I’m so glad Glen jumped in yesterday to remind me we’re doing What Are You Reading? today. I had forgotten that we’re doing it today so anyone who wants can take Thursday off for Thanksgiving. And, I knew I wouldn’t be around much on Thursday. So, thank you, Glen!
As I said yesterday, I had a week with a little bit of time at the dentist (boo), and then put a few Christmas decorations around just to add some joy and light. I needed that. And, I finished watching the third season of “Sister Boniface” on BritBox. What about you? What have you been doing this week?
It’s been three years since I read Steven Tingle’s first Davis Reed novel, Graveyard Fields. His second book, Buried Lies, came out in October. Here’s what I said about Graveyard Fields when I read it.” In Steven Tingle’s debut, Graveyard Fields, he takes an inept cop turned equally incompetent private investigator, stomps him into the ground, and turns all of his actions into a tragic comedy. I don’t know when I felt so frustrated with a character, and ended up laughing and rooting for him.”
Davis Reed isn’t much better off in Buried Lies. Here’s the description. Former police officer turned private detective Davis Reed is taking refuge in the mountains of Cruso, North Carolina, after a run-in with a biker gang dealt him an unfavorable hand. When respected real estate agent Prentiss Wells is killed by an errant golf ball, Davis has no reason to suspect it wasn’t an accident. But then a wealthy couple hires him to prove the death was murder and catch the killer. In desperate need of cash, Davis takes the job.
While Davis investigates who had the motive to kill Prentiss, Elizabeth Harper, an accountant who stirs butterflies in Davis’s stomach, uncovers a tangled mess of shady real estate deals linked to Prentiss’s firm. As the case garners media attention, Davis must carefully navigate a minefield of secrets and lies.
With the help of his friend Dale Johnson, a local deputy whose mood changes with the wind, and Dale’s cousin Floppy, a mad-genius, motor-mouthed mechanic, Davis sets out to uncover a mystery that runs much deeper than he thinks.
What about you? What are you reading this week?
Hello, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving in advance. I talked a bit yesterday about what my Thanksgiving will look like and what I’ve been doing this week. As an update, today I decided to buy myself a new iPad since mine is about 6 years old, and it doesn’t hold as much of a charge as it used to. The Black Friday price on the Best Buy site was pretty great, so I bought it online, then went to pick it up less than an hour letter at the nearby store. I need to get a new stand for it, including a keyboard, so I’m looking around to see what type I want. It will go on my Christmas list, and I won’t open the new iPad till then (a Christmas gift to me!). I’m, doing most of my reading on my iPad these days. Here’s what I finished so far this week:
It should be no surprise that I love to read almost anything about, or set in, France–particularly Paris. I’ve visited twice, most recently in 2016, and I am the proud recipient of a B.A. in French, which I rarely use but which I’ve never regretted. So I found THE FRENCH INGREDIENT: Making a LIfe in Paris One Lesson at a Time; a Memoir to be an utter delight. When her boss at an international banking company offers her a transfer from London to Paris, American HR professional Jane Bertch is all in, even though she is far from fluent in French and doesn’t have the qualifications for a new assignment in finance. She works at that job for a number of years until she finally asks herself: what do I really want to do? And the answer is: run a cooking school in Paris! The school would not be for chefs in training, but for anyone who wants to try to master French cooking in a comfortable, non-threatening environment. Even though the odds are against an American being successful with such an enterprise, Jane persists, and La Cuisine Paris, founded in 2010, is now the largest nonprofessional cooking school in France. But it was a bumpy road. Not only did Jane have to find and renovate an appropriate location and recruit chefs who were patient teachers but she had to figure out ways to attract students. It’s an easy, engrossing read, as we follow Jane and her team through successful periods and devastating ones–a huge terrorism attack nearby,a halting of tourist air traffic due to volcano fallout, endless strikes of all kinds, and France’s strict COVID lockdown. But the thing I enjoyed most about the book are the revelations about the similarities and–mostly–differences between French culture and especially American culture. If a new resident doesn’t learn quickly, there’s little hope they will be successful in business and personal life. Along the way, we are treated to astuces, or tips for acclimating to French culture, which are invaluable. Chapter names provide hints; examples: How to Tame a Friend, Seduction for Dummies, We All Speak Food, We Only Talk Butter Here, It’s Not Business, It’s Personal. I came away with a much deeper understanding of and appreciation for the French. And as Jane says in the last page, “After all, it is their exuberant love and appreciation of life, friendship, and perfection that keeps me here, year after year, even if, I concede, I will never be French.” Bon appetit!
In MY THREE QUEENS, the 18th entry in Rhys Bowen’s delightful Royal Spyness historical mystery series (all of which I’ve loved), Lady Georgie has recently had a beautiful baby boy and is serenely settling into life in her godfather’s large, beautiful home with her husband, the dashing Darcy. But things quickly get more lively when King Edward asks them to temporarily house Mrs. Wallis Simpson, who is keeping a low profile while the King tries to convince Parliament to approve their potential marriage. Then Georgie’s brother, his disagreeable wife, and their two young children announce they will be arriving to stay while they investigate possible boarding schools for their son. And if that weren’t enough, Sir Hubert, the house’s wealthy owner, tells them he is returning from his travels and is bringing “a couple of dozen” of his new friends–a Hollywood movie crew that wants to shoot some scenes in front of the exterior of an authentic English country home. What could possibly go wrong? This series entry impressed me aa bit lighter than many of the other books, although there are also more serious themes surrounding the mystery, including a kidnapping and, late in the story, a murder. Lady Georgie is one of my favorite characters–devoted to her husband and son but up for adventure when asked for help by the Queen.She is a minor royal but has not lived a privileged or prosperous life. Her flamboyant and clueless but flamboyant mother (Lord Hubert was her first husband) is currently being courted in Germany by a suitor who is friendly with Hitler. Darcy has been working as a spy but is now settling down to hopefully work on more local projects so he can spend more time with his family. And the hapless Queenie is still working for the couple and making gaffes as usual, but is developing into a competent chef. Rhys Bowen is an expert writer who can entertain and intrigue at the same time. I highly recommend reading this series from the very beginning–enjoy!
Christmas gifts to yourself are always the best Margie – you *never* have to be polite abot something you don’t like!
When I was reading your review of The French Ingredient I actually thought at first that it was a work of fiction! I’m absolutely amazed that anyone who isn’t French can succeed in the food industry in Paris. I’m going to look out for that book, thanks for telling us about it.
Thanks Margie. The French Ingredient sounds interesting. I’ll have to see if the library has it.
Oh, I bet Kaye Barley would like The French Ingredient, Margie. And, I agree with Rosemary. Even though it says “A Memoir” in the book’s subtitle, it sounded so much like fiction I was thinking the same thing as I read your summary. I think I’d enjoy that one, too, but finding time is my problem!
How did Wallis Simpson come across in We Three Queens? When I listened to Rhys Bowen talk about the book at The Poisoned Pen, she referred to her as a “bitch”.
I agree. Christmas gifts to yourself can sometimes be some of the best ones.
Happy Thanksgiving, Margie!
Yes, Wallis Simpson did come across as unpleasant–not appreciative of Georgie and Darcy’s welcome, scornful of the way they lived, thinking only of herself.
I did indeed love i!
Margie – Don’t ask me to explain it, but charging your new battery to just 80% extends the life of a battery. Most newer electronics come with the 80% as an optional setting.
Happy Reading!
This week I’ve been continuing with my it-will-never-actually-happen goal of getting most of my Christmassy things done by the end of the month so I can enjoy December in a more relaxed state of mind. It’s slow-going but every little thing I finish is one less thing to do later.
On TV we’ve finished watching The Marlow Murder Club. Quite delightful, and much better than the book. Also started watching an eight-part comedy series called A Man on the Inside. A necklace is reported stolen from one of the residents of a retirement home, and the police hire a somewhat older gentleman to go undercover as a new resident to help solve the mystery. Entertaining so far.
One book read this week:
THE TELLER OF SMALL FORTUNES by Julie Leong
This is a ‘cozy fantasy’.
Tao leaves behind a life that was lived with a distant mother and a harsh stepfather, to travel from village to village with her mule and a covered wagon from which she tells small fortunes to the townsfolk. She makes just enough money to get by, but it’s a lonely life.
A large and somewhat frightening ex-mercenary (who is travelling near and far to find his lost little daughter) and his friend (a reformed thief) help Tao out of a spot of bother. The three end up travelling together and are soon joined by a young woman baker who wishes to experience more of the world, and the four now form a team of sorts, on a quest to find the little girl. A slightly magical cat has joined them as well, although he doesn’t play nearly a big enough part in my opinion.
I loved the premise of this story, and it was a gentle and comforting read. Ultimately though, for me it didn’t have (as someone elsewhere has mentioned) enough ‘grit’. The elements are all there but I didn’t connect with the characters – there was a certain lack of depth to them. And the various conflicts were sorted out too quickly and easily with a surprising lack of real drama. Although it’s a book for adults it read more like a YA book.
Not unusually, I’m in the minority for not wholeheartedly loving the book; it seems most everyone else adores it.
Lindy, I haven’t seen either of those series – I have just been surprised to find that they are both available on streaming services we do, for once, have. When I’ve finished THE MONNFLOWER MURDERS (which I’m enjoying) I’ll give those a try, thank you.
Good luck, Lindy! What a great plan to allow yourself to then enjoy the month of December. I hope you get everything sorted.
I’ll have to check out The Marlow Murder Club. I didn’t care for the book, but that doesn’t mean I won’t like the series. And, I’m ready for something new. I’m all caught up with Sister Boniface, which I love.
I know exactly what you mean with The Teller of Small Fortunes. It sounds as if it has possibilities. Well, darn.
Lesa, I agree. I didn’t care for The Marlow Murder Club either, but the TV adaptation was worth watching, if only for the beautiful scenery and the acting.
Lindy, I’m in the middle of Teller of Small Fortunes right now, and so far I agree with your analysis. As for Marlow Murder Club, I read the first book in the series for a book club and wasn’t impressed. But I’ve heard more than once that the miniseries is much better, and I have recorded it. Looking forward to getting around to watching it.
Last weekend I went to an Indonesian church deal. It was a potluck, and someone brought turkey from KFC, and I ended up bringing a lot of it home. It was better than I thought it would be. It was nice to be able to eat some of the food at one of these things.
It’s been raining every day for almost a week. Supposed to be dry on T-Day, which is good.
This week I read:
Panic in the Panhandle by JC Kinney; An animal removal specialist is called in to a condo in his quirky Florida town. He finds a ten foot long alligator munching on a dead guy. Of course, it’s murder, and everyone suspects the owner of the local alligator farm. Pretty good, although the author tries a little too hard seeking the quirky.
Save the Fate by Mary Karnes; A baseball great is obnoxious. When he returns to his small town, of course he is murdered. The local wedding planner’s best friend is missing, and is the primary suspect, so she investigates. The author inserts a subplot about a domestic abuse underground railroad, and it really doesn’t fit with the rest of the story.
One for the Books by Jenn McKinlay; Librarian sleuth is getting married. Through a mix-up, her long list of wedding invitations was sent out. That’ll teach her to plan a wedding while investigating the murder of the last book! She has at least 3 times as many people coming as she expected. Then the Justice of the Peace who is performing her wedding is mysteriously dead. Sounds like she should have called the wedding planner from the last book I read!
Doc Wilde and The Frogs of Doom by Tim Byrd; For the book club. The grandfather of a family of Doc Savage type adventurers goes missing in the Amazon. Doc Wilde and his two kids go looking for his and find Frogs! of Doom! Pretty good for a kids book.
Glen, was there Indonesian food at this church event or was it just an event hosted by Indonesian people? I might have mentioned before that both my parents were born in Indonesia so I’m familiar with much of the food. I love it but it’s so hard to find an Indonesian restaurant – the two I’ve been to have both closed. The food is very labour-intensive to make so there are only a couple of dishes I will even attempt by myself.
There was Indonesian food. I can’t eat that stuff. There’s an Indonesian restaurant in Sacramento, and a couple in The Bay Area, but I never go, because I can’t eat that stuff.
However, Indonesians around here own a couple of Japanese restaurants, which are great, and I go to them often.
Lindy, I still remember the wonderful Indonesian food we had in Amsterdam in the 1970s. Yum! I keep meaning to go to one of the restaurants serving rijsttafel in New York – you can pretty much get anything here – but we never have done.
Thanks for your response Jeff. My husband and I visited my grandmother in Holland in the mid-70s and I too can still remember the Indonesian meal we had at a restaurant there! Weird to still be able to recall that meal and the restaurant itself.
I just dug out my diary from our trip to Europe in 1972.
“August 27, Amsterdam – We ate in Ling Nam, a Chinese-Indonesian restaurant and had rijstaffel for the first time. You get a big dish of plain rice with a lot of small side dishes – pork in peanut sauce, bean sprouts in peanut sauce, chicken, curried meat, meatballs, string beans, Spanish peanuts, cucumber in sweet sauce, curried cabbage, curried cole slaw, potato sticks, plain bean sprouts, fried grated coconut & fruit. With beer it cost us $4.15 each and was really excellent.”
We enjoyed it so much that we went back there again 5 days later before we left for home.
Wow Jeff. Thanks so much for going to the trouble of digging out your diary and sending this entry! I love it. But this is making me so hungry! What a fabulous meal. And $4.15 including beer?! Crazy.
For Boxing Day (do you have Boxing Day?) which is the day after Christmas we have the whole family over which is up to about twelve or thirteen people now, and I make a couple of Indonesian things for that – ‘atjar’, which is a marinated cucumber salad, and ‘smoor’ which is paper-thin slices of beef (my husband’s job is the slicing; takes a long time) simmered for a couple of hours with spices like cloves and nutmeg and ‘ketjap’, a sweet Indonesian soy sauce. Since those are the only Indonesian things I can make, the rest of the meal is just rice, salad, vegetables, and the like. And the three desserts that people seem to require,
Thanks again, and Happy Thanksgiving!
I’ve never had rijstaffel, but after reading your post and Jeff’s, Lindy, I’d try that dish.
I didn’t know KFC even had turkey, Glen!
That Doc Wilde book definitely sounds better than the Berenstain Bears book you read recently for the book club.
Thanks for keeping the blog on schedule! I really appreciate it.
Happy Thanksgiving, Glen!
Happy Thanksgiving Lesa!
Yes, Doc Wilde was a nice change.
Good morning everyone, and a happy Thanksgiving in advance to those who celebrate it.
It’s Baltic here, there’s thick frost on my car windscreen and our dustbin is frozen solid (and it’s bin collection day…) I was supposed to be walking with a friend at Blackhall Fisheries, but we both decided we’d rather reschedule than have to negotiate the ice.
As it happens I have a deadline for a ‘what’s on’ listing for the month of December for the Edinburgh Reporter and, not having done this for a while, I’d forgotten just how long it takes me, so I can well use the extra time.
Yesterday I met a friend for lunch in town, which was lovely. We had also planned a walk after lunch, but she was unavoidably delayed, we then talked and talked, and as it gets dark by 4 now we had to abandon that plan. I spent most of the rest of the day shopping for gifts for the two ‘Giving Tree’ children I had chosen from the tree we have in our village hall. It’s a scheme run by a charity called Instant Neighbour – you buy gift(s) for a specific child, (you only know their first name and age) and return them to the hall. The charity then distributes them.
It is really sad to think of so many children who will receive nothing at Christmas. The charity says that many families will struggle even to make a Christmas dinner – whilst the rest of us have far too much. I look at the festive catalogues distributed by all of our supermarkets and am stunned at the amount of food on sale, all of which people presumably buy or they would not sell it. I appreciate that some people do have huge family gatherings, but even so, the excess is almost obscene.
It’s difficult, however, to know what to buy for children you don’t know – you don’t even have their size, or their interests, to go on. I ended up buying mainly toiletries, hats, socks, gloves, chocolate and things like that. In the past I have included vouchers, but the lady in the shopping centre office (where you can buy multi-shop vouchers) told me that they had been advised not to use them for the Giving Tree as sometimes the children’s parents take them and use them for purposes that were never intended. It is really heartbreaking to think of children living in such circumstances.
I’ve not had time for much reading this week, but I have started SNAPPED IN CORNWALL, the first in a series about Rose Trevelyan, a young widowed photographer living in a Cornish coastal village who has a propensity for coming across murders. I’ve read some of these books before, but I couldn’t remember which ones, so I decided to re-start the series as easy December reads.
In this first instalment, Rose is asked by a wealthy new arrival in the area to photograph her beautiful house for a Christrmas card. Rose is later invited to a drinks party at the house, during which her host Mrs Milton falls from a balcony and dies. Rose is convinced she was pushed – but by whom? There are of course multiple suspects – the husband, the son, the husband’s lover….
These books are not literary masterpieces, but they’re well written and the characters are interesting and engaging. I know this part of Cornwall quite well from childhood visits, and it’s nice to read about places I remember from those days. (Of course now virtually the whole of the Cornish coast has been bought up by London bankers for holiday homes. Young locals simply cannot afford to live there. Meanwhile parts of the interior of the county are still very poor.)
janie Bolitho was Cornish herself (she’d have to be with a surname like that.) She had various jobs before becoming a writer – she was a psychiatric nurse, a debt collector and a bookmaker’s clerk (a bookmaker in the UK is someone who takes bets on horses, football, etc.) Unfortunately she died quite young.
I also read an article about the writer Milly Johnson, so I borrowed one of her books from the library – TOGETHER, AGAIN. Has anyone read any of her work? I’m not sure if I’m going to like her or not, but the article made her sound interesting. And of course this is one of the great things about libraries – if I don’t enjoy the book I can just return it.
Last week I mentioned a talk we’d attended by Gavin Francis. I requested a copy of his new book from the library and by Monday it had been delivered to my local branch. Our service really is outstanding – in Glasgow Madeleine has had to wait months for requests to wing their way to her.
On Saturday we braved the ice and snow (the snow has now departed, and so had the ice until last night…) to see the COLIN STEELE SEXTET at the Blue Lamp in town. I always love this venue, it’s a pub that hosts lots of music, mainly jazz and folk. Colin Steele is one of its frequent flyers, although he lives in Edinburgh. Several other musicians we know are in this new group, and they put on a fantastic show. We enjoyed it very much – jazz musicians are almost always so enthusiastic and friendly, and these were no exception. There was a great atmosphere in the room, many people are regulars.
Tomorrow evening we are going to Dundee to see TURIN BRAKES, then on Saturday we are back at the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen to see MANRAN, a modern trad group which I’ve not seen before. We have yet another concert in Glasgow on Sunday night – I’m not sure this was the best planning on our part.
I was slightly peeved this morning to see that some unknown man had accused me of being boring in a comment on a Facebook post I’d written about Aberdeen. I do appreciate that these people are usually complete saddos, but of course it did also start me worrying about whether he’s right. So I apologise in advance for any boring posts!
And now it’s back to those listings – there is so much on in Edinburgh next month that I feel a bit exhausted just reading about it…
Have a great week all.
Rosemary, I love the idea of the ‘Giving Tree”! I wish we had something like it here. It’s quite possible we do somewhere and I just don’t know about it. Maybe I should actively look for one. Such a great idea.
(And I love reading your posts here and haven’t read a boring word yet. If you were to write a book sometime, I’d sign up for that too.)
Thank you so much for the encouragement Lindy, I really appreciate it.
The Giving Tree is a great idea, but sometimes I do wish they could give us just a tiny bit more informaion about the children’s interests – they can, after all, be so diverse.
Rosemary, where I live we have a lovely library, and I used to especially enjoy being able to request a book that’s not in the local county system from other libraries in California–sometimes as far south as San Diego. It’s called Link+. Well, a few months ago, the county system was delighted to present an upgraded version of their website, and access to Link+ disappeared. I’ve asked them about it, and they say they’re having trouble making it work with the new website but assured me that once they do, it will have some nice new features! Personally, I don’t think the new website has given us anything new, and I really miss Link+. Because the county has a smaller system than the two libraries I used to frequent in the Bay Area, I think I got most of my library books using Link+. So I have lost as great resource. I have 3 books on hold now from the library, and that’s a lot fewer than I used to have. (Sigh). I’m glad your friend got such great service.
Oh isn’t that just so typical Margie – an update that nobody asked for, but which is sold to us as an ‘improvement’?
As of this year we are now able to request books from several neighbouring authorities – Highland, Perthshire, and a few others – although our library assistant told me it may take a very long time for those books to come. However, it does mean I can use my card in peron in both Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City libraries. Aberdeenshire is huge, though it’s currently threatening to close several of its smaller libraries owing to budget cuts. It’s amazing how governments can find cash for weapons – and for MPs’ pay rises and expenses – but not for little local services that mean so much to people.
You are so right, Rosemary. Just before I left my last job, we updated our catalog. It’s not really an improvement, according to friends, but the library director wanted to do it.
Boring! What kind of life does that man lead that he finds your posts boring? Don’t let some blowhard stop you from writing, Rosemary. As I said before, my family members love your posts here on Thursdays. And, I’ve been enjoying your Facebook posts with the photos. What a louse he is!
We wouldn’t know about your coffee shops and cafes, your charity shops, all the various venues for music and shows without your posts. I say Bah, Humbug to that man!
Janie Bolitho’s mysteries sound interesting. I know I haven’t read too many books set in Cornwall.
Sending hugs and encouragement, Rosemary. Don’t let one blowhard get you down!
Oh thank you Lesa, that is so kind of you. I won’t stop writing (I would really miss it) but sometimes a comment just gets to you, doesn’t it? And yet when I see these blowhards (great term!) having a go at some other poor person, I instantly know they are total losers, probably holed up in some basement somwhere, with no friends and nothing to do except snipe from behind a screen. Thank you for the encouragement and the hugs!
You’re right, Rosemary. We can get all kinds of good comments, and then somebody says something snarky and it’s hard to forget.
Rosemary I love your posts. I almost feel as if I am in Scotland and am always hungry after reading of the tea, scones and lunches. Bah Humbug to that poster..what a small life he must have.
Plus I love your book and tv recommendations although I often have trouble finding the books.
Thanks Susan!
I know what you mean about not being able to find books – I can rarely find American ones here either, or if I do they are very expensive.
Good morning, all, and a Happy Thanksgiving in advance. Sadly, this looks like a repeat of Thanksgiving 2006 in New York – chilly temps in the low 40s and a lot of rain during the Thanksgiving Parade. We’ll be staying in, after we get the last couple of items we need today. Hope everyone has the holiday of their dreams, and Lesa gets all the stuffing she wants.
This week was my birthday, as mentioned, so we went to our favorite Italian restaurant to celebrate (had friend zucchini to start), then got a big piece of cake at the bakery for later. Like Lesa, we had to return to the dentist last week, but we’re done with him until April.
Reading? Yes, some, mostly short stories and non-fiction. Jackie is currently on the second in Jayne Ann Krentz’s Lost Night Files trilogy, THE NIGHT ISLAND, and says it is very good.
I finished three books that I mentioned last time: Safe Enough, Lee Childs’s book of short stories; Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit’s searing book of essays, even more relevant today, a decade after it was published; and Ramona Emerson’s Exposure, with Albuquerque police photographer Rita Todacheene dealing with her own (literal) ghosts and a serial killer who believes he is helping the people he dispatches. I don’t know if she will continue this series or write something completely different next time, but she is a good writer and worth reading as long as you expect dark.
Current reading: I am nearly finished with Can’t and Won’t the Lydia Davis collection of very short stories.
Also in the short story field, I’m reading the new collection by Tom Mead, The Indian Rope Trick, with an introduction from our old friend Martin Edwards. Mead broke onto tht scene a couple of years ago with a new locked room/impossible crime series meant to evoke the classic Golden Age mysteries of John Dickson Carr, with Deasth and the Conjuror. His novels, and most of the stories here, feature his investigator Joseph Spector. I’ve been enjoying the stories so far and should finish before next Thursday.
Non fiction. I downloaded and started Steven Petrow’s Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old after Lesa’s review. Some of it ws interesting, but as I went along I could see Lesa’s objections. Frankly, I didn’t care for Petrow and his attitudes got under my skin. I tried skimming a little and looking for the essays that interested me, but finally gave up and returned the book to the library. Not for me.
Instead I borrowed a (470 page) tough but interesting book that was much more to my interest, Marie Brenner’s The Desperate Hours: One Hospital’s Fight to Save a City On the Pandemic’s Front Line, the story of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital system and how they dealt with COVID in 2020. How could anyone who reads this have voted for Trump, a man who so totally botched the response that he and his incompetent minions were undoubtedly responsible for hundreds of thousands of needless deaths? The book is fascinating but complicated, as she deals with a long list of characters (she does have a list) in the various branches of the hospital, plus so many other players around the country. When this was first going on we weren’t here, and believe me, being in Florida really was like being in another country. Yes, there were news reports, but no indication of the urgency of what was going on in New York. I’ve read 100 pages so far.
Lastly, there is Margaret Mizushima’s Gatherine Mists. While Mattie Wray (formerly Cobb) is a week away from her wedding to veterinarian Cole Walker, she gets a call about a missing 9 year old boy, lost in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. She had her German shepherd Robo have to fly there to search for the kid in hazardous conditions. So far, so good.
Remember, have a great time tomorrow and enjoy!
Jeff, I have replied to your post in the wrong place – scroll down if you want to read my words of wisdom 🙂 Sorry!
Ha! I love that Thanksgiving wish, Jeff, that I get all the stuffing I wish. Thank you! I’m suspecting there will be plenty, knowing Kevin.
Petrow does get better as a human being in the last quarter of the book, but I understand why he’s not to your taste.
I think I’d find The Desperate Hours to be depressing, though. However, with your interest in the history of NY, and the fact that you were in Florida and missed some of that desperation, I can see why you appreciate the book. Even in Indiana, we felt that desperation in the early months of the pandemic.
I’m so glad you had a good birthday dinner. On to your favorite holiday tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving to you and Jackie!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I just started The Stand-in by Lily Chu.
She is working for a large company but is getting harassed by her boss. She also has a mother in memory care who has Alzheimer’s.. She wants to be able to move her into one that has private rooms and is much closer to her apartment. She knows that she is losing her and wants to get her the quiet of her own room. Of course, it costs much more and she feels guilt about waiting for someone to die so a room will come available.
She is a doppleganger for a famous Chinese movie star and gets offered to be a stand-in for her for social activities for two months because the movie star really needs a rest. Tempting offer but she is inclined to reject it, her movie would never approve,
Then, the boss wants invites to humor him and she cannot to do it of course. The sleazy boss fires her! She know that she cannot find as good paying job anywhere in town. So, now she is considering be the double for the money.
Carol, I liked The Stand-In. Entertaining, and had much more depth than you’d expect from seeing the cover.
The Stand-In sounds interesting. And, in reading Lindy’s response to the book, I have the feeling sometimes cover art doesn’t do justice to the book. Such a shame because I have been known to judge a book by its cover. There was a popular series when I was a teen, and I don’t even remember the author, but I didn’t read it because I couldn’t stand the cover art.
Happy Thanksgiving, Carol!
Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving in advance.
I didn’t read much this week but I did finish THE FULL MOON COFFEE SHOP by Mai Mochizuki. It’s a translation from Japanese of three related stories about a coffee shop run by talking cats which only appears when the moon is full, and only to someone who needs their help but doesn’t know it.
I’ve read several of these translations and been lukewarm about them but I liked this one. I think it’s because the characters all had a link in the past that wove the stories together rather than just being three unrelated people like in the previous books I’d read.
I agree, Sandy! I really liked The Full Moon Coffee Shop. And, the ending surprised me. Sometimes, those stories just seem to end, but the connections were perfect.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Jeff, why anyone voted for that man is a mystery to everyone I know here in Scotland. They must have very short memories. We had our own mini version of that when a few people tried to stick up for Boris Johnson – who completely and utterly failed to lead the country into anything but more infections – I heard one person say ‘oh but he was ill too.’ In his case it was entirely self inflicted (shaking hands with severely ill COVID patients to show us all we were making a fuss about absolutely nothing. He then – OF COURSE – got state of the art treatment in a top London hospital, waxed lyrical about how wonderful the nurses were – then a few months later voted down their pay rises.)
Whatever people say about Nicola Sturgeon, she was magnificent throughout the pandemic. Scotland had a real leader, who didn’t mess about, told it like it was, and appeared almost every day to do the TV briefings. Mark Drakeford, the then leader of the Welsh Assembly, was also outstanding – and his wife was seriously ill (with an unrelated illness, from which I believe she later died) at the time.
And I know what you mean about everything seeming distant during the pandemic. Up here in rural Scotland we had no real idea of what was going on in London – I only knew some of it because a friend of mine has a daughter who’s a senior nurse in St Thomas’s Hospital down there. We had a pretty easy time of it up here – that first lockdown summer the weather was fabulous, Nancy and I did so many (socially distanced!) walks, and hardly saw a soul. We were so lucky. Of course some people did sadly get very sick, but another nurse told me that our local hospitals were far from overwhelmed. I do feel we were in the best position possible – we didn’t have to try to educate young children at home while working either, which must have been a nightmare. And my husband just switched to home working. I still feel very very grateful for our good fortune. There have been TV dramas here about how terrible it was in London in particular, and an enquiry is going on at the moment. Will governments learn from it? I doubt it. As in the US, voters have short memories – they’re very unlikely to support any measures taken in advance of the next pandemic, because all they want is lower taxes and their roads fixed.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
Rosemary, I got some of that in the latest Karen Pirie book by Val McDermid, which was set in Edinburgh during the pandemic, and made it very clear how strictly the regulations were enforced, even for cops like Pirie and her team.
Oh, Rosemary. I agree with you about everything you said about politics, especially here in the U.S. I don’t know anyone who voted for the orange man, so I must really lead an isolated life. And, with the nutcases he’s trying to be in his cabinet, we’ll be in terrible shape if another pandemic hits.
I know more than a dozen folks who voted for the orange man. All neighbors. And I have relatives that decided not to vote as “both parties suck and we want to stay neutral.” Which was a vote for orange man.
There will be another pandemic. Possibly as soon as January. Bird flu is exploding in the dairy farms in California and it is appearing in the waste water of half a dozen cities there and elsewhere. Not to mention the isolated human cases in Canada and the US with no known cause like attending a petting zoo or working on a dairy farm.
If you stopped masking, I never could with my health situation, this would be a good time to start again. Not only will it protect you from the Covid, RSV, and other nasty things surging all across the country, it would also protect you from bird flu.
Happy Thanksgiving Lesa and all the Thursday peeps. I am thankful for this book-loving community. 18 degrees here this morning and a layer of snow. Friday is our travel day and weather is forecast to cooperate.
I finished a few books I had started already, yesterday was lost to running errands. A British Library Crime Classics by Martin Edwards (2018) THE CHRISTMAS CARD CRIME AND OTHER STORIES Nice collection of eleven mysteries involving the darker side of the festive season, the darkness that lurks beneath the sparkling decorations.
An absorbing nonfiction read MAKING HISTORY: THE STORYTELLERS WHO SHAPED THE PAST by Richard Cohen “An epic exploration of who writes about the past and how the biases of certain storytellers continue to influence our ideas about history.”
HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER by Kristen Perrin
was kind of fun, but the multiple threads of the story got a bit much. An eccentric aunt haunted by a destiny foretold in 1965 and her grand-neice attempting to win an inheritance by solving a murder.
Happy Thanksgiving, MM! I hope that travel day weather holds for you. 18 degrees and snow! Not at all my kind of weather.
This time of year, it just seems as if errands take up reading time! Or, I have to admit, it seems to be naps for me sometimes.
Making History sounds fascinating!
Making History sounds like it would be one my grandson might like, as he majors in History at university. Might come at things from a different perspective than the course work. It just might be that you’ve solved a Christmas gift dilemma today. Good work!
I agree with you MM, this Thursday meet-up is something I am really thankful for (even though we don’t do Thanksgiving in the UK) – it provides a great structure to the week and I always look forward to reading everyone’s recommendations, and hearing how their lives are going.
Right now I’m reading for a few term papers since I decided to do another graduate degree this semester! Why? Well, it’s fun. I’m rereading parts of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Twain for one of the papers, a novel I’d read about a month ago. It’s not my favorite Twain–let’s leave it at that. And for the other class, I’m doing a close reading of, and research on, a long poem by John Ashbery. As soon as these papers are done, I have a STACK of books to get into. And, I have to decide which book is coming with me to Africa next month!
David! I’m so glad you’re enjoying your classes and some of your readings for them. I do know you’re enjoying the classes, which is great.
Happy Thanksgiving, my friend! And, hugs!
Happy Thanksgiving, Lesa. I just finished Peter Heller’s Burn which is excellent suspense, and then I moved directly into Red River Road by Anna Downes, also excellent suspense. When I can’t put a book down, you know the writing is good and the story intriguing.
You’re right, Patricia. Don’t you love those kind of books?
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh those both sound good Patricia, I will look for them, thank you.
Happy Thanksgiving to all from Cuenca, Ecuador! Since Im typing on my phone with one finger, I’ll be brief. On this vacation so far I’ve very much enjoyed the latest Cork O ‘Connor book SPIRIT CROSSING by Kent Krueger and a fantasy full of political intrigue with a lovable hero called THE GOBLIN EMPEROR (Katherine Addison). I read an oldie, the first Will Trent mystery by Karin Slaughter. Gripping and well-written, but I have lots of trouble with sadistic serial killers doing terrible things to women, so I can’t recommend it and don’t know if I’ll continue the series.
I agree with you, Kim. Those aren’t my kind of books either, and I seldom even read “Women in jeopardy” books.
I hope you’re enjoying your visit to Ecuador as much as you’re enjoying your books!
We’ve almost a week in cities surrounded by magnificent mountains (much larger than the Alps), ands today we drive to a town at the edge of the Amazon jungle for our godson’s wedding. A lovely time so far, Lesa. Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, I love the Goblin Emperor. The Tombs of Amalo books set in the same universe with one of the characters you already know as the protagonist are really good.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A book needing to be read landed on my radar.
A sad and horrible time in Atlanta while I was still living there was a time of Missing and Murdered Children.
Tayari Jones was there as well.
And wrote a beautiful, but heartbreaking novel about that time.
LEAVING ATLANTA
Description from Amazon
From the author of the Oprah’s Book Club Selection An American Marriage, here is a beautifully evocative novel that proves why Tayari Jones is “one of the most important voices of her generation” (Essence).
It was the end of summer, a summer during the two-year nightmare in which Atlanta’s African-American children were vanishing and twenty-nine would be found murdered by 1982. Here fifth-grade classmates Tasha Baxter, Rodney Green, and Octavia Harrison will discover back-to-school means facing everyday challenges in a new world of safety lessons, terrified parents, and constant fear.
The moving story of their struggle to grow up-and survive- shimmers with the piercing, ineffable quality of childhood, as it captures all the hurts and little wins, the all-too-sudden changes, and the merciless, outside forces that can sweep the young into adulthood and forever shape their lives.
PRAISE FOR TAYARI JONES
“Tayari Jones is blessed with vision to see through to the surprising and devastating truths at the heart of ordinary lives, strength to wrest those truths free, and a gift of language to lay it all out, compelling and clear.” — Michael Chabon
Kaye, Although I never lived in Atlanta, I remember the murders of the African-American children there. Such a terrible time! I can see why you needed to read that book.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving! Ours will be rainy and cold.
Two books this week. A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer (SCYTHE Mystery, #1) by Dara Maxie was just as wonderful as all the other readers here said it would be. My daughter also recommended it.
I also read An Improper Scheme (Improper Agreements #3) by Audra Wells. I enjoy these frothy Regency romances. This one was a little silly but it was quick. One more to go in the series.
Happy Reading!
Sharon, I’m glad you enjoyed A Grim Reaper’s Guide as much as the rest of us did. That was a surprising book for the compassion and insight even more than the mystery itself. Yes! I love to hear about family members who read and recommend books!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving all!! It’s finally acting like Novemberrrrrr here with older temps and snow coming in this weekend. We are going to pick-up a take-out meal for Thanksgiving so no major cooking required this year! Fingers crossed that it is yummy!
I’ve been struggling with finishing the book “The Author’s Guide to Murder”. By Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. The tone is meant to be lighthearted and funny, as three authors try to solve a murder at a castle in Scotland- mostly to keep from being implicated as they each have reason to be the murderer. Unfortunately I am just finding it to be repetitive, tedious, and annoying. Hopefully I’ll manage to finish it.
Looking forward to parades on tv, Xmas decorating and starting to watch some old Xmas favorites movies. Enjoy!!
I hope your Thanksgiving meal is good, Mary.
I’m sorry you don’t care for An Author’s Guide to Murder. I’d just quit if I were you. No reason to keep going. It sounds as if you went far enough.
Not much to tell here. Tomorrow we will have an easy Thanksgiving meal: ham, cornbread, and mashed potatoes. And watch movies most of the day, plus one on Friday.
The movies will be: STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (Kurt Russell), and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (with Rami Malek).
Neither Glen nor I are reading anything new. I finished A DARKER DOMAIN by Val McDermid, the second book in the Inspector Karen Pirie series, and I think it will be one of my favorite books of the year. I picked up a nonfiction book I started back in September, TUDORS, by Peter Ackroyd in hopes of finishing it soon. I have less than 100 pages left. It is part of a series of six books by Ackroyd about the history of England. Glen read the first book in the series, FOUNDATION: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors.
Glen is still reading KIND, BUT KIND OF WEIRD: SHORT STORIES ON LIFE’S RELATIONSHIPS by Joey Held and NATURE’S MUTINY by Philipp Blom.
Oh, that was a good Star Trek movie. Loved that one. My holiday movie is The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. That’s the one I can watch over and over. Well, and The Muppets Christmas Carol.
Enjoy your day. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Glen.
This week, I finished Patriot by Alex Novalny and am halfway through My Brilliant Friend (I want to re-read the Quadrilogy!). I am hoping to start the Wicked/Wizard of Oz Books shortly.
Happy Murder Of Flightless Avians Day aka Thanksgiving.
It was 83 yesterday. The front blasted through North Texas late Wednesday afternoon and we are 49 officially at the airport and 45 here in NE Dallas. The turkey is cooking and the Cowboys have the lead, for now.
Currently reading HIDDEN IN SMOKE by Lee Goldberg. The latest read in the Sharpe and Walker series is due out in late April. Got it via NetGalley. I should be reading other things, but this time of year is very hard, so I am reading what I wanted to and not what I need to do.
On TV, Scott and I started THE DIPLOMAT on Netflix. We are very much enjoying it. Kind of reminds me of Madam Secretary. Very easy to binge watch. We were up to almost 2 AM watching last night as we got hooked hard.
Scott likes to videogame so part of the time he wanders off to kill creatures and such.
Yesterday, after I took an unplanned tumble in the yard and messed my foot up, he was gaming. I parked it in bed and started HOPE STREET. They made some casting changes that I am not thrilled with, but, like many other things, I was not consulted with at all.
Anyway, hope all is well with everyone. Take care of yourselves.