1 An author you’ve never read
Murder with Peacocks ( Meg Langslow
Mystery #1)
Author: Donna Andrews
Genre: cozy mystery
Number of pages: 296
First published: 1999
Setting: Yorktown, Virginia
Rating: 5 stars
First sentence: I had become so used to
hysterical dawn phone calls that I only mutered one halfhearted oath before
answering.
One sentence comment: The whole set of
quirky cast can sound so real and uplifting.
I am fascinated by Mr Langslow, an
eccentric retired doctor and the protagonist’s father, who often did strange
experiment or brought up unwelcomed bloody topics to dinner table, including
the murder case. His detective-minded daughter, Meg, was hilarious while she
was organizing three weddings at the same time. The preparation was astonishing
and admirable. I would have been highly enjoyable to be part of it. Meg sometimes
suspected her parents were involved in the ‘geriatric love triangle’ resulting
to murder. What an entertaining fun mystery! No wonder it won the Agatha Award
for Best First Novel. In addition, the fantastic bookcover will possibly be my
favorite of the year.
I was intrigued by one of the wedding
presents in the book, so I googled and found out what Spanish moss was.
2 a book with a blue cover
My Family and Other Animals
Author: Gerald Durrell
Genre: fiction
Number of pages: 373
First published: 1956
Setting: Corfu island
Rating: 4 stars
First sentence: July had been blown out
like a candle by a biting wind that ushered in a leaden August sky.
One sentence comment: The author’s beautiful
prose and unusual pets are both baffling and intriguing for me to get into an
romantic life in the island.
All the animals on the lovely book cover
are the author’s home pet after he moved to Corfu with his family. There are
numerous humorous and heart warming stories about them. The most implausible
but inspiring plot is about Dodo, the dog the author’s mother adopted. How Dodo
was possessive about Mother and how Mother doted on her are both exceptional.
The reason why it doesn’t get my five stars
is because of its difficult vocabularies about wildlife and plants.
3 free pick
Harvest
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Genre: medical thriller
Number of pages: 512
First published: 1996
Setting: Boston
Rating: 4 stars
One sentence comment: The fictional plot is
as dramatic as the realistic crime that horrify the world.
It’s probably the first book about scandal
of organ transplantation that has raised awareness of the crime happening in
China. US medical associations have forbidden doctors from China to gain latest
organ transplantation for years. It is high time to read the book when the US
government passed a law to prosecute forced organ harvesting recently.
4 a book in a series
Royal Flush (Royal Spyness Mystery #3)
Author: Rhys Bowen
Genre: historical mystery
Number of pages: 306
First published: 2009
Setting: Scotland
Rating: 4 stars
First sentence: It is my opinion that there
is no place on earth more uncomfortable than London during a heat wave.
One sentence comment: Having been reading
the series and known the major characters with little surprise from them, I
still quite enjoy the plot about the royal family.
In this book, I get to read about the late
queen Elizabeth II as a girl at the Balmoral Castle. I guess Rhys Bowen had
read The Little Princesses, a biography written by the late queen’s governess,
so that she wrote that the young princess wanted to marry a farmer at the time.
It’s so interesting to realize how a life turns. Mrs Simpson, who would later become
the wife of Prince of Wales, was surprisingly haughty and preposterous. Isn’t
it a good luck for the late queen to meet two obnoxious American women at
different periods of her time?
5 a book with a two-word title
The Stand
Author: Stephen King
Genre: dystopian
Number of pages: 1296
First published: 1989
Setting: The US
Rating: 3 stars
First sentence: “Sally.”
One sentence comment: It is an ambitious work
including a large cast and vast reference to literature and Bible.
The first part of the book caught my
attention. The atmosphere of the world coming to an end kept me on edge.
However, I found this book too long and I don’t particular like to read a
supernatural character, Flagg. It was considered Stephen King’s best book from
many booktubers. However, I am not particularly drawn to the dystopian novel.
6 A book with “The” at the first word of
the title
The Mysterious Affairs at Styles
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: cozy mystery
Number of pages: 264
First published: 1920
Setting: England
Rating: 3 stars
One sentence comment: The first book of
Poirot is well written but characters in Christie’s books are too simplified
comparing with those of modern cozy mysteries.
7 A book with a male protagonist
And Then There Were None
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: cozy mystery
Number of pages: 293
First published: 1939
Setting: an island
Rating: 3 stars
One sentence comment: The famous locked
room mystery is intriguing but not interesting.
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