This Week in Books is a weekly round-up hosted by Lypsyy Lost & Found, about what I’ve been reading Now, Then & Next.
A similar meme, WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.
Now: I’m currently reading The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse.
Blurb:
The clock strikes twelve. Beneath the wind and the remorseless tolling of the bell, no one can hear the scream . . .
1912. A Sussex churchyard. Villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will not survive the coming year are thought to walk. And in the shadows, a woman lies dead.
As the flood waters rise, Connie Gifford is marooned in a decaying house with her increasingly tormented father. He drinks to escape the past, but an accident has robbed her of her most significant childhood memories. Until the disturbance at the church awakens fragments of those vanished years . . .
Then: I’ve just finished reading A Climate of Fear by Fred Vargas which I really enjoyed. My review will follow soon.
Blurb:
A woman is found dead in her bath. The murder has been disguised as a suicide and a strange symbol is discovered at the scene.
Then the symbol is observed near a second victim, who ten years earlier had also taken part in a doomed expedition to Iceland.
How are these deaths, and rumours of an Icelandic demon, linked to a secretive local society? And what does the mysterious sign mean? Commissaire Adamsberg is about to find out.
Next: For once I know exactly what I’ll be reading next, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This is a re-read of a book I first read and loved years ago:
Blurb:
Told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian congo in 1959, The Poisonwood Bible is the story of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
How about you? Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think of them? And what have you been reading this week?
BooksPlease 
Vargas is one of those writers I keep saying I must read and then never quite get round to. Silly really when you think how much crime fiction I do read. I’m intersted that you are going to re-read ‘The Poisonwood Bible’. I keep tentatively suggesting it to one of my book groups because I’d love an excuse to re-read it but a friend who is also a member says it is one of the few books that she could never bear to read again. What has prompted your decision?
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I’ll be re-reading The Poisonwood Bible as it’s my book group’s choice for September! I’d better get started as the meeting is on the 27th 🙂 and I think you’d like Vargas.
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I enjoyed the Vargas too – the riff on history and then Icelandic noir, as well as the pet boar in the forest… just so eccentric and mad and compelling!
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Marina – I can’t think of any other author who has so many different strands in their work. I loved the part about the French Revolution and the myths and legends too – not to mention the mystery and Adamsberg’s methods of detection.
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I’ve read The Poisonwood Bible, thought it was amazing and would happily read it again.
This week I’ve been reading Death of a Busybody by George Bellairs, finished that on Monday. Also reading a birding book called Orison for a Curlew and have just started Dr. Wortle’s School by Anthony Trollope which I think might be rather good. Might continue the Victorian theme after that and try The Woman in White.
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Cath, I liked The Woman in White – but not as much as The Moonstone. I’ve also started Extraordinary People but have realised that I’ll have to concentrate on The Poisonwood Bible if I’m to finish it before the book group meeting on 27 September – a shame as I think it’s good so far and hope I won’t have to start it again hen I go back to it.
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You’ve got some nice reads here, Margaret. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the Vargas. She creates some of the most interesting and unusual stories, I think!
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Margot, Vargas is a really creative writer – I’ve enjoyed all of her books so far.
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The Taxidermist’s Daughter sounds creepy, but very good! The Poisonwood Bible is on my TBR too!
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I will be looking out for your review of the Vargas Margaret as I’m sure I have one of his books lurking on my TBR to be read and I probably should push it up the pile. A good variety of reading for you this week.
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