The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Jessica Knoll's novel inspired by real-life events surrounding a serial killer in the 1970s, Bright Young Women; I'm reading Ann Liang's novel based on myth, A Song to Drown Rivers; and I'm listening to the first novel by food writer and critic Ruth Reichl, The Paris Novel.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Jessica Knoll's novel Bright Young Women is inspired by real-life events--specifically, a sorority targeted by the first "celebrity serial killer" in his last killing spree.
In 1978 Tallahassee, Florida, the serial deaths in the Pacific Northwest couldn't feel farther from the carefree, fun-loving sorority life president Pamela Schumacher and her sisters are enjoying. But when the studious, responsible Pamela stays home from a party and investigates a strange noise in the sorority house, she discovers a horrible tragedy--two of her sisters are dead and two others are maimed.
In Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to figure out what happened to her dear friend Ruth, who disappeared from a nearby state park. When she hears about the horrifying events in Tallahassee, she becomes convinced that what happened to Ruth is linked to the sorority attack, and she travels to Florida, determined to get to the bottom of the crimes.
I'm reading Bright Young Women for my book club.
02 A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
In Ann Liang's A Song to Drown Rivers, Xishi is a beautiful young woman who makes her village of Yue proud, for she will almost certainly make a good marriage match.
But she catches the eye of the well-known young military advisor Fanli, and as she becomes trained in playing music and hiding her emotions, she develops a traitorous plan: to overturn the village of Wu, empower her own people, and avenge her sister's death.
She rises through the ranks and gains access to the king--but if she is revealed to be a traitor, not only she and Fanli but their home villages will be destroyed.
I fell in love with Ann Liang's fake-dating young adult novel This Time It's Real, read it in one rainy afternoon, and included it in my Greedy Reading Lists Six of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads from the Past Year, Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading, and My Bossy Favorite Reads of Summer the year I read it.
And you can find my review of her great young-adult rom-com I Hope This Doesn't Find You here.
I received a prepublication edition of this title, which was published October 1, courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.
03 The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
Stella is practical, frugal, regimented, and independent. A copyeditor who lives by a careful daily schedule, she is thrown for a loop when her estranged, impulsive, selfish mother dies and leaves her an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket with the directive "Go to Paris."
She's tempted to defy her mother by not following her bossy demands, but when Stella arrives in Paris, a series of fortuitous and fairytale-perfect encounters with fashion, food, caring characters, and her own past make for a sweet, heartwarming novel.
This is Ruth Reichl's first novel. Her wonderful food-focused memoirs Garlic and Sapphires and Tender at the Bone were both listed in my Greedy Reading List of Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite, and you can find my review of Save Me the Plums, her memoir about heading up Gourmet magazine here.
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