I am coming to the sad realization that if I only post here when I have a book to review, this blog will be a lonely place indeed. I am just reading too slowly these days to keep up regular reviews. So I won’t wait until I finish a book to post.
I am in a weird, true-crime phase right now, which is really unlike me. I am reading The Darlings, by Cristina Alger, which is a novel about a Madoff-esque financial scandal that rocked the financial world in the wake of the collapse of the big investment banks. So far I am liking it a lot. Good writing – crisp and detailed and very evocative of a NY world of wealth and subterfuge and panic. It’s a little stressful, though – you know it’s not going to end well. The question is, how many characters will be implicated and ruined by the scandal?
I will be giving away a copy of the new paperback version of The Darlings when I post my review, so keep an eye out here if this one interests you.
And on audio, I am making my way through Laura Lippman’s And When She Was Good, which is about a woman in her late thirties who runs a high-class prostitution ring. Very intriguing premise. Heloise, the madam, is a complicated woman, and Lippman deftly explores her life and why she made the choices she did. This is my second Laura Lippman novel, and while they aren’t necessarily deep literary fiction, I like the precision of Lippman’s writing and the fast pace that propels the action along. Again, there is a constant sense of doom and danger throughout, but it’s not so oppressive as to make me dread reading it.
These books may be a bit too stressful for my already stressful life! But so far I am enjoying both of them.
What are you reading?