Where in the world are you reading?

I'm seeing a pattern in my reading this month. BonnieJune has been in Italy with The Enchanted April, and so am I with Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad. I'm also listening to Eat, Pray, Love, which is a travel/interior growth book located in Italy for the first third. So I'm going back and tagging others as I can recall them. The Lightning Conductor and The Last Days of Pompeii are also Italy.

I'm currently in NYC with Love Saves the Day, my ER book.

Previously I was in Arizona Shalako

And Oklahoma That Was Then, This is Now

And Wyoming Shane

And Portland, Oregon Ramona and Her Father

I'm all over the place lately! ;)

I'm back in Italy, immensely enjoying A Room with a View. I first listened to the audio version, watched the two recent movies this weekend, and have the print book for browsing the best parts.
Forster says that Italy will change you.
I'd like to discover if that's true.

I'm in New York City of the 1880's in Life with Father, but am also lightyears away in Serpent's Reach.

I'm in Washington, DC with Margaret Truman. We are trying to solve a Murder in the White House.

I'm in Japan and British Columbia in A tale for the time being. What a great idea for a thread!

I am in Britain with Anthony Trollope and Phineas Finn. We have already been on our fox hunt.

>3 2wonderY: The Light in the Piazza is another great visit to Italy. There is a film, a book and a musical. I confess I've only seen the movie and the musical.

On the shore of the Pacific Ocean in 1898. Happy Days in Southern California by Frederick Hastings Rindge

I'm in Morocco on A Lighthearted Quest. I've also been spending time in Mitford, North Carolina.

At Blandings Castle in Shropshire.

In Bath with Anne Elliot in Persuasion. I'm also in Victorian London seeking The Bohemian Girl.

1. Somewhere in the USA in On the Road with Charles Kuralt

2. Vermont with The White Pony in the Hills

In northern California with Billy and Saxon Roberts in Jack London's The Valley of the Moon

Adding London with Plain Jane. :)

I'm back to Italy with The Portrait of a Lady and about to leave for Israel with One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross.

>10 MDGentleReader: I am envious of your trip to Morocco.

>16 BonnieJune54:
Small temper tantrum here. My library has every version of the first in the Rabbi Small series except book on CD.
-regular book
-large print
-book on tape
-ebook

harumph!

I'm in Switzerland with Jane and the Chalet School. This is one of the series that I never found as a child, so it is good to read a completely "new to me" Chalet School book.

In Bengal with the Godden family in Two under the Indian sun ; also, in 19th century Cuba in The bright shawl

#20 Oh, Bjace, Two Under the Indian Sun is one of my favorite books. I hope you enjoy it.

# 16 & 18 Lately, everywhere I turn I see a reference to the Rabbi Small books. Everyone seems to like them and they sound like my cup of tea so I can't wait to plunge in. My library has them, I'm happy to say, but one of my pet peeves is when you can find all the books in a series except the first or the library carries only two books in a trilogy.

Anyway, my goal for this year is to read all of the "Little House" books, and I will be On the Banks of Plum Creek shortly.

I am enjoying it, but I wish it had a little less description and a few more stories. I like Rumer Godden's books very much and In this house of Brede is one of my all-time favorites.

It has been a while since I read it. I remember though that for me it had a tremendous sense of place and it was the book that started my love of stories set in India.
Have you ever seen the movie "The River"? It is an old movie and based on Rumer Godden's early life in India.

No, I haven't. I'll see if it's available on Netflix.

This was a comment I found on the IMBd site about "The River." My thoughts exactly. Rumer Godden wrote the screenplay with Jean Renoir, which I had forgotten.

"I rated this film 9 instead of 10 because of its slow start and because of some of the acting. But what a movie! I don't think it's an accident that Renoir is the son of the great impressionist painter, because in this film, he uses the screen as a canvas. The shot of Valerie standing in midscreen with the green pond and foliage behind her is indescribably beautiful. Moreover, the sensuousness achieved here is rare in film. I felt that I was in India 50 years ago, so skilled was Renoir in being able to absorb the viewer into the film. A real find!"

Fantastica in The Neverending Story and I just left Gentian Hill in Devonshire, England.

@marell, have you read the "Little House" books before?

They're all good, but The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie are probably my favorites.

I'm also reading a series, but the library is missing #4 of 6. I've put in a request...

Fuzzi, I have read Little House in the Big Woods, Prairie, Plum Creek and maybe By the Shores of Silver Lake. I read them to my boys when they were young but stopped at some point. Can't remember why now -- it was a long time ago! So I've decided to read them all this year. So far, each time I finish one I think that one is my favorite!

Susan Wittig Albert has written a new novel that is due out this year, apparently heavily researched, the subject being Laura and her daughter Rose's collaboration in writing the Little House books. She has a website and an e-mail newsletter that is pretty fun, plugging her books, of course, but also full of herbal lore and information, fun facts and delicious-sounding recipes.

I'm in Melbourne, Australia with Phryne Fisher investigating Unnatural Habits. I do enjoy this series, even though I normally read cozy mysteries and I don't consider this a cozy series. Was happy to unexpectedly score the latest in the series at the library yesterday. Kerry Greenwood has been working on other projects lately and I've missed Phryne's adventures.

@marell, thanks for the info. Would you post or PM me the information about Susan Wittig Albert?

Fuzzi, I'm techno challenged, but here is the link even if you can't access it from here. Enjoy.

http://www.mysterypartners.com/

Thanks!

I'm in California with The keeper of the bees. So far I prefer this to A girl of the Limberlost, which is the only other book by GSP that I've read.

I'm in London during WWI, hearing news about Kissing Kin. This is my first Elswyth Thane. I am enjoying it, but right now sometimes I need something that draws me in a little more firmly as a distraction from RL, so I may be reading it for a while.

I haven't read The Keeper of the Bees - I'll have to look out for it.

Kissing Kin is good, but kind of drawn out. It may also be difficult to keep track of who all the family members are. It is probably easier to keep everyone straight if you read the series in order. That said, I actually started with the last book in the series, and was hooked. I've pretty well got the family tree (and most of the books) memorized now. I highly recommend the first book, Dawn's Early Light.

English colonial Africa in the 1930s with Beryl Markham in West with the night

35> I think my genealogy work has been helping me out - as well as a whole lot of staring at the family tree in the front of the book! I'm actually already on page 244. Elswyth Thane has been on my radar for a long time - I know various family members have had her books. I may have even read one - while I was in grade school. I had planned to start with Dawn's Early Light, actually, but Kissing Kin threw itself in to my arms at the library the other day, so that is what I started with. I actually looked for more at one of our county's regional libraries yesterday and struck out.

* goes off to check *

I have the entire system's ONLY Elswyth Thane checked out. Sad. I guess I won't be reading other ones any time soon.

I'm in Regency London, enjoying The Miser of Mayfair, my first Marion Chesney read.
Stands out from other romances. You don't even get an inkling of the heroine's point of view until page 124. And then she spills to the butler.

I'm so glad you decided to give Marion Chesney's works a try! I adore Rainbird!

I also love "The School for Manners" series, especially the two sisters.

"The Six Sisters" series is pretty good, too.

Addendum: I'm in Virginia right now with Macadoo of the Maury River, an Early Reviewer book I recently won.

I enjoy Marion Chesney now and again - they are very short books. I finally bought one- they are harder and harder to find at the library. The only Marion Chesney series that I wouldn't re-read is Daughters of Mannerling. Fortunately, there are plenty of other series to choose from. I agree with fuzzi about The School for Manners, don't think I've read any of the Six Sisters. Also, I do not care for Agatha Raisin, by the same author.

I spent a large part of the day waiting for the plumber to show and waiting for the plumber to do stuff that, it turns out, won't fix my problem. Mostly I did chores, but I tried to settle down to a book and could not. Tried 6 different books, I think. I considered a few others, as well. Finally settled into The Blue Sapphire, at which point they finished working, of course. So, I am in London. I am also in a bad place - I cried when I heard the first estimate for repair. The poor fellows offered to leave the house for a bit while I calmed down. Too many things happening all at once....

The Six Sisters was my introduction to Marion Chesney. I really enjoyed that series.

LOL, @MDGentleReader...

Sympathy for bad plumbing and flushing money.

*pats MDs shoulder*

It wasn't even bad plumbing that is causing by biggest issue. Money, however, was still flushed. SIGH. Today I waited around for the HVAC folks who were mystified... Tomorrow the owner of the HVAC comany comes by to check on my bizarre situation.

I finished Blue Sapphire last night.

I'm at Avielochan with Mrs. Loudon. Let's see if anyone besides Sylvia gets the reference...

>45 MDGentleReader:
If it's the first one, I haven't read it yet, but at this very moment it is making its way to me.

You haven't read it?!? I pretty much have it memorized. I still enjoy it. I'm a little envious that you'll be reading it for the first time.

Nope. I have two others, but I never happened to come across the first one until a hardcover copy popped up on Awesome Books last week for $7.08. In the same order (and for the same price), I also got a hardcover of The Head Girl of the Chalet School and a paperback Mrs. Miniver (which I've never read either). And a couple of other books. Hopefully they all show up in the next week or two.

I'm in the Mediterranean, slogging my way through Dear and Glorious Physician. I loved this as a teenager, but now think it's overly wordy. My mom says I don't have to finish it but I feel like I should/want to.

48> I like Mrs. Tim Carries Onbetter than Mrs. miniver, but I like them both. enjoy!

Almost out of the Mediterranean. I've picked up and started reading Aikenside which I believe takes place in New England. Thank goodness we can bi-locate while reading.

Switzerland at the Chalet School!
Lovely girls. They sure do eat well!

Still hanging on in the Mediterranean with three chapters left of Dear and Glorious Physician. Finished Aikenside and have left New England. Also took a quick trip to the Olympic Peninsula with a quick review of some parts of O the Red Rose Tree so I could write a review of it before I return it to the library.

Scotland with side trips to India and Canada, in Unforgettable, Unforgotten by Anna Buchan

I'm in France just after the WW1 armistice, in Enid Bagnold's The Happy Foreigner (1920), which I'm reading for All Virago/All August.

Finally out of the Mediterranean. Have picked up Cousin Hugh which I believe takes place in Kentucky and Massachusetts. IRL I'm going to another part of my state that has a somewhat different climate. Back next week!

Now SilverKitty, you can't up and mention an old Kentucky novel without adding a description, or at least the first few lines on the main work page.

Finally finished The keeper of the bees. Although very preachy, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, especially the descriptions of the California coast where it is set. I read this slowly so I could stay there for longer! I liked it sooooo much better than A girl of the Limberlost.

Now where shall I go next ....?

In Kansas with Tawny, and while I am enjoying this book, I'm losing interest. I think it's me, not the book.

I am in London, during the blitz in Frontline 1940. The book itsn't what I expected, but I am enjoying it. It is gripping enough to pull me out off RL for a bit. That is much to be desired right now.

Just prior to this, I was in London during the Regency with Frederica - such fun!

ETF: Touchstone

I stayed up way too late last night in an Elizabethan Manor in the English countryside shortly after WWII, in Gay Pursuit by Elizabeth Cadell.

I was in Virginia in The Four Pools Mystery.

But now I'm somewhere close to Yanan, Shaanxi, China with Edgar Snow as he travels to interview Mao in Red Star over China.

I'm jumping between the Brazilian Amazon basin with Teddy in The River of Doubt (wrong publication era, but right time period, nevertheless.) and Rome during WW2, reading Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican; both stories of heroism.

>57 2wonderY: I will add some information to Cousin Hugh when I can figure out what to add. There's a fair amount of melodrama, including Secret Identities, Babies Switched at Birth, Civil War Deserters and Hugh being Noble and Hardworking through it all. I'm not sure I can summarize this book in less than a page with all that. I'm going to have to reread it to figure out who is who in the story. It was a fun read though, probably written not too long after the Civil War.

It sounds great .

I'm down by the river in The Willows. Sigh. I hadn't realized that so many publications are abridgements and I'm discovering lovely little nuggets that I never knew about. I'm also gathering in the various illustrations trying to decide who does the most justice to the story. I may start a thread on it.

I'm in Silverstream (England) with Miss Buncle' Book, and loving it!

Thanks @SylviaC!

Glad you're enjoying it!

Mwahaha - now you, too will seek out DE Stevenson books! Our work here is done.

I am glad that you like it. There is a very active D E Stevenson Yahoo! Group, if you decide that you are interested. Nice folks - like here at TBSL.

Forgot to mention that I recently left Marseilles, where a key question was Madam,, will you talk?

>70 MDGentleReader: How is that holding up? It was one of my favourites when I was younger, but I've been reluctant to re-read it lately in case the magic is gone.

I love it, Sylvia. It is one of my comfort re-reads.

It was my first read that I can remember. Mary Stewart was an author I resisted growing up, for some reason. I enjoyed it. I'll keep the book for re-reads and will seek out more of them.

I love Mary Stewart too. She visits lots of interesting places. :-)

I guess I'll have to read it again soon. If you haven't read Touch Not the Cat yet, I highly recommend it. Or almost anything else.

In England, both Victorian and Modern, with Possession

(69) @MDGentleReader ...the other books about Miss Buncle are expensive...what have you ladies done to me?!?!?!

I'm visiting with the Five little Peppers, which I am reading for the first time. It doesn't read as well as other novels from the period; in particular the children's "folksy" way of speaking is a bit wearing. But the story is quite charming, if predictable.

It's not tattered, but it is lovely: I'm reading Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand.

Locations: California and Mexico so far.

>78 Sakerfalcon: I loved The Five Little Peppers as a child, but I've found that it hasn't stood the test of time well. It did fare better on re-reading than its numerous sequels, though.

77> Hopefully you'll go for re-reads? I figure Mrs. Tim and Miss Buncle books are among the cheapest if you count price per read....

New York state or some other place close to NYC with Nancy of Paradise Cottage.

> 80 SylviaC - Sad to say I'm with you on The Five Little Peppers. I wish I could like it better now than I do. The cake with the raisins made an indelible impression on my psyche.

>80 SylviaC:, 82: I do like Polly a lot. I suppose she is a fairly standard character type from the time - hard-working, "little mother" to her siblings - but it is nice that she's getting to follow her own dreams for a bit.

(77) @MDGentleReader, I'm an avid rereader, that's why I BUY books...

I'll keep an eye out on bookfinder.com and ebay for more Miss Buncle books. Miss Buncle Married is on the way. :)

Addendum: The Four Graces is $23.00 at abebooks.com, and The Two Mrs Abbotts is more, about $45.00. That's the cheapest I've found so far.

:sigh:

>84 fuzzi: fuzzi, I've found some good deals sometimes on D. E. Stevenson books at BetterWorldBooks and AwesomeBooks.

Thanks, @SylviaC.

Bookfinder.com searches ALL the online sellers, and abebooks.com does search BetterWorldBooks, too.

Everyone, keep a lookout for these two books?

I'm in the Devil's Punchbowl, Surrey, UK, looking for the Frenchman's Secret with the Thornton family and their friends. Not entirely by coincidence, I was at this location in Real Life on Saturday, for a ramble with friends.

>87 Sakerfalcon: I like reading novels set in places that I visit.
D.E.Stevenson and I are frolicking in the snow in Scotland in Shoulder the Sky. It's a great change from my reality which is 90 degrees F and humidity to match.

Just left upstate New York in Chad Orzel's How to Teach Physics to Your Dog.

>88 BonnieJune54: That's a great endpaper. I read that many, many years ago, with the title Winter and Rough Weather, but at some point the book went astray. I replaced it with a Shoulder the Sky paperback, but I haven't re-read it since.

I just left the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut. I spent time there with Mother Dolores Hart, a lovely lady with a wonderful sense of humor. The book is Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows. I really enjoyed my stay.

#91, I should read that. I remember her from Where the boys are, which was always one of my favorite movies.

According to Wikipedia "she remains a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, having in recent years become the only nun to be an Oscar-voting member." She is still a beautiful woman and still has a wonderful sense of timing. She also has that wonderful joyousness that you see sometimes in people who have embraced the joy in whatever faith they profess. The Dalai Lama comes to mind as someone else who radiates joy. I haven't seen any of her films, but I bet she is quite memorable.

I do wonder a bit about how much non-Catholics would appreciate the years in the monastery (now abbey). I was very struck, however, how the same issues some up in a monastery as do in boarding school. There need to be rules to make the community work in both cases and, in the case of Regina Laudis, you leave the enclosure only if they cannot take care of something medically within the abbey, so you really need to make it work.

I think I am going to get one of the Gregorian chant CDs they made at the abbey. It was already on my list to consider, but the book makes it sound like it might be pretty special.

The book is written in something of a question and answer format that somehow doesn't get in the way of the narrative. The co-author is a friend from acting days who worked on Patricia Neal's autobiography As I am. He poses questions and brings in material from interviews with other folks to provide another perspective on Mother Dolores' life. The rest is in Mother Dolores' words. It is really very well done.

In in NYC with Laura, as part of a group read.

> 91 - Thank you for mentioning Ear of the Heart. I heard about that on the radio one day and promptly forgot about it. (Can't drive and take notes at the same time.) I've requested it from the library.

I'm in Indiana (I think) with The Proof of the Pudding. The book is written in English but I'm not always sure what the author is talking about. Is there a vintage slang dictionary any where?

#95, Silverkitty, let us know how you like the Meredith Nicholson. His House of a thousand candles is a lot of fun.

Reading about Christmas in Cornwall, my first Marcia Willett, enjoying it so far. Also in some town in England with Flavia de Luce in A Red Herring Without Mustard.

95> What era slang?

I was in Australia, with Ash Road.

Just finished The Silver Pencil , a children's/YA book. Was in Trinidad, New York, England, Nova Scotia and other parts of New England.

I am now in Scotland with Mrs. Tim, going for a drive in a car named Cassandra.

I am in NYC with Life with Father and Mother. This book sent to me via courier (my daughter) by another friend who likes older books and thought I'd like it. IRL I will be headed to The Land of My Youth to help my mom for a week. I haven't been there during the fall for about 30 years.

In Haarlem in Holland with The laughing cavalier

I just finished the novella Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto written in 1896 by Abraham Cahan on which one of my favorite movies is based, Hester Street, with Carol Kane.

>103 marell: That was a great movie

I've been in C19th New England with A New England nun, in the short stories of Mary Wilkins Freeman. These tales are in a similar vein to Country of the pointed firs, but some of them are even better. Wilkins writes a great variety of female characters - young, old, married, single and looking, single and content - and paints a vivid picture of life in small rural New England villages.

On Corfu in This Rough Magic.

>106 MDGentleReader: I like that one.

I am enjoying it so far.

(101) @SilverKitty, I recently found a copy of Life with Father and Mother. I've read the first book, which I enjoyed, but not the second book yet. I hope you like them.

I've been in Vermont with Jump-shy and somewhere in the prehistoric lands with Fire-hunter.

#106: I love Mary Stewart :) Have you read the book before?

First time. Haven't read it the last couple of days. I decided that it wasn't good reading right before attempting to go to sleep :-).

> 106 - I have also been on Corfu, but with My Family and Other Animals

> 109 - I have been enjoying Life with Father and Mother so far, but put that down to take My Family and Other Animals - a paperback - with me on my trip.

Currently in another universe with The Faded Sun: Shon'Jir.

Let us know when you get back, fuzzi! Meanwhile, Happy Trails!

LOL, thanks!

112: I also loved THAT Corfu :)

Me, too. Haven't been able to finish the Corfu book that I am reading, too stressed out for suspense. I put down Miss Read's Storm in the Village yesterday because it was too stressful. That is a new low, even for me.

There is a sequel to My Family and Other Animals - Birds, Beasts and Other Relatives. Garden of the Gods is the third in the Corfu trilogy. The first is the best, they go downhill from there. I still think they are all worth reading, though.

I've read almost all of Gerald Durrell's books. Every one of them was a great holiday for me.

Not allowed to work at my job, so I've been doing a lot of reading.

With Mary Stewart I've been on Skye (Wildfire at Midnight), in the Pyrenees (Thunder On the Right), in Austria (Airs Above the Ground), the English Countryside (Thornyhold), in Northuberland (The Ivy Tree).

I've also been in Victorian London with Mrs. Jeffries Pinches the Post and others.

I've also learned about a Return to Thrush Green and Changes at Fairacre among other chronicles about that area of the Cotswolds with Miss Read.

They've been a welcome distraction from feeling bereft of purpose and financially insecure.

What would we do without books?

I guess you must be enjoying Mary Stewart.

I've been with the last few humans left on earth, in a futuristic England (1973 as imagined in 1936), in The Empty World by D. E. Stevenson.

America & the high seas with Poseidon Arrow by Clive Cussler at the moment, not sure what I'm going to read next.

Prior to this it was ... (thinks)... also America with A Knife Edge by James Rollins and before that was the United Kingdom & ancient world with The regal armorie of Great Britain, from the time of the Ancient Britons to the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria : the institution of chivalry, and the origin of emblematic insignia in ancient nations.

#119 Be television vegetables like a lot of people these days? People seem amazed at how little television my wife and I watch and for 2 years we hadn't even bothered to plug the aerial in after moving!

What's television? ;)

I never watch it, would rather read or be on LT. :)

I love reading but still have a place in my schedule for decent tv like Breaking Bad or a good movie.

I'm finding LT quite addictive since signing up, bit different to goodreads which is more review focused discussion.

120> Normally I don't go for that much suspense, but it was a definite distraction, more so than Fairacre and Thrush Green. I do like her sense of place and her characterization. I think Rose Cottage is still my favorite. The others have many more threats to life and well-being of the main characters.

121> My TV gets used for Wii Fit, exercise videos and occasional soothing landscape or seascape videos by me. My stepmother has shows she watches when she visits, but that isn't very often, she lives hundreds of miles away. I recognize that I am missing some good television programming, but it's just not part of my routine at all.

>124 MDGentleReader:
If you can find The Wind Off the Small Isles, you would probably enjoy it. It is very short, but doesn't have any crime element at all.

I haven't owned a TV since I moved back to the UK five years ago. I haven't missed it. I can watch DVDs on my laptop if I wish.

I've been in North London and Rome following An unsuitable attachment with Barbara Pym.
I'm also visiting the Pacific northwest with Betty MacDonald and The egg and I.

I'm currently in Dover, with the man in brown...quick question, what am I reading?

Just finished travelling all over Europe with a history of flight. Currently reading what I foresee is probably going to be a crappy Jack Higgins novel set in America/UK/Kosovo.

#127; no idea!

Let's see- my current nonfiction is in SW USA- out in the wilderness somewhere. In contrast to the fiction set in Regency London. My current book in German is sermons and similar from baroque Vienna.

#126, I loved The egg and I I also read The plague and I which describes her treatment in a tuberculosis sanitarium.

I'm in Austria, preparing to shift the action to Mexico, for the historical (not fiction) Crown of Mexico

128> Jack Higgins is a bit uneven.

I spent some time fairly close to home in The Walker in the Shadows. Was sorry to hear that Barbara Mertz died. No more Barbara Michaels or Amelia Peabody.

I plan to drive up to where Barbara Mertz lived to check out the fall foliage today. It's not far from where I live.

> Rose Cottage really reminded me of Rosamunde Pilcher.

>130 Bjace:: I'm reading the books out of order - I've already read (and loved ) The plague and I and Onions in the stew. I love that she finds humour in the most dreadful situations without it ever feeling forced.

I need to read The Plague and I. My grandmother spent time in a TB sanitarium.

> 132 Thanks for this new author for me. I am an avid Rosamunde Pilcher fan and think the Rose Cottage and Mary Stewart books will be nice reading. This looks like something I would enjoy since I like British Mysteries.

131> If by uneven you mean spiraling downwards into oblivion and recycling storylines as well as breaking his own plot lines in prior novels of the same series; yup very uneven.

Problem is smart me enjoyed his earlier books then went and bought -all- of them, only 4 more to go and I've read them all then off to the book exchange they go.

The last one of his I read had me wondering if it would even pass the cut if sent to a publisher from an unknown writer it was that bad. That and the characters drink so much "Bushmills Irish Whiskey" they should be long dead from liver cirrhosis.

126/130/133 > Never heard of this author but The plague and I sounds like a very interesting book. Going off in search of a copy now!

Betty MacDonald was a wonderful writer. In addition to The Egg and I and The Plague and I, she also wrote all the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books for kids.

138> I almost mentioned Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, but then I wasn't completely sure and was too lazy to look.

135> I agree that Rose Cottage has a bit of a Rosamunde Pilcher feel. However, most of Mary Stewart's books have much stronger suspense in them that Rose Cottage- so be warned. I do think that she writes well, however, if you don't like suspense, I don't think that you'll enjoy them.

136> Once I give up on an author, I give up. I don't remember when I gave up on Jack Higgins - a long time ago. For Frank Herbert, I am pretty sure that the last book I finished was Children of Dune.

Oh my, I looked up Jack Higgins on LT, I had no idea he'd published so many, apparently many of them not very good. When he was good, though....

125> Couldn't find The Wind Off the Small Isles even in inter-library loan. I have been putting other books on hold through inter-library loan, though. You never know who might have a book.

139> Yup some of the early ones were great, just now finished Rough Justice (2008) and found it to be resoundingly average with an utterly absurd ending.

@MDGentleReader, you experience with Frank Herbert mirrors my own: after Children of Dune, I swore off any more of his sequels.

I also swore off reading any Terry Brooks after his first book...

Re: post 127, I am reading A Tale of Two Cities.

Well I'm now adventuring into the past nearly 200 years ago reading The History of the Present War with Russia: Giving full details of the operations of the Allied Armies currently a quarter of the way in (to volume 1) with Tsar Nicholas I of the Russian Empire having occupied Wallachia & Moldavia and Sultan Abdul-Mejid I of the Ottoman Empire going on the offensive.

I'm now in England, perhaps near London (I don't know enough to understand the location references), right after WWII with The Foolish Gentlewoman.

It's been a while since I've read any Margery Sharp, but I recall her with great affection. She has a wonderful way of phrasing.

I'm currently in England in A Tale of Two Cities.

I'm out in the Islands between Singapore and Australia with Alfred Russel Wallace Am Ende des Archipels. I also just got back to Bag End with Bilbo. Looks like my next fiction takes me to France.

Spent nine months in a TB sanitarium outside Seattle, Washington as described in The Plague and I.

Yikes! I hope you're feeling much better!

Much :-). So was the author at the end. My grandmother also emerged from her sanitarium stay to live more than 65 years longer.

I spent some time in Scotland on a Wild Goose Quest. I enjoyed it.

> 78 I read Five Little Peppers and How They Grew recently. Everyone is right about it not being the best adult read. It reminded me of Dick and Jane type readers a bit. I think the authoress had always been financially comfortable herself and it shows in her writing.

I'm going to be in England for Memoirs of the Court of Charles II originally published in 1713. My copy was published in 1910. It's about Count de Gramont, and his romps with royalty. I've only just started - I think it will be quite gossipy and I'm hoping Georgette Heyer has trained me well enough to understand it ;)

>152 nhlsecord: That sounds interesting. Let us know what you make of it!

Yes, sounds very interresting.

I've been spending time in Avonlea. Magic for Marigold and Further Chronicles of Avonlea. I hadn't read Magic for Marigold before, vintage L M Montgomery. My lack of surprise at the outcome of every story so far leads me to believe that I've read further Chronicles of Avonlea before. Still enjoying it, though.

>155 MDGentleReader:: One of my very favourite literary destinations! One day I hope to visit it for real.

156> Me, too.

Yesterday I was home from work thanks to pretty bad asthma. My reading time was spent in Deep Valley, Minnesota with Betsy & Joe. Based on how well I knew the story, I must have gotten it from the library fairly recently, but this was my very own copy that I read this time.

I'm currently somewhere in the English countryside at home with a large extended family for the Ten days of Christmas. Some of the Virago group discovered this book last Christmas, and I've been saving the copy I bought in February to read at the appropriate time. So far it is lovely.

In the American southwest with The Silver Madonna.

It's not tattered and not particularly lovely, but...

I have been in Vienna, 1945, with Vespers in Vienna.

I had no idea/recollection from history class that Vienna was administered/occupied by the US, UK, France and the Soviet Union after WWII. The book was copyright 1947, but the four-power split went on for 10 years, per Wikipedia.

The book is not an autobiography, but I'm guessing it was based on the author's experiences.

>160 SilverKitty: You have never watched The Third Man or Four in a Jeep?

Another vote for watching The Third Man. Super movie, and very much still part of Vienna's Folklore. BTW, the city has changed a lot since then.

I'm in England, and France, with The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Loved the first Pimpernel book, disappointed by the rest.

I'm in 1950's Switzerland with Pray for a Brave Heart.

We used to do this in the Green Dragon, I love it. Can we keep it going?
Right now I'm in the Midwest, Cairo Il to be precise, but I don't think I'll stay for long, reading American Gods, but I'm also in what has been called the Great American Desert, reading The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan about the Dust Bowl disaster. When I'm in the throne room though, I'm in England reading The Original Illustrated Arthur Conan Doyle.

I just left Habsburg Hungary, having finished Spy's Honour. I have not yet decided on my next read, I'm still looking up things from this book that had me bothered.

I'm in Nebraska with Claude Wheeler who is One of ours, but I think we'll be departing for the battlefields of France pretty soon.

I'm in Virginia of 1861, reading Beloved Bride by William Potter.

On the stagecoach with Hannah Pym as Penelope Goes to Portsmouth.

I love Marion Chesney's books, especially the School for Manners series. :)

I'm in Wyoming with Rest and be Thankful and NYC with The Indiscretions of Archie. In the car I'm on my way to the Celestial City with The Pilgrim's Progress.

I'm in Huntingdonshire, England, 1716, with Arthur Ransome's The elixir of life.

>172 BonnieJune54: Hahaha! I thought at first you must be reading a modernized version of Pilgrim's Progress if they are travelling by car.

Currently I'm in two places, Wyoming of the 22nd century with Logan's Run and in Crown Heights, NY with My Name is Asher Lev.

I'm swashbuckling across France with The Three Musketeeers. I am also in Wonderland with Through the Looking Glass and Nazi Germany with The Book Thief.

I'm in New Orleans, in the 1820s with A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly. Also, still in 1890s England with the Doyle stories, and in a futuristic world called Viriconium by M. John Harrison for my audible reading on my commute.

I have A Free Man of Color on Mt. TBR. Maybe I'll read it next.
> 175 I also have the sequel to My Name is Asher Lev. I will have to keep an eye out for the first one.

>178 BonnieJune54: There is a group read of it going on in the Green Dragon group right now. If you do end up reading it, come on over and join the comments thread. Doesn't matter when you read it either, we love to resurrect dormant threads. :)

(178) @BONNIEJUNE, I've not read the sequel, but you might want to read the first Asher Lev, first. :)

Oh, and I'm in the Caribbean with Captain Blood!

I am finished with New Orleans, glad to move on. Now I'm in the kitchen learning How to Cook a Wolf.

I'm rambling in twelve different woods and forests in the UK. The book is Sara Maitland's Gossip from the Forest and is about forests and fairy tales. I think TBSLers would like this one.

Stop it! Stop! No more BBs!!!!!

::crying::

In rural North Carolina They loved to laugh. Lovely book. TBSL, too.

>184 MDGentleReader:
Another one of my old favourites!

>183 fuzzi: BB's???

@SilverKitty, aka Book Bullets. That's when you get yet another book recommendation...I just heard the expression within the last month. :)

I'm in New York with Helene Hanff in Q's Legacy. Anyone who enjoyed 84 Charring Cross Road would enjoy this.

I am in the Australian Outback in Wild Brother by Mary Patchett.

I'm in Uijeongbu, South Korea, getting to know the original Hawkeye and Trapper John.

In Harlem with Sue Barton, Visiting Nurse and in Kent on The Sinister Side.

Forgot about my other jouney to The Shivering Sands in Kent.

>191 MDGentleReader:
That was my favourite Sue Barton book, back when I used to read them over and over again.

While The Sinister Side isn't one of the best by Lucilla Andrews, it was interesting to read something that she wrote in a different genre. I have the two preceding books in the series, but haven't read them yet.

>192 MDGentleReader: & >193 SylviaC:

Are you two twin daughters of different mothers?

>193 SylviaC: There are previous books? Actually, I am glad, I'd like the back story. Also sad, as I don't know if I'll be able to find them. I noticed that Benedict's worked its way in to the story just a little bit. That was my last Sue Barton book that I read of the 7. It is a good one.

>194 2wonderY: I keep reminding myself that * goes off to research * currently 83% of our books are NOT in common. I have a feeling, though, that that number is going to get smaller as time goes on.

>195 MDGentleReader: If you're searching for them, look under the names Diana Gordon and Joanna Marcus, as they were originally published under those pseudonyms.

>194 2wonderY: When MDGentleReader joined LT, I started noticing that somebody was adding a lot of my kind of books. The number of shared books kept climbing, and I thought, "Hey, I want to know this person. She has excellent taste!"

I'm currently in Alliance Space (I think) in Port Eternity.

I have been in London and Hollywood reading the memoirs of a star of stage and screen from the 1920s and 30s in This is Sylvia. Sylvia, her friends, enemies and acquaintances are all larger than life, vivid characters ... and they are all cats! It is a gorgeous, funny little book that should be mandatory reading for all cat-lovers.

In England, somewhere, with Jane Eyre...

Off Cape Horn and Staten Island with Conor O Brien in Across three oceans.

No, not this Staten Island; the one at the other end of the Americas.

I hadn't appreciated that Cape Horn (named after the Dutch city of Hoorn) isn't part of the mainland of Tierra del Fuego, but a headland on one of the off-shore Hermite Islands.

Having recently read Elizabeth Linklater's account of rounding the Horn from east to west in her A child under sail, when the Horn lived up to its reputation, O Brien had a very pleasant time of it going from west to east.

I'm off to hunt dinosaurs in South America in The Lost World.

The English countryside in The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and Texas for After the Fire by Belva Plain.

I'm in the antarctic in The Mountains of Madness and the only madness I can see is boredom.

>203 MrsLee: Can you check off having read books set on every continent at least? :)

>204 BonnieJune54: LOL! I suppose I could start that list. :)

I'm in the Scottish highlands at A Croft in the Hills and A Garden in the Hills. I only came across the author Katharine Stewart very recently - the books were published in 1960 and 1995 respectively.

Very gentle reads - think a Scots Miss Read and they're both quite short. I particularly liked Garden. I haven't had a 'new' garden book for a while and this is lovely. Not a 'how to' but just gentle chat about her flowers and veggies, the country, simple food, bits of folklore and Scots history. Very TBSLish and a great stress reliever.

They've come up as Kindle offers recently - well worth keeping an eye out for them if you haven't already met them.

I'm in Australia reading The End of the Outlaws, which I borrowed from OpenLibrary (openlibrary.org). That site has a bunch of hard-to-get books available for a two week "loan", woo!

Wow--for the first time since I've belonged and posted, I can honestly say, I don't know--YET. I'm only in chapter 1 and I know it's June 9, 1976, in a hospital, it's in the U.S., but no idea where!

Kindred by Octavia Butler

I don't know exactly where I am either. I have been shipwrecked in The Tempest. I am also in London with Great Expectations. While I have bid adieu to The Three Musketeers I am still in France with The Scapegoat.

In the last week, I have been in Victorian England, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, Venice, Wales, Devon, and the U.S., in Penelope's English Experiences and its sequels.

Fiction: Kent with The Unknown Ajax
Nonfiction: the Middle East (mostly) with a book on the Nestorian churches of Asia
Vienna and other venues in Europe with a biography of Bertha von Suttner
In the Danube Wetlands National Park (just around the corner fron my house) with Familienbuch Donau-Auen.

Usually I would not be reading three nonfiction books in German at once, but the church history book, while interesting has a lot of dates and things to absorb, and is also both large and heavy, so I've been reading one chapter a day. Suttner is the basic book I'm working on (and has to go back to the library soon), but I only have two more sessions at school before the summer holidays, and want to read some of the book on the park to the children to give them ideas of things to do, and I need to finish that book before I read to them tomorrow.

Normally I would start a new nonfiction in English, having finished a weaving book last night, but don't you think I should wait a day or two on that?

>211 MarthaJeanne: If you are ready to start another one, why wait?

I'm in Colmskirk, Scotland learning about The Bartle Bequest. Written in the 50s by the author of the Dimsie books. I suspect the audience is girls who feel they have outgrown boarding school books.

I have also been with Penelope in an English village while reading about Penelope's English Experiences. I stalled out as I do on many reads these days. It's me, not the lovely bit of fluff. I'll get back to it eventually.

>209 BonnieJune54: The Scapegoat is one of my favorites of Du Maurier.

I'm listening to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. So somewhere in medieval/fictional England. Sadly, the suck fairy has taken hold of this one. Way more ranting than I remember. Possibly the narrator bothers me, too, but the story has lost most of its charm for me.

Will begin the second volume of Willie & Joe: the WWII Years today, so, back in the trenches.

>213 MrsLee: I had already decided not to risk a re-read of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, although I am pretty sure I have a nice, illustrated slip covered copy of it that belonged to my Dad. Not that I was ever a huge fan, but you've added to my conviction to not re-read.

>213 MrsLee: >214 MDGentleReader: thank you. I was fairly sure I wasn't interested in reading that Mark Twain story, and now I am even more sure I won't read it.

Oh, I've been in England and now Borneo with QB VII.

I'm in Crete with Mary Stewart's The Moonspinners. I think this one may be outside the date-line but her earlier ones took me to Provence, Skye, Northumberland and the Pyrenees. The sense of place is important and I followed the text using GoogleEarth sometimes.

>213 MrsLee: I know. I got the idea of taking it off Mt. TBR from your thread. I like it so much that I kept reading even though the pages were falling out of my poor 1950s paperback.
>216 CDVicarage: I like your idea of following characters on Google earth.

I've just been in England during WWII with Noel Streatfeild's Saplings. This book was written for adults and so is much darker than her more famous books but it is excellent and just as perceptive regarding the thoughts and emotions of children.

Am in merry Wales, circa 1483, in Great Tales From English History (Book 2) by Robert Lacey. Not impressed.........

Am time traveling from what I think is either New York or Massachusetts and the ante-bellum south in Kindred.

I'm in England with QB VII.

I'm in Austria in the early 20th century with Was auf den Tisch kommt, wird gegessen This is a selection of autobiographical essays about food. Fun, at least as long as I don't have to live on those diets.

Also NOT in this world with Sword and Sorceress 28.

The third book at present is Woven to wear which is USA - so frustrating that they don't give metric measurements.

I'm riding in the wilds of France accompanying The Motor Maid, who took a job as a lady's maid rather than return home and be pressured into a match with a pushy suitor. Lys gets to ride in the shotgun position while her employers are in the enclosed and heated rear. She was dreading having to be in such close quarters with the chauffeur, but he has become her hero. They are both classically trained, and know much more about the history and lore of the country they are travelling through than their English nouveau riche employers. It is quite the travelogue!

>222 2wonderY: That sounds good. I'll have to look for an ebook copy of it.

It is!

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17342/17342-h/17342-h.htm

>224 2wonderY: Thank you!

>224 2wonderY: Just had a peek at that. Gorgeous indeed. Something for the weekend!

>224 2wonderY: Oh, no!!! A book • !

Yes, I downloaded it, too. Like I needed another e-book to read...

I finished a member giveaway this morning, but won another (that has not yet arrived) and I want to read Mary Barton for the group read. This one has to take its place in line with the other dozens I have found on Gutenberg.

Of course I have a tall stack of real books waiting, too.

Just left 19th century US circus life with Bad Elephant Far Stream and North American Yiddish culture with Born to Kvetch

About to also leave antebellum USA behind with The Bondwoman's Narrative and somewhere sweetsmelling with Lavendel, Zimt und Rosenholz.

I think I'll head back to Gwynedd and Deryni Checkmate, out to the garden with Einfach genial gärtnern! and stay looking at languages with Introducing translation studies

I have 4 going. I'm in Venice with The Haunted Hotel, Prince Edward Island with Anne of Windy Poplars, Wyoming with The Virginian and Regency England with Vanity Fair.

>229 MarthaJeanne: I have read the Deryni books repeatedly, but not in the last few years.

If you've not read the series before, the author gets deeper and less formulatic (is that a word?) with each trilogy.

I still adore Alaric Morgan. At one time I planned on naming any son of mine "Alaric". My son's name is Wesley, lol. :)

On Monday I was in London with QB VII, last night I was just off the coast of Scotland with Jason, Nobody's Dog. This morning I'm somewhere in England (page 11) of Vet On Call. Guess I'm an Anglophile?

>230 BonnieJune54: I love Anne, even in the later books. And I recently read and liked The Virginian. Enjoy!

>231 fuzzi: I discovered them years ago when staying at my sister's. Her daughter had bought any their library didn't have, so it wasn't a full set, and most of them have been out of print for years, so my set has grown very slowly. I found most of the ones I was missing in a used bookstore in Ohio in May, so I'm rereading them all (Well, except for The Harrowing of Gwynedd) finally. Some I know fairly well, others I read once a long time ago, and I think there are one or two new to me.

What I really love is the liturgical emphasis. And also that the magic has rules and limitations. I've read a few books where anytime the main character gets into trouble some new bit of magic gets invented. That's just boring. Also the main characters are well-rounded people. Also not something all fantasy writers are good at. Alaric is in trouble right now, so I'd better get back to the book.

>232 MarthaJeanne: I discovered the series when it was new, in the late 70s, I believe. I collected and read them all, including the King Kelson series. I noticed that Katherine Kurtz had started writing them again a few years ago, and I borrowed one from the library, but it just wasn't the same experience, and I returned the book without finishing it. Oh well, I still have happy memories.

I understand a new Deryni novel by Katherine Kurtz is coming out December 2, 2014, the King's Deryni (Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Kings-Deryni-Novel-ebook/dp/B00INIXVSO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&... .)

Yes, I'd heard that. I'll wait for the paperback.

>231 fuzzi: I just read the sad parting of Shorty and his pony Pedro. I am not even much of an animal person and that was touching. I am enjoying The Virginian very much.

>236 BonnieJune54: I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I disdained to read "westerns" for years, but after reading one by Louis L'Amour, I got hooked. I've read both good and bad westerns: like other genres, whether or not I like books depends upon the author, not the genre!

I can recommend some Louis L'Amour books if you're interested, or just check out reviews and 'stars' in my library.

Lonesome Dove was quite good, but was a "once" read for me, as it was that emotionally draining.

I am about to start an ER book, Mikis and the Donkey, so Greece is my next stop. ;)

I am in middle-class England in 1914, reading The lost traveller by Antonia White.

I was just in 1930's Peking in The Ginger Griffin (as well as in The Badlands but that's modern non-fiction).

As it happens, I have to go to Beijing again for a meeting next week, so if I get a chance, I may see if I can figure out where the old legation quarter was...

I'm somewhere in the UK with No More Horses!

#239, Sakerfalcon, I liked The lost traveler last year. Me, I'm in Navajo country with Tony Hillerman's The Blessing way, the first Joe Leaphorn book.

Currently in Colonial America with Those Who Love.

I just finished Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman, Tony's daughter. She uses her father's characters, and references earlier cases a few times.

I love it, and found the changeover from father to daughter pretty seamless. This makes me happy, as it means there may be a new Chee/Leaphorn mystery every once in awhile.

Currently in Stalag Luft III, where Fishing from afar was written.

As the author, an RAF PoW, wrote in his preface, post-war, "I was terribly bored and I missed a great many things, but above all I longed for paper and pencil. I had always wanted to write about fishing and my memories were so vivid that I felt I must put them on paper. ... I spent an hour or two every day, miles away from that bleak, cheerless camp, recapturing my most pleasant memories. On several occasions I even forgot that my feet were freezing. As the year went round, I remembered all too clearly the things that I should have liked to be doing, and I wrote of them."

I'm somewhere, 5 pages into The Guns of Navarone. I think it's Greece.

I recently left Nebraska with O Pioneers! and My Antonia.

Initially in sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, and then all over the place, in The hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy.

Israel, in Living Beyond Terrorism.

Scotland & England - Mary Queen of Scots by Tim Vicary.

The Motor Maid sounds like something I'd love, btw!

>250 SaintSunniva: It's available as a Kindle ebook and at Project Gutemberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17342/17342-h/17342-h.htm

>244 MerryMary: That is really good to know!

Presently I am audibly in the Alimentary Canal with Mary Roach Reading Gulp. It is a ride of mixed blessings. Very interesting, and yet parts of it are oh so gross! Also in 1800s Colorado reading San Juan Silver, plodding account IMO. My for fun read is Dog on It which is somewhere in Southern California I believe.

I've just been in Vienna with Mary Stewart's heroine seeing the Airs above the ground This was a super read, a good place to start if you've never read Stewart's romantic suspense novels.

Gave up on the Colorado book, so I'm gonna start Rabble in Arms by Kenneth Roberts, published in 1933 originally, this edition was published in 1947, so it fits the group! So did the Colorado book, but, ugh.

>254 MrsLee: I recently read a full biography of Benedict Arnold. He was quite an accomplished man, and did a lot for the cause before turning.

>252 MrsLee: I love Dog On It, and have read three of the sequels.

Currently I'm in NYC with Fanny Crosby. The title of the book escapes me at the moment...

Addendum: Fanny Crosby: the Hymn Writer is the title. It's not a great read, but I'm getting through it. Wow, did that woman ever write lyrics and poems, literally thousands. And she was blind from infancy...

>255 2wonderY: I've always heard that I was related to him way back when, but we've done quite a bit of research and can't find it. Family stories are frequently more fun than facts. :)

MrsLee, I'm reading Rabble in arms right now as well. I really liked Arundel and hope this one will be as good.

>258 Bjace: Great to know! I have a good memory of Arundel, good enough to feel I will enjoy this one, but not good enough to remember the details in it. :)

I'm in the Ozarks with The Shepherd of the Hills. Mark Twain and I are going up and down the Mississippi in Life on the Mississippi. And I am in Kenya with Out of Africa.

I'm on the island of Corfu with Gerald Durrell in My Family and Other Animals.

I just arrived at San Salvatore, Italy for an Enchanted April. The sun is shining gloriously and the freesias smell like heaven.

>262 2wonderY: You have holidayed there before, haven't you? :-)

Oh yes. This time I'm listening to the story.

>263 BonnieJune54: I woke to sunshine and wisteria. And the struggle for hostess status at the breakfast table.
The audio is allowing me to feel the characters are more present somehow.

You've been there at least once before, yes? It's amazing that for such a popular destination, there are never too many people present; always just the right amount.

>265 2wonderY: oh yes! I had a lovely time and I'd be willing to stay in the broom closet.

I'm in Vermont, in January, on a pony farm with Anne Bosworth Greene, during The Lone Winter (early 1920's?). I love the descriptive passages, and I usually don't care to read them!

Just finished reading The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi, so I've been in Italy and I intend to return there as soon as possible to enjoy it in a sequel called Don Camillo Takes the Devil by the Tail.

It is a marvel. I adore the characters in it, and I am amazed at the depth of the world which is created with very simple story telling. We never hear about what the characters are thinking, but through their actions, we know them. I laughed through many of the stories, but I had forgotten how deadly serious the book becomes at the end. Guareschi was not writing to amuse, but it was his cover, and a good one.

He shows the ugly side of humanity, but right along side of that is the beauty of humanity in the very strained relationship of the Communist Mayor of the town, Peppone, and the priest of the town, Don Camillo. They butt heads and war on ideology, but when it comes right down to it, they look out for each other and the town they live in. I adore the conversations between the Christ on the crucifix and Don Camillo, and the relationship they have.

ooh, ooh. You've nudged me to revisit Don Camillo. It's been more than 40 years.

I've been lolling about in Regency London with Phoebe and Sylvester. I love how human she makes her characters rather than the stiff cardboard effigies in her copiers.

>269 2wonderY: Sylvester is one of my favourite Heyers.

I'm spending time in the Natchez Trace National Park (Mississippi) with Nevada Barr's Deep South. I just recently discovered her mysteries involving Anna Pigeon, National Park Ranger. They are full of suspense and a strong sense of place. The characters have heart and secrets and quirks and more than one dimension. I like this series very much.

I'm in the Pacific NW with I Will Fight No More Forever. Very interesting book, so far.

>271 MerryMary: I like Nevada Barr too for the same reasons.

So delighted that other people love the Don Camillo books. No one I know but me has heard of them.

>274 Bjace: I feel the same way! But I'm spreading the word. :)

I am on the underground railroad with Uncle Tom's Cabin. I am pleasantly surprised by how much plot there is.
I am also on the Main Street of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota . After reading The Anne of Green Gables series, it is a thud of reality of what happens when the perky newcomer tries to shake up a small town.

>276 BonnieJune54: speaking of Anne, I am in Prince Edward Island with Rilla of Ingleside. :)

I'm in Chicago of the late 1800s, early 1900s with a very earnest and sincere young woman of fine convictions, Jane Addams who began the Settlement house movement. I'm reading her diary. Interesting, but dry, dry, dry.

Also dipping into the Wild West, reading some short stories by Owen Wister who disappointed me with his last story. It took place in the Siskiyous, my backyard almost, but the women it portrayed were foolish, selfish and horrible. He must have had an ax to grind.

>278 MrsLee: I hate it when I read a book and can read the author's obvious attempts to make a point that might not be factual. :(

Would you say that Owen Wister's short stories are worth reading? I really enjoyed The Virginian.

>279 fuzzi: I've only read two of them so far, even though one rather offended me, it was still engaging and well written, so, I would say, yes!

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for his short stories. If the public library doesn't have them, I can probably find them through ILL. I love ILL...

Addendum: Woo! Openlibrary.org has a TON of his books that are free to read. :)

I'm in New York and England with the Little Lord Fauntleroy

In San Francisco reading about Mama's Bank Account. Delightful.

>283 MDGentleReader: Another old favorite!

Between Banting and Netherlea learning about the Last Straw for Harriet a new (to me) book by a favorite author.

I've been exploring The castle of Otranto - it's certainly tattered but perhaps not lovely!

I'm in Agra in India with a love story at the court of the Emperor Akbar: Aruna The promise of the rose. I have been looking for this for quite some time.
I had a lovely surprise yesterday when I found it on my doorstep. My sister found it for me and sent it by mail. A little unorthodox, since it still belongs to the library, but it was nice to read it again. One of my favourite books when I was a girl and I can't believe this copy is 55 years old. Amazingly good condition. Now I'm hoping to find a copy for myself...

>287 MissWatson: Check at half.com - There is a 1958 copy offered for $7.79. That's always the first place I check.

I enjoyed reading 4 of the 5 books in the Diary of a provincial lady by E. M. Delafield. They're set in Devon, London and the U. S. in the 1940's and are really charming.

>288 2wonderY: Thanks for that, I've never heard of them before.

Your welcome. I'm an enabler, and not ashamed of it.

>289 Bjace: I see by notes in some of the reviews that she discusses the opinions of the servants. Can you comment on that?

The books read like a diary and she does discuss her interactions with her servants, chiefly with her series of cooks.

I'm in a make believe city (which sounds a lot like Chicago) in Michael O'Halloran. Not very far in, and I got distracted by discovering "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. last night on Netflix. Anyway, it starts out very interesting. The book does. I'm talking about the book. :)

Coal Harbor, apparently a small town on the coast of Canada somewhere hearing about Everything On a Waffle. St Briavels, in ENgland on the English-Welsh border in Changes For the Chalet School.

I've been visiting Henrietta's house which is near the fictional city of Torminster (real life Wells) and may return to see the Sister of the angels.

I am in Georgia with Scarlett O'Hara fleeing the Yankees in Gone with the Wind. I am also in the somewhat imaginary Wessex in Far from the Madding Crowd.

I've been in Warwickshire with London with Drina Ballet For Drina before that I was with Drina in Paris & Madeira in Drina Dances in Paris and Drina Dances in Madeira, read them out of order.

I am reading an Oulopian type of fiction called Atlas: the archaeology of an imaginary city by Dung Kai-cheung. This is really a fictional survey of the history of Hong Kong through the reading of "old" maps.

Fictional non-fiction?

>296 BonnieJune54: I recall being with Scarlett, too, many years ago. I have GWTW on my shelves, in case I want to go back, again. :)

I was in Bath with Anne in Persuasion, but am between locations right now...maybe Paris, maybe Idaho...

I'm in a place far away in time where they spoke Old English. Only happily, I have a translator to help get by. That would be Beowulf as translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. To break that up, I'm also somewhere in the south with some people who are pretty distasteful to me. Don't know if I'll finish it. The Sweet Potato Queens, seems very shallow and self-absorbed. Not to mention dull.

299

I can't really answer how fictional "Atlas" is. It reads with a lot of verisimilitude and makes frequent references to sources. However, I can't tell whether older charts and maps referred to are actually real or not. These "sources" don't have a formal attribution, I haven't realy ried to do in depth research.

>300 fuzzi: & 301 Scarlett and I are not getting along. I think shallow and self-absorbed sums her up too.
I am starting my first trip to Barsetshire with The Warden.

>303 BonnieJune54: Oh, I was just there! Give that lovely man my regards.

Seattle, at the tuberculosis sanitarium with Betty MacDonald's. The Plague and I. What a gem.

>303 BonnieJune54:, a while back I enjoyed the Cover-to-Cover audio book, of an Anthony Trollope. It had me in hysterics half the time. And now I can't remember what its title was. There was a very slimy clergyman in it, Slope?

Is The Warden the first in the series?

>306 SaintSunniva: Yes The Warden is the first in this series. I have read the first three in the Pallisers series and loved them. I tried one of the Barsetshire series once before and gave up. I was drowning in all of the Church of England politics and terminology. This attempt I am reading the LT tutoring thread on The Warden. I think it will help. The Warden is short. It is less than eight hours of audio. The second one Barchester Towers is long. It is more than 20 hours long. I think Rev. Slope is in Barchester Towers.

>305 SaintSunniva: One of these days I'm going to read that book. I don't have it yet, but I will. She is one of my favorite authors between The Egg and I and her Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books.

ETA: However, seeing the cost on Amazon of the hardcover and paperback versions, this may remain a dream unless I chance across it in a thrift store or library sale.

>306 SaintSunniva:, >307 BonnieJune54: Yes, Reverend Slope is in Barchester Towers, and he is played by Alan Rickman in the BBC TV series. Very slimy! I just finished The warden myself and profited enormously from my annotated copy. Where's the tutored read?

>305 SaintSunniva: That is such a good book! MacDonald achieved a perfect balance between the sadness and humour of the situation.

>309 MissWatson: The Warden by Anthony Trollope - lyzard tutoring souloftherose

75 Books Challenge for 2012

>311 BonnieJune54: Thank you, I'll check it out!

>305 SaintSunniva:, >310 Sakerfalcon: I haven't read The Egg and I in years, but I read The Plague and I pretty recently and liked it. I feel that she is a kinder, gentler person in The Plague and I. An added attraction to the book is that is that my Grandmom spent a year in a TB sanitorium right after the stock market crash of 1929. She cried when they told her after 6 months that she'd have to stay flat on her back for even longer. In the end she lived longer than any of her ancestors or contemporaries. I haven't read Onions in the Stew, but I've enjoyed many of the Mrs Piggle-Wiggless.

I just finished a short sojourn in the American southwest with Lilies of the Field.

>314 fuzzi: I LOVE that book!

>314 fuzzi: Oh, I love Lilies of the Field, too!

Today I just left 1970s Iran...Married to a Stranger, a novel by Nahid Rachlin.

I am currently in London but beginning a trip to India via The Far Cry by Emma Smith.

And just before that, I was in a boy's 1950s Maine, in Driftwood Captain, which I loved.

>315 2wonderY: >316 SaintSunniva: I enjoyed it, nicely written.

I'm between locales, not sure what I will pick up in the next few minutes...

I am in Italy with Much Ado About Nothing. It helps that I saw a film version recently. I'm in Camelot with The Once and Future King. I never knew it was so funny! And I'm in Bristol with The Pickwick Papers. I think I would've made a great Pickwickian if they had allowed girls.

>320 BonnieJune54: I loved The Sword in the Stone, but am not sure if I've read The Once and Future King.

I'm currently in Groton, CT, with Run Silent, Run Deep. So far, it's quite good!

>321 fuzzi: The Once and Future King contains 4 parts of his Arthurian saga. So I am really reading The Sword in the Stone now. Isn't Merlin hilarious in this ? My copy has Camelot as the title because it was printed as a tie-in to the movie musical. Not that this ROOT of mine is old or anything.

>322 BonnieJune54: I read it, uh, about 40 years ago, and can't recall much except the wizard's duel, but have fond feelings for the entire work. :D

I am in Holland before and during WWII, thanks to The Hiding Place. I read it probably 35 years ago, and I am really enjoying it this time around.

I'm in Tasmania at the moment, reading about the heartbreaking fate of the natives there in Following the Equator. In Chicago when I'm in my car hearing White Knight. When I can't take more of Mark Twain, I open my Kindle and go to somewhere in England, Gently by the Shore.

I'm in Normandy with Commissaire Maigret in Maigret et la vieille dame. My first Maigret ever, but definitely not my last.

>320 BonnieJune54: Which film version did you watch? I'm fascinated by the various treatments.

>327 2wonderY: I saw the 2012 version by Joss Whedon in modern dress. I thought it worked well.

>328 BonnieJune54: Hmmm. I guess I assumed it had been done more than twice on film. Oh! It has. I'm ordering a BBC version from 2001 and another BBC Shakespeare Retold from 2007.

Yes, I agree with you. Whedon is a film genius. What did you think of the off-script back story of Beatrice and Benedict?

>324 SaintSunniva: I loved The Hiding Place! I've not yet read her book In My Father's House, have you?

Oh, and Run Silent, Run Deep has progressed from Groton, to Hawaii, to off the coast of Japan, and now are at Midway Island. Good read so far.

>329 2wonderY: I think it worked to inject a little modern morality with the modern dress. It's suited B&Bs relationship to be able to say it was just sex on one level but really be subconsciously in love with each other. Though it was certainly a massive contrast to all the histrionics about a possible blemish on Hero's chastity.

>330 fuzzi:, I may have read the sequel but it's been such a long time, I can't remember. I love her charity, quite frankly. And her father's and her sister's. It is wonderful to read about.

Will you ever get to the end of your submariner book? It sounds like a long one...but maybe I'd like it. I read Hunt for Red October ages ago, and of course saw the movie, which is really good, imo.

I also am visiting Somalia, Aman, the story of a Somali Girl (1995), and jetting back and forth between France & Israel, From the Kippah to the Cross (2015). They're both fascinating reads.

>332 SaintSunniva: I finished early this morning, reading to 1:00am...it was that good!

And I discovered there are two sequels. So, I placed an order through Abebooks just a few minutes ago.....

Corrie Ten Boom was a much better Christian than I am.

>334 fuzzi: Corrie Ten Boom is an inspiration to me. I just finished the book, The Hiding Place this morning.

My copy (a new edition) had a genealogy and a timeline. One of her ancestors married a Van Gogh, in the first half of the 1800s...so I was wondering if there was a connection to the artist. (Her grandfather Willem Ten Boom's first wife was Geertruida Van Gogh (1814-1856) Vincent Van Gogh also studied to be a minister, like many in her family. After Geertruida died, he married again. His first child of his second marriage is Corrie's father Casper. (I note from the timeline...Willem had 13 children with his first wife in 17 years of marriage before she died of TB at age 42. Nine of those children survived childhood...so Willem likely had quite a few young children still when he married again.) Think of all those aunts & uncles and cousins! What riches!

>335 SaintSunniva: interesting stuff. I like genealogy.

Currently I'm in England, somewhere, with Miss Buncle Married. So far it's a fun read!

I hope this world always has someone in it who loves Miss Buncle. Do her stories take place in England? I thought all of D.E. Stevensons were in Scotland. I haven't read that many, though.

>337 SaintSunniva: I don't know exactly where they are, but her husband takes the train to the city (London?), so I thought it would be somewhere England. I could be wrong, geography is NOT my strong suit...

>337 SaintSunniva: >338 fuzzi: Yes, it takes place in southern England. I would guess that over half of her books take place in England.

I just read the one after Miss Buncle Married, called The Two Mrs. Abbotts. I've now got The Four Graces on the tbr.

>340 jnwelch: The Four Graces is one on my very favourite books ever!

>341 SylviaC: Oh good, Sylvia. I'm looking forward to it!

> 329 Just to continue this conversation, I watched the 2005 BBC Shakespeare Retold set of 4. (Well, I wasn't at all interested in watching an update of the gory Macbeth.)

Much Ado About Nothing has Beatrice and Benedict as rival co-anchors at a news station. Hero is the daughter of the producer and also the weather-girl. This version also portrays a back story about B & B, similar to Whedon's. The other two stories are Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

With new dialogue, I think too much is lost. The stories are still recognizable, but much diminished. Kate is just a horrible bitch without redeeming qualities. Puck is the only character that came off well in the translations.

I've got the 2001 BBC version on hand, but haven't watched it yet.

I'm with R. H. Bruce Lockhart in Moscow in 1918 with Memoirs of a British agent.

>343 2wonderY: So unimpressed with the 2001 BBC film of Much Ado About Nothing that I stopped watching in Act 3.

>345 2wonderY: This is probably not really the appropriate thread but I saw the new version of "Far from the Madding Crowd" in the movie theater recently and thought it was great. The casting including the minor roles was right on and the scenery and farm scenes were beautiful.

I'm in Compact space with The Kif Strike Back, and somewhere on the road to Heaven with Pilgrim's Progress...I know I have eclectic interests... ;)

>347 fuzzi: I got a nice picture book version of Pilgrim's Progress recently called Dangerous Journey.

I'm visiting Main Street.

>348 BonnieJune54: very nice!

I've decide to pass along Aman the story of a Somali Girl - would anyone like to have it?

I've spent some time in Spellbound Falls, Maine with Janet Chapman's hilarious hunky Highlanders and assorted semi-magical delicious men and the women that love them.

At the moment, I'm in Pecan Springs, Texas with China Bayles and Rueful Death by Susan Wittig Albert.

I seem to be on a cozy mystery kick.

I've been spending a lot of time in Avonlea.

>353 SylviaC: a good place to visit.

I'm off the coast of Japan during WWII, in Dust on the Sea.

I am on Indian Island off the coast of Devon in Agatha Christie's And Then There were None. I am in Yorkshire with Charlotte Bronte's The Professor but I think we will go to Belgium. Victor Hugo has me immersed in Medieval Paris in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I am in 1920s Waukegan, Illinois savoring Dandelion Wine.

I'm somewhere unspecified in France with the Comtesse de Ségur and Les malheurs de Sophie, an ebook. It's from 1858 and in many ways very distant from modern life, but little girls haven't changed that much...

>357 MissWatson: That's one of the books the Chalet School girls used in French lessons and it's on my list to try, too.

>358 CDVicarage: I'm not surprised, the French in this book looks very classical and precise to me. Lots of opportunities to practice the subjonctif!

I'm onboard the Luisitania, off the coast of Ireland. Dead Wake by Erik Larson. Really well-written and gripping. Nearly done.

Um, >360 MerryMary:, please get off of there now! I don't want to give any spoilers, but it doesn't end well.

I am in Naples with Caliban, in Caliban's Hour.

Back on land. Reading A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester. Yes, another nonfiction, about the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire this time...but the author is still mired in the Pleistocene Era, trying to show me how all the tectonic seams are inner connected, so I think I will have time enough to escape in due course.

A little slow going right now, but really pretty interesting, so I will soldier on...

I am sweltering in a Chandrapore courtroom in A Passage to India. In A Midsummer Night's Dream I am outside Athens with the fairies. And I just got back from the Yukon with The Call of the Wild. I liked this much better than White Fang. Not sure if it's the difference in the books or my attitude.

I am in the Scottish Border Country, visiting Celia's House.

I am breaking my heart in the passes between France and Spain with The Song of Roland.

Near Cambridge, England in H is for Hawk, an exquisitely written memoir by Helen Macdonald.

>366 MrsLee: awww. :(

>365 SylviaC: I've got that book on my TBR pile. :)

>364 BonnieJune54: I loved White Fang more when I read both books, as a child, but as an adult, I like The Call of the Wild better.

Let's see...I'm currently somewhere in the American West of the late 1800's in The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 5: The Frontier Stories. I so enjoy this author's works, but especially his short stories, at which he excelled imho.

Currently in 18th century Japan in a re-read of Memoirs of a Geisha.

Also in the U.S.A. prior to it being involved in WWII in The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer.

>367 jnwelch: H Is for Hawk sounds great. I really love memoirs. Who is Helen MacDonald, though?

I am currently in post-WWII Japan with The Smile of a Ragpicker..., which I am thoroughly enjoying.

And I'm in 1960s Pittsburgh, with Sugar Bee, a girl-growing-up story.

>370 SaintSunniva: H is for Hawk is great, SaintSunniva. I've got about a quarter of the book to go. According to Wikipedia, Helen Macdonald is "an English writer, naturalist, and an Affiliated Research Scholar at the University of Cambridge Department of History and Philosophy of Science." You can read about her here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Macdonald_%28writer%29. This is the first book of hers I've read, and it's a knockout.

In 11th century north-west Iceland with the Laxdæla saga.

>372 Cynfelyn: uh oh...a book bullet...um...thanks?

In Innsbruck with Joey, Madge, Grizel and Juliet we about to board the train to start the journey back to Briesau. The younger girls need to leave Innsbruck as Grizel was rude a German woman who is staying at the same hotel on an earlier visit to Innsbruck. The author has hinted at an adventure to come.

>374 MDGentleReader: The GGB version, I hope?

Yes. Re-reading first two before reading my brand new GGBP version of Princess.

Enjoy!

This might just miss the cutoff for TBSL, but it is a fun mystery series, and this one is set in the Middle East. Monday the Rabbi Took Off.

>378 MrsLee: I like that that series is "dated". You get a definite sense of the era when it was written. It is the 60s and 70s and you have gender roles changing and the generation gap going on.

>379 BonnieJune54: Yep, it is almost like a time capsule!

I am back, after six months of taking classes (finished in mid-June).

But - it's summer time & I am reading. . . chick-lit & not TBSLs. I've been working my way through Robyn Carr's books. A little more explicit than I prefer - but I love her descriptions of small town life & family relationships. The Grace Valley series - takes place in a fictitious small town in northern California - has been my favorite - very funny.

I'm reading my way through them - on my e-reader - as fast as I get them from the library. She's pretty popular so I'm on an enforced break & so am partaking in a palate-cleansing Grace Livingston Hill book - Maris. Takes place somewhere in the eastern US, I think.

I'm on the rather bleak north Norfolk coast filming Their Finest Hour and a Half.

>381 SilverKitty: welcome back. Enjoy your chick-lit. :)

I'm about to start yet another L.M. Montgomery book, Magic for Marigold, so it's probably set in PEI. I got a bunch of these for a great price at a thrift sale, and am slowly making my way through them.

>383 fuzzi: I didn't like Marigold as much as Montgomery's other books, so I'll be interested in your opinion when you've finished reading it. I'm planning a reread of the Anne books soon.

At present I'm going back to boarding school and competing For the school colours.

>384 Sakerfalcon: it wasn't as good as the Anne books, but was definitely worth a read. I especially liked Marigold's imagination AND her eccentric family.

I just finished visiting Gloucester, Massachusetts and the Grand Banks, in The Trawler. It is one of the shortest and oldest books I have, from 1914 and 70 pages. I liked it a lot, actually.

At least I assume it's the Gloucester that's in MA...it doesn't say where it is exactly.

>386 SaintSunniva: Can you please post a description of that book? I'm trying to recall another author who's stories were all Massachusetts seaside. Ah, Joseph C. Lincoln.

My read-through of the Discworld novels is approaching the end of the Century of the Fruitbat. After Carpe jugulum in Lancre, and following the Scone of Stone into Uberwald in The fifth elephant -- the Igorth are hilariouth, having been introduthed in the previouth book, but why are the Uberwald dwarves talking Morporkian with a Llamedos accent? -- I'm back in Ankh-Morpork in the company of Mr Pin, Mr Tulip and movable type in The Truth.

I'm somewhere in England, reading my last Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey. I believe I've read the rest of her books... :(

>385 fuzzi: Perhaps I'll reread it in the future. Sometimes I like books better the second time around.

I'm currently in London in the early C20th with Miriam on her Pilgrimage (Touchstones seem to be playing up so I'll add that this is volume 2 of the sequence of novels by Dorothy Richardson, which were the first to use stream-of-consciousness technique.)

>389 fuzzi: Have you read Lady Susan? To me it's an overlooked gem from her youth.

>391 jnwelch: no, not yet. The edition of Northanger Abbey that I'm reading also contains Lady Susan and The Watsons AND Sandition! Austen Fest!

I'm reading in the U.S., actually very scary and sobering The Sociopath Next Door 1/4 Americans have no conscience.

>392 fuzzi: Excellent! I think you'll get a kick out of Lady Susan. :-)

I'm in my favorite city (to read about), San Francisco, following Charlie about as he learns his new avocation is A Dirty Job.

I'm in Florida with Their Eyes were Watching God. The Chimes is in Victorian London and fair Verona with Romeo and Juliet.

I just finished reading Recollections of a Sailor Boy by Stephen F. Blanding. His memories of his two year stint on the U.S.S. Louisiana during the American Civil War. Book was published in 1886, and I'm pretty sure I have a first edition. It was a pleasant little read.

I'm flying over North Korea in Devotion by Adam Makos, and am somewhere in the future with Daybreak 2250 by Andre Norton.

I'm just wending my way home from Russia and a long pleasant (albiet very sad) journey with The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport.

The sisters are usually treated in literature as a single entity, somewhat peripheral to their parents and their brother. In reality, they were four very different and interesting women with dreams and sorrows of their own. Their lives were so circumscribed, so isolated. My heart broke for them, as their lives spiraled inward. Even if the Revolution had not occurred, they were probably never to find happiness anyway. The other royal families of Europe were well aware of the hemophelia present in their DNA and shied away from marriage alliances, not wanting - understandably - to bring the disease into their family bloodlines.

An excellent nonfiction read, and one I do reccommend.

>399 MerryMary: That looks interesting!

I'm in England seeing whether bus frequencies are kept consistent in an unnamed English city in The Maintenance of Headway by Magnus Mills.

I'm in London, tooling around, OK, mostly walking about...via The Silent Traveller in London by Chiang Yee. First published in 1938, his is a most sympathetic eye. His dedication in memory of "the death of my beloved brother without whose help in bringing me up I should never have been able to see this amazing world...", "and also in memory of the entrance of the invader into my native city, Kiukiang on July 25th, 1938" is the first hint that this is an unusual book. In London publishing a book which in a sense is depicting what peace is all about, while his home city is being invaded.

The edition I have has illustrations by the author as well.

I'm in a business man's den watching him write long letters to his son trying to get the young man to take the correct path and find success. Reading Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to his Son, which book was mentioned in Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. :) It's rather fun.

>403 MrsLee: I've enjoyed that book too. I love what the merchant has to say about education on the first page:

"Dear Pierrepont: Your Ma got back safe this morning and she wants me to be sure to tell you not to over-study, and I want to tell you to be sure not to under-study. What we're really sending you to Harvard for is to get a little of the education that's so good and plenty there. When it's passed around you don't want to be bashful, but reach right out and take a big helping every time, for I want you to get your share. You'll find that education's about the only thing lying around loose in this world, and that it's about the only thing a fellow can have as much as he's willing to haul away. Everything else is screwed down tight and the screw-driver lost."

Did you know there are a couple of sequels? One is letters back from the son, written by a different author.

>404 2wonderY: That was a great beginning, it pulled me right into the book. I have one of the sequels, not the one with letters back from the son.

Saw a good play adaptation of Miss Buncle's Book at the Lifeline Theater in Chicago. I hope they decide to adapt more D.E. Stevenson.

>406 jnwelch: There has been a lot of talk about that in the D. E. Stevenson Yahoo group. Everyone who went has been very pleased with it.

>407 SylviaC: Oh good, I'm glad to hear it, thanks. It deserves that kind of recognition.

I'd love a D.E. Stevenson play...have you heard of any in the Denver area?

>409 SaintSunniva: The Chicago one seems to be the only one the DES group members know about, and there aren't presently any plans to perform it anywhere else. Here is a link to the theatre: http://lifelinetheatre.com/performances/15-16/buncle/index.shtml

I am in Japan with Aomame and Tengo in IQ84 by Haruki Murakami. Occasionally, I dart back to
England to join in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.

I'm in Trondheim, just returned from a summer cruise to Iceland, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen in Lord Dufferin's Letters from high latitudes (1856).

Dufferin's perennially pessimistic manservant, Wilson, reminds me of no-one so much as Marvin the paranoid android. The book has a Wikipedia page.

In Switzerland, at L'Abri with Francis Schaeffer's No Little People.

I'm not sure where I'm reading yet, but the when is in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Going the rounds with The Horse and Buggy Doctor, although so far in the first chapter I'm just learning how thoroughly helpless they were concerning most diseases.

I'm in C18th century London with Cecilia and meeting some truly appalling people.

>415 Sakerfalcon: You'll see me there, too, Claire!

I'm in a creepy Italian castle in The Castle of Otranto and Prince Edward Island is going to war in Rilla of Ingleside.

>416 CDVicarage: Good! Cecilia needs all the friends she can get!

I'm mostly in London between the wars, trying to recover lost memories in Random Harvest.

>419 SylviaC: it is an interesting book quite different from his Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
I'm in England with The Old Curiosity Shop.

I'm in Russia, near Moscow, in War and Peace.

I'm all over Europe in one of the strangest books I've ever read The Magic Ring, a tale of chivalry in the mode of medieval romances, first published in 1813. The Middle Ages, as idolised by the Romantics, and so far we have touched down in Germany, France, Sweden and Spain.

ETC for touchstone

I feel like I am visiting Anne Shirley's American cousins in What Katy Did. I am catching up on the gossip in an English village in Jane and Prudence and heading to the Paris sewers in Les Miserables.

I'm traveling between contemporary London and the English countryside in 1815 in The River of No Return.

Just returned from an alternate history of China. I'm finding it hard to come out of The Bridge of Birds.

I just finished The Angry Hills, which takes place in Greece during the German occupation of WWII. Recommended read, btw.

I'm in Tokyo in contemporary times in Tokyo Decadence.

I'm in England with Something Fresh and in Elfland and the fields we know with The King of Elfland's Daughter.

Heading to England in Can you Forgive Her?

I'm in Canada, Montcalm has just arrived and is spoiling for a fight with the Brits in Lilienbanner und Preußenaar. I've never read about the war told from the French perspective (strictly speaking a German residing in Montréal), so it's quite interesting.

I'm in England, reading the memoir of Muriel Sparks, Curriculum Vitae, who was born a year before my father-in-law, 1918. She went to a non-private school, and felt she had a richer childhood than children who were raised by nannies and sent to boarding school. Anyway, now I want to read her most famous work, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

I found so many books to read, just going through this thread again! Morocco! A Lighthearted Quest is calling me.

I also really want to read the Rabbi Small books, which someone on this thread mentioned a while ago. I love those kind of mysteries, which sound like they have a light touch.

I am with E. B. White on his saltwater farm in Maine I think. One Man's Meat.

Was going to try to read a mystery, but life is chaotic now, so I think I will dip in and out of this and not worry about reading averages this year.

I am switching between 1990's San Francisco and 1890's Kansas in The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster.

I believe I am in Cornwall, in Rebecca

Reading for the first time!

I just visited England and Wales from the 1970's in Joyce Stranger's Two's Company.

I am with "Scholars" in an alternate London, Alexandria Egypt, and Oxford England in Rachel Caine's Ink and Bone. There is no UK, and because there is a bit of steampunk, perhaps we're 100 year behind in some areas and 500 years behind in others.

I'm leaving for Israel tonight, with One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross. I hope it's as great a trip as it can be!

>437 vpfluke: is your Ink and Bone book worth reading? It sounds so interesting! I've not read much steampunk, but did read Mortal Engines a while back and really liked it, with qualifiers.

I'm somewhere in the solar system in Leviathan Wakes and in Wales with Three's a Pack (by Joyce Stranger).

After plunging around in the lost/underground rivers of London in a not TBSL book, The Water Room by Christopher Fowler, I needed some fresh air and wide open spaces.

So I'm in Kansas in the early 1900s with a drover who apparently has Horse of a Different Color, young Ralph Moody. This is nonfiction, mostly. As much as a cowboy's story is ever nonfiction. ;) A borderline TBSL books (published in the early 1960s), but I would place another book of his, Little Britches firmly in our club. Little Britches is a wonderful story of a young boy and his father and their pioneering life.

>440 fuzzi: So The Water Room is non-fiction? It sounds fascinating, for sure.

>442 SaintSunniva: The Water Room is fiction, a mystery, but with a lot of archaic history worked into it because that is one of the character's "things." All of the Bryand & May Peculiar Crimes Unit mysteries by Christopher Fowler include odd bits of history, mostly about London.

>443 MrsLee:, I'll probably hold off on The Water Room for now, but I do like the sound of it. I'm in the midst of a Elizabeth Cadell reading feast...my mother (84, and not seeing well anymore...) has a library of treasures, including nine by Cadell. I borrowed them all. She initials the month and year when she reads them; these were read in the 80s and 90s. Now I'll add my initials and date. I'm glad she has them, but what a loss to the reading world that they were discarded from the library in the first place.

Currently I am in rural Devonshire, England, with Honey for Tea.

And just before that I was in 1960s London reading a wonderful YA-type book, Maria Lupin by Annabel Farjeon, a niece of Eleanor Farjeon.

Currently I'm in Singapore with Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu. Cozy mysteries with a different culture and background, but still very familiar reading territory since the author is a huge Agatha Christie fan.

I'm in Siberia with Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov and Emil Karpo in A Cold Red Sunrise, 30+ years old, not technically a TBSL...

I love these mysteries by Stuart Kaminsky: his characters have depth, the multiple plots are not hard to follow, and the books are a delight to read.

>446 fuzzi: If one wanted to begin reading Kaminsky, where would one start?

Death of a Dissident is the first in the series. :)

>446 fuzzi: Soviet Russia sounds interesting.
I'm still in Paris with Les Miserables.

>449 BonnieJune54: it's not only interesting, the writing is really good too.

I'm among the domesticated animals and the cultivated plants in the first chapter of Charles Darwin, The origin of species, looking at variations and breeds.

PS. After 450 messages, is it time for a new thread?

I'm continuing with the Cadell books...now I'm in Portugal, which I really love, in The Toy Sword.

>451 Cynfelyn: I don't mind starting a new thread, but just curious wondered, what is the longest thread on LT?

>453 SaintSunniva: I don't know about the longest thread on LT, but this is the longest thread on TBSL. Mind you, many of the messages here are only one or two sentences, and the thread loads in a fraction of the time taken by shorter, picture-rich threads. For example, Aquisitions and the illustrators of The Wind in the Willows.

>454 Cynfelyn: oh, those awful pictures! ;)

>455 fuzzi: Is "awful" youth-speak for what the pictures are? I've just spent the last half-hour rolling down the Wind in the Willows thread - again. Brilliant.

>456 Cynfelyn: naw, it's just a little silly comment by a camera-phile, me! My threads are always bogged down with photos...

A sugar bush in Vermont, in Elswyth Thane's memoir, Reluctant Farmer (alt. title: The Strength of the Hills).

I've been in Russia - Petrograd/Leningrad, Moscow, Butyrka prison, the Kolyma gold mines and a sharashka (a secret laboratory in the Gulag camp system). In between, Lev Termen spent time in New York City during the roaring 20s. All of this is described in Us Conductors.

>459 MDGentleReader: You must be exhausted!

>460 2wonderY: Too tired to mention all the places I have been, Vienna, London, Berlin among others in Europe; Cleveland, Chicago among others in US, and many other places in Russia.

moving the thread...

439
I haven't looked at this thread in a long while. Ink and Bone is worth reading. It's mostly an alternate history, and not as strongly steampunk. I like the centrality of libraries and am amused at the way books are replicated before copiers and printing press but certainly more advanced the the old medieval copiers.