The Lady Elizabeth and Love Lies Bleeding

Last week I finished Circle of Sisters and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and so had the joyous task of picking not one, but two new books to read. At the library I found Alison Weir's The Lady Elizabeth in hardback. This will be my 'at home' book - as any commuter will appreciate, hardback books are not very convenient for lugging on trains! There is something quite comforting and exciting about reading a chunky hardback book though. Instantly makes me think of rainy, autumn afternoons curled up on a sofa with a steaming mug of hot chocolate - bliss! I'm only a couple of chapters in so far and all is going well, although as I think commented after reading An Innocent Traitor, Weir's style can be rather jarring when she is trying to weave in actual historical fact. I don't know if this is a sensitivity on my part, or because I am used to the smooth storytelling of Philippa Gregory.

My commuting book is one that I borrowed from my Dad a couple of months ago and hadn't yet got around to picking up. My Dad has piles of detective fiction by pretty much any author you care to mention. He'd recommended Peter Robinson and Josephine Tey to me and so I trust his judgement! When I was last on the hunt for some new reading material he suggested Edmund Crispin. I then promptly forgot that I had borrowed the book until I read about some other Edmun Crispin on one of the wonderful readers' blogs that I follow - Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover - and decided that the time was right. I'm reading Love Lies Bleeding, which was an excellent choice by my Dad to get me totally hooked. It's set in a boy's boarding school and already (five chapters in) I am completely absorbed. It's wonderfully witty and intriguing at the same time and thankfully there's a whole load more to read...!

I now need to concentrate on picking a suitable book for my book club. It's always a tough decision as we are quite a diverse group (even though there are currently only three of us!) and I know that I can be quite predictable and unadventurous in my choices. I need to steer clear of detective and historical fiction - something contemporary always seems to be popular.