Question du jour

[vanillafluffy]

Which book do you find yourself regularly rereading, and why?

There's a warm place in my heart for Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy. I first ran across it five or six years ago when it was given to me by two different people within the span of a couple months. It's set in Ireland and has a whole raft of well-realized, engaging characters. Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather are trying to establish themselves as caterers. The book is set over the course of twelve months as they cope with the demands of launching a business and keeping it afloat amid personal and professional challenges.

Binchy's writing in general is very much focused on character. Don't look for poetic descriptions of the lovely countryside or more than a sketchy setting of scene; on the other hand, you may feel you know her characters better than their mothers do. I also love her style of exposition. One sentence or paragraph gives concise backstory, and yet it hints that there's a whole 'nother book there that we can only guess at. I'd love to be able to write that way---I think one reason I've reread it so much is because I'm hoping it'll rub off.

That said, I wish publishers were required to add warnings for character death. Let me just say that if you DO pick up Scarlet Feather, you might want to avoid her latest, Minding Frankie. She does in a previously established character, and completely broke my heart. Yes, I know that bad stuff happens to good people in real life, but damn it! Art need not imitate life.

This isn't my only much-reread book, but it's been on my mind ever since I read Minding Frankie.

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Comments

[playgirl.livejournal.com]

They would probably be the Sidney Sheldon books, and Les Miserables.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I've spent enough time hanging out in used bookstores that immediate name recognition kicks in with "The Other Side of Midnight". Classic reread would have to be "The Sea Wolf" by Jack London.

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

"Nerve" by Dick Francis. It was the first grown-up mystery I ever read, and I was immediately hooked for life on his work and the mystery genre in general.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

That's the jockey from a musical family who's in love with his cousin? My brother was fond of that one. The first Francis I read was a serialized version of "Enquiry", followed about 10 years later by "Reflex", which is still one of my favs. I like his last one, "Crossfire" very much; his hero is more of a badass than usual.

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

That's the one. I love to re-read it because the opening page always brings back the memory of reading it for the first time on a rainy winter afternoon in my aunt's den while all the grownups nattered on about boring subjects. If I hadn't been bored out of my mind, I might have completely missed out on falling head-first in love with mysteries.

"Reflex" is a terrific one, and also "Proof," the one about a wine merchant. I always learned so much from his books.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

"Straight" was another interesting one. I loved the gadgets and teh shiny. And "High Stakes"---I thought the toys were cool.

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[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

My sister P says she's envious of anyone who hasn't read Binchy yet because they get the pleasure of reading her for the first time. (I've never read anything of hers - I started one book once but it didn't hold my interest. Very likely, it was just a mood thing for me - I have to be in different moods to read different sorts of books.)

I tend to reread Barbara Michaels, especially "Ammie Come Home," "Shattered Silk," and "House of Many Shadows." Also "Ishamel" by Barbara Hambly, which is one of my favorite Star Trek novels. I also reread L. M. Montgomery and Zenna Henderson a lot and a wonderful, long out of print book called "Greensleeves" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

After "Scarlet Feather", I went to read her backlist, and was somewhat underwhelmed. As you say, sometimes you have to be in a certain mood.

But how great that you like Barbara Michaels, too! Have you read "Stitches in Time"? It's the follow-up to "Shattered Silk" with a nod to "Ammie, Come Home". I also love her Amelia Peabody series (written as Elizabeth Peters), although I've fallen behind on them.

Fav out-of-print young reader: "The Secret of the Elms" by Daniel Mannix. A young girl in a spooky mansion in Amish country Pennsylvania is competing with her cousins for their grandmother's estate.

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[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

I don't think I replied to this earlier. I have read "Stitches in Time" a few times (and listened to it on tape once several years ago too). I love all the books in that series, especially the first two. A couple of weeks ago I found a hardcover copy of "The Walker in Shadows" (set mostly in Chicago and dealing a lot with Egyptology, IIRC) in a book swap, which was great because my paperback copy went missing a couple of moves ago.