I hope you have books to talk about today. I admit with all the excitement of the Raven Award and New York City, I haven’t really settled into a book. I keep picking up books and putting them down. Eventually, I’ll find something I really want to read. At the moment, it seems to be nonfiction that grabs me.
And, I will put up pictures, but I’ll do that for Saturday’s post. Thursdays are almost always devoted to our discussion of books.
Delia Ephron’s memoir, Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life, is the book that I picked up most recently. Here’s the blurb. “The bestselling, beloved writer of romantic comedies like You’ve Got Mail tells her own late-in-life love story in her “resplendent memoir,” complete with a tragic second act and joyous resolution (Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone). Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She’d lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry’s death, she decided to make one small change in her life—she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She ended up in Verizon hell. She channeled her grief the best way she knew: by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates fifty-four years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and sixties folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love. But this was not a rom-com: four months later she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia.”
Once I settle down to read it, I just might make it through Left on Tenth. What about you? What’s going on in your life? What are you reading this week?
Well, I just tried to post last week’s post, but it looks like it didn’t work again. Not sure why, since my shorter posts seem to work. I’ll check back later to see if there is a change. (Sigh)
Margie, Rosemary reported to me that she was having the same problem. I’ve contacted my webmaster, and we’ll see if she can get it fixed.
OK, maybe there’s a length limit (just for me??). Let me try just posting two of my five books read the week before last:
Looking for a mind-bending murder mystery? Sulari Gentill’s THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY is for you. Four individuals–two men and two women–are at the same table in the reading room of the Boston Public Library when a scream rings out. The four start talking, and before you know it, they are all involved in what turns out to be a murder investigation, and one or more of them just might have a connection to the crime. As the reader soon discovers, what we are reading is actually a book within a book, being written by an author named Hannah. It would easy to forget this clever conceit if it were not for a series of emails to Hannah from a writer friend, Leo. Apparently, Hannah (an Australian writing in Australia) has been sending Leo her chapter drafts as she completes them, so Leo (an American living in Boston) can advise Hannah on how to make the language sound more American and the local color more authentic. Any more detail would be spoilers. In a well-written and suspenseful book, the plot is the star, as it should be. The characters do not have a lot of depth, nor is there much character development, but this is the rare mystery that doesn’t need it. (June)
In ROCK OF AGES, book #8 of Tim Hallinan’s Junior Bender series, professional burglar Junior doesn’t have an opportunity to demonstrate his burglary proficiency. Instead, a legendary (though elderly) gangster employs Junior to make sure his reputation doesn’t suffer when he suspects that four men who solicited him to sponsor a tour of aging rock bands are planning to cheat him out of the money he expected to make from the proceeds. In addition, there have already been a couple of “accidents” which may have resulted from feuding band members and reason to expect that there may be more, so Junior has his hands full. Part of the fun of this book is in reading about the behind-the-scenes drama of the Rock of Ages tour–aging rockers with personal vendettas, crumbling venues, and outrageous behavior. The book is front-loaded with too much of this description, which slows down the story, but it is often witty and entertaining. Junior brings his teenage daughter into some of the action, allowing her time with the old gangster and with a flamboyant septuagenarian former groupie and telling her more about his own career than he should, displaying questionable parenting skills. But it is in the final scenes of the book where things really take off, leading to a propulsive, suspenseful conclusion that is worth waiting for. (June)
In ROCK OF AGES, book #8 of Tim Hallinan’s Junior Bender series, professional burglar Junior doesn’t have an opportunity to demonstrate his burglary proficiency. Instead, a legendary (though elderly) gangster employs Junior to make sure his reputation doesn’t suffer when he suspects that four men who solicited him to sponsor a tour of aging rock bands are planning to cheat him out of the money he expected to make from the proceeds. In addition, there have already been a couple of “accidents” which may have resulted from feuding band members and reason to expect that there may be more, so Junior has his hands full. Part of the fun of this book is in reading about the behind-the-scenes drama of the Rock of Ages tour–aging rockers with personal vendettas, crumbling venues, and outrageous behavior. The book is front-loaded with too much of this description, which slows down the story, but it is often witty and entertaining. Junior brings his teenage daughter into some of the action, allowing her time with the old gangster and with a flamboyant septuagenarian former groupie and telling her more about his own career than he should, displaying questionable parenting skills. But it is in the final scenes of the book where things really take off, leading to a propulsive, suspenseful conclusion that is worth waiting for. (June)
Sorry, the previous post entered one of my books twice (just can’t get it right)! But it still posted, so here are the other three from the previous week:
You’ve heard me say many times that I am never disappointed by David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter legal mystery series, even though I’ve read all 25, along with most of the author’s standalones. Andy’s snarky narrative, his diverse cast of supporting characters, interesting cases, and compelling courtroom scenes all come together in a gripping story with just the right amount of humor. Andy is unique in that he is independently wealthy and doesn’t really need to take cases. He’d rather spend time at the nearby eatery/bar with his close friends, a homicide police captain and a newspaper editor (Andy always pays). But when he does take a case, he’s all in. In HOLY CHOW, the Bubelah Brigade, a small group of savvy (geriatric) computer hackers endearingly returns to help Andy’s team unearth important information. Marcus, the team’s beefy PI/bodyguard extraordinaire has a scene that will blow regular readers out of the water. And then there are the ever-present dogs–Andy’s three pets, the golden retriever rescue he co-sponsors, and in this book a friendly chow chow that needs a new owner after his person is murdered. You really can’t go wrong with this series if you enjoy entertaining mysteries that are fast reads and leave you wanting more. (July)
Lesa, I agree that Beth O’Leary’s THE NO-SHOW is disappointing. Personally, I think the plot description on the back of the book is misleading. Three women who don’t know each other are all stood up on Valentine’s Day–by the same man. Sounds intriguing, but it didn’t follow through for me. Each of the women’s stories is told separately in alternating chapters, and I didn’t find any of the three interesting or even likeable. In fact, I particularly disliked one of them. They are all obsessed with one man–sometimes referred to by his first name, sometimes his last (why?). He is not described well enough to get a feel for him, his motivations, or why the women were so attracted to him, given his behavior. It isn’t until nearly the end of the book that we learn more about him and how he figured in each of the women’s stories. There was a bit of a twist, but I found it unconvincing. So I have to say that the book fell flat for me, but since O’Leary charmed me with her earlier books, The Flatshare and especially The Switch (not so much The Road Trip), I’ll probably seek out her next book, perhaps checking the reviews first.
The premise of LATE FOR HIS OWN FUNERAL by Elaine Viets is intriguing–discovering at a funeral that the dearly departed isn’t really dead (then who is that in his golden casket?). It’s book #6 in the Angela Richman series, which I wish I had known before reading. Angela is an experienced death investigator assisting the police in an upscale community. The not-so-dead man is a wealthy entrepreneur whose treatment of the “story artists” who work the telephones in his sex talk network has earned him a lot of enemies, and whose serial philandering has alienated his wife. When more suspicious deaths occur, Angela gets a bit too personally involved in the investigation, displaying an alarming lack of common sense at times and leading her boyfriend to fear for her safety. The story is engaging, but many of the characters are broad stereotypes. With more subtlety and nuance, a promising premise might have been so much more (July)
Margie, I can’t bear it when characters act so stupidly just to move the plot along. (Eg in the most recent episode of Grace, an apparently sensible woman, who knows she is in danger, is on the phone to a policeman when she realises someone is breaking into her house. So what does she do? Tell him? NO! – instead she says ‘I’ll have to call you back’ and hangs up…)
I do like the sound of he Andy Carpenter series though, I will look for that.
Margie, I have HOLY CHOW on order from the library. It’ll be a nice quick read for the summer
I gave up on The No-Show, Margie. Like you, I just didn’t care about any of the characters. I found what I read to be just blah.
LOVED The Woman in the Library for exactly the same reasons you said, Margie.
I haven’t read nearly them all, but I do like the Andy Carpenter books I’ve read so far. I liked the first Angela Richman book by Elaine Viets, but I think she went off-track after that. Only read the first Junior Bender book so far.
Margie, thanks for your thoughts on the Sulari Gentill book. I will definitely try it. Also thanks for the reminder of Tim Hallinan’s series, which I have been meaning to try for years.
I’ve meant to read one of Gentill’s books ever since hearing her speak and meeting her at a Bouchercon (in Dallas, I think). This could be the one.
Looking forward to the Mercy Carr book very much.
And here are the first three books I read this week:
In AUGUSTA HAWKE, the first in a new mystery series by GM Malliet, I enjoyed getting to know Augusta in the first few chapters. Once I got into the rhythm of the first-person narrative, I was enthusiastically along for the ride. The author successfully uses her own experience as a prolific writer to infuse her protagonist with authenticity. When we discover Augusta is writing the 19th in her long-running series, it is a surprise and a thrill. We hear about her own protagonist, French detective Claude, and his sidekick, Caroline. The latter is a favorite with readers of the series, to the point where Augusta sometimes has to ask herself what Caroline would do in fraught situations. As a successful author, Augusta lives in an upscale neighborhood where she can’t help noticing that her close neighbors, a married couple, have suddenly disappeared, leaving their baby behind with a family member. Intrigued and looking for something to distract her from her lagging work in progress, Augusta can’t help doing some investigating on her own, to the initial disgust and eventual respect of a police detective assigned to the case. There is a lot to admire in this book–the author’s unique voice, a convoluted case with a host of potential persons of interest, a dollop of humor, and an ending that, while it resolves the case, leaves things open for more fascinating stories and the potential for romantic interest in future entries in the series. I’ll be looking for the next one. (July)
In the 5th Magical Bookshop Mystery, CRIMES AND COVERS, Violet Waverly is finally getting married to her soulmate, Cascade Springs Chief of Police David Rainwater. Violet worries that putting her headstrong Grandma Daisy and her best friend, the fanciful Sadie, in charge of wedding plans may not have been the best idea. But when a strange woman who had bullied her in Violet’s store, Charming Books, in an attempt to sell her a potentially priceless original, signed copy of Thoreau’s Walden is found drowned, her worries increase exponentially. Will the wedding and the honeymoon go ahead as planned? The book is just as charming as the bookshop’s name, with a paranormal element that includes the store’s very old tree, a suspiciously intelligent shop cat, and a bird that spouts literary quotations. Then there are the books that the “essence” of the shop chooses for each customer, sometimes sending them flying off the shelves. The mystery is also interesting. One of the characters claims to be a descendent of Thoreau himself–and entitled to the now-missing book–although it’s never been proven that Thoreau had any children. Quite entertaining and, to some extent, educational.
Paula Munier’s Mercy Carr series just keeps getting better and better. Mercy is a complicated protagonist–an ex-Army MP who is still at loose ends while she decides what she wants to do with her life after returning from Afghanistan. She has been doing some security and investigative work with the help of Elvis, her late fiance’s bomb-sniffing dog, and has settled into a promising romantic relationship with Troy, a game warden, who works with his own search-and-rescue dog, Susie Bear. In THE WEDDING PLOT, Mercy’s mother is driving everyone crazy as she plans her own mother’s wedding, and as the big day approaches, the wedding venue’s yoga teacher, Bodhi, disappears and a stranger is found skewered by a pitchfork in the goat farm where Bodhi lives. At the same time, there is some feuding going on by the families of both the bride and the groom, with serious undertones that threaten to derail the wedding altogether. I appreciated the intricate plot and all of the well-drawn supporting characters , not to mention the exquisite suspense in the later scenes and a particularly unexpected and satisfying ending. But it is Mercy’s complex character that drives the story and makes this series unique. (July)
Margie, is the GM Malliet book set in the UK or the US? I lost patience with her Max Tudor books as they were full of things English people would never say, and terms no-one in the entire UK would use, yet they were allegedly set in the West Country.
I lost patience with the Max Tudor books, too, Rosemary, but my problem was the characters. I just tired of them.
Oh that too Lesa! Especially the dreadful partner, who was just SO perfect and Alternative. When the Perfect Child turned up it was all too much (and reminded me of Alexander McCall Smith’s Isobel Dalhousie series, with its similarly perfect and annoying characters,) They all seemed so bland, and nobody had a sense of humour.
But this one that Margie mentions soundsmore interesting – thanks Margie, I will have a look in the library.
Rosemary, I hate that too. It goes both ways of course, as I read a book by a British author set in the US. where a character uses “pavement” rather than “sidewalk.” Certain people get it right, like Deborah Crombie, who lived in Britain for many years before moving back to the U.S,
And I had that stupid “had I but known” behavior you see so often on television.
Oh yes, I’m sure it works both ways Jeff – British writers are certainly no less culpable. I feel they should all either do more research or stick to what they know.
Rosemary, Augusta Hawke is set in Virginia, and Augusta is American. I stopped reading the Max Tudor books as well before they ended, but I’m happy to say I found this an excellent book.
Thanks Margie.
Margie, I wasn’t crazy about Augusta Hawke. I loved The Wedding Plot, though!
Keeping fingers crossed, here are the final two books I read this week. I apologize to one and all for the length of my total posts this week. My son assures me the problem is not with my computer, but I just don’t know. I had to restart to see my last post above–it didn’t show up immediately, as it usually does.
I agree with Lesa’s earlier review that MANGO, MAMBO, and MURDER is an enjoyable debut mystery that steeps the reader in Caribbean lore, culture, and cooking in the setting of the Coral Shores community of Miami, Florida. Miriam Quinones-Smith, of Cuban descent, has moved with her husband, Robert, and their 4-year-old son to a town where Robert’s family, the Smiths, are highly respected movers-and-shakers. She has been reunited with her lifetime friend Alma and is trying to make new friends but is disrespected and bullied at every turn by her intolerant mother-in-law. With a Ph.D. in food anthropology, Miriam had hoped for an academic career but suddenly finds herself the reluctant star of a new bilingual TV cooking show. At the same time, she is shocked by two local women’s successive deaths, which she suspects may be tied to a dentist-turned-herbalist who is hawking miracle teas. I found it a fun book to read, but I have to admit I felt a bit excluded by all of the Spanish language, only some of which was translated. Sometimes it was easy to understand based on the context, but not always, and I thought it went a bit overboard. I also felt the mother-in-law was too one-note with no redeeming qualities, and Miriam’s relationship with law enforcement was much looser than would ever be allowed in real life (one of them refused to answer her questions specifically but agreed to “yes” and “no” answers). But there was enough there to request the sequel (not out until November) from NetGalley, and I am looking forward to seeing how the author’s continues her journey with these characters and especially how Miriam’s lightly-drawn character matures over time.
Catriona McPherson’s psychological thrillers are often deliciously creepy. IN PLACE OF FEAR is delicious in a different way. It’s 1948, and Helen is excited to take on a new job of almoner, or welfare officer, in the office of two Edinburgh doctors on the very first day of the National Health Service of Scotland. The daughter of parents working in a slaughterhouse and a bottling factory, Helen is also a new bride. Her husband, Sandy, has returned from six years in a prisoner of war camp and has taken a job as a street sweeper, so her wages will be most welcome. Neither expects that an actual house to live in–and get away from Helen’s parents and younger sister–will a benefit of her job. But the house holds secrets, and the dead body of a young woman found in the shed is just the beginning. I loved the character of idealistic, spunky Helen, who is determined to help people who previously couldn’t afford medical care, and who are suspicious of the new system. She is especially sensitive to the needs of women with reproductive issues and difficult husbands. Helen is at the center of every aspect of the plot, and as she tries to figure out the details and the reasons for the young woman’s death, I never stopped rooting for her. The story is peppered with Scottish dialogue–I wish the glossary had been moved from the end of the book to the beginning–but it isn’t a problem. It only enhances the atmosphere and authenticity of the characters. Finally, the ending of the book absolutely blew my mind. I couldn’t believe how McPherson had created such a unique, suspenseful story while retaining the humanity and spirit of the central character. More, please! (June)
Today (Wednesday), I finished the newest Murder, She Wrote tie-in. Killer on the Court was good and bad. The plot meandered around and was fairly slow. But I loved seeing Jessica spend time with Grady, Donna, and their son. Grady was always my favorite nephew in the series. It probably helped that we saw him the most, so there was time for us to really get to know him.
Thursday, I will dive into Blood Red by Sherri Leigh James. It was an impulse buy at the LA Times Festival of Books a couple of weeks ago, and it is calling to me. We’ll see what I think. Probably won’t get too far into it on Thursday since I am going to try to go for a run again at lunch time and then have to clean up after work to go to my small group through church after work.
Oh, Mark. I’m envious of your time at the LA Festival of Books. I’ve never been to that one, although I love the Arizona Book Festival in Tucson.
Good morning everyone,
Lesa, I know what you mean about not being able to get into a book. I enjoyed THE ALICE B TOKLAS COOKBOOK so much, and did so much work on it in the end, that nothing much has held my attention since – I think I am partly still in Paris and the Jura with Gertrude and Alice.
I did, however, read the first ‘My Friends’ book by Jane Duncan (Elizabeth Cameron), whose memoir LETTER FROM REACHFAR I mentioned a few weeks aho. MY FRIENDS THE MISS BOYDS is almost entirely based on Duncan’s own childhood on her grandparents’ remote croft on the Cromarty Firth in the far north of Scotland. In the book, however, ‘Janet’ lives there permanently with her parents, her uncle, her aunt, her grandparents and the long-term farmhand, Tom. In reality Duncan only spent the summers on the croft, as her father was a policeman in Glasgow.
The book is a wonderful record of a time long gone, but it is not overly nostalgic. Janet (aged 9) records her daily life – her 3 mile walk to school (which she loves) in all weathers, her happy times helping uncle George and Tom with the animals and the crops, the arrival of the coal boat each October (a major event to which everyone brings their horses and carts to collect the fuel for the winter), the visits to Sir Torquil, the local laird, and his wife – and her glamorous American guest, who is much taken with Janet. But she is also frank about her grandmother’s constant criticism, her mother’s ill health, and the harshness of a life in which almost everything has to be grown or made on the land – apart from sugar and tea, almost nothing is bought in the shop, and indeed it is considered shaming to be seen buying things you should have grown.
Into this very organised life come the Miss Boyds, daughters of a wealthy businessman in Inverness. Only the three oldest daughters have come to live in the area, the younger ones are still running the shop in the city. But the Miss Boyds are not the kind of characters you find in places like Miss Read’s Thrush Green – they are silly, flighty, women who earn the instant disapproval of the locals (led by Janet’s granny) for their ignorance of country ways, and especially their dalliances with all of the local workmen, including a particular ne’er-do-well whom nobody else would allow past their front doorstep.
Janet, of course, only half understands what is going on. She is sent on errands to the Miss Boyds and in some ways quite likes them, though is surprised by their dimwittedness – she gives them her basket of eggs, and realises they have no idea what to do with it until she tells them they need to find a bowl and put the eggs in that, then return her basket. After one incident (of which Janet is oblivious) granny tells her she is no longer to visit the Boyds. But when life at the women’s house goes seriously wrong and tragedy strikes. it is granny who is the first to rally round and show kindness to the Miss Boyds, and one of them in particular – and granny has such influence that soon most of the locals are won round.
The book ends with Janet and her husband Twice – which was the nickname of Jane Duncan’s own husband – coming back to visit her family – so it interweaves fact and fiction, and I suppose is really the version of Duncan’s childhood that she would have preferred. In Letter from Reachfar she said that all of the ‘My Friend’ books were based on real people, so presumably the Miss Boyds did exist.
Now I have a stack of library books to read, plus some review copies of new books, plus the million and one unread books on my own shelves, and I just don’t know where to start. I have opened Miranda Emmerson’s MISS TREADWAY AND THE FIELD OF STARS but I’m not sure I’m going to stick with it.
Thia morning I am going into town as our art gallery has restarted its free lunchtime concerts. Today’s is The Big Noise, the Aberdeen section of a project started in Raploch, a deprived area of Stirling, some years ago. It is part of the international El Sistema orchestra, first started in Venezuala, whose motto is ‘Music for Social Change.’
In Scotland the idea behind the project is that it is impossible to find employment for many of the people in such underfunded and often drug-ridden areas, but it is possible to give them something meaningful in their lives – music. Years ago I went to a talk given by the brilliant Richard Holloway, who was one of the founders of the project here. He had grown up in Alexandria – not in Egypt, but on the banks of the River Leven in West Dunbartonshire, north west of Glasgow. His father was a time-served dyer, and when all of the areas’s traditional cotton manufacturing, printing and dying industries were closed down, he saw the effect that redundancy, with no prospect of future employment, had on his father’s sense of self-worth.
In Raploch the project has been massively successful, and now branches of it are springing up in other areas – such as Torry, a former fishing community in Aberdeen, and one that has had, and continues to have, many problems with unemployment, drugs, alcohol, etc.
The cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, who is involved in this too, noted that the UK has an impoverished South American nation to thank for persuading the government finally to put some money into music education – and participation – for the poorest areas of one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
A while ago I saw a documentary about Raploch. It was very interesting, and interviewed families who had lived there for generations and loved it. Some people had been affected by addictions, and of these many said how much taking part in the orchestras had helped them.
Tomorrow Nancy and I are planning a day trip to Strichen, a small town near Fraserburgh where there is apparently a huge antiques warehouse. I will do my best to buy nothing. She will probably come back with a carload as she is incorrigible (her garage is already full of ‘stuff’.)
I am not sure if I mentioned last week THESE DAYS which I was listening to on Sounds. It is a new book by Lucy Caldwell, set in Belfast in the last war, when the city was being pounded by nightly air raids. It is such a good story, I enjoyed it very much and would now like to read the book.
And on TV I am trying to like THE SPLIT, which had great reviews and which both my mother and my friends raved about, but I have to say I am finding it a struggle, and may give up. It is just too full of smart lawyers arguing all the time for me. Everyone is affluent, the female lawyers are all tight skirts and high heels, and it reminds me far too much of my own time as a lawyer – I was certainly not working for a top firm or anything near it, but that atmosphere of aggression, and the need to project such a glossy, fake, image are anathema to me. So glad to have escaped. My daughter Anna has several friends who went from Cambridge to law school and then to Blue Circle firms in the City of London. They earn vast amounts from day one, but they sell their souls, work all day and all night, and do the most boring stuff imaginable (well, to me – commerical contracts, corporate work, that sort of thing.) She says they all say they will just do it for a couple of years then get out – but very few do, as by then they have the big houses and the huge mortgages to pay for them, and they have become used to a very expensive lifestyle.
Have a good week all,
Rosemary
Rosemary, I continue to find your notes just fascinating. The Big Noise! I found all of that interesting. Everything else you posted was interesting as well. Thank you for taking the time, and especially when you had to do it twice today!
Rosemary, We gave up on The Split after season 1. By the end of the season didn’t care for all the infidelity. I often wonder how people have the energy to work long hours, raise a family and have time for an affair. We started Ridley Road last night off PBS Passport (their streaming service). So far we are intrigued.
Sharon, I do agree – where do they find the time and energy? Of course they probably all have domestic help, but even so. I’ve decided to bin it.
I’ve not seen Ridley Road but I know it had good reviews.
We’re waiting for series 3 of THE SPLIT. I know what you mean about it, but we like several of the actors and will watch the last series. Boy, Nicola Walker sure gets a lot of shows, doesn’t she? We’re enjoying ANNIKA so far. We’re also finally getting series 11 of DEATH IN PARADISE.
Nicola Walker is such a wonderful actor, so versatile. I doubt I’d even have started The Split if she hadn’t been in it. My mother has just seen the last episode of the third series and was well pleased with it, said it tied everything up very well.
Rosemary, back in 2020 I bought a copy of My Friend Muriel by Jane Duncan. I have never read any of the books in that series, so I am hoping it won’t matter that I haven’t read the first book. Your comments on the book reminded me to put it on a list to read soonish.
I haven’t read any of the others Tracy, so I can’t say for certain, but I imagine you can read them in any order as she tends to repeat herself. I enjoyed this one.
Like Lesa, I just couldn’t seem to get into a book. I stared several and just couldn’t get interested in them. I finally tried PLEADING THE FISH by Bree Baker and am enjoying it.It’s the lates book in her Seaside Cafe mystery series set in Charm, North Carolina.
I’m sort of sad to see Bree Baker’s series end, Sandy, but she did bring it to a natural conclusion.
Finished Beyond Possible: One Soldier, Fourteen Peaks — My Life In The Death Zone
by Nimsdai Purja. He is an outstanding mountain climber but not a caring son, His mother was was in the hospital with a serious heart condition and he told he had to leave to go climb a mountain, That made me angry. Anyway, I recognized his accomphlishments which were amazing but I was disappointed in him as a person.
Reading The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. It is a little slow going but it is good. Set in Atlanta after the Civil War, a Chinese young woman who experiences prejudice, no employment opportunities except to be a servent. Jo had a job as an apprentice making hats but got fired because they had to cut corners. The best at making hats but she was Chinese. At that time, Chinese did not have citizenship, ability to own land or even to rent a place. Jo had been on orphan who was adopted by a group of Chinese men, Old Gin was a father figure, He looked atter her, hired a wet nurse, made sure that only the most trust worthy of the uncles took care of her. He is like a guardian uncle! Now she is 17 and old enough to marry and Old Gin is looking for a good match-a man with a fleshy nose. Chinese still think that a big nose will mean that he will be well off financially,
Jo doesn’t want that. She wants to make her own way. Jo and Old Gin live in the basement of a newspaper owner without them knowing. They have a secret way of getting in there. Jo secretly start writing a humorous advice column for the newspaper under the nom de plime of
Sweet Potato. Those pieces are clever and fun to read. At that time, her clack friend who is a maid who gives two weeks of salary to buy a “safety bike”. A little bit of history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_bicycle#:~:text=A%20safety%20bicycle%20(or%20simply,most%20common%20type%20of%20bicycle.
Here is a safety bike that I would love:
https://www.cnet.com/culture/babel-bike-claims-to-be-the-safest-bicycle-in-the-world/
I tried to post and it didn’t take. Then I tried again and got the remark that was duplicate, I still have my long comment. Is there some way to delete the first one?
Carolee, The blog seems to be having fits today. I’m sorry. I have contacted the webmaster.
Thank you!
Good morning everyone.
I have been away and have not checked in for a few weeks. During that time I have read some wonderful books! Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon (I loved another book that I read by her What the Wind Knows), The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton (very funny), and I am currently reading Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (another very funny one). I highly recommend all of the above and they will probably be among my favorites for the year.
Wishing you all a wonderful and enjoyable reading week.
Kathleen, I’m so glad you found some amusing books to read while you were gone. Humor in a book doesn’t work for every reader, so I’m pleased to hear those books worked for you.
Yes, the Ephron book interested me from the time I heard of it. Talented family and interesting story. I have a couple of other memoirs on hold too.
Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood. I mentioned this last time and I did enjoy it enough that I will read the second in the series about PI Lillian Pentecost and her assistant/narrator/Archie Goodwin, Willowjean “Will” Parker. The 1940s setting works well here.
Lily King, Five Tuesdays in Winter, a (straight fiction) short story collection recommended by a friend. I liked it.
Steven F. Havill, No Accident. The latest in the long-running (25 books) Posadas County NM series is different in that it takes place mostly in California, where Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman and her doctor husband rush when their younger son, Carlos, and his fiancee are run down deliberately while riding a tandem bicycle. We only get to hear Bill Gastner and Sheriff Bobby Torrez briefly on the phone. The investigation of the deliberate hit & run is all in California and it is pretty interesting, for the most part, though I found the ending something of a letdown. My advice is, start with the beginning and stay in New Mexico from now on.
I’m nearly done (maybe tomorrow?) with the William Brittain collection of Mr. Strang (elderly high school science teacher) stories, The Man Who Solved Mysteries, and I’m enjoying it a lot, one story per day. If you are tired of murders, these stories provide nice puzzles about thefts and other lesser (than murder) crimes. Very satisfying.
The other collection I am reading is also straight fiction, Graham Swift’s England and Other Stories. Entertaining so far, but nothing great. I highly recommend his novel Last Orders (and the movie adaptation).
II started another memoir yesterday, one I hadn’t known of when it came out five years ago, Lake of the Ozarks by a favorite of mine, Bill Geist. The subtitle is “My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America” and it is as much fun as listening to a Geist television piece, talking about his summers at his aunt and uncle’s place in Central Missouri when he was a kid.
While waiting for a couple more library books (OK, 10) I was looking around the shelves for something to read (yes, there are hundreds to choose from) and realized I hadn’t read a Bill Slider book by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles in a while, so I took down the next one, Kill My Darling. A young paleontologist who works at the Natural History Museum in London is missing, and then her body is found in the woods. Slider, Atherton and their team are on the case. I still have another 8 or 10 books in the series to catch up on, and they are always a pleasure to read.
Oh, Lake of the Ozarks sounds good, Jeff. I’ll have to look for that one.
I even own a copy of the new Havill, Jeff, but after a friend’s review, I just couldn’t bring myself to read it. I have a problem with taking characters out of the setting that is so crucial to the storylines. I’m sure the authors need a break, and don’t want the “Cabot Cove Syndrome”, but we read the mysteries for the familiar characters. It usually doesn’t work for me when they go elsewhere.
Like Lesa, i’ve had a hard time finding a book that i want to stick with lately. I am not one to finish a book just by cause i started it. If it doesn’t hold my interest, i close it and move on.
Nothing But the Tuth by Holly James held my interst.
It’s the eve of Hollywood publicist Lucy Green’s thirtieth birthday, a day she hopes will bring the promotion she deserves and a proposal from her boyfriend. But he stands her up for a date, not for the first time, leaving Lucy alone at the bar—or at least, alone with the handsome bartender on the other side of the counter—so she makes a rueful wish over her cocktail for a perfect birthday. But when Lucy’s wish is granted in the most unexpected way, things go terribly awry, as things often do when wishes come true….
When Lucy wakes up on her big day, she can’t seem to force herself to go through her rigorous fitness and beauty routines—things she usually tells herself she likes. She has no desire to eat only a spoonful of yogurt for breakfast and she simply can’t bear to put on the uncomfortable shapewear needed for the power outfit she had planned for work.
Then Lucy arrives at the office, and she realizes that not only can she no longer lie to herself, she can’t lie to anyone else, either. Not her clients, not her boyfriend, not her creep of a boss. Now that she can’t hide how she feels, Lucy must confront all the injustices—small and large—she’s faced on a daily basis at work, in her relationship, and in every other aspect of her life…and the truth is going to come out in a big way.
This sharp, bighearted, and magical novel tackles all the lies women are encouraged to tell just to get by in today’s world—in life, in love, and in the workplace—and the liberation that can come from telling nothing but the truth.
I’m going to have to look for Nothing But the Truth, Kaye. Thank you for that one!
I’ve had a great reading week – read two books that i really liked – Shadow Creek by M.E. Browning – second one I’ve read of hers and like the characters as well as her plots. Also read Black Ice by Carin Gerhardsen a Scandinavian author about how an accident on “black ice” linked a number of people and crimes. I think the weather in Sweden always makes books set there so much more ominous. If you want to relax and enjoy a lovely look at Italy, then watch season 2 of Stanley Tucci’s a Taste of Italy on CNN – second season just started.
I meant to watch Taste of Italy on Sunday, Donna. Thanks for the reminder!
Good morning! I have had a mixed reading bag lately. I was disappointed with Havill’s No Accident. The cast of characters in Posadas County is what keeps me coming back to the series and they were largely MIA in this entry. I cannot recommend Sulari Gentill’s books highly enough. They are excellent. I read another ECR Lorac for this week’s forgotten book. She is my favorite discovery of all of the vintage authors I’ve read over the past few years. I read a hair-raising thriller about a journalist kidnapped by jihadists in Sudan, Fractured by Clar Ni Chonghaile. I also found a fine domestic thriller a couple of weeks ago by Sally Hepworth, The Family Next Door. A couple of folks on DorothyL recommended The Verifiers and I have ordered a copy. I also read the latest Spenser by Ace Atkins; it’s his last for the franchise. Over the weekend I galloped through Five Decembers by James Kestrel, the Edgar Award winner. I have two or three books sitting on various tables that I started and I am not sure I will go back to. Too many others waiting patiently for me. Always a pleasure to see what everyone else is reading.
Good morning, Aubrey. Actually, I’m glad I didn’t read No Accident. Between your comments and Jeff’s, I don’t see a great deal of appeal to that book. You’re right. I read for the characters.
It sounds as if you enjoyed Five Decembers. The plot doesn’t appeal to me, and I’m sorry Razorblade Tears didn’t win. But, I wasn’t a judge who poured through a couple hundred books to pick a winner.
Five Decembers is a classic police procedural within the context of a world war. I was caught up by the similarities to Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. I was annoyed by the assumption that every woman the main character met fell in love with him. Puh-leeze. Did it deserve the Edgar? I don’t know. It is original and very well written but so are the other nominees. I never know how they pick just one.
This week I finished THE OLD DUCKS CLUB by Maddie Please from Kindle Unlimited. The plot was formulaic, but I enjoyed it because the characters were all sixty and older. Sophia quits her job in Oxford and goes to Greece for a month-long escape. There she meets the three 60-ish college friends renting the house next door who call themselves the Old Ducks Club. Hijinks, insights, and friendship ensue. I loved the Greek setting and all the descriptions of Greek life and food. This was a good escapist novel for me.
Now I am reading UNLIKELY ANIMALS by Annie Harnett. I am finding this really unusual but very good. Emma Starling was allegedly born with the gift of healing hands. She returns home after her great plans in California go awry to take care of her ailing father who is suffering from a brain disorder. One of the symptoms is delusion. Clive Starling sees animals and talks to long dead New Hampshire naturalist Ernest Harold Baynes. There is also a Greek chorus throughout of the residents of the local cemetery on Maple Street. And underlying it all is the opioid crisis of the small town. I can’t summarize too much without giving away too much of the plot. I find myself chuckling at times as well as welling up at others. The inclusion of excerpts and pictures from Ernest Harold Baynes (thought to be the original Dr. Doolittle) only add to my fascination.
Happy Reading!
I like the sound of The Old Ducks Club, Sharon. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, Old Ducks Club Sounds fun! Thanks!!
Big group here today and I forgot it was Thursday! The weather is beautiful, so I’ve been spending hours in the yard.
I did get a bit of reading done.
BLACK CAKE the debut novel by Charmaine Wilkerson from the February new releases. Tells a story of family, their secrets, romances and second chances. It transports you to the West Indies then to the UK and on to Southern CA. A beautifully told story.
Then onto another family story, Celeste Ng’s debut from 2014 EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU, was a “Staff Favorite” at the library. It’s about a Chinese-American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio and the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together as it tumbles into chaos. Surface similarities between the two plots, but Ng’s is tougher emotionally.
I was sidetracked from my TBR pile by America’s Test Kitchen THE COMPLETE MEDITERRANEAN COOKBOOK. Well organized with lots of thoughtful tips, suggestions and photos. I’m much more of a reader than a cook, so a pleasant few hours paging through.
And one I’ve been perusing for a while, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BOOKS, David Damrosch (Harvard Dept of Comparative Literature) response to being unable to travel during the pandemic. Starting in London and Paris; completing in Bar Harbor and New York he explores 80 defining books in sixteen location chapters. Fascinating even if way beyond my reading experience. It was interesting to note the authors I’ve read, the ones I know of and those unknown to me.
MM, I often find that those collections of suggested or defining books is way beyond my reading experience, and often beyond my interest. I enjoy reading books about books, though. And, like you, I enjoy reading cookbooks since I seldom cook.
My take on NO ACCIDENT by Havill can be found here: https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-no-accident-posadas-county.html
My current read is DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES by Claire Booth.
I have two reviews to write.
And, if the kids that read the weather news and forecasts on tv here are right, we may hit our first 100 degree day of 2022 Sunday. Blah.
Yep. Between the three of you, Kevin, I’ve decided to skip No Accident. It just doesn’t interest me.
You probably will hit 100. We don’t have kids doing weather here, but they’re predicting 89 on Monday & 90 on Tuesday here, so my guess you’ll hit it. I’m sorry.
In my case, the book was okay, but not great because everything was out of NM and over in California. I missed the locals and all that.
We are going to definitely make a run at it. All I can do is hide inside next to the fans and AC and hope the power stays on. We have had a lot of multi hour outages for various reasons the last two months. Instead of storing the three ice chests I have out in the garage, I have them in the house in the middle bedroom so that we can grab them at any time and go fill with ice to save the fridge contents. Keeping less in the fridge too.
I started Double Agent by Tom Bradby but haven’t really been hooked yet. Time will tell.
It’s kind of odd how many of us are having problems getting into our recent books, Patricia.
Back problems continue, making it very difficult to read, so I finished the last third of SLIGHTLY FOXED # 71, and that was it. I put it on the blog. A whole novel would be impossible. I have several books I WANT to read, but…
Got my tetanus shot and have a sore arm today. It’s blustery here today, though the promised rainy is scant.
Oh, Rick. I’m sorry. I hate the idea of it being difficult to read. Add in your sore arm, and I really do feel sorry for you.
Rick, I am sorry that your back is still bothering you, and especially that it is hard to read.
I have ordered an older back issue of SLIGHTLY FOXED, just from a US seller, so I should have it relatively soon.
My week feels all turned upside down because I had jury duty on Tuesday and I have to go back again tomorrow. Today my husband has an eye doctor appointment, just a follow up.
My reading has really slowed down. I don’t have problems getting into books but it has been taking me a long time to finish them. This is so different for me.
I did finish two books since last Thursday. First is BECAUSE OF SAM by Molly Clavering, published in 1954, set in Scotland. I finished it on Friday and spent a large part of the day on it. I got very involved in it which is strange for me, because definitely is a romance, which I never read. It was a very interesting story about life in a village in the postwar years. The main characters are a single mother, now in her late forties, and her 29 year old daughter who has a job in the city, but it is flexible enough so she can live half the week with her mother. They don’t really get along, and that is also a large part of the plot. If you had told me I was going to love this book, I would not have believed it. But I did.
I also finished WHY DIDN’T THEY ASK EVANS? by Agatha Christie before the end of April. We planned to watch the new adaptation by Hugh Laurie and I always read the book first if possible. This was written earlier in Christie’s career (1934) and was a lighter book than I expected. A standalone book, an adventure although it definitely has puzzle aspects. I was totally surprised by the ending. We have watched two parts of the TV series and will watch the last one tonight.
I have started reading JUSTINE by Lawrence Durrell, which was recommended to me by Rick Robinson. Book 1 of the Alexandria Quartet. A very complex book, and a look at postwar life in a different part of the world. The book I am reading when at jury duty is UNRULY SON (also known as DEATH OF A MYSTERY WRITER) by Robert Barnard. Published in 1978. It is easier to read in short snatches. Barnard is one of my favorite authors.
It does sound as if it worked out okay, though, Tracy that your husband’s eye appointment fell in between your days of jury duty.
Yes, I think you needed something easy to read for sitting through jury duty. At least it sounds as if you’ve read some good books, even if it took longer than usual.
Lesa, I usually am a lurker here on your Thursday blog, but I enjoy seeing what the participants here are reading. Knowing so many of you makes it that much more interesting. I have to admit that one of the reasons I hesitate to comment is that I don’t feel like writing up a book again after doing a lengthy review of it on my blog. But, I’ve decided to pop in a comment with links to my reviews when I have a book I want to mention. Today, my impetus for commenting is Rosemary’s mention of her TV viewing. I have to share my latest binge watching. Thanks to LJ Roberts, I am watching Balthazar on Acorn. It is sooooo good. Balthazar is a forensic pathologist who works closely with Chief Inspector Helene Bach in Paris. It is in French with subtitles, but with my hearing, I’m used to closed caption, so that doesn’t bother me at all. There are also some graphic scenes murder-wise, but it’s really not that bad. Balthazar is still trying to find out who murdered his fiance twelve years ago, and towards the end of season two, where I am, he seems closer to that. There are four seasons out, with either 8 or 10 episodes each, and I am watching at least a couple a night. Here’s the Acorn link. https://acorn.tv/balthazar/
Now, reading has been a bit slow for me, which I’m trying to catch up on, as I have reviews due. I’ve had a knee problem that has interfered with my focus. But, my most recent read is one from last year that I can’t believe I hadn’t read before now. I know you enjoyed All the Queen’s Men/A Three Dog Problem, too, Lesa. I am so entertained by this new series by S.J. Bennett about the Queen investigating murders close to her through her Assistant Private Secretary. I got quite involved in reviewing this book, as I provided links to some of the rabbit holes it took me down. Here’s the link to my review: https://www.readingroom-readmore.com/ You can also scroll through to see what else I’ve been reading and enjoyed this year.
And, I have to add one more comment. Most of you probably did this last week, but I have to tell my favorite Raven Lesa how proud I am of you. You so deserved that award. It’s like it was made for you. Now, hopefully I can get some reading in today.
Kathy, Thank you! I hope you always feel you can drop in, make a comment or two, link to your own blog, whatever you want. I’m just happy to hear that you enjoy reading the comments by everyone.
And, you’re right. I’m a fan of SJ Bennett’s new series, and the second book was even better than the first, which isn’t always the case.
Thank you, too, for the comment about the Raven Award. Sending hugs, thanks, along with hopes that your knee problems clear up!
After a hectic couple of weeks, I found a little more time to read.
Plagues in the Nation by Polly J. Price; Supposedly a history of epidemics in the US, it is instead a woke narrative. What a missed opportunity for an excellent history.
Orphan’s Journey by Robert Beuttner; Jason Wander finds himself on a planet conquered by The Slugs, and he’s about out of salt.
I Hope We Never Meet by Andrew Finkelstein; a personal injurey lawyer tries to justify his existence through sob stories.
Taylor Callahan, Circuit Rider, by The Johnstones; An outlaw turned preacher finds himself in a peck of trouble. Reminded me of the TV westerns folks like Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers used to make.
Telling Tails by Sofia Ryan; Rose thinks she sees a murder, after she is found unconscious. She says she was attacked, but the police seem to think she may have had a mini-stroke. Occam’s Razor does not work here, as there’s a convouted mystery, while Sarah pines.
Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik; A linguist is called to Greenland, to the same place her twin borther died, when a girl is thawed out of the ice, and speaks a language nobody understands. It’s really an old fashioned jungle story set in The Arctic, so everyone is slipping on ice instead of swinging from vies.
This week, your comments about Girl in Ice are my favorite ones, Glen. “An old fashioned jungle story set in The Arctic”. Love it!
Trying again.
Lesa, I usually am a lurker here on your Thursday blog, but I enjoy seeing what the participants here are reading. Knowing so many of you makes it that much more interesting. I have to admit that one of the reasons I hesitate to comment is that I don’t feel like writing up a book again after doing a lengthy review of it on my blog. But, I’ve decided to pop in a comment with links to my reviews when I have a book I want to mention. Today, my impetus for commenting is Rosemary’s mention of her TV viewing. I have to share my latest binge watching. Thanks to LJ Roberts, I am watching Balthazar on Acorn. It is sooooo good. Balthazar is a forensic pathologist who works closely with Chief Inspector Helene Bach in Paris. It is in French with subtitles, but with my hearing, I’m used to closed caption, so that doesn’t bother me at all. There are also some graphic scenes murder-wise, but it’s really not that bad. Balthazar is still trying to find out who murdered his fiance twelve years ago, and towards the end of season two, where I am, he seems closer to that. There are four seasons out, with either 8 or 10 episodes each, and I am watching at least a couple a night. Here’s the Acorn link. https://acorn.tv/balthazar/
Now, reading has been a bit slow for me, which I’m trying to catch up on, as I have reviews due. I’ve had a knee problem that has interfered with my focus. But, my most recent read is one from last year that I can’t believe I hadn’t read before now. I know you enjoyed All the Queen’s Men/A Three Dog Problem, too, Lesa. I am so entertained by this new series by S.J. Bennett about the Queen investigating murders close to her through her Assistant Private Secretary. I got quite involved in reviewing this book, as I provided links to some of the rabbit holes it took me down. Here’s the link to my review: https://www.readingroom-readmore.com/ You can also scroll through to see what else I’ve been reading and enjoyed this year.
And, I have to add one more comment. Most of you probably did this last week, but I have to tell my favorite Raven Lesa how proud I am of you. You so deserved that award. It’s like it was made for you. Now, hopefully I can get some reading in today.
HI Lesa, Glad you made it home safely and had a great time. Congrats on your award! I am listening to the audio of 22 Seconds by James Patterson. In print, I am reading the Wicked Widow by Beatriz Williams and may pick up The night of many endings by Melissa Payne. It centers around a group of people including a librarian who take refuge in a public library during a storm.
Oh, I never heard of The Night of Many Endings. If you do read it, Katherine, you’ll have to let us know what you thought.