Not that it is actually summer yet, though perhaps with global climate change the idea of four equal seasons needs to be seriously modified. But FD has been thinking about what books to read next, and there’s something about summer that calls for mixing some less than serious books in with whatever else one’s reading, at least in FD’s opinion. For FD the “whatever else” continues to be The Annotated Walden, which is going slowly, but with quite a bit of pleasure.
Anyway, with the Paretsky project satisfactorily completed, FD looked around for a new mystery series. After sampling a few, it looks like Ruth Rendell’s Wexford series will be a good choice for summer reading. FD has read a few Barbara Vine novels, and probably one or more of the Wexford’s over the years, but can’t remember any of them clearly at the moment, so it is easy to start at the beginning of this fairly lengthly list of mysteries. Have already read two, and they seem like exactly the right kind of mysteries for summer — shortish, not too gory, full of charming details from the times and place. FD’s public library has a lot of the novels in small format hardcovers — perhaps some sort of special library editions, the inside is old time paperback cheap paper and the covers seem to be a kind of plastic-ish material. They work great as bedtime reading. There are about two dozen titles in the series, which should keep FD busy for at least the summer.
But not immediately. For the next few days, or perhaps a week, FD’s pleasure reading will be Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies. Along with millions of other readers, it seems. Goodreads already shows 233 reviews of the book; FD will not be adding another.
Later, FD will probably also join the millions reading Gone Girl, a suspense novel getting a lot of press, a lot of publicity, and so far, great reviews.