Everyone’s been moaning and groaning about the weather, and I’m as frustrated as the next person about missing the first month of the summer.  The weeds are overwhelming, everything is lush and green, and there aren’t really any flowers anywhere.  But for me, I’ve holed up and really caught up with my reading.
 
I read the galley of Richard Russo’s new book, THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC.  If I can’t go to the beach and enjoy the real sun and sand, at least I can read about it all.  Watch for the book in early August.
 
I loved Ana Menendez’s new novel, THE LAST WAR.  Her last novel was LOVING CHE, and though there was lots of buzz about it, I’d never read it.  THE LAST WAR is dark and difficult, but Menendez is a beautiful writer.  This is not a beach book.
 
I can’t wait for you all to read Doctorow’s new novel, HOMER & LANGLEY, scheduled for a September 1st publication date.  If the truth be told, I love all of Doctorow’s books, some more than others, but  this is Doctorow’s myth as history/history as myth take on the Collyer Brothers.  I hadn’t ever heard of these men, so you can’t even begin to imagine how immersed I became in the book.
 
Sarah Dunant is a brilliant researcher, and her new novel, SACRED HEARTS, takes place in a convent in  Ferrara in 1570, a time when fifty percent of all Italian noblewomen became- or were forced to become- nuns.  I read this book in nearly one sitting!
 
Right now I’m reading Doctorow’s deeply disturbing but absolutely brilliant THE BOOK OF DANIEL, published in 1971.  I can’t put it down, but I fear going forward.
 
I’ll give you an update as I continue on.  Let me know what you’re reading!