What I'm Reading Now
Happy Friday!
I hope you are having a great week so far.
Tj and I are officially both working from home full-time now. It's only been a few days, but I think we have sorted out a pretty good little system. We have also re-arranged our furniture 20 times, and cleaned the whole apartment LOL.
My routine is completely shot. I told myself I would wake up early and do some exercise every morning like I usually do. That hasn't happened once, but I am still blocking out some reading time every day. For 20 minutes before I start work, and 20 minutes after I sign-off, I consider it my "commuting" time, and I read haha. Do not disturb.
All of a sudden, all of the ebooks I have on hold at the library are available at once. Seems like everyone has a lot of reading time on their hands.
What I Just Read
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid (Tony Hill #5)
What's it about?
Val McDermid is an award-winning, crime-writing powerhouse, and now she returns to her explosive, thrilling series featuring psychological profiler Tony Hill and ex-DCI Carol Jordan in her latest How The Dead Speak. With Tony behind bars and Carol finally out of road as a cop, he’s finding unexpected outlets for his talents in jail and she’s joined forces with a small informal group of lawyers and forensics experts looking into suspected miscarriages of justice. But they’re doing it without each other; being in the same room at visiting hour is too painful to contemplate. Meanwhile, construction is suddenly halted on the redevelopment of an orphanage after dozens of skeletons are found buried in the grounds. Forensic examination reveals they date from between twenty and forty years ago, when the nuns were running their repressive regime. But then a different set of skeletons are discovered in a far corner, young men from as recent as ten years ago. When newly promoted DI Paula McIntyre discovers that one of the male skeletons is that of a killer who is supposedly alive and behind bars—and the subject of one of Carol’s miscarriage investigations—it brings Tony and Carol irresistibly into each other’s orbit once again.
My thoughts:
I love a series! This series in particular reminds me of London, because I started the books there after I met the author at a book signing event. I loved the side stories of the characters (that's why I love series!) but the crime they were investigating in this novel fell a little flat for me. They figured it out a little too quickly. I still rated this one 4/5 because I did really enjoy reading about what the characters were up to (especially the main character who is in prison!).
What I'm reading now
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
What's it about?
A thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice--the real-life story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.**
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dares publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world--using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops and invisibly ferry classified documents.
The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story--the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine, Lara--with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. From Pasternak's country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, DC, to Paris and Milan, The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature--told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the centre of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world.
My thoughts:
This book is one of Reese Witherspoon's book clubs picks. I find the books she chooses are hit or miss - I either really really love them, or they really don't connect with me at all. This one is a hit so far! I am about 60% in, and very interested to see how it will all come together. At first I was a little confused because it jumps around between characters a lot. So far it reminds me of The Huntress by Kate Quinn, which is a book I read earlier this year and loved (and seems to be on sale today for only $2.99!).
What I'm Going to Read Next
The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen
What's it about?
After an unspeakable tragedy in Boston, Ava Collette flees to a remote village in Maine, where she rents an old house named Brodie’s Watch.
In that isolated seaside mansion, Ava finally feels at peace . . . until she glimpses the long-dead sea captain who still resides there.
Rumor has it that Captain Jeremiah Brodie has haunted the house for more than a century. One night, Ava confronts the apparition, who feels all too real, and who welcomes her into his world—and into his arms. Even as Ava questions her own sanity, she eagerly looks forward to the captain’s ghostly visits. But she soon learns that the house she loves comes with a terrible secret, a secret that those in the village don’t want to reveal: Every woman who has ever lived in Brodie’s Watch has also died there. Is the ghost of Captain Brodie responsible, or is a flesh-and-blood killer at work? A killer who is even now circling closer to Ava?
I have so many good books to choose from, and so many new releases this month that I can't wait to get my hands on. Hopefully a good reading selection will make these early days of lockdown and physically distancing a little easier for me, although I keep joking that as an introvert, this lockdown thing doesn’t seem that hard haha.
If you are looking for something to read, now might be the time to switch to e-reading! It's fast and convenient and you get used to it I swear. My favorite part of e-reading is that when I read before bed I can have the lights off so when my eyes start getting heavy I can just drift off to sleep. For e-books, I recommend your library (free!) or Kobo.