July 2025 Reading

The Kitchen Front and The Demon of Unrest turned out to be my favorite books this month and, as always, I enjoyed a Vera Stanhope mystery by Ann Cleeves. This detective has really grown on me. I listened to four audiobooks in July and am now in the middle of a very long one – 23 hours – which Hoopla will reclaim before I am done (luckily, I have an actual book as well).

Merry Christmas, 2024!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and everything in between! Thanks to Marie Cloutier for reminding me of this end-of-year book meme:

Describe yourself:

How do you feel? I Need You to Read This

My August 2024 Reading

No 5s this month: I liked The Briar Club but not as much as Kate Quinn's other books. I enjoyed Long Island and will suggest my book group reads it but his style is very understated and I wasn’t sure I understood the ending. The Rom-Commers was fun and I’ve decided I like Center’s books much better than Emily Henry’s: although their styles are not dissimilar, I think Center demonstrates more sense of humor.

My May 2024 Reading

There is no doubt my two favorite books of the month were Going Zero, a thriller involving a chase I am still thinking about, and The Diamond Eye, about a Russian sniper during WWII. I suspect they will be on my "Best of 2024" list and I recommend both of them highly.  Overall, there were some very strong and some disappointing books with two good rereads, Lucy Parker's Act Like It and The Emerald City of Oz for Ozathon24.

WWW Wednesday – April 24, 2024

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Gilbert & Sullivan Set Me Free is an unusual and appealing young adult book set in a women’s prison outside Boston in the early 1900s, based on a real occurrence.

My January 2024 Reading

My favorites this month were The Violin Conspiracy; Harbour Street; Turning Pages, a publishing memoir; and a reread of Charlotte Fairlie.  Now that I am taking public transportation to work after several pandemic years of driving, my audiobook usage has declined but I can read actual books as I sit on the bus and subway.  It has been downright freezing waiting for them to arrive, however!

My August 2023 Reads

August was an excellent reading month, especially for historical fiction where I awarded five stars to The Marriage Portrait and Mrs. Porter Calling and greatly enjoyed two romances, A Lady’s Guide to Scandal and Romantic Comedy. I also revisited an eventing series – what’s eventing, you may well ask (see below). And the house diagonally behind me got hit by lightning Saturday, which caused a fire and apparently destroyed the internet and cable wiring for both streets. I am grateful we did not lose our power as happened elsewhere in the area but I hope Comcast will restore service soon!

WWW Wednesday - Flag Day, 2023

WWW Wednesday is sponsored by Taking on a World of Words. 

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

This is exciting: my Capstone from graduate school just got published! I wrote about author/photographer Tana Hoban and her papers, which she left to the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. If you are interested, here is the issue of SLIS Connecting with my article. I submitted this research (which served as our thesis) more than a year ago, so it is an odd feeling to reread it.

My May 2023 Reads

The biggest treat this month was the new Jane Casey book about Maeve Kerrigan, The Close, straight from London as my sisters and I could not wait for its US publication. I also really enjoyed The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, the third Thursday Murder Club book, and Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham. June will be a slower reading month due to three short trips and Middlemarch. Hmm, I guess it is no coincidence that all four books have British settings; I am nothing if not consistent.

My December 2022 Reads

This month was noteworthy for finishing a group read of Susan Cooper, joining Liz Dexter's Dean Street December, and reading the new Lacey Flint mystery by Sharon Bolton, which caused me to go back to the beginning of the series, plus listen to her recent standalone, The Split.

My November 2022 Reads

Several highlights from November: I had forgotten how entertaining John Grisham can be and really liked two books about an investigator of judicial (mis)conduct.  I also enjoyed The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren, which I liked best of all her books I've read. And Bleeding Heart Yard was as amusing as all of Elly Griffiths' books!

Mystery/Suspense

WWW Wednesday — November 9, 2022

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words. 

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

When Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman (2021) came out, her long-time US publisher was afraid no one would want to read a satire about a Trump White House employee (even if she is fired in the first chapter) and only her British publisher was willing to take it on initially.

WWW Wednesday – June 23, 2021

WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently listening to The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult (2020). I have been reading her books since the early 90s when I was given a copy of Picture Perfect at work.

Bookshelf Traveling - December 20, 2020

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West. Today I am looking at a bookcase in my bedroom which includes some really random titles along with some mystery authors I like.

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

Title: The Long Call, Two Rivers #1 
Author:  Ann Cleeves

Publication: Minotaur Books, hardcover, October 2019

Genre: Mystery/series

Plot: In the first of a new series, Matthew Venn, a Detective Inspector in North Devon is watching his father’s funeral from a distance when, moments later, he learns a body has been found near the home he shares with his husband, Jonathan.  Matthew became estranged from his family due to his rejection of his parents’ evangelical religion, the Barum Brethren, but he puts his familial angst away to investigate the crime, or so he thinks.  As Matthew and his team examine the death there are so many conflicts of interest that he suspects he should remove himself from the case: the fact that the body was found so close to his home, several connections to the Woodyard, the art/day center that Jonathan manages, and the appearance of members of the Brethren.

My Impressions: The day they found the body on the shore, Matthew Venn was already haunted by thoughts of death and dying.

What a first sentence!  This is a very dark and atmospheric new mystery from popular Ann Cleeves, whose other books I have enjoyed.  Matthew Venn is one of the most serious protagonists I can remember reading about and he struggles with a feeling of unworthiness although he is handsome, accomplished, and has a job at which he is skilled.  The story is set in a town in North Devon, near two rivers, the Taw and the Torridge that run into the Atlantic Ocean.  Matthew and Jonathan live in a house on the estuary they got at a bargain price because it might be obliterated in a flood.   The isolation suits Matthew but Jonathan is gregarious and popular; in fact, Matthew is constantly amazed someone so confident would be attracted to him.  This insecurity threatens to derail Matthew from the hunt for the killer but ultimately he triumphs.

In this book, even more than her others, I am impressed by the detailed depiction of minor characters, particularly Lucy and her father Maurice, and Jen Rafferty, the appealing sergeant who works for Matthew.  I had been angry with Cleeves for a plot development in her Shetland Island series but I suppose I am over it by now.  In fact, she was in Greater Boston recently promoting this book and I was disappointed not to be able to attend.

Off the Blog: Enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers in Rye, NY and working on my Nancy Drew paper.

Source:  Thanks to NetGalley for this read.  Recommended!