I am officially regretting how zealously I attacked my first PAT CONROY MONTH! back in 2012. I read four of Conroy’s ten books that year. Then I read two more last year and The Death of Santini when it came out in November, leaving me with just South of Broad, The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and My Reading Life to re-read. This year I’m stretching the fun out as long as I can with War and Peace (which is really good! I swear it is!), and I’m re-reading South of Broad, and then I think I’ll read one of the several Kindle books I bought last week by Conroy’s friends and wives.

What? Okay, fine: FRIEND and WIFE. You people are no fun. No fun at all.

Conroy writes quite endearingly about Anne Rivers Siddons’ novels in My Reading Life, so I chose a few to sample:

I know what you’re thinking (or, more precisely, I know what Jill is thinking): Bethany is really going to hate these books. It’s true: they do not look like my sort of thing. I don’t have anything specifically against a woman wearing a long wind-whipped white skirt gazing wistfully at the ocean (in fact, images like these are a common motif in the J. Jill catalog, and I like the J. Jill catalog quite a lot), but wild horses? A porch swing? I’ll bet there will be sweet tea in these novels – and also grown men who call their fathers ‘Daddy.’

And then I chose a couple of titles by Cassandra King, Conroy’s third and current wife:

Moonrise is apparently Cassandra King’s homage to Daphne deMaurier’s Rebecca, which I haven’t read but want to, and Same Sweet Girls is about a group of childhood friends who reunite in their hometown, making it somewhat timely for both Jill and me, as we have out 20th high school reunion coming up in a few weeks. And yes, I think there will be sweet tea in this one too. And also possibly lengthy scenes that take place at the beauty parlor.

These five Kindle books (which were quite inexpensive, I should add – approximately $5 each) represent the most chick-lit that I have ever bought in a one-week period. They also represent a grievous violation of my book-buying ban, but hey – I am exploring new horizons here.

And while I was at it, I bought this book too: Hild by Nicola Griffith. I wanted this book when Books, Inc. was selling it in hardback for $30, so when I found out that the Kindle edition was only $5.99 I let it come along for the ride. It’s set in seventh-century England, and the Dark Ages fascinate me. If nothing else, it will help to cleanse my palate after downing all that sweet tea.

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I’ll be back soon with an update from the Napoleonic Wars, which are not going so well for our French-speaking Russian friends at the moment. I hope everyone has a good weekend in the meantime!