I’m enjoying the quiet life up here in Far North Queensland, however still on my quest to marry letters and places I thought (via some shortish easy reads) I’d ‘spice it it up a bit’ by having a few days on the road in England (with an additional stop for fun)…… spend some time in a terrific French city …..then pop over to Italy for a little while.
And after all that….
Jump on a jet plane and fly off to that place Frank Sinatra and friends told us
was ‘a wonderful town’ followed by the chance to experience something entirely different.
Would you like to know how I did it…..Read on Macduff (sorry William)
The Yorkshire Farm Girl – Dianne Allen 2023.
First stop was in Yorkshire just before war was declared in 1938. We follow the Fothergill family (father Bob, mother Ivy, daughter Sally and son Ben) as they approach Christmas, the New Year and then move along through the seasons..
Book blurb:-.
Life is hard for the Fothergill family as they try to make a living on their farm in the Yorkshire Dales. Bob Fothergill has set his sights on buying his own farm instead of renting the one they currently hold. Sally his teenage daughter, wishes her father would see that she could help more with the farm, but he believes that a girl’s place is in the home. Ben, their youngest, has no interest in farming so is ignored. Sally’s mother makes do knowing her husband wants what’s best for them.
A easy to read novel – plenty to take in and absorb, much description of farming life in those times, landscape/flora/fauna and surroundings as well as village life. Changing attitudes to changing circumstances means all the family must learn to live and accept living life differently to how they did in the past. Yes, it was easy to read, the ‘story’ just flowed along but there was something about it that was odd. Scenes changed abruptly….one minute ‘this’ was happening- the next minute it was ‘that’. Conversations sounded like actors reading their lines. Let’s just say that when I finished I closed it wondering ‘what was that all about’.
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The Windsor Knot – S.J.Bennett 2020
Well this was a fun read – a murder mystery at Windsor (Castle that is)…..the first in a series where HMTL Queen Elizabeth becomes an investigator. Actually, we learn she’s been doing that (solving mysteries) for a good few years….who’d have known….aided and abetted this time by a new personal secretary as well as previous staff members.
Much research must have gone into the ‘Royal’ aspects of the story as well as a lot of imagination (and a smidgeon of humour) in getting the whole thing to work. It must of worked because I read it right through to the end without cheating to find out ‘who dun it’.
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The Last Bookshop in London – Madeline Martin 2021
I wrote a whole long screed on what I liked & didn’t like about this book but decided to bin it. There was nothing wrong with it, there was a beginning a middle and a happy ever after ending- it’s just I found it rather ‘flat’ and some things didn’t sound right which spoilt it. Non British authors try hard but don’t always get it right.
I know we all have different tastes, what appeals to one doesn’t another but I couldn’t see why it received all the rave reviews. Has anyone else read it – what did you think?
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Emily goes to Exeter – M.C.Beaton (aka Marion Chesney) 1990
** Had to do a little head scratching with X – this title was one that had X in the place name – Exeter…..sounds like it starts with one – right??
Set in the 1800s it’s fun little story about a housekeeper who because of a legacy became able to travel the country by stage coach. On her way to Exeter stranded for several days because of a snow storm she ‘organises’ the other passengers and sorts out their ‘love lives’. #1 in The Travelling Matchmaker series
Lots of historical content, stage coach travel plus references to actual early pioneers. social settings, upstairs downstairs life plus oodles of ‘old fashioned’ phrases and sayings (dictionary and Mr G to the rescue 😊)
Thrown up and down like a Shuttlecock on a battledore .
Cocked a snook – thumb their nose, show no respect souce
The ton – fashionable society source .
Draw his cork – punch in nose source
‘Lord Ranger Harley’ said Emily in a clear voice, ‘is a rake and a libertine’
In a historical context, a rake (short for rakehell, analogous to “hellraiser“) was a man who was habituated to immoral conduct, particularly womanizing. Often, a rake was also prodigal, wasting his (usually inherited) fortune on gambling, wine, women, and song, and incurring lavish debts in the process.
Comparable terms are “libertine” and “debauché. source
A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, who sees these traits as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour observed by the larger society source
Of course Lord Harley is none of these – He and Emily….well you have to read the story to find out what they do😊.
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The Austen Girls – Lucy Worsley 2020.
Now although this isn’t an actual Jane Austen novel it’s my little nod to Jane Austen July – the month of her death where (for many years now) a month long worldwide celebration of her life is held, reading of her novels is encouraged, little challenges and read alongs happen.
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Read and enjoyed in the last week of July an ‘imagined’ story slated towards YA written by Lucy Worsley (yes, that Lucy Worsley) about Jane’s nieces Fanny and Anna (daughters of her brothers Edward and James) one who lived in Kent, the other in Hampshire.
In the Epilogue (What happened in real life) there’s en explanation of how life did actually pan out for the cousins and how intermingled it was with their Aunt Jane
Some of you might find this blog post interesting- July in Jane Austens world .
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Mrs Harris goes to Paris – Paul Gallico 1958.
Mrs Harris was no less a woman than Lady Dante or any other. She wanted…… a dress from what must surely be the most expensive dress shop in the world – that of Mr Dior in Paris.
“What would you do with it when you got it?”
“Have it, just have it”
Well I’m not quite sure what I was expecting because coming late to this short novel and ‘hearing so much about it’ I thought there’d be more to the story. Which is simply – after seeing a Dior creation in one of her ‘clients’ home Mrs Harris sets her heart on buying a dress from that fashion house.
She is a woman who is willing to have a go at anything – can see very little evil in people – try’s to make the most of everything – happy with ‘her lot’ – what you see is what you get – and as we find out will go to any lengths to get what she wants.
This little story tells how she goes about it along with various happenings that would have defeated anybody else. A very easy read, written in third person with (just one thing I didn’t enjoy) conversation dialogue in dialect….which might have added flavour but to me was a bit over the top…..
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One Summer in Italy – Sue Moorcroft 2018
A little bit of ‘chick lit’ plus a little bit of ‘romcom’ – add a little bit of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’……mix it all up in a small village in Italy with a young woman finding herself after nursing her father until his death – a teenager full of anger after discovering the ‘father’ who raised her from birth is not her actual father – plus a man with a mission and there’s your cast of characters along with the makings of an easy to read novel
Extended family is found and after a little bit of fiery drama accepted on both sides – real father is found and accepted – daughter is united with real father, forgiven by ‘family father’ and comes to terms with the situation – man wins over newly discovered daughter – man and young woman become ‘a permanent item’.
A good weekend read – part of a ‘ One Summer in’ series.
*****
Where is Claris in Rome – Megan Hess 2023
I saw this in the library and brought it back to show to a camper’s daughter who enjoys Where’s Wally books. Large clear very colourful diagrams meant it was easier for young children to find the things to look out for.
So one afternoon we sat eating potato chips looking for all the bits and pieces on each page and that’s exactly what she (all of 5yrs old) said……these are easy to do. I much prefer Wally!
Proving that even at that age you can’t please everyone where books are concerned.
We had so much fun finding all the objects on each page Rome became my place name for the letter R.
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A New York Christmas – Ann Perry 2014.
What a strange little book this was. There was I thinking it would be about Christmas in the New World in the very early 1900s and it turned out to be a murder mystery that no sooner had started was finished. Yes, a novella sized work about a young English woman travelling to New York as a companion to a younger girl about to marry into a fashionable well to do family.
So wealth, politics, ‘business empire building’ through marriages, social history (race relations) immigration, descriptions of various neighbourhoods in those turn of the century days, (maybe a little stereotyping) a wrongly accused ‘murderer’ plus a budding romance are part of the storyline. I had an inkling who the actual murderer was early on but I didn’t unravel all the plot so there was an unforeseen twist at the end.
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* ** Sometimes you’ve ‘gotta do what you’ve gotta do’…..finding a fiction book with a place beginning with U in the title was very difficult SO I cheated…My U in the title is actually a persons nickname but because it’s also a state in the USA it’s only a ‘little’ cheat
Utah Blaine – Louis L’Amour 1954
Now I’ve done some strange things in my life but never ever thought I’d read a western novel – lol I suppose there’s always a first time for anything!
As they say “well, that was interesting”.
I’ve been there- done that now – sort of enjoyed it – but don’t think I’ll go back for more.
Centring round land claims, greed, jealousy, female attraction, ‘in-house disagreements’, double crossings, ‘wrongs must be righted yet no respect for life….or the law. Killings here there and everywhere.
I reckon I watched too many films or tv when younger (or the writing was pretty good) because I could definitely visualise (seeing and hearing as it happened) everything I was reading.
I was surprised as to how easy it was to read a story that kept moving along from one fight, ambush, shooting/hanging/lynching/ murder, ‘seeing’ some of the ‘goodies’ die – most of the ‘baddies’ as well….…no car chases but lots of horses and riders galloping away down trails and over the countryside chasing or trying to get away from each other
Oh and the main good guy won in the end – he also ‘got the girl’ 😊
Looking for information on ‘gunslingers’ I found plenty of reading here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfighter.
It’s a sit down with a cup of tea read, so much to absorb but so very interesting.
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And because I’m a lover of musicals (and I found it on the ‘tube’) enjoy this clip from ‘On The Town’ where Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin star as sailors who are given a 24hr leave pass to experience New York. Filmed in NY early 1948 – released 1949
And because I’m sort of geeky about some things – this link – https://popspotsnyc.com/on_the_town/ gives now and then information about places used in the filming of this opening number clip
Sharing this very long post with What’s on your Book Shelf Challenge
Still Waters 