I'm writing this early (9:30am). I worked a bit on my Project yesterday and I'm now up to Rendell in my alphabetizing. I haven't been really ruthless in my rejects as I've been working on "J" through "R" yet but I think I'm going to have to go back through and start ditching things. I'm running out of room for the rest of the alphabet. The good thing, though, about my collection of books is that it is probably an almost even mix of TBR and things I've already read and liked. Previously it was pretty much all TBR. Perhaps, being the "R's", the end is in sight and achievable. The bad thing is that because I've discovered that my used bookstore isn't take books anymore I've got all these rejected books piling up. I could be done with them in one fell swoop and donate them to the library but I would like to maybe get some book credit for them on maybe one of the online resources. So I have to store them somewhere....
I finished reading THE BONES OF THE BURIED by David Roberts. This is 2nd in a series of 9 featuring Lord Edward Corinth, a jaded English aristocrat, and Verity Browne, a leftist journalist, between the wars in 1930s London, England. It was published in 2001 and had 342 pages. Here's a synopsis from the author's website (http://www.lordedwardcorinth.co.uk/index.htm):
Lord Edward Corinth returns to London after six months in New York to find his sparring partner of the previous year, Verity Browne, insisting he investigate a murder in Madrid. It is 1936 and Spain is about to erupt into civil war. Verity is a foreign correspondent for a national newspaper and passionately committed to defending the Spanish republic against the Fascist threat. Her lover, David Griffiths-Jones, a senior figure in the Communist Party, has been convicted of killing a fellow Party worker in the hills outside Madrid and Verity appeals to Edward to help save him from the firing squad, even though she knows he sees him as his rival in love.
Against the odds, he succeeds, but is suddenly called back to England before he can tidy up all the loose ends. In London, Edward becomes embroiled in the investigation of a second murder, that of a banker who had been his contemporary at Eton. Edward uncovers a connection between his dead friend and the victim of the unsolved murder in Spain. Both had been at school with him and there is a third man - another Eton contemporary - whose earlier death in a shooting accident on safari in Kenya now arouses his suspicions. Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne, attracted to each other but at odds politically, join in an awkward alliance to discover the truth. Political and personal danger surrounds them and there is no guarantee that justice will be done and murder avenged.
I like this series and I don't. I like the time period though I would wish for more "Gosford Park" type of stories. I like the politics of which there is a lot, but the politics of Verity get very irritating and you don't see why Edward loves her. And I'm certainly not a prude about the sexual activities found in books but one kinda sorta expects that the hero and heroine will not be as casually promiscuous with other people as these two are. Ah well. The world was changing then and I guess the story of these two characters reflects that.
Next? I'm not sure. It would be a very happy day indeed if my Book Despository books showed up today but I'm not counting on it. I've got a bunch from the library to work on. A quick look at the lists of books I've read this year, it looks like I'll just break 100 for the year (I'm currently at 98). Not as good as some years but probably better than I thought it was going to be.
So, it's a dark rainy day thus far. Other than walking Tug this afternoon I don't think I need to go anywhere. I've got to get some laundry done and maybe work on the Project some more. Otherwise, it may be a day of movies or reading and a cup of something warm.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
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