November 2024 Reads

I finished a short book about Avebury by Evelyn Francis in England. Most people know of Stonehenge but Avebury is older and the largest stone circle in the world. I was there many years ago with my husband and wanted my kids to see the stones. When my husband and I were at Stonehenge one of the workers, I call him a ranger, told us about Avebury. He said to follow him in our rented car as he lived there. We stayed at a pub and saw Avebury the next day. I wish I knew where the pictures were. My kids and I had lunch at the Red Lion Inn, the only pub in the circle of stones. I watched a move the other day on You Tube, Children of the Stones. It was a weird English movie and it had the pub and stones in the movie.

Home for Christmas, Stories for the Young and Old.
First story I read:
Brother Robber by Helene Christaller
Only a few pages in the short story.
Brother Angelo turned away three robbers who were hungry into the snow and cold. Brother Francis made him go after them with some wine and bread. Nice ending.
This book has lots of short stories.

I'm going in to November reading two classic non-fiction books by Alan Moorehead, namely his The White Nile (which I am re-reading as I read it many years ago) and The Desert War, a trilogy based on his experience as a war correspondent during World War II. Both are excellent.

Finished Moorehead's The White Nile and I've now embarked on John Hanning Speke's classic Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. The copy I have is a beautiful leather-bound 1983 reprint of the original 1863 work. I've had it for donkey's years but have only browsed it, never before having tried to read all of its 650-odd pages. It includes a pocket in the back cover containing pull out folded maps.

I'm also reading Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here on my Kindle, very apposite given the current political situation in the USA. It was recommended here on LT, I think in the Pro and Con group.

Lucia, A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon by Andea Di Robilant I got at a library sale. My great aunt was named Lucia and Italian.

I've now finished reading Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here and I highly recommend it. It could be described as prescient.

>6 John5918:

Is it really 450+ pages long? And does it need to be?

>7 librorumamans: Is it really 450+ pages long?

Don't know - I read it on Kindle and the pages don't always match the original. It didn't feel too long, although there were some chapters that could perhaps have been shortened a bit.

Finished the audio of Black Wind by Clive Cussler.

Currently reading Madrigals and Mayhem which is part of the Cambridge book shop series. Lots of villains cropping up already! Looking forward to the madrigals part, since i used to run tech and set up/teardown for madrigals.