CBL Reads and Walks in 2022

Hi! I'm Carrie, a 50-something librarian in East Tennessee. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on since the age of 4. My favorite genre is mystery (especially historical mysteries), but I also enjoy reading literary fiction, history (including social history and biographies of historically significant people), literary travel, genealogy/family history, and art history.

I have a 10-year-old Shih-tzu, Adrian, who brings me a lot of joy. I adopted him from the Humane Society 8 years ago, so his age is estimated, and he could be a little bit older than ten. I am very grateful for his vet, who pulled him through a gallbladder scare last spring. He seems to have lost most of his hearing in the last year, and he is starting to show some symptoms of dementia, which thankfully seems to be progressing very slowly. He is still full of life and enjoys riding in the car, gazing out the window and napping in the sun, greeting his canine friends on our walks in the neighborhood, and playing with his toys. He is often the cause of canine paralysis while I read or watch TV.

I started walking more in 2020 in an effort to raise my fitness level, and I maintained that habit in 2021. I am thrilled with the results, but it's cut into my reading and LT time. A friend's twice monthly genealogy chats have inspired me to spend more time in family history research. The research is also paying off, but again, at the expense of reading and LT time. I'm also attempting to learn to knit, and this is cutting into my reading and LT time as well. I've made enough progress with the knitting that I don't have to concentrate as hard, so I'm hoping to add audiobooks to the mix while I knit.

As usual, my topper features Adrian. He thinks he'd like to drive. Mom thinks otherwise!

Best of 2022

A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - Review
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (5) - Review
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - Review
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - Review
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (4.5) - Review
The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (4.5) - Review

Books read in January

1. Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
2. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 1/1/22
3. To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner (4) - completed 1/1/22
4. So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow (3) - completed 1/2/22
5. A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (5) - completed 1/3/22
6. The Adventure of the Abbey Grange by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/4/22
7. The Man with the Twisted Lip by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/5/22
8. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 1/7/22
9. Silver Blaze by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/8/22
10. A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (5) - completed 1/9/22
11. The Adventure of the Red-Headed League by Sherlock Holmes (short story) (4) - completed 1/9/22
12. The Adventure of the Empty House by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/10/22
13. The Final Problem by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/11/22
14. The Adventure of the Yellow Face by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 1/13/22
15. Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (4) - completed 1/15/22
16. I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano (3.5) - completed 1/15/22
17. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - completed 1/16/22
18. The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/16/22
19. The Adventure of the Norwood Builder by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3.5) - completed 1/18/22
20. A Case of Identity by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (4) - completed 1/20/22
21. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 1/23/22
22. The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 1/24/22
23. The Resistance Man by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 1/26/22
24. Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (3.5) - completed 1/30/22
25. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (4) - completed 1/31/22

Books Read in February
26. The Adventure of Black Peter by Arthur Conan Doyle (short story) (3) - completed 2/1/22
27. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - completed 2/2/22
28. Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (4.5) - completed 2/3/22
29. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (4) - completed 2/5/22
30. The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (4) - completed 2/6/22
31. The Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle (3) - completed 2/6/22
32. A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life by Allyson Hobbs (3) - completed 2/11/22
33. The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22
34. The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5) - completed 2/12/22
35. The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge by Arthur Conan Doyle (3) - completed 2/13/22
36. The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (4.5) - completed 2/18/22
37. The Adventure of the Red Circle by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/19/22
38. The Children Return by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 2/19/22
39. The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell (4) - completed
40. The Reigate Puzzle by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/21/22
41. A Market Tale by Martin Walker (4) - completed 2/23/22
42. The Adventure of the Priory School by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/23/22
43. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/24/22
44. The Adventure of the Second Stain by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/25/22
45. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle (4.5) - completed 2/26/22
46. Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (2.5) - completed 2/27/22
47. The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle (4) - completed 2/27/22

Books acquired in January

1. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (free ebook) - 1/2/22
2. Book Lust to Go by Nancy Pearl (purchased) - 1/3/22
3. I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano (gift) - 1/15/22
4. The Property by Rutu Modan (purchased) - 1/22/22

Books acquired in February
5. The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (free ebook) - 2/2/22
6. The Storm by Frederick Buechner (purchased) - 2/11/22

American authors challenge

JANUARY - Graphic novels and/or non-fiction
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner (4) - completed 1/1/22

FEBRUARY - Wild card
The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell (4) - completed 2/20/22

British authors challenge

JANUARY - Children's Classics
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (5) - completed 1/9/22

FEBRUARY - Wild Card
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (5) - completed 2/2/22

Asian books challenge
JANUARY - Turkish authors
Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (4) - completed 1/15/22

FEBRUARY - Israeli & Palestinian authors
The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22

Nonfiction challenge
JANUARY - Prizewinners & nominees
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - completed 1/16/22

FEBRUARY - Welcome to the Anthropocene
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (2.5) - completed 2/27/22

AuthorCAT (Category challenge)
JANUARY - Indigenous Authors
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (4) - completed 1/31/22

FEBRUARY - 19th century authors
The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant (4.5) - completed 2/18/22

CATWoman (Category challenge)

JANUARY - Biography/Autobiography/memoir by women
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (4.5) - completed 1/16/22

FEBRUARY - Women in translation
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (4) - completed 2/6/22
The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22

ShakespeareCAT
JANUARY - King Lear
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (3.5) - completed 1/30/22

FEBRUARY
Much Ado About Nothing (4) - completed 2/5/22

Group reads
The Resistance Man by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 1/26/22
A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life by Allyson Hobbs (3) - completed 2/11/22
The Children Return by Martin Walker (3.5) - completed 2/19/22

Reading projects

Holocaust Reading
Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin (4) - completed 1/15/22
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (4.5) - completed 2/3/22
The Property by Rutu Modan (4) - completed 2/11/22

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman (3.5) - completed 1/1/22
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (3.5) - completed 1/30/22
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (4) - completed 1/31/22

Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Cardboard Box (3) - completed 1/1/22
A Scandal in Bohemia (5) - completed 1/3/22
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (4) - completed 1/4/22
The Man with the Twisted Lip (3.5) - completed 1/5/22
The Valley of Fear (4) - completed 1/7/22
Silver Blaze (4) - completed 1/8/22
The Adventure of the Red-Headed League (4) - completed 1/9/22
The Adventure of the Empty House (3.5) - completed 1/10/22
The Final Problem (3.5) - completed 1/11/22
The Adventure of the Yellow Face (3) - completed 1/13/22
The Adventure of the Dying Detective (4) - completed 1/16/22
The Adventure of the Norwood Builder (3.5) - completed 1/18/22
A Case of Identity (4) - completed 1/20/22
His Last Bow (3) - completed 1/23/22
The Sign of the Four (3.5) - completed 1/24/22
The Adventure of Black Peter (3) - completed 2/1/22
The Hound of the Baskervilles (5) - completed 2/2/22
The Five Orange Pips (3) - completed 2/6/22
The Boscombe Valley Mystery (3.5) - completed 2/12/22
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge (3) - completed 2/13/22
The Adventure of the Red Circle (4) - completed 2/19/22
The Reigate Puzzle (4) - completed 2/21/22
The Adventure of the Priory School (4) - completed 2/23/22
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (4) - completed 2/24/22
The Adventure of the Second Stain (4) - completed 2/25/22
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (4.5) - completed 2/26/22
The Adventure of the Three Students (4) - completed 2/27/22

Happy New Year, Carrie! Wishing you and Adrian all the best in the new year!

Welcome back for 2022! I hope it’s a great reading year for you!

This group always helps me to read; welcome back to the group, Carrie.

Happy reading in 2022, Carrie!

>1 cbl_tn: Some dogs do think like Adrian about driving, I used to tell mine they could start driving lessons at their 18th birthday ;-)

>14 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda! Happy New Year!

>15 drneutron: Thanks Jim! Thanks for starting the group again this year!

>16 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! That's great advice!

>17 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! I'll tell Adrian. ;-)

Happy New Year, Carrie and Adrian!

>19 mstrust: Thanks Jennifer! Happy New Year!

Best of 2021

My 4 1/2-5 star reads last year were:

All Clear by Connie Willis
Race Against Time by Jerry Mitchell
Chasing Vines by Beth Moore
John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero by Gordon T. Belt & Traci Nichols-Belt
The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon
Black Diamond by Martin Walker
Marcel's Letters by Carolyn Porter
The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger
Ramadan Moon by Na'ima B. Robert
Going to Mecca by Na'ima B. Robert
Falling in Love by Donna Leon
After by Morris Gleitzman
A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
The Plague and I by Betty MacDonald
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers

What books did you love last year?

Currently reading:



Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman
So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow
A Sherlock Holmes Devotional by Trisha Priebe

I always enjoy the end-of-year memes. I haven't seen any yet this year, so I adapted last year's (2020) for my 2021 reading. Here goes!

Describe yourself: Decider

Describe how you feel: Shattered

Describe where you currently live: John Sevier: Tennessee's First Hero (I live in Sevier County TN)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

Your favorite form of transportation is: Stage-Coach and Tavern Days

Your favorite food is: The Golden Egg

Your favorite time of day is: After

Your best friend is: The Woman They Could Not Silence

You and your friends are: Independent Dames

What’s the weather like: Spring

You fear: The Devil’s Cave

What is the best advice you have to give: Uncommon Decency

Thought for the day: We’ll Meet Again

What is life for you: Race Against Time

How you would like to die: After the Funeral

Your soul’s present condition: All Clear

What was 2021 like for you? The Plague and I

What do you want from 2022? A Time of Gifts

And here's an alternate meme, describing a dinner party (I think) with books I read in 2021.

What would you call the event? Hedy’s Folly

How did they find their way? Marcel’s Letters

How did they know they'd arrived? The Address Book

Any special activities? Bruno and the Carol Singers

Did your guests stay over? A Long Way Home

Were there servants to help? Four Women in a Violent Time

Was there turn down service? All but Forgotten

How were the guests greeted? A Curse Dark as Gold

Was dinner held for later comers? Odds Against

And dinner was? The Golden Egg

Afterward? A Time of Gifts

Happy New Year to Carrie and Adrian! I look forward to following your reading this year.

Dropping a star and my thanks for the Christmas card!

Hi Carrie. Thank you for visiting my thread. It's good to see you and Adrian again. We adopted a rescue dog in 2020. Penny is a perfect match for us and she has made our daily walks more fun. I like that you are Reading and Walking this year!

Happy New Year, Carrie. Hope 2022 is a great year of reading for you.

>25 BLBera: Thanks, Beth!

>26 Helenoel: Thanks, and you're welcome!

>27 Donna828: Hi Donna! Walking with a dog is great fun, isn't it?!

>27 Donna828: Hi Linda! Happy New Year!

>21 cbl_tn: Great list, Carrie. I have not heard of a lot of them, so I will have to investigate. I loved All Clear. I just received a set of the Morris Gleitzman books for Christmas and have read Busman's Honeymoon several times. The others I will have to work on.

>31 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! I love the Gleitzman series. I discovered it thanks to the SYNC audiobook summer reading program. Once was one of the books offered one year, read by the author. I was hooked before he'd finished reading the first chapter.

Busman's Honeymoon was a re-read for me. I do not recommend We'll Meet Again. Avoid it at all cost. (I read it so no one else has to!)

1. Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman

On its surface this is a memoir of the author’s life told through the clothes she wore from childhood through mature adulthood. There’s a deeper story between the lines, of the mother she lost at puberty, of the father she never saw again after she went to live with her mother’s parents, of a rift with her grandfather who didn’t approve of her first marriage, of the child she lost due to acute illness, of the rift the child’s death created in her marriage. Sadness is tempered by relationships with her best friends and her obviously cherished granddaughter.

If you’ve thought about writing an autobiography for your children and grandchildren but struggled to get started, I think this is a great idea for a writing prompt. Most people, especially women, wear special clothes for significant events, and we often have photographs of ourselves at these events. Why not try telling your own story through the clothes you wore?

What clothes would my story include? The bronze baby shoes my mother cherished, the dress that matched one of my doll’s dresses, the pink and white sweater set my grandmother made me, the dress I wore as a flower girl, my kindergarten graduation gown, the red and white smock shirt I loved in junior high, my bell bottom jeans, my choir robe, my madrigal dress, the dress I wore to my senior banquet, the dress I wore to my mother’s funeral, the dress I wore as a bridesmaid in my brother’s wedding. It looks like I have some work to do!

3.5 stars

>32 cbl_tn: Wow, that sounds like a great recommendation for a series. I will have to start Once at once :)

I will try and avoid We'll Meet Again. I have never even heard of it before so that should not be too difficult!

>33 cbl_tn: we often have photographs of ourselves at these events.

Unless you are like me and completely camera averse. I cannot think of the last time I allowed someone to take my picture.

>34 alcottacre: The only good thing I can say about We'll Meet Again is that it worked well for the meme!

>35 alcottacre: You'll have to work from memory then! I don't have a lot of photographs of me from the years between my grandmother's death and my brother's marriage. Everyone in my family was so used to my grandmother taking all the pictures that the rest of us never got in the habit of taking them. My sister-in-law is the new photographer in the family, but they live far enough away that they're not at a lot of family events.

2. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Arthur Conan Doyle

This is not Sherlock Holmes at his best. The resolution of the story includes a long information dump in the form of a letter written by the guilty person. Sherlock Holmes isn’t supposed to need those.

My devotional reading for January and Feburary is A Sherlock Holmes Devotional. It looks like each day's devotion is related to one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, so I'll be reading (or more likely, listening to) a story a day unless it's a story I'm really familiar with. I listened to a LibriVox ensemble recording of this one.

3 stars

Hi, Carrie! - best wishes for a fabulous reading year. :)

>39 lyzard: Thanks, Liz!

Dropping a star, Carrie! Happy New Year to you! Adrian is looking as cute as ever.

>41 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! Adrian is as ornery as ever, too. He gave me a scare this afternoon. He has taken to sitting on the arm of the loveseat. This afternoon he was dozing, woke up and shook himself and fell off into the trash can. I don't know which of us it scared more! He seems to be fine now.

>43 quondame: Thanks! You, too!

3. To the Heart of the Storm by Will Eisner

The artist/author’s introduction describes this as “a thinly-disguised autobiography.” On a troop train in 1942, draftee Will spends the journey looking backward on his life and his parents’ journey to America. Will encountered a lot of prejudice as the son of Jewish immigrant parents. Eisner used his talent as a graphic artist to reveal the damage that prejudice does to those who cultivate it as well as to those on the receiving end.

4 stars

>42 cbl_tn: Oh, dear! Poor Adrain and poor you. Our cat Mischief recently jumped into a box upstairs that she could not get out of - took us a bit to figure out because we kept hearing these remote knocking sounds but could not figure out where they were coming from. Finally she starting mewling, and we were able to track her down and rescue her. Silly kitty.

>46 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie! It's just Mischief living up to her name! I think Adrian is part cat. He seems to have nine lives. I've lost track of how many of them he's used.

Hi Carrie! Happy New Year and happy first thread of 2022!

>1 cbl_tn: I love your description and photo of Adrian. Glad he pulled through the gallbladder scare, sorry to hear that with age he’s showing signs of dementia. We have kitties instead of dogs, but have gone through the dementia bits with them. Ha. Canine paralysis. I get kitty paralysis, love the description.

>3 cbl_tn: Wow! Nice way to start the year.

>21 cbl_tn: People frequently give Gaudy Night 5 stars but don’t quite like Busman’s Honeymoon as much. I think I love them equally, and am glad to see the BH love here.

>42 cbl_tn: It sounds funny when you narrate it, but I’m sorry he fell and glad he wasn’t hurt.

>48 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Happy New Year! Adrian is a funny dog, and he often makes me laugh. Yesterday's tumble is funny now but it wasn't funny for the first few seconds until I had reassured myself that he wasn't hurt.

I also love Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon equally. I'm glad to know I'm in good company!

Currently reading:



So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow. I'd like to finish it today, and also find time to watch another episode of Fake or Fortune. (How have I missed this program up to now?)

I should probably get out and walk before the weather gets bad.

Happy New Year, Carrie! Congratulations on creating a fitness habit! I need to do the same. I have good intentions and good starts but it's hard to stick to something, and always something "comes up." Beginning of school year busy-ness, Christmas preparations, end of Daylight Saving Time, my hip (pretty much recovered), plantar fasciitis (OUCH). And of course, COVID. Sigh. I think it boils down to lack of resolve on my part.

Poor Adrian. Glad he has such a wonderful companion to love him into advanced age.

>51 AMQS: Hi Anne! I am so glad that I have Adrian to walk with me. He is snoozing on the sofa right now. Happily, not on the arm so no danger of falling off again!

My boys say they can teach Adrian to land on his feet. When we were at my brother's, Mr. B would sometimes get on the top shelf. It's easier for them to get up to it than down from it because of the way the brick ledge below the shelves is. When I would go out to feed them, he'd meow until I would go over, but he didn't really want me to get him down. I finally figured out I could guide him to where he could get down on me and then get down the rest of the way. Barney had a different technique he used to get down, but he's smaller than Mr. B, so it was easier for him. I suspect that's how Mr. B got down when I wasn't around, but I also suspect it took him longer to get down.

>53 thornton37814: I'll tell Adrian!

Happy New Year, Carrie! Wishing you a great year of reading in 2022.

>55 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! Happy New Year to you, too!

4. So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow

This Little Women remix is set in the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island during and shortly after the Civil War. The Marches are newly-freed slaves. While Alcott March is in the camp at Corinth, Mammy and her four girls are making a new life in the colony. Mammy works in the office, Meg is a teacher, Jo builds houses, Beth is a seamstress, and Amy, the youngest, dreams of dancing.

I think I would have appreciated this book more if it wasn’t a retelling. Even though the author varied many of the plot elements, the story was still constrained by Alcott’s original plot and characters. The Freedmen’s Colony was new to me, and I am glad to have learned about it in this novel.

3 stars

I had hoped the forecast was wrong, but it wasn't. I woke up to 3-4 inches of snow and no power. No way I:m making it to work this morning. It must be above freezing because I hear water running in the gutters. Hopefully it will melt pretty quickly and I can make it to work this afternoon. I have a lot of reports I need to run today.

We’re running a few hours behind you here in Maryland. Woke up to less than an inch, but it’s expected to keep snowing until about noon. Fortunately (?) I can work from home, so don’t need to get out.

>59 drneutron: I am trying to work from home but having trouble connecting via VPN. If I can get that working then I'll be able to do what I need to do.

Woke up to this when the power went out a little after 6 a.m. Needless to say, I'm working from home today!

>61 cbl_tn: I miss snow! We ended up with a tornado warning yesterday afternoon, and the rain came a tumbling down with high winds and lots of thunder and lightning. At one point, you could not even see anything outside because it was raining that hard.

Did you get your power back yet, Carrie?

>62 Crazymamie: Yes, the power is back on now! I made a large mug of tea and oatmeal as soon as it came back on, just in case it went out again. It's stopped snowing and the power hasn't as much as flickered in a couple of hours so I think it may stay on at this point. Fingers crossed!

>62 Crazymamie: It would have to be the first pre-Tuesday of the year. Because of course.

Crossing my fingers that your power stays on, Carrie. Smart thinking to make the tea and oatmeal right away.

>64 cbl_tn: So true!

You got more than I did. I'm estimating 2.5 inches at my house although I saw on a newscast Morristown had 3.

5. A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle

This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes story, in which he matches wits with adventuress Irene Adler and comes up short. It’s clear that Holmes enjoys the challenge of an equally sharp adversary.

5 stars

>65 Crazymamie: The power stayed on! I did end up having to reschedule a chiropractor's appointment because their power was off most of the day. They're maybe 1/4 mile from me at most.

>66 thornton37814: I measured 3 inches on the mailbox and 4 on the grass.

Currently reading:



A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley
The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

>68 cbl_tn: We've still got some in the yards around here. I was surprised it had not all melted. I suspect our depth might have been a little more than I thought. The official reports are showing higher amounts. As I said, I didn't go out to measure. I was sniffling and sneezing from sinus drainage, and I didn't want the sinus problem to worsen.

Hope your power is till on and you're keeping warm!

>70 thornton37814: I think you're probably right. You always get more snow than we do because you're enough farther north that it makes a difference. The roads are clear today but the trees and grass were still mostly snow covered even at lunch time. The car thermometer read 33 as I returned from work. If it gets much higher than that, we'll start to see a lot of melting.

>71 mstrust: Yes, no more power outages since yesterday morning! And I'm trying to stay warm! At least it's not windy, and I tolerate cold temperatures a lot better when there isn't much wind. I'd much rather have 33 and no wind as 50 and windy!

6. The Adventure of the Abbey Grange by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Watson, are summoned to Abbey Grange by a Scotland Yard detective who is troubled by the circumstances of a murder. Lady Bracknell had been found tied to a chair while a gang of three stole the silver and murdered her husband. It all seems straightforward, and yet it doesn’t sit quite right with Sherlock Holmes. His minute attention to detail suggests there is more to the story.

This story reveals a softer side of Sherlock Holmes. The victim was one of those people who “just needed killing”, and as a private citizen, Holmes doesn’t feel morally obligated to correct Scotland Yard’s mistaken theory of the crime, which would lead their investigation to a dead end.

4 stars

Happy New Year, and happy reading, Carrie!

Lovely illustrations with the Sherlock Holmes books.

>74 EllaTim: Thanks Ella! I love the illustrations! I'm finding them on Wikimedia Commons. They're in the public domain. :-)

>72 cbl_tn: and we are in Pennsylvania 2hours north of DC-and got no snow from this storm. It must have gone coastal, though my sister on Cape Cod had threat but no real snow. We expect some Thursday-Friday here.

>76 Helenoel: We may get more on Thursday and then it looks like we're in the clear for a while.

7. The Man with the Twisted Lip by Arthur Conan Doyle

Dr. Watson goes to an opium den to retrieve a patient for his distraught wife. As he is leaving with his mission accomplished, he is astonished to hear his friend Sherlock Holmes’s voice from an unfamiliar face. Of course Holmes is there working on a case, and he draws Watson into his confidence. A businessman has disappeared, and his wife claims that she last saw him in the window of the opium den. When the authorities searched for him, they found a beggar in the room with the missing man’s clothing. The conclusion was that the beggar had murdered the missing man. But where was the body?

Naturally all was not as it seemed, and it took Sherlock Holmes’s powers of observation and deduction to get to the truth. The real story is one of the funniest of Holmes’s cases. The beggar was the missing man. He had discovered that he could make more money from begging than he could earn as a professional man, so he had been leading a double life. He was cornered by his wife’s unexpected appearance, and he needed Holmes’s help to extract himself from a delicate situation.

3.5 stars

More snow in the forecast tomorrow. Eek! 1-3 inches, so not as much as we got overnight Sunday/Monday. But it's not supposed to get above freezing on Friday, so whatever we get tomorrow will stick around for a while. Fortunately I can work from home so I won't have to get out and drive in it.

Happy Thursday, Carrie. Glad you can work from home if you need to.

>80 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! I am, too! And so is Adrian!

Ha!

Carrie, I'm reading The Heroine, an 1813 parody of "romantic" novels. Its heroine is determined to be a heroine, behaving as she believes all heroines do---only to discover to her mortification that no matter what the provocation, she can't faint:

The man darted out like an arrow; she remained motionless with astonishment at seeing me, while I lay there, almost exhausted; though, as usual, not worth a swoon. I do believe, that the five fingers I am writing with would leave me, sooner than my five senses...

>82 lyzard: That sounds like fun!

>45 cbl_tn: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Carrie!

I did a re-read of all of the Sherlock Holmes stories the year before last and am not sorry that I did. I very much enjoyed revisiting them. As with all anthologies, some stories are better than others. My favorite remains The Hound of the Baskervilles, probably because I love the Basil Rathbone film version so much!

>84 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! I think you'll like that one. It's really well done.

I don't need to read quite all of the Holmes stories for the devotional I'm reading, but I'm thinking I might as well go ahead and finish them, except for A Study in Scarlet (I listened to the audio a few years ago and I'm not quite ready for a re-read) and The Speckled Band (anyone who knows the story and knows me will understand!)

Our local weather forecaster just said that Nashville has had more snow this winter than Chicago has. Note that I'm about an hour from Chicago and we've had a lot more than the city has, though.

>86 lindapanzo: We ended up with just a dusting here, thankfully. But it's supposed to be very cold tomorrow. Thankfully, I can work from home tomorrow.

>87 cbl_tn: I'll be doing that again through January, and most likely, beyond.

Today's Sherlock Holmes story is "The Adventure of the Three Gables". I think it's just come out of copyright in the U.S. so there hasn't been time for it to be recorded for Librivox. I couldn't find an audio version available in either of the library OverDrive collections I can access, so I watched the Granada TV adaptation with Jeremy Brett instead. I wasn't impressed with the melodrama or the odd cinematography (if that's the right term for TV). The camera work seemed amateurish, particularly the prism reflections in rooms and the superimposition of scenes that had, for instance, Holmes having a conversation indoors while he was standing outdoors. If I'm thinking about the camera work rather than the story, that seems like a fail to me.

>88 lindapanzo: We are very short-handed at work between illness, the weather, and students still on break. I am grateful that we were allowed to close tomorrow. Otherwise I would have been in the building by myself most of the day.

>83 cbl_tn:

It's quite funny, though I think a bit unfair in some of its criticisms of those novels (certainly not all of them!).

>91 lyzard: It probably helps if you've read a lot of the novels the author is poking fun at!

8. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes receives a coded warning from within his nemesis Moriarty’s network about a crime that is to take place shortly. Holmes has hardly finished decoding the message when news reaches him that a murder has taken place. Holmes and Watson head for Sussex to investigate the murder. Holmes spots details that others overlook and solves the murder. Its resolution leads to a very different second half of the novel, where a secret society terrorizes a Pennsylvania mining valley.

I enjoyed the second half of the book as much or more than the first half, which is more characteristically Holmesian. It’s essentially two loosely connected novellas. I think Doyle must have enjoyed breaking out of the mold he had created with his Sherlock Holmes adventures. The first half of the book gave readers what they craved of the familiar detective, and the second half gave Doyle an opportunity he craved of writing of a world beyond Victorian England.

4 stars

>92 cbl_tn:

It very much does, I've just said so in my review! :D

>94 lyzard: Nice review!

Closed today? Hope you enjoyed your time for you. And yes, it wold not be god to be there by yourself. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Really enjoying how busy you are in this first week, Carrie. Some old favourites of mine up there too!

Have a lovely weekend.

>96 AMQS: Yes, closed yesterday! I worked from home and got a lot more done than I would have if we'd been open and I was the only staff member there. We went live with a new cataloging and circulation system on Thursday, so you can probably imagine the amount of work I had to do!

>97 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I hope you have a lovely weeked, too.

9. Silver Blaze by Arthur Conan Doyle

In this short story, Sherlock Holmes investigates the disappearance of a race horse and the murder of his trainer. The police have arrested a man for the murder, but Sherlock’s investigation points in an entirely different direction. He pieces together clues, including “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time”, to find Silver Blaze and determine who murdered the trainer. It’s a well-constructed mystery. It’s easy to see how the seemingly trivial clues fit together once Holmes explains it, but nearly impossible to see before the explanation is given.

4 stars

Carrie, I managed to find Last Train to Istanbul in the store here today so I do hope we get the chance to read it this month.

Let me know if and when you are ready to go with it.

>100 PaulCranswick: Great news! I can rearrange my plans and start it later today if that works for you. I was going to read The Resistance Man next for a group read, but I started it on audio and I can continue it on audio.

>101 cbl_tn: Ok Carrie, will do. I was just about starting The Island of Missing Trees but I can happily swap it and start the Kulin instead.

>102 PaulCranswick: Great! I will start it this evening.

10. A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley

Worried about her youngest daughter’s health, Mrs. Cameron arranges for all three of her children – Alison, Ian, and Penelope – to stay with her elderly aunt and uncle on the Derbyshire farm where she herself was raised. All of the children, and especially Penelope, soon take to the rhythms of country life. However, it isn’t as restful for Penelope as the adults hoped. Penelope finds she has the ability to slip between past and present. She spends more and more time in 16th century Thackers, the country home of Anthony Babington, whom Penelope knows is destined to be executed for his role in plotting the escape of Mary, Queen of Scots. Penelope feels herself caught between the two worlds, as tragedy draws ever closer for her 16th century friends and Penelope is powerless to change the outcome.

This book combines many elements that I love, including old houses with secret passages and time travel into the past. The time travel element reminds me very much of Daphne du Maurier’s The House on the Strand, with past and present coexisting in the same physical space for the time traveler. The descriptions of the house, its furnishings, the farm buildings, and the landscape are vivid enough that I could easily picture them in my mind. The continuity between past and present, with furniture and tools in use over many generations of the farm’s inhabitants, will resonate with family historians who either cherish physical objects passed down in their own family or who mourn their lack.

5 stars

Happy Sunday, Carrie!

>104 cbl_tn: Excellent review! You got me with this one - adding it to The List.

>105 Crazymamie: Happy Sunday, Mamie! So glad I could tempt you!

>101 cbl_tn: I was thinking of making Last Train to Istanbul one of my Thingaversary books so I'll pick it up in the next few days.

>107 lindapanzo: Wonderful! :-)

11. The Adventure of the Red-Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle

I have a special fondness for this story as it’s the first Sherlock Holmes story I remember reading. Holmes is presented with a client who answered a job advertisement seeking only red-headed applicants. He takes the job, but is puzzled by his duties, and he turns to the great detective for answers. This is Holmes’s famous “three pipe problem”. Once he’d finished his pipe, he understood that there was no time to waste to prevent a great crime.

I sympathize with Watson, who admits “I was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque.” Fortunately, Holmes is always willing to explain his deductions, or we would all still be confused!

4 stars

>104 cbl_tn: I have this one on the shelves, Carrie and you just caused it to be pushed forward a fair bit!

>110 PaulCranswick: Grin! :-)

12. The Adventure of the Empty House by Arthur Conan Doyle

In the three years since Sherlock Holmes’s death, Dr. Watson has attempted to use his friend’s methods to solve crimes, but without Sherlock’s success. When Watson goes to Park Lane to look into a man’s mysterious death, he bumps into an old man carrying books. Watson is overcome when the man later reveals himself to be his old friend, Sherlock Holmes. After explaining to Watson how he had survived at Reichenbach Falls, Holmes enlists Watson’s aid in setting a trap for a would-be assassin.

The crime at the beginning of this story is secondary to Holmes’s return, which is the real purpose of the story. It’s hard to imagine the impact on Holmes’s fans upon this story’s publication. Today’s readers know that Sherlock Holmes returned after his confrontation with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Contemporary readers only hoped for Holmes’s return.

3.5 stars

>104 cbl_tn: That one is already in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again!

Have a great week, Carrie!

>113 alcottacre: I'm glad it was already on your radar! Hope you have a good week as well!

Wow! 12 books in 11 days! You're on a tear, Carrie. Keep it going!

>115 Carmenere: Most of them are Sherlock Holmes short stories, so it's not as impressive as it seems at first glance. I picked up A Sherlock Holmes Devotional on January 1 and realized that I probably needed to read the story tied to the devotional for it to make sense. So, I've been listening to the day's story on LibriVox while I practice knitting and then read the devotional at bedtime.

13. The Final Problem by Arthur Conan Doyle

For some time, Sherlock Holmes has been tracking Professor Moriarty, a criminal mastermind whose crimes are nearly undetectable. Holmes has become too much of a threat to Moriarty, so attempts are being made on Holmes’s life. Holmes asks his friend, Dr. Watson, to go with him to the Continent. After a cat and mouse train journey, they arrive in Switzerland. A final confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty awaits at Reichenbach Falls.

At the time of publication, this was intended to be Holmes’s last outing. I’m sure that Conan Doyle thought he’d written a fitting end for his great detective and his equally brilliant criminal counterpart. However, readers disagreed, and Conan Doyle eventually succumbed to public pressure.

3.5 stars

Someone else recently mentioned that Conan Doyle tried to stop writing about Sherlock Holmes before readers were ready. Good for you for getting into walking, Carrie.

>188 cbl_tn: Thanks, Meg!

14. The Adventure of the Yellow Face by Arthur Conan Doyle

At the beginning of his narrative, Dr. Watson describes this adventure as one of Holmes’s two failures. Holmes’s client is troubled by a secret his wife is keeping from him. She had been a widow when they married, her first husband having died in America. Their marriage has been a happy one until this secret came between them. The secret is somehow connected to the new tenant in a neighboring cottage in Norbury, whom the client describes as having a yellow face. Holmes is sure that he knows the new neighbor’s identity. Holmes and Watson accompany their client to the cottage, where they discover the tenant is not the person Holmes thought it was. As things turned out well for his client, Holmes is happy to have been wrong.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Doyle was ahead of many of his time in portraying a mixed race marriage, yet it’s disappointing that a Victorian woman who had the courage to marry an African American man would choose as her second husband a man that she didn’t think could accept her biracial child. She was wrong about her second husband, but what damage had she already done to her child by keeping her hidden for so long?

3 stars

Have a lovely weekend, Carrie.

>121 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! You, too!

15. Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin

Last Train to Istanbul was slow to leave the station, but once it took off, what a ride it was! The first third of the book introduces various characters and their back stories. Older sister Sabiha and her diplomat husband, Macit, live in Ankara with their young daughter and Sabiha’s parents. Younger sister Selva married Rafael, a Jew, against her Muslim family’s wishes. Selva and Rafo found it more comfortable to live in Marseilles where they won’t have to face the disapproval from both families. Sabiha is the French tutor for Tarik, a young diplomat in her husband’s office, who develops an unrequited passion for Sabiha. His new language skills have him prepared when he’s promoted to a position in the Paris embassy.

The German occupation of France changes everything for Selva and Rafo. Their Turkish citizenship is the only thing keeping Rafo from being interred with the other Jews in France. As neutral Turkey faces pressure from both sides in the conflict, their diplomats in France don’t know how long they’ll be able to protect their Jewish citizens on French soil, so they begin to make plans for a train to take the Jews to Istanbul and out of German reach.

Although the characters in this novel are fictional, many are based on real people. The Turkish diplomats in France are said to have saved many Jews from the Holocaust. For instance, Necdet Kent, a Turkish consul in Marseilles during the war who died the year of this book’s release, claimed to have board a train filled with Jews (some Turkish) being deported to secure their release.

If I were a film producer, I’d option the film rights for this book. My film version would write out Sabiha, since I think the book would be stronger without her and her neuroses. Her diplomat husband, Macit, might become Selva’s brother, or maybe I’d have her father still working instead of retired. Tarik’s unrequited passion would be for Selva, who chose Rafo instead, and this love would inspire his actions to aid the Turkish Jews in fleeing France.

This is really a 3 ½ star book, but I’ve boosted it by half a star since I loved the last half so much.

4 stars

https://www.raoulwallenberg.net/highlights/turks-saved-jews-nazi/

>123 cbl_tn: glad to hear that it picks up, Carrie. It does seem slow starting but I will carry on. I started a mystery in the meantime and will finish that and return to the Istanbul book.

>124 lindapanzo: I hope it picks up for you, too!

My friend Alice gave me a Christmas present this morning when I went by to pick up a coffee pot I'm borrowing from her for my brother and SIL's visit.



Adrian is pleased.

>126 cbl_tn: The cat version is "pee" on this. Be thankful!

>127 thornton37814: I am thankful to have a dog who doesn't chew things he's not supposed to chew.

16. I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano

Anyone with a dog in their life knows that dogs view the world differently than we humans do. The poems in this collection explore everything from doorbells to separation anxiety from a dog’s perspective. I think my favorite is “Another Bag”, in which the dog poet reflects on the love his human has for picking up and saving his waste in a bag.

The poems are accompanied by adorable illustrations of dogs of various breeds and sizes. However, it’s disappointing that there isn’t a Shih Tzu in the bunch. Any dog lover would welcome this book as a gift, and it’s just the right size for a stocking stuffer.

3.5 stars

>123 cbl_tn: Very fair assessment, Carrie.

Your suggested changes were also interesting - would be a great film, I'm sure.

>130 PaulCranswick: I think it would make a great film! I'd go to see it!

>98 cbl_tn: Ooh, wow. Yes, I can imagine! My school district changed circ an catalog systems about 4 or 5 years ago and it was a lot of work, and also many simple tasks suddenly became cumbersome and time consuming since I had to wither look up or experiment trying to do them.

>129 cbl_tn: I think I've seen a similar one in a book catalog: I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats.

>132 AMQS: Hi Anne! Yes, I think the cats and the dogs have the same owner who collects and publishes their poetry.

17. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

When author Dani Shapiro learned that her biological father was a stranger rather than the dad she grew up with, there probably was no question that her search for information would end up as a memoir. That’s her genre.

Blonde haired, blue eyed Shapiro grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household as her parents’ only child, with an older half-sister from her father’s first marriage. All her life, she had been defending her Jewish identity when friends and strangers told her that she didn’t look Jewish. She also remembered spending hours in front of a mirror as a child, studying the image reflected there. It seems that, subconsciously, she agreed with those who said she didn’t look Jewish.

When an Ancestry DNA test revealed that she was, in fact, only half Jewish, the new knowledge upended her sense of identity. The search for her biological father was only a part of her quest for self-understanding. She also had questions about how much her parents understood about their fertility treatments, whether they knew about the sperm donor, and, if so, how they reached their decision to use a sperm donor and why this knowledge had been withheld from her.

The awkwardness of Shapiro’s connection with her biological father – the man who had donated sperm more than 50 years earlier and forgotten all about it – comes across in her writing. I can only imagine how unsettling it must be to see your physical traits and mannerisms reflected in a total stranger.

This book resonated with me since I read it during a time of year when my father is in my thoughts. I would be celebrating his birthday next week if he were still living. Shapiro was very young when her father died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident (the subject of another memoir). In the process of finding her biological father, she also learned more about the man who raised her and drew his memory closer.

4..5 stars

18. The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Arthur Conan Doyle

When Mrs. Hudson sends for Dr. Watson, telling him that there’s no time to lose if he wants to save his friend Sherlock Holmes’s life, Watson rushes to his friend’s aid. He finds a very weak Holmes, who won’t let Watson examine him but insists that Watson call in a specialist in exotic diseases. A deeply hurt Watson does as his friend requests, summoning the man named to Holmes’s bedside. It seems this man and Holmes had crossed paths before. From his deathbed, Holmes solves another case.

I like this story because of how well it depicts Watson’s devotion to Holmes, and how much Holmes trusts the loyal Watson.

4 stars

>134 cbl_tn: I read an ARC of that and liked it less than you; however, I understand some of my concerns were addressed in the final version so I'd likely rate it higher with those changes.

>136 thornton37814: I saw your review where you were troubled that she had "outed" her biological dad. Both the introductory info and the back info says that she had changed names and identifying characteristics to protect the privacy of some individuals. I took her at her word, so I'm assuming that her biological dad is probably a doctor but maybe had a different specialization, his wife isn't the nationality she uses in the book, and they probably don't live where she says they do in the book.

>137 cbl_tn: I'm glad that statement was in the final version.

19. The Adventure of the Norwood Builder by Arthur Conan Doyle

A young lawyer is hired by a stranger to draw up a will. To the lawyer’s surprise, the client makes him the sole beneficiary. The next day the lawyer is alarmed to read of the man’s murder in the newspaper. Knowing that the police are likely to suspect him of the crime, he calls on Sherlock Holmes. Before he can finish his story, Inspector Lestrade arrives, hot on his trail. Lestrade is sure that Holmes has got it wrong this time. Of course, Holmes proves him wrong but allows Lestrade to take credit for solving the crime.

This case is almost too easy for Holmes. It doesn’t take a lot of effort for him to solve the crime. He usually finds pleasure in the intellectual stimulation of solving a complex puzzle. In this case, his pleasure seems to come from listening to Lestrade repeatedly draw the wrong conclusions about the case.

3.5 stars

This morning I went to the grand opening of the remodeled branch library in my town. I wish I had before and after pictures to post. Before, it was tiny and bursting at the seams. The new extension made more room for the children's area, and increased the meeting space capacity. There is more room for the collections, and the staff area is more roomy and has better traffic flow. In the past I've used it mainly to pick up and drop off books and to use the public meeting space for meetings and early voting. Now it's a place I might linger in for a while!

>140 cbl_tn: Glad to hear the branch is better!

>141 thornton37814: It's really nice!

20. A Case of Identity by Arthur Conan Doyle

A young woman whose fiance disappeared on the day of their wedding asks Sherlock Holmes for help finding the missing man. Then her young stepfather tries to talk Holmes out of investigating the case. The young woman’s story, Holmes’s observations, and an inquiry or two are all the great detective needs to deduce what happened to the missing man.

This seems to be one of Holmes’s most frustrating cases. While he solved the mystery, the responsible party hadn’t broken any laws and couldn’t be brought to justice. The solution to the problem is unusual enough that I remembered it as soon as the young woman started telling her story. Conan Doyle was certainly creative!

4 stars

>134 cbl_tn: I found it interesting where Shapiro's investigation took her in that book. The information about how sperm donation used to be regulated which seemed to be lacking was concerning.

>144 Familyhistorian: Yes. It's a subject I hadn't really thought deeply about. I've come away from this book very much leaning toward the idea that the process needs to be open. The person it affects most is the child born from the donated sperm. We have learned so much about how biology affects health (both physical and psychological) that it seems to me that a child born as a result of artificial insemination with donated sperm should have the right to know that this has taken place and at the very least to be provided with information about the donor's health history. The question then becomes at what age should the child receive the information and who is responsible for providing it.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes’s brother, Mycroft, is the client in this story. Mycroft works for the government, and when some sensitive plans for a submarine are lost, he turns to his detective brother for help in finding these secret documents. A young clerk’s body had been discovered by a railway track with several of the missing pages in his pocket, but the most vital three pages are still missing. Did the young clerk steal the plans, or is his death a cover-up for someone else?

I started listening to a LibriVox recording of this story, but it’s a long one, and I ran out of time before my family got home from shopping. So, I persuaded them to watch the Jeremy Brett TV adaptation with me. Based on the half of the story I had listened to, the TV adaptation was pretty faithful to Conan Doyle’s plot. I really like the stories that include Mycroft since they add depth to Sherlock’s character, so this one is a favorite in the Holmes canon.

Elementary my dear Carrie!

It is all Sherlocked over here and I am mind of Basil Rathbone who will forever be my Holmes.

Have a lovely weekend.

>147 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! It will be all Sherlocked here through February, so put on your deerstalker hat, grab your magnifying glass, and hang around for the adventures!

I am a Jeremy Brett fan, but my favorite Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch. Kudos to the BBC for modernizing the Holmes stories while retaining their essence, and for the excellent casting.

I so wish they would make more of the Cumberbatch Sherlocks. My husband doesn't care for British mysteries at all but even he watched all those. They were fantastic.
But I enjoyed the Jeremy Brett series too because it was loaded with lots of good character actors.

Morning, Carrie! Benedict Cumberbatch is also my favorite Sherlock. I'm thinking I need to watch through those again soonish.

>149 mstrust: I am still hopeful that there will be a season 5 of Sherlock. Apparently all the major parties want it to happen. Fingers crossed!

>150 Crazymamie: Oh, thank you for that! I'm thinking it would be fun to have a 75ers Amazon Watch Party, and Sherlock might be a good choice for that.

I read through the entire Sherlock Holmes collection last year & enjoyed it immensely - hope you are too.

>152 ChrisG1: I am loving it so far!

>149 mstrust: I haven't seen enough of Mr Cumberbatch in the role to comment but he does sort of look the part.

>140 cbl_tn: That's exciting about your remodeled library, Carrie. Ours did the same thing a few years ago. I took pictures and bored everyone who visited my thread with them. It seemed like the library was closed forever and I was trembling with joy when they reopened. :-)

>148 cbl_tn:. Another Cumberbatch fan here. It looks like I'm in good company!

>154 PaulCranswick: You really need to fix that, Paul! The BBC got everything right with this series - writing, casting, filming.

>155 Donna828: I have a good friend who works at the library. The construction was done several weeks ago, but there were supply chain delays in getting the furniture. They're still waiting on the circulation desk and end panels for the shelves.

>156 cbl_tn: The end credit music is what I remember - oh and the permanent tear at Sharp's elbow.

>157 quondame: It's nice to see all the love for a favorite show!

>123 cbl_tn: I am going to be starting that one this week. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did, Carrie.

>134 cbl_tn: I already have that one in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again.

Have a wonderful week!

>159 alcottacre: I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, too!

The Adventure of the Crooked Man by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes investigates the death of a colonel, who was overheard arguing with his wife in a locked room. Other household members, alarmed by the wife’s scream, managed to gain entrance through the window and found the colonel dead and his wife in a faint. It seems that the wife must have killed her husband, but how and why? Sherlock Holmes finds that there is more to the case than meets the eye.

My brother, sister-in-law and I watched the television adaptation with Jeremy Brett. My sister-in-law predicted some of the story elements despite little familiarity with Sherlock Holmes, and my brother commented at the end that Holmes really didn’t do much, yet we all enjoyed it and we want to watch more episodes.

3.5 stars

21. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle

Readers get their last view of Sherlock Holmes just before the Great War, as he leaves retirement to outwit a German spy. For me, a lot of the fun in reading a Sherlock Holmes case is in looking for new expressions of familiar characteristics. This story is so different from the rest of the canon that Holmes seems unfamiliar. Consequently, I didn’t find it as enjoyable as many of the other Holmes stories.

3 stars

22. The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

Holmes gains a client but loses a roommate in this novel-length adventure. Miss Mary Morstan’s father, a military officer, had disappeared several years earlier. Then she started receiving a valuable pearl on the same date every year. She turns to Holmes for help in solving these mysteries. The one tangible clue she has is a map her father had possessed, signed with four names. Holmes’s investigation leads him to possibly the ugliest twins in England, hidden treasure, an unusually small person wielding a deadly blow dart, and the hunt for a missing boat.

There are enough broad similarities to plot elements of The Moonstone that it seems like more than coincidence. It suffers from the same weakness as many of the Holmes stories, in that the culprit reveals most of the details of the motive and crime in a long information dump after he’s caught.

3.5 stars

23. The Resistance Man by Martin Walker

Bruno is called in to assist at the death of an elderly resident who had been in the Resistance during World War II. A bank note in the dead man’s hand turns out to be tied to the Neuvic train robbery. Bruno is also juggling investigations into a break-in at the home of a retired British spy and the murder of a gay antiques dealer, who is also a British expat. As usual, all of these dissimilar cases converge into a thrilling climax. On the personal front, Bruno’s friend with benefits, Pamela, returns from Scotland and his ex-lover Isabelle is back in town as part of one of the investigations.

It’s always enjoyable to visit with Bruno and his St. Denis friends and neighbors. Life usually moves at a slower pace, with time to cook and enjoy a delicious meal with friends. Bruno didn’t seem to have as much time to enjoy the good things of life in this outing, and I missed that. This was also the first of the books that I’ve listened to in audio, and I found it hard to follow the multiple plot threads. I wish there had been more about the Neuvic train robbery. That thread seemed to fizzle out before the end of the book.

3.5 stars

>164 cbl_tn: I agree. I wanted to know more about that robbery!

>165 thornton37814: I may have to see if there is a NF book about it.

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

When Miss Violet Hunter receives an offer for a governess position, the well-above-average wages and the unusual extra duties have her seeking the advice of Sherlock Holmes. As she has already decided to accept the position no matter what Holmes says to her, Holmes simply reminds her that she can send for him at any time should she run into trouble. Sure enough, it isn’t long before a very frightened Miss Hunter summons Holmes to Copper Beeches.

Since I still have guests, I watched this one instead of listening to the audio version, and I knew from the opening credits that I’d be glad I did. This episode featured Natasha Richardson as Violet Hunter in one of her earliest credited roles, as well as Joss Ackland in the part of her employer, Mr. Rucastle. What a fun episode!

I never heard of the Neuvic train robbery, Carrie. From an internet search it looks like something there should be more written about, maybe even a film made about it.

>168 Familyhistorian: I would have thought so!

>164 cbl_tn: I need to get cracking on those Bruno books!!

>170 lindapanzo: I really think you'll enjoy this series, Linda!

24. Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

Père Goriot is, as much as anything, a character study of several residents of a Paris boarding house during the Bourbon Restoration. The title character is a retired vermicelli manufacturer sliding deeper and deeper into poverty as his two daughters, a comtesse and a baroness, divest him of everything he owns of value to fund their lavish lifestyles. The protagonist of the novel is actually the young law student Eugène de Rastignac, son of a noble but poor provincial family. Eugène’s sympathy for Old Goriot grows as he learns more of Goriot’s circumstances and of his love for his daughters. Goriot welcomes Eugène into his affections and encourages his affair with the younger daughter, the baroness de Nucingen. It’s also a tale of Eugène’s gradual corruption under the influence of the crook Vautrin. It’s an interesting glimpse of Parisian society at that point in time. I would have enjoyed it more without the melodrama.

3.5 stars

25. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This coming-of-age YA novel follows Arnold Spirit “Junior” through his freshman year of high school as he makes a momentous choice to leave the reservation school to attend a mostly-white high school off the reservation. Junior’s new friend, Gordy, verbalizes Junior’s dilemma as the “struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.” Readers will root for Junior as he meets each new challenge head-on.

I think readers will pick up different themes and aspects of the characters depending on their stage in life, background, and experiences. I’m pretty sure my adolescent self would have put this book down after the first few pages. The expressions of teenage male sexuality would have been too much for me at that age. I might not have picked it up again, and I would have missed out on a rewarding read.

4 stars

January Recap

Books owned: 4
Books borrowed: 3
Ebooks owned: 2
Ebooks borrowed: 2
eAudiobooks borrowed: 14
Short stories: 13

Best of the month: A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley
Worst of the month: So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow

First up this month: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.

26. The Adventure of Black Peter by Arthur Conan Doyle

When the police are baffled by a harpoon murder, they call on Sherlock Holmes for assistance. The murdered man is a retired sea captain known as Black Peter. Clues at the scene seem to point to a young man who believed his missing banker father might have been murdered by Black Peter. However, Holmes isn’t convinced that this man could have wielded a harpoon so expertly, and he sets a trap to flush out the real murderer.

I didn’t find any of the characters appealing in this one. The sailors and their accessories seem like stereotypes rather than well-rounded characters. I had a hard time following the audio as the story didn’t hold my interest very well.

3 stars

>171 cbl_tn: I think so, too. So far, I've read the first Bruno book and the Christmas short story and have enjoyed them both.

>177 lindapanzo: Wonderful!

I'm enjoying my Sherlock Holmes reading. I'm in the middle of The Hound of the Baskervilles right now. Surely I've read it before, but I don't have any memory of it.

27. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Charles Baskerville has just died on his Dartmoor estate, seemingly the victim of a generations-old curse on the Baskervilles and the giant hound that haunts the moor. His heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, is due to arrive to take possession of the estate, and the neighborhood doctor fears for his life. Sherlock Holmes sends Watson to accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall and to keep watch over him while Holmes attends to urgent business in London. As if a ghostly beast wasn’t enough, an escaped convict is also loose somewhere on the moor. Watson does his best in Holmes’s absence, but it will take the great detective to put an end to the curse.

All of the story elements work together to create one of the most memorable mysteries ever written. Baskerville Hall and Dartmoor are described so vividly that I could imagine I was actually there. I would recognize the characters on the street from the thorough descriptions of their physical characteristics and mannerisms. The atmosphere is a perfect blend of horror, suspense, and intrigue, with just a dash of humor. I regret that I had only one chance to experience this book for the first time, and this wasn’t it. Re-readings can’t recapture the thrill of the first time around.

5 stars

28. Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine

In 2000, the director of the newly-established Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center received a few artifacts belonging to children in response to appeals to museums around the world. One of the precious few artifacts loaned to her was a suitcase from Auschwitz with a polka dot lining and marked with the name Hanna Brady.

The director, Fumiko, and the center children wanted to know more about Hana. Where was she from? What did she look like? Did she survive the Holocaust? Fumiko wrote letters, made phone calls, and even traveled to Europe to find information.

By reassembling Hana’s life and recovering Hana’s voice, Fumiko and the center children have allowed her to speak to new generations of children to foster tolerance and peace so that the evils of the Holocaust will not be repeated. This book extends the center’s reach far beyond Tokyo, as all who read it will be inspired by Fumiko and the children she teaches as well as by Hana’s story.

4.5 stars

>172 cbl_tn: I read that one eons ago and am fairly sure I do not want to deal with the melodrama again, lol.

>173 cbl_tn: Dodging that BB since I have already read it.

>179 cbl_tn: My favorite Sherlock Holmes! Nothing tops that one for me.

>180 cbl_tn: Another BB that I get to dodge.

>181 alcottacre: I'm glad I tried Balzac, but I'm not in a hurry to read another one! It's my favorite Sherlock Holmes, too, so I'm in good company!

29. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Treachery and misunderstandings separate a young couple in love and bring together another couple who had professed mutual antipathy. This is one of Shakespeare’s comedies, so readers/listeners are assured of a happy ending. I listened to a BBC Audio recording featuring David Tennant in the role of Benedick. It’s an outstanding production, but I’m of the generation for which the definitive adaptation may always be the 1993 Kenneth Branagh film.

4 stars

>183 cbl_tn: It is a long time since I read/watched that one, Carrie.

Have a great weekend.

>184 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! This month's BAC selections aren't calling to me, and it occurs to me that I can use the wildcard for this month by watching either the Branagh film of Much Ado About Nothing or one of the several TV/film adaptations of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Maybe I'll watch both of them!

Happy Sunday, Carrie!

I'm glad you mentioned the wildcard - I had forgotten about that, and this month's BAC are also not calling to me. I like to use the challenges to read what I already have on my shelves.

>186 Crazymamie: Happy Sunday, Mamie! I'm glad it's not just me with this month's BAC.

30. The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

Newly arrived in Paris as commissaire of the 5th arrondissement, Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is troubled by the mysterious actions of the “chalk circle man.” Once or twice a week in different sections of Paris, someone discovers a chalk circle drawn around an inanimate object, always with the same saying surrounding the circle. Adamsberg senses something cruel behind the action. He is drawn to oceanographer Mathilde Forestier, as odd in her own way as he is, and who seems to have more knowledge of the chalk circle man than anyone else in Paris. Events finally prove Adamsberg’s concern justified, as one day a body is discovered inside a chalk circle.

This is a satisfyingly complex mystery peopled with quirky characters, including the neurodiverse Commissaire Adamsberg. The scholars/academics in the book are convincing, perhaps because the author herself is a historian and archaeologist. Adamsberg’s physical description and some of his mannerisms remind me of Peter Falk’s Columbo. I think a lot of Columbo fans would enjoy meeting Adamsberg as much as I did.

4 stars

>188 cbl_tn: So glad to see you enjoyed The Chalk Circle Man, Carrie.
I discovered Fred Vargas four years ago and read all Adamsberg books in the next two years.

>189 FAMeulstee: I would like to read more in this series, but it looks like I'll either need to ILL them or buy them. Neither of my public libraries seem to have any of the next several books in the series.

31. The Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is consulted by the nephew and heir of a man who had lived in Florida during the Civil War and had served in the confederate army. He had suddenly moved back to England in 1869, where he had lived quietly until he received a mysterious letter marked K.K.K. and containing five orange pips. Soon afterward, the uncle died. Then his brother (the nephew’s father) received a similar communication and died shortly thereafter. Now the nephew has received a similar letter. Holmes knows that there is no time to waste.

This story recounts one of Sherlock Holmes’s few failures. He deduces the identity of the sender and the meaning of the five orange pips, but not in time to save his client’s life. Perhaps that’s why I find it unsatisfying compared to most of the other Holmes stories. While modern readers immediately understand the KKK association, its history was not as well-known at the time of its initial publication.

3 stars

>188 cbl_tn: I will be reading that one this month too. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did!

Have you started Homo Deus yet? I am finding it fascinating reading.

>185 cbl_tn: & >186 Crazymamie: I love Timothy Mo but the only book of his I have at home unread is An Insular Possession which is a real doorstopper.

>192 alcottacre: Hi Stasis! I have a book I need to finish for a Zoom bookclub on Sunday. I'll probably start Homo Deus this weekend or Monday at the latest. I love the paper quality. It's not your typical trade paperback!

>193 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I don't think any of my libraries has a Mo book. I can get Renault, but historical fiction in the ancient era is not a favorite with me.

>194 cbl_tn: I posted that last message from my phone and I see that autocorrect got the best of me. Sorry, Stasia!

Morning, Carrie! I remember reading and liking Chalk Circle Man a few years ago, but ran into the same problem with going forward with the series - not easy to get ahold of unless I purchase them. I wish they were all available on Kindle, but sadly, they are not.

>196 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie! I think they should put us in charge of publishing so we can make sure all the books and authors we want to read are available!

>197 cbl_tn: Agreed!

>188 cbl_tn: I'm thinking I might give The Chalk Circle Man a try.

I'm reading a book set in Paris right now, though it's not a mystery but rather, a delightful magical romance.

>199 lindapanzo: Linda, I think you might like The Chalk Circle Man.

For some reason I'm reading a lot of books set in France this year. I've read this one, Pere Goriot, and Last Train to Istanbul, and I have the Bruno series ongoing for the group reads.

>200 cbl_tn: I read it a number of years ago and liked it but have struggled to find the succeeding books over here.

>201 PaulCranswick: Hmm. I just checked and Book Depository seems to carry this series. Maybe we all need to put them on our wishlists for the next holiday swap!

>202 cbl_tn: Perhaps you are right! I have a pretty bad habit, Carrie, these days of starting a series and liking it but not following through on it. Just too many books is a poor excuse when you have enjoyed a particular book.

>194 cbl_tn: Mine is not even paperback - it is a hardcover that I borrowed from the library, but I agree about the paper quality. The paper in my copy is like the paper that they put color plates on in books.

>203 PaulCranswick: I am ashamed to admit how often that's true for me.

>204 alcottacre: Mine is a library book, too. We often buy trade paperbacks for the library collection. The bindings seem to hold up just as well as hardcovers, and they're less expensive. I don't think this would work for a public library, but it works well in our academic library.

The Adventure of the Creeping Man by Arthur Conan Doyle

A young man consults Sherlock Holmes about the odd happenings in the home of his employer and future father-in-law. His fiancee was frightened by the appearance of a man in her second floor bedroom window in the middle of the night, and her father offered her no comfort. The father is engaged to be married to a young woman about his daughter’s age. Holmes rightly deduces that the father’s odd behavior is the result of an experimental treatment derived from monkeys, to make himself more attractive to his much-younger fiancee. I watched the TV adaptation with Jeremy Brett in the role of Sherlock Holmes. It’s not one of the best episodes in the series, but then again, it’s not one of the best stories in the canon, either.

32. A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life by Allyson Hobbs

This book is a history of racial passing from the antebellum period until the civil rights era, with an epilogue commenting on the present era (late 20th to early 21st century). The first chapter presents passing in the antebellum period as status-based (from slavery to freedom) rather than race-based (from black to white). The second chapter covers Reconstruction, when the author contends that light-skinned African Americans who could have passed as white chose not to because of the optimism of the era. Chapter 3 looks at the establishment of the Jim Crow era that eroded the progress of the Reconstruction era, and the choices that some African Americans made to pass as white to pursue careers and other opportunities that were denied to African Americans. Chapter 4 provides case studies of three mixed race individuals (Jean Toomer, Nella Larsen, and Langston Hughes) and the racial identities they formed during the Harlem Renaissance. Chapter 5 examines the psychological impact of passing and provides examples of African Americans who chose to stop passing for white and to reassume black identities in the post-World War II era.

I found the premise of the book more interesting than its execution. If this were a theological argument, I would describe it as proof texting. It seems like the author chose examples to fit her hypotheses, rather than basing her hypotheses on assembled evidence. This is particularly apparent in chapter 2, which is all about individuals who chose not to pass during Reconstruction. Is it true that virtually no mixed race African Americans chose to pass in this era? Or did they pass so successfully that they didn’t leave a record trail for the author to find?

3 stars

>207 cbl_tn: It always angers me that the need for passing is/was even a thing. People who have light skin mostly have more European ancestry than African and just points out the travesty of our US obsession with race.

>208 quondame: Yes, passing was really only an option for African Americans with European ancestry.

33. The Property by Rutu Modan

A couple of months after her father’s death, Mica accompanies her grandmother, Regina, to Warsaw to recover the property her great-grandparents owned before the Holocaust. This is Regina’s first visit to Warsaw since she emigrated to Israel as a young woman before the war. Once they arrive in Warsaw, Regina doesn’t seem to want to accompany Mica anywhere or to do anything about the lost property. Mica is attracted to a tour guide she meets on the first day of their visit, and Regina reconnects with someone from her past. And why is the cantor from her father’s funeral following Mica everywhere after they ran into him on the plane? This lovely graphic novel explores relationships, loss, and memory. Despite the underlying sadness and loss, the novel ends on a hopeful note as both Mica and Regina seem to have found what they sought from their journey.

4 stars

>205 cbl_tn: I am assuming that the academic library has less of a readership than a public library does, although I could be mistaken in that assumption. If it is the case, however, I can see why the paperback copy would appeal over a hardcover one.

>210 cbl_tn: Adding that one to the BlackHole. I will have to see if my local library has a copy. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Carrie.

>211 alcottacre: Yes, academic libraries have a different collection management philosophy than public libraries. Most of our items circulate less frequently than the average item in a public library.

I hope you enjoy The Property when you get to it! It's not one I plan to keep for the long term, so I'd be happy to post it on to a new reader.

>212 cbl_tn: My local library does not have The Property, so I am going to have to hunt further afield for it.

I figured as much for academic libraries. I am lucky that I have a local college whose books I can access through our local public library system as there are times that what I want to read is not accessible through the public library, but is through the academic one.

>213 alcottacre: It's really nice to have access to both types of libraries! I'm fortunate in that respect.

>213 alcottacre: Yes, it is! I am fortunate in that respect as well.

No lending libraries of any sort over here to speak of. :((

Have a great weekend, Carrie.

>216 PaulCranswick: Well, that's unfortunate, Paul! Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

34. The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is called to Boscombe Valley in Herefordshire at the request of a young woman. A neighbor who had known her father in Australia has been killed, apparently by his son. Holmes’s client is in love with the son and believes that he is innocent. Even with all the circumstantial evidence pointing to the son’s guilt, Holmes believes the evidence may actually point to his innocence. While the outcome is predictable, Holmes is at his best as he deduces the killer’s physical characteristics and habits from the clues that everyone else has missed.

3.5 stars

35. The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes receives a visit from a man puzzled by the happenings at Wisteria Lodge where he had been a guest. A Spaniard of his acquaintance, a Mr. Garcia, invited him to stay at the lodge. Mr. Scott Eccles awoke that morning to an empty house. Mr. Garcia and his servants had disappeared. The police arrive at Holmes’s lodging shortly after Mr. Scott Eccles to investigate the murder of Mr. Garcia. Holmes pursues a line of inquiry starting at Wisteria Lodge, while the local inspector conducts his own investigation.

This is an odd story. Mr. Scott Eccles characterizes the case as “grotesque.” The story includes racial stereotypes that 21st century readers will find distasteful. One notable feature of this story is that the local inspector reaches the same conclusion as Holmes in his parallel investigation, unlike the Scotland Yard detectives whom Holmes regularly has to correct

3 stars

Have a great week, Carrie! I will be curious to see how you get on with Homo Deus.

>220 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! I will keep you posted!

36. The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant

It seems that Frank Wentworth, the curate of St. Roque’s, is to be a perpetual curate, unable ever to afford to marry and so his love for Lucy Wodehouse must remain undeclared. The new rector of Carlingford has taken an almost instant dislike to Frank, and he does everything in his power to make Frank miserable. Frank’s maiden aunts have a living that they could bestow on him, but Frank is too Romish for his domineering aunt Leonora’s evangelical taste. Frank unwittingly becomes the center of a scandal in Carlingford, while at the same time he’s called upon to manage a Wentworth family crisis. Through it all, Frank never loses his optimism about the future or his devotion to his duty.

Carlingford’s residents are by now familiar to readers of the previous stories and novels, and Frank and Lucy are some of its most likable citizens. There’s enough humor throughout that it wouldn’t be wrong to describe it as a romantic comedy. The characterizations are well-drawn, with echoes of both Austen and Dickens. Its primary flaw is in the pacing, with a suspenseful plot that line resolves earlier than it should.

4.5 stars

>222 cbl_tn: That one sounds interesting. I might need to add it to my TBR list.

>223 thornton37814: Liz will be leading a group read next month in the Virago group. I read it early because it fit this month's AuthorCAT.

37. The Adventure of the Red Circle by Arthur Conan Doyle

A landlady with a mysterious lodger consults with Sherlock Holmes when she cannot bear the lodger’s strange behavior any longer. The lodger offered her twice her usual rate but only as long as she adhered strictly to his terms. He was to have a key to the house and was not to be interfered with at all. She had not seen the lodger since the day he arrived, but heard him endlessly pacing in his rooms. What could it mean?

Holmes takes a slender thread and follows it to a matter of international intrigue involving three nationalities, yet he travels no more than a couple of miles from his Baker Street home. I’ve read enough of the Holmes stories to compare myself favorably with Watson, who missed several clues that both Holmes and I spotted. However, Holmes’s powers of deduction still far exceed my own.

4 stars

Carrie, I admire you for sticking with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read the first four in the Sherlock Holmes stories before I gave it up. This was over a decade ago. I'm not even sure I kept the anthology because I've gotten rid of so many books. Do you know how many more there are in the series?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Dropping by to wish you a great weekend, Carrie.

>226 Donna828: Thanks, Donna! I think there are 56 short stories and 4 novels in the Holmes canon. I will read all the stories that are linked to the daily devotions in my book, and then go ahead and finish the rest at maybe 1-2 stories a week. Except for The Adventure of the Speckled Band. I remember that one all too well.

>227 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! Today has been lovely!

38. The Children Return by Martin Walker

St. Denis’s town policeman, Bruno Courrèges, gets a tip from an old army friend that a young Muslim from St. Denis has been found in Afghanistan and he wants to come home. Sami is autistic and had been raised by his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents in Algeria. But Sami was supposed to be at a special school in a Toulouse mosque. How did he get from there to Afghanistan? Has he become a jihadist? In a secondary plot line, the family of two Jewish children who were sheltered in St. Denis during World War II want to revisit the local sites where the children stayed. None of the local residents have any memory of this, so Bruno helps with the research to identify the family who provided them with shelter.

I was more interested in the World War II story than the terrorism plot, and I wish there had been more of it. The author wrote himself into a corner with the story of the autistic boy, and there was really only one way to resolve it. I wish it had been less predictable. I’m also getting annoyed with Bruno’s love life. He says he wants children, but he keeps getting involved with women who have no intention of settling down and starting a family. He’s finally moved on from Isabelle. He’s still seeing Pamela, but things have been a little strained between them. Now he meets Nancy, an American friend of Isabelle’s who’s heard a lot about him from Isabelle, and he flirts with her in Pamela’s presence. Readers expect better of Bruno. He should have the decency to end one relationship before starting another.

3.5 stars

39. The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta is part of an FBI team called in to assist in the investigation of the abduction and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The circumstances of the murder suggest that wanted killer Temple Gault is behind it. A strange mark on the girl’s corpse prompts Dr. Scarpetta to consult Dr. Shade at the University of Tennessee’s “Body Farm”, where they conduct an experiment to help Dr. Scarpetta. Meanwhile, the lines between personal and professional blur as Kay draws closer to FBI profiler Benton Wesley and tries to navigate through the jealousy of her comrade, detective Pete Marino. Kay’s niece, Lucy, a Quantico intern, also gets into trouble and needs her aunt’s help.

Given this book’s title, I expected the Body Farm to play a larger role in the book than it did. Dr. Scarpetta spent very little time in Knoxville or with Dr. Shade. There were a couple of bloopers that continue to nag at me. First of all, the novel opens on October 16, and the child was last seen alive on October 1. She had already been buried and had a headstone by the time Scarpetta got to Black Mountain a day or two later. Anyone who has ever buried a loved one knows that you can’t get a headstone erected that quickly. Secondly, Dr. Scarpetta visited Knoxville on homecoming Saturday and stayed at the Hyatt. How did she manage to get a room there at the last minute? All of the local hotels would have been fully booked for months, especially a hotel that close to Neyland Stadium.

I think I would tire out on this series if I read the books too close together. It’s the type of book that makes good airplane reading, so I might revisit Dr. Scarpetta’s world on some future trip.

4 stars

40. The Reigate Puzzle by Arthur Conan Doyle

Finding his friend Sherlock Holmes in need of rest at the conclusion of a strenuous case, Dr. Watson takes him to the country home of an old army friend. Soon after their arrival they hear about a recent burglary in the neighborhood, and not long after that, a coachman is murdered at another neighboring estate. Despite Watson’s admonitions, Holmes can’t resist investigating the murder. This story shows Holmes at less than his physical best, yet his powers of deduction are as sharp as ever.

4 stars

41. A Market Tale by Martin Walker

This gentle story set in St. Denis features the market in the town square, a disabled widower, and a Swiss newcomer. As the widower and the Swiss woman fall in love, his sister’s jealousy threatens their relationship. Town policeman Bruno finds a creative solution to bring them to harmony.

I’ve said before that Bruno reminds me in a way of Mayberry sheriff Andy Taylor. Like Andy, Bruno is more interested in enforcing the spirit of the law than the letter of the law. This story highlights the Mayberry aspect of the series. As an added bonus, there are no terrorists in this story, no pets are killed, and no girlfriends are wounded or maimed.

4 stars

>232 cbl_tn: I really must start this series soon, Carrie.

>233 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I think you might like it. I believe the author is British.

42. The Adventure of the Priory School by Arthur Conan Doyle

The headmaster of the Priory School consults Sherlock Holmes about a pupil who has disappeared. The 10-year-old is the son and heir of the Duke of Holdernesse, whose estate, Holdernesse Hall, is just a few miles from the school. A German teacher and his bicycle have also disappeared from the school, so kidnapping is a possibility. The Duke is less than enthusiastic about Holmes’s aid, which Watson interprets as a noble’s reluctance to open his private life to the inspection of commoners. The motive behind the crime case defies the reader’s deduction, yet it poses no obstacle to Sherlock Holmes.

4 stars

43. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is consulted by Lord St. Simon, whose American bride disappeared during the wedding breakfast. If the bride had cold feet, why would she wait until after the ceremony to disappear? What can this mean? It’s a puzzle to everyone but Sherlock Holmes, who correctly deduces the motive behind the bride’s disappearance and tracks her down.

It’s easy to forget that Holmes is a private detective who solves mysteries of all kinds, not just crimes. This is one of his cases that doesn’t involve a crime (well, possibly bigamy, but the bride learns her first husband is still alive before her marriage is consummated), yet it’s every bit as entertaining as the stories involving murders.

4 stars

44. The Adventure of the Second Stain by Arthur Conan Doyle

When an important document goes missing from a government official’s dispatch box, the official turns to Sherlock Holmes to recover the document. It’s a matter of national – even international – security. Holmes intends to start his investigation with a man known to him as a spy, but Watson surprises him for once with news of the man’s murder. It’s not long before Inspector Lestrade seeks Holmes’s assistance at the murder scene. It seems that the murdered man bled on the carpet. When the carpet was removed, however, there was no corresponding stain on the floor underneath, but there was a stain on the floor on the opposite side of the room. This is the clue Holmes needs to locate and restore the missing document. Holmes’s solution reveals a chivalrous aspect to his character that he would probably deny.

4 stars

Happy Monday, Carrie!
Just want you to know I'm into Numbers and thinking of Jerry, the translator each day. I'm having a much easier read this year than last so it could be, Jerry is the reason why.
Hope you have a wonderful week!

>238 Carmenere: That's wonderful, Lynda! He would be glad to hear that!

45. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle

At Christmastime, Sherlock Holmes is tasked with returning a lost goose to its rightful owner, whose identity Holmes deduces from the hat he lost with the goose. The case gains a new urgency when the goose is discovered to hold a valuable secret. This is one of the more familiar Holmes stories since it’s often included in anthologies of Christmas mysteries. It’s a good entry point to the Holmes canon. Holmes gives a magical performance as he extracts a man from his hat!

4.5 stars

46. Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

A historian author makes predictions of the future based on the life sciences. He warns us at the outset that we tend to view the world in terms of the predominant technology. So, for example, industrial age philosophers tended to view the world and its systems as machines. According to the author, today’s life scientists view humans, as well as other life forms, as a set of algorithms, which leads to dataism. Roughly 400 pages later, in which he predicts the irrelevance and obsolescence of Homo sapiens in comparison with artificial intelligence that will outperform them at virtually every endeavor, he concludes that humans may not in fact not be algorithms. Did he really need 400 pages to reach that conclusion?

2.5 stars

47. The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle

Holmes and Watson are in an unnamed university town when they are approached by a tutor who wants Holmes to discreetly investigate the theft of the proofs for an exam scheduled for the next morning. If the culprit isn’t found, the exam will have to be postponed, bringing disrepute to the college. The prime suspects are the three students who live in the same building. This isn’t one of Holmes’s best showings, maybe because he’s out of his familiar Baker Street territory, but I did enjoy the academic setting. I have a fondness for mysteries set in schools and colleges.

4 stars

>241 cbl_tn: Eeegads, what a downer! I'm glad you followed this one with a 4 star book.

February Recap

Books owned: 3
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 3
eAudiobooks borrowed: 13

Best of the month: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Worst of the month: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari