First line: Night comes as a surprise in the tropics.
It took me less than a month, but more than two weeks, to read this brief novel; it's incredibly interior-oriented, which isn't a bad thing, but it didn't allow for lazy, quick reading. Our narrator, Shirley, is clever, and you can't be sloppy to keep up with her.
The feel of this novel is Erica Jong meets Kate Chopin. Shirley is a smart, passionate 40-something housewife who travels the world meeting her spy lover.
But their latest tryst takes her back to Toronto, where she grew up and still lives, and as we watch Shirley attempt to untangle the clues that will connect her with her lover, we start to wonder just how much of this might be real.
And yet, that's not precisely the point of this novel. In her pursuit of her lover, we're exposed to Shirley's entire life -- her childhood, her marriage, her anxieties and hopes -- and a complicated-but-familiar portrait emerges. By the end, I found myself wantin…
Wow, what a haul! I'm most curious about the Van Booy book. Happy reading!
ReplyDeletesuch an awesome mailbox with lovely covers. the one that jumps out and calls to me is Rebel Angels. curious about that one, indeed.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy Lady of Ashes as much as I did. I also received The Illusion of Separateness.
ReplyDeleteI have The Lullaby of Polish Girls too, it's supposed to be very good.
ReplyDeleteThere's so many books here I'd love to read, but number one would be Royal Mistress. I've read and loved all of Anne Easter Smith's other books, so I'm sure I'll really enjoy this one as well.
ReplyDeleteAll of those books and we only have one in common - Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence. I have to say Chocolate For Breakfast sounds good to me.
ReplyDeletethanks for stopping by the Mailbox monday meme
ReplyDeleteNice-looking batch of books this week! Love and Lament looks especially interesting - it's nice to find historical fiction set in my home state. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the prequel to A Spear of Summer Grass. Enjoy your new books. I think they all look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! I have The Illusion of Separateness on my stacks and can't wait to get to it. I downloaded Orphan Train for book club this week and also ordered myself a copy of Food: Vegetarian Home Cooking. :D
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that Kirino has a new book out. I enjoyed her previous noir novels.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an impressive list of books! I'm intrigued by the title Chocolates for Breakfast.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your week!
Such gorgeous covers! I like the look of Love and Lament. Happy reading :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fabulous mailbox. I would be just drooling over the whole lot of them.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of books. The Goddess Chronicle has a gorgeous cover
ReplyDeleteOh wow, so many wonderful titles, where to begin? Ones that have particularly caught my eye are Antonia Lively Breaks The Silence, The Bookman's Tale and that collection of stories from Connie Willis (love her work). Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteand, i thought i got an embarrassing number of new books...LOL enjoy - so many look good.
ReplyDeleteWow...there are quite a few that I am envious of. ONE GLORIOUS AMBITION and THE BOOKMAN'S TALE are two of them. :)
ReplyDeleteENJOY them all!!!
Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Mailbox Monday
Wonderful books in your mailbox. Hope you enjoy all your books!
ReplyDeleteHere is my post!!
That's a lot of books. By covers only, several catch my eye. Read about the Simon Van Booy book on another site a week or so ago. Hope you have time to get them all read, in time.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, a lot to read. Usually I find those sorts of covers weird because it looks like some of the book is missing, but I really like the one for Building Great Sentences. And I love the title Chocolates for Breakfast. Yes please!
ReplyDeleteSome great titles and books, enjoy!
ReplyDeletehttp://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2013/05/mailbox-monday.html
Most of the covers are so visually appealing. I'm looking forward to Lullaby for Polish Girls --sounds a bit different for me.
ReplyDeleteYay for Lady of Ashes. I really hope you'll like that one.
ReplyDeleteA Spear of Summer Grass was pretty good. I haven't read any other books by the author so I don't know how it measures up to her other work, but it's solid.
I also received Royal Mistress -- how awesome does that one sound? I'm pretty excited to get to that one.
Great haul, Audra. I hope it's all happy reading :)