Recent Reads

Over the weekend I finished Almost French by Sarah Turnbull. This delightful memoir is about a journalist’s discovery of France and a new love. While traveling in Europe, Sarah meets a French lawyer who invites her to visit him in Paris. What was supposed to be a week’s visit turns into much more.

We get insights into how these two deal with culture clashes, but this book is more about Sarah’s understanding of her new adopted city. Her love of Paris and of her homeland, Australia, is evident in every page.

I love reading books like this one because I can live vicariously through other people’s experiences in Europe. I overlook any disadvantages or mishaps and just wonder what would it be like. Hopefully one day I’ll find out.

Next book up, In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming. This mystery is a winner of the Malice Domestic Award, the Agatha, the Macavity and the list goes on. A lot to live up to and so far it’s doing quite a good job of it.

Set in upstate New York, newly ordained Episcopal priest Clare Ferguson finds a baby abandoned on the church steps. Later, the body of the young mother is discovered brutally murdered. Good character development and descriptions of a small town in the icy cold winter make this an enthralling first novel in the series.

Now let me get back to this mystery. I still can’t figure out who-did-it but I’m planning on finishing it tonight. Early morning conference call at work be damned.