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Happy Wednesday, everyone!
Read any great books lately? I’ve been reading RITA contest entries (for the uninitiated, the RITA is an annual prize for excellence awarded by the Romance Writers of America), as well as beta-reading manuscripts for my romance-writing friends — which is something I love to do, but it means I’m always bursting with excitement about books that won’t be released for six months or a year — so basically I’m not allowed to talk about anything I’m reading. If my recommendation posts get a little miscellaneous, that’s why. I’m going to dip into some classic favorites.
Here’s one: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. The blurb goes like this—
We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and one of the first days of July.
Trond’s friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on “borrowed” horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day–an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys.
Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer.
If there were a Ven diagram showing what my husband likes to read and what I like to read, the overlap would contain only two names: Per Petterson and Cormac McCarthy. But we agree on this one, because it’s totally awesome. I first read this book about five years ago, and I remember several scenes so vividly, still, that I fall into a kind of fog of emotion just thinking about them. There is a fascinating story in this novel, but for me it’s the language — and more than the language, the scene-painting — that really sticks. It is simply one of the most beautiful, heart-wringing, edge-of-seat-gaspy-with-awe books I’ve ever read.
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Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
What good books have I just read lately? Oh just this little novella about misbehaving which I loved! Especially the ending, which I felt was “real.” The best parts of romance novels are the journeys to love; the trials and tribulations and angst and heartbreaks. And then you get to that HEA and its always larger than life with declarations and oaths, which is nice. But the end of Misbehave was real and it made me happier than if he’d put a ring on it.
Thanks Ruthie!
PS -My friends and I are so excited about the Strangers on a Train series, but we were wondering why it looks like they’re all going to be released on the same day? Why not spread them out and make our hearts pound with anticipation? Publisher decision?
Ha! Glad you enjoyed it, Nakeesha! I’m with you — I thought a ring would be *way* too much. Even love declarations – too soon! I saw one reviewer say she thought Amber’s *thinking* she was in love with Tony was OTT, and I was like, “Oh, come on. She just had great sex for the first time in her whole life. Of *course* she thinks she’s in love with him.”
And yes, you guessed it! Publisher decision. But I’m glad to hear you’re excited about the series. It’s going to be such fun. I’ll fulfill all your hopes for heart-pounding anticipation in the fall, when the Roman Holiday serial releases.
Good morning, ladies! New book – thanks for the recommendation!
What good books have I been reading? What books that I’ve been reading have NOT been good is the better question! I’m inundated with awesome (literally – I subscribed to that things that are awesome blog. But I digress…). I’m a fairly eclectic romance reader, to a point (no vampires or trolls or any other paranormal crap). Yesterday I read a novella by Kaje Harper, a m/m author, that was free through the Goodreads M/M Love is Always Write event. It’s called Show Me Yours, and I highly recommend it for any who are interested in m/m. Of course, How to Misbehave blew my socks off (I think we had this gushy, slobbery party last week, so I won’t overdo it). I’ve been doing a lot of reading about PTSD and other related issues and psychology in general lately, and PTSD for Dummies does a really good job of explanation and reassurance that things do get better.
Some of the books that I have and am excited to read (some of these I’ve had for so long and am so excited about that I can’t decide where to start!):
the last three in the Kowalski series by Shannon Stacey
Killing Time by Cindy Gerard (new series beginning with a character in the last BOI)
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean
The Seduction of Elliot McBride by Jennifer Ashley
Under the Mistletoe and Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis (Shalvis and Knox are pretty much my ultimate reading list)
The Recruit by Monica McCarty (Highland Guard series)
My Bluegrass Baby by Molly Harper
And so much more… Carrie Lofty, Lorraine Heath, Pamela Clare, Jessica Scott, Grace Burrowes, Molly O’Keefe, Paula Quinn, Catherine Mann, Loretta Chase, Allison Brennan, Eloisa James, Maya Banks (KGI…*swoon*), Caroline Linden, Jennifer Probst, Courtney Milan, Tina Fey, Abigail Roux, Victoria Dahl, Kristan Higgins, Katie Porter, Elisabeth Barrett. Aaaaack, someone help me decide!
I was on a southern kick and did a weekend cram session of Joshilyn Jackson. I’d read Gods in Alabama a long time ago. I reread that and followed up with Backseat Saints and Between, Georgia. Jackson is a wonderful writer who captures the flavor of the south and writes gripping stories that you can’t (and won’t) put down! I recommend anything she has written.
Wow! What a great endorsement! How do you really feel about this book!? haha
I have been reading The Penton Vampire Legacy by Susannah Sandlin (Redemption, Absolution and now Omega) and I LOVE the characters in this series……they are such sensitive and caring individuals and the author’s writing style is so wonderful.
I absolutely LOVED “Out Stealing Horses,” though I’m not sure if can literally say that I read it as I listened to it as an audio book. One of my favorite lines was the father’s remark to his son (on pulling up nettles — and on life): “We decide for ourselves when it will hurt.” A beautiful and haunting read.
Another book I’ve read recently that I’ve tried to talk everyone into reading is “The Unlikely Pilgrimmage of Harold Frye” — An amazingly beautiful and poignant story of a man who walks out to post a letter of condolence to a dying friend — and without intending to, somehow keeps on walking in an effort to keep faith and to keep her alive– for 87 days and 627 miles. Here’s one of my favorite bits: “He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that too. The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human” (158).