Lately, I have been writing a bit more than I’m reading, but I’m still managing to stay on track for my Goodreads 2024 Challenge. Here are my March reads:
Homecoming – by Kate Morton
I always enjoy reading the sweeping stories of Kate Morton. I read a lot of Victoria Holt as a teen, and Kate is my “grown up” version of those rambling, gothic tales. This book switches between 1959 and the present, as the protagonist, London journalist, Jess, flies to her family’s home in Sydney Australia to visit her dying grandmother. In her grandmother’s house, Jess discovers a book that chronicles the tragic murder of the mother and several children in the Turner family. In this book, she discovers a shocking connection between the deaths and her own family. She struggles with what she thinks to be true about her family and what actually happened. Morton’s books are always good for a long, satisfying escape from reality.
The Wind in the Willows – by Kenneth Graham
And speaking of escape…what better way to leave the rumblings of present life behind than to visit the world of Rat and Mole and the other woodland creatures. When our kiddos were small, we watched the PBS version of The Wind in the Willows every Saturday evening. I don’t remember much about the episodes, but the sweetly haunting theme song sticks in my head even now (check it out on YouTube!). I have read this book several times, but this is the first time I have identified most with Toad—wild and crazy Toad. The other creatures are continuously trying to tame him, hide his racecar, and counsel him to “act his age.” But no matter the pressure they apply and the measures they take to civilize him, he always breaks out of his prison and speeds away in his lightning-fast motorcar.
A Royal Pain – by Rhys Bowen
I love a series! I’d started to read Her Royal Spyness mystery series quite a few years ago and then got sidetracked by book club commitments and new TBR lists. This month, I returned to book two and found it to be as charming and funny as I’d remembered. Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch, is flat broke. As the thirty-fourth in line for the throne, her prospects for earning a seat in British government are slim. She has resorted to many ways of earning money – cleaning lady, cosmetologist, spy – but each book also finds her solving crime, usually a step or two before the local constabulary. These books are a fun get-away.
I Capture the Castle – by Dodie Smith
I had no idea that the woman who wrote 101 Dalmatians also wrote other books. I read I Capture the Castle for my online International Book Club, and it was such a fun adventure. The eccentric, genteel Mortmain family is struggling to make ends meet in their crumbling castle. Their story is narrated (“captured”) by the youngest daughter – a quirky teen who tells the tale through her journal entries. Smith wrote the novel in the 30s, so it has a classic, old-fashioned flair. But this coming-of-age story is proof that human nature doesn’t change, and that growing up is hard work no matter the time or place.
Other books I read this month: A Breath of French Air by H.E. Bates, The Wager by David Grann, Strangers to Superfans – a Marketing Guide by David Gaughran.
