August 2026 Reading

I squeezed in quite a few books in August, thanks in part to several days off in Cape Cod at a lovely house my sister rented (I accidentally left behind one Boston Library book which she had to take back to NYC with her - oh well, the BPL eventually got it back and, ironically, neither of us liked it so stopped reading after a few pages). I enjoyed rereading Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series, after visiting Galway, where they are set.

The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung

I became a huge fan of Louise Penny, not after reading book 1, Still Life, in her Three Pines series but while listening to book 2, A Fatal Grace, as I drove home from Quebec in 2019. Maybe it was partly due to the charm of narrator, Ralph Cosham! A pity I was driving more or less past Three Pines before I knew one could stop in Knowlton, where there are now tours of places inspired by the books and, recently, an actual café! In addition to producing a Gamache book every year, Penny has recently been collaborating with other luminaries on suspense fiction. 

Six Degrees of Separation – from Flashlight to The Phoenix and the Carpet

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. February’s starting point is Flashlight by Susan Choi, about which the New York Times said, “This is a novel about exile in its multiple forms, and it reads like a history of loneliness.”

My Life in Books - 2025

Using only books you read in 2025, answer these prompts without repeating a book title (links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist).

In high school, I was: Out of Bounds (Val McDermid)

November 2025 Reading

This month I especially enjoyed The Correspondent (fiction), The Proving Ground (suspense), The Jazz Barn (nonfiction), and Searching for Shona (juvenile historical fiction). I also liked Evvie Drake Starts Over because it was a romantic comedy with convincing characters and realistic dialogue – this doesn’t always happen!  The Librarians was clever and enjoyable, although I could not always follow the plot!

WWW Wednesday - December 3

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?

Top Ten Tuesday: Satisfying Book Series

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Satisfying Book Series and it was hard to pick just ten.

Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025

I am plenty busy with my 20 Books of Summer, my book group, and piles of library books everywhere but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about the books being published in the second half of 2025 for That Artsy Reader Girl’s weekly Top Ten Tuesday:

Six Degrees of Separation - from Rapture to My Life in France

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month’s starting point is Rapture by Emily Maguire.

My July 2022 Reads

My favorite July book was the audio of a book I had read when it first came out, The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher.  It was expertly narrated by Hayley Atwell and entertained me on my way back and forth to work for several weeks.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Civility to Murder

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, published in 2011, exactly one hundred years after last month’s choice, Ethan Frome.  

I enjoyed this book when it first came out.  The author grew up nearby and our mothers were college classmates, although I have never met him.  An obvious comparison is The Great Gatsby so I will go in a less predictable direction.

Favorite Reads of 2021 - A Baker's Dozen

Fiction

The Proper Place by O. Douglas (1926): After Sir Walter dies, his family is forced to sell the family estate and move to a modest home in Fife.  Nicole adapts to her new life with maturity and grace while her cousin Barbara is unwilling to accept their change in circumstances.  This was my first five-star book of the year!   My review.

November 2021 Reads

November was a great month of reading. I especially enjoyed A Single Thread, set between the wars in England; The Secret River, a historical novel about a convict rebuilding his life in Australia; State of Terror, a thriller by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny; and my reread of The Parfit Knight by Stella Riley, a regency with a blind heroine.  Also, amazingly, this is my 1000th blog post!

WWW Wednesday – November 10, 2021

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?

I am currently reading The Secret River by Kate Grenville (2006), a historical novel set in the early 19th century about an Englishman transported to New South Wales with his family.

WWW Wednesday – October 27, 2021

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?

September 2021 Reads

I got a lot of reading done in September considering I was away for more than two weeks. This may be why my suitcase hasn’t made it back up the attic and the lawn needs to be mowed!

Fiction

Royal Summons by Elizabeth Cadell – American Ellen Berg travels to her mother’s childhood home in England where she has to come to terms with the imperious aunt who drove her mother away.

WWW Wednesday – September 29, 2021

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?

There are several books I have been in the middle of for years. If they were really riveting, I probably would not have put them down half-read.  But in Luvvy and the Girls, I read that not completing a book is a sign of weak character.  This belief conflicts with an occasional "life is too short" mantra so I finish most books unless they are dreadful.

France 2021, Day 3

Every day in France should be a chocolate croissant day – and today was! After breakfast, we took advantage of our two-day unlimited Metro pass and headed off to the Musée D’Orsay.

Favorite Reads of 2020

Like most of you, I read a lot of books in 2020, including many books I owned but had never read. I was relieved, however, when the libraries opened their doors for curbside pickup – by the time they did, I had 50 books on hold! I don’t read to achieve specific numbers, but I like to keep an eye on what I’m reading, so here are my top ten and the runners-up for this extremely long and stressful year: 

Suspense 

The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham (2017). This is the sixth book about Fiona Griffiths, a police detective in Wales who is complaining when the book begins about how long it’s been since she had a murder to solve. She is thus thrilled to learn an archaeologist has been found murdered and decapitated, plunging Fiona into a complicated quest to find the criminal. Fiona’s erstwhile-criminal father, a fascinating character, plays a bigger role in this book than usual. I love this series and wish it had a bigger audience. Start with Book 1, Talking to the Dead. I keep lending my copy to people, which is dangerous. 

WWW Wednesday: October 28, 2020

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?