The Poisoned Crown by Maurice Druon

This book continues the story of the end of the Capetian kings in France. Philip the Fair, son of Saint Louis, has died and passed the crown to his somewhat incompetent son, Louis X, le hutin, who has just had his estranged wife strangled so that he can remarry. But the kingdom is full of plots, and Louis's inability to gauge his friends and enemies may be his downfall. This book is another enjoyable entry in the series.

The Strangled Queen by Maurice Druon

This book continues the story of the French throne after the death of Philip the Fair (IV). Louis X, Philip's son, inherits the throne, but he must decide what to do with his unfaithful and inconvenient first wife. In the meanwhile, a variety of other people are making their own plays for power. I enjoyed this story: it really makes the history and the people come to life.

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

This book follows Lyman Ward tracing his own family history--in particular that of his grandmother, who was friends with a number of nineteenth-century movers and thinkers--as he's confined to his wheelchair and fighting with his son for his independence. But as Ward traces the events of his grandmother's life, the reader gradually becomes aware that the difficulties and challenges she faced (particularly in her marriage) have more than historical interest for Lyman. While the book never directly answers the question of whether history must repeat itself, it suggests that by delving into the past, we can learn to understand our worst tendencies, even if we can't overcome them.

The Iron King by Maurice Druon, translated by Humphrey Hare

This book starts in France with a sibling rivalry: the wives of Philip the Fair's sons are rumored to be unfaithful, and Philip's daughter Isabella, trapped in a loveless marriage to the King of England, wants to do something about it. But when the family is royal, the repercussions of a family fight are wide: they extend to the church and the very peace of the kingdom. I really enjoyed this book, which is historical fiction in the best French tradition and sets up a series clearly and compellingly.

Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet

This book has an interesting premise--the murder of the writer of cozy-style murder mysteries--and may even be attempting to comment or send up the genre, but it fails to entertain. The flatness of the characters and the byzantine plot may be part of the sendup, but they also turned me off the story. The writing was not an enjoyable style--it felt workmanlike in some places and overwritten in others. The main detective had no interest for me. Even though there are other books by this author, I won't be seeking them out.

Mason's Retreat by Christopher Tilghman

This book--an elegaic, pastoral journey into a family's past as well as the history of Maryland's Eastern Shore--slowly and inexorably moves to a tragic climax, as it depicts the Mason family. The Masons, American expatriates in England for almost a decade, have finally hit rock bottom, financially, and indulge in one last luxurious trip across the Atlantic on the Normandie to take over the family estate on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But while Edward, the patriarch, finds it hard to fit in, his wife and sons readily take to the Retreat. When the threat of World War II and the upswing in Edward's British manufacturing business threaten to tear the family from the estate, tensions that have been simmering beneath the family's surface come to a dangerous boil. I really enjoyed this book.

The Right-Hand Shore by Christopher Tilghman

This book gives the history of a plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland as its owner decides whether to leave it to a distant cousin who seems interested in pursuing a life elsewhere. I found the mystery wonderfully handled: even though it hangs over the entire story, it doesn't dominate the smaller set-pieces. In each vignette, we learn a little more about life on the plantation and the tragedies that the cultural and economic institutions cause to the inhabitants of this world. I'm definitely going to look at Tilghman's other work.

The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel by Arthur Phillips

This book is both dazzling and delightful. It purports to contain a newly-discovered play by Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Arthur, and a long introduction to that play by a version of the novelist Arthur Phillips. The reader quickly discovers she's in the midst of a tour de force, the likes of which hasn't been seen since Nabokov's Pale Fire. Arthur Phillips, the unreliable narrator of the novel, is convinced that his father, a skilled forger, forged the play, but Professor Verre, the scholarly voice that adds footnotes to Phillips's footnotes, is just as unreliable as he tries to justify his reading of the play that makes Shakespeare its author. The play itself is not a bad stab at an imitation of Shakespeare--it uses Holinshed just as Shakespeare did, and it borrows lines from some of Shakespeare's other plays. There are some really funny moments in the play too. Along the way, there's a dazzling variation on the Earl of Oxford thesis, interesting speculation on what could have caused this play to have been suppressed, lots of great family drama, and a lot of fun to be had at the narrator's expense. All in all, well worth enjoying.

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

The third installment in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series does not disappoint. No character seems safe as the war for the throne of the Seven Kingdoms continues and the threat in the North increases. It's not just the continually shifting allegiances and political manoeuvrings that thrill, though. As the viewpoints from which the story is told expand, characters whom I found unbearable at first begin to grow on me. I'm just sorry that the series isn't finished yet.

Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan

This book recounts a family's last week at the lake: Emily, the grandmother, is selling the family's cottage because her husband has died. This book covers everyone's experiences in excruciating detail. The characters mostly seem not to like each other all that much (or at least to drive each other crazy), and after spending so much time with them, I can see why. I found it hard to like any of the characters, and because the book was the type where past events unfolding substitutes for plot, there wasn't much else to like. It was well-written, but not compelling.

Moon Palace by Paul Auster

There is something both absurd and beautiful about this book, whose protagonist, Marco Stanley Fogg, after the death of his uncle (his only remaining family) drifts through college and life, eventually wasting away to almost nothing, until he is saved by a girl he's met once and his college roommate, and takes a job that leads him (temporarily) to the family he didn't know he was missing. There's a great deal of playful imagination in the book, and the West looms large--the same sort of West that fills the middle chunk of Willa Cather's The Professor's House. The image of the moon, too, fills the pages of the book. The tone of the book was very inviting; I could barely stand to put it down. I am looking forward to reading more of Auster.

A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch

Although I hadn't gotten the exact details right, I knew the linchpin on which this mystery turns early in the book. This book seems as much concerned about how Lenox manages the conflicting pressures of Parliament and detecting as the detective work itself. I found the characters more tedious in this outing--especially because Lenox and Lady Jane (his new wife) are utterly unwilling to say anything meaningful to each other the whole book.

Trespass by Rose Tremain

This book uses its elegant prose to examine familial betrayals and impositions in the lives of two pairs of siblings brought together over the sale of a house in the South of France. I thought this book was particularly aptly titled--as various kinds of trespassing (on people's land as well as emotions) resonated throughout the book. The pace of the book was leisurely at first, but it all came together to a moving ending.

The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart

I received this book for free from Barnes and Noble as part of their First Look program. As we haven't yet finished discussing the book on the forums, I'll put the rest of my review behind a cut.

Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix

This book concludes the 39 Clues series. Can Dan and Amy reunite the family and discover the secret to the serum? In this book, there are great references to William Shakespeare as the kids learn who they can trust in their family. I wouldn't say that this series is great literature, but it is a good story, and I'm hoping that the hints at the end that seemed to point to the possibility of a second series are accurate!

The Manticore by Robertson Davies

The second book in the Deptford trilogy shifts its focus to Boy Staunton's son, David, who is undergoing a course of therapy in Switzerland following his father's death. This book tells us a lot about David, and could very well destabilize Dunstan's testimony in the first volume, although it doesn't seem to. I didn't like this book as well because I found the therapy sessions strange at times. Still, it was a pretty good conceit for going back over a lot of the same events--though it was helpful to see them in a new light.

The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead

This sprawling account of a family falling apart works much in the same vein as Anna Karenina or A Doll's House. The story is both touchingly intimate (a lot of it is told in the private language that springs up out of the father's nonsense words) and remarkably withdrawn (it felt like lots of secrets were revealed only as things fell more and more apart). This story is definitely of the type where people may live together without ever really knowing each other. Although this story was set in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Annapolis, and all the place names and professions and things were right, it also felt, in a way, as if it could have been set anywhere.

New York: the Novel by Edward Rutherfurd

This book presents a long view of the history of New York by telling parts of the stories of several fictional families. I learned a lot about the city and a lot about various parts of history. I thought the book was especially good on the colonial period, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War draft riots. While the city remains the main character, I thought the book spent too much time on upper class characters generally--they tended to be better developed and to occupy a greater part of narrative time. All in all, a book well worth the read.

A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris

In this book Aurora Teagarden finds that she's inherited a problem (more accurately, a skull) along with money and a house when she learns that Jane Engle left everything to her. As Aurora investigates how Jane came to possess the skull, she also learns a bit about the neighborhood into which she's moved. I don't think I liked this one as well as the first one in the series.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

This book takes its readers to the beginnings of the Great War, reimagined in a world where the Central powers (here, Clankers) use mechanical technologies and the Allies (Darwinists) use genetically engineered animals. The perspective is centered around two youthful protagonists who have to learn the politics of the war very quickly if they want to survive in its changing landscapes. This book is no place to learn WWI history, but its engaging perspectives on genetic modification, industrialization, gender, and politics make it a thought-provoking and enjoyable read. I can't wait till the sequel comes out in October!