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 Sally Wright
is the author of PUBLISH AND PERISH, the debut of the Ben Reese mystery series, PRIDE AND PREDATOR and, most recently, PERSUIT AND PERSUASION.
PERSUIT AND PERSUASION
In his latest adventure, academic sleuth Ben Reese returns to Scotland, where he becomes entangled in a case of murder among friends.
Sally Wright's Summer Reading List
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TRUE WAR STORIES
Edited by Jon E. Lewis
Some of these memoirs are written by well-known writers (Orwell, Robert Graves, etc.), but most are by unknown people who experienced war in many circumstances in many different times and places. They're interesting and they help me develop my Ben Reese character, who, like the people in this book, lived through experiences I've been fortunate enough to only imagine.
LONDON
by Edward Rutherford
I enjoyed SARUM several years ago. Rutherford starts before the Romans invaded England and describes the history of London with individual chapters (or short novella-like sections) that show successive generations of a particular family and the people they're surrounded by. It's long, but interesting, and makes sense of bits and pieces of historical information I've got swirling around in my head.
PEN PORTRAITS
This is a book of first-hand experiences published privately in St. Mary's, Georgia, initially in the early 1960s, written by elderly women who talk about their families and their own lives on the coast of Georgia in the 18th and 19th centuries on up to the middle of the twentieth century. BEHIND THE BONEHOUSE, my fourth Ben Reese book, takes place on Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia near St. Mary's, and these personal stories give me speech patterns, points of view, and historical perspective that help me write about that area. The stories are simply written, but very compelling. This was a hard-scrabble, back-breaking place to make a living in the early days, and the perceptions and values of the people who managed to hold-on are worth reading.
WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro is the author of REMAINS OF THE DAY and several other well-written novels. He's a really fine writer, very complex and very perceptive, and I learn from him and enjoy his work a lot.
THE SALTERTON TRILOGY: Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice, and A Mixture of Frailties
by Robertson Davies
I want to start rereading some of the writers I've read and respect, among them Robertson Davies, starting with his SALTERTON TRILOGY. It's set in a small rural town in Canada in the late 1800s and goes through WWI and on into the twenties. (I think. It's been a long time since I read it.) If I remember correctly, there's a young woman who wants to become an opera singer in the books, and I remember liking them a lot. I've read a lot of Davies since and want to go back to the beginning.
POLONAISE
by Piers Paul Read
I'm also going to reread POLONAISE by Piers Paul Read, who's one of my favorite contemporary English novelists. It's a dark book (which starts to come out into the light at the end) that looks at the persecution of Poles (Jewish and otherwise) by the Nazis (and later the Soviets) and the deals that were made for self-protection --- then considers the long-term consequences of both. He really knows how to tell a story, I think.
THE FREE FRENCHMAN
by Piers Paul Read
And I also plan to reread Piers Paul Read's THE FREE FRENCHMAN, which discusses France before, during, and just after WWII, considering DeGaulle's government in exile as well as the Communists in the underground at home through the experiences of a highly intelligent and likeable aristocrat serving with, and often at odds with, Charles DeGaulle. It's a very interesting romantic tale as well, and well worth my time.
THE SUCCESSION: A Novel of Elizabeth and James
DEATH OF THE FOX: A Novel of Elizabeth and Raleigh
by George P. Garrett
I also want to reread George Garrett. His SUCCESSION (with the best opening monologue [this one by Queen Elizabeth I] I've read anywhere), and his DEATH OF THE FOX too. He's a very interesting historical writer whose period is Elizabethan England and whose style is really challenging and intriguing.
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Summer Reading Lists
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