Souloftherose's reading notes for 2014

A somewhat late start to the year but a warm welcome to all visitors whether you lurk or post.

There will be more Uganda photos at some point, but to start my first thread here's another chance to see me in Ugandan national dress (I'm the one in the blue/pink/purple dress in the middle):



The women are wearing a Gomesi and the men are wearing a Kanzu.

Books read in January
#1 Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard (TBR)
#2 Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu (TBR)
#3 The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope (Free kindle)
#4 Farthing by Jo Walton (TBR)
#5 Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill (TBR)
#6 Brat Farrar by Jospehine Tey (TBR)
#7 Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (Reread)
#8 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (Reread)
#9 Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey (TBR)
#10 The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (TBR)
#11 The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey (TBR)
#12 The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers (TBR)
#13 O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (TBR)
#14 Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford (Omnibus)
#15 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Reread)

Books read in February
#16 The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (Reread)
#17 The Love Child by Edith Olivier (TBR)
#18 Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne (TBR)
#19 Consequences by E. M. Delafield (Free kindle)
#19.5 The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (Reread)
#20 More Talk of Jane Austen by Sheila Kaye-Smith and G. B. Stern (TBR)
#21 The Purcell Papers by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Free kindle)
#22 The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (Reread)
#23 Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie (Reread)
#24 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (TBR)
#25 A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (Spousal unit)
#26 Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. Wells (Free kindle)
#27 Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield (Reread)
#28 Longbourn by Jo Baker (TBR)
#29 Stet by Diana Athill (TBR)
#30 The Mysterious Mr Quin by Agatha Christie (Reread)

Books read in March
#31 In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden (TBR)
#32 Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch (TBR)
#33 The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parsons (TBR)
#34 The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (Reread)
#35 Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Library)
#36 Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran (TBR)
#37 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (Reread)
#38 A Foot in the Grave by Joan Aiken (Library)
#39 Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill (TBR)

Books acquired in January
#1 Farthing by Jo Walton (Kindle) READ
#2 The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford by Nancy Mitford (Kindle)
#3 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Kindle)
#4 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (Waterstones.com) READ
#5 The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (Kindle) READ
#6 O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (Kindle) READ
#7 The Brontes at Haworth by Ann Dinsdale (Brithday present)
#8 Home by Marilynne Robinson (Brithday present)
#9 The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (Brithday present)
#10 The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse (Brithday present)
#11 The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy (Brithday present)
#12 The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor (Brithday present)
#13 The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby (Brithday present)
#14 The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim (Brithday present)

Books acquired in February
#15 The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West (Virago group)
#16 How to Be a Heroine: Or, what I've learned from reading too much by Samantha Ellis (Birthday present)
#17 Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran (Birthday present) READ
#18 The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope (Waterstones.com)
#19 Longbourn by Jo Baker (Kindle) READ
#20 An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer (Kindle)
#21 Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch (Kindle) READ

Books acquired in March
#22 Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill (Kindle) READ
#23 Judgement Day by Penelope Lively (Charity bookshop)
#24 Letters to Children by C. S. Lewis (Charity bookshop)

Current size of To Read collection: 441 books

Finishing off this challenge from last year:

A century of books!

I'm trying to read a book published in every year of the 20th century. I started this at the beginning of 2013 and am just over 3/4 of the way through!

1900
1901 The Ordeal of Elizabeth by Anonymous
1902 Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
1903 When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster
1904 The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit
1905 Princess Priscilla's Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim
1906 The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit
1907 Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar by Maurice Leblanc
1908 Love's Shadow by Ada Leverson
1909
1910 Prester John by John Buchan
1911 The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
1912 Tenterhooks by Ada Leverson
1913 The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
1914
1915
1916 Love at Second Sight by Ada Leverson
1917
1918
1919 Consequences by E. M. Delafield
1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
1921 The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
1922 The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
1923 Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
1924 Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
1925 The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie
1926 These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
1927 The Big Four by Agatha Christie
1928 The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer
1929 The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
1930 Very Good, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
1931 All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
1932 Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
1933 High Rising by Angela Thirkell
1934 The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
1935 Lucia's Progress by E. F. Benson
1936 The New House by Lettice Cooper
1937 Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
1938 The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham
1939 Trouble for Lucia by E. F. Benson
1940
1941 Traitor's Purse by Margery Allingham
1942 House-Bound by Winifred Peck
1943
1944 Death at the Medical Board by Josephine Bell
1945 Coroner's Pidgin by Margery Allingham
1946 Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
1947
1948 I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
1949 Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien
1950 Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
1951
1952 Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
1953 Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
1954 No Love Lost by Margery Allingham
1955 Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym
1956 A Lighthearted Quest by Ann Bridge
1957 The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
1958 A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym
1959
1960 Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
1961 No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
1962
1963 The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith
1964
1965 The Town in Bloom by Dodie Smith
1966
1967 It Ends With Revelations by Dodie Smith
1968 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
1969 Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell
1970 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
1971 The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
1972 Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers
1973 The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
1974 Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken
1975 Eight Days of Luke by Diana Wynne Jones
1976
1977
1978 Kesrith / Shon'jir by C. J. Cherryh
1979 Kutath by C. J. Cherryh
1980 A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym
1981 The Stolen Lake by Joan Aiken
1982 An Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym
1983 Jhereg by Steven Brust
1984 Yendi by Steven Brust
1985 Fire Watch by Connie Willis
1986 Elizabeth: The author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Karen Usborne
1987 Teckla by Steven Brust
1988 Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson
1989 The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold
1990 Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
1991 Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
1992
1993 Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard
1994
1995 High Tide in Tucson: Essays From Now or Never by Barbara Kingsolver
1996 Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
1997
1998 Limbo Lodge by Joan Aiken
1999

Progress: 80/100

An idea borrowed from Liz (@lyzard), this lists ongoing series that I am actively reading. This doesn't include series where I have the first book in my TBR pile (i.e. series I haven't started reading yet aren't included). An asterisk indicates a series where I already have a copy of the next book.

Series I'm actively* reading (*for a rather lax definition of active)
*Alastair-Audley: Next up An Infamous Army by Georgetter Heyer (4/4)
*Albert Campion: Next up The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham (18/25)
*Arsène Lupin: Next up Arsène Lupin vs. Holmlock Shears by Maurice Leblanc (2/23?)
Barsetshire Books by Angela Thirkell: Reading out of order (3/29 read)
Cazalet Chronicles: Next up: Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard (4/5)
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache: Next up The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (8/9)
*The Chronicles of Barsetshire: Next up The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope (6/6)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone: Next up Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (3/3)
Derkholm: Next up Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones (3/3)
*Dolphin Ring Cycle: Next up The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff (4/8)
Dr. Siri Paiboun: Next up: Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill (5/9)
*Ebenezer Gryce: Next up Behind Closed Doors by Anna Katharine Green (5/13)
*Fionavar Tapestry: Next up The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kat (3/3)
The Girl Who: Next up The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente (4/4)
*Just Patty: Next up Just Patty by Jean Webster (2/2)
Les Voyages Extraordinaires: Next up From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne (4/54)
Old Filth: Next up Last Friends by Jane Gardam (3/3)
The Palliser Novels: Next up: Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope (2/6)
*The Prairie Trilogy: Next up The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (3/3) (Reading out of order)
Rivers of London: Next up Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch (4/6)
Ruth Galloway: Next up A Dying Fall by Elly Grifiiths (5/6)
*A Song of Ice and Fire: Next up A Dance with Dragons by G. R. R. Martin (5/7)
Vorkosigan (Chronological order): Next up Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold (6/16)
*Wheel of Time: Next up The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (3/14)
*Wolves Chronicles: Next up The Cuckoo Tree by Joan Aiken (6/11)

Series I've stalled on but want to get back to
*Allan Quatermain: Next up Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard (2/15)
*Barsoom: Next up The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (3/11)
Bas-Lag: Next up The Scar by China Mieville (2/3)
The Cairo Trilogy: Next up: Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz (2/3)
Chalion: Next up: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold (3/3)
*Chaos Walking: Next up Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (4/4)
*Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox: Next up Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart (3/3)
*Cicero: Next up Lustrum by Robert Harris (2/2)
Cissy: Next up Pull Out All the Stops by Geraldine McCaughrean (2/2)
Code Name Verity: Next up Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (2/2)
*Colonial Trilogy: Next up: Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville (3/3)
David Wintringham by Josephine Bell: Reading out of order (2/12 read)
The Deed of Paksenarrion: Next up Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon (2/3)
Dragonriders of Pern: Next up Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (2/25)
Empire Trilogy: Next up: The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell (2/3)
*Father Brown: Next up: The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton (2/5)
Green Knowe: Next up: The Chimneys of Green Knowe by L. M. Boston (2/6)
Inheritance Trilogy: Next up The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin (2/3)
Jeeves: Next up Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (4/14)
Jimm Juree: Next up Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill (2/2)
Julia Probyn: Next up The Portugese Escape by Ann Bridge (2/8)
The Magicians: Next up The Magician King by Lev Grossman (2/3?)
The Penderwicks: Next up The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (2/3)
*Richard Hannay: Next up The Three Hostages by John Buchan (4/5)
Romantic Poets and Nephilim: Next up A Time to Cast Away Stones in The Bible Repairman and Other Stories by Tim Powers (2/3)
Sorcery and Celia: Next up The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (2/3)
*Turtle: Next up Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (2/2)
Vlad Taltos: Next up Taltos by Steven Brust (4/14)
Wars of Light and Shadow: Next up Ships of Merior by Janny Wurts (2/10?)

Series I'm rereading
*Colonel Race: Next up Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (2/4)
*The Earthsea Cycle: Next up The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (3/6)
*Hercule Poirot: Next up: Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (7/39)
Miss Marple: Next up The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie (2/13)
*The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency: Next up The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (4/13)
*Superintendent Battle: Next up Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (3/5)
Tommy and Tuppence: Next up N or M? by Agatha Christie (3/5)

Up to date series
Dragonslayer: Latest book The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde (2/3)
Finishing School: Latest book Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger (2/4?)
Jackson Brodie: Latest book Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (4/4)
Matthew Shardlake: Latest book Heartstone by C. J. Sansom (5/5)
Mistborn: Latest book The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (4/4)
Shades of Grey: Latest book Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (1/3)
Thursday Next: Latest book The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (7/8)
Wolf Hall: Latest book Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (2/3)

Completed series
Seven Kingdoms by Kristin Cashore (3/3)

Plans for 2014, but these are might happens with no pressure:

- The Virago Modern Classics group is doing a Great War theme read to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI.

READ
1. Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. Wells

- There's a group read of the Vorkosigan saga. I will be rereading the first few books in chronological order and then going on to read the others.

READ
1. Shards of Honor
2. Barrayar
3. The Warrior's Apprentice
4. The Mountains of Mourning
5. The Vor Game

- An Agatha Christie novel a month with Liz (next up is The Sittaford Mystery)

READ
1. Partners in Crime
2. The Mysterious Mr Quin
3. The Murder at the Vicarage

- A Georgette Heyer novel a month with Liz (next up is An Infamous Army)

READ
1. The Talisman Ring

- The American Authors Challenge. My picks are:

Willa Cather - January O Pioneers! READ
Marilynne Robinson - February Home
Cormac McCarthy - March The Road
Toni Morrison - April Beloved
Eudora Welty - May Delta Wedding
Kurt Vonnegut - June Slaughterhouse-Five
Mark Twain - July Reread The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Tillie Olsen - August Tell me a Riddle
James Baldwin - September Go Tell it on the Mountain
Edith Wharton - October The Children
November - ???
Larry McMurty - December Lonesome Dove

- There's a group read of N. T. Wright's Christian Origins series beginning with the first book, The New Testament and the People of God. I've been meaning to reread the first two books then go on to read the third and the newly released fourth volume so I might join in with this.

- A Virago Modern Classic a month

READ
1. The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey
2. The Love Child by Edith Olivier
3. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden

Currently reading (longer books):

The New Testament and the People of God by N. T. Wright
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford by Nancy Mitford

Hello, Heather. It's good to have you back and I hope you soon recover from your holiday!

Welcome back!

Welcome and starred you.

Hi Heather! How was Uganda?

So happy to see you here, Heather!

So happy to see you start a thread. Looking forward to following your reading again this year.

Welcome back, Heather!

Woo hoo! You're here! Wishing you and your family the best of health and happiness for the New Year.

Welcome back!

Heather lovely to see you back. Also it is great to see you looking so happy under African skies. I did see the same photo or a similar one at least on your last thread of last year but I am glad you were thoughtful enough to share it again.

My first read of Tolkein was using that classic cover that you have put up. Happy memories of reading discoveries which I am sure your thread will, as always provide.

I love the picture at the top of your thread. I guess I'll be seeing you on lyzard's thread as both of our reading selections rarely match up! :)

Have a great reading year, Heather!

I read through your series list - it's something that would be a good idea for me - and there is a ninth installment in the Three Pines/Inspector Gamache series - How the light gets in - so I'm afraid you've got further to go than you think! It does seem to be the last, though; I've just read it and most things seem to be resolved in one way or another. (Hope that's not a spoiler.)

Heather, it's good to see you! You are a standout in that photo with your red hair. I'm eager to hear more about Uganda including what inspired you to make that your holiday destination. Welcome home!

Great to have you back, Heather! I hope you recover from your holiday soon. It sounds like an amazing experience for you.

YAY! Here you are at last!!!
Looking forward to hearing a lot from you for the rest of 2014. Live it with joy!

Welcome home, Heather! Glad you're back and can't wait to hear more about your trip. Three weeks with extroverts sounds exhausting!

Hi, Heather - I love the photo up top! Gorgeous clothing, and you look lovely in yours!

I love that you'll be reading Partners in Crime soon - it's a source of our Border Collie's name, Tuppence (my husband's name is Tomm, and I like to think of the two of them as partners in crime, too).

Welcome to 2014 Heather! I've got you starred of course!

Hooray, you're here!! We missed you! And what a lovely photo to start off with - so glad you brought it over from your last thread.

How is the kitty?

Hi Heather!!! So glad you're back. I look forward to another year of awesomeness around here.

I hope you're having a pleasant weekend.

Hi Heather! Welcome home, so good to "see" you.

You've been missed! Welcome back :)

Oooh - visitors!

Thank you Kerri, Luci, Connie, Diana, Laura, calm, Darryl, Nina, Jim, Paul, Madeline, Donna, Julia, Peggy, Pat, Amber, Ilana, Mamie, Kerri, Nancy and Katie for such a lovely warm welcome back :-)

#11 Diana, Uganda was good, although I think we all came back more tired than we expected.

#17 Well spotted Paul, it was exactly the same photo because I still haven't transferred the other photos from my camera to the computer!

We have several different editions of LOTR, the edition I'm reading from at the moment was my husband's grandad's, so has quite a bit of sentimental value for him. I really like the old covers.

#18 Hi Madeline! You've reminded me that I still haven't finished The Castle of Wolfenbach :-( I put it to one side at the end of volume 1 and then got caught up with other things...

#19 Well spotted Kerri! Thank you :-)

#20 Donna, my MIL and SIL also have red hair so we were joking that the Ugandans would think all British women are red heads!

#24 Hi Amber! I think Tuppence is a lovely name for your Border Collie. I really enjoy Christie's Tommy and Tuppence books but I can't remember much about this one so I'm looking forward to rereading it.

#26 Hi Mamie! The kitty is rather unsettled and stressed unfortunately... She wasn't very pleased with us for going away and since we've come back she's had to go to the vet's twice (to have some teeth out which was planned and for treatment for a urine infection which is probably stress-related). We now have to give her several tablets a day for a couple of weeks and I think it's fair to say that this has increased her stress levels rather than decreased them. She probably wishes we hadn't come back now! I'm having to harden my heart to get her to swallow the tablets - she has the most heart-rending plaintive miaow.

Hi Heather -great to see you back!

she has the most heart-rending plaintive miaow.

I felt a tug when I read that. My heart goes out to both you and kitty. I always remind myself that it's for their own good when I have to administer medicine and supplements, though they show every sign of suffering it poorly. Still...

Welcome back! You have been sorely missed. :)

I think I underestimated how exhausting I would find spending three weeks with my husband's family, who are all extroverts!

The horror! The horror!

she has the most heart-rending plaintive miaow

I'd settle for a plaintive miaow: my otherwise helpless and wussy cat turns into a muscular ball of flashing samurai swords whenever she has to be medicated.

Welcome back!!!

Kitty will forgive you, don't worry!

Am slightly horrified to see, in your 'Series I'm caught up with' category that there is a forth Sanderson in the Mistborn series..... I thought it was a trilogy...... sigh......

Oh dear, oh dear. We are treating our male cat Tully for a similar UT infection, also probably stress related (and feeding him $20 / 4 pounds dry cat food to reduce the likelihood of crystals). I don't know what his stress could be except that the neighborhood is full of outdoor cats, and he doesn't take kindly to their coming into his yard. He is on the porch and can't get out to deal with them.

Hello Heather, I was just thinking that I must have missed your thread and had a look and there it was, newly created! Welcome back! I'm one ahead of you in the Dr Siri series, having just read Anarchy and Old Dogs this month, which is another really enjoyable one. I'm also, amazingly, one ahead of you in number of books completed so far this month - I know that won't last, and my total is inflated by a number of unusually short books so far... Anyway, I know it is not a race! But I'm used to seeing you read at least twice as many as I do each month, but I guess your routines may have been disrupted with your Ugandan trip and lots of time with extrovert relatives!

Yay! You're back! Welcome to the 2014 boards! I look forward to hearing more about the trip to Uganda when you've had time to catch up with us a little! : )

Welcome back, heather. I've hitched my star to your thread and plan on following along with your 2014 reading.

Heather! Where have you been, girl?!
So glad you're back!
Nice picture atop your thread, you all look so very happy.

#31 Thanks Rhian :-)

#32 Thanks Ilana! Whilst kitty is still protesting I think we are all slowly getting used to the process of forcing tablets down her throat.

#33 "my otherwise helpless and wussy cat turns into a muscular ball of flashing samurai swords whenever she has to be medicated."

Oh dear, Liz. I'm very grateful that ours (so far) doesn't really scratch or bite in these situations (I'm sure I would if our situations were reversed)!

#34 Hi Lucy! There is a fourth in the Mistborn series but it's set several hundred years after the first trilogy and features different characters so it's not a direct sequel to the original trilogy. I think Sanderson has plans to write several trilogies set in the Mistborn universe. I enjoyed the fourth book (Alloy of Law) but it didn't blow me away the original trilogy did. Which is a long way of saying, no need to rush to get the fourth book!

#35 Sorry to hear your cat is also suffering Peggy. I think our vet did mention crystals in Erica's urine although they haven't recommended expensive cat food yet. In addition to moving house and going away on a long holiday in the last 4 months there's a neighbourhood cat who hangs round our house and garden and has attempted to come in through the (now locked) cat flap before. I'm hoping that if we stay put for a few months the kitty will settle down and feel happier. And I think I'll feel happier too!

#36 Hi Genny! I have just added another book to my list of finished reads so perhaps we're level now? Unless, you've finished another one too... I think I average one book every two days, so I am a little behind this month but I'd expect that given the number of 19th century novels I've read this month (currently reading my third) as they always take me longer to read than a contemporary book. And as I'm hoping to read some theology/spirituality type books this year I would expect my totals to slow down even more as I find those books take longer to digest.

#37, 38 & 39 Thanks Hannah, Judy and Lynda!

I guess I should talk about some books:

Book #1: Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard - 3.9 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 1993



Confusion is the third volume in Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet series which follows the fortunes of the extended Cazalet family and their servants from the 1930s through WWII and beyond. I'm still finding this series completely gripping, and the characters, both the family and their servants, utterly believable. This is how I wish Downton Abbey was....

Heather, I've taken that book bullet dead-on in the chest!! This sounds like a series I would LOVE … thanks for shooting me, LOL!

You're HOME, you're HOME!! Welcome back, Heather--you've been missed.

Here I am! Consider yourself decorated with a big ol' glitzy, flashing, golden star!

How I wish that Willie was of the plaintive meow school instead of the I'm-gonna-rip-your-face-off-if-you-don't-get-away-from-me-with-that-$)&@?/!!-pill school.

Takes all kinds I suppose.

#42 Sorry about the book bullet Nancy but I love this series so much that I can't be that sorry :-) The Light Years is the first book in the series.

#43 Thanks Roni!

#44 Hi Charlotte! I am feeling increasingly grateful that we only get plaintive miaows from our kitty and not an attempt to disembowel us :-)

Jumping ahead a few books to one I finished yesterday (I will go back and fill in the gaps):

Book #10: The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer - 4.2 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 1936



The Talisman Ring is another delightful Heyer romp and probably ranks as my favourite of her novels so far. It's full of very self-aware humour and sparkling dialogue, and Miss Sarah Thane has become one of my favourite Heyer characters.

Hi Heather - I've found your thread at last!

I'm not adding the Light Years series to my wishlist... I will just keep shutting my eyes. Glad your reading year is getting off to a good start.

#45 I think The Talisman Ring is quite high on my list of Heyer favourites, too, Heather. What's next in your list?

Another delightful Heyer! Thanks, Heather. I've got this one already in the list.

Yes, The Talisman Ring is one of the good ones. Another good one along the same lines is The Reluctant Widow.

I found you Heather and welcome back. I really want to get a start on the Elizabeth Jane Howard series this year.

Just wanted to mention Heather that I've been reading (listening, actually) to the first book in the Cazalet Chronicles, The Light Years and really enjoying it. I'll be finishing it tonight in fact! It very much reminds me of a book by one of my favourite authors, Mary Wesley's The Camomille Lawn. Probably because they are both set at a similar period and both are about a large family clan, both written around the same time too I believe (just checked: 1984 for the Wesley, 1990 for the EJH).

#46 Hi Cushla! "I'm not adding the Light Years series to my wishlist... I will just keep shutting my eyes." But if you listen carefully you will hear it calling to you....

#47 Kerry, next up chronologically is An Infamous Army I think (Liz? Unless this one counts as one of Heyer's historical novels) although I'm also paused midway through The Spanish Bride which, as everyone told me, is not as good as Heyer's romances.

#48 I hope you enjoy it Nancy!

#49 Roni, I went to check out The Reluctant Widow and discovered it already resides on my wishlist, tagged as recommended by you. I'm looking forward to it!

#50 Thanks Bonnie! The EJH series is very, very good :-)

#51 Really glad you've been enjoying The Light Years, Ilana. The Camomile Lawn is on my wishlist from when you recommended it last year so I will nudge it closer to the top. I've also started a list on this theme here.

Some more book updates:

Book #2: Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - 4 stars
Source: The Book Depository
Original publication date: 1864



Uncle Silas is a Victorian novel that's hard to categorise; not wholly a gothic novel or a sensation novel or a horror novel, perhaps because it contains elements of all three and also adds elements of crime novels to the mix as it's heavily based on an earlier short story written by Le Fanu which was perhaps the first locked room mystery.

It's an atmospheric, spooky tale of a young, orphaned heiress, Maud Ruthyn, who is sent to live with her disgraced uncle after her father's death. Her uncle has long been suspected of committing a truly horrible crime several years ago but nothing could ever be proved and Maud's father always believed in his brother's innocence. It will be clear to anyone who's read any gothic fiction that something bad is going to happen to Maud at some point during the book but Le Fanu is excellent at teasing his reader and slowly allowing the suspense to build and I found the ending truly horrific and shocking despite that expectation.

I've now gone back to read Le Fanu's earlier short stories which were later published as The Purcell Papers.

Book #3: The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope - 3.7 stars
Source: Project Gutenberg
Original publication date: 1857

This early novel by Anthony Trollope is not in the same class as his Barsetshire or Palliser novels but was still very enjoyable. It's a lighthearted, tongue in cheek look at the Civil Service following the fortunes and loves of three junior clerks. One of the highlights for me was a very absurd short story written by one of the characters about a Miss Crinoline and a Mr Macassar.

Stopping in to wish you a weekend full of fabulous, Heather! you got me with Uncle Silas - looks like a good one, so I'm adding it to the list.

Hello Heather, and welcome back! I wanted to make sure you know that The Warden is on Radio 4 tomorrow afternoon (Sunday, 3pm) as part of a serialisation of the Barchester novels. The Radio Times is vague on how many parts it is, but it says that the series is going to continue into next year so I'm assuming quite a few!

Hi heather, I'm glad to see you are still enjoying your Georgette Heyer reads. I have got to The Talisman Ring yet, but it sounds like one that I am going to love.

Yep, adding Uncle Silas to the wishlist, too!

I enjoyed The Talisman Ring a few years back, it was the first Heyer I'd read since my teens, and it made me want to read/re-read the rest. I'll be keeping an eye on which ones you and Liz are reading - though I fear some of my TBR ones are in storage...

Interesting to hear your thoughts on the Trollope. So far I've not read anything apart from Barchester or Palliser, but I would like to venture beyond those (well, I still have most of the Pallisers to read first).

I downloaded the kindle edition of Uncle Silas as soon as I'd finished reading your review Heather. Sounds creepy and appealing! Never thought I'd use both words in the same sentence, go figure! :-)

Heather - If I am not mistaken it was several years ago to this very day that a stork visited your parents' household to deposit a book-loving miniature personage in place.

Happy birthday. xx

Happy birthday Heather!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Heather!! I hope it's the best one yet!

Many Happy Returns, Heather! I hope you manage to do something nice this evening to celebrate - at the least, a chance to curl up with a good book...

I seem to have stumbled into the midst of a birthday party. Happy birthday to you, Heather!

Woo! So you're a birthday girl then? Hope you have a great special day Heather!

I just brought up the question on the P&P thread, wondering whether you'd made up your mind about when you wanted to do the Love-Letters Between A Nobleman And his Sister tutorial with Liz, and thought I may as well ask you directly whether you'd decided on that. No pressure however!

Happy Birthday!!

Thank you Paul, Luci, Diana, Amber, Genny, Julia and Connie for the birthday wishes! It was indeed my birthday and I had the day off work so had a nice slow morning (normally I'm a morning person but lately my brain doesn't seem to be waking up at the same time as my body) then we went to my favourite second-hand bookshop where I chose some books to be my birthday present from my husband and had some lunch. I tried to find a new way home on the drive back and got us lost but wherever we ended up was pretty so it didn't really matter! This evening we have both been really tired - who knew that buying books (and eating) could be so exhausting!

In the post this morning came The Brontes at Haworth by Ann Dinsdale

From the bookshop:

Home by Marilynne Robinson

Virago Modern Classics (all green):

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse
The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy
The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor
The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim

And some green VMCs to replace some I have with modern covers

A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor

Up until this point I had been doing really well at reading books faster than I bought them...

Happy Birthday Heather - very nice book haul. You only get one birthday a year and yours sounds like it was well spent:)

Going back to reply to messages:

#55 Thank you Mamie! I hope you enjoy Uncle Silas.

#56 Thank you Susan - I will check out the radio series. To continue into next year, as in 2015?!

#57 Thanks Judy! The Talisman Ring was a lot of fun.

#58 I hope you enjoy it Amber! I always get nervous when people read things based on my recommendation...

#59 It was Trollope's An Autobiography which made me want to try some of his non Palliser/Barsetshire books and having enjoyed The Three Clerks I think I'll try some others in a casual way (by which I mean probably in publication order but to no set timetable - maybe not everyone's definition of casual) but I may buy them in editions with notes as there were some references in The Three Clerks that went over my head (my knowledge of the Civil Service in the 1850s is clearly not as good as it could be!)

#60 Ilana, I hope you enjoy it! Never thought my comments on Uncle Silas would get so many people interested, but yay!

#67 I'm behind on the P&P thread although reading as far as I did sucked me into another reread of P&P (*shakes fist at Ilana and Liz*)

I think probably the earliest I could do Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister would be April. Would that work for the two of you? If you wanted to do it earlier I can wait and add my questions to the thread when I get to it

#70 Thanks calm :-)

Hi Heather and Happy Birthday!

Heather -looks like I missed your birthday. Hope you has a great day.

>71 souloftherose: Heather, LLBaNaHS is your baby, so whenever you're ready for it I'll be happy to read along. Usually we have plenty of advance notice for these things, which is good, that way I can plan it for whenever suits you best.

Happy, happy Heather and many, many more.

11 books is a nice haul Heather and a focused one too with all the VMCs. Perfect for your birthday.

Happy, happy Birthday, Heather!

I'm behind, of course... Happy Birthday!

Belated Happy Birthday, Heather. Sounds like you had a wonderful day, and got the best present of all, BOOKS!!

Happy belated birthday!

More birthday wishes! Thank you Pat, Rhian, Bonnie, Roni, Jim, Judy and Hannah!

#77 Paul, when you said 11 books I did a double-take. Really?! I bought that many?! Um, yes.

#75 Ok, I will suggest April to Liz and see how she's fixed. (And we need to come up with a better acronym - LLBaNaHS is still too hard to remember!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Currently very happily absorbed in a reread of Pride and Prejudice. I've also started Nancy Mitford's Highland Fling on my commute: I bought The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford for my kindle as a post-holiday treat and am hoping to read through them slowly. It took me a little while to get used to the style of writing but I think I'm going to like Highland Fling well enough; it's quite satirical and sharp.

I'm so glad that your birthday was such a good one - and so profitable in the book line - that I don't feel quite as bad as I might about missing it. Have a very good year, Heather!
And you can get *Penguin Nancy Mitford* for your Kindle in the UK? Doggone it! Why not here?!?!?!?!

Heather, is there a group read of The Last Chronicle of Barset in February? I am planning to read it and thought I chose February because of a group read, but maybe I just dreamt that.

#71: Yes, to continue into 2015, but I don't know how. Last Sunday was the whole of The Warden so I was curious to see what my PVR had series-linked to. This Sunday Barchester Towers starts as a three-parter, which explains it, but maybe they're then taking a break.

A belated happy birthday - that's a lovely book haul!

#83 Thanks Peggy. And sorry the Penguin Nancy Mitford is not available to you :-(

#84 Laura, I was just discussing it with Liz and I think we're considering either starting later this month or in March.

#85 Thanks Susan! Yes, it seems like they must have a break in the schedule if it's going to continue into 2015. I was hopng The Warden might be available for longer on iplayer but today seems to be the last day I have to catch up so I will try to do that today. It will give me an excuse to make progress with a scarf I'm knitting.

>86 souloftherose:: Thanks Heather. I'll probably start it sooner but read it in parallel with other books. So I may not be all that far ahead of you when you begin.

So behind with book reviews - these two are books I read on the flight back to the UK.

Book #4: Farthing by Jo Walton - 4.1 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2006



I've wanted to read this series by Jo Walton for a long time so I was excited to find out that it was being picked up by her new UK publishers and even more excited to find they were offering the first book for 61p on kindle.

Farthing is an alternate history novel set some years after a WWII which ended in 1941 when Rudolf Hess successfully negotiated a peace treaty with the UK. It was the Farthing set with whom the peace treaty was negotiated, a group of upper class Brits who were prominent supporters of appeasement before the war. Now that Britain is at peace, the Farthing set are jostling for political power so whenSir James Thirkie, a prominent member of the Farthing set, is found murdered at a weekend country house party at Farthing House on the eve of a cabinet reshuffle it appears to be a politically motivated murder, especially as a yellow star of David is found pinned to Sir James' body.

Farthing starts as a very good country house murder mystery but eventually turns into a much darker political thriller as we see how quickly nationalism and anti-semitism have come to be accepted in this alternate post-WWII society. All the more believable from having read the Mass Observation diaries collected in Our Hidden Lives and realising how much casual anti-semitism there was in the Britain which won the war. I'm looking forward to Ha'Penny.

#87 Sounds good Laura. I think it's quite a chunkster!

Book #5: Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill - 4 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2006



The adventures of Dr Siri Paiboun, the 70-something coroner from communist Laos, are never boring and this was no exception. I really enjoy Cotterill's somewhat bleak sense of humour and this was the perfect book to read when grumpy due to an inability to sleep on planes.

I was eyeing up Farthing as well but have resisted so far!

You got me with Farthing, Heather. That sounds fascinating. I love history and alternate histories when they are well done. Onto the wishlist!

That's it - I'm giving in and adding the Dr. Siri series to my wishlist!

I'll get back to Dr Siri eventually. I really enjoyed the first 4 books, all borrowed from the library and then dropped off last year for no good reason other than too many books in general. I believe DFtD is actually #3 though. #5 is Curse of the Pogo Stick, which is the next one I'll be reading eventually.

No rush at all on my side for Love Letters Between a Nobleman. I'll be happy to follow along whenever you're ready for it.

Have added Farthing to the WL.

I've been wanting to read Farthing for a while now. I think your review has tipped me into the "Just do it already!" category...

#90 61p Rhian - just saying!

#91 & 94 Julia, Katie - I hope you enjoy Farthing!

#92 Ah ha! Got you Amber!

#93 Hi Ilana. Yes, Disco for the Departed is the 3rd Dr Siri book and I'm hoping to read the 4th, Anarchy and Old Dogs this month. I often have long pauses with series for no good reason - there was a big gap between me reading the 1st and 2nd Dr Siri books despite loving the 1st one. I'm probably reading too many series.

I think LLBaN is fixed for April now.

Book #6: Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey - 4.2 stars
Source: @Elkiedee
Original publication date: 1949



I picked this up expecting a country house murder mystery because Jo Walton credits this book as the inspiration for Farthing. It turns out that Brat Farrar bears no resemblance to the plot or themes of Farthing - it was the post WWII publication date of Brat Farrar and the fact that the latter doesn't feel like a novel set in 1949 that gave Jo Walton the idea for her WWII alternate history novel. As I thoroughly enjoyed Brat Farrar I didn't really mind. (There's an interesting discussion here of the conundrums in establishing when Brat Farrar was set but beware of spoilers.)

Brat Farrar, an orphan, discovers that he bears a striking resemblance to Patrick Ashby, a young man who supposedly comitted suicide seven years ago. If Patrick Ashby were still alive he would shortly be about to inherit the Ashby estate on his 21st birthday. With the assistance of an unscrupulous cousin of the Ashby family, Brat impersonates Patrick to his family but soon finds himself caught up in investigating what happened to the original Patrick. Of course, this is a subject he can't really raise without giving himself away in the process....

Brat Farrar is an unusual crime novel: the reader knows that Brat is an imposter from the start and the mystery surrounding Patrick's disappearance is also fairly obvious. But this doesn't detract from the suspense in the narrative, probably because Tey makes her characters feel so real that I cared about what happened to each of them.

Oops, looks like I missed your birthday, Heather. Well, the very best wishes for a spectacular year are being cybersent to you today.
Fabulous book haul BTW!
I would love to get lost in the English countryside - seems like there would be so much to find and explore. Have a great week!

Book #7: Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold - 3.7 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1986



Read for the Vorkosigan group read.

Shards of Honor was the first book Bujold published in the Vorkosigan saga and also one of the earliest chronologically. It's probably the sort of book that I'd never have picked up if there hadn't been so many recommendations for this series on LT; the cover definitely doesn't make it look like my sort of book and the phrase 'military science fiction' would have had me running a mile, which just goes to show how wrong you can be because I love this series.

There are spaceships and battles but it's the people, their relationships and the ethical and moral issues Bujold includes that I love. As an earlier novel, Shards of Honor isn't the strongest in the series but it held up very well to a reread.

#96 Thanks Lynda. Yes, it was beautiful countryside to get lost in and it certainly helped that the sun was shining!

Book #8: Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold - 4.3 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1991



Barrayar is a direct sequel to Shards of Honor and picks up at almost exactly the point where Shards of Honor stopped. I feel like I really struggle to get my thoughts together about these books but I find them completely absorbing and quite as Bujold doesn't really hold back when it comes to putting her characters in tough situations.

Book #9: Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey - 3.9 stars
Source: @elkiedee
Original publication date: 1946



Another unusual crime novel from Miss Tey (does she write 'usual' crime novels I wonder?); the mystery itself doesn't occur until about 50 pages before the end of the book and when it does happen the story doesn't really focus on the investigation. What the story does focus on throughout the book is the characters and their psychology. Miss Pym is a psychologist who goes to give a talk at her friend's boarding school and ends up staying with them for several weeks and getting to know the female students. Again, as it's a mystery, you know something bad is going to happen to someone and I suspect a lot of the suspense comes from the fact that you care about all the characters (which is not to say that they're all nice characters, but I felt that I would miss them if anything happened to one of them). Tey also raises some very interesting questions about the moral responsibility an individual has to act on knowledge they may have and the ways in which an individual's decisions may affect others.

Heather, I really enjoyed your reviews of both Brat Farrar and Miss Pym Disposes. They were the first two books by Josephine Tey that I read and she immediately won a place on my favorite author's list.

I am also really enjoying the Vokosigan Series, having read the first two and I'm looking forward to The Warrior's Apprentice in March.

So pleased that you enjoyed Farthing, Heather. I got it from Book Depo this month and am looking forward to it.

I do love and adore Brat Farrar, and I'm glad that you did too. I should reread everything that you've been reporting on and give Farthing a first trial too.

I have several Teys on my shelf Heather but not these two. I really do want to give her a try sometime soonish. And Farthing sounds too good not to make it onto my teetering tower. Heh, looks like you've done some damage;-)

Your Tey were reviews were interesting, Heather. I have those books on my kindle but didn't know enough about them to know whether I wanted to read them or not. Now I do, and I do!

I love your flurry of reviews! I've got the Teys on my TBR....

Belated Happy Birthday wishes!

Sorry - I've not been on LT lately. Brat Farrar - I saw the series years ago, with Mark Greenstreet in the title role, and the name stuck with me. I've never read it, though. Perhaps … oh, OK; another addition to the TBR pile.

#102 Thanks Judy! I'd like to read more by Tey - I have another 2/3 of her books on my shelf.

#103 Hope you enjoy Farthing Paul.

#104 Farthing's definitely worth a try Peggy. :-)

#105 Oops, sorry Bonnie! I have a few other book by Tey in her Alan Grant series so I need to see what those are like.

#106 Hope you enjoy them Kerry!

#107 Thanks Katie. I seem to only do reviews in flurries at the moment. Another flurry coming up!

#108 Thanks Nina! No need to apologise. I hadn't realised there was a TV series of Brat Farrar.

Book #11: The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey - 3.5 stars
Source: Abebooks
Original publication date: 1953



The Orchid House is the story of three white sisters who, having grown up on the island of Dominica before marrying and moving away, return one by one over the course of several weeks. Told alternately through the voice of their old nurse Lally and through the voice of the sisters themselves it becomes clear that despite moving away from the island and marrying non-islanders, none of the sisters have really been able to leave the island or their love for their childhood friend, Andrew, behind. The descriptions of the island are vivid and evocative but I never felt as drawn into the characters and story as I expected.

The afterword to the Virago edition discussed Phyllis Shand Allfrey and Jean Rhys, another Dominican author who is most famous for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea. The two authors never met but corresponded throughout their lives and Jean Rhys was going to write a preface for the planned republication of The Orchid House but sadly died before she could do so.

"Beauty and disease, beauty and sickness, beauty and horror: that was the island. A quartering breeze hurried eastward, over cotton tufts of clouds; the air was soft and hot; colour drenched everything, liquid turquoise melted into sapphire and then into emerald."

Book #12: The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace - 3.7 stars
Source: Abebooks
Original publication date: 1930



Another unusual crime novel: The Documents in the Case is a collection of letters and other notes which have been gathered together by a certain Paul Harrison and addressed to a Sir Gilbert Pugh with a note which includes a plea that he will gave the case his "most careful consideration" and makes reference to Paul's late father. From this the reader can guess who has died but not how or why but slowly, as the characters of the various individuals become clearer from reading the letters and notes included in the book, we start to form a picture of what has happened. The 'how' is particularly clever and involves quite a detailed scientific explanation for which Sayers is apparently indebted to her co-author, Robert Eustace. There are also several detailed discussions about life from a scientific perspective. I did end up feeling that this book was perhaps strictly more clever than enjoyable but Sayers' fans will want to read it anyway.

Book #13: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather - 4.1 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 1913



I love Willa Cather for the way she manages to evoke a place and time for me with her writing. In O Pioneers! she writes about the immigrants farming in Nebraska in the late 19th/early 20th century. The land is hard and cruel at first and many of the farming families give up, but Alexandra Bergson has a gift for farming and such a strong love for the Nebraskan landscape that she persuades her two older brothers to stay and stick it out after their father dies.

Cather herself described this as "a slow-moving story, without 'action', without 'humour', without a 'hero'; a story concerned entirely with heavy farming people, with cornfields and pasture lands and pig yards - set in Nebraska of all places!". But there's something compelling about her depiction of Alexandra and the strength she finds in the Nebraskan landscape so that although this is not a book with much happiness in it, I still found it uplifting in many ways.

Book #14: Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford - 3 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 1931



Highland Fling is Nancy Mitford's first novel and I found it to be a rather uneven satire about a Scottish country house party hosted by a group of young people at the request of some relatives. The guests are all older upper-class types who the bright young things hosting find rather ridiculous and the reader is encouraged to do the same. However, this reader also found the bright young things rather ridiculous and I can't work out whether that was something Mitford intended or just the result of reading this novel 80 years after it was first published. Some funny moments but more uneasy ones.

Book #15: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 5 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1813



A reread because I got sucked in by the tutored read between Liz and Ilana. As good as it always is and the questions & discussions on the tutored read thread were really helpful.

Woo hoo! Caught up with my January reviews!

Delighted you enjoyed your reread of Pride and Prejudice so much, Heather! I'm inspired to do the same.

Congrats on the reviews Heather. I lurked on my last few visits so going back to you Brat Farrar review, you've made me want to reread it as I felt I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have the first time; I think I was expecting something different. Another book by Tey I will reread eventually is The Daughter of Time, when I have understood a little bit more about the princes in the tower and Richard III. In the meantime though, I still have Miss Pym Disposes to look forward to. I need to pick up where I left off with The Lord Peter Wimsey series, I really loved the three by Dorothy L. Sayers I've read so far.

Since there are several of you reading the Lois McMaster Bujold series, of course I keep reading glowing reviews about it, but still, the notion of 'military science fiction' really turns me off! :-b

Wow! Just...WOW, Heather!

Look at all those reviews, Heather! I am interested in the Tey, the Sayers, and the Cather, and your reviews give me a good sense of whether I would like them or not (I would say yes to all). Thanks (I think) for expanding my wishlist even further.

#116 You can never reread Pride and Prejudice too many times Nancy :-)

#117 Ilana, I've had The Daughter of Time for a while and have been meaning to read it. I understand it stands alone although as it's the 5th book in the series I'm inclined to try and read the earlier books first.

The military science fiction tag was initially a turn off for me too but in an afterword to the omnibus I was recently reading (Young Miles), Bujold describes them as novels of character packaged as military SF and I think that's a fair assessment. Some have more military sf characteristics than others: The Vor Game, which I just finished, made my head spin a bit with all the details but I think that's the most military one in the series.

#118 Thank you Roni! Er, what did I do?

#119 Ha ha! You're welcome Julia :-)

Book #16: The Warrior's Apprentice by Author - 4.2 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1986



The Warrior's Apprentice is a sequel to Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Set several years after the aforementioned novels, the next book in the Vorkosigan saga focuses on Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, the son of Cordelia and Aral, the main characters of the first two books. As a result of a poison gas attack on his mother whilst still in the womb Miles is only 5 feet tall even now he's fully grown, has a hunched back and brittle bones. Despite this, his ambition is to become an officer in the Barrayaran military force like his father but after a bad fall on an obstacle course ruins his application to the military academy Miles is left with his hopes dashed.

Bitterly disappointed, Miles is left wondering what his place in Barrayaran society can ever be. It's a society that, until fairly recently, exposed babies with any physical deformities and left them to die. Miles has only survived due to his non-Barrayaran mother and the privileged place his father holds in Barrayaran society, but even he has to struggle hard to find any acceptance in the eyes of his countrymen. On an offworld visit to his maternal grandmother Miles somehow gets drawn in to a series of events which start with him buying a ship, rescuing a pilot and agreeing to smuggle some weapons past an armed blockade in another system and end with him desperately pretending to be an admiral of the entirely fictional Dendarii Mercenary organisation in the middle of an interplanetary war. It's quite a rollercoaster ride but Bujold throws in enough serious issues that I found my laughter was often mixed with tears.

It's possible to start reading the Vorkosigan series here, which was what I did the first time I read the book before going back and reading the prequels. This time, coming to the book with the events of Shards of Honor and Barrayar fresh in my mind, I found certain storylineshave had much more of an impact.

You've been busy with some wonderful reads lately! Excellent reviews!

Hi Heather!

I'm glad you're enjoying the Vorkosigan novels. I tried Shards of Honor and couldn't get into it. I'm thinking it might be a mood issue though, so I may try it again at a later date. Everyone seems to be having so much fun with those novels. I want fun too! :-)

#112 - Glad you enjoyed the Cather. That will probably be the next Cather novel I read. She may be becoming one of my favorite authors. She definitely had the power to transport readers.

I'm so behind on threads and I've missed yours for a while! I'm so sorry!

I love your thread topper! What a lovely picture! :) I hope you had a wonderful holiday in Uganda!

Hi there Heather. You are certainly cranking out one great review after another. I don't blame you in the least for getting sucked into the Pride and Prejudice. I think the same thing might happen to me next month with Sense and Sensibilty:-)

You did all those great reviews, that's what you did!

So many great reviews, Heather! I am looking forward to picking up The Warrior's Apprentice in March and getting to know Miles after enjoying the first two books that featured his parents.

A posey for you my dear:

Heather, I'm pleased and a bit envious that you're reading so many of the books I love one after the other. Good for you! I should reread too..... I'm not though - at least not right now. *sigh*
Hope you did something lovely for Valentine's Day.

Heather - I only found your thread this morning so a belated Happy Brithday and welcome back from your trip from me. I've added Farthing to my tbr list as I've enjoyed two alternate histories about WW2 lately and still have Fatherland to read.

I'll have to track down The talisman ring which I've probably read before when in my teens and now you have me hunkering for a reread of an Austen.

I've just found your thread, Heather; and about time, too. Super reviews!

I see you've been (re)reading some of my favorite books and yet have managed to hit me with a BB for the Vorkosigan series. I like novels of character and am rediscovering my affection for science fiction.

Oh, and I need to re-read Farthing so I can go on to Ha'penny.

Sigh. So much reading, so very little time...

Book #17: The Love Child by Edith Olivier - 5 stars
Source: @soupdragon
Original publication date: 1927



When Agatha Bodenham finds herself alone in life following the death of her mother, she turns for companionship to the only friend she's ever known: Clarissa, an imaginary friend Agatha conjured up as a child. After many years of loneliness and emptiness, Agatha finds great pleasure and consolation in the imaginary world she inhabits with Clarissa but then Clarissa starts to gain substance and becomes visible to others. What is Agatha to do?

This slim volume is a gem of a book. It's a delightful fantasy story or fable which also touches on darker themes of possession and obssession. I couldn't put it down and read through it a day - such a shame that this is once again out of print and I'm very grateful to Dee for my copy.

"Like many other only children, when Agatha was a little girl she had created for herself an imaginary companion, who shared everything with her. Clarissa had been as real as a brother or sister of flesh and blood - and far more amenable - and because of her Agatha had never felt her childhood to be a lonely one.
...
For Clarissa had been alive - more alive to Agatha than any of the real people who had moved about, around her. The creation of Clarissa was the fruit of the one active movement of Agatha's mind. Clarissa had taken shape. She had possessed not only a name, but a personality of her own. She had responded to Agatha's cry for companionship with what had seemed to be a real living voice."

Wow Heather, you are certainly whizzing through the books so far this year! And what a lot of interesting ones too! I have wish listed Farthing, as a good alternate history is a fine thing. So many are written with major wars as themes - I guess because they are unquestionably times when history changed course dramatically. I think we've discussed it before, but I do urge you to read The Man in the High Castle if you like WWII based AHs.

#122 Thanks Amber!

#123 Hi Kerri. Sorry Shards of Honor didn't work for you this time. Not everyone's liked the Vorkosigan novels but I find them a lot of fun. I don't think Roni's ever steered me wrong when it comes to sf or fantasy.

I was hoping to read another Cather, The Song of the Lark this month, but I think I overestimated how much I could read in a short month! I'll probably read One of Ours in March as that's the next book in the Virago WWI read.

#124 No need to apologise Tina - thanks for stopping by!

#125 Hi Bonnie! I'm looking forward to reread Sense and Sensibility next month, especially with Liz tutoring :-)

#126 Aw, thanks Roni :-)

#127 Thanks Judy!

#128 Thank you Ilana!

I was hoping to reply to all the messages before I had to pop out but didn't quite manage it. Off to the dentist (just a check up but still not my favourite activity) - back later!

Right, back from dentist - teeth all fine but I need to floss more (I always need to floss more, I always mean to and I never do).

#129 Thank you Peggy. We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day but we had a nice evening and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still had enough energy left to cook something for dinner. Doesn't often happen on a Friday!

#130 Hi Kerry - welcome back!

#131 Hi Gail! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the Vorkosigan series when you get to it.

"Sigh. So much reading, so very little time..." So very true!

#133 Thanks Hannah! The Man in the High Castle is definitely on the list - it's just the list is so long!

I have a visit to the dentist today also. Must get ready for it now in fact. Ugh. I never flossed regularly but since the last two years I can't do without and can't imagine I ever skipped it.

Hi Heather - I just found you. You've done a lot of good reading so far this year. My favorite Tey is The Daughter of Time, but I haven't read the ones you just did. I heard somewhere that Tey is a mystery writer for people who don't like mysteries -- or something to that effect.

Farthing sounds interesting also.

I get lectured about flossing, too. I floss every day, but apparently not thoroughly enough.

Just looking in and saying 'hi'.

Dental hygiene is a favored form of conversation, I've found, when it happens to come up by accident.
Heather, you've persuaded me that The Love Child will be my next VMC. I certainly had an imaginary friend growing up - Grin, who had the bouncing brown curls that I lacked. And my friend had Hoff-Hoff, Petunia, and Perspiration in her train for years. Wonder why we didn't give them real names?

Personally, I think dentists and hygienists probably have to pass some test in which all they do is repeat ad nauseum, "You need to floss more." The only time I have heard of someone NOT being told this was my husband's most recent appointment. When I asked him how it went, he said "fine," and I said, "Let me guess, though, you need to floss more." And he said, "No, Penny (the hygienist) said she could tell I was flossing." At which point I started guffawing because the man has NEVER flossed in the seven years I have known him.

So happy you enjoyed The Love-Child Heather :)

Heather - Hani is a flosser but myself not overly so unless I feel something is stuck and I can't get it out by a regular brush.
Lovely to see Dee posting too.

>144 PaulCranswick:: Hello Paul! Yes, mostly lurking or absent these days but hope to get back to the 75ers eventually!

I hope you do too, Dee. Miss you lots round here. xx

Hi Heather! Haven't posted on your thread yet, but I saw your review of The Love Child and thought I'd drop in to say that you've added yet another to my TBR pile. Gee, thanks a lot. ;)

And I also know the fuility of trying to prevent yourself from rereading Pride and Prejudice when the urge strikes. Never, ever gets old.

>142 katiekrug:: so what is it with men getting away w/o flossing? My husband has heard the exact same thing from the hygienist, and he doesn't floss either.

Oh, that's too funny, Laura!

Re dentists: we are not the only ones to find dentistry an interesting conversational gambit. The following quote is from Diary of a Provincial Lady.

June 1st - ... The Colonel sits next to me at lunch, and we talk about fishing, which I have never attempted, and look upon as cruelty to animals, but this, with undoubted hypocrisy and moral cowardice, I conceal. Robert has My sister Violet, and I hear him at intervals telling her about the pigs, which seems odd, but she looks pleased, so perhaps is interested.
Conversation suddenly becomes general, as topic of present-day Dentistry is introduced by Lady F. We all, except Robert, who eats bread, have much to say.
(Mem.: Remember to direct conversation into similar channel, when customary periodical deathly silence descends upon guests at my own table.)

>150 CDVicarage: Oh what a wonderful excerpt! I have Diary of a Provincial Lady and look forward to reading it.

My dental hygienist this week gave me a glowing report card, and also almost had me convinced I need to sign up to a gym or yoga studio and get active again. Nothing new there. She had one of those exercise balls as a chair to work on. Very fit. Very young and vibrant and slim. A jogger. All things I've been at different times in my life, but not now. Somehow, to make myself feel a little better, I thought to myself "I bet she doesn't have much time to read though". :-)

Wow - who knew that a visit to the dentist would result in so many comments? :-)

#137 Ilana, I'm ashamed to admit I still haven't flossed since visiting the dentist this week. Maybe tonight?

#138 Hi Beth! I think I've been lurking on thread but haven't said anything yet - mea culpa.

"I heard somewhere that Tey is a mystery writer for people who don't like mysteries -- or something to that effect." That would make sense - the ones I've read have definitely been structured in a different way to a typical mystery/crime novel.

#139 Laura, that will probably be what the dentist tells me if I do start flossing everyday! I ought to do it, I'm sure I'd get some benefit from it...

#140 Hi Connie!

#141 Peggy, I do hope you enjoy The Love Child. I too had an imaginary friend but I don't think I named him/her (in fact I'm not sure if he/she had a gender). But then I never did really name things when I was very young. My teddy bear was called Teddy. I'd put it down to lack of imagination but I had plenty when it came to other things, I just didn't seem to give much thought to naming things.

#142 Katie - that's so funny! And I'm sure you're right about dentists always telling you to floss more. My husband has annoyingly good teeth and he doesn't floss or even visit the dentist at the moment (although I think he may be storing trouble up for himself there...).

#143 And I'm so glad you gave me your spare copy Dee :-) (Yay - Dee!)

#144 Paul, yours is my normal approach but apparently it's not one my dentist would recommend...

#147 Welcome Paige :-) I will go and hunt down your thread and I do hope you enjoy The Love Child - such an unusual book.

#148 Bah to husbands with unfairly good teeth!

#150 Kerry - are you reading the new Persephone edition? I bought a copy with my birthday money and you may have just pushed it up to the top of my pile for a reread. Thanks for sharing the quote.

#151 Pleased you got a clean bill of health for your teeth Ilana! Maybe if she couldn't recommend more flossing she felt she had to recommend something to you? Yoga sounds more attractive to me than the gym although I am notoriously unsupple - when I was 12 my ballet teacher told me I had the back of an old lady! That was after 10 years of doing ballet every week - I don't think I'm a naturally bendy person.

"I bet she doesn't have much time to read though". :-) I bet she doesn't! Can you do yoga to an audiobook?

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This week is not going particularly well. As one example, this afternoon I travelled to our London office in Canary Wharf for a meeting (about a 2hr round trip from my normal office) only to find that the lady I'd gone to meet didn't show up. She didn't have the courtesy to contact the meeting organiser to cancel or to try and rearrange the meeting. When we called her to ask her where she was, she said she was 'really busy' and couldn't come. 4 people had travelled into London to have this meeting with her and we couldn't get anywhere without her. Really??

And, when I made the trip home I discovered that I had stupidly bought the wrong train ticket and had to buy another. And the car failed its MOT. And my husband has a bad cold. And work is just ridiculous at the moment and I've been asked to help with another project on top of all the ridiculousness. And... (Oh wait, I was only supposed to give one example).

I ate two (that's right, two) Cadbury's creme eggs on the train on the way home and it helped. Also my copy of The Last Chronicle of Barset arrived for the group read next month. And the cat has been pretty cute this evening.

You deserved those Cadbury creme eggs today, Heather!! You're going to love the Trollope (I'm up to chapter 45 or something like that now).

I can't believe the rudeness of that woman not to show up with nary a word! Where do these people come from?!?!

I think you'll love the Trollope too, Heather! Btw, it goes great with Cadbury Creme Eggs : ).

Of course I bought the new Persephone edition! I've added it to my collection, which now numbers ten, including omnibuses and separate copies of all four different books. They look lovely on my shelves but I nearly always read them on my kindle these days...

How incredibly rude of that woman! Two Cadbury eggs was very reasonable, all things considered.

I'm sure I could do yoga while listening to audiobooks, but it might be counterproductive what with making it more difficult to concentrate on my breath and try to have a quiet mind and whatnot...

You definitely deserved the Cadbury eggs and that woman deserved 20 lashes.

I have my dental check-up next Tuesday.

After a day like that Heather, it's a wonder you didn't plow through an entire box of Cadbury Creme Eggs. I think I might've. The audacity of that woman is incredible. How in the world does she keep her job?? I'm really looking forward to a return to Trollope:-)

About flossing, my dental hygienist is a great fan of little brushes to use between teeth, like theese. She never talkes about flossing.



Heather, I completely agree with brenzi! I think you restrained your self courageously.

Oh no, a trip to Canary Wharf for no reason, how annoying! If I was you I'd have taken a diversion on the way home via a nice bookshop or two! Glad Erica is treating you well to make up for it.

On dentists - mine always tells me to brush better and floss more. And that I eat my food too hot which I really don't think I do very often but they always say it so I guess I must. My wisdom tooth (or lack of) has settled down already, I'm eating without even thinking about it, still a little achy if I push on it with my tongue but otherwise fine.

I see you've read Quiet: the power of introverts, it sounds interesting, what did you think?

#160> Connie, I've never seen those little flossing brushes or whatever they call them. I would like that much better than flossing, I think. I wonder if they have them over here ...

Thanks Laura, Katie, Nancy, Ilana, Roni, Bonnie, Connie and Jo for the sympathy! I'm glad the weekend is here :-)

#153 & 155 I'm very much looking forward to the Trollope. Trollope and Cadbury's Creme Eggs sounds like a great combination!

#156 Well, I had to go and peruse your catalogue to see your different editions Kerry and they are lovely. :-)

#158 Hope your check up goes well Roni!

#160 I think I've seen those before Connie - I might ask the hygienist about them next time. I do find it difficult to get the floss to the back teeth.

#161 Glad to hear your fully recovered from your wisdom tooth extraction, Jo. I've never heard of food being too hot causing dental problems before.

I'm still musing over Quiet which I guess means it was thought-provoking, if nothing else! I think it's worth a read if you find the subject matter interesting and haven't read similar books before.

Book #18: Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - 3.7 stars
Source: Christmas present
Original publication date: 1864



"Is Sir mad?" she cried.
I nodded.
"And he's taking you with him?"
Affirmative.
"Where?"
I pointed to the centre of the Earth.
"Down to the cellar?"
"No, further!"

It's been many years since I read Verne's story of exploration and adventure and although I have read an unabridged version as an adult, what I remember is the abridged children's edition I read when young and the pictures of the vast underground caverns Axel and his uncle discover. What I'd forgotten was how much of the story involves Axel and his uncle travelling to Iceland simply to get to the great volcano whose passages they were going to explore, and how much discussion there is of rock formations! Thankfully I seemed to remember enough from my school geography lessons to get by. I still found the characters of and interaction between the anxious Axel, his strong-willed uncle, the Professor, and their taciturn guide Hans a lot of fun to read.

Jules Verne has never enjoyed the reputation in the English speaking world that he has amongst French speakers. In English he's dismissed as a children's author or a writer of genre fiction - I personally don't understand why either of those things stops someone from being an author worthy of study or reading so I was happy to see from the introduction to this edition that William Butcher agrees with me and does a good job of defending Verne.

Butcher also does a good job of explaining the issues with translations which have dogged the English editions of Verne's works. A large number of the early translations of his books into English were awful with some translators leaving out sections they didn't like or disagreed with and some adding new sections themselves. An early translation of Journey to the Centre of the Earth changed the main characters' names (why?) and in Butcher's own words, "finishes each paragraph with at least one totally invented sentence". There are now good modern translations of most of Verne's works but the bad translations are out of copyright and are often reused in the cheap classics editions. I've found this website indispensible when trying to find good English translations and it rates the books edited and translated by Butcher and published by Oxford World's Classics very highly. There's also a review of the different translations of Journey to the Centre of the Earth itself on this website which I found illuminating.

I'm hoping not to leave such a long gap between this and my next Verne which will be From the Earth to the Moon which has recently been translated into English by Ron Miller.

Book #19: Consequences by E. M. Delafield - 3.9 stars
Source: Project Gutenberg
Original publication date: 1919

E. M. Delafield's Consequences is a world away from the light-hearted humour shown in her Provincial Lady. This is a truly heart-rending story of Alex Clare, a young woman growing up in late Victorian England, who struggles to overcome her desperate need for love and affection and to whom is shown so little of either by her family. Alex struggles with people's expectations of her, particularly when it comes to marriage and after breaking off an engagement, she decides to enter a convent, believing for a while that here, finally she will find the deep love and peace that she has so long been searching for. After 10 years in the convent, Alex realises that she has once again made a terrible mistake and after a long battle, leaves the convent and returns home. But her parents are now dead and the question of how she is to live is not one she has really thought through...

This is most definitely not a book with a happy ending - or with anything at all positive occurring in it but it was compelling and interesting. It felt like a cry from the heart and I was interested to read on wikipedia that this may be a semi-autobiographical novel as there were many similarities between Alex's circumstances and Delafield's. It's recommended if you can cope with being put through the wringer by it. Although this had a very different setting and style, it reminded me of My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin which was another semi-autobiographical novel about a young woman struggling to cope with the restrictions placed on her by society.

#164 I read this recently, Heather. I got my copy from Project Gutenberg (I think) so I must check the translation. I mostly remembered it from the film with James Mason! I enjoyed the story and found it funnier than I expected; I think the geology went over my head.

Now that you've read the book, check out Rick Wakeman's musical interpretation of Journey to the Center of the Earth!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_Centre_of_the_Earth_(album)

Let me know about the brushes. I like to know if they are available in the USA.

Hi Heather, my son's orthodontist gave him those little brushes to clean his braces where a toothbrush won't do the job. It amazes me he's even using them. Must be the novely. Have a good weekend!

Heather, wonderful review of Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

>163 souloftherose: - apparently I have scar tissue in my mouth. Personally I think it's from all the mouth ulcers rather than too hot food but hey ho...

When I read Verne's From The Earth To The Moon I found it shelved in the children's section. Where else would you put a work that opens with an extended satire on warmongering arms manufacturers?

Coincidentally, while you were reading Consequences, I was reading Delafield's later take on the same theme, Thank Heaven Fasting. Comparing the two, Penelope Fitzgerald says in her afterword, "We must accept that comedy is crueller than tragedy." Upsetting stuff.

Those are really cute little brushes. I'll try to remember to ask about them next time I get my teeth cleaned too.
Oh Heather, I'm REALLY glad that your weekend is here, and I hope that you're making the most (or the least - as in, doing nothing?) of it. Cats, books, the pool, Cadbury Creme Eggs - all good for what ails you.

Ha!

My copy of The Mysterious Mr Quin is in an omnibus, so I was picking out an individual cover image to use, running my eye over the uploaded covers and finally picked out the one I liked best...

..."uploaded by souloftherose February 2014".

Why am I not surprised? We KNOW we have excellent taste! :D

I've been meaning to read some Jules Verne for ages. Must get around to him this year.

Heather, sorry to hear about your wasted trip to the wilds of E14 :-) We don't even have any decent bookshops out here - just Waterstones. Perhaps that is a bit rude, but I always think how well a branch of Daunt Books would do here. There is plenty of money around, going by the crowds at HMV and all the restaurants!

I had a client pull a similar stunt a year or so ago - I'd been planning a day of holiday after a huge thing came to an end but the meeting was in my diary so I came in for it, and spent the day archiving while I waited...and waited...and waited. We got no explanation at all. I suppose at least I got the archiving done.

#166 Hi Kerry. I think I looked at the Gutenberg translation of Journey to the Centre of the Earth and it was listed as an adequate translation on the website I linked to. I also found there to be more humour than I remembered in the story. Not sure why I bogged down so much in the geology.

#167 Wow! Thanks Jim - I had no idea there was an album inspired by the book. I've found the album on spotify and I'm listening as I type!

#168 & 169 Hi Connie and Lynda. Sounds like the brushes are available in the US Connie. I'll look out for them here too.

#170 Thank you Nancy!

#171 Ah, I see. I would have guessed the ulcers were the cause too.

#172 "Where else would you put a work that opens with an extended satire on warmongering arms manufacturers?" Where else, indeed!

Reading Consequences has made me want to read more by Delafield, although I might need a bit of a gap before I try another bleak book...

#173 We had a very restful weekend, thank you Peggy. Got a few bits done but mainly rested.

#174 Hee hee! It's a lovely cover - I was glad my abebooks purchase gave me one I liked (it doesn't always).



#175 Rhian, if you don't already have a copy I recommend the Oxford World's Classics editions.

#176 "We don't even have any decent bookshops out here - just Waterstones. Perhaps that is a bit rude" Even if it's rude I feel the same way! The Canary Wharf Waterstones is a fairly poor example of a Waterstones branch in any case. I wonder whether a bigger branch or a Daunt would do well though - there's plenty of money but to my parochial, country mindset everything in Canary Wharf is so glittery, modern and fast-paced I don't know if people would want to stop and browse for books. But I've never liked the massive underground shopping centre under Canary Wharf very much.

I need to write some book reviews, but instead I want to carry on reading In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden, so I think I am going to pour myself another cup of tea and do that instead!

Hi Heather, just dropping by to catch up on the latest. I've been lurking quite a lot these last few days, so had been by before but left no comment. I enjoyed your review of the Delafield book, but I think I would rather stick to Provincial Lady at the moment. Consequences on the other hand sounds just like the kind of thing I need to be avoiding these days, but I'm glad it worked for you.

That Christie cover really is very nice, love it!

#179 Hi Ilana. I can definitely understand needing to say no to Consequences at the moment. I did think at one point that I might need to put it as if myself, but in the end I was ok for some reason. My reread of Provincial Lady was delightful, however.

I am feeling rather curmudgeonly as I finished Longbourn today and ended up feeling less than impressed with it. I quite liked the first two thirds of the book but really lost interest when we got to the Napoleonic Wars section. Unfortunately my next kindle read was going to be Georgette Heyer's An Infamous Army which is also about the Napoleonic Wars and I feel all Napoleoned out.... It's also longer than a normal Heyer so given that I don't think I'll finish it before the end of the month (for TIOLI shared read purposes) anyway, I think I will put the Heyer to one side and try something else.

NOOOOOO!!!!!

Honestly, some people have no consideration...

{*grumble, sulk*}

>180 souloftherose:: I think I will put the Heyer to one side and try something else.
Like Trollope, maybe? :)

Hi Heather - Great restraint at eating only TWO Cadbury eggs after your bad day. I would have gone for more. Chocolate does make things better, though.

>181 lyzard: Liz, I'm sorry. I squeezed in Mr Quin for you though...!

>182 lauralkeet: Laura, I'm about to start the Trollope. :-) For my kindle book I'm reading Whispers Under Ground as I needed something fun and different.

>183 BLBera: Thanks Beth! Also the Cadbury Eggs are only available this time of year so I need to make the most of them. Yep.

It's 2nd March and you wouldn't believe how many Feb book write-ups I need to do:

Book #19.5: The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold - 4.1 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1989



A short novella which takes place after the events in The Warrior's Apprentice. This is much more of a mystery than military science fiction. Miles is asked to investigate the death of a country woman's baby - the initial ruling was that the baby died of natural causes but the mother claims she was murdered. Although infanticide due to physical birth defects is now illegal it is not uncommon in remote areas. Given Miles' own disabilities this short story works both as a good mystery and as an exploration of disability and discrimnation. It was also interesting to see Miles' character develop from The Warrior's Apprentice.

Book #20: More Talk of Jane Austen by Sheila Kaye-Smith and G. B. Stern - 4.1 stars
Source: Cobbles Bookshop
Original publication date: 1949



A delighful, chatty follow-up to Talking of Jane Austen by the same authors. I don't always agree with them (they hate Fanny Price and Mansfield Park) but I always enjoy reading their discussions. My favoruite chapter was 'Towards Perfect Felicity' in which Shila Kaye-Smith gives a spirited defence of Jane Austen's treatment of marriage and specifically the accusation that she writes about nothing else ("Those whose coarse pleasure it is to breathe on the glass of perfection have accused Jane Austen of concentrating her ideas exclusively on the business of getting married. Her heroines, they say, have no other interest and almost no other occupation.") but it was hard to choose a favourite.

Book #21: The Purcell Papers by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - 3.5 stars
Source: Project Gutenberg
Original publication date: 1880 (collection)



This collection of Le Fanu's stories was published in 1880 but the stories themselves were mainly written and published separately between 1838 and 1840. Each is purportedly a narrative written down by Father Purcell, an 18th century Irish Catholic priest.

The stories are a real mix of style and genre. Some are creepy and gothic: Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess is the short story which was reworked into his later novel, Uncle Silas. I would recommend reading Uncle Silas first but I enjoyed seeing the original version and noting the differences. One important change between the original and the final novel meant I found the original story even darker and more gruesome. I wonder if the original version was considered too much for English novel readers?

A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family was another gothic mystery with a Bluebeard theme. The Bluebeard motif seems to have been a favourite of Le Fanu's and was also worked into Uncle Silas. This story bears some strong similarities to Jane Eyre although I don't know whether Charlotte Bronte would have read the Irish magazine this was originally published in.

Some stories were surprisingly comic: "Jim Sulivan's Adventures in the Great Snow" was a humourous story about a man who gets stuck by a snowstorm and arrives home a few days later to find his wife has given him up for dead and remarried. There's some fun had at the expense of rural Irish superstition as his wife and new husband believe him to be an undead spirit and ask the local priest to exorcise him.

Some stories I liked less than others: Scraps of Hibernian Ballads is exactly what it says - some ballads written in Irish brogue and stories like The Bridal of Carrigvarah, a story about a man who is killed by his fiance's brother after the brother finds out he was already married, which seem to have been based on real historical events were less enjoyable for not knowing anything about the historical background.

The Austen book and its predecessor sound interesting. My daughter and I recently had a little chat about our favorite Austen books and characters. If she weren't taking an Austen course at university right now, she'd probably be interested in something like this too.

I'd love to read the two sheila Kaye-Smith/G. B. Stern Jane Austen books.

Book #22: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold - 3.4 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1990



Still enjoyable but spaceship battles and tactics are not my favourite parts of this series and this book contains a lot of both. It also suffers from being an extended version of an earlier novella, The Weatherman - reading the novel you can see where the original novella ended and the rest of the book began and it does feel tacked on. Recommended if you're a fan of the series but definitely not a good place to start.

>188 lauralkeet: Laura, because this book is chatty rather than more academic literary criticism, your daughter may still enjoy it despite taking an Austen course?

>189 CDVicarage: They are lovely books, Kerry.

>191 souloftherose: good to know, Heather, thank you!

Hi Heather - The La Fanu and the Austen book both sound interesting. On to the list they go.

Hello Heather

I'm way behind on your thread. What a wonderful opening photo.

I've addded Uncle Silas to the tbr pile.

Happy Sunday to you!

>193 BLBera: & >194 Whisper1: Beth, Linda - I hope you both enjoy discovering Le Fanu.

Re the Jane Austen books, I should have said that in the US they're published under slightly different titles: Speaking of Jane Austen and More about Jane Austen (because in the US people don't talk? Baffling)

Hi Heather! Uncle Silas is yet another that I've never read. *sigh* My recollection is that Peter Wimsey or Harriet Vane or both approve of Le Fanu because he doesn't tuck the shroud in neatly behind the ghost. Anybody else remember the actual quotation? Heather? Liz?

I'm going to see if my library has the Austen books, Heather.

You've really only 3 more books where the Dendarii are a major part of the action, and they are planet-bound for at least one of those. I don't really consider Bujold's Vorkosigan books milsf--the military space aspect of it is never the core of the plot. And one of the things I like about The Vor Game is to see Gregor come into his own. Other than that, it and Borders of Infinity are the weakest plotting of the series, imho.

>196 LizzieD: Peggy, your memory is better than mine! I had no recollection of a Wimsey/Vane reference but wikipedia says that Le Fanu was the author Harriet was researching in Gaudy Night so perhaps thats where the shroud reference came from?

>197 ronincats: I hope you can find them Roni! I'm reassured to hear you thought The Vor Game was one of the weaker novels in the Vorkosigan series. Cetaganda's next up in that series, not sure if I will get to it this month or not.

Apologies for neglecting my thread, I don't seem to be feeling very talkative at the moment. I think a touch of depression, a definite reviews funk and a small reading funk are the cause, so I'm going to briefly list the rest of my February reads to get over the backlog:



#23 Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie - 3.7 stars - Tommy and Tuppence take over a detective agency and look to popular detective stories of the time for their inspiration. Thanks to Liz, I've now heard of a lot of these detective stories even if I still haven't read most of them but I think the Tommy and Tuppence stories are still good fun even if you don't know what they're referencing.

#24 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - I'm leaving this one unrated because I still can't make up my mind what rating to give it. Cain draws on a lot of research in this book which is ostensibly about introverts although it also includes other personality traits. I found this both confusing and helpful: helpful in the sense that I identify with the other personality traits she discusses but confusing because she conflates them all in the book so I never felt very clear whether we were discussing introvert traits or highly sensitive/highly reactive traits. If you haven't read much on this subject before then I think Cain's book would be a good starting point but as she mainly seems to be drawing on other books/research throughout I suppose this book will be redundant if you've already read those other books.

#25 A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin - 3.5 stars - I found it almost impossible to keep track of all the characters in this book: partly because I'd left it a year since reading the preceding volume in the series and partly because the character list explodes in this book. As a result, this was sometimes very slow-going although I felt things picked up again towards the end. I'm still interested in continuing with the series but I hope this is just suffering from middle of a series syndrome and not an indication that Martin is losing control of the vast world he's created.

#26 Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. Wells - 3.7 stars - A mid-war depiction of the affect of WWI on a small village in Essex. The Mr Britling of the title is a philosopher and writer (possibly a characterisation of Wells, himself?) who muses on the likelihood of and later the affects of WWI but the real power of this novel is what happens to Mr Britling and his friends once the war becomes real as their sons and relatives start to sign up. I did find some of the philosophising rather heavy but otherwise this was good and is an interesting, contemporary look at the views on the war.

#27 Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield - 4.2 stars - The wonderful Persephone books have reissued the first volume of E. M. Delafield's wonderfully funny, fictional diaries of a 1930s wife and mother struggling to cope with life in the country and I couldn't resist both buying and rereading it as they've included the original illustrations and the fabulous Persephone endpaper features the first edition cover.

#28 Longbourn by Jo Baker - 3 stars - I feel like a very grumpy curmudgeon for finding this disappointing. I liked the way Baker used the events in P&P to construct a narrative about the Longbourn servants but I lost interest during the Napoleonic Wars section. I'm probably overthinking this but it felt as if in the final third of Longbourn, Baker was trying to cover all the topics Austen is normally criticised for not mentioning (the Napoleonic wars, slavery) and I lost patience with the book. Up until that point I was enjoying it although I'm not convinced it would have worked as a novel without the P&P hook.

#29 Stet by Diana Athill - 3.7 stars - Interesting and amusing memoir of Diana Athill's time as an editor working with Andre Deutsch the publisher and her recollections of some of the authors she worked with such as Jean Rhys, Molly Keane and V. S. Naipul. Entertaining and whilst Athill is very honest about the faults and foibles of those she worked with, she also seems to be very open about her own personal shortcomings. I still found myself wondering how I'd feel if I were one of the people she included in this book though.

#30 The Mysterious Mr Quin by Agatha Christie - 3.6 stars - An unusual collection of short stories by Agatha Christie. There's an underlying feel of something slightly fantastical around the creation of Mr Harley Quin who seems to mysteriously appear for each story and then disappear again, but whose mere presence seems to act as a catalyst for the elderly Mr Satterthwaire, one of life's great observers. Mysteries but perhaps not quite detective stories - apparently these were among Christie's favourites.

My RL bookclub will be discussing Quiet later this month. I'm a bit ambivalent about reading it so I found your review interesting.

I'm in the same place with reviews from February. I just got caught up this morning, so now I need to start on the March one(s).

Yay for March! I'm counting on the sunshine and longer days to get outside and help relieve my own bit of depression.

I'm going to have to go back to your 2013 thread and find out about your Uganda trip!

Hi Heather, just checking in at the end of a gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon. Hope you had similar weather where you are and were able to go and enjoy it; I think many of us are in an end-of-winter funk, and hopefully a little sun will help dispel it!

Hi Heather, nice flurry of reviews! And nice to hear from you in general, though I'm sorry you're feeling the end-of-winter blues. Seems many of us have had it and are feeling less than 100% cheerful lately, so you are not alone moping in your corner. {{{hug}}}

There was quite an extended conversation about Quiet on Suzanne's thread last month, discussing it's merits and failings and who would most benefit from it. It's on my tbr, but following the discussion I felt in no rush at all to jump into it as I felt it wasn't likely to teach me much I don't know already, even though I haven't read any other book about that specific subject.

I'm sorry Longbourn didn't work for you, though I quite take your point. I must say I was very surprised that she covered such a lot of ground with the Napoleonic wars bit and did think to myself that probably those who enjoy Jane Austen's work for all it does NOT say on the subject might be uncomfortable with that aspect of Baker's book.

I must make room for Diary of a Provincial Lady soon! I don't have the Persephone edition, which is very tempting indeed, but still spent quite a lot of time seeking out the Virago designer edition I have, very pretty with it's chintz rose pattern on the front and back covers:



Hope some signs of spring bring a little bit of joy to your heart very soon. xx

Hi Heather - The Delafield book sounds delightful. Onto the list it goes. I think I'll pass on Longbourn; reactions seemed mixed on it. My book club will be reading Quiet next month, but I enjoyed your comments. I think it will be a good discussion book.

>200 souloftherose: I'm one who didn't find Longbourn brilliant- a decent read yes - but no more than that. It's never worried me about the lack of the Napoleonic Wars in Jane Austen . I doubt Afghanistan, or Iraq, or any of the world's other hotspots would be mentioned in a book about girls trying to find a partner in twenty-first century Hertfordshire, so I don't see why the nineteenth century would be any different!

I can commiserate with you Heather. I'm in some kind of a funk but I'm not sure exactly what. I do know that my reading has screeched to an alarming halt, even though I am languishing in Trollope land. Not depressed, just totally unfocused.

That said I will look for The Diary of a Provincial Lady.

Castle Of Wolfenbach a "classic", hey!? :D

Dear Heather, just a note to say that I hope you're coming un-funked and that spring is soon on its way. I'm not reading much either these days, but RL keeps intruding. I live in hope.

I'm sorry to hear about your funk, Heather - hoping that it leaves you soon!

Thanks for all the messages. Bizarrely my feelings of funk are worse at the weekends at the moment so I felt much better for being back at work yesterday (unlike most of my colleagues - I didn't rub it in). Today was my day off but I seemed to feel ok. Hopefully that will continue. I do like the sunshine and the start of spring but I genuinely don't think it affects my moods (although I know it can really affect moods for some - my husband for one. I may have persuaded him to try a light box next year).

>201 streamsong: Hi Janet. Sorry to hear you're also struggling with the blues. I hope you enjoy reading Quiet. We had a bit of warmth and sunshine here this weekend and the trees are in blossom with some new leaves showing so I'm hoping that spring is definitely on its way. Back to wearing scarves and gloves this week though.

>202 HanGerg: Thanks Hannah!

>203 Smiler69: Thanks Ilana!Yes, I think I remember the conversation about Quiet. For me,, it had been a long time since I'd read anything on the subject and I fit both the introvert and highly sensitive personality type so whilst I felt a bit annoyed she was confusing the two it didn't bother me too much. I think my mixed feelings are more to do with the fact that I didn't find her arguments about why and how having these two personality traits can be so great to be completely convincing. Which probably says more about my own issues than the book!

The Virago designer edition of Diary of a Provincial Lady is lovely. I have the modern Virago non-designer edition of The Diary of a Provincial Lady which confusingly also contains the volumes about London, American and WWII. I think the designer edition only contained the first volume but why Virago had to confuse things by giving the same name to the omnibus and the individual book, I don't know.



>204 BLBera: Hi Beth - I do hope you enjoy the Delafield. It's a charming book.

>205 SandDune: Good point Rhian! She wrote about what she knew and that was the day to day lives of women of a certain class (although I always find it interesting that the people she wrote about were slightly more well to do than most of her own family). I did enjoy the part about the day to day lives of the servants and almost wondered if the author or publisher thought a book of purely domestic fiction wasn't interesting enough without some blood and violence....

>206 brenzi: Sorry to hear about your funk Bonnie. I've also found the Trollope a slower read this time - can't decide whether it's my mood or the book. I think Diary of a Provincial Lady might be a good pick me up!

>207 lyzard: It's a book I consider to be a classic, Liz :-) Also wondering if I can squeeze some Anna Katharine Green into the challenge too or whether that's stretching it too far....

>208 LizzieD: Thank you Peggy! And the same to you :-)

>209 scaifea: Thanks Amber!

Wow, what a load of reviews!

I'd love to borrow Quiet (if it's an actual physical book). I found a personality type test online (http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp) that pegs me as very introvert albeit with other characteristics that make me seem confident in some areas. I'd often wondered where I fall. Anyway, would be interesting if you could lend it. We're coming down at Easter for Dad's 60th.

Also wondering if I can squeeze some Anna Katharine Green into the challenge too or whether that's stretching it too far....

It does say "that *you* consider a classic". :)

>199 souloftherose: - I somehow managed to listen to (and enjoy immensely) A Game of Thrones as an audiobook, but I'm not sure I could do that with the others, due to the issue you mention of the large cast of characters. Although, now I'm avoiding carrying on with the series, because of the length of the books. There must be a good, comprehensive character list out there.

I have the audiobook of Quiet saved and would like to get to it eventually, but I must admit that I'm a bit tired of hearing about introverts lately (and I'm definitely an introvert!)

Congratulations on getting all those reviews out of the way! I hope spring is starting to come to your corner of the world.

>211 eclecticdodo: Quiet is a paper book and you can certainly borrow it. I'll put it to one side for you.

>212 lyzard: Exactly :-)

>213 DorsVenabili: Kerri, I've heard the GoT books work well as audiobooks - I think Suzanne has listened to them all. All the paper books include a character list but the number of new characters in book 4 increased so much that this didn't help that much. At one point it felt like I was spending more time trying to find characters in the character list than reading the book!

After reading Quiet I found I was considering everything in introvert/extrovert terms for a while so maybe not a good one to read if you're feeling a bit fed up of the subject! :-)

>214 ronincats: Thank you Roni. Spring is springing if not quite fully sprung. I'm pleased that there are a lot of trees with blossom on the roads where we live.

On the reading front I'm still in a bit of a book funk. Some library books are going to go back unread and some other books put aside for a bit (hopefully not too long). I think I'm going to dive in to some children's books, starting with a reread of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Duplicate post.

>216 souloftherose: "Some library books are going to go back unread"

Heather, I'm shocked!

Just kidding. You're allowed to read or not read whatever you want.

I just got back from the library with a bunch of children's illustrated books, always helpful for a book funk, since I love illustration. Hope it lifts for you soon Heather.

>218 eclecticdodo: I know, but I always feel slightly guilty about not reading a book I've reserved.

>219 Smiler69: I hope you enjoy the books Ilana. I also picked up an illustrated children's book, Joan Aikens' A Foot in the Grave for teens/older children with illustrations by Jan Pieńkowski who is also the illustrator of the Meg and Mog books.

I didn't sleep well last night so I'm feeling very tired today but whilst I was in town this morning I also went to the local needlecraft shop to get some wool for my next knitting project which is going to be a shawl-type cape for reading in bed. The lady in the shop was really helpful and they have a loyalty scheme so no doubt I will be going back again.

I need to sew up and block my last knitting project, a scarf, hat and gloves set but I hate sewing up and I've never blocked anything before so I'm going to put it off for a bit and sit in the garden with some books whilst we have some sunshine :-)

>220 souloftherose: they have a loyalty scheme so no doubt I will be going back again.
Oh yes, I love those. There's a wonderful yarn shop near where my parents live. Mind you, this is 600 miles from where I live. And yet I joined their loyalty program. I was just visiting last weekend and it took all I had to resist the temptation to stop in the shop. I have three projects in progress and really don't need another yet.

>220 souloftherose: I always feel slightly guilty about not reading a book I've reserved.

I know exactly what you mean! In the past, I've picked up a reserve, started it on the way home and decided it wasn't for me but kept it for a day or two anyway just so it didn't look obvious that I was taking it back unread.

>222 susanj67: that's really funny! I think I would do that too!

Hi Heather, sitting in the garden with books, enjoying the sunshine sounds like a lovely way to spend your day. Unfortunately it's a little rainy here, but I am looking forward to the nice weather and the outside reading that will soon be arriving.

It's particularly annoying here as you have to pay for reservations at most libraries, although at the moment I only reserve books from one library system where they're free, and I don't have to pay travel costs to get there as Mike works in the building so I just make him get books and take them in.

Hope you had a nice afternoon in the garden Heather.

>221 lauralkeet: Laura, so far I've been fairly good at only having one knitting project on the go at once. Of course I always have several projects/ideas queued up and could happily spend hours on ravelry browsing for ideas.

>222 susanj67: Susan, that's funny! :-) I normally keep them for weeks (or as long as I can if someone else has reserved it) before admitting that I'm really not going to read it.

>224 DeltaQueen50: Judy, it was lovely but not quite as warm as I thought from the sunshine. I ended up with a rug over my legs but it was still nice to sit in the sunshine.

>225 elkiedee: Yes, I think that's why I feel more annoyed about not reading reserved books. This library system is the most expensive I've used - £1.20 for a reservation whether it's a popular book or just a book that my local branch doesn't have. Still cheaper than buying the book second-hand though.

Book #31: In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden - 5 stars
Source: Daunt Books
Original publication date: 1969



I've been struggling to write this review because in many ways, In This House of Brede, a novel about the lives of an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns in the 1950s and 1960s, probably doesn't sound very appealing. And I did struggle with some of the terminology, only realising about a third of the way through that there's a very helpful glossary hidden at the back of the book, but ultimately this is a book that looks at the day to day ordinariness of life, albeit in this case life in a situation most of us aren't familiar with, and I've been slowly realising that this is a type of book that I love. Godden does it so well that the characters in this book are still real for me several days later.

Happily Virago have republished most of Godden's books under their Virago Modern Classics imprint and I will certainly be reading more

Book #32: Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch - 4 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 2012



This hit the spot as I wanted something fun and entertaining. It's been a while since I read Moon Over Soho, the second volume in the series, but I think I enjoyed Whispers more than I remember enjoying Moon. Now my only problem is trying to wait for Broken Homes, the next in the series, to come out in paperback and the fact that it apparently ends on a big cliffhanger...

Book #33: The Castle of Wolfenbach: A German Story by Eliza Parsons - 3 stars
Source: Kindle
Original publication date: 1793



One of the Northanger Abbey 'horrid novels' - I started reading this in December for the tutored read then for some reason put it aside when we went to Uganda and didn't pick it up again until now. I really enjoy reading gothic novels so whilst this isn't a great book and certainly doesn't bear comparison to something like The Mysteries of Udolpho it was fun to read (and I admit, to giggle at the ridiculousness of the plot and sensibility of the characters) and very interesting to read the discussion on the tutored read thread.

From Northanger Abbey:

"...and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read The Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you."
"Have you, indeed? How glad I am!---What are they all?"
"I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle Of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer Of The Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan Of The Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time."
"Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?"
"Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them..."

Nice flurry of reviews Heather! I'd forgotten you were one of the Ben Aaronovitch fans. I just finished Moon Over Soho last month, and surprised to see you preferred this one because have seen others comment that the third book wasn't his strongest and that Broken Homes was much better. But of course, we all have our preferences!

>228 souloftherose: but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?"

I'd forgotten that bit. So funny! I want to reread Northanger Abbey which I enjoyed a lot the first time, but it'll take a while since I do want to read at least Udolpho before I plunge back into it, and I guess I'll have to read Wolfenbach too since there is a tutored thread for it!

I'm back to say that after adding all the Horrid Novels to my wishlist, I just found The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 Books of Gothic Romance and Horror) as a Kindle book for just $1.

Here is the blurb from Amazon.ca:

A total of nine early Gothic novels are mentioned in the text of Northanger Abbey, although only the first seven have become known as the "Horrid Novels". This collection contains all nine works, including:
Castle of Wolfenbach (1793) by Eliza Parsons
The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest (1794) by Ludwig Flammenberg
The Mysterious Warning, A German Tale (1796) by Eliza Parsons
Horrid Mysteries (1796) by the Marquis de Grosse
Clermont, A Tale (1798) by Regina Maria Roche
The Midnight Bell (1798) by Francis Lathom
Orphan of the Rhine (1798) by Eleanor Sleath
The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe
The Italian, or the Confessional of the Black Penitents (1797) by Ann Radcliffe

I had already gotten Udolpho late last year as both an audio and a Kindle, but I guess I'm all set now! I guess I'll have to make a challenge of it if I want to be able to read Northanger Abbey again within the decade! :-)

>226 souloftherose: Heather, I was a "one knitting project at a time" gal for quite a while, but that changed last year when I moved from knitting primarily socks, to also knitting sweaters. I really enjoy the sweaters, and was getting a little bored with socks, but they're a nice, portable project. Now, because I'm currently knitting an Aran sweater with lots of cables, I'm also working on a blanket/throw when I don't want to concentrate to the degree required for cables. But if I take on any more, I'll drive myself crazy!

>229 Smiler69: Re the Ben Aaronovitch series, it's been a couple of years since I read Moon Over Soho so I might be wrong but I remember it being a bit darker whereas Whispers Under Ground felt more fun. Either way, I shall be happy if Broken Homes is even better :-)

>230 Smiler69: I often wonder what Miss Andrews must have been like... - possibly like Austen herself in some ways as her parody is so spot on that I feel she must have been familiar with most of these horrid novels!

"I guess I'll have to make a challenge of it"

Yay! Join us....

You might be interested to know that Liz and Madeline also did a tutored read of Clermont in 2012 and I think Ann Radcliffe's The Italian is on the cards for this year although no firm date yet. I didn't read Clermont at the time for some reason so need to catch up with that.

Not that you need more books adding to your gothic novels reading list but have you read The Monk by Matthew Lewis? Again, there was a tutored read in 2012 and Radcliffe's The Italian is a response to Lewis' book (although as I haven't read The Italian I can't really comment on how essential it is to have read The Monk first). If it helps, I think The Monk is Madeline's favourite gothic novel so far :-)

>231 lauralkeet: Ah, that makes sense Laura :-)

>232 souloftherose: I thought moon over soho was a bit darker than than rivers of london so a return to fun in whispers under ground would be good. I'll get round to reading it eventually...

Many thanks, Ilana and Heather, the HORRID collection is now safely on my Kindle too. Don't know when I'll read them, but it sounds like fun to me.
And I've been saving *Moonlight*. I guess I should get on with it before the series gets away from me.

>232 souloftherose: Yes, I've had The Monk on the tbr for a little while, got the OUP ebook edition shortly after I purchased my iPad. Will definitely look up those tutorials for the other books and will be happy to join in for whatever else is in store, provided I have enough advance notice to fit it in!

>230 Smiler69: Thanks Heather and Ilana, like Peggy, I now have the Horrid Collection safely stored for whenever I get the urge to read them.

Nice flurry of reviews Heather especially that 5 star one for In This House of Brede and since it sits on my shelf I think I'd better move it on up:-)

I simply stopping by to say hello. I hope all is well Heather.

Heather, In This House of Brede has been on my wishlist for some time--I'm glad you enjoyed it. And it's not that there is a cliff-hanger at the end of Broken Homes so much that there is a complete plot twist...

Hi Heather - Nice reviews. In This House of Brede sounds wonderful. On to the list it goes.

Hi Heather! Just reading the posts and waving !!

>234 eclecticdodo: Yes, I remember Moon over Soho as being a bit darker although it was quite a while ago so I could be wrong (and why has it taken me so long to read the next in the series?)

>235 LizzieD: & >237 brenzi: Enjoy The Horrid Mysteries, Peggy and Bonnie!

>235 LizzieD: Peggy, I know the feeling of series getting away from me all too well......

>236 Smiler69: I read the OUP edition of The Monk too which I think had good notes (and a really creepy cover although that's less of a problem if you're reading the ebook).

Mind you, most editions of The Monk have creepy covers:



Although this cover, by someone who has obviously not read the book, has to be my favourite (I think Liz shared this on her thread first):



>237 brenzi: In This House of Brede will definitely be a book I read and reread, Bonnie. I hope you enjoy it.

>238 Whisper1: Lovely to see you Linda :-)

>239 ronincats: Thanks for the tip about Broken Homes Roni.

>240 BLBera: I hope you enjoy it Beth.

>241 connie53: Hi Connie!

Book #34: The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie - 3.9 stars
Source: Reread
Original publication date: 1930



"I had just finished carving some boiled beef (remarkably tough by the way), and on resuming my seat, I remarked, in a spirit most unbecoming to my cloth, that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a service."

Given the above opening, I don't think it's a spoiler to tell you that it's poor Colonel Protheroe who gets murdered in the first of Agatha Christie's books to feature Miss Marple and there aren't exactly a shortage of suspects.

"It's all very well, but they are the only two people who had a motive for making away with Protheroe."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Colonel Melchett," said Miss Marple.
"Why, can you think of anyone else?"
"Oh yes, indeed! Why," she counted on her fingers, "one, two, three, four, five, six - yes, and a possible seven. I can think of at least seven people who might be very glad to have Colonel Protheroe out of the way."
The Colonel looked at her feebly.
"Seven people? In St. Mary Mead?"
Miss Marple nodded brightly.

Although I must have read this book before I'd forgotten most of the details and there were several things that took me by surprise: how funny and sharp the writing is; how Miss Marple doesn't really take centre-stage in this novel the way Poirot did in his first book; and that it's narrated in the first person by the vicar, married to a much younger woman and with a surprisingly dry sense of humour.

I enjoyed this a lot and it only slipped under 4 stars because of the solution for which, as Miss Marple admist herself, there's no evidence so they have to resort to a slightly clumsy way of tricking the murderer into admitting guilt.

Since I have forgotten the whole plot, I will happily have to reread *Vicarage*, Heather. Yippeeee!

>243 souloftherose: That is one of my favourites. Fortunately we've never had to cope with anything similar in my vicarage!

>227 souloftherose: I'm currently listening to Whispers Underground and I'm quite enjoying the series! :)

I read all those Agatha Christies years ago and loved them, just not sure about revisiting.

>242 souloftherose: Hee, hee! - yes, that particularly awful cover was my find. :D

>243 souloftherose: I'm having a bit of a run on mysteries at the moment, and should be re-reading The Murder At The Vicarage next. (Whoo! Shared read!!)

*Happy weekend wave*

Heather, it was really nice meeting you yesterday. Thank you for guiding my Persephone purchases!!

Heather, I loved the photos of your Virago meet-up posted up on the thread there by Genny and one in particular with you grinning like the cat that got the cream. Book shopping does the same thing to my disposition too.

Hope Sunday is as good to you as Saturday obviously was.

>244 LizzieD: Peggy, I hope you enjoy your reread. TMatV was definitely a fun book.

>245 CDVicarage: Glad to hear that Kerry!

>246 TinaV95: Tina, it's a fun series. I'm looking forward to Broken Homes.

>247 avatiakh: Hi Kerry! I almost gave away my entire Agatha Christie collection several years ago when for some reason I decided I wouldn't want to reread them. Very glad I didn't now.

>249 wilkiec: Woop! Shared read!

>249 wilkiec: Hi Diana :-)

>250 lauralkeet: Laura, it was lovely to meet you too. I hope you enjoy the Molly Panter-Downes stories (and I apologise for so incorrigably trying to persuade you to buy an extra book).

>251 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. It was a lovely day.

In celebration of such a good book haul I'm going to start a new thread to display them properly.

New thread!