This blog will take a break for the month of August – during which time Mrs. P. hopes to enjoy the company of her family (most likely in a fair bit of British rain) and some tranquil reading in a seaside setting, together with 150,000 gannets.
Mrs. P’s summer reading, currently gathered in an unsteady pile by the side of the suitcase, looks something like this:
Sofi Oksanen’s Purge (Atlantic 2011 [2008] – Finnish/Estonian]
John le Carré’s The Secret Pilgrim (Penguin 2011 [1991] – the final Smiley novel)
Giorgio Scerbanenco’s A Private Venus (Hersilia Press 2012 [1966] – Italian noir)
Jason Webster’s A Death in Valencia (Chatto & Windus 2012 – British/Spanish)
Reginald Hill’s On Beulah Height (Harper 2009 [1998] – British)
Perfect combination… (copyright Lizzy Siddall)
and finally a rogue book that isn’t crime (gasp):
Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal (Vintage 2012).
The Kindle’s also coming along, in case that lot’s not quite enough!
Wishing you all lots of lovely summer reading, hopefully with a bit of sunshine thrown in…
Mrs. Peabody Investigates 
Mrs. P – Have a lovely and well-deserved break! Enjoy your reading, and I’ll look forward to your reviews and other wonderful posts when you return.
Thank you, Margot! Will return freshly energised, I’m sure! Hope you have a relaxing month too.
Have a great break and we’ll see you in September. Looking forward to your reviews.
Thanks, Sarah – have a good August yourself!
Happy holidays, and may the rain keep away. Re the gannets, I thought you’d be taking The Blackhouse by Peter May 😉 But it looks like a good selection – hope you enjoy Purge as much as I did (though no gannets as I recall).
Thank you, Maxine! No doubt The Blackhouse will come to mind when I see the white and yellow gannets doing their spectacular dives offshore (I enjoyed the descriptions of the landscapes and seascapes very much in that novel). Looking forward to Purge very much too. It’s spent far too long on my TBR pile!
Wishing you good weather and good reading. It’s winter here but I not our temperatures and rainfall are about the same as your summer so I shall have an inkling of what you are experiencing even though I’ll still be at work. No gannets here either. 😉
of course that should be note above. This bluetooth keyboard I’m using with my iPad really is quite contrary.
Thanks, Bernadette. We are hoping for a freak heat wave; failing that, a few days without rain would be nice. Don’t work too hard!
Well, if the seaside proves too rainy please feel free to hop a ride to sunny Saskatchewan. I am enjoying reading most evenings on the deck of my house though your month of reading will dwarf my summer of reading.
Thank you, Bill! Sitting out on the deck in the company of a good book (and your good self) sounds most convivial 🙂
‘Buona estate’ Mrs P (as we say in Umbria).
Sergio (Tipping My Fedora)
Grazie, Sergio! Hope you enjoy the rest of the summer 🙂
Enjoy your hols Mrs P, and here’s hoping you get some decent weather!!!! Your book list looks very interesting. Think I may have to trot into the city to re stock my library.
Thanks, Kathy! Hope you have a good summer break too. My list is rather a random one, I must confess – a combination of books that have lingered too long on my TBR pile (Purge/Venus), or are part of a current obsession (le Carre), or came my way at Harrogate (the rest). Happy restocking! A library can never be too full in my view 🙂
Hi, Mrs. P.: Have a nice, relaxing restful month. Lots of good books is my idea of a vacation. I’d add lots of iced tea sitting in a/c (I live in a big city, no seashores nearby), but virtual reading vacations are spot on — in my book.
Look forward to your book reviews and general comments about whatever comes up.
Thank you, Kathy. Will deploy some elderflower cordial if it gets too hot (who am I kidding) and my Spanish crime novel if the rain starts getting too heavy! Have a good month and happy reading too 🙂
I’m virtually visiting South Africa, India and Rio de Janeiro this month, at least. Perhaps Dublin if I can get my hands on Broken Harbour. And maybe some Canadian locations as a Canada-phile friend brought me an armload of mysteries set in many cities. And maybe even some British sites, through books set a few hundred years ago, as a friend just raved about Imogen Robertson’s Instruments of Darkness. Anyway, it’s the best way to take vacations — little cost, no passports or visas needed, no lines — all good. Have fun.
Sounds absolutely brilliant, Kathy. Enjoy your reading / travels 🙂
Mrs P…. it’s September 2nd already. Hello? 😉
Well, I’m also guilty of not writing my review/comparison of the Larsson’s and Läckberg series. Technically, I’m still working on it. I’ve finished reading the first 4 books in each series. I’ve just never done a book review, now that I think about it…
Anyway, hope you had/are still having awesome holidays! “Read you soon” 😀
*wakes up from long summer sleep*
Hi Sara, here I am! Will be back in action soon with some reviews 🙂
Sounds like you’re taking on a meaty topic for your comparative review piece – look forward to reading it…