Tag: WOYBS

Carrying on with my nearly finished A-Z challenge of finding work by unread authors, I’ve come up with some very short, some very old – as well as some very different ones
A mixture from the library as well as online sources..

The Boy who Lived with the Dead – Kate Ellis 2018

A child haunted by the past . . . A village troubled by secrets …..
…..unsuccessful investigation into the murder of little Jimmy Rudyard in the village of Mabley Ridge. Now a woman has been murdered there and another child is missing, the sole witness being a traumatised boy who lives in a cemetery lodge. Albert’s first investigation was a failure but this time he is determined to find the truth . . . and the missing child.

A very readable story – a 2 day page turner with lots of twists and turns that have you wondering ‘who dun it and why’. The boy in the title lives next to the cemetery, sees things from his window but isn’t believed.
#2 in a series about Inspector Albert Lincoln- I was attracted by the title but definitely try to read more of them.
*****

The Lost Weekend – Charles R Jackson 1944
Free download available at fadedpage.com HERE.

* Don Birnam is a sensitive, charming and well-read man. Yet when left alone for a few days by his brother, he struggles with his overwhelming desire for alcohol, succumbs to it and, in the resulting prolonged agony, goes over much of his life up to and including the lost weekend..

The Goodreads blurb above says it all. An interesting but confronting read

Also if you have an interest in ‘old movies’ a free(full length) film version (Ray Milland/Jane Wyman) directed by Billy Wilder has recently been added to this site :- https://archive.org/details/the-lost-weekend-1945.
*****

The Rector – Mrs (Margaret) Oliphant 1861.
Chronicles of Carlingford #1.
Downloaded from Project Gutenberg HERE.
The Rector opens as Carlingford awaits the arrival of their new rector. Will he be high church or low? And – for there are numerous unmarried ladies in Carlingford – will he be a bachelor? .

A very short story written (in the language of the day that some may not enjoy) by Mrs (Margaret) Oliphant- who I had heard about but never come across- dealing with Mr Proctor the new vicar.
Never actually having had a parish of his own before he finds it difficult to communicate with the villagers: especially the females. Made even worse by the fact that his mother, whom he has relocated to the village, continually suggests he needs to be married…..plus he has reservations about whether he has ‘done the right thing’ by moving from his academic post in Oxford.
An interesting little read that has you thinking about what you really want in life
*****

My Dog Daisy- Jean Ure 2015.
A little chapter book for readers maybe aged about 9, old enough to read by themselves and understand a story plus the ‘hidden emotions’.
Picked for the letter U but turned out to be quite an interesting read…….Lily wants a dog….not feasible in a flat with no garden. She meets Charlotte and Fred (the dog) and a different sort of friendship begins.

This small book (67pgs largish print) covers a lot – teenage anger and moods, friends plus family relationships, ‘boys’ , confronting aging then euthanasia in animals, grief, compromise then finding happiness again.

*****.
I will confess I was hoping to have Simon Van Boy’s Sipsworth as my V author but with just 2 library copies and readers hanging on to their’s for what seems like the allocated lending time my name hasn’t come up (in fact I’m still 3rd on the list!) so when I saw this the other day it came home with me

The Polar Express – Chris Van Allsburg 1985
A story of how a young boy takes a ride to the North Pole on a steam train where he meets Santa Claus and the Elves. A story about believing..

Each of the pages comprises of an almost two page spread picture with words running down one side…..the story itself seemed imaginable and I’m sure children would be able to relate to it but looking at the pictures through adult eyes, apart from a couple, I found them rather dark and overwhelming with a very European look and feel about them. But then again, I’m not familiar with the author and any of his other works.

• When he gets on the train this is what he finds…..

The train was filled with other children all in their pyjamas and nightgowns. We sang Christmas carols and ate candies with nougat centres as white as snow. We drank hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars.
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Sky Burial – Xinran 2004 nf .
…( Xue) Xinran, a journalist….received a telephone call asking her…. to meet an oddly dressed woman who had just crossed the border from Tibet into China. Xinran….met the woman, called Shu Wen, who recounted the story of her thirty-year odyssey in the vast landscape of Tibet.

And that’s just what this short (as in 156pgs)book is all about. The retelling of Shu Wen’s search for her missing husband , for all to read. A simple (true) tale (interestingly eye opening at times) too detailed and involved for me to describe- the reviews on GR (link above) do it far better than I could. Thoroughly enjoyed it – one I would never have come across except for this challenge – try to find it if you can
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• Looking for a Z author wasn’t easy – I didn’t fancy any of the library books/authors (shouldn’t be picky I know- a challenge is a challenge) then saw the name Zagat on a list – ooh, sci fi, that’s different.

The Landon Screen – Arthur Leo Zagat 1936.
Free download available at fadedpage.com HERE

“At noon the newspapers came out with scare headlines. Every bridge out of the city is closed off by the veil of—what can I call it?.
A cover has shut down over us as if Manhattan were a platter on which a planked steak was being brought from the kitchen of the Ritz-Plaza. ”.
Excerpt from The Lanson Screen Arthur Leo Zagat

About 10yrs ago there was a tv series called Under the Dome…..which told the story of the residents of the fictional small town…..,and how a massive, transparent and indestructible dome suddenly cuts them off from the rest of the world.

Sounds familiar – I didn’t watch the tv series (based on a Stephen King novel) but did read this short story by Arthur Zagat.
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And there you have it……
Similar to the ‘alphabet soup’ challenges linking letters to book titles
here’s my attempt at A-Z of previously unread authors (plus some extras)

Unread Authors 2024

📘February- What’s on the Table.
📘March – What’s on the Table .
📘June – Is it a good fit.
📘July – What are you reading.
📘October- End of the line

Sharing with What’s on your Book Shelf Challenge

At the end of last month’s post I left you enjoying the sights and sounds of the Wild West,….I then moved across the country a bit to try and discover ‘lost treasure’ before crossing the Atlantic to visit three very different places ……..after which I felt it was time to go home to Australia 🇦🇺

Lost Oklahoma Treasures – W Craig Gaines 2021.
Misplaced Mines, Outlaw Loot & Mule Loads of Gold (nf)

If you ever want to know where there might be a hoard of buried treasure in the state of Oklahoma then this is the book for you!
One to dip in and out of and maybe generate interest in that ‘treasure hunt’ you had in mind
Full of snippets of information/legends/tall tales about gold/cash/jewellery that for one reason or another was hidden in various ‘counties’ and mostly never recovered. One section on social history of the state was interesting reading but lost on me with no prior knowledge of all the ‘international owners’ of the land (Native Indians – French – Spanish).
Chapters on Shipwrecks, Outlaws and their Loot as well as The Indian Nations made good reading. If you like following along with a map this might be of interest to you – I found it on Hoopla
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• The Galway Girls – Susan Colleen Browne 2018
  Two best friends search for their heart’s desire in this small-town romantic story set in Ireland……The Galway Girls is a warmhearted tale of women’s friendship and of love lost and love found among the misty green Irish countryside!

A soft easy to read novel about two ‘young neighbours’ in a small village who share their feelings about the happenings in their lives as well as those of their families. Full of family relationships, farming on a small scale, fun goings on, old love – new love, hopes, expectations, disappointments
#4 in a series (Village of Ballydara) so there were a few references to things that happened in earlier books that made me think it might have been better to have read them in order but I was after a G book and this fitted the bill. Anyway they’re all there on Hoopla so they might be just right for summer reading!

• Tangier in the Rain – Fabien Grolleau 2022.
  In 1912, Matisse is feeling a little fed up. In Paris, Picasso is hogging the limelight, so Matisse decides it’s time for some fresh air, a little space, and a different kind of light. That’s it, he’ll cross the Mediterranean and start painting a new kind of nature. He’s going to Tangier. Problem is, when he finally gets there, it starts raining

Another new way of reading for me – a graphic novel. Seemingly there are readers who only read this style – let’s just say it served it’s purpose in providing me with a book that covered the letter T.
A simple story with illustrations (more refined than a comic book) seemingly about the time Matisse visited Morocco and it rained!

You might like to read this article about that visit and how it influenced his style of painting at the time 👇

Did You Know That Henri Matisse Went to Morocco?

• Return to the little coffee shop of Kabul – Deborah Rodriguez 2016.
  The honest, entertaining and life-affirming sequel to The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, featuring the same loveable cast of characters……

Fitted the letter K but oh dear what a slog. The second of (now) three books centring around the infamous coffee shop but unfortunately (for me) It didn’t seem to have the freshness the first book had – the whole storyline was so drawn out plus interest in the different lives of all the characters certainly wasn’t there the way it was with the first book.
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Lillian’s Eden – Cheryl Adam 2018

The Eden referred to in the title is a small town on the coast of New South Wales – Lillian and her family move there to ‘look after’ Aunt Maggie. Aunt Maggie is on her husband’s side of the family…a rather dysfunctional family.

Aunt Maggie is Eric’s mothers sister, she is unconventional, the ‘odd one’ – as well as knowing all the family secrets she also has all the family money The story begins with a family visit to Aunt Maggie hoping for a loan but instead they get offered the house next door (owned by AM) on the proviso Lilian cleans, cooks and generally looks after her AM.
“Butter her up and she’ll leave it all to us” is Eric’s way of thinking
Lillian does that under suffrage because Aunt Maggie can be a bit of a tyrant but as the months go by she and Maggie become friends – each needing the other – almost dependent on each other. A ‘humorous’ at times yet reflective read about life within a 1950s family in rural Australia.

A is for Alice, my mother (and gt grandmother’s) given name as well as part of the title of one those novels that passed me by in my younger days. Alice Springs in the Northern Territory was a bit rough and ready when we visited in the early 1990s so goodness knows what it really was like at the time it became part of the focus of the novel

A town like Alice – Nevil Shute 1950.
Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life.

We’re back home now (after ‘wintering’ in FNQ) but as things haven’t gone the way I hoped recently I’ve only just begun to read this book…..however I’m really enjoying the style of writing with the solicitor Noel Strachan narrating his efforts to find his client’s heir (Jean Paget) and guiding her through the process of realising her inheritance. I’m sure I’ll enjoy the rest of it……

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Town_Like_Alice

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And there you have it…..
My attempt at matching letters of the alphabet to place names/countries
Of the 26 choices I made, just 4 were a disappointment

Letters and Places 2024

📘 April – A is for….
📘 May – Have book will travel……
📘 August – Where to now.
📘 September- Oh the places you go….

Sharing with What’s on your Book Shelf Challenge

(To comment please click on post title and scroll down)

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’.
****

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’.
****

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…..
****

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.

*****.
* ** 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

Questions Questions Questions……honestly you can’t leave home without family wanting to know all the things you’re doing
Used to be parent – child……now it’s become child – parent
Where ya goin’ – Where’ve ya been- Whatcha doin- Whatcha readin’. Talk about role reversal 😊🙁

So here goes ……we’ll keep them happy
and also let you know what I’ve been reading over the past month.

(I’m sharing this with the What’s on your Book Shelf Challenge).
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One’s a new one to me – short stories by a well known but unread by me author, then there’s ‘catch up’ on one I mentioned ages ago that has been sitting around waiting its turn, plus a ‘laundry room’ find here at the park.

I tried out a couple of very old children’s classics from years ago as well as an often talked about YA (young adult’s) I’d heard of but had never got round to reading.

The Long Weekend – Judy Nunn 2023

Australians love their long weekends, an extra day off work and if a Friday away can be wrangled it makes it all the more special.  And when you find a book with that title you know it’s going to be extra special. Not one of Judy Nunn’s novels but several short stories under one cover – I read them all but will tell you about just two.

* The first of them – The Long Weekend – follows 5 very different female friends – colleagues in a publishing company – preparing for a longed for post Covid restrictions weekend away at one’s grandparents cabin in the bush……with none of the digital privileges they live with on a daily basis.  But it doesn’t all go to plan which results in a very surprising ending.
*****
* I was drawn to The House on Hill Street for no other reason than my Grandad Thompson, his siblings and many of his cousins were all born in a house on Hill Street, Lurgan, Co Armagh during the 1800s.
Let’s just say that some interesting things went on in this one. A neighbour- a professor – his wife – the police were all involved when the dastardly deed happened. Did insanity play a part…..some said yes – others weren’t so sure.

Also some of you might also be interested in this podcast – put the kettle on, settle down for 30 mins and listen to:- https://www.betterreading.com.au/podcast/podcast-judy-nunn-on-writing-short-stories/.
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Where the Crawdads sing – Delia Owens 2018.
There are times when I should do things as they arise and then I won’t be disappointed……this book has been waiting its turn for quite a while – I knew I was very late to the party where reading it was concerned and I was very eager to see what all the hype was about but…….Sorry to say this was a DNF.
I even had my own little ‘beachside book club’ one morning talking to The Golfer about it, mentioning I had no interest in what was happening to the characters. He’s a ‘finisher’ and just said do what I thought best, so much to his surprise when I got to the page where Tate says goodbye as he’s going to college much earlier than planned, that’s where I said goodbye 👋

*****

The Walled Garden – Catherine Dunne 2000.
Beth flew the coop as soon as she could,…James, her dutiful brother, stayed in Dublin….not far from their mother, Alice. Now Alice is dying and Beth has returned to the shabby grandeur of her childhood home to keep vigil by her bedside.

Set in Ireland late 1990s, a story about a family, changing lives, changing circumstances, changing relationships…mother-wife…..father-husband….mother-daughter….mother-son….sister-brother….
Told as recollections/flashbacks by various characters – following a series of letters written by Alice to the ‘children’ after a medical diagnosis – a very emotional book to read. One that made me think about life and ageing, one I thoroughly enjoyed even though I shed bucketloads of tears!
*****

Goodnight Mister Tom – Michelle Magorian 1981.
Sometimes there are events/things you’re doing that you wish would never end. Reading this little book about a young evacuee and the old man he was billeted with was one.
I just wanted it to keep on going – to learn more about their life together after the war had ended, how he coped in a changing world and developed as a young man.
If you are able to get a copy, enjoy this story of a young boy’s growth during stressful times, yes, it included pain and sorrow but also fun, laughter, and most of all love.
My copy came from the library but I did discover it available (free) online HERE.
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Dot and the Kangaroo – Ethel C Pedley 1899
Available at Project Gutenberg HERE

Little Dot had lost her way in the bush. She knew it, and was very frightened. She was too frightened in fact to cry, but stood in the middle of a little dry, bare space, looking around her at the scraggy growths of prickly shrubs that had torn her little dress to rags, scratched her bare legs and feet till they bled, and pricked her hands and arms as she had pushed madly through the bushes, for hours, seeking her home.

The story of 5yr old Dot befriended by a Kangaroo and their journey to reunite her with her family, read through an adult’s eyes, not having read it as a child….

….I found it a very confronting/emotional story, quite forthright and gruesome in parts.
A book for reading to children, as it was much too wordy for young ones to read themselves and appeared geared towards older children who could absorb ‘the message’

Reminding me part of Alice in Wonderland plus Grimms Fairy Tales – quite scary in parts (for young readers) yet humorous in parts (for adults)

Fantasy with berries allowing humans and birds/animals to talk to each other…..late C1900 racial undertones – by today’s standards – with aborigines (blacks) shown in very bad light – ‘white humans’ not much better……much emphasis on being kind, respecting others and caring for the bush (environmental care before it became ‘trendy’)

Asking Australian friends how much they remembered about it – ‘oh, our teacher read it to us……a lovely little story about how Dot was lost and all the animals helped to get her home’. No one seemed to remember ‘the message’ though!

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Just begun

Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome 1930.
All 12 in series available here at fadedpage.com as a free download

Looking for something with a ‘holiday’ feel to it I started this unread children’s classic……but I’m not sure how far I’ll get with it. Another one that’s very ‘wordy’
Four chapters in – my thoughts so far

1930s – Middle class – bit of money – have nurse/nanny for baby – holidaying away from home – able to do in a grander scale than other children – loads of nautical terms – father in navy so learnt but possibly a bit over powering for town and country children not living on coast – shades of class distinction- lots of ‘outdoor’ stuff

• Children on holiday, father away at sea….. mother sent letter asking if they could camp on a nearby island. Mother (a fun loving Australian) happy to give them the freedom to do so, started preparing things (making tents and bedding! ) so they could sleep out in the open either on the island or near the house.  
• Sail to island- make camp – disappointed (annoyed) others had been there before them –

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallows_and_Amazons
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How about you – what have you read recently, did you enjoy it, give up on it, wonder what all the fuss was about?

(To comment please click on post title and scroll down)

The question at this time of the month is often What’s on the Table?
It turned out that on the day I took this – not a lot!

There’s the one I’m presently reading and the one I’ve just finished

Along with these two there has been one I’ve been dipping into online as well as a couple ‘read and returned’
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plus a little surprise at the bottom

Remember that other little challengey thing’ I have going, designed to get me reading more as well as thinking about what I’m reading…….not the A-Z letters/places…..but a simple A- Z of unread authors. 
Joining the ones read in February and March these should fit. 
Though that doesn’t mean to say they’ll be the ones that are recorded at end of the year😊

This is the one I’m plodding through trying to read at the moment

Starting over – Marcia Willett (1997).
* I started this way back at the beginning of April and just can’t get into it. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with it, things are happening to people – one character considers her deceased husband is still around and has conversations with him…..her friend’s son believes he is responsible for a person’s death. That sort of stuff. .
If I could stick at it rather than pick it up/ put it down for weeks on end I’d probably find it gets better as it goes along but I’m putting it right off to one side for the moment. I’m taking it up to Bowen to see if it comes good there

*****

Finished recently.

The Wrong Door – Bunty Avieson (2003). .
Carolyn “Bunty” Avieson is an Australian journalist, feature writer, novelist and academic. souce

* Petes dead and Gwennie’s life will never be the same…..Somehow she struggles through the funeral in a daze, and the mysterious mourner in the tight-fitting red dress barely registers in her consciousness……The woman in red is Clare Dalton, and she has stumbled into the wrong funeral service.

Yes that’s right – two funerals in the same building and one person caused so much soul searching by going through ‘the wrong door’. Who was she and why was she there- so many questions, lots of ‘set up the background’ lead in on both main characters, so many dead ends, red herrings, coincidences,… a bit of a slow read – not a page turner (ooh this is good) but one you plod through make your way through slowly because you’re curious enough to find out what it was all about – which I’m glad I did because it turned out to be a good mystery with a twist at the end.
*****

Looking for an author to fit the letter I the library suggested Washington Irving, someone I’ll admit to not knowing. They had several of his works as ebooks, Rip van Winkle being one (which I had heard of, just not the author) but this 👇 is what I settled on.
It fitted in very nicely with my idea to ‘read something christmassy’ every now and again. Several short stories covering events and happenings around Christmastime in ‘Old England’.
just right for dipping into one interesting chapter at a time

Old Christmas: from the Sketch Book of Washington Irving (1820)
Also found as a free ebook (to have and to hold – to enjoy and reread) on Project Gutenberg – HERE.

*****.
Two quick shelf picks read and now returned:-

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever – Julia Quinn 2007.
* So this is the story of Miss Miranda Cheever, daughter of Sir Rupert Cheever, her close friend Lady Olivia Bevelstoke daughter of the Earl of Rudland and Olivia’s two brothers Winston and Nigel aka Turner

Written by the author of the Bridgestone series it’s a ‘sort of’ Regency Romance. Love never follows a straight path and there are lots of twists and turns in this love story. Easy to read and filled my letter Q quite nicely.
******

The Frangipani Tree Mystery – Ovidia Yu (2017).
* 1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin’s daughter dies suddenly – and in mysterious circumstances – mission school-educated local girl Su Lin – is invited to take her place.

Another ‘cozy like’ mystery, this one is set In colonial Singapore middle 1930s. #1 in a series about a young girl who wants to move out of the wife/mother role she sees ahead of her and become a journalist. It did read as the first ‘setting the scene’ for a series, which was a shame.
Not a great deal of depth to the plot, younger modern readers might suggest touches of racism in some of the European /Asian content and I felt the ‘throwaway’ admission of homosexuality by one of the characters was just there ‘because’, There were bits of historical information included which set the scene for more to come. A shelf pick which turned out to be a reasonable not too deep read for the letter Y.
******

And the little surprise alluded to earlier – I was at the library the other day, glanced over at the children’s area and found a friend.
A ‘‘babysitting’ grandma, someone I’d not seen for a while so we stood there chatting, as you do, and I noticed this little book on a rolling stand.
Looked vaguely familiar, no idea why but after the ‘ difficulties’ I was having with the Willett book and with this author’s surname beginning with W it came home with me😊

The Napping House – Audrey Wood 1984

One of those fun board books, strong and tough enough to be held (and maybe dragged around) by little ones. Written and beautifully illustrated by husband/wife team Audrey and Don Wood.

It has a storyline that grows and grows as each page is turned (think – there was an old lady who swallowed a fly) about a little one sleeping at Granny’s house and how everyone else in the house ends up in/on Granny’s bed
Simple ‘realistic’ descriptions of everyone- eg…snoozing cat, dozing dog, dreaming child, snorting granny, cozy bed that will have children giggling
Lots of fun and laughter as the story progresses- then something happens – not saying what – they all wake with a start and the bed breaks!

It finally came to me where I’d seen it.
On another blog – a couple of months ago!.

Hello Jane…👋

Jane lives in Nebraska and writes a weekly column at Prairie Spirits

****

And here’s how I’m going with the ‘new to me’ authors so far this year
I’ve added a couple of book club finishes I haven’t spoken about
A Well Behaved Woman – Therese Ann Fowler.
Less – Andrew Sean Greer

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We definitely have had some fun recently – we went (armchair) travelling far and wide searching for those elusive A-Z place name titles, racking up those Frequent Flyer Points (or Air Miles as some of you might have) – from Florida to Hawaii then back across to Jamaica.
Turn around, fly west across the Pacific to hot humid Singapore and then up to Vienna. Where we’ve just arrived to pleasant late spring- early summer unlike coolish/cold late autumn – early winter here in Melbourne!
(43,171kms/ 26825 mls plus countless hrs of jet lag😎)

It was a fun ride and I ended up with a book in my hand all the way!
My reads over the month were…..

Florida fling with the Single Dad – Deanne Anders 2022
Inside the front cover it said:- Harlequin Medical – Pulse Racing Passion. Oh this’ll be good I thought😎.
The book blurb said – a fresh start in Key West is just what the flight nurse needs—but is a fling with a single dad?

So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – it wasn’t too bad, not very long, a quick easy read that was finished in a couple of afternoon, the sort of book you class as a ‘beach read’.
Set in sunny warm Florida Keys, it covers the time a young flight nurse returning to work after recovering from a gun shot wound, transfers from New York for a short contract. .
Add a good looking ‘station boss’ his young daughter, her PTSD, colleagues not sure of her skills plus an instant attraction and we have a little ‘reluctant’ love story (with a couple of ‘spicy’ episodes) in a trauma casualty air ambulance environment. All well that ends well.
****

Meet me in Hawaii – Georgia Toffolo 2021.
‘Her beauty, her smile…his stomach flipped like he’d gone over a bump in the road

Hawaii, where there’s Sun, Sand, Sea and Surf – what’s not to like about that
You never know- there’re may be a little romance as well. After all, it ‘is’ a Mills and Boon.

Two youngish mature (late 20/early30) adults with disturbed’ childhoods – wanting/needing to – providing help for underprivileged children. An initial ‘spark’ – misunderstandings – conflicting emotions – trying to resolve past mistakes – good friends coming to the rescue – coming to a climax finishing the way we knew it would.
Yes, it’s a ‘love story’ – with thoughts and feelings possibly familiar to many of the readers. Accept the past, it’s behind you……. look to the future, it’s all there in front of you.
*****

A High Wind in Jamaica – Richard Hughes 1929 (Vintage Classics 2002).
….a terrible hurricane levels their Jamaican estate, the Bas-Thorntons decide to send their children back to England. On the way their ship is set upon by pirates…… .

Well that’s the ‘blurb’ but it’s certainly not the whole of the happenings. I thought it was going to be a YA book but it also appears geared to adults…….

• from the description of their late C19th life before the storm (with language and attitudes which have offended many modern readers). .
  you can read an abbreviated version of the first few chapters HERE
  

• …..through an auction

• ………a nativity play – with real cattle!

• ……a child’s death, a murder followed by an attempted murder, an encounter with a ship full of ‘circus animals’, mixed reactions to plus disturbing emotions felt between sailors and children, ‘rescued’ returned to England then on to the final chapter where an action in a court case becomes a nasty ending to innocent parties.

An interesting read – one that wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t finding places for letters
****

Singapore Sapphire- A.M.Stuart 2019.

Historical fiction – murder mystery – Singapore ( a place where we spent several happy years during the 1960s) – 3 ticks from me. I was really looking forward to reading this.

It’s a shame when something you look forward to doesn’t eventuate – the remembered sights, sounds and smells were there but there was something about the words I just couldn’t get on with. I did finish it but if you asked me why I felt so disappointed I’d be hard pushed to tell you.
Maybe an attempt at a reread sometime might be in order

*****.
And now I have just begun…..

A glove shop in Vienna & other stories – Eva Ibbotson 1984

Blurb:- A collection of eighteen romantic short stories from the award-winning Eva Ibbotson, “A Glove Shop in Vienna” will show you the great passions and astute observations of everyday life.

Keeping to my ‘theme’ (letters/places) the little 14 page story (A glove shop in Vienna) is the one I’m interested in and possibly the only one I will actually read.

About the writer’s (possible real or maybe imagined?) Austrian family particularly Great Uncle Max, his former opera singing wife Helene along with his glove selling mistress Susie.
Six pages in and he is enjoying visiting her apartment….

…..which faced inwards, towards a cobbled courtyard with an old pear tree in the centre, and when the shutters were closed (and of course they always were closed when uncle Max was there) the call of street sellers, the carpet beating, the sound of tugboats hooting up the Danube, came as the gentlest, the most undisturbing counterpoint to their secret and illicit love.
And indeed their love was secret. Very secret. It had to be……

It won’t take long to finish- just don’t have enough time at the moment

*****.

This is the state of play Mid May with the Letters and Places Challenge.
Along with what I read in April it’s now 11 down – 15 more to go

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So this time last month I was about to begin my ‘Letters and Places’ challenge. The library came good and these all turned up at the same time – but then I became sidetracked by other interesting titles and was hard pushed to get through them in the allocated borrowing time.

There was no extension allowed on Amsterdam or Eden so I’m back on the waiting list – unless somewhere else beginning with A & E turns up.
But look, there’s no hurry. I’ll just bide my time – reading something else 😊

These I did manage to read

The Brisbane Line – J.P.Powell 2020.

As WWII ravages the world and the Japanese Empire has set its sights on Australia, the Americans have come to save us. But not all soldiers are heroes and not all heroes are soldiers.

Brisbane Qld 1943 – war in the Pacific is on the go. The town is full of servicemen, many of them American. Local’s have mixed feelings about them being there. There are good ones and bad ones – on both sides. crimes committed by American troops are dealt with/investigated by US Military Police much to the annoyance of Australian. Real life ‘people’ are mixed into the storyline with fictional characters but not being a ‘local’ I didn’t realise until ‘looking things up’ later.

Historical references, murder, black marketeering, prostitution, police corruption, cover ups, minor collaboration (local/US military), treatment of coloured servicemen as well as local aborigines, venereal diseases, entertainment (dance halls/jazz), romance and even the affects of local tropical climate – a very mixed bag of topics are all found in this very readable crime novel by a new to me (female) Australian author J. P. Powell
Loved it!

The 12.30 from Croydon – Freeman Wills Crofts 1934 (republished 2016).
Also found as free download HERE at fadedpage.com

We begin with a body. Andrew Crowther, a wealthy retired manufacturer, is found dead in his seat on the 12.30 flight from Croydon to Paris.
Rather less orthodox is the ensuing flashback in which we live with the killer at every stage, from the first thoughts of murder to the strains and stresses of living with its execution

Set in 1930s Depression time. Business’ all round finding it hard – many going under.  After a beginning showcasing the ins and outs of air travel, the scene changes, the storyline becomes one where you follow the murderer plotting and scheming to get his reward.

I found it a bit long winded, it went on and on in great detail at times, so was slightly fed up disinterested by the time it took another turn and the police became involved.
In the end he did get his reward – just rewards.
Arrested, tried, found guilty, hung!

******
I’m finding these days when I can’t ‘get into’ a book I often close and return it, which is what happened with the D for Darwin book I’d ordered.
This is what I read instead

Dead in Dublin – Catie Murphy 2019

I have to say the only reason I picked this off the library shelf was because of the letter D place name Dublin.
It was a bit Ho Hum – definitely not riveting reading.

You’ll have to click on the title to find the description – I’m sorry but there were too many words, too many unrelated characters, even though set in Dublin there seemed to be a forced Irish feeling to it – good descriptions of Dublin and environs though.
Promoted as a book 1 of a new Cozy Mystery series…..others may enjoy them, sadly I didn’t.

❗️Off topic – March was Reading Ireland month🍀 This👆(read at the end of the month) plus Small things Like This (read at the beginning ) were my contributions).
*****

Proving I’m happy in my second childhood a couple of lovely books from the children’s section at the library came home with me

I had thought some place names would be hard to find but Z for Zanzibar was just sitting there waiting for me to come along. .
( I cheated a little and allowed Zanzibar to be a ‘person’ and not a place )

Zanzibar – Catharina Valckx 2019.

* Inside this smooth glossy bright yellow coat is a little child size chapter book with a story about Zanzibar the omelette making crow who took up a newspaper reporter’s challenge to do something remarkable – choosing to ‘lift a camel with one wing’.
 Realising he has to find a dromedary (which only has one hump so will be lighter) he’s then helped along the way by various friends (new as well as old) plus a small skinny sock wearing dromedary so is able to perform this feat (and get his picture taken at the same time).  

Back home, disappointed the reporter doesn’t believe him his cooking suffers, his friends try to reassure him he was already special to them, the photo appears and he becomes a celebrity.  But in the end he decides the simple, good omelette making life and friendship are what really matters.

Using easy understandable language – with clear illustrations that describe the story and emotional content – I’m sure this is a well read story, both by adults to children and children themselves

Crows in Zanzibar

***

And next to it on the table was this one – M for (where else but) Melbourne

Santa is coming to Melbourne – Emma Nash 2017.

* A picture book with story about young children, the lead up to Christmas Eve and how they hope Santa will visit their house. Many suburbs are mentioned where little ones are watching and waiting, not wanting to close their eyes in case they miss Santa. There’s the worry of not leaving a snack out but all ends well with an unseen Santa flying away with a cheery Ho Ho Ho

Designed to be read to young ones, maybe 4/5/6yrs who know where they live, are familiar with Melbourne and are still caught up with ‘the magic of Christmas’. Lots of colourful pages with large illustrations some of Melbourne landmarks as well as Australian native birds and animals.

***

AND – guess what – looking for places beginning with the awkward letters I came across this ebook in the library catalogue. Also found it on Project Gutenberg – HERE

A Little Girl in Old Quebec– Amanda M Douglas 1906 (Duke Classics 2015)

An interesting little story written early 1900s about an orphan girl Rose growing up in the early settlement days of French Canada (Old Quebec district of Quebec City 1600s).
Interesting because of all the historical references to names  and descriptions of early settlers, place names, ways of life (fur trapping, fishing), strange weather (freezing snowbound winters), dealings with native population, wanting the new life but hankering after the old – reminding me of literature written about early settlers in the original colony in Australia.
Well maybe not the snow – here it was the ‘terrible heat’.

I think the target reader might have been ‘teen’ but it was lively enough to keep me reading and wondering what she would get up to next- as well as intrigued enough to do a bit of ‘looking up’ (the historical information). The author must have researched well to produce a short novel about life in times 300yrs previous.
Oh and I learnt a new word, a new one to me anyway
Dicker/ing – bargain, barter.
Collins gives British as well as American definitions. HERE

*****
Now here’s a little something to think about and smile.
(Nothing to think about really- reading wins every time 😊)

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I know November is the month for Novella but as February is a short month – and there were several time consuming things to do which I knew would limit my reading time – I thought maybe I could use the tail end of month (then flow into March) for reading several short stories, something that could be finished in hours, written by new to me authors

These I have read

Our Souls at Night – Kent Haruf 2015.
The book blurb said – A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future.

A story that begins with a mature age woman asking her mature age male neighbour to sleep with her. Not in a sexual way, just to keep her company during the night. That’s different I thought.

Set in a small town filled with ‘all seeing- all knowing’ people it follows Louis and Addie’s life with their ‘nightly meetings’, the discussions (thoughts, feelings , secrets even) about their previous lives, reactions of friends and family, then finally the affect their children’s lives have on them.

It’s hard to describe how I feel about this short quickly read book. A great deal is conveyed in few words – I suppose it boiled down to ‘are our lives truly our own?’.
Enjoyable but a ‘bit flat’.

The Christmas Guest – Peter Swanson 2023.
Oh dear, I thought after reading the first couple of pages – it’s written in diary style. Not my favourite- but after reading 49 pages of a young girls life it then changed and did it ever change.
The build up to Christmas in the country with a uni friend’s wealthy ‘county folk’ family along with all the stereotypical description of villages/villagers came to a sudden halt. To be followed by a twist to the tale that (to me) was a bit of a let down.
It was an ok read by an unknown author- a library shelf pick ( thin brightly coloured book) so I’m not sure what I was expecting. Possibly because it was so short the story/plot didn’t seem to have much depth.

What I did take from it was a quote from L.P.Hartley’s The Go-Between – a book I’ve never read “…..the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Oh so very true.
It’s now on my list of winter reads for up in Bowen (a classic a month 😊)

Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan 2021

Set in Ireland the mid 1980s it’s a very short story that begins with Bill Furlong (the local ‘coal man’) wondering about his life past and present. What he’d been- what he could’ve been- and where he and his family might go.
The reaction of his wife to what he discovers at the local convent baffles him and that’s where the storyline changes.
It becomes even more reflective- life wasn’t easy for most, he has misgivings about not giving what he’d been given as gifts to others who didn’t have what he had. The toing and froing in thoughts and attitudes of the towns people towards the church, its place in the town as well as the nuns’ treatment of young single mothers continued to confuse him.
A final decision is made that brings an ending I didn’t consider.

And on p.68 I smiled when I saw a little saying my mother would often use . . (buying something he didn’t need) “as he didn’t like to go back out (of the shop) with one arm as long as the other”

Plus this little number – a library shelf pick that’s been a delight

I’d rather be reading – Anne Bogel 2018

Gosh, that’s going to be a short story I thought when I picked it up. Then discovered the additional title “’The delights and dilemmas of the reading life”. Not a novel but little ‘essays’ about books, reading and readers.
Thoughts from the author about recommending books you think others should read, Reader’s confessions! Bookshelf organising. Rereading – yes or no. Finding something different hidden in the story or discovering it wasn’t as good as you thought the first time.
That sort of thing…..not as bland, boring or ordinary as it sounds. Lots of smiling and head nodding went on

Right at the end a ‘chapter’ on recording what you read.
Do you remember everything you read? I know I don’t. Keeping a list reminds me what I read and when but there’s often a blank look on my face when I try to remember what some books were about. Plot lines, characters, settings – all seem to be a mystery at times
There can be fun convos at book club when someone mentions a title, cue various questions from others….’was that the one where ***** or was that set in *****’
One little clue and you’ll hear ‘ oh yes that’s the one where such and such happened’. It’s good to have reading friends who think and act like you😊

*******

And finally I’ll begin this soon

Checkmate to Murder – E.C.R.Lorac 1934 (republished 2020)

Who fired the fatal shot that snuffed out the life of miserly old Folliner during a London blackout? Was it the beautiful artist Rosanne who lived next door, the old man’s Canadian soldier nephew or bumptious Special Constable Verraby, whose eyes registered deadly fear?

I’m hoping it’s as good as the last one of hers that I read

*****.
And looky looky here at what I’ve got

At the end of last month’s post I was musing on ways to encourage me to read more……”maybe take the easy way with children’s books, short stories/novellas, even A-Z of places in the title”……so I set about making it happen. And as you can see the library delivered- all at once unfortunately 😊🙁
Guess what I’ll be reading over the next month??

A Cold Death in Amsterdam – Anna de Jager 2015

The Brisbane Line – J.P.Powell 2020

The 12.30 from Croydon – Freeman Wills Croft 1934 (republished 2016)

No Roads to Darwin – Rex Ellis 2016

The Eden Test – Adam Sternbergh 2023

*****

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The table beside my chair. . . .

There’s been a real mix of things going this month so on the table is
One I’ve lined up to read – Two I’ve read and are waiting to be returned
plus One I’m ‘dipping into’.
However lower down you’ll find it’s been a case of. .
But wait there’s been more😊

I’m about to start reading

The Chilbury Ladies Choir – Jennifer Ryan (2017)

Kent 1940
In the idyllic village of Chilbury change is afoot. Hearts are breaking as sons and husbands leave to fight, and when the Vicar decides to close the choir until the men return, all seems lost. But coming together in song is just what the women of Chilbury need in these dark hours, and they are ready to sing

It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll go about changing the vicar’s mind

****
I’ve been dipping into

Remember- Lisa Genova (2023)

Strangely I haven’t found anything new, nothing I’ve not seen, heard or read previously- it’s just laid out in a different style.

From what I’ve read so far the key seems to be not to stress about those lapses and pay attention. 
****
Over the past month I read

Death of an Author – E.C.R.Lorac 1935 (republished 2023)

I seem to have been hard put recently to describe a book as ‘A cracking good story’ – well all I can say is this definitely has to be one. An old fashioned, humorous at time, police detective story filled with so many twists and turns (red herrings if you like) as the reader follows the thoughts and ideas of various people as they try to unravel the disappearance of a well known author. 

There’s nothing outrageous about this book, yes there’s a bit of a grizzly murder scene, but there are no difficult witnesses, no station politics, no home life distractions, the language is right for the time – use of word ‘queer’ in its original meaning strange, odd, peculiar or eccentric (all of them implied) plus lovely phrases like – “Well I’ll be jiggered” A great read!

The Little Wartime Library – Kate Thompson 2023

It was a strange read based on a true story, blending real time events into a storyline told from two fictional librarians point of view.
After an intriguing opening chapter set in 2020 that was supposed to set the scene but as the pages were turned you began to wonder how, you learn that, yes, after the above ground library in Bethnall Green was bombed during WW2 the space allocated in an underground tube station became very much like a community centre.

With countless chapters covering daily life underground and what was going on ‘up above’ it’s no wonder so many topics were built into the storyline – loss, grief, regret, fear, compassion, depression, alcoholism, racism, family violence (DV) family planning, a book club, suicide, PTSD, romance and happiness- at one time I thought ‘you name it and the author will include it’ but they were the happenings and emotions of those years. There was one incident, not of black marketeering more like hoarding/profiteering that I thought was added for the sake of it.
Oh and could a ‘novice’ (a migrant at that with few connections) write and have a novel published which then became an overnight sensation in a very short time in those post war days.

A good read – just a little too long for me

I did a little ‘googling’ when I finished reading
Yes, it’s a promotion for book sales but interesting reading all the same
https://www.historiamag.com/bethnal-greens-underground-wartime-library/.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/history/1591108/Bethnal-Green-library-Nazi-Hitler-Ukraine-Russia

(As an aside I believe another book will be published this year featuring the same underground library. I shouldn’t say this because authors put so much work into their new releases but it sounds the same as every television channel getting on the cooking show bandwagon)

******
Also thanks to a blogger’s recommendation I spent a ‘delicious half hour’ with my eyes closed listening via YouTube to the tale of Buddy and his distant female cousin Sook

A Christmas memory – read by the author Truman Capote  1956

Memories of cooking fruitcakes and all that that involved, a dog called Queenie, earning small amounts of cash over the year – giving homemade paper kites as a present to each other, leaving home and sadness at her death forever looking for kites in the sky.

I think these two little descriptions will stay with me
“fifty cent pieces heavy enough to weight  a dead man’s eyes” and “weeping into a pillow already as wet as a widow’s handkerchief”

*****
A comment about rereading plus seeing an authors name crop up on a couple of blogs – a couple of nudges in the right direction – and this happens:-
I had not one but two rereads – both involved widows, younger persons, family, superstitions, folklore, talk of faeries plus a murder.  Both had unexpected endings!

The Brimstone Wedding is a newish/oldish novel (1996) written by Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell.  Set in modern day Essex but with flashbacks to post WW2

Like the other residents of Middleton Hall, Stella is smart and elegant and in control. She keeps her secrets to herself, revealing nothing of her past.  Only Jenny, her young care assistant seems aware that her heart harbours a dark painful mystery.  And only she can prevent Stella from carrying it to the grave.

The Good People, Hannah Kent’s second novel (2016). Set in 1825, in a remote valley lying between the mountains of south-west Ireland, near the Flesk River of Killarney

Nôra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and now is burdened with the care of her four year old grandson……Unable to care for the child alone, Nôra hires a fourteen year old servant girl, Mary, who soon hears the whispers in the valley about the blasted creature causing grief to fall upon the widow’s house.

They sound so different yet In some ways are alike – because both are full of expressions, thoughts, customs and deeds belonging to another time yet still retained in some lives today.

These are some of the modern day girl’s handed down from her Nan :-

• Don’t take dead people’s clothes to wear for yourself because the clothes of the dead won’t wear long – they fret for the person who owned them
• Blood must be shed at a funeral or the dead person’s ghost will walk
• There’s wearing blue to a funeral, it’s a lucky colour and provides protection but don’t wear green because that’s what the fairies wear  
• Touching wood for luck, picking ferns for luck and the throwing salt over the shoulder – to blind the devil so he does you no harm.

Whereas the thoughts and beliefs and way of life of Nôra and others in the valley would have been handed down for many generations.

A big mention in The Good People is given to the  ritual of the wake – before the funeral not after.

Ashes are thrown at the outside door to banish those (the fairies) that would stop the soul passing into another world.

A young pregnant woman is told she shouldn’t be there, – in a corpse house (house with a dead person inside) – so is told ‘Put salt in your pocket and leave. Before you breathe death in and infect your child.’

As well as salt; charcoal and cinders/ashes played a big part in protecting the mind, body and the spirit.

But what I really liked about this book were all the little unusual sayings – ones that had your head nodding after you’d thought about the words and realised the meaning:-

• A man’s mouth often broke his nose.
• Your tongue collects no dust with all the stories you tell.
• It’s a lonely place without a man’s shirt on the washing line
• Constant company wears out its welcome

Then there’s the way family/kin are described:-

They are ‘Blood tied’ or ‘Bound by marriage’

(Work this one out😊)
“I’m a relation of the widow.  My man is the brother of Nôra’s dead sister’s husband”

******

After all the dithering around last year I’ve decided to set some little personal challenges for this year. I don’t do well with ‘prompts’ (think 52 book club) so they’ll be easy ones like A-Z of previously unread authors, aiming for more non fiction, a classic a month, maybe take the easy way with children’s books, short stories/novellas, even A-Z of places in the title- anything that will make me encourage me to put my nose in a book.
 It certainly won’t be the end of the world if I don’t succeed but I’ll have fun trying.

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Also linking to Book Worms Monthly plus It’s Monday what are you reading 

The little one beside my chair that is!

Well, there are the ones I’m reading at the moment:-

The White Lady – Jacqueline Winspear 2023

Set post WW2, this one centres round a ‘retired spy’ who has relocated to a small village in Kent determined to forget her dangerous past life. Quiet and reluctant to become involved in village life she gets to know a young mother and child who live close by. The young husband is trying to distance himself from his family but they have ‘caught up with him’. 
Three chapters in, Elinor White has made her way to London to try to gather information about this family from an old wartime contact now with Scotland Yard. I’m finding it a little bit ‘wordy’ but will persevere- need to find out the reason she wants to help – and if it’s worthwhile.
****.

Unfinished Portrait – Mary Westmacott 1934

*The back of book blurb tells us that:.
…..Celia is alone….she is determined to end her life……she meets Larraby (an artist) who persuades her to ‘pause’….after a night of talk Celia reveals she is afraid to commit herself to another chance of happiness yet cannot face life alone….

I’m not sure where this book is going- the first chapter covers the meeting of Celia and Larraby, – from then on (I’m about a third of the way through) it’s covering her childhood. A rather disrupted but almost charmed childhood, with time spent travelling in France because father had been sick, then living with her granny because mother and father were travelling (because father had been sick) then back home because father had died.

So far it’s been a very easy believable read, humorous at times – especially the ‘time with granny’ – set late 19th moving on to early 20th century. Written by Agatha Christie under a pseudonym  I’m eager to get on and discover what comes next. 

***

Homecoming- Kate Morton 2023

I have begun reading this very large book but it’s taking a little longer than I anticipated because I decided to get on with a couple of others that needed returning and then became engrossed in the two above.

I just need to finish those two then I can give this one all my attention.

*****

These two aren’t there – they’re the ones I finished recently:-

The Spy’s Wife – Fiona McIntosh 2021.

A ‘love story’ set pre WW2 featuring among other things – trains, cherries, walking (rambling/tramping) a ‘strong female’ with lip reading ability and double agent spies!
A little unbelievable at times but I did finish it.

The Orphans – Fiona McIntosh 2022

Book blurb:- ….. Orphan Fleur Appleby is adopted by a loving undertaker and his wife and she quickly develops a special gift for helping bereaved families. . . Raised in the outback of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, Tom Catchlove is faced with a life-changing tragedy as a young boy. . A chance encounter between the two children will change the course of their lives.

It’s a lot more than that though – set in 1930s when ‘things were changing’, like attitudes to women who ‘wanted to get on in life’, where a profession such as undertaking had always been handled by men and the thought of a woman being in that role was unheard of. Especially a woman who wanted to tend for and provide better service for deceased women and children.
Life on sheep stations was changing also with more emphasis put on health safety and welfare of workers. A huge amount of research must have gone into both situations as they related to both main characters – interesting to read but in some places a bit too much detail.
It turned out to be a ‘love story’ with a difference.
*****

After mentioning the other month that sometimes I have difficulty finishing books by this author I was pleased to have put that problem to bed by both finishing and ‘sort of’ enjoying both these (without skipping pages)

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And on the table on the other side are some recently ’acquired ’ unknowns – maybe one of those will be read next:-

I didn’t touch any of the ones I mentioned last month which is no problem because they were loaned – sort of gifted – “I’m in no hurry to get them back” .
And I’m not sure I’ll get to these either – passed on with the same disclosure

But look, it’s nice to have some older (very different) releases sitting there with none of that ‘must have them read by’ pressure 😊

Wild Lavender – Belinda Alexandra 2006

• At fourteen, Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provençal lavender farm and sent to work in Marseilles. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and a dream; to one day be a famous dancer and singer

The Stone Angel – Katherine Scholes 2006

• One summer changed Stella Boyd forever.
  It was 1975. And his name was Zeph…….Fifteen years later, Stella’s life is full of excitement and danger as she travels the world writing magazine articles about women. But then one day she receives an urgent message that changes everything. Her father is missing at sea.

The Goodbye Summer – Patricia Gaffney 2004

• Poignantly exploring one woman’s inner growth and self discovery over the course of a season of profound change, The Goodbye Summer is women’s fiction at its finest—heartbreaking, healing, emotional, and real.

Almost English – Charlotte Mendelson 2013

• In a tiny flat in West London, sixteen-year-old Marina lives with her emotionally delicate mother, Laura, and three ancient Hungarian relatives. Imprisoned by her family’s crushing expectations and their fierce unEnglish pride, by their strange traditions and stranger foods, she knows she must escape. But the place she runs to makes her feel even more of an outsider

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Also linked to Book Worms Monthly plus It’s Monday what are you reading