Sorry, everyone! I think there was an Internet outage overnight, and my post failed to publish. Thanks, Rosemary, for the heads up! When I came to the site, it said, missed post deadline. So, I hope it publishes now.
Happy Thursday! I hope you’re all enjoying spring weather. One of my co-workers said yesterday that we’re actually having spring. Usually, we go from one week of spring into summer. But, this year, we’re having the cooler temperatures and occasional rain. She’s lived here for years, and she doesn’t remember our Magnolia trees blooming for so long. They’re beautiful here at work.
Even so, I’m reading a book called The Summer Seekers. I’m always up for a road trip, and this one features a trio of unlikely companions. Kathleen is eighty years old. After she has a run-in with an intruder in her house, her daughter, Liza, wants her to move into a retirement home. But, Kathleen wants adventure. She advertises for a driver and companion to share a road trip across America, and a young woman answers the ad. Martha might not be the best driver, but anything is better than living with her parents. And, how much trouble can an eighty-year-old woman be? I’ve just started the novel, while I’m reading mysteries for review for Library Journal. I like a good road trip book.
So, what about you? Enjoying your spring? Read any good books lately?
Library in Paris. Just finished the Sanitorim.
Good morning, Carol Jeanne! Like me, you always have one going.
Whew. You had me worried there for a minute when today’s post wasn’t up. I like a road trip book too. Enjoy.
We’ve been having cool, occasionally rainy weather here too. In fact, 10 out of 12 days so far this month have been cooler than normal, sometimes drastically so. But the next week looks like it will be around the normal average high of 70 for us.
Books. I had a hard time for a while with Stephen King’s THE INSTITUTE, because what they were doing to the kids they kidnapped was hard to read in other than short doses, even though it was a fast read. But once I got past 50% read in this 550 page book, it picked up to the point where I finished most of the second half of the book in one day. Good one.
Most of my other reading has been in two (straight fiction) short story collections, WHO DO YOU LOVE by Jean Thompson (recommended by a friend; the first I’ve read by her) and WEREWOLVES IN THEIR YOUTH by Michael Chabon (his second collection).
Currently reading Anne Hillerman’s sixth in her continuation of her father Tony’s Southwestern series about Jim Chee, Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito and the legendary Joe Leaphorn, finally mostly recovered from being shot in the head some books back. After that I have the second in Chris Hauty’s Hayley Chill series after DEEP STATE: SAVAGE ROAD.
I’ve also been reading issue 92 of George Easter’s Deadly Pleasures mystery fanzine, which gives me plenty of new books to look forward to.
Jeff, I was glad Rosemary contacted me. I wouldn’t have even seen that it didn’t post until after 8 AM when I go on. I usually don’t check first thing in the morning at home.
Well, that took a while for Joe Leaphorn to recover, but it’s understandable.
Another friend, Kevin Tipple, mentioned that he had a number of new books from Deadly Pleasures as well.
And, you should be able to get back to the library to browse soon, even if it’s only for a half an hour at a time!
Like you said, our spring has been rainy, but they say the next week should be better.
Do not think that was me about Deadly Pleasures.
Well, darn. Maybe Jeff just said last week that he had it, and there would be good books. Sorry, Kevin.
I think I did, with the list of forthcoming books.
It is so nice out today we were able to eat lunch outside. Beautiful day.
Good morning. We’ve been doing yard work in between the rain. Weeding, mulching and planting flowers. We overwintered 5 Black Swallowtail chrysalises and one emerged the other day. Hopefully the others will come out next week now that the weather is warming up.
I read THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM by Victor Lavelle. It was a rather strange horror story which makes sense since it was based on a short story by HP Lovecraft.
DARK SKY by CJ Box. It’s his latest Joe Pickett book. The story was a bit out there but I enjoy these.
MAGICAL MIDLIFE MEETING by KF Breene. It’s the latest in her Ivy House paranormal series and it’s laugh out loud funny.
HANGED BY A THREAD by AFC Bookens. A single mom who runs an architectural salvage company finds a dead body in an empty warehouse. This is on the slightly darker side of cozy mysteries but the story is well written and I like the characters.
LONG ISLAND ICED TINA by Maria DiRico. A forgettable cozy mystery.
I’m currently reading the latest cupcake bake shop book, FOR BATTER OR WORSE by Jenn McKinlay. I get a kick out of the characters in this series.
Oh, I love it when people are helping along the butterflies, Sandy. Good for you.
Hanged by a Thread has an interesting sleuth. I don’t know that I’ve read about one who runs an architectural salvage company. I like the sound of that.
I’m sorry about Long Island Iced Tina. I enjoyed the first book in that series.
Oh, Sandy, Magical Midlife Meeting was too fun!
I read THE LAST GARDEN IN ENGLAND by Julia Kelly for a book club. Spaced out over more than 100 years, three women who are connected to the town of Highbury seek self-fulfillment. In 1907, Venetia is a well-known garden designer to the wealthy who is designing the gardens of the Highbury House estate. In 1944, Beth is a “land girl” during WWII who has never had a real home, and Stella is a cook at Highbury House whose dreams of finding a job in London and traveling the world are dashed when her sister sends her young son to live with Stella to keep him safe. And in 2021, Emma has her own small business, much to the displeasure of her mother, and is engaged to restore the gardens at Highbury that were designed by Venetia. Dreams and romances for Venetia, Beth and Emma and the travails of Stella and the owner of Highbury House are part of the story, and it is an engaging one, but one of the pleasures of the book, even for someone with a “black thumb,” is seeing the gardens themselves through the eyes of the author.
THE DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS by Pip Williams is an unusual and engrossing book focused on the creation of the first Oxford English Dictionary, which took decades and many volumes to complete. Young Esme spent much of her early childhood under her father’s table in the Scriptorium, a former shed that served as HQ for this project. He was one of the book’s editors, who combed through thousands of words, definitions, and supporting quotes which were submitted on slips of paper of a specified size by anyone who cared to contribute. As Esme grows, she comes to realize that some words are considered to be inappropriate for the dictionary, and that these are typically words that refer to the daily lives of the working class, particularly women. So she starts her own collection of such words, hoping to have them published someday. She ultimately works in successively more responsible roles on the OED project, but she also has some adventures on her own–one that will sadden her during the remainder of her life–and she has fascinating interactions with an “aunt” who is her godmother, a local stage actress, the burgeoning suffragette movement, and a typesetter who shares her feelings and beliefs. I found it to be a great story and was especially touched by the way the book ended.
I would categorize THE GOOD SISTER by Sally Hepworth as a cross between domestic drama and “thriller lite.” If you shy away from thrillers, as I often do, this one probably won’t upset you, and there’s nothing graphic about it. Rose and Fern are fraternal twin sisters who are very different, with different problems. Fern has “sensory-processing issues” and is troubled by something that happened to her when she was 12, but she is happily employed as a librarian. She dines three times a week with Rose and feels she owes a lot to her sister for understanding her situation and making her life as safe as possible. Rose seems to have it all together at first glance, but her husband is away on business more than she would like and she is obsessed with her desire for a baby. Fern provides most of the first-person narration of the story, while Rose’s perspectives are provided by her journal entries that pepper the book. When Fern meets an intriguing “homeless” man at the library, she embarks on a quest to provide her sister with the baby that has thus far eluded her. I don’t want to go any further for fear of spoilers, but rest assured there are sufficient character development and plot twists to keep you interested. I read it in a day.
Margie, I was interested in your reactions to all three of these books. Donna loved The Dictionary of Lost Words, and booktalked it for me. That’s what we do in the morning in her office, booktalk our favorite books.
I was curious about The Last Garden in England. I’m not a gardener, but I’ve ordered a copy of the June release, England’s Magnificent Gardens by Roderick Floud because I’m interested in history. You might be interested after reading The Last Garden in England. Here’s the summary – An altogether different kind of book on English gardens—the first of its kind—a look at the history of England’s magnificent gardens as a history of Britain itself, from the seventeenth-century gardens of Charles II to those of Prince Charles today.
In this rich, revelatory history, Sir Roderick Floud, one of Britain’s preeminent economic historians, writes that gardens have been created in Britain since Roman times but that their true growth began in the seventeenth century; by the eighteenth century, nurseries in London took up 100 acres, with ten million plants (!) that were worth more than all of the nurseries in France combined.
Floud’s book takes us through more than three centuries of English history as he writes of the kings, queens, and princes whose garden obsessions changed the landscape of England itself, from Stuart, Georgian, and Victorian England to today’s Windsors.
Here are William and Mary, who brought Dutch gardens and bulbs to Britain; William, who twice had his entire garden lowered in order to see the river from his apartments; and his successor, Queen Anne, who, like many others since, vowed to spend little on her gardens and instead spent millions. Floud also writes of Frederick, Prince of Wales, the founder of Kew Gardens, who spent more than $40,000 on a single twenty-five-foot tulip tree for Carlton House; Queen Victoria, who built the largest, most advanced and most efficient kitchen garden in Britain; and Prince Charles, who created and designed the gardens of Highgrove, inspired by his boyhood memories of his grandmother’s gardens.
We see Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who created a magnificent garden at Blenheim Palace, only to tear it apart and build a greater one; Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, the savior of Chatsworth’s 100-acre garden in the midst of its 35,000 acres; and the gardens of lesser mortals, among them Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville-West, both notable garden designers and writers.
We see the designers of royal estates—among them, Henry Wise, William Kent, Humphrey Repton, and the greatest of all English gardeners, “Capability” Brown, who created the 150-acre lake of Blenheim Palace, earned millions annually, and designed more than 170 parks, many still in existence today. We learn how gardening became a major catalyst for innovation (central heating came from experiments to heat greenhouses with hot-water pipes); how the new iron industry of industrializing Britain supplied a myriad of tools (mowers, pumps, and the boilers that heated the greenhouses); and, finally, Floud explores how gardening became an enormous industry as well as an art form in Britain, and by the nineteenth century was unrivaled anywhere in the world.
Margie, I enjoyed each of these as well.
I am reading Eternal by Lisa Scottoline. I had to move The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin over to audio. I started off reading it but Eternal came in and it is a much bigger book so I had to get it started. I am enjoying both. Although I am reaching my limit on World War II reading!
I went to Boston this past weekend to visit with my daughter. I went to see the Boston Library only to find out that it was open for pick up only and you cannot go inside. Silly me, I really should have known better! Hopefully next visit it will be open.
Have a good week!
I was wondering, Kathleen, when people would reach the saturation point with World War II reading. I see a number of books still coming out, but I know my mother said she needed a break from them. I hope you continue to enjoy The Last Bookshop in London.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of the libraries are going back to longer or restored hours beginning next Monday, May 17. If our board approves it, we’ll be back to full hours on Monday.
Thank you! Enjoy your week!
I hope you can get back to full service at your library, Lesa. We’re still far from it here in Portland.
Thank you, Richard. I suspect we will. Our Director has done a great job in keeping the board informed. I think they’ll vote to open.
I finished THE MEMORY COLLECTORS by Kim Neville. It was a different book for me but I enjoyed it. Ev is a dumpster diver who feels the memories or stains as she calls them of the unwanted items. She sells them at the Chinese flea market in Vancouver. She meets Harriet who also has the gift of sensing but rather than dispose of the items hoards them. Harriet gets the idea to open a museum with the items and for Ev to curate it. Both women have to come to terms with their past which includes a murder. It is such a unique book that I am rather at a loss to summarize it. It ended up with a much darker turn than I expected and I stayed up late to finish it.
I am halfway through THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE VOODOO LILY by Susan Wittig Albert. I enjoy this series that take place during The Depression. I often learn something about plants and life during the time. This one focuses on early radio stations. This series is more on imparting knowledge rather than mystery so they tend to be a little meandering. I am finding this one a little more meandering than usual so it definitely will be not be my favorite in the series.
Happy Reading!
Sharon, Thank you. I was interested in The Memory Collectors. I didn’t know it takes a dark turn at the end. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I love road trip Our bird hates riding in the car, but we arrive at our destination, he is excoted and needs check out the whole motel room-everything!
I have been lo Malala audiobook and am amazed about how much detail, she includes about the Taliban. Very intelligent, she was reading a Stephen Hawking’s book when only eleven. Very brave.
Also in the middle of Between the Bliss and Me by Lizzy Mason. A senior in high school,her father left when she was very young, raised by her mother, who she always thought was too overprotective. She knew that her father was n alcoholic and an addict but finds out that he has schizophrenia. Upsetting, because she already has signs of it, and it is hereditary.It is a page turner and a nightmare for her.
Neither of your books sound as if they were easy reading, Carolee.
Good Morning!
Lesa, The Summer Seekers sounds good. I like a good road trip book and unique characters.
Our weather has been on the cool side as well, but with plenty of sunshine. So much, in fact, that things are already looking dry. We have not had rain for over two weeks. Our crab apple trees are beginning to curl up and some of them just didn’t have the blossoms they normally do.
This week I read:
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon – a biography about a young woman in Afghanistan who helps support her family by starting a dressmaking business. This was in 1996 after the Taliban seized power. Great story!
I am currently reading The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin and loving it.
Enjoy your weekend!
Good morning, Gretchen! I’m so glad you’re loving The Last Bookshop. Just a terrific story, isn’t it?
Oh, I love a good road trip book! My favorite remains to be Michael Malone’s Handling Sin.
“On the Ides of March, our hero, Raleigh Whittier Hayes (forgetful husband, baffled father, prosperous insurance agent, and leading citizen of Thermopylae, North Carolina), learns that his father has discharged himself from the hospital, taken all his money out of the bank and, with a young black female mental patient, vanished in a yellow Cadillac convertible. Left behind is a mysterious list of seven outrageous tasks that Raleigh must perform in order to rescue his father and his inheritance.
And so Raleigh and fat Mingo Sheffield (his irrepressibly loyal friend) set off on an uproarious contemporary treasure hunt through a landscape of unforgettable characters, falling into adventures worthy of Tom Jones and Huck Finn. A moving parable of human love and redemption, Handling Sin is Michael Malone’s comic masterpiece.”
Books I’ve read this week:
Blush by Jamie Brenner (ARC) – An homage to those blockbuster books of the 80s written by Judith Krantz, Shirley Conran, and Jackie Collins. I may have to re-read Scruples to see how it holds up.
The Turnout by Megan Abbott (ARC) – I’m sure this will be “big book” when it comes out. It was IMO unnecessarily raw. Saturated with unlikable people doing disgusting things. Because I normally like Meg Abbott’s books, I tried to read it but ended up just skimming.
The Storyteller of Casablanca by Fiona Valpy (ARC) – This will be on my list of favorites for 2021.
Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger (ARC) – Not my favorite Unger novel.
The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey – Excellent! Early days of Wild Bill Donovan’s OSS and women spies. impeccable research, interesting characters based on interesting real people.
A pretty day in the NC mountains, but yesterday we had rain, snow AND sleet.
I love Thursdays at Lesa’s. As always, I’ll be adding some books to my list of things to try, and as usual, I see Margie and I are reading and enjoying many of the same books.
Happy reading, everyone!
Kaye, It just feels like a hug when you say you love Thursdays at Lesa’s. It feels as if we’re all gathering around for a cup of tea or coffee to discuss books. Just a wonderful feeling!
I never heard of Handling Sin. I’m going to have to put this on my want to read list. The Storyteller of Casablanca is already on it. I have a copy of Blush. The Secret Stealers sounds fascinating.
You’re right. Lots of books to add to lists.
And, thank you again for Maggie Finds Her Muse. One of my two favorite books of the week. I just finished S.A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears. Wow! Just wow!
That’s exactly what I thought Lesa – just like a cosy tea shop or a country pub with a roaring fire.
Oh, I’ll take that country pub with the roaring fire right now, Rosemary!
Lesa, I was blown away by Razorblade Tears. I predict good things and lots of awards in Mr. Cosby’s future.
I hope so, Kaye. Oh, those two lead characters! Just wonderful.
Is Razorblade Tears part of a series with Blacktop Wasteland or are these stand alone books?
Jennifer, They’re both standalones.
Hi again Lesa,
For once our time difference came in useful this morning! And I’m very glad you were OK.
This week I read Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. I loved this book. For anyone who doesn’t already know, it’s about Cecelia Rose, a 12 year old girl living in Willoughby, Ohio with her increasingly mentally unstable mother. Her father is rarely home, so CeeCee has to manage her mother, clear up all the mess she leaves behind her, and face the ridicule inflicted on them, both at school and outside it.
When disaster inevitably strikes, along comes Tallulah Caldwell. CeeCee’s wealthy great aunt, who takes her home with her to Savanna, Georgia (the place her mother always wished she’d never left). Despite hating her life in Willoughby, CeeCee is devastated to leave behind her only friend, elderly neigbour Mrs Odell.
CeeCee’s experiences in Savanna are certainly not all good, and her memories of her mother and the past haunt her, but the adventures she has with her kind aunt, their housekeeper Olette and their eccentric, exciting neighbour Thelma Rae, plus Olette’s own friends and family, are wonderful, vividly drawn and very entertaining. There are lots of details about Southern life, which are fascinating for someone like me who knows virtually nothing about it. The descriptions of the customs, the food, the gardens and the beautiful old houses made me want to see Savanna myself (and that’s something, coming from a travel-phobe like me.) I also Iiked that Beth Hoffmann did not shy away from the sordid, horrible details of life with a seriously ill parent, nor did she avoid the issues of racism.
Eventually CeeCee has to face up to her terror of ending up like her mother, her hatred for her absent father, and her fear of never finding a friend, and with the support of Aunt Tootie (Tallulah), Olette, Thelma Rae and many other colourful characters she does just that.
I also llstened to another Dorothy L Sayers’ mystery on BBC Sounds. After Five Red Herrings my hopes were not high, but The Nine Tailors was so much better. Lord Peter Wimsey and his manservant Bunter come off the road one New Year’s Eve and find themselves in a small fenland village, where the vicar and his wife kindly offer them shelter. When one of the villagers is taken ill, Peter ends up participating in an all-night bell ringing seesion that the vicar has organised to bring in the new year. The next day young Lady Thorpe dies of natural causes and on 4th January she is buried. Three months later her husband also passes away, but when the grave is opened up to receive him, a faceless, handless corpse is found lying on top of the original coffin. Who is this man? Why was he in the village? Who killed him? And why? are all puzzles for the police, and of course for Wimsey and Bunter too.
I enjoyed Sayers’ excellent recreation of an isolated Fenland village in a long 1930s winter. The Fens have always been a place apart, and for many years their inaccessibility (the area is below sea level and originally could only be accessed by boat, although by the time of the book this was history) led to much inbreeding and consequential problems. The Fens were made habitable by the construction of huge drains and sluices, and were always extremely vulnerable to flooding.
Wimsey seemed a lot less condescending this time; Sayers often hints at his shellshock (he is supposed to have been an officer in the WW1 trenches) and he expresses qualms about upsetting the equilibrium of the community by perhaps having to have a good man convicted of an almost excusable crime.
The solution to the mystery was ingenious, but also believable and satisfying. And thank goodness there was nothing about train timetables.
Now I have started to listen to The No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which I have not read, though i did see an excellent TV adaptation of it a while ago, in which the Botswanan scenery was absolutely beautiful. Again it was the details of everyday life in a country about which I knew nothing that I found especially interesting. The actors in this new radio version are excellent, so I will download the rest of it before the BBC takes it back again.
And I have just started The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld. I don’t somehow think this is going to be a feelgood story (it opens with a 6 year old girl looking for shells in a rockpool and instead finding a suitcase with a body in it….), but I will press on, as it has excellent reviews, and i am reading it for a book challenge.
On TV we are still watching The Crown and have just had the Apollo moon landings (which seem to have obsessed Prince Phillip) and the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales – something that was far from popular with the Welsh people, especially the nationalists. Of course no-one knows how accurate the series is, but it did make one feel sorry for Charles, who didn’t want to do this in the first place, and despite having to take a term out of Cambridge for it, got not a word of thanks from his rather remote parents.
One sad note to the past week was the death of my very elderly Siamese. She had had a good life, and was a happy little soul, but she had been in decline for some months. We miss her bossy ways and funny expressions very much, and are grateful for the years we had with her and her (deceased) sister.
Our weather has also been for the most part cool and cloudy, though we did have one glorious day on which I did a long walk around here, stopping in various woodlands to read chapters of CeeCee, and not seeing another living soul all the time I sat quietly among the trees..
Last weekend we visited the Cove Bay (plant) Nursery – I’d heard a lot about this place and I was not disappointed, though it certainly was hard to find. Cove is now mainly a huge housing estate, but the old fishing village still exists, and its streets are very narrow and wiggly. The nursery literally has no sign, not even on the gate – we only found it when we decided to park right down by the water and look at the boats, and on looking up saw some greenhouses. The next challenge was to work out how to get to them! But we did – it’s a very basic place, selling only plants (all grown there, so they are robust enough for our north Scotland climate) and compost – no cafe, outlet franchises, food store, or any of the things most garden centres seem to make their money from these days. The plants were very well priced, and I came away with lots (now all I have to do is plant them….)
We also did the clifftop walk from Stonehaven (a larger ex fishing village, now a town, and maybe 10 miles south of Aberdeen) to Dunottar Castle. It’s a spectacular trail, with fabulous views of the sea, the coast, and especially of the castle, which can be seen ages before you get to it. It’s a ruined mediaeval stronghold in which the Scottish crown jewels were hidden to save them from Oliver Cromwell’s army in 1651. In 1990 the film of Hamlet was partly filmed there, and when I first visited it in 1992, some of the stage scenery was still lying around in the few intact rooms.
I hope everyone is having a good week.
Rosemary
So sorry to hear of your kitty loss, Rosemary. Seems a good time to adopt a kitten, or a pair, or even an older cat. The loss of a cat (I have 2 just now) leaves a hole crying to be filled!
Thanks so much Richard. I am awfully tempted to have more Siamese, though I did look at a few rescue sites too – but they had no cats! I don’t know if the insane purchasing of puppies that has gone on here throughout these lockdowns has extended to cats as well, or what. I heard, though, that many of the rescues are now filling up with dogs given up by people who had no idea what dog ownership involved. It’s very sad, and there were far too many unscrupulous puppy farms making a mint out of this terrible trade. My son and his wife got their new spaniel from a registered breeder known to them, but a friend of theirs bought one off Gumtree and handed over thousands of pounds in a car park for a puppy that turned out to have all sorts of health issues, poor thing (they are getting it treated at the vet, so all should be well in the end.)
Rosemary, You don’t know how good you made me feel that you loved Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. My copy of the book is a prized possession, and Beth Hoffman is a dear friend. She put so much heart into that book.
I agree with Richard’s comment. I’m so sorry about Gracie. I’m glad you might be adopting again later this year.
I love to hear about your walks and expeditions, what you’re watching and listening to. And, I’m very glad you let me know you missed the post this morning! Thank you!
Rosemary, I did not realize CeeCee Honeycut took place in Willoughby, Ohio. I grew up in Willowick which got its name from being between Willoughby and Wickliffe. All are on the east side of the Cleveland area. I could turn left at the top of our street, walk down E. 305 and end up at Lake Erie. I will have to check the book out. Thank you!
Still reading THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT by Mantel and finding it a long, slow read. I have made progress but I am taking another break to read a vintage mystery published in the British Library Crime Classics series: CHECKMATE TO MURDER by E.C.R. Lorac. My husband has three books by this author, and liked MURDER BY MATCHLIGHT.
I also read two short stories by S.J. Rozan that feature a character from her Lydia Chin and Bill Smith series. She has written several stories using Lydia Chin’s mother, Chin Yong-Yun, as the main character and I am on a mission to find them all. They are light and fun, although the last one I read, “Chin Yong-Yun Sets the Date”, was emotional and touching. I think some of them have only been published in mystery magazines so it may not be easy to get them all.
I have been gardening, planting some geraniums, preparing the ground for some yarrow plants and hoping they will survive with less than optimum sun. The backyard faces northeast and even in summer has limited sun in most areas. I have a limited area to work with but lots of weeds to get rid of.
Oh, I liked Checkmate by Murder, Tracy. I reviewed it on March 10. If you get a chance, you should go back to my review, not to read the review, but to read Jeff’s comments about the author. I ordered the other books that are in print since I liked it so much.
Thanks for pointing me to your review, Lesa. I did check out Jeff’s comments, which I agree with wholeheartedly. I like to read fiction written during World War II, especially when it includes the effects of the war on people in the story. I will save reading your review until I have finished the book. I like to come to a book knowing as little as possible, although that is not always possible.
Totally agree with you, Tracy. I like to see the book with fresh eyes, too. It’s not always possible since I order so many books, but I don’t blame you. And, that’s why I said you should check out Jeff’s comments, not my review.
Tracy, I agree with you about Lydia Chin’s mother. In the novels, from the daughter’s perspective, the mother was rather cold , I thought, but since she has been narrating her own tales, she seems to have loosened up a lot, even towards the gay son. The last one I read was the same one you mentioned, which was in DEADLY ANNIVERSARIES, edited by Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini.
I’m almost half way through DEATH ON THE BOARDWALK by Caleb Wygal. It’s enjoyable, but it needed to be smoothed out a bit. Information needed to be worked into the book better. But, as I say, I’m enjoying it.
You don’t make those kind of comments very often, Mark, so it sounds as if that book needed some better editing.
This has been a very emotional week for me. During the pandemic, we had many visits with my son and his partner, all distanced and outdoors, even thru the Michigan winter. Last weekend, all fully vaccinated, we were finally able to hug. No words to describe how that felt, just so thankful that it finally happened. At the same time, my son in law’s father, who has been seriously ill with covid, is not doing well. We are trying to remain hopeful, but the news there has continued to be grim.
I finished reading What you Don’t See by Tracy Clark. This is the third book in a series about former Chicago Police Officer Cass Raines. Cass is hired to protect Vonda Allen, a magazine publisher who has spent her career being abusive to basically everyone who has worked for her. Vonda wants Cass to protect her, but offers no information about the threats made to her. This is the third book in a series, and one that I think gets better and better. Cass is an interesting character, capable of growing. The supporting cast are also multidimensional and interesting.
I am currently reading The Seine by Elaine Sciolino. So far, an enjoyable combination of history and travelogue. I am just beginning Peter Robinson’s Not Dark Yet. Have always enjoyed the series and will be happy to read the conclusion of the trafficking plot.
Rosemary, am so sorry about your kitty. Hugs to you. We have a 17 year old and an almost 20 year old here.
Jennifer, I’m so glad you were finally able to hug your son and his partner. I understand why it was an emotional week, though. First, that wonderful greeting, but then, to know someone is probably dying for this horrid disease. I’m sorry.
Kaye Barley has already read the fourth book by Tracy Clark, and she agrees with you that Clark’s books just get better. I’m looking forward to it!
Take care of yourself.
Good morning, Lesa and all. From the library came Narrowboat Summer which I read in a couple of days and enjoyed a lot. Interesting characters and setting. I wish there had been a couple more chapters to “finish off the tale”, but no matter. I’ve asked for a library hold on her first book, Meet Me At the Museum.
I’ve been reading some of Mary Oliver’s poetry, and a few more stories in the thick Norvell Page collection I mentioned a few weeks ago, and a few stories from another thick collection of The Thinking Man stories. Now, however, I’m just over midway on Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler, the 4th book in the Bryant & May series, which is terrific (both the series and, so far, this book). In “the old days” when I liked the first book or two in a new-to-me series, I’d buy as many as were available, but I’d backed off that collector way of thinking in recent years, as space and number of books became an issue. Yet I have now purchased all of the Bryant & May books and have preordered the (possibly final) one coming in December. Doing so speaks to my enjoyment of Fowler’s books.
I’m getting into the mood for a classic British mystery, so I may read on of the Lorax books Tracy mentions next, as I have them both on shelf.
How did the interview with Kent Krueger go?
That’s Lorac, good old autocorrect got me.
Rick, I really liked MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM a lot. I had NARROWBOAT from the library but had to return it before I got it read.
Richard, I loved Narrowboat Summer as well as Meet Me at the Museum. My husband and I got a little caught up in narrowboat travel and watched Britain by Narrowboat on IMDB through Amazon prime.
I am currently reading The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin. It is soo good!
Yes! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, Katherine.
I agree, Katherine!
I’m reading The Mona Lisa Sisters by George Cramer. It’s well written and a bit of a mystery so far as to genre. I’m enjoying it enough to take a couple of hours off this afternoon to see where the story goes.
Oh, I like that Patricia. I’d love to take a couple hours off to go read my book. Enjoy!
I just got home from dental surgery, so excuse me if this doesn’t make a lot of sense.
This week I read the massive biography of Bob Dylan, Down the Highway. I can’t say I’m a fan, I never heard him sing until I was in my 20’s. He seems like a weird dude.
Bloodline by Dick and Felix Francis; Much more modern than the last Francis novel I read. Turns out the title is very meaningful to the work. Preakness is this weekend. Wonder if Baffin is thinking of hiring Felix to investigate his horse!
A double novel of the final two Shadow novels where he goes up against Shiwan Khan. These are among the best in the whole series.
Soul Cage by Tetsuya Honda; A scaffolder commits suicicde…or is he murdered. A task force that constantly (but politely) bickers among themselves tries to find out.
Front Page News; Part of the “London” series of police procedutals. Like a Jerry Springer show in print. Detectives try to find the killer of an up and coming model, and instead find, crippling anxiety, daddy issues, fat shaming, alcoholism, cocaine addiction, and secret cutting. Then we got to the accidental incest, and I would have thrown this across the room, out a window, and onto the road to be ran over by trucks had this been a print novel. I had to restrain myself from breaking my kindle.
Murder at Sea by ana Celeste Burke; Georgie Shaw in on her honeymoon, when there is a fight on board, someone goes over, and someone else is stabbed. Georgie has to get to the bottom of things before her boss, who owns the ship gets there. Kind of weird reading about a cruise ship during COVID.
Cyclops Conspiracy; A couple of anti-terrorists are teamed with a beautiful drone operator to find suitcase nukes and take out the trash while sailing the Greek isles. Entertaining, yet old fashioned and quaint.
Even after dental surgery, Glen, the sarcasm is there. I’m glad you didn’t break your kindle over Front Page News. Sounds disgusting.