Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday Finds (January 23)


What great books have you come across this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.


I’ve been doing slightly funny things in my Friday Finds posts in the last couple of weeks: last week I confused two of Stephanie Kallos’s books (I mentioned that her first book, Broken for You, had been on my radar before I spotted it on Carrie’s best of 2008 list, but actually it was her second book, Sing Them Home, that I was thinking of) and two weeks ago, coincidentally, my FF post was almost identical to Dawn’s over at She Is Too Fond of Books (except we posted different covers for both the books we mentioned!). This week, I feel like I’m cheating a bit since all my finds came from a summer preview post on Sarah’s blog, Reading the Past (which I found via DeAnna Cameron’s blog, Writerly So)...


According to the author’s website, A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell “follows a crime reporter through 1931 Berlin as she searches for her brother’s killer, a trail that leads from the city’s dark underbelly to the top ranks of the rising Nazi party.” I’m not 100% sure this book would be up my alley (it might be too dark), but it does sound interesting!



According to the publisher’s site, Emily’s Ghost by Denise Giardina is “a lustrous, beautifully written reimagining of the Brontë family—and of Emily Brontë’s passionate engagement with life.” Now that definitely sounds up my alley!





And finally, another novel that focuses on the life of an author: Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellers, which is about Virginia Woolf and her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell. I also found a review of this book on the Vulpes Libris blog. I definitely must get my hands on a copy of this one!

14 comments:

  1. I would love to read Vanessa and Virginia!

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  2. They all look interesting to me, Avis. You did well!

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  3. I'll be curious to see how you like Vanessa & Virginia -- it sounds great.

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  4. Emily's Ghost and Vanessa and Virginia both sound good to me, I'm interested in Emily Bronte and Virgina Woolf. Great finds!

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  5. These all sound good! I had to make an immediate visit to Amazon to check out Rebecca Cantrell's book. It sounds right up my alley.

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  6. Kathy, I've read quite a few biographies and autobiographies (or memoirs) about the Bloomsbury group (or at least the Stephens and their families), but never any fiction, so yeah, I need this book!

    Thanks, Myckyee! I was pretty pleased to find so many interesting books on the same list.

    It's actually not coming out until March, Sherry, and since I don't normally buy hardcover books, I'll have to wait even longer to get my hands on it...

    Thanks, Betty. As I mentioned to Kathy above, I've never read any novels about these folks (Virginia or Emily), so I'm really curious about these ones!

    Glad to be expanding your wish list too, Wendy! That one's the one I'm least sure of because I'm fairly limited in what I want to read in mysteries, but the setting makes it sound really interesting.

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  7. Thanks for the link to the summer preview. Going to have to check that out!

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  8. Thanks for cross-referencing my blog! Don't they all look good? I'm especially interested in Emily's Ghost, as I always enjoy Denise Giardina's work. Amazon seems to have a new cover for it, which I found only yesterday.

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  9. These all sound good...I am especially interested in Vanessa & Virginia.

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  10. Emily's Ghost sounds great! Vanessa and Virginia also intrigues me. I see a theme here! :-)

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  11. Wow, all three of these look interesting. That first one seems like an interesting perspective for someone like me who enjoys reading books set in the 1930's-1940's.

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  12. Wasn't that funny when we mentioned the same books?!? No overlap this week, which means I've added more books to my wish list because of your Friday Finds - *Vanessa & Virginia* looks great!

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  13. You're welcome, Lenore. There are definitely other books that sound interesting on Sarah's list!

    It's a great list, Sarah! I must say I like the cover you posted much better than the one on Amazon. I also hope they come up with a better cover for Vanessa and Virginia!

    Jo-Jo and Marie, oh yes, there's definitely a theme, one that will continue in my next FF post!

    Yeah, that's what attracted me to it too, Shana!

    I know, Dawn, it was funny. It was only when I was writing up this post that I noticed that at least we managed to post different covers for the two books we both mentioned!

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  14. A P.S. of sorts:

    I just realized, Sherry, that Vanessa and Virginia is being released in Canada in March, but is only coming out in May in the U.S. (at least according to the respective Amazon sites).

    And Sarah, in checking out when the books was coming out on Amazon.ca, I noticed it was published originally in 2008 by Two Raven Press (a Scottish publisher) and they did have another cover for it (although it still doesn't look quite right to me!).

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