Bonniejune54 reads a book a week

Hi! I'm Bonnie. I'm here because I like the group's name. I shouldn't have any guilt about reading too little or the wrong thing.

My books from the library's used book sale.

Welcome! And there's no such thing as reading "the wrong thing" as long as it's what you like to read!

Thanks for the welcome. I was invited to the Green Dragon and there's very nice people over there but I don't read hardly any fantasy. I looked over the the other threads and I think this is a good place for me.

Just so you know, though, there's no limit to how many groups and/or threads you can take part in. Lots of us travel all over the site. Just have fun is all we ask!

So which one do you start? I'd first open that Jane and Prudence.

<6 OK I will move it to the top. I am easily lead.

1. Naked in Death
2. Rest You Merry
3. Like Water for Chocolate
4. The Old Curiosity Shop
5. Behind a Mask or a Woman's Power
6. Code to Zero
7. The Merchant of Venice
8. What Katy Did
9. The Valley of Fear
10. Jane and Prudence
11. Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship: Or the Naval Terror of the Seas
12. In This House of Brede
13. Jude the Obscure
14. Hot Six
15. The Promise
16. Be Buried in the Rain
17. The Sonnets
18. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
19. The Family Vault
20. Someone in the House
21. The Bell Jar
22. The Vicar of Wakefield
23. Miss Buncle's Book
24. The Mayor of Casterbridge
25. Light Hearted Quest
26. Tears of the Giraffe
27. The Withdrawing Room
28. Les Miserables
29. Night Soldiers
30. As You Like It
31. Queen Lucia
32. Under the Greenwood Tree
33. Miss Buncle Married
34. All's Well That Ends Well
35. Morality for Beautiful Girls
36. Roots
37. The Four Feathers
38. Heart of Darkness
39. Cold Sassy Tree
40. Mariana
41. The Portuguese Escape
42. The Enchanted Barn
43. Marcia Schuyler
44. Henry V
45. Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle
46. A Town Like Alice
47. King John
48. The Covenant
49. The Boys in the Band
50. Thale's Folly
51. A Morbid Taste for Bones
52. The Adventures of Robin Hood
53. The Taming of the Shrew
54. The Kalahari Typing School for Men
55. Athabasca
56. These High, Green Hills
57. The Romance of the Forest
58. By the Shores of Silver Lake
59. The Winter's Tale
60. The Monk
61. Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus
62. A Bear Called Paddington
63. The Comedy of Errors
64. The Full Cupboard of Life

Naked in Death is my tacky start to the year. It seemed like a 70's romance thriller with a spritz of the Jetsons. It was written in the 90s and is set in 2057. I thought she could've had more fun with the future. The romantic interest is the clichéd ultra rich domineering handsome guy with a good heart. I won't be reading the other 40 in the series. But it's nice to know what Nora Roberts writes like because other people read her.

I sampled Nora Roberts this year too, borrowing Key of Knowledge from a LFL. It was absorbing enough for me to read the rest of the trilogy and a fourth book, also from a romance trilogy. She has good descriptive powers. She gets certain things just right. Architecture is one of her strengths, and child characterizations is another. Her lead protagonists are fun to spend time with and her romantic interests come with desirable traits. These books, at least, have more modern heroes, it seems. But it ain't great literature.

I listen to audiobooks while I walk. This was one I was able to download for free from the local library. They have more Nora Roberts so maybe I'll try some of her other series. Their audio selection isn't huge and I like to mix things up anyway.

I've read a couple of those J.D. Robb books and think they're kind of goofy fun. I know what you mean about Roberts having more fun with the future, but I don't think she wanted to stray too far from her romance base. Nora Roberts fans will follow JD Robb only so far into SF, but no farther. That's my conjecture, at any rate.

Good theory. Last year I read The Eyre Affair, the first Thursday Next novel. It is alternative history and has so many crazy things like a fad for extinct animals such as dodos for pets.They come with genetic flaws because they don't have all the bugs worked out. It made me hope the J.D.Robb would be wackier.

I love the Thursday Next novels. I'll be getting to One of Our Thursdays is Missing sometime this year, I think.

I would like to read more of them but who knows when.

I am currently reading one of the books in your stack - In This House of Brede. It was a suggested add-on at my book club. My teen daughter absconded with it and loved it. I like it so far but I am only about 25 pages in.

This is cool getting visitors on my thread. I have enjoyed the three Rumer Godden books that I have read. I love my copy of The Kitchen Madonna. It seemed like I should have her most popular book.

I like your bookpiles. There are quite a few familiar ones in there.

>1 BonnieJune54: The Promise is fantastic, but have you read the first book, The Chosen?

>18 SylviaC: thank you. They were probably glad to see most of those weird old books go.

>19 fuzzi: Yes I read The Chosen last year. It was a great look at what it was like to be an American Jewish teenager during the second world war.

I finished another audio book Rest You Merry. LT recommendations has Charlotte MacLeod near the top for me. This is the first in a series and on sale for Christmas. The Christmas connection is basically just gaudy decorations not warm fuzziness. LT was right. I found the characters likable and the setting interesting. A middle aged academic trips over a body at a New England agricultural college. I will be looking for more.

>22 BonnieJune54: I like that series. Light and humorous, and I like the agricultural college setting. It helps to start with that one, but beyond that, it doesn't really matter what order you read them in. Another Charlotte MacLeod series starts with The Withdrawing Room, which is in one of your bookpiles up above. That series has a bit more depth to it, and is also very good.

>23 SylviaC: The agricultural research is rather unique and interesting in this series. I may start the other series this year as well.

I dabbled a little in magical realism with Like Water for Chocolate. It is a romance set in the middle of a dysfunctional family and the Mexican Revolution with occasional surreal images breaking out. And there is recipes. The vivid pictures were fun for a while but I don't have a urge to hunt out more. The romance didn't really work for me.

Hi, Bonnie. Missing you on the 75ers. Love your book selections last year and this as well. I've been thinking that I need to read more Charles Dickens but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

>26 rretzler: Hi Robin. Glad you found me in my new home. I love Dickens even though everything Dickens haters say about him is pretty much true. His books are ridiculously long. He has unrealistic characters and absurd coincidences.

I listened to The Old Curiosity Shop on Librivox. The reader Mil Nicholson did a fantastic job. She was as polished as anyone at Recorded Books.
My expectations were pretty low with this one but I was very happily surprised. Little Nell and her grandfather were as maudlin as I expected. I frequently don't care much for the main characters in Dickens books. The supporting characters were great fun. Quilp is a great villain. Dick Swiveller is my favorite. He is thoughtless but not cruel and he matures a bit. Nell sees a great cross section of England and has some interesting experiences. She meets the proprietors of a Punch and Judy show and other small time entertainers. The lonely man who tended the furnace in a big factory was a particularly haunting character.
I also have a print copy with illustrations by Phiz and others from an 1897 edition. I enjoyed the detailed illustrations. The faces are largely grotesque caricatures. I always thought of this kind of illustration as racist but all of these monkeyfaced people are Anglo-Saxon.
Nell's own grandfather is able to believe that she doesn't really suffer like he does because he was born a gentleman and she has always been a poor person.
It reminded me of an L.M.Montgomery book where she believes that poor children don't need shoes because they don't feel the cold like other children.
I'm caught up on reviews not counting the ones that I shoved under the bed at the end of last year.

I finally tried one of Louisa May Alcott's blood and thunder tales, Behind a Mask or a Woman's Power. I enjoyed it. It wasn't as flamboyant as Jo's tales. But it was fun to see the other side of the sugary sweet Victorian heroine. Some of the characters weren't very developed but it is only a novelette. I will be reading more.
I suppose technically I only read part of the book that I own since it contains three more tales. My thread, My rules.

Code to Zero is my first spy novel in over a year. I think I like the action, the problem solving, the moral ambiguities, and exotic places in spy novels. This one involves the Cold War, the space program, and amnesia. I liked it very much. I read a couple others by Ken Follett years ago and liked them too.

I am slowly reading through Shakespeare. I just finished The Merchant of Venice. I saw this at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival years ago. It was one of those classics for me where the good parts I remember and the rest wasn't that interesting. The Librivox
recording was very easy to understand.

>30 BonnieJune54: I've read a couple "spy" books, as well as some by Alistair MacLean (who I really like).

I've not read any Shakespeare in years, my loss.

Hi Fuzzi. Your reviews of Maclean have me keeping an eye open for copies of his books in need of a good home. I like adventures with good characters and no really graphic sex and violence.
I usually like Shakespeare. Who knows how far I will get through them all.

>33 BonnieJune54: thank you for your comments! That's very kind of you. We have one used bookstore in town, and they often have MacLean books. I've got a few unread, waiting, on my shelves.

I also like Edward L. Beach for realism without graphic depictions of submarine warfare. I've read both Run Silent, Run Deep, and Dust on the Sea. Both are very good.

I am not as enamored of C.S. Forester, which is too bad. I love a couple movies that were based upon his books.

>34 fuzzi: I TRY to limit my book buying to the twice a year Friends of the Library sales.

>35 BonnieJune54: we have one of those coming up the first weekend in February. It's the BIG one: the FOTL rent a huge room at the convention center, and it's a sight that will make any booklover drool...

>36 fuzzi: i'm jealous. Ours keep getting smaller and smaller. They just do them in the library now. I remember the old days when They used to do them in our old auditorium.

>37 BonnieJune54: anything in particular you're looking for?

Each year the FOTL have two sales, one at the library in a large community room, and this one. However, each year they seem to have less choices. I think they keep bringing back the books that just won't sell.

>38 fuzzi: Nothing in particular. It's just fun to look. Thanks anyway.

What Katy Did is a 19th century children's book. The Carr children are great fun in the first half of the book. They all abruptly stop being naughty in the second half. I like having characters mature but this was too sudden and complete. But they did have wonderfully imaginative play. I wonder what happens in the rest of the series.

I enjoyed all of the Katy books, even though Katy stays as good as good can be forever and ever. There are three books about Katy, one about Clover, and one about a couple of the others. The last one wasn't as good as the rest.

I like Katy too. And I also liked the games that the children played - reminded me of both my own childhood also the get-togethers my daughter & her friends (most of them from larger families) had. I hadn't noticed the cessation of naughtiness - I'll have to go back and read the book.

<41&42 Katy could be very good and still be interesting. I finished the last book with the impression that she was going to sit in the parlor and crochet doilies for the rest of her life. I am going to pretend that she becomes a missionary to China.

The Valley of Fear is the last of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels. I have a couple of short story collections to go. It is in two parts. The first is Holmes and Watson solving a crime and the second is the back story of the crime. I liked the backstory better. The Holmes part seemed like a drawn out short story. They seemed to go over the facts of the case too many times.
LT reviewers seem split on which half is better.

Have your read any of the Holmes & Russell books by Laurie R. King? She takes Sherlock Holmes, adds an apprentice, and turns both into fun, likable three-dimensional characters. The first book is The Beekeeper's Apprentice.

>45 fuzzi: I haven't tried them yet. Fleshing out Sherlock while keeping him Sherlock sounds appealing. If I ever join Audible again it will be my first choice.

>46 BonnieJune54: I doubt you'd regret it: I was introduced to the Laurie R. King series never having read the Doyle books, but after reading a few of the Holmes & Russell books, I tackled the original Holmes, and enjoyed them as well.

>47 fuzzi: I suppose I'm playing a treasure hunt game with myself that I have to find an inexpensive copy rather than just checking it out of the library.
I finally finished one of that stack on the top. Jane and Prudence are two friends from Oxford days. Jane is a very likable character. She is now an inept vicar's wife who goes around in a coat that looks like she should be out feeding the chickens. She is a cheerful person who is insensitive to social niceties but not other people's feelings. I did find myself wishing she had a murder to solve or a jumble sale to run. No one in this book has much of anything to do. Prudence is younger and single and working in London. I found her hopelessly dull. What are called her love affairs seem more like crushes then adult relationships. She has a job shuffling papers for an academic. Even though we have to spend chapters in this really dull office, we are never given any more details about what they're trying to do. If she had just told me they were trying to put together a book about the Napoleonic wars or something I would've given her another star. The office atmosphere didn't ring true for me for people with little to do and no interest in it. I thought they would be friendlier or more irritated at each other not just the waiting for a bus atmosphere. I liked this book well enough because of Jane but I have no urgency about reading anymore Pym.

I started Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship: Or the Naval Terror of the Seas last year because it was a hundred years old. My dad liked these as a boy and it was nice to remember him and his lifelong love of tinkering. I can't really recommend it to adults or today's kids though. Tom is an inventor and the scientific explanations are quite good. I now understand recoil and how to counteract it. (Sort of) The characters are pretty cartoonish with awful racial stereotypes. The plot is a string of somewhat exciting things that don't really go anywhere. It is 1915 USA and the attitude seems to be isolationist. It is not the Great War yet but the European war. Tom doesn't seem to favor either side. The war blimp is for the American government. I am not sure whether it is going to defend America against Europeans or is going to be sold to whoever the government thinks is best. I recently read Rilla of Ingleside and saw WWI from a Canadian viewpoint. The Huns were seen as evil. I knew we entered the war late but I definitely saw the frustration of a suffering Canada.
Maybe I'll try Understood Betsy I think it is a 100 years old.

In This House of Brede is just lovely. Philippa is a fortyish woman with a successful career who leaves her life to enter a monastery. It takes place in England during the 1950's to 1960's. The nuns seem like real people with a sincere calling for a life as a prayer warrior. There is a definite sense of community as they try to get along and recognize each other's strengths and weaknesses. They all have a past. The English class system is touched on. Traditionally upper class nuns were in the choir and ran things while working class nuns were assigned to the kitchen and laundry etc. Things are getting mixed up. Things happen to keep it interesting but not too melodramatic. I would recommend it to TBSL readers. Philippa is a good person trying to grow.

>50 BonnieJune54: I recall that being a movie on TV, but I've not (yet) read the book. Thanks!

>51 fuzzi: I watched some of the film with Diana Rigg on YouTube. It's not bad but I felt like I was rapidly flipping through the book. I got an album of Benedictine nuns chants. It's quite calming and peaceful.

Just when I was feeling all intellectual because I had liked three Thomas Hardy novels, I had to take it one too far and read Jude the Obscure. I not only did not like it, I don't even understand why it is considered great literature. I agree with another LT review that it seems like an early amateurish work when compared to his other work. Jude seems like a permanent whiney adolescent. He doesn't grow. The two main characters are constantly spouting sermons. Jude isn't believable as a working-class person. He seems more like a middle-class person that was mistakenly born into the working class and is now trying to escape. Jude and his friend Sue are snobs. Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a much better working class person with a heart, a mind and a soul. Jude wants to go to the university and become a bishop. But he doesn't show intellectual curiosity or a belief in God so I have a hard time rooting for him. Hardy says marriage is bad repeatedly but it's never developed what he really wants. Is monogamy bad? Is cohabitation bad? Who supports the children?
I still plan to read The Mayor of Casterbridge. I hope it has interesting characters with their stories woven into a community and not a 500 page sermon like this.

Interesting review, thanks. I've not yet read any Thomas Hardy works.

Under the Greenwood Tree which I haven't read might be the one to start with. It is short and relatively happy. I don't think that anyone would recommend Jude the Obscure as the first one to try.

Hot Six features fairly inept bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. I thought this one was really funny. I like that she has different "clients" to bring in. The minor characters were fun. She gets a dog. There are no sex scenes because Grandma moves into her apartment. R-rated fluff.

In The Promise Reuven Malter is studying to become a Rabbi in 1950ish Williamsburg Brooklyn. I like Reuven and love being immersed in his world which is so different from my own. Hassidic concentration camp survivors have flooded into his neighborhood. The non-Hassidic Jews who are longtime residents start to resent being pushed aside in the schools that they founded. Then they feel guilty because these people have been through hell and lost everyone that they knew. The Hassids are trying to recreate their world. But they are interfering in Reuven's world. Basically the book is about being angry and feeling guilty about it. It is not always easy to all live together.

>57 BonnieJune54: that's a wonderful book. Did you read the first book, The Chosen?

>58 fuzzi: Yes I read The Chosen last year. I loved it too. All the relationships are so wonderfully done. Reuven and Danny and their fathers. I found how they studied Talmud interesting.

>59 BonnieJune54: I wish there was a third book (don't think so?) but I also read My Name is Asher Lev, which is very good.

>60 fuzzi: Yes a third book about Danny would have been nice. I almost feel like Reuven's future is Chaim Potok's life without being a novelist

>31 BonnieJune54: Merchant of Venice is my favorite Shakespeare. I just love Portia!

>62 rretzler: Shakespeare's women are so wonderful. I don't know what happened to Victorians like Dickens who could have such brainless, spineless female characters.

>63 BonnieJune54: "Shakespeare's women are so wonderful."

. . . although I wouldn't want to meet Lady MacBeth in a dark alley!

>64 rocketjk: But she is wonderful from a safe distance. :-)

Be Buried in the Rain is a semi-gothic novel by Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters. I have read dozens of books that she wrote as Peters including several of the Amelia Peabody series. They seem to be funnier than the Michaels ones. The first chapter is nice and creepy. She introduces a nice array of characters and then things bog down a bit. Instead of snooping around like she is supposed to, our girl Julie acts like a real person stuck at her boring relatives' house. She wonders what she will have to eat next, complains about the weather and gripes about the book she has to read to her bedridden grandma. It's Dickens' Bleak House. I don't know why she hates it so much. She is living a Dickens novel. She has to go back to the family's decrepit mansion to care for her mean crippled Grandmother. A male cousin that she has a love\hate relationship with is around and her old love that Grandma drove away is back in the picture. Once it is time to wind things up it is fine. I wish that she had peeled off some layers of the characters in the middle instead of fixing lunch.

I'm pretty sure I read Be Buried in the Rain, but it didn't leave much of an impression. There were other Michaels/Peters books that I liked a lot better. I liked the first couple of Amelia Peabody books, but got tired of the series pretty quickly—especially once Ramses came along.

>67 SylviaC: The first Amelia Peabody was the best. I think Ramses might improve as an adult. The characters got a bit cartoonish. Black Rainbow and Someone in the House are the other Michaels titles that my library has on audio. Either of those ring a bell?

>68 BonnieJune54: Apparently I read Someone in the House, but I don't remember it well. Some of her books stand out for me, and others just blend together—she often repeated similar plots and characters. My favourites are The Walker in Shadows, Ammie Come Home, and Into the Darkness. I have some favourite Elizabeth Peters ones, too, while others blur together. I see that I've read at least 35 of her books over the years.

A recent book that reminded me of Barbara Michaels was Mariana by Susanna Kearsley.

>69 SylviaC: With several authors I have tried to record on library thing which of their books I have read but I gave up trying to rate them because I just can't remember them that distinctly.

>67 SylviaC: I was the same way. I really liked Amelia Peabody, but after the child and the same old thing about being in danger and escaping, I put the series aside for awhile and have not picked it back up yet.

>71 rretzler: I think that I like the Vicky Bliss series best. It is funny and goes many different places.

I listened to 60 of Shakespeare's sonnets while walking on a beautiful Spring day. I should read them in print sometime when I could could concentrate but there were moments of great beauty.

In the year 2000 in small town Minnesota an obviously murdered still warm corpse is discovered. The Sheriff decides to use it as a training exercise. An inexperienced deputy is told if he solves it on his own while still answering his other calls he will be promoted to detective. This being cosymysteryland he asks a lady with a cute job to take charge. She is his sister-in-law,Hannah who has a cookie shop. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder takes the cake for the worst setup for an amateur detective. It seemed so disrespectful to the dead. The cookie references were boring. It was like ads for a non-existent business. Hannah was unlikable but arrogant enough to think that she was doing a better job than any homicide detective. I got it as a free audio download and it worked as background while doing other things but that's about it.

>74 BonnieJune54: I felt the same way about that one. It drove me crazy that Hannah kept taking so many incredibly stupid risks, and there was was no reasonable rationale for her to be doing the investigation instead of the police.

>75 SylviaC: it bugged me so much that I googled and found the state agency that is available to help. It is called the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The Family Vault is the first in another Charlotte MacLeod series. The situation may be strange but at least Sarah's reactions make sense. She suspects that someone dear to her may have been involved with an old murder. She checks one more thing out before deciding what she should do and then she is reacting to what is happening to her. I like Sarah. She has had a very sheltered life but her innate personality is not timid. She is part of a large old Boston society family. They have large old homes and little money. Il is different enough to be interesting.

>76 BonnieJune54: I like Sarah, too. She may get involved in a lot of murders, but at least she is sensible. And there is always a logical reason for her involvement. The second book in the series, The Withdrawing Room is a favourite of mine. It has one of the most original plot devices that I've ever encountered in a mystery.

>77 SylviaC: I have my eyes peeled for more Sarah and Max.
In Someone in the House ,Anne a young college instructor spends the summer in a haunted house. I probably liked it more than it deserves because I have read so few books with supernatural elements. They try to understand what is happening from various approaches (science, religions, psychology). I liked all the historical tidbits thrown in about who had lived in the ancient manor house. I am the same generation as Anne so I appreciated the 1970's feminism. Not that great of a plot but a nice mix of elements.

I have owned The Bell Jar for many years. I think I put off reading it because I thought it would be too sad. I liked it very much. It is the story of 19 year old Esther's nervous breakdown. My mom was a suicide who was in and out of mental hospitals. Esther seems like a real person. She is not hysterical. I was struck by the fact that she is basically just grumpy but it is never ending grumpiness. And she is being ground down by the knowledge that tomorrow is going to be no better. For months at a time her brain seems to lose the ability to feel joy and she knows it. Both Esther and my mom wanted to be fixed. They have no use for coping strategies or baby steps. Sylvia Plath was a poet and she creates some wonderful images. Esther spends a month in NYC as a college board guest editor for a ladies' magazine. I liked the look into the life of a 50's career girl.

Some of my books from the latest friends of the library sale.

Nice! I hope you enjoy Mariana. As I mentioned earlier, it reminded me of Barbara Michaels' books.

The rest of my new books from the sale.
>81 SylviaC: you are speedy! I was still trying to get my other photo up. And yes Mariana is your BB.

Some excellent ones there, too! A Town Like Alice is one of my all-time favourites, and A Morbid Taste for Bones is the first in a very good series. Most of what I know about the tar sands came from Athabasca (though I don't remember anything about the plot or characters).

>83 SylviaC: I loved the mini-series of A Town Like Alice. Nevil Shute was recommended on TBSL. I saw some of the Brother Cadfael mysteries with Derek Jacobi as well. I really like her Inspector Felse series. I wanted to try MacLean. Athabasca was the first I found. Title sounded exotic. I didn't see any of his titles that I had heard of. I like learning stuff without having to read nonfiction.

Excellent haul. I love the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but especially the ones that take place at Silver Lake. And I recall enjoying Cold Sassy Tree years ago.

Alistair MacLean is a new author for me, and I love his books! I have Athabasca on my shelves, just not yet read.

>85 fuzzi: Thank you. I remember loving the Little House books as a child but I can't remember if I read them all. This copy has the original illustrations by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle. They are the ones that I remember. I am regretting not grabbing MacLean's
Bear Island. I now know that it is set in Norway and I am hoping to visit there this summer. Oh well. I have to go find space.

>86 BonnieJune54: "I have to go find space"

Don't we all??? :D

>87 fuzzi: Maybe I will get a Pod to put it my front yard. :-)

I thought The Vicar of Wakefield was fun. Patrick Tull did a great job as narrator. I think it's from the 18th century but the language wasn't difficult to understand. The main character reminded me of Trollope's The Warden. The plot is like Dickens with lots of adventures in the twists and turns of life and lots of coincidences. A little bit of an Heyer romance from the father's point of view. His preachiness seemed appropriate for a minister and father to a large family. Most of his advice was short and to the point. There is a full-blown sermon towards the end. But it is a Good sermon and it's a religious service (not pretending to be a conversation) or the author butting in to tell us rather than show us his opinions. Teens forced to read it probably feel tortured but it is great to voluntarily read at the Vicar's age.

>88 BonnieJune54: I sort of had The Vicar of Wakefield on a TBR list...now it's being added, for sure.

Thanks...

>89 fuzzi: I think you should give it a try. If you don't think the vicar is likable within the first few chapters you have my permission to quit. Because we don't have to take an exam on it

Miss Buncle's Book is pure delight from start to finish. You know how characters in British novels seem to live quite comfortably (with a servant) despite the lack of a visible means of support? Well the Great Depression has messed up the dividends from the last Buncle with a job. Barbara decides to write a book about her quant village because it seems better than raising chickens. She changes all the names including her own as author. It is a book about a book and the people in it and their reactions to the book. All the personalities and the way neighbors interact just seem so true. The meeting about the book sounded like every homeowners association meeting that I have been to except much funnier. TBSL readers are right about this one.

>91 BonnieJune54: It's a fun book!

>91 BonnieJune54: I love the Miss Buncle books! There are four in all, I think.

>92 SylviaC: >93 fuzzi: I have the next one as an ebook. I will probably get to it soon.

I gave Thomas Hardy another chance and I loved The Mayor of Casterbridge. There is a main character and several interesting supporting characters. Michael is smart, honest and very hardworking but he isn't kind. He seems to be following the Ayn Rand "selfishness is good" principle before it was written. You see the problem with this sort of life. It isn't a cheerful book but people pretty much get what they deserve. There is a nice view of the different layers of the community.

Oops I am getting behind on my book reports. Light Hearted Quest is a little time capsule of foreigners in 1950's Morocco. Julia is a British freelance journalist who goes in search of a cousin who hasn't been heard from in ages. Her family is country gentry and she has connections in everything from banking to archaeology. She is resourceful as well. I thought she was more interesting than likable. She can talk to and use anyone but unless you are straight, white, Christian, British and upper class you will not be part of her set. The author may be poking fun at all her snobberies. The characters outside her social group are not particularly dumb, evil or worshipful of their "betters". The mystery is okay. I will read more because of the detailed description of an exotic place and the people in it at a specific time.

Tears of the Giraffe is the second in the Number One Ladies Detective Agency series. I remember the first one having lots of little mysteries to solve. This one only has two. Neither is very involved. I enjoyed the book very much as domestic fiction. The characters are very likable. Things are happening with
Precious and I am still getting to know the people in her life. Life in Botswana is fascinating. I am a little concerned about not enough cases and things getting too familiar and repetitive. But I'm looking forward to at least a couple more books.

I'm getting behind in my book comments. The Withdrawing Room is the second in the Sarah and Max mystery series. Money is tight and Sarah decides to turn her Beacon Hill townhouse into a boardinghouse for people recommended by her relatives. They are a funny and unique group of characters. I like all the nuts and bolts of starting and running a business. As @SylviaC said the murder solution is definitely out of the ordinary. After reading so many novels like The Age of Innocence I like seeing what has happened to the descendants of old money families.

Les Miserables was a good choice for a year of political campaigns. Hugo's desires for his country pretty much match my own. No one trapped in crushing poverty. Opportunity for redemption. Be kind to each other. I was fine with the length of the book. I liked hearing the Bishop's story and how his choices lead to changing Jean Valjean's life which lead to changing other lives. I liked the battle of Waterloo and the trip through the sewers. I love the musical and now the songs will remind me of this lovely novel. Why did Cosette have to grow up to be a ninny?

Night Soldiers is grittier than my usual reading but still in the range that I enjoy. It a historical spy novel. It takes place in the 1930s and 40s. The characters are very complex but they have a sense of morality that makes sense for them. It is full of action and moves all over Eastern and Western Europe. There is the Spanish Civil War and WWII. There are Nazi's, Communists and Allies. People have reasons for which side they are on. I really enjoyed this and will be reading more.

I read As You Like It and liked it. At this point it is all mixed up with the rest of Shakespeare's comedies in my brain.

Queen Lucia is hilarious. It is a comedy of manners from 1920. None of the characters are exactly likable but they are all harmless. The title character plans her every move with the goal of being social queen of her village. Some people are battling her for the title. Even if they are inept they are funny. Others are blissfully unaware of her plans but messing them up all the same. The shifting loyalties and games are all too real. There is also fun period details about fads and entertaining. There are more in the series.

Still lurking, reading your reviews.

>102 BonnieJune54: All her carefully planned out spontaneity was pretty funny. I haven't read any of the other books yet.

Thanks for dropping by guys. >104 SylviaC: She is like a general trying to predict the movements of the whole village.

> 55 I have now actually read Under the Greenwood Tree and my recommendation of it as a starter Thomas Hardy stands. The basic plot is a romance with some complications. Nothing bad happens. You have his wonderful characters. They are working class people in a rural setting for the most part. I like that you learn what their various occupations involve.

Miss Buncle Married is a pleasant sequel to Miss Buncle's Book but it is not as unique. Barbara gets mixed up in her neighbors lives. I like the relationship between Barbara and her new husband.

>107 BonnieJune54: I liked Miss Buncle Married quite a bit, if not as much as the first book. I have the third and fourth books on my shelves, waiting to be read.

>108 fuzzi: I have another DES series Vittoria Cottage.

More Shakespeare. I remember All's Well That Ends Well because I didn't like it that much. Helena is a bright resourceful young woman. She uses her wits to ensnare a jerk who hates the idea of marrying her. Trapping a jerk for a woman who is pining away for him is usually a subplot not the main plot.

Morality for Beautiful Girls is another pleasant visit with my friends in Botswana of the #1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Mma Makutsi the assistant is getting quite interesting. The cases involved a little more investigating and a little less intuition.

I think I have owned Roots since the TV mini-series first came out. The story and the characters were fascinating. The prose wasn't the best and it was really long. I have been doing geneology for a couple of years and it is amazing how a family's story flows along and winds through history and moves from place to place. My family were also in North Carolina and Virginia at some of the same time. Unfortunately I found two slaveowners among my ancestors. Most were probably the poor white crackers that historical novels always seem to hate. It took me forever but I am glad I read this family saga.

>111 BonnieJune54: we are not responsible for what our ancestors did, nor for what our descendants will do.

>112 fuzzi: Sorry I'm being so slow on this thread. I don't feel responsible for my ancestors but I think people should claim them. I think it is fascinating to see what a wide range of people we come from. Sometimes it seems like "Real Americans" have to claim that all of their ancestors were decent, hardworking people (not too poor and not too rich) who entered the country legally and learned English immediately. Some how you can be sure of this without knowing where they came from or when. Southerners like to proclaim all their ancestors were Confederate supporters but none actually owned slaves. It would make sense for two sets of grandparents but for eight sets of great great grandparents the math doesn't hold up well. I'll get off my soapbox now.

I bought The Four Feathers way back when the film with Heath Ledger came out. I finally read it. The film version concentrated on the adventure aspects. The novel is much more a study on the nature of courage and cowardice and duty. The hero comes from a long line of military men and is afraid of being afraid and bringing dishonor to those around him. The book is so English I think I should have spelled it dishonour. It spends equal time or more with Ethne the main female character on the home front. She has to decide if Harry is a coward or not and if doing her duty is the same as doing what is right. I'm glad I read it but be forewarned it is a very wordy,slow moving novel from 1902.

Maybe I was in the right mood or the narrator for Recorded Books did a great job but I loved Heart of Darkness. It was a great adventure with the nastiness of humanity thrown in. I just totally felt like I was going down that creepy river in Africa.

Miss Love Simpson is a spunky milliner in small town 1906 Georgia. She has been dodging curveballs all her life trying to get a little bit of love and happiness. I gave Cold Sassy Tree 3 stars for her sake. Unfortunately the main character is boring 14 year old Will. I think it is supposed to be a warm fuzzy book but I thought it was a town of respectable people being cold to each other. It was like the towns before Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables came to shake things up. Will's Granpa is the town eccentric. Will loves him but he is never shaken in his belief that you must live your life worrying about what other people might say and nothing can be changed for the better because that is just the way it is.

>116 BonnieJune54: Oh, that's too bad. The book sounds so promising.

>117 SylviaC: I can see it working better for other people. I live right next to Alabama in a city. A small southern town isn't exotic to me but it isn't home either. I was a miserable adolescent. Will is too happy and normal for me to relate too. I much prefer books about young adults out in the world to kids in school. All of my family including the males are very non-confrontational. Will and his Granpa love a good fist fight and the whole family always seems to be mad at each other. Oh well moving on.

>116 BonnieJune54: I have not read Cold Sassy Tree in years, since the television movie came out, but I recall loving it. There's a sequel sitting unread on my shelves, Leaving Cold Sassy:.

Here's a clip from the movie...was it really almost 30 years ago when I watched it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPJme9L2zOs

>119 fuzzi: Thanks for the link. I never saw the movie but it seems to have the right approach. They concentrated on Miss Love and Granpa and ignored the rest of the town.

I liked Sylvia's BB Mariana. Julia is drawn to an old house and immediately moves in. She starts time traveling. She has a romance in the past and the present and doesn't know if they are connected. I liked how the time travel was handled. She was scared but intrigued and has practical problems with it. She has interesting friends and family and I like her job as a illustrator. Her life in the past is different. They are sternly religious and of modest means.

I'm glad you liked Mariana. I thought the time travel was handled well, too, and I really liked the atmosphere of the book. I still haven't read anything else by Kearsley yet, but I do have some others on hand.

>120 BonnieJune54: it's probably available online or Netflix or something. I'm not much of a movie-watcher or I'd rent a copy.

The Portuguese Escape wasn't as good as the first Julia Probyn. She sticks to the upper crust of Portugal and doesn't take you all over to see a variety of people. There isn't enough of Julia. Hetta is a Hungarian countess who got separated from her family when the communists took over. She doesn't seem like a real person. She is too serious and too perfect. She says everyone was happy and Hungary was a fairytale paradise before the communists arrived. I think they were going through the Great Depression, WWII, a government that was actual Fascists allied with the Nazis and a period of being under actual German Nazis. The spy adventures were fun but too preachy about the joys of Feudalism.

1918's The Enchanted Barn is quaint but lovely. Shirley is one of Grace Livingston Hill's plucky heroines who do their best to provide for the rest of their family. She is working as a stenographer. I like the details about her job. There is romance, a deep faith in God, and even a bit of adventure. She is very resourceful. Oh and I love all the slang.
"Nix on the sob-stuff, girlie!"

Marcia Schuyler is another Grace Livingston Hill. Marcia is a bit too good but I absolutely loved her new friend Miranda. Miranda is the neighbor's poor relation who is treated badly. I found myself wondering if I was meant to assume she had been conceived if not born out of wedlock. She is smart and cheerful. It makes sense that she idolizes Marcia. Marcia the new neighbor that everyone is talking about is one of the few people that have been kind to Miranda. Marcia has beautiful clothes and she can play the piano! Miranda has always had poor clothes and little education. Miranda delights in outsmarting their enemies. I thought the romance was handled well. Marcia has an evil sister named Kate. I would have liked to have seen more about how Kate interacted with the family before her fall from grace.

>126 BonnieJune54: Have you read Miranda? There we get Miranda's story, and she is awesome! It is absolutely my favourite Grace Livingston Hill book, and is well worth looking for.

>127 SylviaC: I just went Miranda shopping and wound up with a lifetime supply of Grace Livingston Hill. Kindle had a collection of 25 Ebooks for $2.99. I hope it isn't unwieldy when I try to read it. I have to read the rest of Miranda's story.

I think you'll like it. I still haven't read Marcia Schuyler, though I think I have it on my old ereader.

>129 SylviaC: I'll read Phoebe Deane first because I'm compulsive about reading series in order.
I had commentary on Henry V thanks to a Shakespeare Appreciated recording. I think it is fairly easy to follow anyway. There is the moving Band of Brothers speech and I liked the French Princess. The jokes with her maid were funny. There is both the glory of war and the grisly elements.

While being a wallflower during her London season, country girl Phoebe is sharply observing everyone around her. Which leads to her putting them all in her thinly disguised novel. Which makes Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle a regency era cousin of Miss Buncle's Book. Impulsive Phoebe jumps from one predicament to another trying to avoid or make amends for her book. Of course a man gets hopelessly entangled with Phoebe. The supporting characters are fun. There is her crusty governess, her BFF and a darling imp.

I loved A Town Like Alice. Jean gets taken prisoner by the Japanese in WWII Malaya. She is an extraordinarily resourceful woman who constantly tries to make the best of things. And she even remains likable not unbelievable. The book takes you a couple places in the UK, all over the colony of Malaya,and several places in Australia. It makes them all quite interesting and distinctive. The love story works very well. Love at first sight but it still requires getting to know each other. There is some racism but at least Jean is a little better than average for the time.

Sylvester was either the first or second Heyer book I read in my very early teens. Obviously, I liked it enough to look for more of them, but it isn't one that I revisit very often.

I first read A Town Like Alice at about the same age, and it remains one of my very favourite books. I love Jean's personality, and her strength and independence.

>133 SylviaC: I visited my cousin in western Kansas around the time I read Alice. I thought of her because she was a city girl who married a farmer and they had some tense negotiations about how she could stand living there. She started a business by building duplexes for older farmwives who wanted to live in the little town instead of on the farm. The men didn't think there would be any interest. She soon had a waiting list. You were a city girl too. Weren't you?

King John is more Shakespeare where I got confused about who was killing who. The why was always so they could inherit the throne. I read a nice synopsis on GR that included zombies for the fun of it. Maybe I should read descriptions before I try to listen to them.

>134 BonnieJune54: Your cousin is brilliant! Very much in the spirit of Jean Paget. Yes, I lived most of my first 30 years in cities, so it was quite a change to move to a farm. I didn't have much trouble adjusting though, as I much prefer country life. None of my friends were surprised at where I ended up. The only thing I occassionally miss is the variety of items available in stores. A few more bookstores and better stocked libraries would be nice, too. I can absolutely see the value in your cousin's duplexes, and can imagine a time when I might look for a place like that.

>136 SylviaC: They just celebrated their 50th anniversary. They are quite happy.
Now I'll see how many books I can get written up by the end of the year.
The Covenant was my first Amish romance. Apparently there are tons of them. I liked the details about Amish life and the characters. It is a story about four sisters and their dreams for the future. You are told the thoughts of various characters. Sadie is the rebellious one. Sometimes you know what is going on with her but sometimes there are big holes. I think I would have preferred just seeing Sadie from her naïve sister Leah's point of view. Or getting Sadie's POV without the gaps. The book also ends rather abruptly with everything still up in the air. It is a series but one the storylines could have been resolved.

The Boys in the Band is a play from 1969. I think it's the first Broadway play with openly gay main characters. They are having a birthday party. It starts out as lighthearted fun and then gets darker and drunker. It was an interesting slice of a particular time and place. It was poignant and humorous.

Thale's Folly is a big old house full of quirky individuals. It's a cozy sort of book. There are lots of little mysteries going on. I liked the way the residents organized to get missions accomplished. The story about how they liberated a new heater for the house was hilarious. I'm almost finished with Dorothy Gilman's books. I'm a little sad about that.

A Morbid Taste for Bones is the first in the Brother Cadfael mystery series. The characters are well developed and distinctive. The relationships among the monks are believable. The mystery is fine and there is even a little romance. I will be spending more time with Cadfael in his monastery.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is by Paul Creswick with beautiful N.C.Wyeth illustrations. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. It had fast paced action and lots of different twists on the legend. It had a nice flow and there was generally a reason for what was going on.

Listening to The Taming of the Shrew didn't work very well for me. I would like to see the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor film. I think having facial expressions and body language would do wonders for Kate and Petruchio. He just seemed to be doing repetitive shtick for the audience. They didn't seem to be responding to each other at all. Kate just seemed to hate her sister and once she got away from Bianca she stopped being contrary. All the characters seem rather cartoonish.

Back to my friends in Botswana with The Kalahari Typing School for Men. The assistant detective/garage manager/typing school organizer Grace Makutsi takes center stage in this one which is fine. Grace is a bit more interesting than Precious but I like Precious as well. Pleasant.

According to several reviews I made a bad choice with my first Alistair MacLean. Athabasca isn't much. The two main characters are identical and have no personality. Every thing in the story happens twice. First in an oil facility in Alaska and then the same thing in Canada. A couple of minor characters were fun. Fuzzi I promise I will give him another shot. I think I would do better with WWII than industrial sabotage. I liked the parts with action. This one just took way too long to get there. The blurb on my copy described a scene that didn't happen until 3/4 of the way through. I can understand how they couldn't find anything interesting in the first part of the book to use.

I read the first two Mitford books years ago. I either forgot how much I loved them or I am in a better mood for them this year. These High, Green Hills follows older newlyweds Timothy and Cynthia and the rest of their small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I like their relationship, their personalities, their mini-adventures and the fact that they are still challenging themselves and growing.

>140 BonnieJune54: I have read a number of the Brother Cadfael mysteries, and they're all good.

>144 BonnieJune54: agreed. The Guns of Navarone (WW II) is quite good, or try the excellent When Eight Bells Toll (not WW II).

>146 fuzzi: I found H.M.S. Ulysses at the last FOTL sale. I also bought The Beekeeper's Apprentice at the used book store.

The Romance of the Forest is a gothic romance from 1791. The heroine shows some sense for the time frame. I'm blaming all of her fainting on her corset. I loved the first half that was very gothic. A crumbling abbey, mysterious people and a lecherous aristocrat are all scaring poor Adeline. She escapes from one frying pan to another across Europe. The second half of the book gets very English and explains and fixes everything. It took a bit long to wind things up.

>147 BonnieJune54: I love The Beekeeper's Apprentice, it is wonderful!

H.M.S. Ulysses is very good, but a bit of a "downer".

>132 BonnieJune54: A Town Like Alice was wonderful! I keep thinking I need to read more by Nevil Shute - maybe On the Beach next?

>147 BonnieJune54: >149 fuzzi: I agree - The Beekeeper's Apprentice was wonderful and it was the start of an addiction to the Russell/Holmes series, which has become one of my favorites!

I think I will move The Beekeeper's Apprentice to the top of the mountain and bury the MacLean and keep looking for his big hits.
>150 rretzler: Hi Robin! I'm not sure about post-apocalypse. I think that's another downer. But I would like to read more Shute. Maybe Trustee from the Toolroom.

I loved By the Shores of Silver Lake. It really seems to be from the viewpoint of a 12 year old girl. She has a wide variety of experiences. She has a wonderful day riding ponies bareback with a friend. There is a near riot among railroad workers and a mystical encounter with a wolf..My copy has the Mildred Boyle/ Helen Sewell illustrations that I remember from childhood. I hope the rest of the Little House on the Prairie books hold up this well.

>152 BonnieJune54: I don't think I've ever seen the Mildred Boyle/Helen Sewell illustrations on the Little House books. I fondly remember the Garth Williams illustrations. I'll have to look for a book with the others. I was so obsessed with those books as a child - I must have read them 25 times or more!

>152 BonnieJune54: that book, The Long Winter, and Little Town on the Prairie are my favorites from the Little House series.

I think putting H.M.S. Ulysses aside for now is a good decision. I liked the book, very much, but if it were my first Alistair MacLean, I might not have been eager to search out his other books. It's a very good book, don't misunderstand me, but it's probably not the best one to start with.

Beekeeper's Apprentice is wonderful...

>153 rretzler: The Sewell/Boyle illustrations were in the original books. Apparently my school library didn't have the latest editions. I know the Garth Williams ones are better known. Here's a picture.


Hey Fuzz

More Shakespeare.
The Winter's Tale is a bit goofy but I liked it. It has insane jealousy, bears chasing people, shepherds and nobles pretending to be shepherds.

The Monk was written by a 19YO in 1796 and is still wonderfully outrageous. Ambrosio is the star of his monastery and very full of himself until he is seduced by a demon. He gets more and more depraved. There are sidetracks involving creepy ghost nuns and being captured by bandits. It is an Englishman's idea of Catholics in Spain and he throws rational explanations to the wind. The gothic novel at its best.

>155 BonnieJune54: Thank! Strangely, I don't think I recall ever seeing those. It's too bad - I think I would have liked them.

>154 fuzzi: My favorites as well. I'll never forget the family grinding the wheat in the coffee mill to make bread, and twisting the straw into bundles for fuel. Plus, Almanzo choosing Laura over Nellie!

Did either of you ever watch the Little House on the Prairie TV series? I remember watching the pilot episode and being so disappointed because it did not match the idea I had in my head that I never watched the show again!

>158 rretzler: I watched the first season or two and then seemed to have lost interest. I read some plot summaries. The plots don't follow the books much at al.

I totally loved the movie version of Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks in the Circus as a child. The book is very enjoyable as well. Toby runs away from his foster home to join the circus. It's not as glamorous as it looked from the outside. I thought it was a nice balance between homesickness and making new friends and having new experiences. It shows a child's POV.

>160 BonnieJune54: Ooh, now I'll have to root out my copy and re-read it. I do remember it with fondness, but can't recall the specifics of what went on. Perhaps I can read it with one of the grands.

Last evening the youngest two were doing something entirely old fashioned. They had a set of dolls and a book in front of them and were re-enacting the story of Helen Keller. One of the dolls had eyes that were stuck shut, which must have been the inspiration for the play. But they also pointed out how much the doll looked like a drawing of Helen in other ways.

>158 rretzler: I despised the Little House TV series: the parents were miscast, and the stories were typical Hollyweird.

>161 2wonderY: my sisters and I used to do that: act out stories with our dolls. My own children did it as well. I hope Miss Ruthie has a similar imagination!

>162 fuzzi: Good to know that there are others who did not like the TV series! Most of my friends really liked it, but I agree the parents were miscast (and mismatched at that) and the whole show was just awful!

You are making me want to read the rest of the little House books and pay attention to Ma and Pa.
>161 2wonderY: Who knows what a modern kid will think of Toby Tyler? I liked Alcott's Under the Lilacs with its circus theme as well. Alcott's books have great imaginative play.

I feel like a curmudgeon but A Bear Called Paddington was boring. Bear makes a mess. Grownups look funny treating a talking bear seriously. Repeat several times. I wouldn't recommend this to an adult unless you have a giggling five year old that you are reading it to. I kept wondering if Paddington was meant to be a real bear that talked or a toy come to life. Maybe people who like fantasy are able to handle this things better.

With The Comedy of Errors I have finished the Shakespeare comedies. There are two sets of identical twins and five acts of mistaken identity jokes. Funny but I might like The Boys from Syracuse musical version better. Some song and dance numbers would help.

And my last book of 2016 is The Full Cupboard of Life. These are getting a little humdrum. I did like mild mannered Mr JLB Matekoni confronting the pushy matron of the orphan farm in his dreams.

I read 9 books that I have had since I first joined LT in 2010.
I think 9 books from The 1001 books to read before you die list.
3 sources for Musicals
23 new to me authors
Some stuff written this century
At least one author that was born after me.
A fat zero on non-fiction ( closest is the end of Roots and Laura Ingalls' story)

>165 BonnieJune54: I did not read A Bear Called Paddington until recently. I usually love children's books, but I could barely (npi) get through it...so you are not alone.

I don't know if it being a fantasy spoiled it...I love fantasy, if well-written, such as Winnie the Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, or The Cricket in Times Square, but not Paddington.

>169 fuzzi: It just seemed like a series of generic picture books tacked together as a chapter book. Many children's classics were to some extent written for adults because that is who buys them and who reads them aloud. Like The Teletubbies TV show I think Paddington is just aimed at small children.
I love Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows. Maybe I couldn't just accept that he was Paddington and move on because I was bored.

My new thread
http://www.librarything.com/topic/246226