The weather has been great, and I enjoyed my trip home for my mother’s birthday. I know how much she enjoyed it. Her three daughters were home. Her granddaughter came to visit on Friday evening. And, two of her “adopted” daughters, my sisters’ best friends, spent time with us. My brother-in-law came for church and dinner on Saturday night. We had lunch with her youngest brother and his wife. And, we went to a craft show down at the park. Her grandchildren called to wish her happy birthday. She loved all the family time.
I didn’t read a thing while I was gone.
Right now, I’m reading Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island, the first John Corey novel. Aubrey Hamilton recommended it, saying John Corey reminded her of Virgil Flowers from John Sandford’s novels. I don’t see much of a resemblance, except for some humor, and they both love women. DeMille wrote an introduction to this edition, saying he didn’t plan to make it a series, but when it became a bestseller in 1997, his editor wanted the next John Corey book. I’ve read 345 pages, out of 576. It could have used some editing, especially when it came to the chapter about the tour of Plum Island. It felt as if we saw every square foot of that facility.
Two scientists were murdered at their home, shot in the head. While all the investigators, local police, FBI, CIA, seem satisfied that the couple were trying to steal a vaccine, and make a killing, Corey isn’t quite so comfortable with that theory. He knew the couple, and he thinks something else was going on, so he continues to investigate.
Good book, but I have so many other books to read that I doubt I’ll continue with the series. However, I recommended it to a brother-in-law, and he finished it, and picked up the next two.
What about you? What’s going on in your life? What are you reading this week?
Read and recommended Plum Island years ago. Was not so thrilled with book two and on.
Current read is PITCH DARK by Paul Doiron via NetGalley.
I don’t know if I’m going on with the series, as I said, Kevin. Too many other books to read, including getting back to my Bill Crider books.
I’ve never read a Paul Doiron book.
Start with THE POACHER’S SON. Mike Bowditch is a Maine Game Warden. Things happen. Less political that the Joe Pickett series by CJ Box.
I’m a big fan.
I think that’s where I went wrong. I’m not interested in the politics of the Joe Pickett books, and I was thinking these were similar.
Hello, everyone! My week of looking in on my son’s dog while he and his family were in Maui has ended (breathing a sigh of relief). It was decided after 3 days that we’d have to keep Margaux in overnight because she whined in the dog run in the early mornings and she couldn’t have the run of the yard as usual since there is currently no gate that can be closed (pool being constructed). Only once did she make a run for it and I had to find her in the neighborhood. Quite stressful, but she is a sweetheart. We had some nice walks in the park. And she didn’t make even one puddle in their house, even after 12 hours inside. I celebrated today by getting a much-needed massage! Thankfully, my reading week was much less stressful.
In ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY by Susan Mallery, Christmas is coming, and 54-year-old Julie Parker is looking forward to spending two weeks with her much younger boyfriend, Heath. But when her two adult children, Dana and Nick, want to spend the holiday at the family’s 6000-square-foot “cabin” in memory of their recently deceased father (Julie’s ex), she can’t say no. Little does she know that ultimately there will be a dozen or more people–family and others–living together for 10 days. And most of them have issues. Julie hasn’t told her children about Heath. Dana is still recuperating from her third (!) breakup with Axel, an employee at Julie’s towing company. Nick is recently married to Blair, whose long-estranged mother suddenly moves nearby and manages to alienate everyone, and he hasn’t yet told his mother he doesn’t want to take over the family’s towing company. Heath’s ex-wife wants to go on a vacation with her boyfriend, so their two young children also need a place to spend Christmas. And that’s just the beginning! Even with the many featured characters, Mallery does an expert job at making each one distinct, detailed, and even relatable. And most of them undergo significant development during that 10-day period. Are things tied up too neatly at the end? Possibly, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. This is a Christmas-adjacent book, but it’s really all about family dynamics and what really matters. I thoroughly enjoyed it. (October)
It is difficult to articulate how I feel about Jeannette Walls’ 2023 historical novel, HANG THE MOON, set in Virginia during Prohibition. (I read it for a book club.) The central character is Sallie Kincaid, daughter of powerful Duke Kincaid, the head of an empire that includes extensive land leasing, a mammoth Emporium, and many other lucrative businesses. He is also the person that everyone in town comes to when they have a problem. But Duke’s personal life is tempestuous, and he banishes Sallie at an early age to live humbly with a relative for nine years. When she returns at age 18, willful Sallie’s self-imposed challenge is to find her rightful place in her father’s empire, while treating people with respect and dignity. The plot includes so many deaths (by murder, suicide, and disease) and so many traumatic events that it is hard to keep track of them. There are also many twists where we are surprised by revelations of family history that were unknown to Sallie. I couldn’t help thinking of it as a type of soap opera. Sallie, who narrates the story, is definitely an interesting person, but I was never able to engage with her. There is one scene where she suddenly starts speaking in less perfect English (e.g., ain’t, don’t), which is jarring and unexpected. A scene I particularly enjoyed, however, is where two rival rum running gangs build their own tanks and have a shoot-’em-up faceoff. It comes off as more hilarious than it should. I have enjoyed three books by Walls before, including her affecting memoir, but this was a little over the top for me.
Halloween is on the horizon, and New Orleans is gearing up like crazy, as it does for all holidays. In Ellen Byron’s third Vintage Cookbook Mystery, FRENCH QUARTER FRIGHT NIGHT, Ricki James-Diaz, proprietor of the vintage cookbook and housewares shop in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, is looking forward to participating in the festivities, along with her friends and coworkers. But trouble looms when popular movie star Blaine Taggart moves into the mansion next door, and one of his staff is soon found dead in a haunted house tomb that is part of the upcoming Festival of Fear. Ricki immediately feels involved because she blames Blaine in part for the death of her ex-husband. And she learns that the murder victim, who was a stranger to her. used her as a reference to get the job with Blaine. What ensues is a typical cozy mystery plot, written by a seasoned writer: a fun and fascinating plethora of characters, some of whom are murder suspects; a delightfully entertaining Big Easy setting heightened by Halloween season merrymaking; the reappearance of Ricki’s errant boyfriend, and Ricki’s quest to find family members she has never met. I appreciated the opportunity to spend time with familiar characters and meet new ones, and although the reveal of the murderer could have been better grounded, I found this book easy to read and ultimately satisfying. (September)
ALL THE WAY GONE, the fourth in Joanna Schaffhausen’s Detective Annalisa Vega novels, is definitely one of the creepiest in the series. That’s because it centers on a highly regarded doctor who is the subject of a book called The Good Sociopath. He is indeed a sociopath, but is he a good one? The book’s author, Mara Delaney thinks so, but she’s not so sure. She hires Annalisa, now a private investigator and married a second time to her ex-husband, Nick, to investigate Dr. Craig Canning. If she determines that Dr. Canning is responsible for the death of a woman who fell to her death from her balcony, Mara will be discredited, her book dropped, and she will have to return a quite healthy advance. At the same time, Nick’s 17-year-old daughter is doing some of her own investigating. She wants to find her very ill girlfriend’s long-lost mother to convince her to donate a kidney to her daughter. But she doesn’t know what a hornet’s nest she will stir up, putting her life in danger and driving Nick crazy with fear for her safety. It’s a twisty plot, as always, and the suspense is palpable. Dr. Canning is truly a scary character, but is he guilty of the crime? I enjoyed the thrills and the surprising conclusion of the story, but there wasn’t as much about Annalisa’s backstory with the police force and with Nick as I would have liked. (August)
Margie, you have made me add another book to my long long wish list. How distressing! Still, you’ve made One Big Happy Family sound so interesting that I must read it.
Margie, I wondered how the week of dog sitting was going to go, so I’m glad you told us. Poor thing, Left alone by the people it loves, and couldn’t have the run of the yard.
I’m afraid I’m going to skip your books this time, although I do read Susan Mallery occasionally. But, life in that cabin sounds like a mess.
What a wonderful birthday your mom must have had Lesa, It always feels so good to get together with the whole family.
SO much rain earlier in the week here in Vancouver; one felt soaked right through just looking out the window, never mind going out for a walk.
I managed to read two books this week:
MINOR DISTURBANCES AT GRAND LIFE APARTMENTS by Hema Sukumar. I liked this book. It’s set in a small apartment block in Chennai, India. Mani owns the building, and the story mainly revolves around his three tenants and their various ‘minor disturbances’ – family issues, a recent break-up, career troubles, pressure to get married. Oh, and some not-nice-at-all developers who want to tear down the building, and what will happen to these tenants when their homes no longer exist?
This is not a fast-paced story, nor is it a plot-driven novel, and truthfully not a lot actually happens, plus it takes a little bit till we’re immersed in the goings on – and yet somehow it doesn’t seem to matter. We the readers get to sit back and just enjoy the gentle interactions between both the main and the secondary characters while wishing them well; and the descriptions of life and food in Chennai; and being reminded of the importance of friends, family, and hope. An easy read, we are simply transported into the everyday lives of people one would like to spend some time with.
I also read KNIFE SKILLS FOR BEGINNERS by Orlando Murrin. I hadn’t known that the author was a semi-finalist on BBC’s Masterchef and that he has written several cookbooks, so I was quite looking forward to reading this, his debut novel.
Paul is a chef who agrees to fill in for his injured friend Christian, also a chef – by giving cooking lessons to a group of adult participants at an expensive residential cookery school. Very soon there is a murder at the school and it seems everyone, including Paul, comes under suspicion. It’s a good premise for a story but somehow the book left me feeling a little underwhelmed. The biggest problem for me was that I couldn’t dredge up much sympathy for the main character; I just didn’t warm to him. Upon reflection most of the characters seemed one-dimensional and not terribly interesting, so after a while I didn’t much care who had committed the murder or why. This is the first book of a planned series.
You’re right, Lindy. It’s always good to have family time.
I like the sound of Minor Disturbances. Sometimes, you just want a story of ordinary life without a great deal of drama.
Sounds like too much rain, if you felt wet just looking at it!
I read Plum Island a few years ago. Took me back to the time “conspiracy theory” wasn’t wasn’t some sort of insult.
Been very hot, but should cool down a bit for Father’s Day.
I went to a concert at Hard Rock Casino. Ambrosia, with guests Al Stewart (Year of the Cat), John Ford Coley (I’d Really Love to See You Tonight), and Peter Beckert, the lead singer of Player and Little River Band. It was a great show with photo montages projected around. I got to go back stage for a while and hangout. These guys are all septuagenarians so there wasn’t a bacchanalia, but I drank a nice cab and talked about The Beatles with bona fide rock stars, which was cool. The drummer, Burleigh Drummond, gave me a cd he made with his family band.
This week I read:
Perfume by Patrick Suskind; A man with no scent of his own, makes the best perfumes in the world in 17 Century France. Vincent Price would make a great movie with this material. Too bad we have no equivalent today.
Book, Line, and Sinker by Jenn McKinlay; It pirate week at the library, and a salvage company is in town looking for Captain Kidd’s treasure. Her ex is in town to try to win her back. Oh, and the local grandstanding politician is murdered. Pretty entertaining. They have a supporting character do most of the TSTL moments.
The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester; A canal digger notices he can trace history by the fossils he finds. Of course, the scientific establishment tries to destroy him. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Urgent Calls from Distant Places by Marc-David Munk; A doctor goes to Africa to succor the sick and injured. Cue Toto.
The Man Who Forgot to Remember by Bill Garwin; A memory specialist is read the list to access a retiring mafioso’s retirement fund. He can’t find it in his mind. Road trip! Better than I thought it might be.
Decaffeinated Corpse by Cleo Coyle; A friend of our sleuth’s ex-husband and business partner creates a naturally decaffeinated coffee bean that retains the full flavor. Everyone is sneaking around for some reason, and there’s a murder. Not bad, but nobody behaved rationally. Too much caffeine, I guess.
Old Scores by Will Thomas; After Japanese delegates visit Cyrus Barker’s garden, one of the delegates ends up dead. The puzzle is entertaining, but just reading the descriptive copy tells you how it’s going to end. It’s really unavoidable.
A Dame Called Murder by Milton Ozaki; Fairly average 50’s PI novel featuring boosting, an activity much in the news today, which makes this more interesting than it otherwise might be.
The Nine Lives of Bianca Moon by Delas Heras; In a world like post WWII America, only populated by anthropomorphized dogs and cats, a piano falls on a reporter. The reporter becomes a ghost and helps the cops solve his murder. A strange ending, I thought.
The Detective’s Apprentices by Shane Uhio; in a world where hacked AI caused civilization to almost collapse, a pair of newly minted PIs try to find out who murdered a famous PI they knew. They go to New Topeka to find out. The mystery is abecedarian, but the setting makes this one stand out.
Wow, I haven’t heard the name Milton (K.) Ozaki in years, Mark. He was quite the character. He also, by the way, wrote as Robert O. Saber. Ozaki’s father (as his name might indicate) was Japanese, his mother American/. He lost a leg as a child. The one thing I remembered from 50 years ago was, as well as being a writer, he operated a beauty parlor (the Monsieur Meltone beauty salon) on the Gold Coast in Chicago. What I didn’t know was, according to Wikipedia, he ran phony mail order colleges (like Trump University?) in the 1970s. His novels were set in a thinly disguised Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he lived, though he died in Reno, Nevada. His writing, as Mark said, was pretty mediocre. His personal life was more interesting.
Sorry, Glen, not Mark.
My bad.
Glen, I love the sound of your experiences at the Hard Rock Cafe. It’s sounds as if the whole thing was fun.
We’re about to get your heat – 90s starting today, and continuing into next week. I know it’s not the 100s as in Arizona, but it’s a little too warm.
I’m glad you enjoyed Jenn McKinlay’s book. And, it sounds as if you had some good reading this week.
Glen, your concert sounds wonderful. How did you manage to be invited backstage? What a treat!
I went to a 50 wedding anniversary about 2 years ago. I saw somebody I hadn’t seen since I was a teenager, which is much longer ago than I care to admit. His father’s brother married my grandmother’s sister. We hit it off, and started doing thing together. Turns out, his wife is related to Burleigh Drummond. Burleigh wanted to see his cousin, so all 4 of us (I had a date) were invited backstage.
Fantastic! What a great story. Glad you had such a good evening.
So glad you had a great time with your family.
I’m heading out in the morning (should be in bed already) to be in a friend’s wedding in Southern Illinois Saturday. It will be nice to get a couple of days away from work. I really need it.
I’m currently working on an ARC of REQUIEM FOR A MOUSE, the 16th Cat in the Stacks Mystery from Miranda James. So far, I’m enjoying it, although I did feel it was a little uneven in the first third. I’m expecting it to start picking up based on what is happening at the moment.
You’re right, Mark. It was a little uneven to start with. Love this series, but I wonder if James is getting a little shaky on the plots.
Enjoy the time away from work!
Having finished it on the plane trip today, it’s better than the last one, but not up to the best of the series.
I’ve been dealing with selling my mom’s house so not much reading time. We’ve been cleaning out what’s left after the moving sale, town inspections, and signing loads of paperwork for the sale. Plus running back and forth to my mom’s assisted living facility because she has lots of time to read and keeps wanting more books.
I did read a very short children’s book, Catwings by Ursula K LeGuin about a family of kittens born with wings.
Good luck, Sandy. At least the sale should be finished soon.
I read Catwings years ago. Charming story.
Lesa, sounds like you had a great family weekend. Nice.
My mother was a big Nelson DeMille fan. I agree with you, though. He needs editing.
We had a good time over the weekend too. Our concert was excellent and there was a very different vibe to the hotel. The Long Island Marriott is virtually across the road from Eisenhower Park, where they held the India-Pakistan match of the cricket World Cup on Sunday, and the hotel was packed with fans going to the game, probably 90% supporters of India. I learned something about cricket during all our visits to England over the years, as our good friend Bob was a big fan and used to listen to Test Match games on the car radio.
But I digress. Books. Last Thursday I did finish Second Variety, the collection of Philip K. Dick stories (I have the next collection at the library waiting to be picked up) as well as Marcia Muller’s Circle in the Water. It’s not that it wasn’t a good book, but it certainly didn’t have the excitement of some of her earlier Sharon McCone books. I don’t know if there will be any others or not, but I will certainly read them if there are.
For fans of Tony HIllerman, it was a good thing when his daughter continued his series after he died. Although the Anne Hillerman books announce themselves as “a Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito book,” that hasn’t really been true for the most part. “Legendary Lieutenant” Joe Leaphorn has retired and had a long recovery from a gunshot wound, and it took him a long time to recover. In most of the books, he has a small role – either he is just mentioned, they speak to him on the phone, or he has a small role. Jim Chee and his wife, Bernie Manuelito, have (understandably) become the heart of the series, until now that is. Suddenly, in her ninth book, Lost Birds, Joe Leaphorn (now a PI) takes center stage, and it is a good thing for the series. Chee and Manuelito still play important roles, but Leaphorn is at the heart of it. He is looking for a missing woman, and there is a tie-in to Bernie’s case with an explosion at a school and the subsequent discovery of a dead woman in a car. Could this be the missing woman? And Leaphorn is also trying to discover if a woman who was adopted as a child was one of the “lost birds” – adopted out of the Navajo tribe by a white family before that was prohibited. I found it faster moving than some of the previous books in the series, and definitely recommend it. And for once Bernie does not get herself in jeopardy.
Current reading: as usual, I have a couple of short story volumes going, and these are two very different ones. First is Stephen King’s latest collection, You Like It Darker. I’ve read all of King’s previous story collections, short and long, so there was never a chance I wasn’t going to read this. The seven short stories have been published previously – I’d read one (“The Turbulence Expert”) in an anthology (FLIGHT OR FRIGHT) that King edited. The five novellas were all previously unpublished. So far, so good.
The other is The Collected Stories of Carson McCullers. So far, I can’t say I love it, but it keeps me reading.
I did start the second volume of the Theodore Roosevelt biography but haven’t read more than the long prologue covering the days following the McKinley assassination so far.
Last month, Lesa recommended a new book that she “loved” that sounded good to me, even without the Longmire comparison, Nolan Chase’s A Lonesome Place for Dying, and my copy came in the the library last week. I haven’t read enough yet to rate it, but it is certainly off to a good start. New Police Chief (in far northwest Washington State) Ethan Brand is welcomed on his first day as Chief with a death threat taped to his front door. Then the body of a murdered young woman is found on the railroad tracks. This one has definite potential.
Jackie finished her “space opera” science fiction romance, Shades of Dark, second in Linnea Sinclair’s Dock Five series, and liked it enough that she immediately went on to book three in the series.
A good week of reading, Jeff, kicked off by an enjoyable weekend. I’m glad it all went well.
Anne Hillerman did a good job picking up the series after her father’s death. I haven’t read the most recent books, but a friend is addicted.
I hope you continue to enjoy A Lonesome Place for Dying.
I don’t often do what Jackie just did, go from one book in a series directly into another. I’m glad she’s enjoying her reading!
The weather is unseasonably hot here. We’ve had several days of triple-digit temperatures, most unusual for June. Three brush fires started near Reno earlier this week, spreading over hundreds of acres. It’s looking to be a long summer.
I just started the fifth book in the DI Fawley series, THE WHOLE TRUTH. The book begins with a recap of major characters – “Previously…in the Fawley Files”. I consider the characters a highlight of the series and it was interesting to read the author’s synopsis of those characters. Thanks Lesa for featuring the sixth book here a few days ago.
I can understand the popularity of another cast of characters after reading my first Karin Slaughter book in the very popular Will Trent series, AFTER THAT NIGHT. But the book seemed overly long, the subject matter too dark and the underlying premise too unrealistic to be enjoyable.
Much better was A RISING MAN by Abir Mukherjee, the first book in the Wyndham and Banerjee series. Set in Calcutta in 1919 during the British Raj. Good murder mystery, but even better historical fiction. I think there are several more in this series
And I think I have Margie to thank for recommending Phaedra Patrick. I’ve been listening to THE LIBRARY OF LOST AND FOUND. “Filled with Phaedra Patrick’s signature charm and vivid characters, The Library of Lost and Found is a heartwarming and poignant tale of how one woman must take control of her destiny to write her own happy ending.”
Fire season. It doesn’t sound good, MM. Take care of yourself.
I like Cara Hunter’s DI Fawley series. I do wish I had started at the beginning, though. Like you, I like the characters.
MM the series by Abir Mukherjee is terrific. I think there are about 6 books so far. Abir also does a podcast with Vaseem Khan (who has himself written 2 good series set in Bombay) called Red Hot Chili Writers. Both authors are well know in the UK and getting larger following here. I recommend both authors.
Thanks for the info Susan. I did enjoy the perspective.
Hooray for seeing some sun and temperatures in the high 70’s/low 80’s!
This week I read the book “Every time I go on vacation someone dies” by Catherine Mack. I remember Lesa reviewing this book and warning us about the amount of subtitles – there are a lot. Should you read this book, I discovered that it’s really not necessary to read the footnotes – they are usually just snarky comments about one of the other people in the book. I won’t go into an actual review, as it’s already been done. I don’t think that I would pick up the next book in the series.
But I did listen to the start of another series that I do like. Again, I think I read about the private detective Nils Shapiro on this blog. The first book, “Gone to Dust” introduces Nils, who lives in Minnesota. He very competently helps the local police department solve the mystery around a murdered woman who is totally covered in dust from a large quantity of vacuum bags. His investigation introduces many suspects, including the dead woman’s ex-husband, her current boyfriend, a past boyfriend, and a daughter that she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager. Good plot and a main character that the reader can be sympathetic to – I’ll be reading the next one.
Lastly, we have been watching the series “Death in Paradise”. I am guessing that Rosemary recommended it. We are now on the 3rd season and enjoying it immensely. Unfortunately, the main Detective inspector, Richard Poole, who we grew to really enjoy, bows out of the series and a new DI joins the cast. I have to assume that he does a good job as there are many seasons left in the series, but we will dearly miss the actor Ben Miller as the original DI.
Yes, Mary. I did suggest the Nils Shapiro series. I ended up reading the second, and so never went back, although Barbara Peters from The Poisoned Pen says that victim covered with vacuum cleaner dust is one of the best devices she ever saw. But, I knew too much after reading the second book for a review.
I agree. I enjoyed Catherine Mack’s book, but I probably won’t pick up the next one.
Mornin’, all! Happy Thursday at Lesa’s.
Did I squeal loudly upon receiving the second in the Nora Roberts Lost Bride Trilogy, The Mirror?
Oh yes. And did I enjoy it? Oh yes.
Description from NetGalley
#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts continues the hauntingly spectacular Lost Bride Trilogy with book two, The Mirror.
When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming, the music playing, are not figments of her imagination. In her dreams she sees glimpses of the past. In the present she finds portraits of brides. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets.
Then one night the mirror appears and Sonya glides through this looking glass, into the past—and sees a bride murdered on her wedding day, the circle of gold torn from her finger. It is a scene that will play out again and again—a centuries-old curse that must be broken—and a puzzle she must solve if there is any hope of breaking the curse.
I have it, too, Kaye! So pleased to hear you loved it. I love her trilogies, but sometimes the second isn’t as good as the first and the third. Now, I really can’t wait to read it!
Kaye, I was envious when some NetGalley reviewers were bragging about getting the Nora Roberts book from the publisher, but today and tomorrow it is Read Now, so I grabbed it. I think I’ll have to review my highlights from the first in the series before I tackle this one, but I’m excited! Another book that is Read Now on NetGalley is the new Tracy Clark mystery, Echo. I loved the first two in the series, so I’m excited about this one as well.
I used to read a lot of Nelson DeMille back on the day, along with Ludlum, Forsyth, Deighton, Le Carre – loved them! I my have to go back and re-read DrMille’s Gold Coast to see how it stands up today.
Sorry about those typos!!
What typos? Skimmed right over them.
Hi all, we are in the middle of moving to Providence, RI so I haven’t had much time for reading. I loved “The Paris Novel” by Ruth Reichl and immediately sent a copy to my husband’s uncle, who lived in France for a while. I also shared the copy of Off the Air that I won here with a friend who works in local news, and she started it last night. I’ll keep my eyes open for the new Anne Hillerman.
Trisha, where are you now? I can ask since you’re moving. I hope it’s a good move.
I loved The Paris Novel, too. I’m so glad you’re sharing books!
We are now in Providence, hooray! My goal is to unpack 10 boxes a day until we are done. That goal will be easy to make on the days we unpack books,
Two books this week for me.
I enjoyed The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan. When the Blitz hits a London neighborhood and local library it moves to an underground tunnel. This was based on the Bethnal Green Library.
I really loved Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay where Emily takes a job as an author’s assistant as well as clerking at a bookstore in Ireland to escape her overbearing mother. It got a tad too sentimental at the end, but I was totally into the storyline, characters, and setting,
The heat is arriving at my house today too. But with open windows last week, I can’t really complain.
Glad you had a great time with your family, Lesa.
Happy reading!
Thank you, Sharon. I enjoy a sentimental ending to a romance, so Love at First Book worked completely for me. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I suspect I’d like The Underground Library, too.
Happy Reading!
Good afternoon from a damp and dismal Edinburgh. I’m so glad you had a great time with your family Lesa. Your mother has some energy!
We came down to Edinburgh last Thursday, expecting to be in Manchester by Friday. Unfortunately our apartment rental fell through – we had booked it through Booking.com but when David tried to contact the owner for the precise address and access arrangements she simply did not respond to emails or texts, and her phone appeared to be turned off.
In the end we contacted the intermediary agent, who was very helpful but had no more luck than we did, so ended up instructing Booking.com to refund our money, which they had no problem with.
So we did not get our three days of sightseeing in Manchester – instead we booked a Travelodge for the night of the concert and just went down for that.
The concert itself was fantastic, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe really know how to put on a great show, and their current backing band is outstanding. Stunning videos too. I did lots of singing and dancing! The Co Op Live is a new venue, and to be honest we weren’t that impressed with it – very basic, very expensive, and an almost complete lack of signage. I don’t think we’d go there again, but I’d see PSB anywhere, they never disappoint.
And in our way up and down the country we discovered two wonderful cafes, one in Jedburgh and one in Penrith, that we’d never heard of before. The Garden Tea Room in Penrith was especially lovely, with delicious scones and jam, and huge mugs of excellent coffee. We’ll certainly seek that one out again.
Having more time than anticipated in Edinburgh, we decided to do some vaguely touristy things for once. The entire city was overrun with Taylor Swift fans (including our daughter-in-law and her friend) but if you avoided public transport and the city centre it was ok. We had coffee at the Portrait Gallery, then saw their excellent exhibition about the coal mining communities of County Durham. An American photographer, Milton Rogovin, had spent time with the miners and their families at the time of the miners’ strikes in the early 1980s. Now another photographer, Nicky Bird, has revisited the same places, and sometimes the same people, to see what happened to them after Margaret Thatcher’s enforced pit closures.
I don’t think I’d ever before appreciated just how skilful photography can be. These pictures were carefully composed to tell people’s own stories. Very impressive.
We then went to the graduate show at Edinburgh College of Art. As ever this was decidedly mixed, but there are always a few interesting things. The best bit is getting such a fabulous view of Edinburgh castle from one of the studio windows.
At this time of year the structure is already up for the famous Edinburgh Tattoo. The tattoo itself doesn’t start till August, but in July it is used for a few high profile concerts – one of them this year is The National. Seeing the wooden seating from the back makes you realise that most of the upper levels literally project over the castle walls, with nothing but a huge drop to the valley below – I imagine most tattoo goers are blissfully ignorant of their precarious position!
(I did want to see The National but David’s refusing to contemplate sitting outside in case it rains, which is more than likely in a Scottish summer.)
So now we’re in leith, off to Moffat and the Eden Festival tomorrow. The weather forecast is quite frankly terrible, but never mind! I’ve packed everything in plastic bags, otherwise it’d probably all get soaked on the way from the car to the glamping area. We’re looking forward to seeing acts like Amadou and Mariam (from Mali), Leftfield, the Zombies, Blazing Fiddles, Valtos, Corto Alto and many more.
As anticipated, my reading this past week has been severely limited. I finished THE CAT WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS by Cleveland Amory, and enjoyed it very much. It’s much less twee than the title might suggest, and Amory has a witty style that I found very entertaining.
Now I’m reading ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE, a novel by Mike Gayle. It’s about Hubert, who arrived in 1950s London from the Caribbean, seeking work. The narrative moves back and forth from his early days working in a warehouse and enduring terrible prejudice and abuse, to his life now as a lonely retired man living in, as it happens, the suburb in which I myself grew up. His wife has died and his beloved daughter is now a university professor in Australia. To stop her worrying about him he has invented a whole cast of imaginary friends, his stories about them becoming so elaborate and complicated that he has to keep notes.
But now his daughter has announced that she’s moving back to London and can’t wait to meet all these non existent people. What will Hubert do?
In the meantime, a new neighbour, a single mum with a small child, is determined to get to know Hubert. He’s not so keen. And now he’s been persuaded to babysit while the neighbour has a job interview.
And that’s as far as I’ve got. Gayle writes very well and his prose flows very naturally. He’s also caught the West Indian patois perfectly (he was born in England but his parents are from Jamaica.)
The Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe programmes are now out – I collected copies of the latter from the Fringe shop on the Royal Mile this morning. Next week when I’m back home I’ll start working out my schedule for August.
The Book Festival has had to refuse further funding from Baillie Gifford, a big financial services company that’s been its major income source for as long as I can remember. A pressure group that opposes fossil fuels has more or less blackmailed EIBF into disassociating itself from this funder, as its members threatened so much disruption if the funding continued that EIBF said it could not guarantee the safety of visiting authors.
There has been a huge backlash against this, and I must say I agree with the many people who think the pressure group has simply chosen a soft target and acted in a very short sighted way. It will be immensely difficult for EIBF to attract further funding, and groups like these will find something unacceptable about almost any funder. The end result may well be that the festival will not be able to run in future – yet it is a high profile arena for debate and discussion about the very issues that the pressure group seeks to highlight. Furthermore Baillie Gifford has made enormous efforts to invest as ethically as possible – but of course it still has a duty to look after its clients’ money.
So – much controversy over here at the moment. I always try not to have a kneejerk reaction to extreme campaigns, as I can remember all too well how radical I and my friends thought we were as students, but on this occasion I feel I have to side with the establishment.
I almost forgot to say, on TV I am watching FAT FRIENDS, an old series about a group of people attending a slimming club. Each week it focuses on one particular character, and as time passes and friendships develop, people begin to realise how pointless and indeed pernicious the whole dieting industry is. Excellent performances from Alison steadman, Ruth Jones, Meera Syall, James Corden and several others.
Anna and I have also been re-watching the very first series of GAVIN AND STACEY. old as it now is (the first series aired in 2007), G & S still stands out for its exceptional observation of people’s day to day lives, its wonderful acting (Alison Steadman, Ruth Jones and James Corden again, here joined by Joanna Page, Matthew Horne, the always delicious Larry Lamb, and the ever brilliant Rob Brydon), and its expert comic timing.
It’s dinner time here so I think that’s quite enough from me.
Have a great week all,
Rosemary
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Too bad about the festival. I think it’s pretty crummy when supposedly legitimate organizations behave like gangsters. Most of them probably never even go to the festival.
Well, you had an interesting week, Rosemary, beginning with your lodging arrangements. I’m sorry those fell through. Not at all sorry, though, that you found two good cafes.
We are so U.S.-centered here. It’s always interesting to hear about the bands you go to see because I’ve usually not heard of any of them! But, I have heard of the Edinburgh Tattoo, and watched clips on YouTube.
That’s so sad about the Book Festival. I chaired the Authors’ portion of a book festival for five years, and I know how difficult it is to get sponsors. I’m sorry that the threats may end up closing it down.
You’ll have to tell us what happens in The Lonely People! Now, I’m curious.
I hope the next week is a good one for you!
Rosemary, I am going to put ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE by Mike Gayle on my wish list, and look at some of his other books to see if I can find something more affordable right now (in ebook format since I am not buying paper books right now).
Rosemary, we are big fans of Gavin & Stacey, especially Rob Brydon’s Uncle Bryn. Jackie was excited to hear that there will be one last Christmas special this year.
We’re up to the final abbreviated series of Scott & Bailey. Finished the latest series of McDonald & Dodds.
We’re watching the tense Trigger Point with Vicky (Line of Duty) McClure.
There are a few Nelson DeMille books that I really liked, namely “The Gold Coast” and “The General’s Daughter.” His novel “Spencerville,” a departure for him in terms of setting and plot, was a great misstep in his long career–stock characters, pat dialogue, cartoonish portrayal of the Ohio Midwest. I remember buying “Plum Island” when it came out, at a time when I wasn’t able to purchase many hardcovers.
I’m currently reading “Honey” by Victor Lodato. What Lodato accomplishes in this novel is much, much more difficult than it appears, in terms of storytelling structure and voice. It’s the exceptional story of an 82-year-old Italian American woman, Honey: glamorous, high-flyer in the art world who returns home to New Jersey after decades in Los Angeles. The daughter of a legendary mobster, Honey comes home and finds unexpected love but also the old complications of being a member of a notorious family where mob crime continues to run intergenerationally through her nephew, Corrado. It’s a captivating book.
I was thinking The Gold Coast was a John Corey novel. Wrong! But, I might look at it, even though I probably won’t read more of the series.
Honey does sound interesting. I hope you’re still going to write a review for us, David!
I have wanted to read something by Nelson DeMille for years but the length of his books always puts me off. Since you liked PLUM ISLAND well enough and your brother-in-law liked it and Kevin liked it, I may give that one a try. Also, Kaye Barley mentions DeMille in the same sentence as Ludlum, Forsyth, Deighton, Le Carre, so I should definitely try something by him. And I see that David C. liked THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER. I saw the film adaptation and liked it.
We have been really busy this week, with doctor appointments and shopping, and are tired and cranky with allergies, etc. On Tuesday the 18th I have my first cataract surgery, and the next Tuesday I have surgery on the second eye, so I don’t know if I will be spending much time on the computer for a while. We will see.
I finished reading two books this week. First there was THE LONELY HEARTS BOOK CLUB by Lucy Gilmore, which I enjoyed very much. I was attracted to it because of the book club and some comments and quotes from books, but I knew the story about lonely (or insecure) people making friends would appeal to me. I was right and all the dysfunctional families were interesting too.
I was reading TALES FROM THE CAFE by Toshikazu Kawaguchi at the same time. It is the second in a series of stories about time travel in a Japanese cafe. There are four connected stories in the book, and I liked all but the third one.
Glen finished DEATH OF A BUSYBODY by George Bellairs, and he liked it, especially the mood, the tone, the characters, the picture of the village. He did not like the use of dialect for some of the characters in the village.
Now he is reading AT HOME: A SHORT HISTORY OF PRIVATE LIFE by Bill Bryson. He is really liking it; a lot of interesting factoids.
Stacking up your reading before your eye surgery. And, just think how much easier it will be to read afterwards, Tracy! Maybe not immediately, but I’m sure you’ll be glad you had it.
I think we’ve mentioned the Tales from the Cafe series here before. In fact, you might have mentioned the first book. I know whoever read it liked it.
I’m glad Glen liked Death of a Busybody. I like Bill Bryson’s facts and humor.
Lesa, I did talk about the first book in theTales from the Cafe series before, I am sure. I do hope that the cataract surgery does improve my vision; I am impatient to get it over with.
I’m going to add The Lonely Hearts Book Club to my list Tracy, it sounds good. Thanks for the recommendation.
Rosemary, if you do get to read The Lonely Hearts Book Club, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It was the perfect book for me right now.
Hi Tracy – I wish you well with your cataract surgery. I’m about a month behind you and a bit freaked out about someone messing with my eyes. Just today went to have them ‘measured’, and will have the first eye done in July. But you’re lucky to be getting your second eye done a mere week after the first one! Here we have to wait about 6-8 weeks for the second one. Good luck! I’ll be rooting for you.
Thanks so much, Lindy. I am glad I am getting the two surgeries close together. I know exactly what you mean about getting freaked out; I am anxious myself. 6-8 weeks is a long wait. I will be waiting to see how your surgery experience goes.