lit_chick's 2017 Reading (1)

All aboard for 2017's literary adventures, everyone!

This is my seventh year with our most articulate 75 Books Challenge group. I do not structure or plan my reading at all. My book choices are made on the fly and in the moment. One might say I like to fly by the seat of my pants. This works for me!

I live in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley with my magnificent four-year-old, jet black, feline rescue, Cairo. My thread toppers this year will feature some of my favourite work by Canada's Group of Seven.



James Edward Hervey MacDonald, Goat Range Rocky Mountains, 1932




February
12. Mrs Roosevelt's Confidante, Susan Elia MacNeal
11. The Prime Minister's Secret Agent, Susan Elia MacNeal

January
10. Nobody's Fool, Richard Russo
9. His Majesty's Hope, Susan Elia MacNeal
8. Princess Elizabeth's Spy, Susan Elia MacNeal
7. Here Comes the Sun, Nicole Dennis Benn
6. The Prime Minister's Secretary, Susan Elia MacNeal
5. He Wants, Alison Moore
4. Another Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson
3. Commonwealth, Ann Patchett
2. Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson
1. Circling the Sun, Paula McLain

Because one never knows when one might need a fainting couch ...

2016 Wrap-Up:
2016 was an absolutely FABULOUS reading year for me. Not only did I read more books than I ever have in a single year (91), but I read more 4.5-5* books than I ever have in a single year. So much so, that some of the books listed under The Rest here were 5* reads!

The Best:
(Top 5 Reads)
Crow Lake, Mary Lawson
South Riding, Winifred Holtby
Hell's Bottom, Colorado, Laura Pritchett
The Wars, Timothy Findley
News of the World, Paulette Jiles

The Rest:
(Top 10 Reads)
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien
Miss Jane, Brad Watson
Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf
Work Like Any Other, Virginia Reeves

Fabulous Series:
Masie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
The Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to another fabulous year of literary adventure ...

Starred!

>1 lit_chick: Lovely thread topper, Nancy.

>4 lit_chick: Very cool!

I will enjoy keeping up with you as usual in 2017. xx

Welcome back! Nice fainting couch. :)

>5 katiekrug: Hi Katie!

>6 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, thanks. Looking forward to following you, too.

>7 drneutron: Thanks, Jim. And thank you for getting us set up again this year. The couch is very comfortable, so be sure to drop by anytime : ).

Hope your 2017 reading is full of great reads. Dropping my star!

All the best reading for 2017, Nancy! Your "best of" books for 2016 inspire......I love your philosophy, reading (flying) by the seat of your pants.

Glad you had a fabulous reading year, hope the next one is as good. I haven't read any of your five best books, so need to do something about that...

Happy New Year, Nancy!

Belated Merry Christmas and happy New Year Nancy!

Dropping my star, Nancy! And I'm so happy to see the couch is making the transition to the New Year. I have a feeling it's gonna get a workout.

Happy new thread, Nancy! I've read a couple of your "best" and "rest" and Hell's Bottom, Colorado is coming up soon for me.

Yes, a fabulous reading year, Nancy. Is 75 books on your ticker enough? Maybe you're ready for 100? :)

Many new authors and titles on your best reads list. Have only read Haruf. I have bought South Riding as an ebook but the list of names in the beginning is daunting.

Happy New Year and Happy new year of reading.

Hope you have a wonderful 2017!

>9 thornton37814: Hi Lori, welcome!

>10 mdoris: Hi Mary, glad you like my philosophy, LOL!

>11 charl08: Hi Charlotte, 2016 in terms of a reading year is going to be a tough act to follow ... but I'm off to see what can be done!

>12 DianaNL: Thank you, Diana, and you!

>13 souloftherose: Thank you, and you, too, Heather!

>14 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie, couldn't leave the fainting couch behind. You made me chuckle: I have a feeling it's gonna get a workout. I have a feeling you're right, LOL!

>15 susanj67: Hi Susan, oh, I hope you love Hell's Bottom, Colorado as much as I did.

>16 ctpress: Hi Carsten, appreciate your vote of confidence, but I've only made 75 books twice since I joined LT, so I think I'm not ready for 100!

Delighted to hear you've purchased South Riding. I agree that the list of characters is daunting, but surprisingly, even though I referred to the list when I needed to, I didn't find the book at all hard to follow. Btw, it's also a very well done movie; borrowed it from my library when I'd finished the book.



>17 ChelleBearss: Happy New Year, Chelle! Lovely to "see" you.

Hi Nancy! I've been lurking on the 2017 threads but now it's time to come out of hibernation. Happy early new year!

>19 lauralkeet: You too, Laura! Here's to another year of great books!

And our New Year Book Meme is back! Here we are, using my list of 2016 reads:

Describe yourself: Breath, Eyes, Memory
Describe how you feel: Among the Mad
Describe where you currently live: Hell's Bottom, Colorado
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Empire Falls
Your favourite form of transportation: Watch How We Walk
Your best friend is: Miss Jane
You and your friends are: The Chisellers
What’s the weather like: August Heat
You fear: The Paying Guests
What is the best advice you have to give: Go Set a Watchman
Thought for the day: Do Not Say We Have Nothing
How I would like to die: Glory Over Everything
My soul’s present condition: Ordinary Grace

Love the fainting couch! I think I need one of those!

Great list, and I have Crow Lake on hold at the library as I write this! Happy New Year!

>22 junepearl:, >23 junepearl: Welcome, KK! How wonderful to see you here! Yes, I think we all need a fainting couch, which I why I've been dragging this one around since some time last year. HNY to you, too : ).

He, he, I love the Book Meme, Nancy - From "Hell's Bottom" to "Glory over Everything" - covers about everything :) ...I would also fear The Paying Guests :)

Hi, Nancy! - just dropping off a star... :)

>21 lit_chick: - Oooh, I forgot about the end of year book meme! Love it! Off to ponder mine.....

>25 ctpress: LOL, Carsten: hell and glory, that's me! Yes, The Paying Guests are to be feared. I'll be looking for the meme over at your new 2017 thread ...

>26 lyzard: Thanks, Liz, will be by to do the same shortly.

>27 katiekrug: Looking forward to your meme, Katie.

Happy New Thread, Nancy! I am late to the party. "ve yet to decide on this years best reads. I gave Crow Lake 5 stars too, but I think I read it the year before you. Dropped a star !

>29 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, you can come late to my party any time, just as long as you come : ). Yes, I also think you read Crow Lake well before I did.

Crow Lake is one of those books I've been meaning to read for ages. Maybe I'll get around to it in 2017!

>31 SandDune: Oh, Rhian, I hope you do! It's such a fabulous novel!

>31 SandDune: I hope so! Nancy is the one who inspired me to read it, and it was one of my "honorable mentions" for 2016.

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Happy reading in 2017, Nancy!

>33 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, I was delighted to see Crow Lake among your 2016 Honourable Mentions!

>34 The_Hibernator:, >35 PaulCranswick:, >36 FAMeulstee: Happy New Year! Lovely poem, Paul ... I love that colour, creed, gender, age, et al make absolutely no difference in our wonderful LT community.

Happy New Year, Nancy. Great list of best reads for 2016.

Hi Nancy, found and starred you. Looking forward to following your literary adventures in 2017 and love the fact that the fainting couch made it over here!

Relying on my Irish heritage to leave you the following New Year wishes:

>38 BLBera:, >39 lkernagh: Happy New Year, Beth and Lori!

01
Circling the Sun, Paula McLain



Rating: 4.5/5

2015, Random House Audio, Read by Katharine McEwan

Book Description: adapted from Amazon.ca
KENYA, 1920s: Beautiful young horse trainer, adventurer and aviator Beryl Markham tells the story of her life among the glamorous and decadent circle of British expats living in colonial East Africa – and the complicated love triangle she shared with the white hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa.

My Review:
“Have you ever seen stars like this? You can’t have. They don’t make them like this anywhere in the world.” Above our heads, the sky was a brimming treasure box. Some of the stars seemed to want to pull free and leap down onto my shoulders—and though these were the only ones I had ever known, I believed Denys when he said they were the finest. I thought I might believe anything he said, in fact, even though we had just met. He had that in him.”

Brought to Kenya as a young child with her parents, Markham is shortly thereafter abandoned by her mother, and raised in equal parts by her horse-trainer father and by the local Kisigis tribe on her father’s land. Not surprisingly, she is daring and wild. When her father’s farm goes bankrupt, she reels headlong into a disastrous marriage at sixteen years old to avoid leaving Kenya and to begin to forge her own way as a horse trainer. In the process, Beryl attracts the attention of the Happy Valley set, including writer Karen Blixen and her lover Denys Finch Hatton, who will later be immortalized in Blixen's memoir, Out of Africa. The three become embroiled in a triangle that will end tragically – but set Beryl upon the course to aviation. However, long before she will fly, Beryl is for years followed by scandal and speculation – mostly of her own doing. What a story!

When I set about reading Circling the Sun,, I knew nothing of Beryl Markham. I was, of course, familiar with Dinesen’s Out of Africa, and so was pleasantly surprised to learn that she and Finch Hatton were central characters in Markham’s life. I knew the novel would feature wonderfully rich characters! Aside from Markham, Blixen, and Finch Hatton, there is a case of secondary characters equally as engaging, Dee and Barkley and so many more. And perhaps most importantly, there is the character of Kenya itself: so wild, and diverse, and so utterly beautiful.

Gorgeous writing, and sublime narration by Katharine McEwan. Highly recommended, particularly to readers interested in biographical fiction and colonial East Africa.

Most impressive, Nancy! A book knocked out already! And an excellent review - my first thumb of the New Year if you posted that. I read Markham's West With the Night, and would highly recommend that if you are interested in further reading.

>42 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! West With the Night makes the list, first rec of the year!

Whoot!

You're off to a flying start, Nancy, with a 4.5-read. I'm thumbing and interested. How much fiction/biography is it, do you know? I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never read Out of Africa, I know, I know.....

>45 ctpress: Yes, and pun intended with the flying start, LOL! I can't say how much fiction there is in the biography, but given the little bit I've read about Markham, I think the novel is probably fairly spot on: she lived large, BOLD, always pushing the edges. Not to dissuade you, but I didn't enjoy the novel Out of Africa as much as I wanted to ... so perhaps the audiobook? I do remember it was filled with gorgeous description of Africa.

Impressive start to the year, Nancy. Onto the list goes Circling the Sun

Hi Nancy, I love your thread topper my dear and I have dropped my star off so I can keep up with what you are reading and doing in 2017, sending love and hugs.

>47 BLBera: Thanks, Beth, I think you will really enjoy Circling the Sun. And I'm always happy to help with a BB : ).

>48 johnsimpson: Thanks John, glad you've dropped a star : ). Love and hugs back to you and Karen.

Wow! A book finished on the 1st of January! Great work, Nancy! It's a book I've considered reading when I've seen it at the library . I'll have to move it up the queue. Great review as well. Happy New Year!

>41 lit_chick: - Lovely to see you starting out of the gates with a 4.5 star read! Not sure what that means for the BB you will be throwing but still happy to see you are starting the reading year off with a winner!

Oh oh, looks like a book bullet just whizzed by me… Dodging this one but I know there will be others. Lovely new thread, Nancy. I know you are a big Maisie Dobbs fan. Guess who is coming to our library system this spring? Yes! I will finally be able to meet with a big name author (at least around these parts) at my local library. I think I'd better get busy and read or listen to some of those books!

I have my meme filled out and need to try to put it on my thread. I got kicked off earlier. We have some similar answers although I think they are to different questions. Such fun. I've also read most of your favorites for the year. Not surprising at all considering how similar our reading tastes are. Here's to another year of great reading and talking about books! Happy New Year!

>3 lit_chick: woohoo! Congrats. I had a lacklustre reading year. Only 63 books. BUt a whole tonne of academic reading on top of that. So, a good one nonetheless.

>41 lit_chick: I know this is weird, but the squarer format of your audio covers is off-putting to my visual sensibilities. (*jeez, who invited her, asks everyone*)
I know, but, what can I say? I speak my thoughts ;)

Happy new year, new thread, new group! I have high hopes for my reading and my thread visiting!

Hi, Nancy. Just stopping by to drop a star.

>50 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb. I hope you will enjoy Circling the Sun as much as I did! If you listen to audio (but I don't think you do), I highly recommend this edition.

>51 lkernagh: Hi Lori, yes, out of the gates with 4.5* ... and they're off, LOL!

>52 Donna828: Oh, I am green with envy that Jacqueline Winspear is coming to your local library, Donna! How fabulous! Not surprised you've read so many on my Bests list ... it's that great minds thing, you know. *off to check out Donna's meme*

>53 LovingLit: Hi Megan, well academic reading counts! and I know how completely time consuming it is. But still, here's to a better reading year in 2017. Your sensibilities with the square audiobook covers ... well, that made me chuckle : ).

>54 rretzler: Hi Robin!

>41 lit_chick:.I have this on the TBR shelves and loved her previous book so must move it up the ranks.

>56 HelenBaker: Hi Helen, enjoy Circling the Sun. I've read McLain's The Paris Wife, but didn't like it nearly as well as this one.

Happy New Year, Nancy, and a star! I wish you a year of great satisfaction and lots of good reading!

Here I am Nancy - not finished with my thread for 2017, but a start ... :) https://www.librarything.com/topic/245261

>58 LizzieD:, >59 Berly: Happy New Year, Peggy and Kim.

>60 vancouverdeb: *scurries off to Deb's new thread*

Love your topper, Goat Range Rocky Mountains, beautiful! Wow you are up and running. Way to go!

>62 mdoris: Thanks, Mary. Yes, up and running ... but I haven't tracked everyone down yet.

Happy New Year to you, Nancy, with best, best wishes! I have South Riding at the TOP of my pile, which means I'll get to it... someday. It was actually chosen this year by my book club, which I can't attend during the school year. I wish you a wonderful year. I think I definitely needed a fainting couch for all of 2016 (you would not believe how many times I have Googled "move to Okanagan Valley" last year. It looks to be a hot retirement spot! And we'd cat-sit. Just sayin'. Actually, Callia could have used a fainting couch last night. 2017 got off to an inauspicious start when she fainted while ice skating and ended up in the ER:(

>64 AMQS: Happy New Year, Anne, lovely to "see" you! I delighted to hear you'll read South Riding this year. Cat-sit, eh? Well, let me tell you about our fabulous Okanagan Valley : ). Goodness, I'm sorry to hear Callia ended up in ER last night! Hope she's fine today. *off to track down your 2017 thread*

2.
Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson



Rating: 3.5/5

2014, Penguin Audio, Read by Jacqueline Woodson

Publisher’s Summary: from Audible.com
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson's eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

My Review:
Woodson, no question, is a talented writer/poet. I appreciate her vivid images of the beauty of the American South, and, by contrast, of what it felt like to walk to the back of the bus with her mother – before she was old enough to understand why. Her young struggle with reading, followed by her utter joy of language as she finds her voice through stories is indeed touching and powerful. My difficulty with Brown Girl Dreaming, then, is not with Woodson, but with me. Verse is not something I particularly enjoy reading, and so I do so very rarely. To listen to a novel in verse – well, it’s just not my thing. That said, I encourage other readers not to be dissuaded by my shortcomings. I look forward to Another Brooklyn, which is up next – and written in prose.

Lovely review of Brown Girl Dreaming, Nancy. Like you, I have a difficult time with verse as well. I really enjoyed Another Brooklyn, but when I took Brown Girl Dreaming out of the library, I returned it unread. I may yet try it again. Bravo you for persevering

I don't usuallly "get" poetry, Nancy, so I was surprised how much I liked Brown Girl Dreaming. Sorry it wasn't more of a winner for you!

Brown Girl Dreaming has been on my list of books to read since it won a Newbery Honor a couple of years ago. It's a hard one to get kids to check out, too, so it might help if I read it.

I guess we both had an audiobook-listen that would have been better as a "normal" book-read. I haven't yet read any of the new novel-in-verse stories thats out there recently. I hope Another Brooklyn will be a better read.

>67 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb. It sounds like we are of like minds as concerns novels in verse. Another Brooklyn is more to my taste.

>68 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, I wanted to enjoy this one as much as you had, but it was not to be. I'm better with Another Brooklyn.

>69 AMQS: Anne, you made me chuckle: it might help if I read that it. I can see why kids might hesitate to chevk this one out.

>70 ctpress: Hi Carsten, truthfully it should not come as a surprise to me that I don't care for novels in verse. Another Brooklyn is much better.

3.
Commonwealth, Ann Patchett



Rating: 4/5

On a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, Bert Cousins shows up uninvited to Franny Keating’s christening party – with a large bottle of gin. In relatively short order, the celebration is wildly out of hand, and Cousins has kissed Beverly, Franny’s mother, setting in motion the dissolution of two marriages and the blending of the Keating and Cousins families.

Commonwealth, ambitiously spanning five decades, is the story of how the chance encounter affects the lives of the four adults and the six children involved. The Keating and Cousins children travel back and forth between Los Angeles, which remains home, and Virginia, where they spend summers together. They forge a lasting bond based on their shared experience. When in her twenties, Franny begins dating famous author, Leon Posen, she tells him the story of her siblings and parents (and step-siblings and step-parents), and her family becomes the subject of his new and wildly successful novel. Ultimately, the characters must come to terms with their guilt and their losses, and with the connections they have formed (or not) with one another.

With equal measures of humour and heartache, Patchett expertly reminds us of the power and pull of family ties – despite their fragility. Simultaneously, through Franny’s telling of the Keating/Cousins’ story to Posen – and of its promotion to general publication – she invokes a meditation on the ownership of stories. Wonderful writing, highly recommended!

Sounds like an ambitious work of fiction, Nancy. Great review. Yes, Patchett is a good writer. You may recall I read State of Wonder last year - quite a different story and theme, but also worth the time.

Hmmmm... I'm being send to The Republic by Plato - can't recommend that one. Those links...that will never be fixed.

Hi Nancy, it looks like the ladies are setting the pace on the reading front at the start of the year. Hope all is well with you my dear and I send love and hugs.

>66 lit_chick: >67 vancouverdeb: >68 lauralkeet: I'm so glad I'm not the only one that doesn't really "get" poetry. I've always wondered why - perhaps my very logical and visual-spatial mind has trouble comprehending the abstraction? I had Brown Girl Dreaming on my radar but I think I may give it a miss.

>73 ctpress: Hi Carsten, Patchett can definitely write! I need to read more of her work. I do recall your reading and enjoying State of Wonder.

I've come to the conclusion, like you, that LT's touchstones are permanently brain damaged! Honestly, some of the links that come up just defy imagination.

>74 johnsimpson: John, it made me smile that the ladies are setting the pace on the reading front at the start of the year. Hugs.

>75 rretzler: Hi Robin, I think you will enjoy Woodson's Another Brooklyn, which is written in prose. It's not so much that I don't "get" poetry, as that I just don't particularly enjoy reading it. In any case, you're in good company : ).

Happy New Year, Nancy!

! I guess you are having no problems with Lightbot computer coding, whilst I struggle along with the kindergarten material. Great review of Commonwealth, Nancy. With equal measures of humour and heartache, Patchett expertly reminds us of the power and pull of family ties – despite their fragility. So true. I think I'll have a look for Commonwealth. I've got an Ann Patchett TBR , you are spurring me on.

Wow, lots going on on your thread and lots of reading done. Great reviews and I am enjoying the discussion about Brown Girl Dreaming. I thought it was wonderful but then I just did the Nancy Pearl rule (the book dump) on a book that is getting great attention and many awards. Don't you love that we are all so different!

Hope that you had a wonderful break and have recharged your batteries!

>77 kidzdoc: Thank you, Daryl! Happy New Year to you. *off to Daryl's thread*

>78 vancouverdeb: Well, Deb, I'll admit that Lightbot gave me a good run. Now I think I need to buy the full version ... but then I'd never get anything else done.

I think you will really like Patchett. I know she is a popular writer, don't know why my first experience with her was Commonwealth. But it's a great read, so as good a place to start as any. Will look forward to your thoughts.

>79 mdoris: Mary, I love this: I just did the Nancy Pearl rule (the book dump) on a book that is getting great attention and many awards. Don't you love that we are all so different! Thank you! Yes, I know the feeling of pearl-ruling a raved-about novel ... and I do love that we are all so different.

4.
Another Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson



Rating: 4/5

August, an Ivy League-educated anthropologist, reminisces about her coming-of-age years in Brooklyn in the 1970s. She, her father, and her brother had left Tennessee and moved to New York. There, she met her girls: Gigi, Angela, and Sylvia – and their friendship was everything – until it wasn't. Inseparable, they ambled their Brooklyn streets, believing they were talented, beautiful, brilliant – that the future belonged to them. But just beneath the surface, Brooklyn was another city, too: of drugs, prostitution, gangs, and violence -- , a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion.

Another Brooklyn is a poignant coming-of-age story, reminding us of the joy and the hope in growing up, and of the friendships that united us – but also of the peril. August speaks of historical and cultural references, which I connected with on a personal level from my own adolescent years: the Biafran War, and the heartbreaking children of Biafra; The Flying Nun; the Close ‘N Play record players. Recommended.

Nice review of Another Brooklyn, Nancy. I remember those references as well, especially the Close 'N Play record player! I must have received mine for my ninth birthday in 1970, as the first 45 single I bought was "ABC" by the Jackson 5, which was released in February of that year, a few weeks before my birthday.

The Patchett is very tempting!

Nice reviews, Nancy! I can't quite decided if I want to read Commonwealth or not. The only thing of hers that I have read is Bel Canto, and I loved that. I do have others by her in the stacks, so I'll probably read those first.

Hoping Thursday os kind to you!

Nancy - You are on fire! Are you planning to read a book a day this year? I also loved Commonwealth and Another Brooklyn, so I dodged those bullets. I do want to read Brown Girl Dreaming.

Sure seems like another Brooklyn than I only know through movies and a brief visit myself. Great that it was better than her verse-story, Nancy.

>82 kidzdoc: Thanks, Daryl. I love when I can connect in such a personal way with a story. Great memory of Jackson Five's ABC, too!

>83 sibylline: Hi Lucy, Commonwealth is a great read!

>84 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie, I don't know why I've not read Patchett until now. That must change. I remember Bel Canto was popular a couple years ago on LT, and State of Wonder too, I think.

>85 BLBera: Hi Beth, January is good for something I've discovered, LOL! Going forward, instead of dreading it as one of the months I despise, I'll have to think of it as a great reading month.

>86 ctpress: Hi Carsten, didn't know you had visited Brooklyn! It's true I enjoyed this one more than Brown Girl Dreaming because it's written in prose.

Glad to see the love for both Commonwealth and Another Brooklyn. I was just in Brooklyn on Monday -- my daughter lives there, in fact in Bushwick where the novel is set. Like so much of the NYC area its demographics are changing. It's currently ethnically diverse but there is a growing population of young white hipsters, in no small part because it's a more affordable area. But that, in turn, displaces other groups. It's great for my daughter but also a bit uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.

Four books already -- you're off to a great start!

Yes, Nancy, you are on fire! What was that about being back to work and that slowing down your reading! :) Glad you enjoyed Another Brooklyn. Great review of Another Brooklyn. I've not read an Ann Patchett, but I have The Patron Saint of Liars in my TBR piles.

>88 lauralkeet: I'd read that Brooklyn was becoming a hot spot for young white hipsters, Laura. But, yes, it certainly displaces other groups. Interesting city dynamics.

>89 AMQS: Yes, January is good for something, Anne!

>90 vancouverdeb: LOL, Deb, let's keep in mind that the two Woodson audiobooks are less than ten hours bewteen them. Patchett is a well-loved writer. Not sure which I'll pick up next.

Yippee! I received Commonwealth for Christmas, so you are encouraging me to read what I'm reading quickly so that I can get to it!
Meanwhile, you're burning through the books. Yay!

Hi Nancy, I stopped following individual threads last year because I was spending too much time reading them instead of books. I just thought I would take a peek at yours and already two books on to my wishlist. I am sure I can credit most of my american collection to you. :-)

Hi Nancy, I do know what Helen is saying in >93 HelenBaker:, I have been stewing about this too but just so love seeing what people are reading and their comments and every year I think my "following" is broadening not narrowing. Oh well!

*note to self... January...good for reading in Okanagan Valley...* One more tick in the "pro" column!

:)

>92 LizzieD: Peggy, will be curious to see what you think of Commonwealth. I hope you like it as much as I did.

>93 HelenBaker: Hi Helen! I completely understand spending too much time reading threads and not enough time reading ... I've cut back drastically too. It's interesting how we use American differently in different parts of the world. You are likely referring to North American collection, whereas here in Canada, when we say American, we are referring strictly to the US. Mostly, I would hope to be helping with your collection of Canadian lit : ).

>94 mdoris: Hi Mary, LT can be as time consuming as we want it to be, I know that for sure! At one time I followed many more threads than I do presently. Time, time, time.

>95 AMQS: LOL! Let me know when you're moving, Anne!

Re : Lightbot. I'm not sure how much that applies to actual coding and creating software programs, but if it does, ( and it supposed to do so ) I have a greater respect for my software developer son. Of course he scorned Lightbot and said" how about I write the code to create Lightbot. "Kidz.

>97 vancouverdeb: Ah, yes, that was also my experience with Lightbot, Deb. Imagine learning such codes in Kindergarten as your DIL is doing with her students!

5.
He Wants, Alison Moore



Rating: 4.5/5

"He always imagined living by the sea, perhaps in his retirement. But he is seventy years old now, retired years ago, and still living in this village in the Midlands, less than a mile from the house which grew up and around the corner from the school in which he has spent the best part of his life." (62)

Lewis Sullivan is seventy, widowed, and a retired Religious Studies teacher. He lives a mile from his childhood home. Ruth, his adult daughter, visits every day, bringing him soup he doesn’t want; and he spend his evenings at his second-favourite pub. But his comfortable routine is shaken up when his old school chum, Sydney Flynn – a ruffian ex-convict who now writes romance novels under a pseudonym – turns up.

The aptly named He Wants contemplates desire – so many of which, for Lewis, have been thwarted by the passing of time and by age. He resignedly recalls his life’s desires, which now appear as missed opportunities – or the result of his decisions to settle for safer choices – or perhaps both. But the novel is much more than this, too. Lewis’ reminiscences are combined with astute observances about the idiosyncrasies and impersonality of our modern world: we smoke electronic cigarettes, digitally announce our arrival to the doctor’s office, while we sit for photographs in which we are no longer allowed to smile. In fact, socially speaking, we have almost perfected complete alienation from one another:

"Lewis remembers how the mobile library tipped very slightly towards you as you entered, when you put your weight on the steps, and how it swayed underfoot while you were browsing … In the town library now, you don't take your books to the lady behind the desk, you put them into an opening in a big black machine that scans them. You can leave without speaking to a soul." (17)

Written in the same spare and effortless prose as The Lighthouse, Moore has followed up with a most worthy read in He Wants – quiet and entertaining and entirely thought-provoking. I am reminded of Gerbrand Bakker and Per Pettersen, whose work I also love. Highly, highly recommended.

I have just finished "He Wants" and I read it almost in one sitting today. A fine, fine review, Nancy. I was too reminded of Bakker.

I'm still puzzled by the ending and not entirely satisfied with it - don't know what to make of it. I found something in it almost surreal and dreamlike in places - and I guess the Dracula element lends to that feeling and the religious overtones. The novels/books mentioned in the story is suddenly also pointers. How realiable is Lewis as a narrator? How real is Sydney? What about the dog? Well, puzzled as I said.

Oh, dear - your thread is dangerous, Nancy. You got me again. I'll thumb that lovely review if you posted it. Happy Sunday to you!

>100 ctpress: Thanks, Carsten. I'm completely with you on all of your observances about He Wants. At first, I thought Sydney wasn't real ... but then I decided he was real. What exactly is the role of DH Lawrence and Lady Chatterly's Lover? And, yes, what about the religious overtones? Is the dog the one Lewis himself adopted from Sydney as a child, the one that disappeared and never came home? So much to ponder. Moore is fabulous!

>101 Crazymamie: LOL, Mamie. Star appreciated, hope you enjoy He Wants as much as I did!

Wonderful comments on He Wants, Nancy. Onto the list it goes. What a great start to your year.

>103 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! Yes, a great start to 2017 for sure. Look forward to your thoughts on this one.

Nancy, you are on a roll with some really great reads! He Wants sounds amazing.

>105 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, yes, January has been good to me reading-wise. He Wants is excellent.

Uh oh! All the He Wants touchstones go to The Catcher in the Rye, Nancy! Not just yours, I think most everyones here :) Excellent review, though I only briefly glanced at it, since I am in the midst of reading He Wants myself, but still at page 70. I don't want to influence my own thoughts by reading your wonderful review . Great job!

>107 vancouverdeb: These touchstone are going to make me crazy! Fixed the one in my review, but I'm sure there are others pointing to Cather in the Rye. Gah!

Can't wait to hear what you think of this one, Deb. Again, I really love that you, Carsten and I have all read it at the same time.

Is it just me Nancy or are you reading more and more each year? Four books done already is pretty impressive. I do like the look of the Alison Moore book well reviewed in >99 lit_chick: above.

>109 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, I have only made the 75 books challenge twice: 2011, the year I joined LT, and this past year. But if it is a new trend for me, I'll take it!

I think you would really enjoy Moore, both The Lighthouse and He Wants.

>99 lit_chick: He Wants is definitely going on my wishlist. I really enjoyed The Lighthouse.

Nancy--Well, I already have Commonwealth by my bedside, so you didn't get me with that one, but now I have WLed He Wants. Thanks!

Great review of He Wants, Nancy. I enjoyed The Lighthouse, so I'll be on the lookout for this book.

Oh dear, have to WL the Patchett.

>111 SandDune: I really enjoyed The Lighthouse too, Rhian.

>112 Berly: Hi Kim, got ya! Hope you enjoy He Wants as much as I did.

>113 kidzdoc: Thanks, Daryl. I also thought The Lighthouse was excellent.

>114 sibylline: Oh, I think you'll enjoy Commonwealth, Lucy.

I'm really enjoying He Wants and no doubt " over reading' and looking up all sorts of things to better understand the story. That said, I've come down a cold - one of those sore throat, sore glands, feeling feverish, not feeling like doing much at all. May take me a little while to finish up He Wants.

>116 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, I found He Wants to be multi-layered; I had so many questions!

Oh, no, sorry to hear you are sick. I have just gotten over (almost) a horrible dose of cold/sore throat.

Great review, Nancy! He Wants sounds terrific.

This sounds like my kind of book. I am a fan of Gerbrand Bakker and just last month read Per Pettersen's, Outstealing Horses. I find as I have matured I appreciate the observations on life narrated by mature characters.

>99 lit_chick: HI Nancy, Great review of He Wants. On to the wishlist it goes!

>118 AMQS: Hi Anne, yes, an excellent read!

>119 HelenBaker: I think you'd really like He Wants, Helen, given that you enjoy Bakker and Pettersen. Love what you've written here: you've said it so well, and I couldn't agree more: I find as I have matured I appreciate the observations on life narrated by mature characters.

>120 mdoris: Hi Mary, always happy to help my friends with a BB : ).

6.
Mr Churchill's Secretary, Susan Elia MacNeal



Rating: 3/5

2012, Random House, Read by Wanda McCaddon

Publisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.com
London, 1940: Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her gender qualifies her only to be the newest typist at No. 10 Downing Street. Her remarkable gifts for codebreaking, though, rival those of even the highest men in government, and Maggie finds that working for the prime minister affords her a level of clearance she could never have imagined.

My Review:
Maggie Hope is English by birth, but, having lost both parents (or so she believes) at a young age, she has been raised in the US by her aunt, Edith. When her grandmother dies and leaves her the family home, she must return to London to sell it. But it doesn’t sell – so Maggie takes in some roommates to help keep the old place afloat and settles in to make the best of things. I love that she is an exceptional mathematics student and heading to graduate school in 1940.

In London, it is, of course, a troubled and deadly time: frequent bombings set off air raid sirens, sending the multitudes underground. Once inside the prime minister’s office, Maggie has access to the War Rooms, where she is exposed to the machinations of war: battery, mobilization, spies, murder, and intrigue; and where she will decode the intent of a menacing faction planning to assassinating Churchill. MacNeal has obviously researched the era meticulously and provides wonderful insight into the character of Winston Churchill.

The Prime Minister’s Secretary has all the makings of a great story, but I think the plot line needed to stop short of Maggie’s hidden family secrets. For my part, this introduced unnecessary clutter into an already intriguing plot. The discovery that Maggie’s dead father is not dead, and his re-introduction into her life raises the questions of his motivation for disappearance, his decision to desert her, her capability to eventually forgive – and the story was strong enough without all of this complication.

The Maggie Hope series popped up on one of those Recommended for You bulletins while I was reading the Maisie Dobbs series, which I loved – so I wanted to explore. Based on this first installment, I don’t think I’ll like the series as well as Winspear’s, but I liked it well enough to listen to another.

Nice review, Nancy. I am boycotting that author after she went psycho on Suz (Chatterbox) over a mediocre review a few years ago. The series sounds like something I would like, but the author's behavior left a bad taste in my mouth!

It's Friday! I hope you have a relaxing weekend planned...

>122 lit_chick: Great comments, Nancy. I agree this series isn't quite up to the standards of Maisie Dobbs, but it's entertaining enough. I think I've read the first two. I'm not sure how many there are.

>123 katiekrug: Yikes! What kind of professional writer does that? Leaves a bad taste in my mouth too, even just hearing about it. Hope you have a great weekend, too, Katie.

>124 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. I think there are 4-5 Maggie Hope novels? I'm going to listen to the second one and see how it sits.

Hi Nancy, glad you enjoyed Mr Churchill's Secretary, I have this and the next two on my TBR pile and may get to them this year. Hope you have a lovely weekend my dear, sending love and hugs.

Sounds like a good suspenseful setting for a WWII-story. The War Room during The Blitz. Look forward to hear more about the series if you continue with it, Nancy. Have a nice weekend, my friend.

Hi Nancy! Wow, you are stacking up the completed books. I read Brown Girl Dreaming several years ago and really liked it. :)
I will have to think about Commonwealth. Your review is compelling, but Patchett is pretty hit and miss for me.

I've listened to all the Maggie Hope books, and it took me a while to get the tone of the books. I think I thought it would be lighter, more like the Her Royal Spyness series. Maggie is dreadfully perfect, and there are some lighter moments, lighter surely than Maisie, but then overall, it is pretty serious. And Maggie can drive a person batty with how perfect she is, and how she always has the perfect skill needed at the perfect moment. I do love her feminism and brains. Get used to her family though, there may be more secrets to be revealed!

>126 johnsimpson: Hi John, good to have another Maggie Hope reader on board! Hugs.

>127 ctpress: Thanks, Carsten. Yes, a great setting! Churchill starred in the recent Netflix series The Queen, too, so it's great to encounter his character again. I have the second book queued up in my iPod, so I'll see how that one goes. Elizabeth has given us a better idea of the series at #129.

You have a lovely weekend too, my friend.

>128 nittnut: Hi Jenn, sounds like you appreciated the verse of Brown Girl Dreaming more than I did. I really enjoyed Commonwealth, but it's the only Patchett I've read, so I've nothing to compare the experience to. Appreciate your assessment of her work ... authors that are hit and miss, I usually leave behind, sooner or later.

>129 raidergirl3: Hi Elizabeth, appreciate the info on the Maggie Hope series! Truthfully, I don't feel terribly excited about her perfection or mixed up family, groan. But yes, I do love her brains. I'll decide whether to continue after I listen to Princess Elizabeth's Spy.

> 122 Great review of Mr. Churchill's Secretary. I'll be interested in your take for the second book in the series. I started a series that I found to convoluted with far too many characters, and far too much driving around , by Charles Todd. I had great hopes as a series, but after a couple of books, it did not work out for me. I hope this one works out for you. If not, may I recommend Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin as fairly non - wordy series without a pile of family issues ( not to say he has none ). It is Edinburgh and though it was not written as a historical series, his first book took place in 1985, and as such, reads a bit like a historical document. I'm not sure if they had cell/ mobile phones in the first book that I read. Quite atmospheric and great dark humour, but not too dark. Kind of like Goldilocks. You, know, just the right series.

>122 lit_chick: Nice review--I remember liking that one and am happy to hear there are more to read. She is a little on the perfect side, but I liked her brains and pluck.

>122 lit_chick: Enjoyed your review of that one Nancy.

Have a great weekend.

>131 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, hope you are feeling better, my friend. Yes, I'll see how Maggie Hope pans out. The series is definitely not Maisie Dobbs, but I want to give it a fair shake. You've caught my attention with Ian Rankin in a couple of different reviews now; his series is on the list!

>132 Berly: Hi Kim, she does have pluck! Good word!

>133 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Happy weekend to you, Hani, and crew : ).

Hey, Nancy, Alison Moore has a new book out in the UK , so I've ordered it from the UK via amazon. Death and the Seaside. It will likely take a month on the slow boat from the UK to get here, but.... more info on the main page. Oh yes, it is available on a kindle . I can't wait to read about what think about Here Comes The Sun. I quite sure Charlotte enjoyed it and I've been thinking about, but my eyes are bigger that my stomach ( or reading capacity ).

Stopping by to get caught up and marveling at the amount of reading you have managed to get in so far this month! Wonderful reviews.

Wow, you are off and running this year, Nancy. So many good books and reviews here. I had Commonwealth checked out from the library and had to return it because I ran out of time to read it. Looks like I should make another effort.

>135 vancouverdeb: Woohoo, a new Moore novel ... and you've ordered it! Can't wait for your assessment of this one, Deb. I know it will go onto my list, no question. Here Comes the Sun is a fabulous read ... it's one of those debut novels that makes one wonder, How on earth is this a first work?

>136 lkernagh: Hi Lori! It's a pace I'll never maintain, but January is a great reading month!

>137 Donna828: Hi Donna, yes, Commonwealth is a fine read! Would be interested in your thoughts.

Touchstone-alert. Oh, I understand now. I couldn't figure out your ravings over Here Comes the Sun as it referred to a Tom Holt fantasy-novel (the subject matter being a little un-Nancy'ish). I'm with you now.

>139 ctpress: Oh, not those bloody touchstones again. Thanks for letting me know, Carsten. Have changed the touchstone in my post at #138. Indeed, a Tom Holt fantasy is a little un-Nancy-ish, LOL!

7.
Here Comes the Sun, Nicole Dennis-Benn



Rating: 4.5/5

“Like the old mattress, Thandi is that source in which they plant their dreams and expectations. “It’s you who’ll get us outta dis place,” they say to her. She hears Delores telling her friends this too when they come over to play dominoes. No one knows how crushing the weight of Thandi’s guilt is when they excuse her from cooking, cleaning, and even church because of the importance they place on her studies.” (58)

River Bank, Jamaica, is a small town worlds away – despite its close proximity – from the five star hotels and pristine beaches frequented by international tourists. It is also home to a family of indomitable women, all volleying for a future that might include some degree of contentment and independence. Delores, mother of Margot and Thandi, is a cunning trinkets peddlar who has managed to feed her family on her wiles and wits for years. But in spite of her best efforts, the family still lives in a shack. She is determined that her youngest daughter, Thandi, will have a better life – and will go to any length to secure this future for Thandi. Margo, Thandi’s oldest sister by more than ten years, is also desperate to protect her sibling. Margot works at a resort where she is a desk clerk by day and – having learned from her mother at an early age to trade sexuality for survival – prostitute to wealthy male tourists by night. Thandi, not surprisingly, is impossibly burdened by the weight of her family’s expectations. She, too, wishes to be her own person, whether by abandoning her academic studies to pursue art, by dating a local boy, or by bleaching her skin that she might better fit the local standard of “beauty.”

The women’s lives, burdened as they are by betrayal, lust, and ambition – are further aggravated by external forces threatening to destroy their community: a severe drought and a developer’s plans for a new hotel which would force many locals from their homes. The enormous social inequality and despicable imbalance of power between Jamaicans and hoteliers is driven home by Dennis-Benn:

"In the past, developers would wait for landslides and other natural disasters to do their dirty work. But when tourism became the bread and butter for the island's economy, the developers on the government alike became ravenous, indifferent. In retaliation, the people stole concrete blocks and cement and zinc from the new developments to rebuild homes in other places, but their pilfering brought soldiers with rifles and tear gas. Developers won the fight, and the people scattered like roaches ... It was as though their own land had turned on them -- swallowed up their homes and livestock and produce and spat out the remains." (120)

Here Comes the Sun is a stunning debut novel – one of those that makes me wonder how on earth such a work is a debut! Other of the novel’s themes include race and sexuality – specifically, the local taboo of homosexual relationships. A must read for those who enjoy literary fiction and strong female characters – and are interested in reading about the impenetrable socioeconomic divide which exists in such countries as Jamaica where locals struggle to survive while visitors flock to their turquoise beaches for a piece of “paradise.” Highly, highly recommended.

Wonderful comments, Nancy. I'm so happy you loved it as well. I still think about that book and will never think about tropical resorts in the same way again.

A fabulous review of Here Comes the Sun, Nancy! You've hit me with book bullet for certain.

A few days away and so much is happening in your reading world. Great reviews!

Sounds like my kind of book. On to the wishlist it goes!

>142 BLBera: Hi Beth, thank you again for putting Here Comes the Sun on my radar. I also will never think about tropical resorts in the same way.

>143 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb, I think you will really like this one!

>144 mdoris: Hi Mary!

>145 HelenBaker: Hi Helen, always happy to help out with your WL : ). I hope you will enjoy Here Comes the Sun as much as I did.

Morning, Nancy! What a lovely review of Here Comes the Sun - you would have got me with it if it were not already on the list thanks to Beth.

Jamaica where locals struggle to survive while visitors flock to their turquoise beaches for a piece of “paradise.” Must admit that the beaches is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Jamaica. Great review of a story from the other end of the society.

>147 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie! Beth hit me with Here Comes the Sun, too. It's such a wonderful read!

>148 ctpress: Thanks, Carsten. Exactly: I think of pristine beaches when I think of Jamaica, too. But I know from my travels to "paradise" (Mexico, Venezuela) that the locals who work in these huge hotels live in shacks. Here Comes the Sun is a fabulous story from that end of society. It saddens me in our world that there is so much wealth to go around, and yet so many do without; if we all did a little less, we could help those in need ... and we'd be a better world for it.

>141 lit_chick: great review Nancy. I wanted to pick up on your phrase, the local taboo of homosexual relationships.

It's more than just taboo -- it's illegal. My husband and I vacationed in Jamaica two years ago and stayed at a couples resort. A few days into our visit it dawned on us that we hadn't seen a single gay couple. A little Googling helped us understand why. I felt naive and stupid, but resolved to be a more informed traveler in the future. One of my daughters is LGBT and I don't want to travel to (or spend my money in) places where she is unwelcome or worse.

>150 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, thank you for relating what you discovered in Jamaica. It's one thing for homosexual relationships to be taboo, and quite another for them to be illegal. I must admit I'm stunned. I fully understand how you would not want to travel in places where your daughter would be unwelcome, or perhaps even in danger.

I missed the illegality in Here Comes the Sun. I recall being very perplexed as to the over-the-top attitudes towards homosexuality, but obviously I needed to be paying closer attention. Dennis-Benn is Jamaican so she would certainly have known.

>149 lit_chick: Nancy, your comments to Carsten are spot on! I am looking forward to reading Here Comes the Sun. I could use a splash of real aunshine, too. We are in our 9th day in a row of dreary cloudy days.

>152 Donna828: Thanks, Donna. I look forward to your take on Here Comes the Sun. And I thoroughly understand the winter gray and needing some sunshine. Amazingly, we have had an abundance of sunshine this winter in our valley, which is generally not the case. It's been colder, and this has lifted the desperate gray. I'm loving it! Not that I'm a huge fan of the cold by any stretch, but I'll gladly sacrifice 10 degrees for sunshine.

8.
Princess Elizabeth's Spy, Susan Elia MacNeal



Rating: 3.5/4

2012, Random House, Read by Susan Duerden

Publisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.com
Maggie has completed her training to become a spy for MI-5, and fully expects to be sent abroad to gather intelligence for the British front. Instead, to her great disappointment, she is dispatched to go undercover at Windsor Castle, where she will tutor the young Princess Elizabeth in math. Yet castle life quickly proves more dangerous – and deadly – than Maggie ever expected. The upstairs-downstairs world at Windsor is thrown into disarray by a shocking murder, which draws Maggie into a vast conspiracy that places the entire royal family in peril. And as she races to save England from a most disturbing fate, Maggie realizes that a quick wit is her best defense, and that the smallest clues can unravel the biggest secrets, even within her own family.

My Review:
There is a lot going on here, to say the very least: murder, an assassination attempt, kidnapping, theft of several Bletchley decryptions, discovery of a double agent. MacNeal manages the plot beautifully, and I found myself engaged in the story and needing to know what would happen next, and how the complexities would work themselves out – or if they would. I am still having something of a challenge sorting out the number of secondary characters, but it’s getting better – and I expect the challenge may have to do with listening rather than reading. Further, I maintain that the series would be stronger without the Maggie-family-drama, but I am thoroughly invested in Maggie’s character, and love the relationship she enjoys with the little princesses here. I am also throughly enjoying Sir Winston Churchill, what we “see” of him.

I wasn’t certain about this series after the first novel, but having now read Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, I will definitely see the series through. In fact, I’ve got the next installment on queue: His Majesty’s Hope. Recommended!

Yes, it does sound like a lot is going on, Nancy. But with a title like "Princess Elizabeth's Spy" why not? I'm getting more and more interested in this series - a good warm up for "The Crown" I guess :)

Glad you enjoyed Princess Elizabeth's Spy and have found a new series for yourself. Great review. I've been reading , I've just not yet posted any comments on Mr Pip, which has led to me reading Great Expectations . Eventually I'll catch up on my thread. Here Comes the Sun is waiting.

>155 ctpress: Hi Carsten, I think you would enjoy Maggie Hope. Will be curious about your thoughts if you decide to pick this series up. Yes, a good warmup to The Crown, if
I hadn't already watched it! I am waiting impatiently for season two, LOL.

>156 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, yes, I am pleased to be continuing with the Maggie Hope series. I love it when one book leads to another, like Mr Pip and Great Expectations. Will be haunting your thread as you catch up : ).

Hi Nancy. I think what you said is SPOT ON!
....... our world that there is so much wealth to go around, and yet so many do without; if we all did a little less, we could help those in need ... and we'd be a better world for it.

>158 mdoris: Thanks, Mary.

Great review of Here Comes the Sun, Nancy! That novel has been on my radar screen for awhile, but I'll definitely read it after your comments about it.

>149 lit_chick: That comment is spot on.

>141 lit_chick: It is getting a dangerous place to visit Nancy. I don't see me avoiding taking one through my flak jacket with that one.

Have a great weekend.

>160 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl. I think you will very much enjoy Here Comes the Sun. Will look forward to your thoughts.

>161 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, gotcha right through the flak jacket, LOL! It's one you will enjoy, I'm quite certain. Weekend wishes back to you, Hani, and family.

Fine review of Here Comes the Sun. I didn't know that about Jamaicans. Won't be going there for sure.

>163 sibylline: Thanks, Lucy, great read! I also had not known that about Jamaica.

Great reviews of your two most recent books. I already have Miss Maggie on my list, but now I have to add Here Comes the Sun! Thanks. I think. ; )

>165 Berly: LOL, Kim. You're most welcome.

Stopping by to wish you a lovely week ahead, Nancy! Love the review for Here Comes the Sun!

>167 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori. Wishing you a great week, too.

Nancy, Here Comes the Sun looks like a must-read. There's always the *other* side of tourism, and it is devastating. We have some high-end tourist destinations here like Vail and Aspen, and the people who work in service there -- even teachers -- face housing crises, trouble accessing basic services, and much, much worse.

It saddens me in our world that there is so much wealth to go around, and yet so many do without; if we all did a little less, we could help those in need ... and we'd be a better world for it. YES!

Half way through Great Expectations and I'm hoping that my next read will be Here Comes the Sun. I'm really enjoying Great Expectations, but it is long and somewhat wordy :)

>169 AMQS: Hi Anne, yes, I think Here Comes the Sun is a must read, for the reasons you mention about tourism. I've heard that Aspen is desperately overpriced, didn't know about Vail. Vancouver is constantly on the front pages of our papers for its inflated real estate prices. As with the cities you mention, I don't know how people who work in service manage.

>170 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, delighted you are enjoying Great Expectations! Wouldn't be Dickens if it wasn't wordy, LOL. I'm excited that you'll read Here Comes the Sun next.

I'm so behind with everything , Nancy, I thought I would just pop by your thread. Daughter - in law's birthday, shopping for a gift (and she really liked it!) , at the library , and the second hand bookstore etc . My daughter in law now has .8 as a teacher, .5 as a mat leave replacement teacher ( which she has had for over a year now, owing to a team teaching class, where one teacher got pregnant after the other, plus just lately .3 ( 1.5 day) as a resource teacher, so she is very pleased and hopes to have a permanent contract fairly soon. It sure is a challenge to get permanent work with the Richmond School Board, but she tells me every day that she works adds to her seniority. She is quite delighted, and I am too.

Morning, Nancy! Stopping in to wish you a weekend full of fabulous.

>172 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, oh, I'm so pleased to hear your DIL loved her birthday present, and that she is enjoying her teaching position. She has done very well to have already secured a .8 ... always a good sign. I hope she has a permanent contract come fall. Good for her!

>173 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie, wishing you fabulousness right back!

9.
His Majesty's Hope, Susan Elia MacNeal



Rating: 3.5/5

2013, Random House Audio, Read by Susan Duerden

Publisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.com
World War II has finally come home to Britain, but it takes more than nightly air raids to rattle intrepid spy and expert code breaker Maggie Hope. After serving as a secret agent to protect Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, Maggie is now an elite member of the Special Operations Executive – a black ops organization designed to aid the British effort abroad – and her first assignment sends her straight into Nazi-controlled Berlin, the very heart of the German war machine. Relying on her quick wit and keen instincts, Maggie infiltrates the highest level of Berlin society, gathering information to pass on to London headquarters. But the secrets she unveils will expose a darker, more dangerous side of the war – and of her own past.

My Review:
Again, as seems to be MacNeal’s style, there is a lot going on here: espionage, genocide, concentration camps, two more thought-to-be-dead characters make an appearance (that’s three in as many novels). Maggie, working undercover, expertly liaises with high-ranking Nazi officers; and she hits her mark, too. But of course, the heroic mission comes at a cost – and a high personal cost for her, in this case. I’ve got the secondary characters sorted now and remain fully engaged with Maggie’s character. The series is not Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs, but I am enjoying, and will continue to listen.

You're speeding through this series, Nancy, faster than a Spitfire - glad you're beginning to sort the characters out so you can enjoy the "show" more. It does seemed crammed with stuff that makes for a great adventure/crime/war story.

>176 ctpress: LOL, that's me, Carsten: a Spitfire! I am enjoying these audiobooks, and they're all about 9-10 hours long, so the series is not a big time commitment to get through.

10.
Nobody's Fool, Richard Russo



Rating: 4/5

"Throughout his life a case study underachiever, Sully – people still remarked - was nobody's fool, a phrase that Sully no doubt appreciated without ever sensing its literal application – that at 60, he was divorced from his own wife, carrying on halfheartedly with another man's, estranged from his son, devoid of self-knowledge, badly crippled and virtually unemployable – all of which he stubbornly confused with Independence." (24)

I remember that while I was reading Empire Falls, there was a one-line accolade on the back of the book that stuck with me: Nobody does small town like Richard Russo. And surely that was the case with that particular novel. There is a great deal of that is in evidence here, too, in North Bath, a fictional, blue-collar town in upstate New York. But Nobody’s Fool is essentially Sully’s story – a n’er-do-well who, at sixty years old, remains one of the town’s unluckiest citizens, who has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years. Sully rents a suite from Miss Beryl, his widowed and long since retired eighth grade teacher – she alone has genuine affection for Sully. Outside of Miss Beryl, Russo entertains readers with a host of secondary characters with whom Sully has at best dysfunctional relationships: his paramour Ruth, who is a married woman; his estranged son Peter; his persnickety, self-centered ex-wife Vera; his arrogant sometime employer Carl Roebuck; his mentally challenged, clingy friend Rub … and more.

A humourous, sometimes raucous, and always moving story, Nobody’s Fool embraces our human follies and triumphs. And while, truthfully, I tired of Sully’s childish, delinquent behaviour at 549 pages long, it’s impossible not to recommend Russo.

I loved Empire Falls, as well, Nancy, so I am adding this one to the list. As usual, great comments.

>179 BLBera: Thanks, Beth, if you loved Empire Falls, I think you'll love Nobody's Fool one, too. I'm going to watch the movie at some point.

>178 lit_chick: Great reviews Nancy! I have read the first of Miss Maggie and have to get back to the series and I really like Russo. Excellent choices. : )

>178 lit_chick: Thanks, Kim. Great minds ...

Yay one that I have read and enjoyed too, so dodged that one. I still have Bridge of Sighs on my shelf.

As you know I also really liked Nobody's Fool. And Amazon video has the movie so I'm hoping to get to it soon.

Nancy, I am channeling your reading lately. Nobody's Fool is one of four books I brought with me to Kansas City for my ten-day babysitting stint. I starred your excellent review and admit that I am a little in awe of Sully's character. He just keeps going despite all the setbacks in his life. Also, I am listening to Maisie Dobbs, whom I believe is a favorite of yours. It's just the kind of feel-good story I need in my life right now.

What's up next for you? Who knows, I might have it in my book bag. Lol.

Nice review, Nancy - I loved that one. I am also wanting to see the movie - I think Paul Newman would be perfect as Sully.

Fine review, Nancy. Nobody's Fool embraces our human follies and triumphs. I like that sentence. I thought there was a movie by that name, and I was right - and with Paul Newman!! Haven't seen it, but maybe I should.

I am a huge fan of Russo! Read them all!! See the movie!

>183 HelenBaker: Hi Helen, I wasn't aware of Bridge of Sighs, so you've hit me with a BB!

>184 lauralkeet: Hi Laura, yes, I remember asking you about Russo's Everybody/Nobody novels. Must check Amazon for the movie.

>185 Donna828: LOL, Donna, must be that great minds thing that has us channeling our reading! You're in good hands for ten days with Nobody's Fool and Maisie Dobbs. Yes, Sully just keeps on tickin'. Up next for me, and now I'm channeling one of your recommendations, is A Great Reckoning. Looking forward to it.

>186 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie. I also think Newman will be superb as Sully!

>187 ctpress: Thanks, Carsten. I think you'd enjoy Nobody's Fool ... then you can watch the movie : ).

>188 sibylline: Thanks, Lucy! I'll aspire to doing just that!

Another Russo fan here, Nancy. Nice review!

I'm glad you have sorted out all of the characters in His Majesty's Hope. Nice review! And great review of Nobody's Fool, which I have out from the library. I have a second hand copy of Empire Falls.

>190 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. Good to know who the Russo fans are!

>191 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb. I'll listen to the rest of Maggie Hope series consecutively now that I've got everyone sorted (that is, I will listen to the presently available novels; not sure whether this is still a live series, but the last was only published in 2016 so it could well be). Will be curious to hear your thoughts on Russo.

eta: on the Maggie Hope books, I found this Penguin Random House link, and the series is indeed still a work in progress

Just checking in without any hope of catching up, Nancy. I'm happy to see you reading and recording! I loved the one Russo I read --- Straight Man, and I own Empire Falls, so I hope to get to it (like I hope to get to the other 4,000 I own and haven't read yet *blush*).

I'm afraid I can't even try to listen to audio book on my walks with Poppy. She needs attention and praise and I have to prevent her from barking etc etc. No walking and listening to audio books for me. I'm not saying I'm going to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but I did purchase a second hand copy from Abe's books. I could not find it around here, expect the elusive library book. No promises though :)

>193 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, good of you to drop in. I've given up on catching up around here, LOL! Not familiar with Straight Man but must look it up.

>194 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, if Cairo and I walked any distance I would also not be listening to an audiobook. We have to "converse" when we walk, don't you know : ). I know you and Poppy do, too.

Delighted you found a used copy of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Won't hold you to it (maybe, LOL), but do hope you'll joint the GR.

Nancy, I did not want to admit to it, but yes, Poppy and I " converse" when we are out walking. She even looks up at me expectantly if too much time goes by with out me saying " good dog" " you are such a beautiful girl " etc and feeding 1/6 of a treat as we walk. She expects my full attention and lavish praise :) She jumps up on benches and expects me to sit down and give her a dog massage , and ask her to do some tricks so as get more little treats. So, yes, walking Poppy is a full attention walk . We also meet fellow dog walkers and chat with them, and Poppy meets her friend etc. No time to listen to an audio book. LOL!

>196 vancouverdeb: Yes, exactly, Deb: She expects my full attention and lavish praise. Cairo is just the same, no matter what we are doing, LOL! And I got such a chuckle out of this, too: She jumps up on benches and expects me to sit down and give her a dog massage , and ask her to do some tricks so as get more little treats. I like a girl who knows exactly what she wants!

I have had many dogs in my life and they needed a various level of attention & conversation...
Our present dog, Ari the Pekingese, thrives on human attention, so if no one else is around, I am the one who should provide it ;-)

I talk at length to both my cat and my dog. Pretty sure the cat thinks I'm an idiot.

>198 FAMeulstee:, >199 AMQS: Hi Anita and Anne, loving our conversation about talking to pets. Agree that we need to indulge our animals with human attention when they thrive on it, Anita. Anne, You made me laugh out loud: Pretty sure the cat thinks I'm an idiot. Oh, that absolutely tickled my funny bone.

Of course, I talk to our dog and cats! DH thinks it's counterproductive, but I'm convinced that the fur family appreciate the sound and attention.
(Hi, Nancy!)

>201 LizzieD: Precisely, Peggy. Well said!

11.
The Prime Minister's Secret Agent, Susan Elia MacNeal



Rating: 4/5

2014, Random House Audio, Read by Susan Duerden

Publisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.com
WWII rages on across Europe, but Maggie Hope has finally found a moment of rest on the pastoral coast of western Scotland, where she settles down to teach at her old spy training camp – and to heal following her undercover mission in Berlin. But Maggie is quickly drawn into another web of danger and intrigue when three ballerinas fall strangely ill in Glasgow – including one of her dearest friends. Maggie partners with MI-5 to uncover the truth behind their unusual symptoms. What she finds points to a series of poisonings that may expose shocking government secrets and put countless British lives at stake. But it's the fight brewing in the Pacific that will forever change the course of the war – and indelibly shape Maggie's fate.

My Review:
It took a while, but I’m now completely endeared to and engaged in this series. The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent was thoroughly enjoyable. I was intrigued by the mystery of biological warfare, evidence of which Maggie first discovers on a deep sheep by the seaside. The fight brewing in the Pacific is, of course, Pearl Harbor. I thought MacNeal did a superb job of presenting the events leading up to this disaster – of the decision on the part of the Japanese, the intelligence that suggested the imminence of such an attack, and of the global implications of the Americans’ decision to join WWII. I’ve been remiss in mentioning previously that Susan Duerden is a fine narrator, and a perfect fit for the Maggie Hope series.

i have to add Maggie to my series list...!

Wonderful reading variety on your thread. Great reviews too!

>204 Berly: Kim, yes you do! I think you'd enjoy Maggie Hope.

>205 mdoris: Thanks, Mary.

I'm going to have to add the Maggie Hope series to my list, Nancy. So glad you have enjoyed it. And oh so sad, snow today and it keeps falling! The slushy, heavy icy kind of snow that we get here in the Lower Mainland.

>206 lit_chick: I enjoyed the first one in the series, and then it kinda fell off the radar. Now duly listed in my series to follow list. Thanks!

Glad to hear of your increased enjoyment of this series, Nancy. I like the idea of crime stories intertwined with events of WW2 - taking us behind the scenes and into the war rooms - I'm reminded of the excellent tv-series "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" as good examples. Ah, the joy of a good narrator :)

>207 vancouverdeb: I think you would enjoy Maggie Hope, Deb. Oh, I don't like that slushy, heavy snow either, groan. Such a mess!

>208 Berly: Hi Kim, easy for things to drop off the radar when there are so many new suggestions here at LT on an ongoing basis.

>209 ctpress: Carsten, I'm also really enjoying the crime stories intertwined with events of WW2 - taking us behind the scenes and into the war rooms. A good narrator does make all the difference! You've piqued my curiosity with "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" ... must look these up; I'm always looking for a good TV series, too.

They are based on Winds of War series by Herman Wouk. Two long series done with some years in between - they changed some actors for the second instalment but Robert Mitchum the overall star remained for both. Actually they are replayed here in Denmark right now on our national public tv :)

Hi, Nancy. I don't remember the TV series, but I certainly read the Wouks when they came out in mass pb - a lot of reading!!!

>211 ctpress: Hi Carsten, I checked my library online, and we have both! Yay! Onto the "For Later" list : ).

>212 LizzieD: Good to know, Peggy; yes, the series sounds like a lot of reading. Think I'll watch this one instead, on Carsten's recommendation.

I *loved* The Winds of War and War and Remembrance! Both are long but they read quickly. Nothing like a good sprawling family saga!

Oh dear. Maggie Hope sounds like fun. Adding it to the list...

I ordered the first book in the Maggie Hope series. Crosses fingers! The snow remains. Here in Vancouver , we have green grass all year round and lot of coniferous trees, so I find snow to be unnecessary.

>214 katiekrug: Good to know, Katie! One of the things I love most about LT is all of the fabulous recommendations that come my way which would otherwise have escaped me!

>215 nittnut: Hi Jenn, Maggie Hope is enjoyable, although it took me a bit to warm to her and the series.

>216 vancouverdeb: Yay, Deb! I hope you enjoy reading as much as I've enjoyed listening. That said, I was into the third book before I was fully committed. As I just said to Jenn, took me a bit to warm to the series. Will be curious to know what you think.

Well, we need to do something about snow in Vancouver, Deb ... I'm just not sure what, LOL!

We definitely need to do something about the snow here in Vancouver, Nancy! Apparently this the worst we've seen since 1990. I was younger then and could tolerate it better. Now I'm old and my bones will break and I've lost my snow mojo. Harrumph!

>218 vancouverdeb: LOL, Deb, I confess that age has robbed me of some of my former mojo, too! Goodness,
I didn't realize that Vancouver was having its worst winter since 1990, groan.

Hope you BCers are staying warm!

Have a great week, Nancy!

Avoided the snow so far today. But record rainfall: over 2"!! Still might get cold enough tonight. Crossing my fingers not!!

>220 AMQS: Hi Anne, we're warm! Unfortunately, being Monday, I have to leave the fireside today and my human blanket, Cairo.

>221 Berly: Brr, Kim. I much prefer snow to rain in the winter months. It feels warmer to me than the wet weather.

Maggie Hope looks like someone I need to investigate. I definitely agree with you on 'dry cold' rather than wet cold. I'd much rather be snowed on (not that it ever happens in mild Eastern England) than rained on. Cold rain through to the underwear is just unnecessary! I hope you can stay warm today.

>223 lunacat: Hi Jenny, couldn't agree more with you, LOL!: Cold rain through to the underwear is just unnecessary! Have fun investigating Maggie Hope ... I know I am.

>178 lit_chick: i have yet to read Richard Russo. Just another one to get to eventually :)

>225 LovingLit: Hi Megan, I only read my first Russo before Christmas, Empire Fall, but I followed shortly therafter with Nobody's Fool. Going to read Everybody's Fool too ...

^ oh, there are sequels? That is a commitment then ;)

>227 LovingLit: No, they are stand alone novels, Megan. But I can see how my post is confusing. Apologies.

Slush snow is the worst! We've had a maddening off and on snow year. It's best for us when the snow falls, it stays cold. It's ice that is the treacherous stuff.

>229 sibylline: Hi Lucy, agree that slush snow is the worst! Here in the Okanagan, we have had a lot of snow in town this year, which is uncharacteristic. Usually, the mountain resort will get a ton, but here in town we will often have none.

Ditto for us too Nancy. We have been socked with snow (very uncharacteristic). I think there is about 18 inches on our bird bath. We are house bound. Good reading time though, so not complaining until I have to shovel the stuff!

>231 mdoris: Hi Mary, I agree, winter is good reading time. I'll stick with that!

>232 lit_chick: Any time that is reading time is a good time! Happy weekend. : )

Hi Nancy, hope you are having a good reading weekend my dear, sending love and hugs.

>233 Berly: Spoken like a true LT-er, Kim!

>234 johnsimpson: Thanks, John. Hugs to you and Karen.

>235 DianaNL: Thank you, Diana.

12.
Mrs Roosevelt's Confidante, Susan Elia MacNeal



Rating: 4/5

2015, Random House Audio, Read by Susan Duerden

Publisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.com
December 1941. Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, DC to meet with President Roosevelt to negotiate the United States' entry into World War II. He is accompanied by Maggie Hope, who is posing as his typist. When one of the first lady's aides is mysteriously murdered, Maggie is quickly drawn into Mrs. Roosevelt's inner circle – as ER herself is implicated in the crime. Maggie knows she must keep the investigation quiet, so she employs her unparalleled skills at code breaking and espionage to figure out who would target Mrs. Roosevelt and why. What Maggie uncovers is a shocking conspiracy that could jeopardize American support for the war and leave the fate of the world hanging dangerously in the balance.

My Review:
MacNeal and Duerden deliver another thoroughly engaging installment in the Maggie Hope series. With Pearl Harbor on the recent horizon, it was fascinating to observe both the political and the personal between Roosevelt and Churchill – superb characters, both. Wendel Cotton’s story was one that we continue to hear too much about, even today: a young, poor, black West Virginian tried by a jury of “his peers” – wealthy, elderly, white men. In this regard, I wanted to stand up and cheer for the First Lady, the Workers’ Defence League, the NAACP – and, of course, our girl Maggie Hope. The president’s Scottish Terrier, Fala, is completely irresistible, even standing at attention as she does for the national anthem.

My one criticism of MacNeal remains that her novels get too busy. In Mrs Roosevelt’s Confidante, we have the machinations of war – strategies, talks, and prisoners – racism, murder, attempted blackmail, rockets, and more. To add Walt Disney to the mix – well, that’s over the top for me. That said, it is a wonderful series, which I am thoroughly enjoying and highly recommend.

Below: Quebec Conference 1943, Mackenzie King, Franking D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill

Up next: I'm waiting impatiently in my library queue for the final installment in the Maggie Hope series: The Queen's Accomplice. So Robinsons's Home is up next. I listened to Gilead over a year ago, but did not follow through with that trilogy.

Hi Nancy - You are zipping through the Maggie Hope series. I should pick it up again. How many books are there now?

>238 lit_chick: I too am waiting impatiently for my library to cough up The Light Between Oceans, as it is my book club book. We aim to read the novel and then watch the DVD at bookclub. But at this read, I won't get my mitts on the thing to have read it first. I guess I will just have to dedicate some serious time to it when it does arrive...."sorry dear, I cannot do anything, I must read this book" type thing.....Im sure the lovely other will be impressed!?!?

>239 BLBera: Hi Beth, presently 6 books in the series. I'm not sure, but I think MacNeal continues to write this series? I must check ...

>240 LovingLit: Make me laugh out loud, Megan! Absolutely, just like any good LTer: sorry dear, I cannot do anything, I must read this book.

>241 lit_chick: luckily I have a very understanding lovely other, but I try no to push it ;)

Pheww, thank God for Maggie, or we would all have been in quite a mess....Walt Disney makes an entry too? LOL.

Great photo, again reminded of some favorite scenes from Winds of War and War and Remembrance when Churchill and Roosevelt meets. This mixture of crime and WWII story sounds entertaining.

>242 LovingLit: I understand, Megan : ).

>243 ctpress: Yes, thank God for Maggie, Carsten : ). Can't remember whether I told you that my library has both Winds of War and War and Remembrance ... and I plan to watch both. Between Maisie Dobbs and now Maggie Hope, I'm reading a lot of war fiction; and completely enjoying. Churchill was a fascinating character.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is how one does winter. My little Sir and I are both loving our fireplace.

Your fireplace plus Cairo look very inviting, Nancy! He is one elegant feline. Great review of Mrs Roosevelt's Confidante. I"ve now got the first in the Maggie Hope series! I'm looking forward to it, thanks to your reviews.

>246 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb, and pull up a chair, my friend : ). Last winter was very mild here, we didn't really get a winter to speak of, and Cairo didn't look at the fireplace. This year has been a different story, LOL!

I really hope you enjoy Maggie Hope!

>245 lit_chick: Looks divine, Nancy. We haven't had much of a winter lately, in fact, Friday was about 80 degrees in Denver, which is the warmest day in February on record!

Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante looks like a good read!

HI Nancy, Hope that tomorrow is a free day for you and that you have had the long weekend as family weekend. I think it's province-wide, hope so! Love the picture of Cairo before your wonderful fireplace with his gorgeous glowing eyes and great review of Mrs Roosevelt's Confidante. Wonderful that you found the picture of "the gents" at the Quebec conference! Pretty confident, relaxed looking fellas.

>240 LovingLit: Oh Megan, I read The Light Between Oceans a while ago and rented the movie last week. It was beautifully filmed in a gorgeous location and it was a very human story. Hope you can get your mitts on the book! "yes dear, I'm busy!!!!" (to the lovely other)

I starred your thread, Nancy but only caught up with it now. It is very dangerous, no wonder you have a fainting couch on it. I was trying to duck the BBs but really not at all successful. You even got me with the Maggie Hope series.

Deb may have complained of the snow but she didn't have months and months of it like we did here on the eastern side of Vancouver. It started the first week in December and stayed around until mid-January then disappeared. We couldn't believe the encore in February. It snowed for about 4 days and we ended up with about 2 feet of snow - what! It is starting to melt again. Fingers crossed that this is the end of it.

Cosy fireplace. Wish I had one of these. Oh, those eyes. Do they put a spell on me?

>240 LovingLit: I will be interested to see what you think of Light Between the Oceans Megan. I found it pretty light, predictable fiction.

>245 lit_chick: Oh that looks cozy! I miss having a real fireplace. We have a small electric one in our living room but it's not the same. Even a large gas fireplace would be nice!

>248 AMQS: Hi Anne, sounds like you are having the winter we had last year: basically a non-winter. This year is another story, and hence the fireplace : ).

>249 mdoris: Hi Mary, yes, am off and enjoying a late breakfast on BC Family Day. The gents do look pretty confident and relaxed, don't they?

>250 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg, always happy to help out with a BB, or two. My goodness, Vancouver (I think you're in Coquitlam) has had a time of it this winter.

>251 ctpress: Yes, we both love our fireplace, Carsten. Oh oh, did my little Sir cast a spell on you? He does this regularly with me!

>252 HelenBaker: Hi Helen!

>253 ChelleBearss: Hi Chelle, our fireplace is gas. I replaced the original one, some 22 years old, a couple of summers ago, and this new one is just fabulous! It looks so real, has a thermostat, a SMART setting which allows it to cycle on/off and adjust the fan in order to keep the house a constant temperature.

>254 lit_chick: Yes, I am in Coquitlam, Nancy. We still have snow on the ground but it is disappearing, we hope this time for good. The snow was so heavy that many of the trees lost branches and one fir tree lost its top half as I was walking toward it.

>255 Familyhistorian: Yikes! That could have been a close call, Meg.

Time for a new thread ...

Marvelous photo of cat on hearth!