How are you this week? Kevin, and others in the path of Hurricane Laura, take care of yourselves. Just what we need in 2020, right? Let’s just get this year over with.
What are you reading? I’m about to start Meg Cabot’s new romantic comedy, No Offense. Going back to the setting of No Judgments, Little Bridge Island, one of the islands of the Florida Keys. This time, someone leaves a baby in the restroom of the public library. The sheriff insists whoever left the baby is a criminal. Molly Montgomery, the head of children’s services at the library, disagrees. John Hartwell, the divorced sheriff, a single father, thinks he might be overdue for a new romance, if Molly doesn’t disagree on that subject as well. I hope it’s as much fun as her last book. That one would be timely. A hurricane was coming in.
Everyone, take care this week. And, let us know what you’ve been reading.
Morning Lesa,
I have just finished Fear in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope. It is the seventh book in a long series about Thea Osborne, a young widow who runs a house-sitting service. It's a good device to allow Tope to get Thea into new surroundings each time, but Thea is another lead character (i seem to be having a run of them just lately!) to whom I cannot warm. She is selfish, nosy (but not in a Miss Marple way) and has no sense of humour at all. I think it's that last one, plus her neglect of, or constant complaining about, the animals she is paid to care for, that disenchant me most. She professes to be an animal lover but in the last one I read she ignored her own dog's sore ear because it was too much trouble to call a vet, and in this one she does nothing about a donkey's sores and a traumatised dog's (not her own dog) problems.
Why do I keep returning to this series? I hear you ask – and it's a good question. I like the settings – the Cotswolds are a beautiful part of England – and this last one was set in a week of heavy snow, which made it quite atmospheric (though I'd have preferred it if Thea hadn't moaned about it quite as much as she did.) Some of the other characters are usually quite interesting, though I wish she'd develop them a bit more. The animals are probably my favourites!
In this book there was a further irritation in that Tope seemed to want to use it to express her rather anti-feminist views and her criticisms of modern parenting. It was all a bit Daily Mail reader for me.
But I do have some of the others in the series, and I'll no doubt pick up another one at some point, so it's my own fault. Do you have series like that, ones you find yourself plodding on with despite several reservations?
I've got to read two more books to complete my #20BooksofSummer challenge by 1 September; I've narrowed my choices down to Nancy Mitford's Highland Fling, Mary Wesley's Harnessing Peacocks, Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies and Marion St John Webb's The Girls of Chequertrees. I need light stuff with no miserable moaning 'heroines', and these all look like fun.
(I've seen a film of the Mary Wesley but don't know much about the others. Highland Fling was Mitford's first published novel, before The Pursuit of Love, and apparently Renault wrote The Friendly Young Ladies 'in answer to the despair of Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness – the cover describes it as a 'stylish social comedy set in the 1930s.'
So we'll see. Very cloudy morning here, which did at least mean I could sit by the river and read with hardly anyone even walking past. It's definitely autumnal now – I took a flask of coffee with me for the first time this year, and it was very welcome.
We're fine. Same old – mostly the supermarket, pick up take out food, and home.
As always, I start my reading day with a short story. I read Robert Silverberg's collection of SF stories about interactions with alien, ALIEN ARCHIVES, which I enjoyed, mostly stories I'd read before. I have a collection by Jhumpa Lahiri (as long as I don't discover that I've read it before) and two new arrivals from Crippen & Landru, collections by Erle Stanley Gardner (Lester Leith stories) and Edward D. Hoch (a new collection of Simon Ark stories).
I've been reading mostly non-fiction this week, in Otto Friedrich's CITY OF NETS, a very good book about Hollywood in the '40s. Also read Arlene (Mrs. Alan) Alda's fun JUST KIDS FROM THE BRONX: TELLING IT THE WYA IT WAS – An Oral History. She interviewed people who grew up in The Bronx and went on to be highly successful, many celebrities but others just leaders in their fields. The oldest were former NY Times editor Abe Rosenthal and Carl Reiner. Others include Dion, Al Pacino, Robert Klein, Mary Higgins Clark, and Regis Philbin. (Obviously, a number of the older ones have died in the last few years since the book came out.) Each gets a few pages to reminisce about what it was like in the '40s or '50s.
I have the new Linda Castillo, OUTSIDER, waiting to read next. I just needed a break from fiction for a while.
Hi, Rosemary! I'm sure it's no longer morning in Scotland. That Thea sounds like someone I would have given up on quite a while ago. But, I read for character first, and her character sounds terrible. You're right, though. I went longer than I should have with Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson series. I finally gave up. My sister went a little longer than I did, but she finally quit, too. Hannah is an amateur sleuth in a long-running mystery series. For years and hundreds of books (exaggeration), she couldn't make up her mind between a dentist who doted on her, and even built a house with her in mind, and a cop who cheated on her. I quit the series before she abruptly married someone else. She may be a good sleuth, but I hate romantic triangles in my mysteries, and that one went on way too long.
On the other hand, I like the sound of Highland Fling. I'll be interested in your reaction to whichever book you read.
We're expecting lots of rain this weekend. We aren't in the path of Hurricane Laura, but we are in the path of the resulting rain afterwards.
Just Kids from the Bronx sounds fun, Jeff. I understand needing a break from fiction. I've been reading more nonfiction lately.
As I said, I had a few issues with Kate in Linda Castillo's new book, but it's a Linda Castillo! One of my favorite series.
Good morning.
I just finished BIG DEAD DAWG by Victoria Houston. It wasn’t as good as the earlier Loon Lake mysteries.
ECHOES OF MURDER by Summer Prescott is the backstory of one of her characters from a series I haven’t read but it worked as a stand alone. A woman is abducted and after escaping flees for her life.
MURDER JUST ISN’T FAIRE by Thea Cambert. A cozy set around a Ren Faire.
BOMBSHELL by Stuart Woods. It’s the fourth in his Teddy Fay series and was a fast read with a lot of action.
I agree, Sandy. I didn't think Big Dead Dawg was as good as some of the others in the series, either.
This week I finished MISS GRAHAM'S COLDWAR COOKBOOK by Celia Rees. There was an unexpected twist near the end I didn't see coming. My only quibble was there so many little spy rings I had a hard time remembering who was British and who was American and keeping their agendas straight.
Next I inhaled DANCE WITH ME by Elizabeth Susan Phillips. The subject matter was a little darker for her but I enjoyed the characters of Ian and Tessa. I stayed up until midnight to finish it.
Last night I finished THE RIVER HOME by Hannah Richell. Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me although it was beautifully written. Middle sister, Lucy, is getting married spur of the moment and wants the family all together to celebrate. This was slow going and I did get wrapped up in the story. But the ending…so much sadness and heartbreak when the secrets are revealed. I could not get past that even though she tried to make the very ending a little happier. I can't say it I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it at a different time. I really liked her first book THE PEACOCK SUMMER which is why I picked it up.
I am not sure what I will pick up next but I can assure you, it will be fluffy and light hearted and fun!
Happy Reading!
All is well here, although we had a lot of smoke and ash from one of the California fires. Fortunately, our week of 100+ temps has ended!
After reading 27 (!) mysteries by David Rosenfelt, they all begin to sound familiar. Although I usually enjoy the books in the Andy Carpenter series (and the character and voice of Andy in particular), MUZZLED and the last one fell a bit short for me. The case was not as interesting as I would have liked, and although all of the members of Andy's team were included, no one really stood out. I think maybe Rosenfelt is writing too fast these days–did we really need two in this series in 2020?
My family treated Mike and me to VIP tickets to the Dancing with the Stars Tour a few years back and I got to meet Val Chmerkovskiy, so I was happy to find his memoir, I'LL NEVER CHANGE MY NAME, on the "new books" shelf (2018) at my new library. I found it to be a totally satisfying autobiography about Val's move from the Ukraine to Brooklyn at age 8, his family's struggles, his close relationship with big brother Maks (also DWTS), his success in international dance competitions and, of course, his DWTS experience.
In A ROYAL AFFAIR by Allison Sinclair, the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back for a second adventure in London after WWII. This time, Gwen's cousin, who works for the Queen, want Iris and Gwen to look into whether Prince Philip of Greece is a worthy suitor of the Princess, or whether he may not be who he claims to be. I love the two main characters. Fearless Iris was a spy during the war and still has some helpful (and not-so-helpful) contacts from her previous life. And her current beau is a gangster. Quiet Gwen lost her husband in the war and ended up in a sanitarium, causing her to lose custody (hopefully temporarily) of her beloved young son to her haughty in-laws, with whom they both live. Both characters are evolving, which makes them fun to watch. Their marriage bureau career takes a bit of a backseat in this adventure, and I was glad there was one of those "let's get together and reveal exactly what happened and who is guilty" scenes at the end because I found the plot a bit hard to follow. But the writing is terrific and I'm sure many more adventures are ahead.
Evie, the girl who was found hiding in a house where a man was murdered, continues her story in Michael Robotham's thriller, WHEN SHE WAS GOOD. She is almost 18 and living in a home with other troubled teens, still befriended by police psychologist Cyrus, when she has to go on the run again because criminals are hunting her and threatening her life. What does she know that threatens these men so much, and can Cyrus–who has a troubled past as well–somehow protect her? Gripping, bleak, and ending in a way that promises future stories.
Just finished three of Maria Grace's Jane Austen's Dragons series – remarkable blend of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE characters and world with an equally complex social/political scheme of dragons.
Just started Donna Andrews' 27th (!) Meg Lanslow mystery, THE FALCON ALWAYS WINGS TWICE, set in a Renaissance Faire. One of the main delights is seeing how Meg's family adapts to the setting.
Oh, Sharon. I have Dance with Me sitting on a table at home, so it's nice to know you inhaled it. I won't be staying up to finish it, though. Well, probably not. I seldom stay up with a book.I'm a morning person, and I'd rather get up early to read.
I know. There are those times when only something fluffy and light will do. Or, sometimes, for me, it's nonfiction.
Margie, You may have beaten my list of Robert B. Parker books with your list of David Rosenfelt's. I know. They do start to feel the same, don't they?
I always liked the Chmerkovskiy brothers on Dancing With the Stars. I wasn't a regular follower, but enough to recognize the regulars. And, I have a friend from the Celtic Thunder community who is a dancer, and she's attended some of their events, and danced with both of them!
I own both of Allison Sinclair's books. I just need to find time!
Cyranetta, I like the sound of Maria Grace's series. Dragons plus Pride & Prejudice. That's different. I'll have to look for those books.
One of my sisters is a big Donna Andrews fan.
I read some physical books this week!
Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher; Max Allan Collins goes into the second part of Ness's life, when he was the safety officer of Cleveland. Very interesting.
Dorothy and Jack; An examination of the friendship between Dorothy Sayers and CS Lewis.
We Are All the Same In The Dark; Weird small town thriller I put down after a couple of chapters.
I looked that Eliot Ness book up, Glen. I knew there was some big case in Cleveland, and "the Mad Butcher" didn't mean anything to me. I also didn't realize this book was nonfiction. I found it interesting since I'm from northcentral Ohio.
Some of the current thrillers just don't interest me.
Here in NE Dallas, we were to the west of all the projected Laura storm tracks and the actual track was even further to our east as it came north. All we got was a little wind and clouds at times as outer bands swung through. No rain at all. Now it is supposed to be 101-105 with heat indices to 115 on Sunday.
I hate summer.
Working on THE LANTERN MEN by Elly Griffiths. Have not gotten much read the last three days as I have been dealing with doctor's staff on scheduling and failure to communicate and plumbing issues. All that is fixed and today is the first day this week that I have not had repair guys here in this old house looking at issues.
They come back Monday and then I get to go meet a new doc on Tuesday regarding the recent hospital deal with me. Blah.
Blah is right, Kevin. We had the rain that you didn't get, but, not as much as we expected. I hope that's about it. I knew it was coming. The ducks have been gathering in the parking lot.
Take care of yourself, Kevin.
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