What Jan Read While Sheltering

[OMalleycat]

I spent way too much time glued to the news and didn’t get much reading accomplished. I’m also still reading The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane which I started a couple of months ago. It’s interesting but a slow read. I’m hoping to list it next month!

March Reads

Good books
Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox. My favorite read of the month. Amanda and Ted are good characters and Amanda was a little less in the realm of outrageous-for-the-sake-of-it so I liked her better.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. Creepy tale of a family’s destructive entanglement with a cult-leader-like man who moves in with them. I figured out a lot of major plot elements early on but was unsure how it would all be resolved.

Okay books
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson. I enjoyed the tour of classic mysteries but was put off by all the spoilering, some of which seemed gratuitous.

Unsolicited by Julie Kaewert. Pleasant British mystery. With a small publishing house owner as the main character it has some interesting behind the scenes stuff. But a quiet mystery with a nerdy amateur sleuth took a weird turn into an action thriller at the end. With that lurch and a generally mundane feel, I have no interest in completing the series. This one has been on my TBR for about 20 years—I still remember who (an AOL chat friend) recommended it. Published in the 90’s it seemed quite dated with its pagers, car phones, and clunky spyware. Some older books aren’t so jarringly out of touch. I think this one was because of an air of the trendiness of all those gadgets with a lifespan of less than 10 years.

[Ann]

Nice list Jan! I'm getting close to my turn to read The Family Upstairs and agree that Amanda in Gone by Midnight was a bit less outrageous "just for the sake of it" though still considered quite outrageous by the police.
As for the dated feel for Unsolicited, it is interesting you mention the "air of trendiness" adding to the impression. It is usually when special attention is paid to a gadget that we notice later either it's short lived life-span or lack of importance in the long run.

OMalleycat wrote: "I spent way too much time glued to the news and didn’t get much reading accomplished. I’m also still reading The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane which I started a couple of months ago. It’s interesting but a slow read. I’m hoping to list it next month!
Unsolicited
Published in the 90’s it seemed quite dated with its pagers, car phones, and clunky spyware. Some older books aren’t so jarringly out of touch. I think this one was because of an air of the trendiness of all those gadgets with a lifespan of less than 10 years. "

[Susie]

Some good books Jan! I think I might have to try Gone by Midnight.

[Dan in AZ]

“Spoilering?” ???

[OMalleycat]

Ann wrote: ". As for the dated feel for Unsolicited, it is interesting you mention the "air of trendiness" adding to the impression. It is usually when special attention is paid to a gadget that we notice later either it's short lived life-span or lack of importance in the long run.."

That’s true , Ann. It also occurred to me after I’d already posted that there’s another reason for the dated feel of Unsolicited: the book isn’t engaging enough to get one effortlessly past those moments when the mc’s pager buzzes and he has to find a phone quickly.

[OMalleycat]

Dan in AZ wrote: "“Spoilering?” ???"

As distinct from “spoiling,” as all of my stockpiled produce is doing in the refrigerator right now. Books may be spoilered without smelling as bad as a cucumber that’s gone to mush.

And, in case you’re really wondering, Peter Swanson's Eight Perfect Murders has a mystery bookseller as an MC and is rife with spoilers for classic mysteries.. The octet of murders in the title are thoroughly discussed as are 3 or 4 others. We had a lively discussion of the do's and don’ts of spoilers in the book discussion threads.