A Spring in My Step

 Yes, I am obsessed with Spring. Now, with daylight savings time, I still struggle in the morning but am relishing the evening light. 

I have five flats started under grow lights--Roma tomatoes, Moneymaker tomatoes, cherry tomatoes jalapeno peppers, yellow bell peppers, ancho peppers, coleus, and viola. Everthing sprouted in less than a week. I love those Botanical Interests seeds! This weekend I plan to get the snapdragons, marigolds, impatiens, tomatillos, and anaheims started. Last year I put in my native (to my region in CO) flower garden, and things are starting to green up!

Now on to what I've been reading...

The Last Ranger, by Peter Heller

Ren is a park ranger in Yellowstone, working hard to keep the park, its fauna, and the people who love and study them safe from ruffians and those who want to exploit the land and its resources. I found the plot reasonably interesting, with lots of tension, and I loved learning about the ways of the wolf packs that have been gaining a foothold in the park. I liked reading about the life of a park ranger in one of the premier national parks, and one that I have visited several times and love. I don't love Heller, and I definitely am not interested in his dystopian stuff, but this was a good solid outdoor adventure novel. 

The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1), by Tess Gerritsen

Definitely a story inspired by the massive success of The Thursday Murder Club--the latter was published in 2020 and took off like a rocket, and The Spy Coast was published in 2023. Maybe I'm just cynical, but the premises of both are so similar. The Spy Coast is set in Maine and features a group of retired CIA spies who all live in the same village and have to dust off their spy skills when the past catches up with them. I'm not saying I didn't really enjoy the book and am looking forward to reading the second in the series. It has a good, interesting set of characters with a good, interesting plot. Appealing to us aging Baby Boomers is definitely a good idea!

The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters

Loved this book--also set in Maine. The story is narrated by two characters--a Native American girl/woman, kidnapped when she was five years old and raised by adoptive parents, and her brother, who was the last person to see her before she went missing. The two stories run parallel as the sister and brother live out their lives, struggling to figure out their place in the world. Reading about the treatment of Native Americans is rough, but I definitely feel I understand a bit more of how life was in Maine and maritime Canada in the mid/late 20th century. This is a debut novel, so I am eager to see what Peters writes next.

Death at the Sign of the Rook (Jackson Brody, #6), by Kate Atkinson

I just love Jackson Brody novels, and this one was such a treat to read. Jackson is his usual self-deprecating self, Reggie is there with all her baggage and snark and earnestness (which is a charming combination), and the premise is such fun. A murder mystery evening set at a dilapidated Downton Abbey-esque estate, with actual murders as well as stolen art (one of my favorite themes anyway) and goofy characters. Just so much fun!

The Annotated Emma, by Jane Austen with introduction and annotations by David Shapard

My JASNA regional book club decided to read Emma for our March book, so I decided to read the annotations by David Shapard while listening to an audio version. The older I got, the more I love Emma--she is just delightful to watch growing up. The annotations were pretty good--Shapard promised not to interpret but to try to illuminate details that a 21st reader might not get. He did a good job.

That's all for now, folks! Hope you are finding some great books that put a spring in your step as well.

Potpourri of Classics

Now that we're in the final days of 2016 and Christmas and post-Christmas vacation to Florida are looming, I'm trying to tie up loose ends.  Here are some reviews of classics read in 2016 for the Back to the Classics Challenge that I didn't get around to reviewing when I read them.

For the 20th century classic category...

By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Earlier in the year I read Pioneer Girl, the original source material for the Little House series and was inspired to reread one of my favorites in the series, By the Shores of Silver Lake.  There is so much that I love about this book.  We get to experience what it was like for the Laura and her sisters and mother to ride a train for the first time, we get to experience life in a railroad shanty town and see the railroad being built, and we get to see a town being built out of nothing but prairie.

This book sets the stage for the rest of the series--we meet Mr. and Mrs. Boast and the Wilder brothers, and we learn about the landscape, the Big Slough, the lakes, and the winters.  I love the time the Ingalls spend in the surveyors house, I love Laura and Carrie sliding on the ice under the watchful gaze of the moon and the wolves, and I love hopefulness and energy that pervades the book along with the feeling of finally being home.

For the reread of a classic read in high school or college...

Emma, by Jane Austen

I read Emma first when I was in high school but it was for fun and not for school.  I read it next for a English lit survey class in college (Austen to Dickens - we also read Bleak House, Vanity Fair, and something else that slips my mind just now).

When I was young, I didn't care for Emma Woodhouse, and saw her, as so many do, as snobbish, meddling, and trivial.  I appreciated the novel Emma, though, and always enjoyed reading about the artistry of Austen in developing the story and keeping the reader and Emma in the dark about what was really going on with Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax, Mr. Elton and Harriet, and Mr. Knightley.

I did find, however, that as I got older and reread Emma, I grew to like Emma Woodhouse and see her for the kind, generous, well-intentioned, very young woman she was.  Yes, she was blind and self-centered, but she outgrew her immaturity in the course of her story.

I love the biting wit of Austen as well as insights and reflections on the plight of women, the vagaries of luck, and the strength of friends and family and community.

I've lost count as to the number of times I've read Emma, but I never get tired of it.  I know I shall read it again!

Giveaway! Book 2 - George Knightley, Esquire "Lend Me Leave"

As promised, Barbara Cornthwaite, author of the wonderful George Knightley, Esquire books as offered up her recently published Book 2 in the set, titled Lend Me Leave, as a giveaway.

This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada only--sorry, my international friends. You can enter by leaving a comment, and you get extra entries in the giveaway if you tweet about the giveaway and let me know. Deadline to enter is Tuesday, November 30 at 8 pm MT.

On to the review...

I really enjoyed the completion of the story as told from Mr. Knightley's point-of-view, although I admit I would rather have read book 2 immediately after finishing book 1. Cornthwaite introduces new characters and storylines and it took me a few chapters to sort out and remember who's who and what's what, but once I did, I could settle back and enjoy the story.

Once again, Mr. K's cat, Madam Duvall stole my heart as surely as Emma stole Mr. Knightley's. I also particularly loved the teasing surface and deep affection and respect that characterized the relationship between the Brothers Knightley. I was convinced completely, not that I have ever had a shred of doubt, of Mr. K's ardent love for Emma and Cornthwaite did a wonderful job in portraying his angst and conflicting emotions as he wrestled with her friendship with the unworthy Frank Churchill. My favorite scene? The ball at which he gallantly danced with Harriet, and is rewarded by Emma for his good deed.

George Knightley, Esquire is a wonderful retelling of Emma--faithful, rich in details, loving in its depiction of the quiet workings of Highbury, and interesting in its approach.

Here's my review of Book 1 in the set, Charity Envieth Not.

Prepare to be swept away...by George Knightley, Esquire

GIVEAWAY: Comment on this post and the next one (which profiles author, Barbara Cornthwaite) and you'll be entered in a giveaway for one of two copies of George Knightley, Esquire Book One. Open to U.S./Canada only--contest ends Wednesday, February 23, 10 pm MT. Tweet this info and/or post on Facebook and you will receive an extra entry--just let me know!


I was expecting to really like Barbara Cornthwaite's George Knightley, Esquire. After all, Cornthwaite is a member of the Crownhill Writers Guild, whose other members include Laura Hile, Susan Kaye, and Pamela Aidan and who write some of the best Austen-inspired fiction ever.

I am happy to report that I loved it! Of course, I could only read Book One, but Book Two is due out around May, and I am already fidgeting with eagerness.

I am a great fan of Emma Woodhouse. Although I know she is accused of arrogance, conceit, and condescension, I know her to be only guilty of being young and a bit spoiled but with a good heart and a loving disposition. George Knightley, as beautifully portrayed by Cornthwaite, sees her in the same way. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Knightley gradually come to the realization that his solicitude for Emma is based on a deep and abiding love.

The title of Book One is perfect as the novel focuses on Knightley's struggle to overcome his jealousy of Frank Churchill in order to remain Emma's truest friend. It's such a pleasure to read an Austen-inspired story that aligns so well with my response to the original novel but that also stands on its own. Cornthwaite's story is not only faithful to Austen's Emma, but she provides a rich cast of characters and circumstances that flesh out Knightley's world beyond Hartfield and even Highbury making the novel a very satisfying read.

Among the new characters, my favorites are Mr. Spencer, a new, earnest, tongue-tied young vicar who comes to Donwell when the old vicar is laid up with an injury, and Madame Duval, a white cat given to Knightley by his niece, Bella. In addition, we get a wonderful picture of William Larkins, Knightley's right hand man. Mentioned in passing from time to time in Emma, Cornthwaite's Larkins is a delightful combination of loquacious busybody and efficient farm manager. I also loved hearing Knightley's candid observations of the odious Mr. Elton as he courts Emma, while she is scheming for him to be courting Harriet. Book One ends before Mrs. Elton arrives on the scene, but I cannot wait to hear his observations of her behavior!

Cornthwaite also does justice to the relationship between George Knightley and his brother John. I have always seen these brothers as having one of the most stable, loving, and realistic sibling relationships in all of Austen's novels, and the letters between the two are positively a joy to read.

Finally, Cornthwaite is true to the mystery-novel aspect of the original Emma, not an easy task when you realize how deft was Austen at providing all the clues to the mysteries in plain sight but distracting the reader with Emma's point of view so that we readers are just as clueless as she is. Cornthwaite provides Knightley with clues and allows him to slowly connect-the-dots, but at the same pace as in the original novel.

Bottom line? Barbara Cornthwaite's George Knightley, Esquire is a wonderful addition to my Austen-inspired library. True to original in fact, tone, and style, it provides a well-written, lively, insightful, and thoroughly enjoyable story about one of my absolute favorite Austen men, the incomparable George Knightley. If you like your men manly, passionate, compassionate, and comfortable in his own skin, you'll love Mr. Knightley...and he's a cat-person, who knew?

Confession - the only thing that I struggled with is Cornthwaite's decision to refer to her hero as Knightley. Granted, calling him Mr. Knightley throughout the course of the book would have been cumbersome and too formal. Calling him George would have been disrespectful. If Darcy can be Darcy, why can't Knightley be Knightley?--because Mrs. Elton calls him that, much to Emma's scorn. But that, dear readers, is the only quibble I can make about this marvelous book.

Bring on Book 2!