It´s finally friday and I don´t have any plans for this weekend besides reading. Which is my favorite kind of weekend, tbh. 

BT and I are doing a buddy read of Anatoli Boukreev´s "The Climb" and I´m so excited to get started on a non fiction read. I just love a good mountaineering story and I hope this is going to be a good one. I certainly look forward to the transcript of the Mountain Madness Everest debriefing, which is at the back of the book.

And I got some new books over the last couple of weeks and who am I kidding, I want to read them all. So I thought I would let you decide what book I should pick up next after having finished "The Climb" and Pratchetts "Pyramids".

So here is the poll, which I will keep open until I have finished all my ongoing reads:

What should I read next?

The Muse The Master Longbourn

The Gospel of Loki The Night Circus

 

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I´m waiting with bated breath whether or not the poll is working (ETA: it´s working). So feel free to vote and have a lovely weekend everyone.

 

I thought I might need a tie breaker after the first day of voting, but "Lies Sleeping" pulled ahead of "Who Slays the Wicked" by day two and came in the winner. Turns out it's the perfect choice.  I just finished listening to "The Furthest Station" and "A Rare Book of Cunning Device" -- Rivers of London novella and short story, respectively -- so I'm all primed to slip back into Peter Grant's world and see how he saves London from the Faceless Man.

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Here's the official tally courtesy of my snake charmer.

I stole Ani's excellent formatting design for this post, and I've got my fingers crossed the poll works for me.  There's a solid lineup of great authors and narrators here, so step right up, folks, and cast your vote for my final S&L audiobook listen! My lovely snake charmer is standing by to tally up the results and will announce the winner on Wednesday (5/22).     

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (narrator)

The Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, detective constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring him to justice. But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that the Faceless Man, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long-term plan. A plan that has its roots in London's 2,000 bloody years of history and could literally bring the city to its knees. To save his beloved city, Peter's going to need help from his former best friend and colleague - Lesley May - who brutally betrayed him and everything which he thought she believed. Far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr. Punch....

Proof by Dick Francis

Simon Prebble (narrator)

After a shattering accident plunges a society soiree into chaos, an unassuming wine merchant is left with the bitter aftertaste of suspicion and fear. While catering an outdoor party for a prominent horse trainer, Tony Beach hears rumors of inferior whisky being sold under premium labels. All of that is forgotten, however, when a runaway horse trailer suddenly ploughs into the guest-filled tent. Later, after the last victim is pulled from the debris, he begins searching for answers to both the fraudulent spirits and the disaster. As Tony follows up leads, he finds himself pulled deeper and deeper into a treacherous world filled with greed, deception, and unspeakable murder.

Caravan by Dorothy Gilman

Roslyn Alexander (narrator)

A lushly romantic adventure story set in the North African desert in 1914, told by the impeccable Lady Treal as she reminisces in her London town house about her decidedly peccable past... With her anthropologist husband murdered and their caravan stolen by fierce Tuareg tribesmen, Caressa's choices are death or a life of slavery. Concealing her dangerous beauty beneath the faded robes of an Arab boy, she embarks on the adventure of her life, harassed by fierce nomads, slave traders and the envious witch doctor, Isa. Only a handful of carnival magic tricks stand between her and oblivion. Then she discovers an inner magic so mysteriously compelling that the desert people call her a sorceress. With it she will secure her freedom and discover the love of her life....

Who Slays the Wicked by C.S. Harris

Davina Porter (narrator)

When the handsome but dissolute young gentleman Lord Ashworth is found brutally murdered, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is called in by Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy to help catch the killer. Just seven months before, Sebastian had suspected Ashworth of aiding one of his longtime friends and companions in the kidnapping and murder of a string of vulnerable street children. But Sebastian was never able to prove Ashworth's complicity. Nor was he able to prevent his troubled, headstrong young niece Stephanie from entering into a disastrous marriage with the dangerous nobleman. Stephanie has survived the difficult birth of twin sons. But Sebastian soon discovers that her marriage has quickly degenerated into a sham. Ashworth abandoned his pregnant bride at his father's Park Street mansion and has continued living an essentially bachelor existence. And mounting evidence - ranging from a small bloody handprint to a woman's silk stocking - suggests that Ashworth's killer was a woman. Sebastian is tasked with unraveling the shocking nest of secrets surrounding Ashworth's life to keep Stephanie from being punished for his death.

Which book should I read to finish Snakes & Ladders?

Silverhill by Phyllis Whitney A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn

Dark Threat by Patricia Wentworth Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander

 

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Silverhill by Phyllis Whitney: After decades away, Malinda Rice returns to the New Hampshire estate of Silverhill to make sure her departed mother is buried in her rightful place in the family plot. Still carrying the scars of her past, she’s determined to solve the mysteries behind the bad blood that has divided her family. But, like old memories, Malinda is not welcome at Silverhill.
 
She faces her embittered grandmother, a manipulative tyrant to be feared and never crossed. And her disturbed aunt is lost in a fantasy world, desperate to be rescued. Malinda finds solace with the handsome family doctor, whom she discovers is the only person she can trust, however guarded. The secrets in this deceptive hall of mirrors run deeper and darker than she imagined. Now, while seeking the truth in a mansion haunted by lies, twisted memories, and ruined lives, she must also fight for her sanity—and her life.

A Treacherous Curse  by Deanna Raybourn: London, 1888. As colorful and unfettered as the butterflies she collects, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t resist the allure of an exotic mystery—particularly one involving her enigmatic colleague, Stoker. 

His former expedition partner has vanished from an archaeological dig with a priceless diadem unearthed from the newly discovered tomb of an Egyptian princess. This disappearance is just the latest in a string of unfortunate events that have plagued the controversial expedition, and rumors abound that the curse of the vengeful princess has been unleashed as the shadowy figure of Anubis himself stalks the streets of London.

But the perils of an ancient curse are not the only challenges Veronica must face as sordid details and malevolent enemies emerge from Stoker’s past. 

Caught in a tangle of conspiracies and threats—and thrust into the public eye by an enterprising new foe—Veronica must separate facts from fantasy to unravel a web of duplicity that threatens to cost Stoker everything. . . . 

Dark Threat by Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver visits the country to keep an eye on a friend who may be in perilIt is time for Judy to get out of London. Her sister and brother-in-law have just perished in an air raid, leaving her in charge of their four-year-old daughter, and Judy wants no more to do with death. She arranges for work in a piece of the countryside untouched by the war: a charming manor called Pilgrim’s Rest. But it may be that she has more to fear than the Blitz. When she tells Frank Abbott of her plans, he warns her that strange things have been happening at Pilgrim’s Rest. The family patriarch is recently dead of mysterious circumstances, and his heir has just suffered a series of near-fatal accidents. He cannot sway Judy, for she needs the work. But he does convince the governess-turned-detective Maud Silver to follow Judy to the village, to be on hand in case country living turns dangerous.

Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander: Set amid the beauty and decadence of the Ottoman Empire, Lady Emily’s latest adventure is full of intrigue, treachery, and romance.

Looking forward to the joys of connubial bliss, newlyweds Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves, diplomats of the British Empire, set out toward Turkey for an exotic honeymoon. But on their first night in the city, a harem girl is found murdered, strangled in the courtyard of the Sultan’s lavish Topkapi Palace. Sir Richard St. Clare, an Englishman who works at the embassy in Constantinople, is present and recognizes the girl as his own daughter who was kidnapped twenty years earlier. Emily and Colin promise the heartbroken father that they’ll find her killer, but as the investigation gains speed, they find that appearance can be deceiving—especially within the confines of the seraglio

As a woman, Emily is given access to the forbidden world of the harem and quickly discovers that its mysterious, sheltered walls offer no protection from a ruthless murderer. As the number of victims grows, Emily must rely on her own sharp wits in a heart-stopping finale if she is to stop a killer bent on exacting vengeance no matter how many innocent lives he leaves in his wake.

OK, executive decision time then!

Of the two books that are ahead of the others by just about a nose (1 vote) at this point -- namely, Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi's Sister of my Heart and Rosario Ferré's House on the Lagoon -- Ferré's House on the Lagoon is calling more to me at this point.  So that one it will be.

Here's the complete result:

I've made it to square 100 (yey!), which calls for letting the BookLikes crowd decide my next read.  So, please vote:

Which book should I read next?

Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi: Sister of My Heart                 Rosario Ferré: The House on the Lagoon

Alexandra Fuller: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve

 

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The Blurbs:

Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi: Sister of My Heart

From the award-winning author of Mistress of Spices, the best-selling novel about the extraordinary bond between two women, and the family secrets and romantic jealousies that threaten to tear them apart.

Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Her cousin Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite those differences, since the day on which the two girls were born, the same day their fathers died -- mysteriously and violently -- Sudha and Anju have been sisters of the heart. Bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend, the two girls grow into womanhood as if their fates as well as their hearts were merged.

But when Sudha learns a dark family secret, that connection is shattered. For the first time in their lives, the girls know what it is to feel suspicion and distrust. Urged into arranged marriages, Sudha and Anju's lives take opposite turns. Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household. Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. When tragedy strikes each of them, however, they discover that despite distance and marriage, they have only each other to turn to.

Set in the two worlds of San Francisco and India, this exceptionally moving novel tells a story at once familiar and exotic, seducing listeners from the first minute with the lush prose we have come to expect from Divakaruni. Sister of My Heart is a novel destined to become as widely beloved as it is acclaimed.

Rosario Ferré: The House on the Lagoon

Finalist for the National Book Award: A breathtaking saga from Puerto Rico's greatest literary voice.

This riveting, multigenerational epic tells the story of two families and the history of Puerto Rico through the eyes of Isabel Monfort and her husband, Quintn Mendizabal. Isabel attempts to immortalize their now-united families -- and, by extension, their homeland -- in a book. The tale that unfolds in her writing has layers upon layers, exploring the nature of love, marriage, family, and Puerto Rico itself.

Alexandra Fuller: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Alexandra Fuller tells the idiosyncratic story of her life growing up white in rural Rhodesia as it was becoming Zimbabwe. The daughter of hardworking, yet strikingly unconventional English-bred immigrants, Alexandra arrives in Africa at the tender age of two. She moves through life with a hardy resilience, even as a bloody war approaches. Narrator Lisette Lecat reads this remarkable memoir of a family clinging to a harsh landscape and the dying tenets of colonialism.

'Told with all the intensity of Lorna Sage's Bad Blood ' -- The Times.

Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve

Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground -- an old Polaroid of three young women and their university professor. A relic from a past -- and a love -- Peri had tried desperately to forget. The photograph takes Peri back to Oxford University, as an 18-year-old sent abroad for the first time and to her dazzling, rebellious professor and his life-changing course on God. It also takes her to her home with her two best friends, Shirin and Mona, and their arguments about Islam and femininity and, finally, to the scandal that tore them all apart.