, What Are You Reading?

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Months ago, in the Conspiracy Room chats, semperlego and I discovered that we live relatively close to one another. We've met several times since then at this lovely restaurant/bakery/coffee shop that has a beautiful outdoor seating area. in May, Semper was off to England and Scotland, and I was bound for Italy. We each had fantastic--and long awaited, many times delayed--vacations and, or course, those vacations involved hunting around for Queen's Thief books. So, when we met last week, we had gifts for one another!



I'm now the proud owner of The Thief with its beautiful new UK cover, and Semper has the gorgeous recent Italian Thief.  And, hey, if you're ever in North Carolina, let me know and maybe we can all chat over a scone and chai latte.

Now, on to recent reading! Tell me what you've been reading lately. Semper and I exchanged the titles of lots of books the other wasn't familiar with. How about you??

Comments

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Here are some things I've been reading lately:

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. After Italy, I watched the movie and read the book. Funny how the two are NOTHING alike but each good in its own way. Ah, how I long for a villa in Tuscany! One that's already renovated, that is.

The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield. I forget if someone in one of the chats recommended this or not, but it was a super-cute, funny British book from the 30s.

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. I forgot to tell Semper about this but it takes place in Scotland and tells of an archeological dig funded by an eccentric who is determined to discover what happened to the Ninth Roman Legion. Very romance-y but the history made it good.

Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch. Most recent in the Rivers of London series. I liked it but I kind of feel like the series needs to move along toward its epic fight-between-good magic-and-and evil magic conclusion.

[eachase.livejournal.com]

Diary of a Princincial Lady sounds like fun!

[filkferengi]

If you're in a mood for Italy, read through some of Jo Walton's monthly reading lists over on tor.com. She goes to Italy every summer and hangs out with Ada Palmer [author of the Terra Ignota series and member of the Norse-themed filk band Sassafrass]. She also reads lots of novels set in Italy and writes amazing recommendations.
https://www.tor.com/author/jo-walton/

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I will definitely take a look—I’d love to read more books that have an Italian setting.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I just spent a happy half hour reading her book rec lists for the past several months--so fun! What an eclectic reader she is! How in the world does she fine time to write? Anyway, thanks, I signed up for the Tor newsletter to remind me to go each month and read her latest list. Now it's off to my library's website to look for some of the titles I discovered.

[semperlego.livejournal.com]

Let us know your favorites!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Well, so far I'm reading Journey by Marta Randall, after her recommendation:

Journey, Marta Randall (1978) This is the book I’ve been looking for, the mythical book that is like The Crow Road on another planet. Why didn’t anyone tell me? This is the story of a family, parents, siblings, love, romance, children—but on another planet and with aliens, humans rescued from another failing colony planet, spaceships, economics, threats of war, all the things you have in science fiction but focused on the Kennerin family and their planet Aerie.

This is a terrific book, if a little oddly structured, and I don’t understand why it didn’t get more attention. Was it before its time? Am I the only person who wants there to be books like this? Buy this as fast as you can and read it so we can have the conversation about whether this is a thing we can do in genre. There’s a sequel called Dangerous Games which I’m reading right now and which will therefore appear in next month’s post.

I'm halfway through and it's compelling and thought-provoking with some lovely writing. It reminds me a little of Ray Bradbury, but not as vibrantly descriptive.