Reading Roundup - Autumn

Since I've been participating in Nonfiction November and I really cannot seem to do more than one post per week, and even that is a challenge, I have a slew of wonderful books read that demand a comment or two.

Persuasion, by Jane Austen - This time I read the annotated version, with an introduction by David Morrison, and really enjoyed both the novel and the notes. I have said that I don't like annotated versions, but this one worked for me. A perfect Autumn read, and I think it just might be my favorite Austen novel.

We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman - first novel in what promises to be a new series by the author of the immensely popular Thursday Murder Club mysteries. It was bit slow going for the first third, but then the pace picked up and it turned out to be terrific. Basic idea is that a young woman (Amy) and her father-in-law (Steve) are best buds and team up to solve a series of murders and end up deciding to open a detective agency. He is a retired cop, and she is a professional bodyguard. They are funded by a best-selling author who craves excitement, and there is a motley assembly of secondary characters who are all good company. Osman's sense of humor is spot on for me, and the scenarios he creates, while pretty far-fetched and complicated, are also interesting, entertaining, and logical to a point.

The Lover of No Fixed Abode, by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini (Gregory Dowling, translator) - set in Venice, a rich, restless Roman princess falls in love with a mysterious tour guide, and while you might be thinking this is a sappy, feel-good romance (ala Roman Holiday), it is so much more. Not until at least two-thirds, maybe even three-quarters, into the book do you get the idea that Mr. Silvera is not simply a tour guide. I don't believe I am giving away too much of the twist of the novel to say that this is the most intriguing time travel book that I have ever read. And it's not really time travel but more about the elasticity of the time/space continuum. There is Jewish folklore and Christian mythology tied up along with an intimate voyage into the heart and magic of Venice. Booking my trip for 2025 now!

The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon - I absolutely loved Lawhon's Code Name Helene, from a few years ago, and this latest novel by the author was another 5-star read for me. Based on the diary of Martha Ballard, a Maine midwife in the late 18th century, the story has a murder mystery at its heart, but I loved it for the depiction of the life of a family and a community. In so many ways, Martha and her story reminded me of Claire in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. While Martha is not a time-traveler, the fictional Martha created by Lawhon shares her outspokenness, her insistence on truth and justice, her fierce love and protection of her extended family, her dedication to her profession and her desire to heal, both physically and emotionally. I love visiting Maine, and it was such a treat to read about its early days when the USA was brand new.

The Comfort of Ghosts, by Jacqueline Winspear - the final book in the absolutely wonderful Maisie Dobbs series. It was a beautiful rounding of the story, tying up loose ends, and connecting threads from the earliest novels together in a meaningful and satisfactory ending. I am sorry that there will be no more adventures with Maisie, but I do love to reread so I will happily visit with her from time to time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogging friends. Stay safe, stay warm, and enjoy that second slice of pie!

Mysteries -- Quebec, Dublin, and London

The Paston Treasure, circa 1670 - featured in A World of Curiosities

I do love a good mystery and a good mystery series and a good mystery-series author. In the midst of a couple of super long books, I managed to fit in a few that meet all three criteria to add extra zest to my summer reading.

A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny is book 18 in Penny's fabulous Armand Gamache series, set in Quebec. I absolutely loved this mystery and think it among the best of the series. It hits all the right notes for me--mostly taking place in the wonderful village of Three Pines and featuring Armand, his family, his neighbors, his dogs, it tells the backstory of Armand and his second-in-command and son-in-law Jean Guy. It features art (i.e., The Paston Treasure), the struggle between good and evil, DNA, puzzles, witches, and traditions.  The mystery was absolutely first-rate and kept me guessing as to how it would all work out until the end. Clocking in at exactly 400 pages, it counts as my 3rd book in the Big Book Summer Challenge 2023.

A Man With One of Those Faces, Caimh McDonnell - this is a new series for me, book 1 of the author's Dublin Trilogy. McDonnell was apparently a stand-up comedian before becoming an author, and the book is very funny as well as a great mystery chock full of interesting, quirky characters. I loved the setting and the main character and the overall premise (i.e., the fact that Paul Mulchrone has one of those faces and keeps on being mistaken for someone else...with dire consequences).

The White Lady, by Jacqueline Winspear - as a devoted fan of the author's Maisie Dobbs series, I was eager to read this new book in what I expect will be a new series. It was quite good, but the main character, Elinor White, is an awful lot like Maisie. Both survived WWI, with Elinor being slightly younger than Maisie was during that war, but with significant emotional scarring. Both are mentored by strong individuals who recognize their innate abilities, and both work in clandestine roles during WWII. Both school themselves to be steady, strong, capable, and moral. Both love suppers of soup and bread and cheese. I'm not sure if Winspear felt that Maisie's story was winding up, and Elinor was a way she could move into the post-war world. I guess I'm okay with that since I enjoy reading Winspear's novels.

Wrapping up Fall Reading

I'm just wrapping up my Fall reading before diving into Holiday books, so here's a quickie look at what I read this Fall.

I Am the Chosen King, by Helen Hollick - read this one with the GoodReads True Book Talk Group. November was historical fiction month, and while this wasn't the book I voted for, I really enjoyed it. It's about Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, who was defeated by William the Bastard in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. Having visited Bayeaux last summer and viewed the Bayeaux Tapestry and listened to the French side of the story, it was a story fresh in my mind and was cool because I had visited many of the places in Normandy mentioned in the book. It was well-written and detailed and covered a period of history that I want to learn more about.

An Infamous Army, by Georgette Heyer - this was my second time listening to the audio version of this incredible book. It is a mashup of a Regency Romance and a very detailed narrative of the Battle of Waterloo, with definite overtones of Vanity Fair. I really need to read it next time with a map in hand because listening to it in the car means I can't research all the place names. Thoroughly enjoyable, though.

Varina, by Charles Frazier - an exceptionally creative and well-written novel about Varina Davis, wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and the African-American child who was part of her household during the Civil War but who was taken from her when the Union Army captured the Davises after Richmond fell. Varina reminded me of Frazier's Cold Mountain in that both books are journeys--in Cold Mountain, Inman is going home after the Civil War whereas Varina is fleeing Richmond and trying to reach Florida so she can escape to Cuba. One of the best books I read this year.  Now, I am very eager to read A Diary from Dixie, by Mary Chesnut, who was one of Varina's closest friends before, during, and after the war.

To Die but Once, by Jacqueline Winspear - the most recent (#14) in the excellent Maisie Dobbs series. I love these books, always listen to them as the actress is so good who reads them. It's set during the Dunkirk evacuation, and is an absolutely first-rate mystery. Loved it!

The Caves of Perigord, by Martin Walker - I really wanted to visited the Dordogne region of France on my trip last summer so I could go to the Lascaux caves, but I just couldn't fit it in. So, I did the next best thing...read a novel about the region. Martin Walker writes lovely mysteries set in the Dordogne region, but this one was a stand-alone that bounced between pre-historic times when the cave paintings were done, WWII (when British, American, and French soldiers were prepping for D-Day and encounter the caves), and modern-day (when a fragment of one of the paintings is part of theft). It was okay--I loved the pre-historic story about how the paintings were done, what they meant--all conjecture, of course, but fun to read. The WWII part was also good, but the modern-day was pretty weak in terms of story and characters.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson - another second listening of this favorite book. All about how the stuff we take for granted--light, toilets, kitchens, essentially everything in a house including its structure--came to be.  I love listening to Bryson read his own works.

Drums of Autumn, by Diana Gabaldon - I'm 75% done with this reread, which I am doing while watching season 4 of Outlander. I'm a fan of the whole series and never tire of reading about the adventures of Clarie and Jamie and their family that literally spans the centuries. Gives new meaning to the term "extended family."

Now, on to Holiday reading!

Journey to Munich (Maisie Dobbs #12)

I absolutely love the Maisie Dobbs series, and the latest, Journey to Munich,  that I listened to (the reader, Orlagh Cassidy, is superb) takes Maisie to Nazi Germany in 1938 on the eve of WWII, working undercover for the British government.

Maisie has grown and changed and experienced so much of life since the series began, but at her core she is someone I can relate to and admire and sympathize with. Despite her changing fortunes, she keeps her feet on the ground and tries to do what she thinks is right.

I always love her encounters with Robbie MacFarlane, and he was, of  course, one of the movers and shakers getting her to take the assignment in the first place and I can't help feeling that he holds a torch for Maisie, despite the big brother role he tends to take with her. The story has a bit of Sandra and Billy, a bit of Priscilla Partridge, a bit of Frankie and Brenda, but it's mostly Maisie on her own, solving a case and putting to rest another set of personal demons.

I really loved the story line involving society girl, Elaine Otterburn, whom Maisie meets up with in Munich. The theme of this novel is really "people are not what they seem." Perfect for a plot line involving undercover work.

Maisie's visit to Dachau, which I actually visited about 30 years ago, was fascinating, as was her observations of the tensions that gripped Munich and Germany on the eve of the coming war.  I think historical novels are a wonderful way to get inside a time period, if the author has done her homework and the history is solid.

I have only one more book in the series, In This Grave Hour, before I am caught up with author Jacqueline Winspear--I do hope she's working on #14. I know that she will have plenty of plot possibilities as WWII progresses.

This is my first mystery in the R.I.P. Challenge! #RIPXII

Maisie Dobbs - books 3 and 4

I've been in the mood for historical mysteries lately and satisfied that mood with books 3 and 4 in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear.

Pardonable Lies and Messenger of Truth take place in 1930 and both plots still revolve around the aftermath of WWI (or the Great War), although we get a hint of the growing unease in Europe in Messenger of Truth with Hitler mentioned a few times.

I really enjoy these books, and Maisie is an interesting, complex heroine.  I like her self-reflection, which reminds me of another favorite mystery heroine, Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon.  They both deal with demons, self-doubt, and have a strong conscience and need to do the right thing.  They don't always know what they want out of life, but they do know what they don't want.

I enjoy Winspear's attention to detail--the clothes Maisie wears, the food she eats, her hairstyle, the car she drives, etc.  This provides me with a real feel for the England that Maisie lives and works in.

I read the first two a year apart a year and it was nice to read these back to back as the continuity was strong from one to the next.  I hope to get to book 5 before year's end.

I like Maisie--I like her need for independence and her compassion.  I like the way she straddles several different classes--she's very much a modern woman who values tradition.  She's a character that works for me.  I also like the mysteries and the secondary characters--all in all, a great series for relaxing and losing yourself in an interesting world with interesting people.

I can't help thinking this series would make a terrific TV series--I hope others with a bit more clout think the same.

Kicking off the New Year...

Welcome to 2016!  Now that the holidays are officially over, it's time to enjoy winter.  I know that sounds crazy, but I like winter sports.  My son and older daughter and I went skating last week at our town's outdoor rink and had a blast.  My son left this morning for New York, heading back to college, and my two daughters leave for California this Thursday, driving the older one back to resume life and work in San Francisco.  They're all (fingers crossed) planning on spending the summer in Colorado, but meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy the snow and freezing temps and start an indoor herb garden.

Now on to books...

I love mysteries but haven't read many lately, so one of my mini, informal challenges of the year is to read from my TBR mystery shelf (bottom of the bookcase, mostly filled with next in series by many different authors).

I finished the year by reading the second in Louise Penny's series about Three Pines, Quebec, a small village near Montreal, Fatal Grace.  It was absolutely wonderful and fit in nicely with the Christmas reading I did in December.  There really are very few books with curling at the center, and having grown up in Colorado Springs, spending most of my time at the Broadmoor World Arena, I'm actually familiar with the sport!  Now, I'm already itching to get a copy of her third in the series.

I then went straight to Jacqueline Winspear's Birds of a Feather, which is the second in her Maisie Dobbs mystery series, set between WWI and WWII.  Also fabulous and so interesting.  Really loving Maisie as a private detective--her backstory is poignant and her approach to solving crimes and to finding her way in this crazy world is admirable.  I now find myself putting my right hand on my solar plexus and my left hand on my heart to calm myself when stressed.  I love her combo of intuition and common sense and her ongoing relationship with her mentor.

Late last week I had some outpatient medical stuff to deal with and needed a very distracting book to take my mind off of things, so I chose Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, which is a journal of the first year of her son's life.  I expected to give this 5 stars as I loved the other two Lamott books I've read (Bird by Bird, and Traveling Mercies), but ended up giving it only 4.  I like Lamott's irreverence and insights and her descriptions of her baby's journey was so nostalgic for me, but I felt she got pretty repetitive in her whining and her hyperbole got a bit old.  But the book did what I wanted it to do.  I easily lost myself in her writing and it helped me not think about feeling crummy.  Ah, the power of books.

BTW, Operating Instructions is on my TBR Pile Challenge, so that's one down!

Now, I'm determined to finish up a few books I started all the way back in November--namely Ghostly, Paris, Book by Book, and All the Light We Cannot See.  Stay tuned and happy reading.

Potpourri - reading a bit of this, a bit of that

I recently reached my GoodReads goal of reading 55 books in 2013.  I'm now at 56 books, and feel like I have a few good reading weeks ahead of me before getting swallowed by the holidays.

I haven't been doing quite as well blogging about everything I've been reading.  Sometimes there's not a lot to say, and sometimes there's so much that I almost feel overwhelmed by it.  So let's take the catalog approach.

The Red  Queen and The King Maker's Daughter, by Philippa Gregory - I enjoyed The White Queen so much more than either.  I found Margaret Beaufort, the Red Queen, to be one of the most maddeningly hypocritical heroines ever.  My biggest regret with regards to the War of the Roses is that Margaret was not ultimately defeated.  The fact that her precious son, Henry, founded the Tudors still rankles.  I got two-thirds done with The KingMakers Daughter, about Anne Neville, and found I just didn't have the heart to finish it.  I much prefer the Anne of Sunne in Splendour--Gregory's Anne was whiny and dull and unsympathetic.

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession, by Mark Obmascik - somehow over the past several months, my husband and I have transitioned from being mildly interested in birds to being birders. It started with the owls that took up residence across the street from our house in the open space, and soon we were trying to identify birds on our hikes.  We watched The Big Year, starring Steve Martin, et al, and enjoyed it thoroughly. So got the book and read it. It was fun, interesting, and inspired us to buy binoculars, field guides, and start going on 7:30 am birding tours on Saturday morning courtesy of our local wild bird center.  I now have a bird feeder outside my office window and have been spying on the feeding habits of Mountain Chickadees, American Goldfiches, House Sparrows, House Finches, Blue Jays, Northern Flickers, to name a few.  My rarest bird to date is the Barred Owl we spotted two Sundays ago at Point Defiance on Puget Sound when we were visiting our daughter who goes to school up there.  Can you spell N-E-R-D?

Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear - what a wonderful treat this book was to read!  I thoroughly enjoyed it--from the setting pre and post-WWI in London, to the charmingly interesting character, Maisie herself.  I actually found myself more interested in her backstory, which comprised the whole middle section of the book, rather than the mystery itself.  I will definitely be reading more books in this series.

Winter in Thrush Green, by Miss Read - as a card-carrying Janeite, it's a bit surprising that this is my first Miss Read tale of life in a quiet country village in England, circa 1950.  A stranger moves to the village, lots of gossip ensues, winter drags on, gallons of tea are consumed, and life goes on.  I listened to this book, and enjoyed it.  It was a nice break from reality and a perfect escape book...

...which leads me to the book I am currently reading:

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote - to say this book is unsettling is an understatement.  I have wanted to read it for years, but only just got up the nerve.  My husband says that the scariest movie he ever watched was Schindler's List, because it was based on a true story.  I haven't read a lot of scary books, but this is the one that has kept me up at night the most, not from reading it but from thinking about it.  The story itself is truly horrible, but Capote's clinical style coupled with the structure has made it definitely unsettling.  I'm almost done--I hope to finish it tonight.  It is good, an American classic, but very tough to read.

So how's that for potpourri--a bit of this and a bit of that?