What I read, March 2013

I read 10 books in March, which seems to be about par for the course - that's about 2.5 books a week, which sounds about right. Some read much quicker than others, of course. One of these, I'm technically not finished with yet, but it's close enough to count for March.  Here's what I thought:

• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M Valente. This is a children's book. I read some kids' books unashamedly - some of them are very good; this was one of those. I loved the tone and the way the narrator spoke to the reader. Plus, what a totally excellent title. 
• The Peach Keeper, Sarah Addison Allen. I've read another by Allen (Garden Dreams), and this one was enjoyable, though not, I think, quite as good as that one. In the Alice Hoffman vein, though perhaps a little lighter. 
• The Land of Decoration, Grace McCleen. Another book involving a bit of magic/supernatural/odd stuff going on. Quite a dark story in places, but I was generally pleased with how it came out. Tackled a tricky premise quite well; it's often hard to write sympathetically about people who belong to extreme religions without it seeming patronising, I think. 
• Mary Reilly, Valerie Martin. It wasn't until I googled this for a cover image that I realised that it had been made into a film with Julia Roberts (which I haven't seen). I had read Property some time ago [a funny aside on that - I can remember precisely where and when I read that as it was in a single day (short book) and I have a clear visual memory of sitting in the sun in at Camden Lock drinking coffee and enjoying it. But I digress.] so when I found Mary Reilly in the charity shop, it seemed a good choice. I enjoy books which either fictionalise historical situations, or, as is the case here, take one bit of fiction and weave a story around a character or event in it - not so much a pastiche as a digression, perhaps.  This one tells the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde situation from the point of view of the maid, Mary Reilly. And of course, it prompts me to read Jekyll & Hyde, which I have a feeling I may have read once, a long time ago, in the dim recessses of youth, but can't remember much about.
• Venetia, Georgette Heyer (re-read).  No one writes an historical romance with the with and erudition of Georgette Heyer.  Always reliable, especially if you are frantically busy and don't want to tax your brain too much, but also don't want to be treated like a brainless moron just because you like a good romp.
• Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris (re-read). I read this a long time ago, when it first came out, as I had read Harris' other series (mysteries set in the town Shakespeare, Arkansas).  I have watched some of True Blood, the TV series made from the Dead... series and while I like it fairly well, it's a little too graphic to be at the very top of my list.  I don't mind quite so much in books, but I find it a bit boring in telly and films (sex, I mean, not violence, though I find too much gore a bit boring at times, too). Anyway. I have the series of these from The Book People - or at least the first 8 or so - so I thought I'd re-read the first to remind myself of just what was what. I'm sure I'll be reading more of them as time passes - they're a fairly amusing way to pass the time without making my head hurt. They aren't, however, as good as Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, if you like vampire mysteries with a bit of romance in them.
• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell. After last month's Maggie O'Farrell, I thought I'd check the library for other titles - this was the first one I found. I enjoyed this as well as the other O'Farrell I've read and found the ending both a bit shocking and quite satisfying. 
• Spindle's End, Robin McKinley. This was one which my mum left here on her last visit, thinking I might enjoy it, as I've read other McKinley books. It's a re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story, set in a fantasy land. It was pretty good, though not as good as Beauty, her re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, and also not as good as my favourite of her novels, The Blue Sword.
• Finding Mr Flood, Ciara Geraghty. Good fun. A nice, solid story with a little of everything in it.
• The Girl you Left Behind, Jojo Moyes. I read her other book, Me Before You, which I thought was excellent; this one also is proving to be well worth reading. Not finished with it yet, but will be interested to see how it all comes out, as it weaves together the lives of a woman in occupied France during WWI, the Kommandant in charge of her village, and some modern-day people connected with the painting.