Europe 2024: Austria and Germany
3 hours ago
Sunday, July 17, 2016
What I'm Reading Today
A very, very brief post to say that I'm fascinated by P.D. James's The Black Tower, especially the deeper I get into it, and I have been so inspired by the extraordinary characterizations in Julia Spencer-Fleming's One Was a Soldier. As many of you know, Spencer-Fleming's "mystery" series about Episcopal priest, U.S. Army helicopter pilot, and recently-returned Iraq War veteran Claire Fergusson and Miller's Kill Chief of Police and Vietnam veteran Russ Van Alstyne just can't be beat, in my estimation, especially if you admire character-driven fiction or mysteries. I am so in awe of the writing in One Was a Soldier, published in 2011.
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I love hearing about wonderful books that are completely new to me! Sometimes I feel like everyone is reading and reviewing the same five books! I'll be putting One Was a Soldier on my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteBefore I wrote this post, I was trying to decide how necessary it is to have read the previous novels in the series.
DeleteI do have the bias that reading the first book in the series would be helpful, and it is a wonderful read--In the Bleak Midwinter, which won many prizes at the time. I love this book, although it's a fact that Spencer-Fleming was not at the height of her powers, as good as that debut is. The only book in the entire series that I thought was sub-par was the second book. Other than that, each book continued to get better and better.
Right now I"m in 95 degree Manhattan, wishing I was up there with Sasha, running along the ledge above the lake. I love lakes, grew up in Chicago swimming in Lake Michigan.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly; there's nothing like lakes. The one in the photo is so wild, no easy road access, no homes, just NYS wild land surrounding it. So lovely...
ReplyDeleteI think I'm putting this photo on my desktop, so that when I'm hot and wishing I was near a lake, I'll look at this photo. And I love dogs,too.
ReplyDeleteAre you reading all the Dalgleish mysteries, or have you just begun with this one? I remember loving them, but have yet to get back to the series and read along and complete it. She is something else!
ReplyDeleteI am in the midst of reading everything that P.D. James ever wrote, with the exception of her last book, which was a mystery featuring the heroine of Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Darcy. Saw the PBS show, however, which was wonderfully done.
DeleteI agree with you that she is absolutely a top-notch mystery/crime writer.
I read her last three or four books before reading the earlier ones, and I don't necessarily read them in order. And I purchase every single one because they are so extraordinarily well done and worth several re-readings.