The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

Title: The Silver Chair
Author: C.S. Lewis
Illustrator: Pauline Baynes
Publication: Puffin, paperback, originally published in 1953
Genre: Juvenile Fantasy/Series
Setting: Narnia

Description: Eustace Scrubb, cousin of the better-known Pevensie children from the earlier Narnia books, was introduced in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eustace attends a progressive co-ed boarding school (clearly despised by Lewis, although it is hard to tell which horrifies him more, coeducation or progressive education; maybe it’s a tie) with Jill Pole.

Jeannie's War by Carol MacLean

Title: Jeannie’s War
Author: Carol MacLean
Publication: Hera Books, ebook, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: WWII Scotland

Description: It is 1939 and the country is now at war with Germany. Jeannie Dougal lives with her widowed mother and siblings on Kiltie Street in the Glasgow tenements. Her younger brother and sister have been evacuated to the countryside with other children while 15-year-old Kathy yearns to be grown up and is cruising for a bruising.

The Ash Grove, a Welsh folk tune

At Mass this morning, I noticed in the hymnal that the recessional, “Let All Things Now Living,” uses the tune of “The Ash Grove,” a Welsh folk tune, which made me start thinking about the Wales Readathon sponsored by Paula at Book Jotter.

Literary Trails, British Writers in Their Landscapes by Christina Hardyment

Title: Literary Trails
Author: Christina Hardyment
Publication: The National Trust/Harry N. Abrams, hardcover, 2000
Genre: Nonfiction

Hardyment is a British writer who more than shares my love of literary pilgrimages. This oversized, illustrated book contains eight chapters of essays, pictures, vignettes about particular authors, timelines, maps, and more.

WWW Wednesday – March 23, 2022

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

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

After seeing a New York Times review, my sister Andrea recommended The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk, a mystery set in the rare books department of a large university.

The Case of the Dotty Dowager by Cathy Ace – Reading Wales 2022

Title: The Case of the Dotty Dowager
Author: Cathy Ace
Publication: Severn House, hardcover, 2015
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Present-day Wales

Description: The Dowager Duchess of Chellingworth claims she found a dead body in her dining room in the middle of the night but when her son arrived to check it out, the room was empty.

They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie

Title: They Came to Baghdad
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Pan paperback, originally published in 1951
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Iraq

Description: After Victoria Jones loses an office job she did not much like in the first place, she is contemplating her prospects when she encounters Edward, a handsome young man about to take up a new position in Baghdad.

Hotel Portofino by J.P. O'Connell, coming on PBS

Title: Hotel Portofino
Author: J.P. O’Connell
Publication: Blackstone Publishing, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Italian Riviera, 1926

Description: Bella Ainsworth set her heart on opening an upscale hotel in Italy – she thinks the change of scenery will solve all family’s troubles –so has coaxed them all to Portofino: her caddish husband, Cecil, who married her for her money; their son Lucian, who nearly died in the Great War, and has still not fully recovered; their spiteful daughter Alice, widowed in the war; and Alice’s daughter, Lottie.