I had a sort through my TBR pile today deciding what to read next and what looked interesting and also pulled out some that I know I am never going to read as I have read a few pages and know they are not for me. I am a little more circumspect about this than I used to be as I have come dangerously close to missing a humdinger because I have discarded too soon, but there were a few that I just knew would have to go and they have been put to one side.
Still have a lot to go and here are the titles lined up for the next couple of weeks:
A Noble Killing by Barbara Nadal. A thriller set in Istanbul and featuring Inspector Cetin Ikmen. I know nothing about this author or her detective but as it comes from Headline who sent me American Devil this year which is a simply terrific book, this is going to be well worth reading so looking forward to that one,
Love Always - Harriet Evans. Read a book by this author when on holiday one year, had been left behind by another visitor to the hotel and I picked it up, started to read and found I was really enjoying it. The cover was the usual pastel pink/lilac/green colour with stick people on the front and I normally pass these by (with exception of Katie Fforde who I love), but glad I found this one as Harriet Evans has an engaging style.
The Oracle of Stamboul - Michael David Lukas. A debut novel set in the final days of the Ottoman empire and seen through the eyes of a little girl, Eleonora Cohen. Sounds interesting and such a gorgeous cover too.
The Pink Hotel - Anna Stothard. A seventeen year old girl flies to Los Angeles for the funeral of her mother Lily from whom she was separated in childhood. She spends her summer travellilng around Los Angeles in a bid to track down the men who knew her mother.
An Object of Beauty - Steve Martin. I only know Steve Martin from the movies, but knew he wrote novels so was pleased to be sent this title and I shall be intrigued to see what I make of it. Seems to be set in the New York art scene so lots of double crossing I am sure.
A Discovery of WItches - Deborah Harkness. The blurb says 'prepare to be mesmerised, beguiled and spellbound. You are about to enter an extraordinary book; a fantasy world of breathtaking imagination where history, science, magic and romance are woven into an intoxicating tale'. Ooo-er missus. Sounds good!
And finally, those lovely people at OUP who always send me lovely books, have just sent me a new edition of Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson, complete with the original wood engravings. This is the kind of book you just want to stroke, the paper is so beautiful and the wood engravings sheer delight. I read this many moons ago and will thoroughly enjoy reacquainting myself with it once more. If you have seen the sanitised, mud free TV version you will have to forget this when reading the book. The resemblance between the two is very faint indeed.
So enough to keep me going for a bit methinks.....