Tuesday's Three

I was thinking last night that I'd make a point of bringing back 3 books a day, as I start to empty my apartment, but I'm not even sure that would take care of all of the previously-read library books I have scattered around... However, the three I brought in this morning are:

A Lesson in Secrets, Jacqueline Winspear (Harper, 2011) - this is another Maisie Dobbs mystery. Don't remember what it's about, except she finally has a nice man (I think, and I even think I know which one, although I don't want to say here), but it really is getting to the point where even if they're decently written, with well-rounded and appealing characters, if you've read one, you've kind of read them all...

The Abyssinian Proof, Jenny White (W.W. Norton, 2008) - sequel to The Sultan's Seal, so another Kamil Pasha mystery. Which is funny, because I totally just picked three books that were roughly the same size, I didn't bother to check and see what they were, or if there was a theme. Well, I did check to see what they were just to make sure there was nothing really awesome that would deserve more time. Anyhow, more Istanbul shenanigans in the 1880s. Well-written, and Kamil is a really strong main character, and a good anchor for the series, but damn was this one predictable. Like, I totally forgot what it was about (honestly, the title itself didn't even ring a bell, I just knew Jenny White does the Kamil Pasha series), then I opened it just now, read the first lines, and thought "oh right - THIS book" and remembered that I had anticipated everything that happened. But I enjoyed being along for the ride, as I recall.

The Twelfth Enchantment, David Liss (Random House, 2011) - so, all I can think about right now is how weird the word "twelfth" looks. But, we press on: I had to skim the first page to remember what this book is about, which is a young girl in early industrial England who has to...do magic to save the world? basically? And I also then immediately remembered that when I started reading it I was kind of upset because the book was not at all what I expected. I had gotten it thinking it would be one of his "economics/business + mystery in the past" books (like the Conspiracy of Paper series or The Whiskey Rebels), which I've either read one of or wanted to read (now that I'm looking it up, I think I read a book by another author along those lines, and that's why I wanted to move to Liss), and then I find freaking  evil fairies and stuff. NOT PLEASED. I don't even know that the book was so bad, it's just a) not really my thing, and b) not at all what I was anticipating/looking for.