Yesterday, and! help Rolanni find something to read

[rolanni]

Yesterday was sunny and warm -- more June than November. The tide was out when I arrived, but the sea was active. Waves the pure, hard green of peridot with deep laces of bright white foam rose up as high as a house before coming down with a roar and a crash. The air was full of moisture, which acted like a lens in the brilliant sunshine. I could easily see the houses at Cape Elizabeth, and the waves slamming into the point, shattering into white shards, like ice.

There were scores of people on the beach, most stripped down to t-shirts; sweaters, wind-breakers, or sweatshirts tied around their waists; caps pushed 'way back on their heads. Dogs accompanied many -- dozens of those sturdy orange dogs that everyone seems to have -- yellow lab-and-something-mixes -- big, happy, sociable dogs, with kind brown eyes. Several galloped up to solicit my opinion of the day, offer a nose to be shaken, or a paw to be held.

I could have walked for hours.

But, of course, I didn't.

On the way home, I stopped at Barnes and Noble in Augusta, where I had my first sighting of Carousel Tides in a bookstore, which was exciting.

The store was gratifyingly full of eager shoppers -- this despite the gorgeous weather. Alas, I couldn't find anything on the shelves to tempt me. I think I'm tired of SF/F -- something that happens from time to time.

So -- what have you been reading in mystery, romance, literature that's blown you away? It doesn't have to be new; I'm 'way behind the curve on reading almost anything. SF/F need not apply for this exercise; I'm resting the genre for a while.

Comments

I've given these all 5 stars on GoodReads:

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

YA: Going Bovine by Libba Bray
I read this a year ago, and I'm still thinking about it.
A slacker, teenage boy, starts seeing a punked-out angel, figures made of flames, and other odd things. He is diagnosed with Mad Cow disease. It's incredibly rich story of Cam's journey to figure it all out, with the help of a hypochondriac little-person, and a death-defying yard gnome (my favorite character in the book).


Mysteries:
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde (punny, clever, witty, pure fun!)
It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Dumpty, minor baronet, lover of women, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Yes, the big egg is down. All those brittle pieces sitting in the morgue point to foul play. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his new partner, Sergeant Mary Mary, search through Humpty's sordid and secretive past in hopes of finding the key to his death.

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (great atmosphere, strong female protagonist, good mystery)
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly-ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish demands that she prove herself as a leader, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne dismisses her as a naive do-gooder and her blunt manner, honed by eight years as an Army chaplain, is meeting with a chilly reception from some of her congregation. When a newborn baby is abandoned and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow the town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains.


One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (silly, fun, romantic)
Stephanie Plum lost her job at the department store and is reduced to working for her New Jersey uncle's bail-bond business as a bounty hunter. How many cars will Stephanie see destroyed before she solves the mystery?

General Fiction: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb…As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.