I’ve finished some books several weeks ago (months?) and as much as I wanted to do these books justice I realize some details are fading fast and well I decided to do some quickie reviews and at least tell you something about them.

First up is Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. This book was all over the blogosphere last year and I kept reading great reviews about it but it got to the point that I felt like I knew all about it and I needed a bit of a break before starting it. I’m glad I gave myself time because I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a portrait of a marriage; the joys, losses, jealousies, etc., but also about friendships and the dynamics that those bring to our other relationships.

The story begins with Julian Wainwright in the fall of 1986 when he arrives at Graymont College in New England ready to learn the craft of fiction writing. He meets Carter Heinz, another aspiring writer who has a different background from Julian but nevertheless the two strike a friendship. As the years pass we get to see what happened to their aspirations and how their lives changed.

Next is the 1oth book in the Inspector Banks series, In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson. I’ve been eagerly reading each book in this series and this installment doesn’t disappoint. As a matter of fact, I think it’s one of the better books in the series so far. Sometimes with series books we come to them because we know what to expect, familiar characters with familiar situations but in this book I almost feel like a whole new game plan is open for the inspector.

At the start of the book his job is in shambles, so his personal life for that matter, and then he gets sent to investigate a crime scene which all signs point to be a dead-end case. But the skeleton of the woman found will take him to investigate a crime that occurred decades ago and which will put him right back in the game. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

Finally, a book that was highly recommended by so many of you The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. This book took me a while to finish but never did I find it a chore or lagging. On the contrary, I just wanted to find good chunks of time to be able to sit down and enjoy this story.

When Walter Hartright meets a mysterious woman dressed in white little does he suspect how much of an impact she will have on his life. There are strange happenings, odd people, a lot of suspense and several narrators who tell this story. I definitely felt a keen sense of suspense as I followed each narrative and wondered who to believe or trust and all the while looking forward to how it would all play out in the end. A fabulous book.

All three books I really enjoyed, and even better, they all count for several reading challenges so yay for making progress.

I’ve had a few ARCs arrive at Casa Bookgirl recently and am I looking forward to these. Check out what I’ve received:

• Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Piñeiro. The mystery begins with three bodies lying at the bottom of a swimming pool unbeknownst to party goers on a Thursday night in the magnificent Scaglia house, a gated country estate near Buenos Aires. Behind thee locked gates, shielded from the crime, poverty and filth of the people on the streets, the Scaglias and their friends hide a life of infidelity, alcoholism, and abusive marriages. I can’t remember the last time I read a book set in Argentina so I’m really looking forward to this one.
• Overqualified by Joey Comeau. Joey writes cover letters. He writes letters to Nintendo and IBM. Greenpeace and Absolut Vodka. Yahoo and The New York Times. He begs for unwanted jobs. He suggests good and services that could fill the cracks of a broken past. He has ideas. Being that I’ve been writing my fair share of cover letters lately, I think this could be a fun book to read.
• Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable’s girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County—to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto—pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany and am actually surprised I haven’t read any other of his books. I am looking forward to this one definitely
• The Last Empress by Hannah Pakula. This book is a tome! It sounds fascinating though as it’s the story of Madame Chiang Kai-shek. This is the story of the founding of modern China, starting with a revolution that swept away more than 2,000 years of monarchy, followed by World War II, and ending in the eventual loss to the Communists and exile in Taiwan.

So, how about you? Gotten some good ARCs recently?