Friday Reads 3/21/2025

This week has been a whole year. I can't believe Monday was only 4 days ago. I took today off work to take care of myself a little bit. But let's talk about books.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict - This is currently my work book. I will bring it home this weekend in the hopes of finishing it. It reads pretty quickly. Dorothy Sayers has started a Detection Club in London for mystery writers. The only other woman in the club is Agatha Christie. She hears that the other members do not want to allow more women, so she gets 3 more authors to join: Margery Allingham, Baroness Emma Orczy, and Ngaio Marsh. Feeling the cold shoulder from the men, they decide to prove their intelligence by solving an actual real murder. The body of a young woman who has been missing for 5 months is found in a small town in France and they go off to try their hand at solving the mystery.

In all honesty, I am between books. I finished a book this morning, so I need to start another.

Love & Friendship: In Which Jane Austen's Lady Susan Vernon Is Entirely Vindicated by Whit Stillman - I'm not sure what I'm getting into here. I thought it was a re-telling of the original Austen early story that changes things around. But apparently it was made into a movie that I saw in the theater? Was that not the original story? Anyway, it's got less than 300 pages, so I hope it will be a quick read.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld - Next I will probably start this. It is a re-telling of Pride and Prejudice and it is on my list of 10 oldest books on my shelves. I like Curtis Sittenfeld, so I hope she does my favorite book justice. This is a big book, so it will probably be carried over into April.

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue - When I finish my work book, The Queens of Crime, I will have this one ready to go in its place, as it just showed up at the library. This is the one that is based on a true story of a train wreck that was captured in picture in 1895. The characters on the train are from all over the world and all have their own backstory. Emma Donoghue is a talented writer so I'm excited to read her latest effort.

I feel like that is a pretty good plan. Two more books off my Jane Austen shelf and 2 library books. Nice.