Wednesday, March 22, 2023
WWW Wednesday – March 22
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently ReadingSometimes a perfectly good book will be sitting there, patiently waiting to be chosen, and it’s the reminder from the library that it is due and cannot be renewed that finally moves it to the top of the TBR pile.
Monday, March 20, 2023
Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy #ReadingIreland2023
Author: Maeve Binchy
Narrator: Sile Bermingham
Publication: Random House, Audio, 2008
Genre: Fiction
Setting: IrelandDescription: Dr. Clara Casey had been hoping for a different job but instead finds herself managing a new Heart Clinic attached to St. Brigid’s Hospital in Dublin. She has plenty of stress at home dealing with two high-maintenance daughters and the husband she kicked out for cheating years ago, so puts all her energy into the clinic.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie23
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: William Morrow, paperback, originally published in 1943
Genre: Mystery/series
Setting: 20th century England
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Blitzcat by Robert Westall - historical fiction about an intrepid cat during WWII
Author: Robert Westall
Publication: Scholastic, hardcover, 1989
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Setting: WWII BritainDescription: A black cat, named after Lord Gort, pines for her owner when he joins the RAF, and resents the new baby Geoff’s wife, Florrie Wensley, fusses over instead of her. Sensing strongly that Geoff is somewhere, she sets off to find him.
Monday, March 13, 2023
Out of the Rain by Elizabeth Cadell
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, 1987
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Late 20th-century BritainDescription: Edward Netherford is a quiet London lawyer who inherited some difficult clients from his father and is forced to go to Yorkshire in an attempt to retrieve some paintings they inherited.
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Dean Street Press
Very sorry to learn of the unexpected death of Rupert Heath, a British literary agent who founded Dean Street Press, bringing many gems back into print. Several years ago, he added the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint, which I have also greatly enjoyed. I had hoped to meet Rupert for a drink when I was in London last June but the timing did not work. Here is a link to the obituary written by his sister in the Bookseller. Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow has also written about Rupert.
I know Rupert greatly enjoyed Dean Street December, hosted by Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home, and I am glad she made time to organize that at such a busy time of year.
I enjoyed my correspondence with Rupert and his comments on my reviews. This is a loss to all readers. My sympathy to his family and coworkers.
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Spell the Month in Books – March
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart #ReadingIreland2023
Author: Erin Hart
Publication: Scribner, hardcover, 2003
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Present-day IrelandDescription: When farmers cutting turf in a peat bog uncover a well-preserved woman’s body, the pathologist refers it to Cormac Maguire, an archeologist at University College Dublin and Dr. Nora Gavin in the anatomy department at Trinity College Medical School.
Monday, March 6, 2023
My February 2023 Reads
Historical Fiction
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Six Degrees of Separation – from Passages to House of Sand and Fog
Thursday, March 2, 2023
The Winter Guest by W.C. Ryan #ReadingIreland2023
Author: W.C. Ryan
Publication: Arcade Publishing, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Mystery
Setting: Ireland, 1921
Description: After an ordinary evening of cards and conversation, Maud Prendeville, Lord Kilcolgan’s daughter, and two companions are killed in an IRA ambush, yards from her home in the Irish countryside.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
WWW Wednesday - March 1
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Monday, February 27, 2023
Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom by Patti Bender
Author: Patti Bender
Publication: City Point Press, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Biography/Literary Criticism
Setting: Massachusetts and Maine
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie23
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Dell, paperback, originally published in 1929
Genre: MysteryDescription: Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, first encountered when they were single in The Secret Adversary, are now happily married but Tuppence is bored. Fortunately, Tommy’s boss asks them to go undercover and pretend to be Mr. Blunt and his secretary of the Theodore Blunt International Detective Agency.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts
Author: Willo Davis Roberts (1928-2004)
Publication: Scholastic, paperback, originally published in 1980
Genre: Juvenile fiction
Saturday, February 18, 2023
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn – historical fiction set between the wars
Author: Joanna Quinn
Publication: Knopf, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical England
Setting: 20th century Britain and FranceDescription: Cristabel Seagrave, a neglected orphan, grows up between the wars in a Dorset manor house, with half-sister Flossie and cousin Digby who follow her on every adventure. When a 7-foot whale is beached nearby, the children are fascinated, as is a larger-than-life Russian artist who appears at the same time with his family and becomes part of the Seagraves’ lives.
Monday, February 13, 2023
Widows of the Ice: The Women That Scott’s Antarctic Expedition Left Behind by Anne Fletcher
Author: Anne Fletcher
Publication: Amberley Publishing, hardcover, 2022
Genre: History
Setting: Britain and AntarcticaDescription: British Naval Officer Robert Falcon Scott led two expeditions to the Antarctic: the Discovery expedition of 1901–1904 and the Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913, from which he did not return.
Friday, February 10, 2023
My January 2023 Reads
YA Historical Fiction
Monday, February 6, 2023
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Author: Geraldine Brooks
Publication: Viking, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 19th, 20th, and 21st century United (or not so) StatesDescription: Brooks tells the fascinating story of the little-known but legendary racehorse, Lexington, by imagining his enslaved groom/trainer, along with the real-life artists of the era who specialized in equine portraits, a 20th-century art dealer, and two contemporary characters who meet in DC and puzzle out the history together.
Saturday, February 4, 2023
Six Degrees of Separation – from Trust to The Big Killing
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Alias Emma by Ava Glass: a breakneck chase across London
Author: Ava Glass
Publication: Bantam Books, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present-day LondonDescription: Emma Makepeace (that’s not her real name) is a newly trained spy when she is relieved from tedious undercover work in a tee shirt store and given a major assignment – bringing the doctor son of two important Russian defectors into protective custody.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Smouldering Fire by D.E. Stevenson
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press, paperback, originally published 1935
Genre: Fiction
Setting: ScotlandDescription: The life of a Scottish Laird is not as idyllic as it used to be, even in D.E. Stevenson land. Iain MacAslan loves Ardfalloch so much that, in order to pay the bills, he forces himself to lease it to a rich businessman for the hunting season.
Sunday, January 29, 2023
The Listening Eye: A Miss Silver Mystery by Patricia Wentworth
Author: Patricia Wentworth
Publication: Warner, paperback, originally published in 1955
Genre: Mystery/Series
Setting: 20th century EnglandDescription: Paulina Paine goes to an art gallery to see a painting done of her by David Moray, who rents her attic as his studio. The painting is called The Listener, reflecting the thoughtful look when she compensates for her loss of hearing by using other senses.
Friday, January 27, 2023
A Burns Night Supper
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
WWW Wednesday – January 25
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
![]() |
Dr. Livingstone, I presume? |
Monday, January 23, 2023
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie23
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Berkley, paperback, originally published in 1940
Genre: Mystery/Series
Setting: Great BritainDescription: Elinor Carlisle and Roderick Welman met as children, visiting her Aunt Laura, who was married to his uncle Henry. They are engaged and expect either or both will inherit Laura Welman’s fortune.
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Publication: Penguin, audio, 2022
Narrators: Jane Oppenheimer, Christina Delaine
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present day
Description: Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have been friends and colleagues since their 20s when they first joined a secret organization called “The Museum” and were trained as assassins.
Thursday, January 19, 2023
My December 2022 Reads
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
The Labyrinth Makers by Anthony Price
Author: Anthony Price (1928-2019)
Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, paperback, 2010 (originally published in 1970)
Genre: Mystery
Setting: 20th century BritainDescription: David Audley is a historian for Britain’s Ministry of Defense whose research expertise is the Middle East, when he is woken up by the telephone in the middle of the night, summoned to a 6 am meeting in London, and told to dress for a funeral.
Saturday, January 14, 2023
My Life in Books - 2022
Using only books you read in 2022, answer these prompts. Try not to repeat a book title (links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist).
In high school, I was: The Woman in the Library (Sulari Gentill)
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Author: Hernan Diaz
Publication: Riverhead, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: New York and Europe
Description: Benjamin and Helen Rask are a prominent Manhattan couple in the 1920s. He is an eccentric but successful Wall Street investor whose family made its money from tobacco. Helen is from a well-born Albany family and is interested in philanthropy. Neither is very comfortable with people, including each other.
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Six Degrees of Separation – from Beach Read to Winter Cottage
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Favorite Reads of 2022
Best Nonfiction Read of the Year: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (2015) (audio read by talented Scott Brick). I was mesmerized listening to the audio of the Lusitania’s last and tragic voyage in 1915. Larson weaves together stories about the passengers and crew, bringing them all to life.
Monday, January 2, 2023
Silver on the Tree: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Author: Susan Cooper
Publication: Scholastic, paperback, originally published in 1977
Genre: Juvenile fantasy/series
Setting: Wales