Book a Week 2018 -BW42: Happy Birthday P.G. Wodehouse

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week forty-two in our Open Roads Reading Adventure. Greetings to all our readers and everyone following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

“What ho!" I said.
"What ho!" said Motty.
"What ho! What ho!"
"What ho! What ho! What ho!"
After that it seemed rather difficult to go on with the conversation.”

― Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves

This week, we are celebrating the anniversary of the birthday of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse who was born October 15, 1881 and passed away at the age of 94 on February 14, 1975. He was the author of numerous books, magazine stories, play lyrics and and the creator of Jeeves and Wooster, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge, Uncle Fred and Mr Mulliner, 

Dip into some of his stories online through the Literature Network, find book lists and more at Plumtopia's World of P.G. Rodehouse, and read Paris Review's 1975 interview the Art of Fiction with P.G. Rodehouse, peruse international sites dedicated to Wodehouse in the Netherlands, Russia, Italy and more. Browse Merriam-Webster's Words at Play who highlights 9 Words of P.G. Wodehouse, and explore a bit of history with Orwell Foundations In Defence of P.G. Wodehouse. 

Rodehouse will be honored with a memorial plaque in Westminster Abbey some time next year. 

 

Brit Tripping

Watling Way: Worcestershire
J.R.R. Tolkien’s aunt lived in Worcestershire and it likely is the inspiration for The Shire in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Also known for this sauce.
Rabbit trails: Witley Court and Gardens More Sauce! King John Cotswold’s Broadway

 

 

Kristin Lavransdatter Readalong

 

Book two – The Wife
Part III – Erlend Nikulausson Chapter  1 – 7 (126 pages)

What are you reading this week?

Link to Week 41

[Robin M]

I'm currently dipping into Nalini Singh's Ocean Light, #2 in her Psy/Changling Trinity series.  Not much reading getting done.  My guys keep pulling me into movies to watch. Last night was Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks.  Really good.  And of course, Dr. Who.  Watching the very first season with William Hartnell.

Edited October 14, 2018 by Robin M

[Penguin]

At the moment, I am taking a break from writing course descriptions for college applications. I'm not sure how much reading I will get done this week, but I started my Cartography book this morning: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivy. I loved The Snow Child, so I have high hopes for this one.

Yesterday, I finished my 2nd spooky - Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In the Castle. I remember last year when a few of us (Amy, I think) commented that we were among the few who had never read this book. And I loved loved loved it.

Any Peaky Blinders (BBC/Netflix) fans here? DH and I just finished the latest season last night, and now I am going through Peaky Blinders withdrawal. I may not have read much for Brit Tripping this year, but over the past few months I have spent plenty of hours in 1920s Birmingham by watching this show ? 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Penguin

[mumto2]

39 minutes ago, Penguin said:

At the moment, I am taking a break from writing course descriptions for college applications. I'm not sure how much reading I will get done this week, but I started my Cartography book this morning: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivy. I loved The Snow Child, so I have high hopes for this one.

Yesterday, I finished my 2nd spooky - Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In the Castle. I remember last year when a few of us (Amy, I think) commented that we were among the few who had never read this book. And I loved loved loved it.

Any Peaky Blinders (BBC/Netflix) fans here? DH and I just finished the latest season last night, and now I am going through Peaky Blinders withdrawal. I may not have read much for Brit Tripping this year, but over the past few months I have spent plenty of hours in 1920s Birmingham by watching this show ? 

Well I still haven’t read We Have Always Lived in the Castle!  I don’t think this Spooky October will be the one because I have several in the stack and don’t seem to have much reading time.

Thanks for the Peaky Blinders recommendation.  I just sent a link to it to Dh because it might be something we both like.  He is currently getting lots of napping in while I watch Victoria.....I am on season 2. ? 

Robin,  William Hartnell really is one of my favorite Doctors so enjoy them.  Not sure how many are complete as we only own maybe six ( my dd could tell me ? )of his but hopefully they will animate some of the missing episodes. 

What am I reading?  Still plugging along on KL but I am behind.  The sad thing is I actually really like it but not on the Kindle combined with it being a really thick book added with I have been busy.......I will finish it in 2018!  I need it for Bingo!!!!!!!!!

Leverage in Death by JD Robb is so good.  I can’t believe I am positively glued to the 47th book in a series!  Uhm, that’s the book that I am actually reading as everything else will have to wait.

I was really enjoying Dracul by Dacre Stoker until I accidentally started Leverage.  It is quite good with Bram having a super creepy nanny.  Not sure that it will ever make it to London so am listening to Aaronovitch’s Moon over Soho for my spooky London.  I have other Spooky London books too! ?

Brit Tripping........I think I am hanging out in London for another week.  Technically Worcestershire is complete because St. Cyr visited there in When Falcon’s Fall and I am enjoying London and Dublin.....and Eve and Roarke.......

 

[Negin]

I read The Complete Peter Rabbit - 5 Stars - What a treat! I wish that I had had this collection when my children were young. We had a few of the Beatrix Potter books, but certainly not all of the stories here. I also like the fact that there’s a map at the beginning of the book. I love books with maps. This collection is simply charming. The illustrations and stories are delightful. At the beginning of each story, I enjoyed learning something about Beatrix Potter and how that particular story came to be.

I also read Shirley Jackson's: The Lottery - The Authorized Graphic Adaptation - 1 Star - It’s October and I figured that I’ve never read anything for Halloween, so I decided to give this a try. I haven’t read the original short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. This version is a graphic novel adaptation created by her grandson. 
I was looking so forward to reading this, having heard so much about her books. Since I haven’t read the original, I cannot compare the two, but honestly, I thought this book was mundane and really quite boring. 

 

     

MY RATING SYSTEM
5 Stars
The book is fantastic. It’s not perfect, since no book is, but it’s definitely a favorite of mine. 
4 Stars
Really Good
3 Stars
Enjoyable 
2 Stars
Just Okay – nothing to write home about
1 Star
Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Loesje22000]

No books finished this week:

English EFL written last friday

Dutch oral this friday.

 

[Zebra]

This week I finished 3 books.

First was Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks.   This was a book of short stories, and I was initially confused because I thought it was a memoir.  I've said this before, but I'm not a huge fan of short stories, (my very Yankee/practical self finds short stories pointless, lol!) but this book wasn't bad.         

I also finished I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh.   On the cover it said something like, "there's a killer twist!" and of course, that partly ruined the book for me.   I was just waiting for the killer twist, and then wasn't sure if certain things that happened WERE the killer twist, or something later in the book.   But, it wasn't bad as far as thrillers go.   Not up there with Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train but fine.

Finally, I listened to Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson.   Alice is charged with taking care of Frank, (who is a kid on the Autism spectrum) while his mother writes a book.   I enjoyed listening to this book.

I am currently reading The Cafe by the Sea and Dirty Chick (can't remember who said they read this last week, but this book is equal parts hilarious and disgusting!).   Also, I am listening to (and LOATHING) The Little French Bistro.   I was on hold for a very long time for this book, so now I feel like I have to finish it.   I think I would be better off reading this book, because the woman reading it keeps using a french accent that I am having a hard time understanding.

Happy reading everyone!

[Ali in OR]

I'm enjoying my spooky October reading. I have finished World War Z and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I've also got Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde going.

[Violet Crown]

6 hours ago, Robin M said:

Brit Tripping

Watling Way: Worcestershire
J.R.R. Tolkien’s aunt lived in Worcestershire and it likely is the inspiration for The Shire in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Also known for this sauce.

Look! Worcestershire! Caught up!

Probably the most famous Worcestershire texts are Langland's Middle English allegorical poem Piers Plowman, set "on a Maye mornynge on Malverne hylles," and Radclyffe Hall's ground-breaking lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness. But they'd both be re-reads, and I've had a lot of those lately, so for Worcestershire I picked Collected Poems of W. H. Auden, 1933-1938. Auden taught English at a private boys' school in the Malverns from 1933 to 1935.

Quote

 

Two Climbs

Fleeing from short-haired mad executives,
The sad and useless faces round my home,
Upon the mountains of my fear I climb:
Above, a breakneck scorching rock; no caves
No col, no water. With excuse concocted,
Soon on a lower alp I fall and pant,
cooling my weariness in faults that flaunt
A life which they have stolen and perfected.

 Climbing with you was easy as a vow.
We reached the top not hungry in the least,
But it was eyes we looked at, not the view,
Saw nothing but ourselves, left-handed, lost,
Returned to shore, the rich interior still
Unknown: love gave the power, but took the will.

 

Last week I finished two books picked in True Randomness by Middle Girl: Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country and Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier. Loved the first, loathed the second, all done with women's novels for a while. So I made her pick again, and she randomized for me a collection of Sheridan LeFanu's ghost stories, edited by M. R. James, who gets around my reading list this year. So there will be further Spooky October London it seems.

4 hours ago, loesje22000 said:

No books finished this week:

English EFL written last friday

Dutch oral this friday.

Good luck!

4 hours ago, Zebra said:

I also finished I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh.   On the cover it said something like, "there's a killer twist!" and of course, that partly ruined the book for me.   I was just waiting for the killer twist, and then wasn't sure if certain things that happened WERE the killer twist, or something later in the book.   But, it wasn't bad as far as thrillers go.   Not up there with Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train but fine.
 

There ought to be punitive legal consequences for back covers, introductions, and early end-notes that give away plot points. I have a personal grudge still against the editor of the Penguin edition of The Wings of the Dove, who gives away a crucial plot twist in one of the first end-notes, as if nobody would be reading it who didn't already know what happens. Snarl.

[LuvToRead]

I have not read much lately and I blame it on trying out Acorn TV last month and  Britbox this month.   Currently,  I am currently reading a cozy "Guilty as Cinnamon" by Leslie Budewitz.  Before that, I finished "Mrs. Jeffries and the Three Wise Women" by Emily Brightwell.

Edited October 15, 2018 by LuvToRead

[Mothersweets]

Robin, thank you for the links. Witley Court is/was amazing!

Texasmom, I'm so glad you liked Magpie Murders! 

Negin, my kids and I were just talking about The Lottery. I remember reading it in middle school, I think? We watched the 1960s version of "The Haunting of Hill House" over the weekend, too. 

Finished two books this week:

The Cuckoo's Calling  - really liked this and have the second in the series on the nightstand ready to go. It was a bit sweary (lots of f words) but I find it doesn't bother me  as it would if I were listening to it being read aloud. I wasn't sure what to expect but enjoyed the mystery and was guessing at the killer's identity up until almost the end. 

Amberwell by D. E. Stevenson. Loved this one! Set in Scotland shortly before WWII, the story follows the lives of 5 siblings living on the local manor house. Really lovely, warm writing. There are three in the series and I'll have to put the next two on my wishlist. 

I think I'm all caught up and then some with Kristin Lavransdatter, I'll have to go check my copy. 

[Teaching3bears]

I've been so busy with other stuff that needs to be done and mostly been browsing lots of books from the summer until now.

We did finish The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain for homeschooling. If you have not read it I strongly recommend it. The writing is superb! What I find interesting about Mark Twain is that his style is different in each of the books I have read of his (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and The Prince and the Pauper)

I also finished How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind by Dana K. White. Most of the book is devoted to repeatedly telling you to wash your dishes every day which might sound like it would not make a good book but even though I already washed my dishes several times a day I found the book very helpful because it really gets to the psychological underpinnings of how we procrastinate housework. I find that I can apply it to other tasks that I procrastinate. Also,
hearing how she would go over a week without washing her dishes made me feel like a housework superhero .

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Hello one and all~ 

I have missed reading this thread and keeping up with your reading and real life adventures. My fall tennis season ended this weekend and I should be able to enjoy some more reading time (both books and internet). I have finished 35 out of the 52 book thus far; this puts me 6 books behind schedule. Those 6 are probably audiobooks. Since I did not do my road trips taking my son back East this year (three trips), I missed my listening-while-driving time. I don't listen to audiobooks while driving the teams to matches as I try to be cognizant of the players wishes and comfort so I also lost that time as well.

I have two trips coming up - one for recruiting and one for coach training - and I hope to be able to get in some listening or reading while driving and flying. I am thoroughly stoked about the upcoming coach academy. It's run by the NCAA and is specifically for women coaches. I am looking forward to making connections and learning from the wisdom and experiences of other women coaches.

I don't remember when I last updated my 'books read' list so I'll only post the last three:

Reckless, Cornelia Funke, 4 stars

Fearless (Reckless #2), Cornelia Funke, 4 stars

The Golden Thread (Reckless #3), Cornelia Funke, 4 stars

I'm currently listening to Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani. It's taken me 6 weeks thus far due to lack of listening time. I have 3 hours left and hope to finish it in the next day or two.

Warmly,

TAC

 

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by The Accidental Coach

[Guest]

@Negin, when my youngest was little, I would get from the library the Tales of Beatrix Potter read by a Brittish man on audiotape. We both loved them so much! I loved the language and the narrator’s voice. They were just the most precious stories. 

[Kareni]

My husband and I were on a driving trip and listened to  Sleeping Giants (The Themis Files Book 1)   by Sylvain Neuvel which proved to be enjoyable.  It did leave us with questions, and I see now that the book actually has two sequels.  I might read on.

"A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?"
**

We also began listening to Moriarty: A Novel  by Anthony Horowitz and got about half way through the book.  I don't have a desire to hear more, but my husband has  continued on.  He's more of a Sherlock Holmes fan than I am. 

"The game is once again afoot in this thrilling mystery from the bestselling author of The House of Silk, sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate, which explores what really happened when Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty tumbled to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls.

Internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s nail-biting new novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of detective Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty—dubbed the Napoleon of crime” by Holmes—in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.

Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.

Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.

A riveting, deeply atmospheric tale of murder and menace from one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate, Moriarty breathes life into Holmes’s dark and fascinating world."
**

I also enjoyed a re-read of The Goblin Emperor  by Katherine Addison which is a book I recommend for adults and teens.
**

I'm currently reading The Last Days of Night: A Novel  by Graham Moore for my book group which meets on Thursday.  More on that later.

Regards,
Kareni

[Matryoshka]

Finished 3 books this week: 

101. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold - Enjoyable scifi with a touch of romance - for my SciFi book club.  Liked it enough that I'm waiting for the next installment of which there's only one copy so I have to wait for someone else to return it.  3 stars.

102. Porgy by DuBose Heyward - the short book Gershwin's Porgy and Bess was based on. I suppose for its time it was a relatively enlightened book by a white dude writing about African Americans.  Which isn't saying a heck of a lot.  Now to watch the opera - I hope the music elevates the material?  2 stars.

103. Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment  by Robert Wright (audiobook) -  I'd highly recommend this to anyone with even a passing interest in evolutionary psychology (how the brain evolved to work the way it does and why) or the practical side of Buddhism. 5 stars.

Currently reading: 

- Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego /Things We Lost in the Fire (ebook) by Mariana Enríquez - another Argentinian read, this time creepy short stories for October.  Liking them quite a bit.

- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (audiobook) - another spooky October book that I'm quite enjoying.

- The Wife (Kristin Lavransdatter #2) by Sigrid Undset - not quite caught up with the readalong as this was an extra-long section this week, but I should catch up by next week.  Erlend continues to be an ass.  I'm still finding it readable but I'm glad there's a readalong or I think I'd be getting bogged down.

- Oreo by Fran Ross - wildly inventive, insanely language rich satire on race and ethnicity and other things that takes you on a somewhat absurdist romp.  Fun. 

[mumto2]

This will make some of you smile.......

So today is my birthday and Dh  just left to pick up some food so I don't have to cook which is great by itself.  Here is the my odd birthday present to me, I just read a few pages of my Ann Cleeves  Vera book and I have a location in TYNE and WEAR!  I was starting to think I was never going to check that one off the Brit Tripping schedule!  I hate to admit it but it has really been bugging me!

On to the fluff,   I checked a Susan Mallory out because she was one of my mom's favourites to read while I go on my adventure with hubby.  I always need reading material, just in case.  ? Dinner out tonight with the kids.  

 

[Kareni]

A very  happy birthday  to you, mumto2!  Enjoy the day.

Regards,
Kareni

[Mothersweets]

Happy Birthday mumto2!! ?

[Violet Crown]

Hapy Birthday! Yeah Tyne & Wear was tricky.

[Robin M]

Happy Birthday Sandy!!!

 

[Kareni]

This evening I finished  The Last Days of Night: A Novel  by Graham Moore for my book group which meets on Thursday; I found it an easy and interesting read.  In the author's notes, he describes the book as a dramatization of (predominantly) real events.

"From Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and New York Times bestselling author of The Sherlockian, comes a thrilling novel—based on actual events—about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America.

New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country?

The case affords Paul entry to the heady world of high society—the glittering parties in Gramercy Park mansions, and the more insidious dealings done behind closed doors. The task facing him is beyond daunting. Edison is a wily, dangerous opponent with vast resources at his disposal—private spies, newspapers in his pocket, and the backing of J. P. Morgan himself. Yet this unknown lawyer shares with his famous adversary a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it?

In obsessive pursuit of victory, Paul crosses paths with Nikola Tesla, an eccentric, brilliant inventor who may hold the key to defeating Edison, and with Agnes Huntington, a beautiful opera singer who proves to be a flawless performer on stage and off. As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem."

Regards,
Kareni

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

Your Ultimate Guide to Halloween Bookmarks

Five Books to Read After Bad Dates  by Kass Morgan
 

Reading Around the World: Five Books from Five Different Continents  by S.L. Huang
 

Turning Fury into Unicorns: How to Write Through Anger  by Destiny Soria

Regards,
Kareni

[Loesje22000]

@Mumof2 Congratulations!

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Thanks to Kareni's post, I made Halloween bookmarks for my team this afternoon and sent them through campus mail. They should receive them tomorrow. I hope they are pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed receiving fun mail when I was in college.

Edited: I listened to my audiobook while making the bookmarks.

Edited October 18, 2018 by The Accidental Coach

[Kareni]

15 hours ago, texasmom33 said:

 I turn 42 in a few days ...

Sending some early birthday   wishes your way, texasmom! 

14 hours ago, The Accidental Coach said:

Thanks to Kareni's post, I made Halloween bookmarks for my team this afternoon and sent them through campus mail.

I'm glad to hear that the link was useful, Accidental Coach.  I too loved receiving fun mail while in college.  To be frank, I still like receiving fun mail!

Regards,
Kareni

[mumto2]

15 hours ago, texasmom33 said:

I finished my first Agatha Christie novel- And Then There Were None tonight!  I turn 42 in a few days, so I guess it's high time I read an AG novel! I actually enjoyed it a lot. I was a bit uncertain in the first chapter, but the pace is so fast, it's exactly what a Mom like me needs at this moment. I'll definitely read more AG in the near future. I've also made a good start on Rebecca on Audible today driving the kids here and there to activities,  and am debating on whether or not to buy it on Kindle or hard-copy. It's really good! But I LOVE the narrator's voice, so I may just stick with it on Audible. Perhaps it will encourage me to spend more time on the treadmill or rower to get extra reading time in. ?

Happy Birthday!

I am so glad you enjoyed your first Agatha Christie book!  I actually discovered Christie when I was in my 40’s too and read the majority of them during a two year time span, then read many of them again as prereads for Dd.  Robin has a great list on her 52 books blog with all the books in order which I have found super useful as I am rereading them again, in publishing order.

I finished my Susan Mallery and ended up checking out another one.  Planning to finish Dracul soon!

 

[Violet Crown]

Planning ahead ... I have at last solved both my "Georgette Heyer" Rebel Rank problem and my Shropshire problem: Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop is set in 1825 and has a significant bit set in Shropshire. So now all of Watling Way except for Lancashire (Lancashire! What's in Lancashire? Someone help with Lancashire!) is planned out.

Speaking of, finished this evening W. H. Auden's Collected Poems 1933-1938 for Worcestershire--I think I even understood more than half of them, maybe--and getting a head start on Warwickshire with George Eliot's Adam Bede.

Edited October 19, 2018 by Violet Crown

[mumto2]

Lancashire’s main town is probably Blackpool.  I will confess and say I thought Lake Windermere was in Lancashire when we started this adventure. It is an area with a whole bunch of moving county lines with Westmorland disappearing.  My family was originally from one of the disappearing counties that ended up in Yorkshire.

  Mary Barton (Gaskell) and Woman in White are both partially in Lancashire apparently.  Woman in White, I think it was just a quick mention.

 

[Violet Crown]

I was going to read Woman in White for Cumbria, and Gaskell's Cranford for Cheshire, so I will keep looking. Checking out the availability of an 1849 novel called The Lancashire Witches....

The city dh was born in was swallowed up by a larger city, so his birth certificate and passport don't match. Not quite as severe though as one's entire county vanishing. 

[SKL]

Howdy.  I finished re-reading the Miss Manners book about kids.  Now I am reading one called The Drama Years, which so far isn't very good, but it was recommended so I will probably finish it.  I have The Mahabharata ready for when I get sick of non-fiction.

I don't remember where we were on audiobooks last time I posted.  We finished A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, and now we are listening to Kidnapped.  I think this is the first Robert Louis Stevenson book I have read.  I think the language goes somewhat over my kids' heads, plus it gets dry at times, but I think they are following it. 

I want to do Pride and Prejudice as there is a P&P show at our local theater this month.  The audiobook I have of P&P is not well done.  I should check out the library.  Not sure if we have time to listen to the whole story before the show ends anyway, but it's something I'd like to do if we can.

Our read-aloud is still Evil Spy School, which is the 3rd book in the Spy School series that we have read (the kids demanded it though I tried to switch to another author).  We are lucky if we finish one chapter a week, because we are all so busy.  The kids are up so late for homework.

[mumto2]

2 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

I was going to read Woman in White for Cumbria, and Gaskell's Cranford for Cheshire, so I will keep looking. Checking out the availability of an 1849 novel called The Lancashire Witches....

The city dh was born in was swallowed up by a larger city, so his birth certificate and passport don't match. Not quite as severe though as one's entire county vanishing. 

I actually know about the Lancashire Witches book but forgot it earlier.  The one by William Harrison Ainsworth right?  It is in the Kindle Store for free.  I actually just bought it.

In England people tend to put exactly where they were born on their passports, so things like Ward 27 Is not that unusual of a  answer on passports apparently.  Where my kids were born sounds like I gave birth in a pub(the town is a really common pub name)....twice.  I am sort of embarrassed about that,  should have picked a different hospital location.  My husband was born in the same hospital so it kind of looks like a family tradition.

[Violet Crown]

1 minute ago, mumto2 said:

I actually know about the Lancashire Witches book but forgot it earlier.  The one by William Harrison Ainsworth right?  It is in the Kindle Store for free.  I actually just bought it.

In England people tend to put exactly where they were born on their passports, so things like Ward 27 Is not that unusual of a  answer on passports apparently.  Where my kids were born sounds like I gave birth in a pub(the town is a really common pub name)....twice.  I am sort of embarrassed about that,  should have picked a different hospital location.  My husband was born in the same hospital so it kind of looks like a family tradition.

Ainsworth, yes that one. I just bought a $1 dead tree version, arriving soon I hope.

UK residents list their own birth locations for passports? The on-line application didn't give me any choices; and it differed from the Registrar of Births about what town Great Girl was born in--so, another family passport that doesn't match.

[mumto2]

5 minutes ago, Violet Crown said:

Ainsworth, yes that one. I just bought a $1 dead tree version, arriving soon I hope.

UK residents list their own birth locations for passports? The on-line application didn't give me any choices; and it differed from the Registrar of Births about what town Great Girl was born in--so, another family passport that doesn't match.

I think it stems from the birth registration process in the UK.  I left the hospital in the US with birth certificates for my kids so they had to have a name etc.  In the UK you have at least 3 months to register births and home births are not uncommon which means some odd  place descriptions to on birth records which in turn become listed on passports.  Totally self reported and I think only the mother can do it, probably tied to child benefit payments.  I have known a couple of people who try out different names every time you see the child. Our locations were simply t taken from birth certificates.

[Kareni]

Books that are currently free to Kindle readers ~

I enjoyed this:  Into the Dark (Alexis Carew Book 1)  by J.A. Sutherland

Wands In A Lifetime  by Annabel Chase

 

Regards,
Kareni

[Kareni]

I've recently finished Sheri Cobb South's  Peril by Post (John Pickett Mysteries)  which is the most recent book in a pleasurable historical mystery series.  This is a series that should definitely be read in order.  [The first book in the series is In Milady's Chamber.]

"The eighth book in the series finds John Pickett bound for England’s scenic Lake District, where an unsigned letter has summoned him for an unspecified reason. Posing as a honeymoon couple, Pickett and his wife Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, take a room at the Hart and Hound as the letter instructs him. Once installed there, however, Pickett can do nothing but wait for the anonymous contact to identify himself. A midnight search of the inn’s register seems to identify the innkeeper, Ned Hawkins, as his man, but before Pickett can discover the reason for his summons, Hawkins is pushed from a cliff—surviving the fall only long enough to call Pickett’s attention to the letter in his pocket. With his contact dead and his only clue a letter containing nothing more than a rambling account of family news, Pickett knows he’s on his own. But that isn’t the worst of his problems: Julia saw the crime being committed, and although she can’t identify the murderer, there is every indication that the killer knows he was seen—and intends to eliminate any possible witnesses. Amidst a quirky cast of characters including a host of holiday-makers, a bucolic love triangle, an aspiring poet in the Romantic vein, and an old friend of his magistrate, Mr. Colquhoun, Pickett must discover the secret behind that urgent summons before a second, and far more personal, murder is committed."

I also enjoyed the author's free short story, Tales out of School,  which precedes the novel above.

"Newly married John Pickett is all too painfully aware of the gaps in his charity-school education. But when he pays a visit to his old schoolmaster, he learns a lesson he hadn't bargained on. "
**

And I read and enjoyed Heidi Cullinan's  historical romance A Private Gentleman  though there is one big issue that strains credulity.  Trigger warning for sexual abuse of children.  (Adult content)

"To seal their bond, they must break the ties that bind.

Painfully introverted and rendered nearly mute by a heavy stammer, Lord George Albert Westin rarely ventures any farther than the club or his beloved gardens. When he hears rumors of an exotic new orchid sighted at a local hobbyist’s house, though, he girds himself with opiates and determination to attend a house party, hoping to sneak a peek. He finds the orchid, yes…but he finds something else even more rare and exquisite: Michael Vallant. Professional sodomite.

Michael climbed out of an adolescent hell as a courtesan’s bastard to become successful and independent-minded, seeing men on his own terms, protected by a powerful friend. He is master of his own world—until Wes. Not only because, for once, the sex is for pleasure and not for profit. They are joined by tendrils of a shameful, unspoken history. The closer his shy, poppy-addicted lover lures him to the light of love, the harder his past works to drag him back into the dark. There’s only one way out of this tangle. Help Wes face the fears that cripple him—right after Michael finds the courage to reveal the devastating truth that binds them."

Regards,
Kareni

[mumto2]

I just finished Hidden Depths by Anne  Cleeves https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1632546.Hidden_Depths which is set in TYNE AND WEAR and Northumberland.  I really enjoyed this one,  it’s the third book in the series and really well done.  It seemed like all the characters were great potential suspects and I really loved Vera’s interviews with them.  The atmosphere was spot on and her descriptions were just right,  I felt like I was there.  Obviously part of a series but this one is pretty stand alone.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I finished two audiobooks!

The first was Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani(4.5 stars). This is the second of Sejal's books I have read although it was the first to be published. Sejal's writing is wonderful; her intelligence and passions are evident from the first sentence. This book, like The Storyteller's Secret, focuses on an Indian family and their struggles with Indian cultural norms and mores and how the pressure to maintain appearances can result in debilitating consequences. The ending of this book, however, was a bit too tidy for me. I would have preferred a more messy, realistic ending. Even with that small disappointment, I am eagerly anticipating Sejal's next book. After all, she mentions chai at least a dozen times throughout each book. 

A paraphrase from the book "In India, chai is its own food group." Another paraphrase "We would gather in someone's home to drink cup after cup of chai. After a few hours, a problem that was thought insurmountable has been solved."

The second audiobook I completed was Catherine Ryan Hyde's Where We Belong (3.75 stars). I thoroughly enjoyed the first 80 percent of the book. The ending, however, again left me feeling like it was all too tidy and perfect.

After completing these two (which took driving to and around the suburbs of Chicago), I have completed 37 books. Only 5 behind. 

I need to look through my TBR pile and see what strikes my fancy. I think I need to read a print book instead of an e-book so maybe I'll go through my book shelves.

[Robin M]

Link to week 43 - please continue conversation in new thread