This week, if you’re even able to read, I hope you found an escape. I’ll admit yesterday was a terrible day for me. So, I picked up something that will have humor, a mystery, and some Christmas. I’m going to need that kind of book for the next four years.
I reserved Jenn McKinlay’s A Merry Little Murder Plot at the library. It’s the fifteenth Library Lover’s Mystery, and the first one set during the Christmas season. During the most wonderful time of the year, famous author Helen Monroe arrives in Briar Creek to be the writer in residence, but her “bah humbug” attitude excludes her from the many holiday celebrations the town residents enjoy. To try to spread some Christmas cheer, library director Lindsey Norris invites the new writer in town to join her crafternoon club. Helen politely refuses and when an altercation happens between Helen and another patron, Lindsey begins to suspect the author has been keeping to herself for a reason. Another newcomer, Jackie Lewis, reveals she’s visiting Briar Creek to be near Helen because she believes they are destined to meet. Having dealt with a stalker in the past, Lindsey feels compelled to tell Helen about Jackie, as she suspects that Helen is unaware her “number one” fan is in town. When Jackie’s body is later discovered in the town park beneath the holiday-light display with a copy of Helen’s latest manuscript in her hand, the reclusive novelist becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her self-proclaimed mega-fan. Helen’s frosty demeanor melts when Lindsey offers her help, and now the librarian and her crafternoon pals must prove the author innocent before “The End” becomes Helen’s final sentence.
So, what about you? Are you reading this week? Let us know, please.
I’m quite concerned about the next four years myself.
It’s been a strangely busy week over here, full of time-consuming errands of various kinds. Therefore I’ve only been able to finish one book.
MURDER IN HIGHBURY by Vanessa Kelly
A cozy regency mystery featuring several characters from Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’, taking place not long after that novel ends.
Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley have not yet been married for a year, when Emma and her friend Harriet come across a dead body. Unlikely though it is, their acquaintance Miss Bates is accused of the murder by Dr. Hughes and Constable Sharpe. As these two men seem particularly inept, and because she wants to prove the innocence of Miss Bates, Emma naturally takes matters into her own hands as she attempts to uncover the identity of the true murderer – much to the distress of her poor husband George.
The author does a great job of making us feel we are simply reading a continuation of Emma’s life – the tone and the characters’ foibles and ways of speaking are so similar to the original novel; and it’s fun to meet all of them again and see how they end up contributing to the story. There are several suspects and red herrings galore. I enjoyed the book, and there were many witty lines and passages. Sometimes things got a teeny bit repetitive and long-winded but
over-all it was a fun, light read.
Oh, and it’s not necessary to have read the original ‘Emma’ as the author explains things perfectly along the way.
Sending hugs, Lindy. That’s all I can do.
Thank you! And, thank you for the comment that you don’t need to have read Emma to read Murder in Highbury.
Goodreads is giving away 100 copies if you are interested. Ends in 4 days.
Hello, all. Yes, it’s a disturbing time, to say the least. But I have to say that the week started with some good news for me. In my meeting with the spine doctor on Monday, I learned that I can indeed shed both my neck brace (which I have worn night and day for 12 weeks after my accident) and the back brace which I had to put on again about a month ago. The neck and spine are healing well, so I’m free! I can’t wait to get a haircut next Monday. My sweaters are now much easier to get on (the neck brace made it difficult), and I feel I have a lot more freedom to do tasks around the house. The doctor even said I can drive short distances, although I don’t yet have a new car. I’m sure my son will be relieved when he doesn’t have to drive me everywhere, although he’s been great about it. I’m not exactly looking forward to driving again (a nurse told me I would have PTSD about the accident), but it will certainly be more convenient. I’m thinking it will be at least a couple more months before I’m hopefully back to normal, as I still have an aching back and a lot of stiffness, but progress is being made.
I just (within the past 15 minutes) finished my third book this week:
There’s nothing like a Steve Cavanagh legal thriller to keep me glued to the words on the page (or in my case, the screen on my iPad Kindle app). In WITNESS 8, Cavanagh continues to exert his wild imagination to come up with a tense, compelling story with some familiar characters. Eddie Flynn, a con man-turned-defense attorney, faces particularly long odds in his 8th adventure, as the overwhelming evidence against his client seems unimpeachable. John Jackson is a greatly admired pediatric brain surgeon, living a privileged life with his supportive wife in a neighborhood that includes only the very wealthy. With no apparent motive to murder a woman who lives in the neighborhood but with damaging evidence against him, he relies on Eddie to determine what really happened and identify possible suspects. Eddie is a street-smart lawyer with a unique, impressive team that takes on only clients they consider to be innocent. He isn’t afraid to insinuate himself into potentially dangerous situations as he doggedly pursues the truth to exonerate the defendant. But the real star of the story is Ruby, who describes her painful early days and her current situation as nanny and housekeeper for the residents of this exclusive neighborhood. How does she figure in how the plot plays out? You have to read the book to find out, as I it would be unforgivable to spoil it for you It’s a story full of crooked cops, killers-for-hire, social dynamics, mental health, and almost unbearable excitement. I will definitely keep on looking for new novels by Steve Cavanagh. (March)
Susan Mallery’s latest, BEACH VIBES, is set in beachside Malibu, but the title is misleading. The story has little to do with the setting (except for some surfing scenes) and much more to do with family dynamics. Beth and Rick are siblings who were briefly in foster care when their inattentive mother, a devoted adventurer and risk taker, died, and they were later taken in by their aunt and now-deceased uncle–Beth still lives with Aunt Agatha. Rick is now a brilliant physician, while divorcee Beth, who once saved money for culinary school, is the successful owner of a popular sandwich shop. Jana is a single mother and part-time community college student who lives with her brother, a widower with three lively children, while dreaming of going to nursing school. When Beth and Jana meet when volunteering at a local food bank, they gradually become fast friends, but when each meets the other’s family, it leads to heightened emotions, romance, and unexpected betrayal. In my own family (going back a couple of generations), two brothers married two sisters, but it doesn’t go nearly as smoothly in this story. Even though the conclusions are telescoped early in the plot, it didn’t ruin the ending for me. The main characters are well drawn and mostly empathetic, although one is devious and cold, with little chance for redemption. I loved the four children, who behaved as children would at their ages. I particularly found 12-year-old Magnolia engaging, as she tries to take on the role of substitute mother for her younger siblings. Although this isn’t my favorite Susan Mallery novel, I found it engrossing and sometimes surprising, which is always a good thing. (March)
In Elise Hooper’s novel, THE LIBRARY OF LOST DOLLHOUSES, Tildy is the dedicated head curator at the Belva Curtis LeFarge Library in San Francisco, and it’s her job to know everything about the library. So she is shocked, one day, to find a secret room she never knew existed. In it she discovers a large, intricately detailed dollhouse, a miniature of the Paris home of library founder Belva LeFarge, including tiny copies of some of the paintings currently hanging in the library. A second dollhouse is even larger, in the fashion of a British country estate. Tildy is excited , imagining that a display of these dollhouses might help bolster the library’s dwindling funds, but she is taken aback when she finds, in the LeFarge dollhouse, a small portrait that is instantly recognizable as her own deceased mother. What follows is the tale of Tildy’s attempt to look into the history of the dollhouses after discovering that the artist was Cora Holt. The story is told in two timelines–present day and the early to mid-20th century. Cora’s life takes many fascinating turns, including interactions with real-life celebrities, travel, war, a celebrated painting, and romance. But dollhouses are her greatest passion, as she aims to incorporate in each one the hidden stories of its owner’s life. We follow the lives of both Tildy and Cora and their families in alternating chapters, and it makes for a breathtaking, entertaining read. On one hand, I enjoyed following both women in their quests and their character development. But I equally enjoyed reading about the details of each dollhouse, which are beautifully described by the author, who based the story loosely on her research. I highly recommend it for readers who are looking for something unique. (April)`
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that you’re healing well. That must have been a great day indeed when you could take off that neck brace. I don’t know how you coped. With any of it.
I quite like the sound of The Library of Lost Dollhouses and have immediately added it to my list of wants.
Congrats on getting rid of the braces, Margie.
Wonderfully good news Margie. I’m happy to hear you’re on your way to “all better”.
Margie! That’s the best news that you can get rid of the braces. As you said, small steps, but you’ll get there. I can certainly see why you might have PTSD after that accident. You still need to take care of yourself.
That certainly doesn’t sound like a Susan Mallery book! Or, maybe I just haven’t read one of hers in quite some time.
The Library of Lost Dollhouses sounds fascinating!
Great news, Margie. I had a long-term thing (which I won’t give the graphic details of) during the pandemic, so yeah, months are a long time.
I recently read a Steve Cavanagh – KILL FOR YOU, KILL FOR ME – and it was pretty exciting. I’ve never read his series books, though.
Margie! What wonderful news!! You have handled all this amazingly well.
Now I’m off to find THE LIBRARY OF LOST DOLLHOUSES!
Maybe we’ll see you in Folsom soon!
I’m furious and also bereft. I don’t know where I’ll find comfort. Thank goodness for our little rescue mutt, Cammie. She’s literally our support doggy right now.
I love historical mysteries and just got Jacqueline Winspear’s last Maisie Dobbs from the library. I’m looking forward to reading it. I’m also reading one of my own books, the draft of my 4th Vintage Cookbook Mystery, and whipping it into shape.
Love and support to all. xoxo
That’s how I feel, Ellen – angry and bereft at the same time. I’m glad you have a rescue to support you.
I had a call from a close friend yesterday. He was just checking in to see how I was doing. I needed that.
I’m about a quarter of the way into WE THREE QUEENS, the latest Royal Spyness book from Rhys Bowen. As usual, she’s slowly working up to the murder. We’ve got a house of uninvited guests and a Hollywood studio using Georgie’s house for exteriors for a movie. Should be interesting once it really kicks into gear.
They always seem to take a little while to get going, don’t they, Mark?
My escape reading has been the book Rosemary mentioned last week, THE DIARY OF A YOUNG NATURALIST by Dara MacAnulty. The autistic teenager living with his family in Northern Ireland shares the joys and struggles of his 14th year. Much of it is about the nature he sees all around him and the value it brings his life. The audio book is narrated by the author.
I thought of you, Lesa, and your enchantment with Ireland when I requested THE SLOW ROAD NORTH (How I Found Peace in an Improbable Country). Rosie Schaap writes of moving to Ireland to heal from a series of tragic losses. “Wasn’t grief – along with the stunning coastline, the poetry, the pubs – one of the things Ireland did best?” Some portions of the memoir were beautiful, but overall lacked the focus I was expecting.
I did find an interesting rabbit hole, The Irish Landmark Trust. A nonprofit that refurbished derelict historic properties to rent to vacationers.
A more satisfying story, WELCOME TO GLORIOUS TUGA by Francesca Segal. With a veterinarian at its center, a cast of distinctive local characters, and an absorbing plot, this delightful story is set on a fictional tropical island in the South Atlantic, where the closely related residents are entangled in each other’s business.
And a couple short reads:
TWO OLD WOMEN (20th Anniversary Edition): An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis. From the tradition of the Athabascan Indian in the Alaskan Yukon.
Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling Ernest Cunningham mysteries, EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET. Set in the Blue Mountains of Australia with presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly calendar of clues. Backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. The suspects are all professional tricksters, masters of the art of misdirection.
I like the sound of The Slow Road North, MM, but not if it lacked focus. Thank you for reading it for me!
I could use something short, and I have a copy of Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret. I may have to try it.
I’m so glad Dara McAnulty’s book is providing an escape, MM. i enjoyd the way it covered both his closeness to nature and an insight into what it’s like being neurodiverse in a sometimes hostile world.
I found I needed lighter books to read this week and I suspect it’ll be that way next week too. I have a couple of nonfiction books out from the library but I just can’t concentrate on them right now.
I read a book I picked up in a used bookstore because of the title, LOVE IN THE TIME OF FRIDGES by Tim Scott.
The description from Goodreads – “New Seattle Health and Safety. Do not die for no reason.” This is the motto of a city so obsessed with the danger of sharp corners that it has almost forgotten how to live. But Huckleberry Lindbergh is about to find his trip to the city most decidedly unsafe . For a chance encounter leads him into the heart of a dark conspiracy. And in order to stop it, this former cop is about to do something so unsafe—so monumentally stupid—that its reverberations will be felt all the way to the Pentagon.
Soon he is on the run from more authorities than he has had hot meals, his staunchest allies a bunch of feral fridges that give new meaning to the words “chill out.” But sometimes a dose of chaos is just what the doctor ordered, and Huck’s quest to remain among the living teaches not only him but those around him the true meaning of survival . . . in all its forms.
This comes across as an author trying to be the next Douglas Adams but not quite pulling it off.
NIXED IN NEW ORLEANS by Kristen Painter is a paranormal mystery featuring Jack Frost’s daughter Jayne and her necromancer husband Sinclair. On their way back to the North Pole they stop off in New Orleans to visit an old friend of Sinclair’s. When the friend’s pet sitter is found dead they get involved in the investigation.
And my favorite book of the week was NIGHT OWL AND EARLY BIRD by Christopher Denise. Sometimes you just need a good children’s picture book.
You are so right, Sandy. “Sometimes you just need a good children’s picture book.”
I’m glad you mentioned that Love in the Time of Fridges comes across as trying to be the next Douglas Adams. That’s what your description reminded me of, even before I got to that comment.
Now that the future looks terrifying, I’m glad I’m almost finished listening to Louise Penny’s THE GREY WOLF, which is about a frightening plot that–I assume–Gamache is about to solve in the nick of time. Luckily, I’m reading THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE (Richard Osman), which is both funny and sad but not disturbing. (Reality is disturbing enough.)
After very much enjoying Terry Shames’s THE TROUBLING DEATH OF MADDY BENSON, I’m planning to read her second to last book next (GUILT STRIKES AT GRANGER’S STORE) or the first book in her new series, PERILOUS WATERS. I think my next listen may be Peter Grainger’s SONGBIRD. Are you all familiar with him? He’s a Brit who writes excellent police procedurals with Sergeant DC Smith. The first is AN ACCIDENTAL DEATH.
You’re right on both counts, Kim. The future looks terrifying, and Gamache will solve the crisis in the nick of time. Not a spoiler. You knew that.
I’m glad you enjoyed Terry Shames’ book! I really like that series.
I have a copy of An Accidental Death on my TBR pile. Time! I just need time, which I might have in the next four years if I just hibernate.
All I can say is, I’m glad we’re old.
But, moving on. We saw a very good concert on Monday, which I probably mentioned already, so feel free to skip this. Steve Earle’s 14 year old son is non-verbal, severely autistic. He is in this wonderful school, The Keswell School, which has a one to one ratio of teachers to students. Naturally, it is expensive, so Earle foes an annual fundraising concert for the school, usually in December. This is the 10th annual concert and the seventh we’ve been to, all at Town Hall on 43rd Street. The artists sit in a line on stage and rotate songs. This year’s performers were Earle (of course, Jackson Browne (for the second time), Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, and Margaret Glaspy. Very entertaining. We also stayed over in a Marriott nearby.
To books, then. Jackie read another Christine Feehan book in one of her many series, BETRAYAL ROAD (the Torpedo Ink motorcycle club, not her favorite series but she liked this one), and is now reading a Cynthia Eden book, BURN IT DOWN (Phoenix Fury book 3).
I did buy three of Bill Crider’s early Sheriff Rhodes books in Kindle editions for $3.95 each, and now have 20 of the 25 on hand (for eventual rereading). Also picked up Barry N. Malzberg’s COLLECTION MYSELF: The Uncollected Stories, which I’ve started.
I did finish two books. The first, previously mentioned, was Murder Most Confederate: Tales of Crimes Quite Uncivil, edited by Martin H. Greenberg. This is a collection of newly written stories (in 2000) about the Civil War, mostly in the later stages in the soon-to-be-defeated South, by a group of outstanding mystery short story writers, Doug Allyn, Ed Gorman, Edward D. Hoch, Brendan DuBois, John Lutz, etc. If you find a copy it is well worth reading.
Lydia Davis is mostly a short story writer, specializing in very short stories, as short as a paragraph or a page, the longest being maybe five or six pages. I’ve read a couple of her collections and have two now from the library, and I am reading Can’t and Won’t currently.
I’ve mentioned before that I am a big fan of time travel in books, and some of my favorite books (TIME AND AGAIN) are in that sub genre. Blake Crouch’s Recursion is sort of science fiction time travel, with a major GROUNDHOG DAY feel to it. The two main characters are Barry, an NYPD detective who has never gotten over the death of his 11 year old daughter in a hit & run years earlier, and Helena, a brilliant neuro scientist trying to invent something that will help with her mother’s encroaching Alzheimers. I enjoyed this one a lot, for the most part. I’ve tried a couple of Crouch’s other books in the past but couldn’t get into them at all, but this one really struck a chord with me.
I’m between books while waiting for the new Paula Munier and Margaret Mizushima books to come into the library, so went with another science fiction book I’ve had on the Kindle for a while. Fredric Brown was a fun and versatile author, in both the mystery and science fiction fields. He won an Edgar Award for his first mystery, THE FABULOUS CLIPJOINT, in 1948. For a great mystery/sf hybrid, read his NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK. But I want to talk about his What Mad Universe. Keith Winton is the editor of a science fiction pulp magazine (the book came out in 1949). A rocket that was supposed to reach the Moon fails, and crashes near his boss’s estate in the Catskills, where Keith is spending the weekend. He finds himself in a nearly identical alternate universe where people seem the same, for the most part, but purple Martians walk the street and interact with people, coins have been replaced with “credits” and a Moon shuttle lands every day. Keith has to run for his life, go back to New York and try and figure out what is going on and, presumably (I’m only halfway through it), how to get back to his own world, as well as win his crush, Betty. It’s a perfect escapist book for this week.
Jeff, I’m wishing right now that I was older and could get through this.
Thank you! I’ve been waiting to see what show you and Jackie went to. Sounds great. And, I have a personal question that you might not want to answer. Did Jackie work for Marriott? You’ve mentioned Jackie and Marriott together before.
Someday, you’ll be glad you have those Bill Crider, Sheriff Dan Rhodes books.
What happened was, when she retired and we first started going to Florida for the winters, we stayed at her parents’ apartment in Delray Beach, which had been inherited by her sister. After 5 years, her sister retired and was going to use the apartment, so Jackie went looking elsewhere. We ended up at a Residence Inn (by Marriott) in West Palm Beach. Residence Inns are mostly for long-term customers – business people who work in a particular area for weeks or months at a time, people moving to a new area while looking for a home or waiting for the home to be ready. One woman we met had a husband (they lived in the Seattle area) who built boats for rich people, then sailed them around to Florida, where they finished them, and she stayed in the hotel for the winter. You get breakfast every day and room cleaning service, etc., there was a pool and a small exercise room, and back then they provided an evening snack/meal three nights a week, later two, and now none. We had a one bedroom suite, so separate bedroom, two televisions, , plus the full kitchen – refrigerator, etc. It was right off I-95 and perfect for our needs, and always at least relatively affordable. We stayed there for two months or more for 9 years.
The other part is, if you stay a certain number of nights per year at any Marriott, you become a Member – Gold, Silver, etc. We were told that you needed to stay 10 years to get permanent status, but we got it after 9 years, and now are Permanent Titanium. So we get certain perks and don’t have to stay 50 or 75 nights a year anymore. So we almost always stay at Marriotts, here, on the road to Florida, when we go away in the summer, etc.
More than you ever wanted to know probably.
Not at all. Thanks, Jeff, for filling us in. I was curious.
Good morning everyone! We are finally having a rain-free day today. So great to see the sun!
I was happy to receive the new book “Fighting Words”, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, from our local library. A powerful book about finding one’s voice and one’s way in the face of adversity. Two little girls – Della and Suki – taking care of each other in spite of the setbacks that they encounter. Sexual abuse, an incarcerated mother, no place to call home. But through the assistance of kind strangers the girls survive – and eventually thrive. I loved her earlier books, and this one did not disappoint.
I also read the novella by Sophie Kinsella, “What Does It Feel Like”. This is basically a fictionalized – but mostly true – account of Sophie’s battle with brain cancer. She was diagnosed in 2022 and has made a stunning comeback. The amount of fortitude on her part to get to where she is today is truly to be admired. I am not certain if she is cured/in remission, but I hope that she is!
Hi Mary,
That sunshine makes a big difference. It sounds as if you needed books about women overcoming obstacles this week. Thank you for sharing them!
I thought we all need this from First Sip this morning:
My grandmother once gave me a tip:
In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.
Do what you have to do, but little by little.
Don’t think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.
Wash the dishes.
Remove the dust.
Write a letter.
Make a soup.
You see?
You are advancing step by step.
Take a step and stop.
Rest a little.
Praise yourself.
Take another step.
Then another.
You won’t notice, but your steps will grow more and more.
And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.
– Elena Mikhalkova
Oh, Ann. We do need this.
Ann, i love this so much. Thank you.
Ann, these are such wise words. They can apply in so many situations and are definitely worth remembering. Thanks so much for sharing them.
I went into a deep grieving process for two long days over the election. The shock part was the longest part, anger and hopelessness and now I accept what happened and I am in the fighting mode. I lost a friend who voted for Trump and gained two!
That Boutwell biography really helped, I wrote the author to thank him and we are hoping that a movie will be made of it.
I thought I would turn to reading to escape grief but it didn’t work. I started The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. I keep reading the same words over and over again then I switched to word find puzzles while I watched painful election analysis. Now I can feel myself recovering and getting stronger to fight.
Carol, Thank you for getting ready to fight. I was just in shock yesterday. And, then, last night a friend called just to check and see if I was okay. We talked for two hours about light subjects, including old TV shows. (Remember Alf?) I needed that. David is so considerate to check to see how I was doing. It helped.
I loved Alf!
Hi Lesa — I just finished the wonderful Margaret Mizushima’s newest K-9 mystery, Gathering Mist. I think she upped her game on this one with non-stop tension (my favorite). Pacing is awesome.
Now I’m reading The Haters by Robyn Harding. It’s a very scary tale about what can happen to an author on social media. It probably makes all writers have second thoughts about getting published. 😀
Hi Patricia. I finished Jenn McKinlay’s book last night, and, it too, had a lot about what happens when authors have so much presence. It is scary. I think it can be frightening for anyone who has a social media presence.
I think Margaret Mizushima needed to finish up her family ARC. Gathering Mist was so much better.
Yesterday was a gloomy rainy day that fit my mood. Not only was I horrified at the presidential election results, but I was also disappointed that Sherrod Brown will no longer be the Senator for Ohio. A sad day indeed.
Two books for me this week. I finally got around to reading Funny Story by Emily Henry. It’s been reviewed here several times. I am up and down with Henry’s books, but I enjoyed this one a lot. Kate and Myles were terrific characters.
My second book was The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman. I found this one very endearing. A dual timeline story about a couple in their 80’s reconnecting at their retirement condo in Florida. The earlier storyline dealt with Augusta being one of the first woman pharmacists. The chapters are short, and it was a quick easy read.
The sun is shining and we start again today.
Happy Reading!
You’re right, Sharon. We start again today.
I think we all needed easy reads this week.
Sending hugs to everyone who is grieving.
I know, I was shocked that he did not get re-elected. Awful.
I’m having a very hard time focusing, so reading has been impossible for now. I did read a book last week that pulled me right in and held me until the end.
Randy Susan Meyers’ The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone
Seven Children. Five Mothers. One idyllic commune. What could go wrong?
Annabel Cooper wants to save the world. Her story begins in 1964 with her journey to Freedom Summer in Mississippi, where the disappearance of her first love ignites a lifelong fight for justice. Years later, she, her husband, and four other couples form a Boston political collective where they live together with their children in a rambling Boston house. As the era’s social upheaval intensifies, they move their children to a Vermont Eden, where they can remain safe from the world’s threats; their parents continue their political work, taking turns traveling to Vermont to care for the children.
But not all danger comes from the outside.
Annabel’s daughter, Ivy, yearns for normalcy, not the patchouli-soaked, natural-food-laden confines of Vermont. But mostly, she longs for Annabel’s attention-until a cataclysmic event alters the course of all their lives and she learns the limits of her many mothers and fathers.
The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone delves into the intricate and nuanced dance of familial love and communal ties through the lens of sociopolitical upheaval from the 1960s to the present day, examining which sacrifices are worth the price.
That sounds like a good read Kaye, i will look out for it.
And the Rebecca Solnit you mention in your next comment sounds perfect for today. I do believe we have to keep on fighting, but It’s hard and any book that can offer us some encouragement must be worth reading.
Rosemary, I am finding the Rebecca Solnit book to be exactly what I needed (aong with a LOT of Oreos). 😊
I’m sure it’s going to take a while to feel even halfway back to normal, Kaye. And, you were already dealing with the trauma of the hurricane. It’s a difficult time in so many ways.
I love you, Kaye. I’m sending hugs, but that’s not enough.
No reading for me either, too much fear and anxiety, sadness too. My adult children and I will take a few days to mourn. We have decided to get more active in doing what we can to help protect and support people and causes that will need it.
Hopefully, back to reading soon. Margie, am very happy to hear the healing process is going well! Some much needed good news!
Oh, Jennifer. Thank you for what you and your adult children are doing for the future. We all have to do what we can, even if it’s only hugs and encouragement on a site like this where we can all gather to mourn. Then, we’ll fight again.
What I decided to read today and am now happy to recommend it!
If you’re a Kindle Unlimited member it’s available for free
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
by Rebecca Solnit
“[A] landmark book . . . Solnit illustrates how the uprisings that begin on the streets can upend the status quo and topple authoritarian regimes” (Vice).
A book as powerful and influential as Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, her Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of activists at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them—and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.
Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argues that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Now, with a moving new introduction explaining how the book came about and a new afterword that helps teach us how to hope and act in our unnerving world, she brings a new illumination to the darkness of our times in an unforgettable new edition of this classic book.
“One of the best books of the 21st century.” —The Guardian
“No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that’s marked this new millennium.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author of Falter
“An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten, and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout ways.” —The New Yorker
Maybe I should reread it. I need something.
Oh, Kaye. This sounds like a perfect book for the times. Thank you.
I’m reading Liars Island by T. Orr Munro. It’s the ARC of a mystery that’s due to be released later this month. I’m only 10% in so it’s a bit early to give an opinion but I’m enjoying the book so far. Just in case you or any of your followers is curious, this is the description:
When the body of Kieran Deveney is found on Liars Island, it sends shockwaves through the tiny, close-knit population. The rugged coastline has a history of smuggling and shipwreck, but there has never been a murder – until now.
With the hunt for the killer underway, two locals confess to the crime. Each claims they acted alone, and neither can be convicted while the other stands by their story. Which of them is telling the truth?
CSI Ally Dymond arrives to uncover the evidence that could crack the case. What she finds is a community awash with secrets. As a storm closes in, and with the identity of the murderer still in doubt, no one can leave the island. But it’s not the treacherous weather that Ally fears, it’s the people she’s trapped with…
Oh that sounds good Marleen! Is Liars’ Island supposed to be in the US or the UK?
The book is set in the UK, Rosemary on a fictional island off the Devon coast.
Thank you Marleen.
There was a lot of smuggling off the Cornish and Devon coasts on times gone by. Maybe there still is, though I think the smuggled items would now be rather different.
Oh, I like the sound of Liars Island, Marleen. I just finished a February release, The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey, set on an isolated Scottish island. Sounds similar. I hope yours is as shocking as mine was at the end.
I’ll have to keep an eye out for the Wolf Tree, Lesa. I’ll be writing a (long) review for Liar’s Island which I will be sharing closer to or on the release date (November 21).
Good evening everyone, from a cold and cloudy Aberdeenshire.
The shock waves from your election are being keenly felt here too. I have seen and heard from a few friends, all of whom are just stunned and horrified.
One of my friends said ‘How could ANY woman vote for that man?’
I think most of us are behaving in a somewhat ostrich-like manner, trying to avoid the news – but I was driving today and there it was, every hour, same old stuff.
AllI can say, and I doubt it will be any comfort, is that we suffered 14 years of Tory governments, and those governments were some of the most extreme we have ever had the misfortune to endure. The old Conservative party is long gone, and has been replaced by racist, selfish, mysognyistic people who are interested only in making more money for themselves and their wealthy friends. David Cameron took us out of the EU – one of the worst political decisions in our history – and yet he is still giving after dinner speeches and writing books, adding still more to his huge fortune. And as for Boris Johnson – don’t be fooled by his court jester act, he is lazy, incompetent, selfish, entirely without empathy, and really quite stupid.
I am saying all of this because after what felt like a never ending diet of hard right, mean and damaging policies, we have now – at last – got rid of them, and have a Labour government back in Downing Street. I think we began to feel it would never happen – but it did, people got fed up with the Tory party in the end – and whether or not one agrees with the current government’s policies, they are at least governing in an adult and respectful fashion, getting down to business and working hard. Their cabinet is not one of photo-opportunities, lockdown parties, financial favours for their friends, or rules that apparently don’t apply to the wealthy. Change does come in the end – or at least it did here.
But it does seem to us that America is very different from the UK. We have more than our share of dreadful people, but what we don’t have is the obsession that some Americans seem to have with ‘pioneer spirit’ – which unfortunately now seems to mean big guns, no taxes, and unspeakable attitudes to anyone ‘different.’
But I am a foreign national so really should not be having any opinions at all – apologies. I just want to send a lot of empathy and love from Scotland to you all. We feel your pain. And like you, I imagine, we feel so powerless. Which is exactly how we felt in the seemingly never-ending years of Tory rule.
To other things.
I am just back from Edinburgh (yet again) – I was there primarily as a base from which to visit our youngest daughter in Glasgow. We had a lovely day with her on Tuesday, she took us to a super-cool cafe (so cool that it took them 30 minutes to serve 3 coffees, but hey ho…that’s the price of coolness I suppose…) then we all went to the Modern Institute to see the Jeremy Deller exhibiton, which we loved.
Deller is a very political artist, with a great interest in the power of collective action and community. The exhibition includes the full-size model of a cafe in Bury market. Bury is a small northern town, and Deller spent time there and made a film of the people he talked to.
Another film showed the huge bouncy castle he erected at Stonehenge, and also video of the Lord Mayor’s Show, which is an historic and very odd parade that goes through London every year. Representative from all of the old trades and professions of the city either walk or ride on floats – so we see everything from ‘The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers’ to the Society of Actuaries. All are dressed up in ceremonial gear. I used to be taken to see this as a child, and I have to say I found it very boring, but Deller has pinpointed the innate strangeness of this very British event, and watching it through his lens was quite fascinating.
Deller is very interested in banners, and together with another artist has designed many embroidered with political and social messages. They are often plays on well known quotations – eg there is a John Betjemen poem that contains the line;
‘Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough’
(Betjeman loathed modern architecture and was very snobbish about it.)
Deller has amended this to;
‘Come friendly bombs and fall on Eton’
(Eton being the most elite and expensive public school in the country – most of the Royal males were educated there, as were most male Tory politicians.)
Last weekend I went on a guided walk around parts of Aberdeen – ‘Walking with Witches’. It was led by Rebecca Stephen Kendle, who has a PhD in something to do with feminism/women’s rights; she was excellent and made the morning so interesing. She took us to the St Nicholas Kirkyard, which has many ancient graves, where she pointed out the tower in which some women accused of witchcraft were tortured. We then saw the Tolbooth, which was used for similar purposes, and the Mercat Cross (market cross), from where news was disseminated, and at which public executions were held (and were very popular.)
There were appallling witch hunts throughout the the 16th and 17th centuries, led by King James VI of Scotland and I of England, who was obsessed with the idea and believed that witches caused everything from bad weather to crop failure and illness. Anyone could accuse anyone else of witchcraft. Almost every person executed for witchcraft during that time was female. Any woman who was not prepared, or able. to toe the line was vulnerable. As Rebecca said, we may say that this no longer happens in Scotland, but it does still happen in some countries (especially some African ones), and whether we call it witchery or something else, people are persecuted everywhere for being ‘other’.
This is all too true in the UK at the moment. Anyone who is not rich, white, straight and male is a potential target. Non-white people, LGBT people, Travellers, women in general…the list is endless. Refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants (but only from certain countries of course – the UK opened its arms to people fleeing the war in Ukraine, for example, but has no interest in helping the people under bombardment in Gaza.)
On Monday we had an all day meeting at the art gallery to decide on the award of the micro-commissions for 2025. It was a long day! But very interesting, and so good to see so much new talent emerging in the area.
And this morning I walked with a friend and her dog at Crathes Castle here in Deeside. And yes, she was another one who was so stunned by what has just happened that she could hardly bear to speak about it.
Books – I almost forgot!!
I am just about to finish SALVAGE by Mark Baillie, which I think I mentioned last week. This is Baillie’s debut novel; he is of Gypsy Traveller heritage.
In 1928, Nash Lucklow’s widowed mother is struggling to look after her four sons and little daughter Jenny. The local council wants to remove Gypsies from their area, so they swoop in and tell Nash’s mother that they are taking Jenny away because she is being neglected. (This is patently not the case.)
Fast forward to 1983, and Emma Lucklow is the first person in her community to go to university. Her father (Nash’s nephew) Spence has married a ‘gaj’ (non Traveller) woman and settled down, but his wife has now left the family, so it is just him and Emma.
Nash tells Emma of his memories of Jenny; he still has the doll she dropped in the mud when the men dragged her away. His one last wish (he is dying) is to find out what happened to Jenny. So he and Emma start to investigate – but at every turn they are stymied by the lack of records. A year after Jenny was taken, a new Act of Parliament was introduced requiring proper procedures and documentation around adoption – but it was a year too late for Jenny, who seems to have disappeared without trace, just like many other Gypsy children.
Emma finds out that few children over the age of 5 were adopted – people were (and still are) deeply prejudiced against the travelling communities, and did not want the older children. They were left in the ‘care’ of barbaric, unregulated children’s homes, often run by religious orders, where they were the victims of brutal punishments.
Meanwhile Nash, Emma’s father, is dead against her search for Jenny. He feels no good can come of it. And in the meantime Emma is neglecting her studies. Like most people in his community, Nash has a well founded fear and dislike of the local authorities and the police, and does not want Emma to ask them questions. He works as a door-to-door carpet salesman (‘hawking’, which he and boys like him learned from their fathers at a young age, having been taken out of school as soon as they could start earning money) and is failing to make ends meet. He thinks Emma is also wasting her time at university and would be better off going into business with him. He is – as is traditional in the travelling community – fiercely protective of Emma and terrified that she will meet someone at college and end up pregnant.
In fact, when Emma does meet someone, that someone is the last thing Nash expected. But Emma finds it hard to reconcile her own background with the far more entitled lives of many Edinburgh university students.
I have been so impressed with this book. The writing is excellent, I would never have thought it was a first novel – many experienced novelists turn out work far less polished than Salvage. Although this is a story based in history, it at no times feels like a lecture – it is instead a real page turner, easy to read, fast paced and shocking. I’m desperate to reach the last chapter and find out what happens.
Before this I read Graham Norton’s HOME STRETCH, which I probably spoke about last week, so I won’t go into detail here except to say that I enjoyed this look at what a cataclysmic event (in this case an horrific car crash) does to a whole community, its aftershocks being felt for decades to come. Norton also examines the deep-rooted Catholic conservatism that governed almost everyone’s behaviour in Ireland for generations, and caused so much misery and pain, again for anyone who didn’t conform to the church’s happy families template.
I haven’t watched much television this week, but can I just give a shout out to Schitt’s Creek for anyone looking for short, light, entertaining episodes in a series that also has an increasingly warm heart and wonderful, nuanced characters who, deep down, behind all the saracsm and bickering, care for one another so deeply. Eugene and Dan Levy are such fabulous writers (as well as actors) – there is far more to Schitt’s Creek than simple comedy, and I think that, in the end, its fundamental message is one of empathy, tolerance and love.
Tomorrow I am off to visit my friend Karen, and to see her new house for the first time. I have just been baking Nigel Slater’s Frosted Orange Marmalade Cake to take with me. Cake is especially good in times like this, don’t you think?
That’s me for this week. I’ll be thinking of you all, my American friends. We may never have met in the flesh, but Lesa, your Thursdays are such an important part of my life and I do feel I know everyone who comes in to chat.
Thank you, Rosemary.
Thank you, Rosemary. We can all use support from “outsiders” right now, especially someone who has suffered as we’re about to do. Thank you.
And, you don’t feel as if you’re an outsider. You’re such an important part of Thursdays here. So many of us enjoy your descriptions of your travels, your participation in the arts and culture of Scotland. Thank you.
Salvage reminds me of what the U.S. and Canada put Indigenous people through, taking children from their families.
I’m so grateful for your comments and support. Thank you.
Thanks Lesa 🙂
PS I’ve just read this piece by Michelle, a Mid-West teacher and blogger. Paula Bardell-Hedley highlighted it on her own blog, Book Jotter. I thought some of you might find a little comfort in it;
‘Going to Bed Not Knowing What World I’ll Wake Up To
November 5, 2024/ Michelle at The Green Study
On election night I’ve been torn between anxiety and fear and anger. The results are rolling in slowly. The Harris campaign was such a positive one – we were allowed for a moment to imagine lightness. But the grievance-driven, resentment-fueled politics of the authoritarian right is still a presence, looming and dark, smelling of spite and vengeance. I thought about VP Harris winning and what a relief that some of our institutional structures could be steadied, that progress would actually have a chance. Then I wondered, where will all that racism and misogyny go? How can we move forward as a country with so much violence simmering beneath the surface? Where will all the hate go?
Then I realized that I was asking the wrong question.
I thought about joy and love and compassion and empathy – the kind that feels an obligation to others, the kind that protects the vulnerable and stands up to bullies. If the demented narcissist wins, where does all that love go? It’s still here. It has life. It has purpose. It will be needed. I’m going to bed shortly, not knowing what I’ll wake up to. Either way, I know it’s critical to shake off the weariness, to look for the helpers, and to care for myself so that I’m healthy, rested, and ready for the days ahead, because there are people in all of our orbits who need care and support. Privilege and empathy meet pragmatism – these are the tools of progress. Never underestimate the importance of centering and grounding oneself in personal integrity – to fend off the vapidness and vitriol of politics, propaganda, and social media. The future is unpredictable, but it always was. As the kids say, touch grass.’
Rosemary, we’ve been asking ourselves your friend’s question for months, and yet – clearly – many women did vote for him. It’s appalling.
We’re up to the fourth and final season of FAT FRIENDS. Thanks again for recommending it, as Jackie is already planning on rewatching it someday. It looks like there is a new (third) series WHITSTABLE PEARL on now. We’re watching SILENT WITNESS (series 7, I think) and finished series 6 of MI-5 (SPOOKS).
I’m so glad you both enjoyed Fat Friends, Jeff. And I wish I could watch Whistable Pearl, but it’s on a streaming channel we don’t have.
Though I’m still thinking about getting Disney Plus just so that I can watch Jilly Cooper’s RIVALS !!
Thank you, Rosemary. I agree with Jeff. We’ve been asking these questions for a long time. Maybe some were the wrong questions. But, I like this post.
I don’t know why the election results were such a shock for me, I knew it could happen, but it was huge disappointment and I have just felt numb ever since then. We had a visitor from out of town yesterday and overnight and that helped take my mind off of the results. It hasn’t affected my reading, although I suspect I will be seeking out more feel-good books for a while.
In the last week, I finished reading TWO NIGHTS IN LISBON by Chris Pavone. It is a fast-paced thriller, very hard to put down. It was a bit too long. But I liked it a lot and I look forward to the author’s next book.
Now I am reading ALIAS EMMA by Ava Glass, the first book in a relatively new spy fiction series. I am close to half way through it. I may be reading a lot of spy fiction along with feel-good books, because I get lost in those stories easily.
Glen is reading 1940: FDR, WILKIE, LINDBERGH, HITLER—THE ELECTION AMID THE STORM. Interesting but slow going, he says. I like reading about that time period, leading into World War II, so I will check it out when he is done.
Both of your books sound interesting Tracy.
Predictably my library doesn’t have either of them, but it does have other books by both authors, so I have added them to my list.
And I know what you mean, a spy thriller can be a good way to lose yourself and forget the outside world for a while. I was listening to a Slightly Foxed podcast this week; their topic was a new biography of the late author John Le Carre. It seems his biographer, Adam Sisman, was quite limited in what he was allowed (by Le Carre, alias David Cornwell) to reveal whilst Le Carre was alive, so now he has been able to write a fuller version of the first book.
The discussion of books like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Soy Who Came in from the Cold made me want to re-read them – I read most of them when I was still at school, and I imagine vast swathes of the plots went right over my head (though if I understood them better on a re-read, it would probably only be thanks to seeing the TV series and films.)
There was an interesting anecdote about how Alec Guinness came to be cast as George Smiley – a role he fitted perfectly in the TV series, though I do think Gary Oldman also did a good job in the later film.
From the sound of it, Cornwell was a complex character (his father was a con artist, so his childhood ricocheted between wealth and poverty depending on whether one of this father’s nefarious schemes was bearing fruit, or he was instead detained at Her Majesty’s Leisure in Pentonville Prison.) Cornwell was a serious womaniser; I don’t know how his long suffering wife (who did all of his typing) put up with it.
Spy fiction and feel-good stories. Tracy, it’s important right now to find the books that will allow us to escape. Take care of yourself.
How did we get our minds off things? We got a new refrigerator and had it delivered and installed on Wednesday. Between that and transferring all the food from the old one, and having the old one removed, it really worked. Hard to believe but it was 30 years old, more or less. It still worked and but of late (the last couple of weeks) it had gotten very noisy – probably the fan. We were actually going to replace it last year, but the doorway into our kitchen (it is a pre-war building) was only 28 inches wide and we had to make sure it would fit.
Well that’s a novel distraction Jeff!
Your point about the width of your door reminded me of when my friend Heather ordered a new and very expensive leather sofa from John Lewis. One of J Lewis’s conditions is that you have to measure everything to make sure the item can be delivered to the room you want it in. If it can’t be delivered, they will not refund your money.In Heather’s house this was up a flight of stairs. She thought they had measured everything correctly, but when the delivery men arrived, the wretched thing would not fit. Fortunately the guys were persistent, and eventually just managed to squeeze it round the corner of the stairs and into the sitting room.
Heather had to have a large gin after that.
Being with everyone on this blog today has really helped. Thanks for lifting my spirits, and of course, adding to my tbr pile.
Jennifer, That’s the kind of support and comment we all need right now. Sending hugs.
Distraction reading sounds great! My current reads are “The Author’s Guide to Murder” by B. Williams, L. Willig, and K. White on audio, The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly
by Margareta Magnusson in print and on my kindle a netgalley of A Very Bad Thing by JT Ellison.
I hope you enjoy The Author’s Guide to Murder, Katherine.i’ve heard good things about the Ellison.
I worked the election. It was a long, hard day, made harder by a worker who was completely incapable of dealing with people. It took ten of us to put out his fires and clean up his messes. By the end of the day, I was sure he was from Lovecraft’s Innsmouth.
To be honest, I was surprised it was as close as it was. Harris was simply not prepared, even though she had four years to get ready. Tim Walz was the absolute worst choice for VP she could have made. Had she chosen Josh Shapiro, she very probably would have won. Trump, to his credit, was much more disciplined and buttoned down this time. We weren’t getting tweets at quarter to three in the morning every day like before. He chose a sane, and young vice president, who seemed to reassure people. Well, no matter who wins an election, I’m going to keep cracking my egg on the small end.
This week I read:
Of Men and Spiders by Steven Hayden; Two kids are left on a forest planet, and bond with a spider creature. There’s a lot of talk about family, but pretty much all of it was stuff Charles Manson used to say, too.
Dorothy Parker in Hollywood by Gail Crowther; It’s exactly the biography you’d expect a militant vegan feminist to write about Parker.
A Quiet life by William Cooper; a guy clicks a phishing email, and ignites a war, and has the alphabet soup after him and his Iranian paramour. This should be a parody or a spoof, but isn’t.
Last comment:
I picked up two more books at the library yesterday afternoon:
Pasula Munier, THE NIGHT WOODS. Mercy Carr may be eight months pregnant, but she (with Elvis) refuses to take things easy, of course.
Lee Child, SAFE ENOUGH and Other Stories. 20 non-Reacher short stories, because you can never have too many short story collections.
I remain amazed that folks chose a convicted felon over a very competent woman who was extremely clear about what the plan was under her administration. Hate and corruption won and we all, and the world, will be way worse off for that.
As to books— Got THE WAITING by Michael Connelly in eBook from the library. I was so looking forward to it. It was such a disappointing read from start to finish that I am not even going to bother trying to review it. It did not even read like he wrote it. It read like somebody doing the new book in a dead author’s series deal. I know he was very busy working on TV stuff when he was writing this one, so maybe that was the problem. Bosch is barely in this one and that did not help.
By the way, CBS Saturday did a feature on him this morning that covered the new book, how he goes about stuff, and a little bit about the future for Bosch.
I moved on to ECHO by Tracy Clark. This is the latest in the “Detective Harriet Foster Thriller” series. It comes out next month. I enjoyed the two previous ones and recommend reading the series in order as things occur that tie in. I am 4 chapters in and that has already happened along with a new case.