I've added a few more titles to my imaginary Only 40 Books for the Rest of Your Life bookshelf. I want to say that I'm not choosing these books because I think they're the best ever written. They are chosen because they have a depth or complexity to the storytelling that would keep me entertained (hopefully) for the years if these were the only books I COULD read.
These three are chosen because I just plain love them no matter how many times I've read them.
- ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L M Montgomery
- LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott
- PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
BURY YOUR DEAD by Louise Penny
Contrary to the inclination of avoiding a book in the middle of a series, this is 5th in series featuring Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, in the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec, Canada. Penny writes beautifully anyway, but this book combines three amazing storylines: a historical mystery, a crime perhaps solved incorrectly from the previous book, and a terrible event in Gamache's professional life in the recent past. This book is also the root of things that happen in next few books. The author writes a contemporary traditional mystery series that is magical.
A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER by David Liss
Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. Though better connected socially, the investors involved with the shady South Sea Company have equally larcenous hearts, and Liss does an admirable job of leading the reader through the intricacies of stock trading, bond selling, and insider trading with as little confusion as possible.
A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN by Virginia Woolf
I prefer Woolf's essays to her fiction. Originally published in 1929, A Room of One's Own eloquently states Woolf's conviction that in order to create works of genius, women must be freed from financial obligations and social restrictions. I just love how she logically builds her argument.
THE DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey
While at a London hospital recuperating from a fall, Inspector Alan Grant becomes fascinated by a portrait of King Richard III. A student of human faces, Grant cannot believe that the man in the picture would kill his own nephews. With researcher's help, Grant delves into his country's history to discover just what kind of man Richard Plantagenet was and who really killed the little princes. One of the greatest detective novels from the Golden Age. Was King Richard III really a cruel murderer? Or was it political propaganda?
THE GAME OF KINGS by Dorothy Dunnett
The first story in The Lymond Chronicles, sets the stage for what will be a sweeping saga filled with passion, courage, and the endless fight for freedom. The setting is 1547, in Edinborough, Scotland. Francis Crawford of Lymond returns to the country despite the charge of treason hanging over his head. Set on redeeming his reputation, he leads a company of outlaws against England as he fights for the country he loves so dearly. Dangerous, quick-witted, and utterly irresistible, Lymond is pure pleasure to watch as he traverses 16th-century Scotland in search of freedom. Published in 1961, the novel is constructed as a clockwork mystery: an intricate web of many moving parts, punctuated by set pieces of adventure, high comedy, or intense drama. It is densely written and clever and the author makes me feel stupid in comparison.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Steig Larsson
First of the Millennium Trilogy. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood computer genius with a cache of issues. Complexity of story and unpeeling the layers is what intrigued me. I've seen the movie(s) several times but the putting together of the puzzle doesn't get old for me.
THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON by Kate Morton
Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline. In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth. In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever. Reminiscent of the Gothic novels of Daphne du Maurier.
THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin
First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. It begins in the near future and details an apocalyptic and, later, post-apocalyptic world that is overrun by vampire-like beings who are infected by a highly contagious virus. What begins as a project to develop a new immunity-boosting drug based on a virus carried by an unnamed species of bat in South America eventually becomes the virus that transforms the world. The novel spans more than ninety years, as colonies of humans attempt to live in a world filled with superhuman creatures who are continually on the hunt for fresh blood. Epic, complex world building.
THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield
Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end.
THIRTEENTH NIGHT by Alan Gordon
First in the series. "I prefer to leap to conclusions without evidence. It saves time," says Feste, a professional fool. In the first year of the 13th century, the Fool's Guild -- a training center and headquarters for jesters and fools who secretly influence the direction of political events -- receives word of the death of Duke Orsino of Illyria. Feste, who nurtured Orsino's affections for Viola years before, suspects foul play, so he goes to investigate, disguised as a merchant. The guild also sends along Bobo, in fool's garb, to act as a decoy. Feste fears that Malvolio, former steward to a wealthy family who became the butt of his songs and pranks, may have murdered the duke in the first step of a long-promised revenge. But after 14 years' absence, Feste is no longer certain of Malvolio's appearance, and every man in town becomes a suspect. This series is brilliant: Fools/Jesters as medieval CIA.
Looking at the bookshelf of 40 tells you a lot about me. And I'm only halfway there.
Tonight we have The First 48 and Hannibal to watch on TV.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
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