TIFFIN'S First for 2025

I would like to most respectfully ask that people don't leave gifs or other flashing notes here. They really bother my eyes (and probably my brain). Thank you!

Who Am I?
I've noticed that various 2024 threads put personal introductions at the start of them. I blithely assumed that after 17+ years here, we all pretty much know each other by now in the 75 group, but as there are new people who might drop by, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

I'm a retired college administrator, having worked at Trent University for 30 years, who foolishly thought I'd have all the time in the world to read, garden, quilt, swim, just be, when I retired 17 years ago but life dictated otherwise. The thing no one tells you is that while you might be retired, you are also getting older and therefore slowing down correspondingly, so forgive me if I don't visit your threads as often as I should. Some threads are such active places that I simply can't keep up. That said, visitors are always welcome here.

Last thread of 2024: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356121#n8708188

List of Books Read in 2025
(unless specified, most reads are 3.5 to 5 stars)
Brackets with a number inside indicate the number of the book in a series.
1. The Story Collector by Evie Woods
2. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
3. Project hail Mary by Andy Weir
4. Slightly Foxed No. 13, Spring 2007
5. Set My Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson
6. Cold Days at Castle Draxx by Charlotte E. English
7. Slightly Foxed, No. 14, Summer 2007
8. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson
9. The Bone Jar by Candace Robb
10. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
11. Piranesi by Susanna Clark *****
12. The Dragonfly by Georgina Makalani OUTLIER
13. Unruly by David Mitchell OUTLIER
14. The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid OUTLIER
15. The Starless Crown by James Rollins OUTLIER
16. Smallhope and Pennyroyal by Jodi Taylor
17. The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgyn
18. Lost on a Page by David E. Sharp
19. The Halo Fold by Nick Adams
20. The Spirit Lens (1) by Carol Berg
21. Lunch with the Deadly Dozen by Peter Berry
22. Slightly Foxed No. 85, Spring 2025
23. Slightly Foxed, No. 74, Summer 2022
24. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
25. Slightly Foxed, No. 77, Spring 2023
26. Revenge of the Deadly Dozen by Peter Berry
27. The Soul Mirror (2) by Carol Berg
28. The Daemon Prism (3) by Carol Berg
29. Hail Mary by Andy Weir
30. Windfallen by Jojo Moyes
31. Slightly Foxed, No. 84, Winter 2024
32. Good Behavior by Donald E. Westlake
33. The Fury by Alex Michaelides
34. Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay
35. Japan, a History by Lucas Peyton Thomas
36. Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin
37. Frobisher's Savage by Leonard Tournay
38. Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 48, Winter 2015
39. Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 83, Autumn 2024
40. Slightly Foxed, the Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 49, Spring 2016
41. How to Share an Egg by Bonnie Reichert
42. Pet Whisperer P.I. books 1-3 by Molly Fitz
43. The Midnight Bookshop by Amanda James
44. Slightly Foxed, No. 50, Summer 2016
45. Under an English Heaven (1) by Alice K. Boatwright
46. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang *****
47. What Child is This (2) by Alice K. Boatwright
48. In the Life Ever After (3) by Alice K. Boatwright
49. All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
50. The Poison Song by Jen Williams
51. Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel
52. Home and Away by Mats Sundin
53. Flowers for the Judge by Margery Allingham
54. The Love of Impossible Sums by Panayotis Cacoyannis
55. The Heiress of Linn Hagh (1), by Karen Charlton
56. Homeworld Lost (1) by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
57. Forsaken Crown, Homeworld Lost (2), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
58. Leviathan's Bane, Homeworld Lost (3), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
59. Paragon's Fall, Homeworld Lost (4), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
60. Earth Rising, Homeworld Lost (5), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
61. United Nexus, Homeworld Lost (6), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
62. Absent in the Spring, by Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott
63. Obsidian Gate, Homeworld Lost (7), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
64. Book of Lives, A Memoir of Sorts, by Margaret Atwood
65. Rebel's Ultimatum, (8), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
66. Hero's Return, (9), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
67. Shining World, (10), J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
68. Darkness Falls, (11), J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
69. Galaxy's Requiem, (12), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
70. Galaxy's Horizon, (13), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
71. Pirate's Nebula, (14), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
72. Starship's Champion, (15), by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon
73. The Sleepless City by Reed Farrell Coleman
74. The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
75. The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop, by Takuya Askakura

Happy 2025 everyone! I have a lot of reading cleaning up to do at the end of 2024 and hope to get at it over the next week or so. Good health and good reading for this new year to come are my wishes for all of you! Hoping for a year that isn't an annus horribilus here meself, and is just a lovely plodding senior citizen kind of year without any wrenching losses or things of that ilk.

Happy New Year, Tui! Even though I'm one of those who have known you for yonks, I still liked your intro. 😀

Hope you are having a great new year so far! Happy reading!

1. The Story Collector, by Evie Woods

Kindle edition {added}



Flipping back and forth across a century, this is the story of an American student studying at Oxford and the young woman, Anna, from rural Ireland who became his guide and translator in his study of the belief of the people of Ireland in fairies. Their story is discovered in the form of a diary by a modern day American woman, Sarah Harper, who has fled an unhappy marriage and the death of her baby, somehow ending up in the same part of Ireland. The Fae themselves play an indirect role with one notable exception.

I liked Woods' The Lost Bookshop, so thought I'd give her latest a go. This current book deals with love stories a bit more but the elements of magic are the real stars of the show, so it isn't cloying. Woods writes well.

Happy New Year, Laura, and Lori! Thanks for dropping by. Happy reading to both of you.

duplicate removed

Welcome back, Tui!

Happy new year, Tui.

>1 tiffin: As requested my image can stay where it is, but the best wishes are still very much provided! Will follow along as much as I can in 25.

>9 drneutron:: Thanks, Jim. Here's to a good 2025!

>10 PaulCranswick:: Happy new year to you too, Paul. All the best to you and yours for 2025!

2025...how'd THAT atrocity happen without titanic outcry, anyway?!

Well, you're here, so it won't be all bad.

Happy 2025 anyway, Tui!

Hmmm. I didn't finish The Lost Bookshop although I mean to wrap it up someday. That said, if Kindle offers this one for $1.99, I'll grab it.

Happy New Year, Richard. 2025 indeed. We've entered the science fiction era.

Happy 2025, Peggy! I don't know if you'd like "The Story Collector" or not. Maybe if it's going for ninety-nine cents?

Just dropping my star Tui.

Thanks, Caro!

Happy New Year (and new thread) Tui.

Hello, Tui, I've found your thread and starred it. Happy New Year!

You wrote: "The thing no one tells you is that while you might be retired, you are also getting older and therefore slowing down correspondingly"

I resemble that remark.

I'm still managing a lot of reading, and learning things I never had time for before. But I really don't get all that much done otherwise.

You continued: "so forgive me if I don't visit your threads as often as I should. Some threads are such active places that I simply can't keep up"

I resemble that remark too!

Expect me to be following this thread from time to time, in between declaring "thread bankruptcy" and skimming or skipping on all the threads I follow.

>19 SandDune:: Happy New Year, Rhian, and thanks for dropping by.
>20 CDVicarage:: Happy New Year, Kerry. I was just reading about your new downsized digs and was saddened to see that the beautiful Kevin is no longer with you.
>21 ArlieS:: Thanks for dropping by, Arlie. Visitors are always welcome here! I have the best of intentions about visiting others' threads but find myself recalling my old mother saying "I can only do one thing a day now" and feeling a growing understanding of that.

I can only do one thing a day now. I thought I was the only one trying to accept that......... Right now, I'm doing the minimum plus one more thing a day and that's it. I keep thinking that I wasn't expecting this so soon and then realizing that I'm 80. We'll both persevere!

>23 LizzieD:: Oh right, the minimum counts too! I always forget to add it in to the total. Little things like laundry, housework, and sharing cooking with Himself.

2. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

Kindle edition {added}



Cassie Andrews likes her simple job at a book shop, selling books to customers she enjoys, making coffee for them, keeping the shop in order. She is surrounded by books, which she loves, and can read on the job. She sees herself living out her quiet life this way, no longer in the first bloom of her youth and all that. She shares an apartment with her best friend, Izzy, to keep expenses in line with her budget and, on the whole, she is content with her life. Everything changes when one of her favourite customers dies in the shop, leaving her a mysterious little book full of odd drawings. "Any door is every door", and so Cassie and Izzy learn that what she has been left is a book that will turn a door into a portal that will take her anywhere she wants to go.

When Drummond Fox, aka the Librarian, a Scottish man who has been following her and watching her, informs her that her book is actually an extremely sought after book of significant power, and that some real baddies are searching for it so she is in danger, a fact she initially disregards. As reality forces Cassie and Izzy to face up to just how bad these baddies really are, especially a mysterious person known as "the woman", things really ramp up and the danger she has been warned about becomes intensely real.

A nice list of characters, with two notable exceptions, lots of action, with a soupcon of time travel and a rather magnificent library. The woman is truly awful so it isn't quite a cosy but a good read for a snowy January.

Wooo Hooo, Tui! Another much-needed addition to my gravely obese wish list!

>6 tiffin: I still need to read The Lost Bookshop and am glad to hear that you liked it, Tui. If I ever get to that one, I will see if I can find her latest book too. Thanks for the recommendation!

>25 tiffin: Adding that one to the BlackHole!

A belated Happy New Year from me. Have a marvelous Monday!

>26 LizzieD:: At one point, Peggy, I thought of writing out all my TBRs (never mind my wish list) and then I thought "naaah, better not to know".
>27 alcottacre:: Happy New Year, Stasia! Snowing heavily here so I'm grounded for the day. Guess I have to keep going at taking the tree down, right?

>25 tiffin: Oh thank goodness, you missed me! *nyah*

Of course I've been taking agility classes from you for years now. Stay well!

3: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Kindle edition {added}



I love Weir's storytelling. This one didn't disappoint.

4: Slightly Foxed No. 13 Spring 2007, The Real Reader's Quarterly

Lots of back issues to catch up with.

5: Set My Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson

Kindle edition {added}



2054 A.D. The internet has gone and so is the moon, the latter blasted into oblivion by Elon Musk. Jared is a bot who has been programmed to do dentistry because humans don't want to do work in other people's mouths any more. Bots lack emotions so it is just work that Jared does without giving it too much thought. But something is happening with him. When he discovers tears on his face while watching an old timey movie, one whose story didn't involve rampaging murder bots attacking humans and having to be repelled by same, he knows something is amiss. Jared becomes an old movie afficionado and these movies conversely have an enormous role in his evolution.

Bots who deviate from their programming get wiped or reprogrammed, so this sudden evolution of an emotional spectrum makes Jared's *life* very dangerous. Bots with feelings don't just get reprogrammed, they get incinerated. So this very funny, very curious, very brave Bot sets out to become a screenwriter so he can influence humans to rethink their relationship with AIs like himself. He takes off across the United States to California to try to crack into the screen writing industry. This is the story of his adventures en route to self discovery.

Be forewarned: the ending broke my heart a little bit. It was perhaps inevitable but being human, I had hoped otherwise because Jared will worm his way into your heart.

6: Cold Days at Castle Drax, Chronicles of Vexx Book I by Charlotte E. English

Kindle edition {added}



Count Vexx has decided to put his castle up for sale but who would want to buy a mouldering, damp, terrifying, bitterly cold heap of black granite. No one hope the denizens of the castle for whom it is their cherished home. Lulu Vexx, the daughter of the scary count, loves the place in particular.

This is the story of her attempts to save the place, of fundraising by selling the cook's macarons, of taking in boarders who are even more odd than the residents. When her terrifying and beautiful mother returns when she was presumed dead for many years, wreaking havoc and incurring more debt, it all gets a bit much for Ms. Vexx.

I do like Charlotte English's storytelling and the oddball characters she come up with. I look forward to the second book of this series.

Canadian too much snow antidote. Himself and I both came home with tulips, his yellow, mine mauve and rose:

Ummm. I'm happy to see pictures even of tulips on a wet, cold, gray day here in NC. Thanks, Tui. You keep me listing my wishes.

>35 tiffin: Lurvely! Glad for a spot of color in winter. Hoping all's well there!

8: Slightly Foxed No. 15, Autumn 2007

I signed up with Slightly Foxed, "The Real Reader's Quarterly" journal a few years after it had begun. I loved it so much that I decided to go back and pick up the earlier editions while I could but never quite had the time to read them as I was keeping up with the current editions, as well as my regular reading. I decided to step up reading them to make a major effort to catch up.

To my great delight, one of the editions had a review/discussion about Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, which had been the subject of my Master's thesis. It made me want to read the first book of the trilogy all over again, which I hope to do in March.

Be forewarned: these journals introduce you to many older but unknown to you authors, and send you scurrying into the ether trying to find the book, while also reminding you of how much you loved a well known book, making you want to reread it once again.

>30 tiffin: I very much enjoyed that one too. I even tried to talk Kerry into reading it since he enjoyed the movie version of The Martian so much, but he still has not picked it up after a year of sitting on the couch beside him.

>32 tiffin: >33 tiffin: Adding those to the BlackHole. Thanks for the reviews and recommendations, Tui.

>35 tiffin: Beautiful!!

>38 tiffin: Stupid question: How does one go about getting the Slightly Foxed, Real Reader's Quarterly, Tui? I have no idea where to begin and I am very much interested. Thanks!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hi Stasia: you can subscribe online. https://foxedquarterly.com/products/subscriptions/ It somewhat expensive but as much of my reading is on my Kindle now, I justify it as being worth it because I'm rarely buying solid books.

Good weekend to you too. Family Day weekend here so it's a long weekend and my lad who lives in the Ottawa area is making his way home for a visit in a snowstorm!

>40 tiffin: Thanks for the info, Tui! I will check it out.

I hope your son makes it to you safely for the Family Day weekend!

>35 tiffin: Tulips are the antidote to most things. Great that you both had the same idea.

8: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

Kindle edition {added}



I don't know why I keep buying purging books. I don't really do it with any real commitment.

9: The Bone Jar by Candace Robb

Kindle edition {added}



Historical mystery.

10: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Kindle edition {added}

11: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Paperback {added}

12: The Dragonfly, the Rohenda Complex Book 1, by Georgina Makalani

OUTLIER: Kindle edition {added}



This is an outlier I found when cleaning up my Kindle this morning. I have no recollection of when I read it, and can barely remember what it was about, so have no idea what I thought of it.

13: Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell

OUTLIER: Kindle {added}



Another outlier but I suspect I read this at the end of last year.

14: The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

OUTLIER: Kindle edition {added}



Yet another outlier. Read but no record of when, so I'm putting it on the list so I don't buy it again at some point.

>46 tiffin:, >45 tiffin: Two of my favorite reads, Tui! Hoping you enjoy your month's reads.

15: The Starless Crown, Moonfall Book 1, by James Rollins

OUTLIER, Kindle edition {added}

Hiya Richard! Piranesi may end up being the read of the year for me.

>52 tiffin: Cool! I can certainly see that being the case.

I thought I had mopped up my reading at the end of 2024 but, while going through my Kindle this morning, I have discovered that there were several outliers of which I had no record here although they were marked as read. So I am adding them to this year so that I don't purchase them again. I'll flag them as OUTLIERs so you don't need to pay them much attention.

Long Covid with its attendant brain fog, total depletion of initiative and energy, have left me adrift in a strange kind of mental pea soup. I am slowly coming out of it, although I think I have lost forever any interest in cooking. I do, however, want to restore some kind of order to my book and reading records. Priorities!

If anyone else out there is experiencing long Covid, you have my utmost sympathy. I know you'll understand the struggle to keep up with recording things here. I know you'll also be able to relate to how important it feels to do so. For anyone else who might visit here, who either hasn't had Covid or who escaped its ravages, I hope I can count on your understanding and tolerance as I work to bring things up to snuff again. Hopefully it won't take too much longer.

Piranesi is one of my all-time favourites.

Good to know, Rhian. Some stories/writing just takes your breath away, doesn't it?

I didn't realize that you were dealing with long COVID, Tui. I'm awfully sorry to hear that but happier knowing that it's beginning to lift a little. You should know that I have never considered you anywhere but on top of the snuff.
(My DH and I got our second COVID booster today, btw, and the CDC has encouraged us to do.)

You make me more interested in Piranesi. I'm contrarian again because I wasn't swept away by Dr. and Mr. Some parts of it I enjoyed a lot, but a lot of is was a slog for me. I had eagerly bought a hardcover, so I was doubly disappointed.

Take care of yourself, please!

16: The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal by Jodi Taylor

Kindle edition {added}

>57 LizzieD:: Aw, thanks Peggy. It took me a long time to work out what was wrong but I finally got to the bottom of things. I had all but my most recent booster shot (an omission now corrected, believe me!) so don't even want to think what it might have been like if I hadn't been almost up to date. The actual *intense* part wasn't too terrible but the rest of it hasn't been a picnic. I'm not used to not being able to think!

I liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (also in hardbound) but Piranesi was just a jewel of a book for me.

>59 tiffin: I hope that your recovery from Long Covid will be expeditious and complete, Tui.
I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and must get around to Piranesi which has been on my over burdened shelves for too long already.

Hiya Paul: thank you. Oh do read Piranesi. It's a jewel!

>61 tiffin: I will xx

>46 tiffin: I'm another one who loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, although it took me a while to get going, and I rushed out and bought Piranesi but haven't read it yet, and it still feels a bit daunting, but you (and others here) have encouraged me.

I'm very sorry to hear about Long Covid. My son caught Covid just before lockdown, here in UK, and suffered for a long time in the same way that you are but it did improve and his symptons are now manageable, so I hope you are improving too and can look forward to an easier time.

Thanks, Kerry. I'm sorry to hear that your son got hit with it this way too. I'm grateful to be back at the pool as that is my happy place but I'm afraid I'll have to give the next Olympics a pass *grin*. This is a really miserable virus and it mutates so horribly. All we can do is keep up with the jabs to have a fighting chance.

All we can do is keep up with the jabs to have a fighting chance. That was my take-away from all the pandemic-declaration anniversary yesterday. I haven't gone back to the pool yet for several reasons, but the closeness in the locker room is certainly one of them. I'm in a peculiar emotional (I guess) place and am uncomfortable doing a lot of things I used to do. If it passes, fine. If not, I'm certainly pampering myself.....

>65 LizzieD:: Peggy, how I understand I'm in a peculiar emotional (I guess) place and am uncomfortable doing a lot of things I used to do. I have no interest in eating out now, although we will do pick-up, as an example. Happily, we're readers and there is no shortage of things to read!

17: The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgyn

Kindle edition {added}



Modern Fantasy.

>35 tiffin: Gorgeous tulips Tui.

Thanks, Caro. I got some more the other day again. Heard some robins this morning, so we live in hope for Spring here.

>54 tiffin: *hugs* from afar, from someone with just a teeny weeny bit of brain fog and excess need to sleep, just enough to barely imagine how bad it would be to have full scale long covid.

18: Lost on a Page, by David E. Sharp

Kindle edition {added}

19: The Halo Fold, Book 7 of the Fold series, by Nick Adams

Kindle edition {added}

20: The Spirit Lens, the Collegia Magica, by Carol Berg

Kindle edition {added}

21: Lunch With the Deadly Dozen, by Peter Berry

Kindle edition {added}

Five days without power, 2 weeks with no internet. Our area was declared a disaster zone. It rained freezing rain for nearly three days, with ice heavily coating all the trees. In the woods across the road, between our houses, and in the woods at the back of us, you could hear the constant tinkle of ice and limbs smashing as branches were pulled off of trees by the weight. We have lost about a dozen 80-100 year old trees. Heavy limbs lay across our power lines but power lines were pulled right down along the road. There was a bizarre lightning and thunder storm in the middle of the freezing rain storm, so this strange glittering world was illuminated in flashes from the lightning at night.

We were fortunate to have a generator, so we could run our well pump for water and toilets, as well as the furnace, fridges and freezer, and the plug for the microwave which could also be used for the kettle. No lights except headlamps and candles. I read during the day near the windows. It was disconcerting to lie in bed at night hearing the ice and branches thumping down on the steel roof--no damage, thank goodness--and coming down with earth shaking thumps further into the yard. And now for the clean-up. Widow makers hanging off the trees everywhere. The arborist and crew are out there today, at long last, starting to clean up the downed limbs which Himself and a neighbour gathered up into monster piles on our properties.

So not much reading for about three weeks, and no recording of books here. In our nearly 40 years here, I've never seen a storm like this. We're safe, alive and as well as can be expected. Believe me, I'm grateful.

>75 tiffin: That is a startling photo, Tui.

Good to see that you are safe and back on line.

Thanks, Paul. Our whole property looked like that. Glad to be back on line too. I felt amputated!

>75 tiffin: Whoa! Tui, that is truly scary...and so different from expected weather. I'm deeply glad you're well and safe. I sure hope you stay that way!

GLAD to have you back relatively unharmed, Tui! I abominate ice. I wish you the best in getting back to normal and ask you to pat your generator for me in thanks!

Thanks Richard and Peggy. I can't say enough about the Ontario Hydro linespeople who came from all parts of Ontario to help out and worked brutal hours to get lines mended and thousands of us back online. We waved every time a Hydro One truck went by or when we saw them fixing something.

That's just terrifying, Tui. Thank goodness you all were spared significant damage.

Thanks, Laura. There will be a hefty tree clean-up bill. Gack. It is a close-up and quite personal look at what global warming is doing to our planet. Anyone who denies it can just show up here with a chipper and a chain saw.

>75 tiffin: Wow! That looks really frightening. I can't really imagine that sort of weather. Glad that you've come through it OK but so sad about the trees!

Thanks, Rhian. I bet you get your fair share of wild storms where you are.

23: Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 74, Summer 2022
Reviews:
1. Voices from the Riverbank by Sue Gee. Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows.
2. An Understanding Heart by Hazel Wood. Flora thompson, Over to Candleford & Candleford Green.
3. In Nuristan with Carless by Justin Marozzi. Eric Newby, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.
4. An Appetite for Looking by Alexandra Harris. Susie Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life.
5. Academic Affairs by Rachel Cooke. Alison Lurie, The War Between the Tates.
6. Unsuspected Depths by Grant McIntyre. Walter J.C. Murray, Copsford.
7. Of Captains and Khans by Lesley Downer. Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game.
8. Boxing Days by Andrew Ryan. A.J. Liebling, The Sweet Science.
9. Fifty Years On by Michael Barber. John Fowles, The Magus.
10. Dem Bones by Pauline Melville. Edgar Mittelholzer, My Bones and My Flute.
11. Guilty Pleasures by Ken Haigh. Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories.
12. Read, then Cook by Olivia Potts. Julia Child et al., Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
13. Lark, Hare, Stone by Robin Blake. The writings of Shane Connaughton.
14. A Tale of Two Villages by William Palmer. Norman Lewis, Voices of the Old Sea.
15. Murder, Miracles and Myanmar by Alastair Glegg. The novels of F. Tennyson Jesse.
16. Last of the Swallows by Jim Ring. Arthur Ransome, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea.

24: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

Kindle edition. CANADIAN author! {added}



A dystopian novel set after the Georgia Flu has eradicated most of the world. The story time flips between the last days of certain characters' lives and their post flu reality as they lurch blindly into what's left of everything they have ever known in the remains of Canada and the U.S. By the second week, civilisation as they knew it has gone: no electricity, no internet, no cell phones or other communication like radio or tv. Cars are driven until they run out of gas and then people have to walk to wherever it is that they think they are going.

Twenty years later, an itinerant group of actors calling themselves the Travelling Symphony is moving from one little pocket of survivors to another, putting on Shakespearean plays and playing music in a struggle not only to survive but to keep a semblance of culture alive. This was a powerful read for me.

Copy and paste from the book's Amazon.ca description:
Finalist for CBC Canada Reads 2023

Winner of the Toronto Book Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award

Finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the Sunburst Award

Longlisted for the Baileys Prize and for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

A New York Times and Globe and Mail bestseller

A Best Book of the Year in The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Time magazine

>87 tiffin: I enjoyed this Tui.

The Slightly Foxed periodicals are great fun. Ilana sent me a few back in the day.

25: Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 77, Spring 2023
Reviews:
Laughter in the Library by Martin Sorrell: Goscinny and Uderzo's Asterix books
A Hybrid Life by Anthony Wells: True to Both my Selves by Katrin Fitzherbert
A Girl from Alex City by Margaret Drabble: The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Waiting for Posterity by Roger Hudson: The Wynne Diaries
Shock Treatment by Sue Gee: The poetry of Rosemary Tonks
The River and Its Source by Jim Crumley: Highland River by Neil Gunn
The Consequences of War by Miranda Seymour: Georgina Harding's Harvest trilogy
Sounds of the City by Mark Hudson: The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
Political Life by Daisy Hay: Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels
The Man Who... by Martin Edwards: The crime novels of Julian Symons
Trouble at the Vatican by Suzi Feay: Hadrian the Seventh by Fr. Rolfe
Oh Sir John! by Patrick Welland: Falstaff by Robert Nye
Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea by David Fleming: A World of My Own by Robin Knox-Johnston
Out of the Shadows by Ann Kennedy Smith: The Rector's Daughter by F.M. Mayor
Not Your Typical Courtier by Michael Barber: Another Part of the Wood by Kenneth Clark
Power and the Prince by Derek Parker: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
My Years as a Pony by Frances Donnelly: The joy of pony books

<89> Paul, they are one my great not so guilty pleasures! I've decided it would be more helpful to post the reviews each edition contains so you or others could see if there is something you'd like to read.

26: Revenge of the Deadly Dozen by Peter Berry

Kindle edition {added}



I confess to a certain ambivalence about these books, of which this is the second in what will likely be a series. There is a mystery to be solved, and it's well written with interesting characters all around. The concept of a group of twelve retired folks of varying past occupations, skill sets, etc., who are adopted into a secret group with vast wealth at its disposal to dole out justice and, indeed, revenge to some of the filthier members of society by having them removed from existence all together is interesting and intriguing on the one hand. On the other, these twelve older folks acting as judge, jury, and executioner outside of the law gives me pause.

Never mind that there is involvement from a police commissioner, or that some of the Deadly Dozen were doctors or other professionals where a certain moral code guided their lives. I think there are many kinds of crimes where as a society we think that death would be too good for the perpetrators but it still made me balk a bit to think of actually clandestinely wiping them out. This is totally hypocritical of me because I can think of how the world might be a better place if certain world leaders were removed.

>92 tiffin: Us oldsters are Having A Moment in the culture, I guess because there are so many of us nowadays.

Hoping all's as well as can be, Tui.

I have just discovered to my chagrin and astonishment that I'm not a member of the 75ers for 2025! That has been amended. Geesh.

Hi Richard! As well as can be , thank you.

The pool at the Y is closed for the whole month of June for repairs. My readings have no excuse not to be brought up to date and my garden has no excuse for its weeds. Onward!

>94 tiffin: Omigawsh

That must've been quite a turn you had discovering that! Welcome to the group *heeheehee* I promise we don't bite.

>94 tiffin:, >95 richardderus: And we're all so sweet we let you keep your thread among us anyway! (Who notices if you actually join the group each new year? Maybe Jim...)

>94 tiffin: I'm pretty sure I went one whole year of threads without joining. What a great group!

Always glad to see you here, Tui.

In my dotage, obviously! Thanks, dahlinks.

>94 tiffin:, >96 laytonwoman3rd: Some groups don't allow you to post if you're not a member. I've only run into that once or twice but I'm glad Jim set up this group to welcome anyone.

I did sort of wonder why Jim hadn't dropped by with his usual New Year's welcome but thought he was likely busy.

ETA: Oh for pity's sake, he did drop by up at >9 drneutron:!

>96 laytonwoman3rd: You were on my stats list already, Tui.

But welcome to the group anyhow, hahah!

Thanks, Paul! Talk about stunned, eh?

27: The Soul Mirror (2) by Carol Berg

Kindle edition {added}

28: The Daemon Prism (3) by Carol Berg

Kindle edition {added}

29: Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Kindle edition {added}

30: Windfallen by Jojo Moyes

Kindle edition {added}



A friend from swimming is a great fan of JoJo Moyes, scooping up each new book as they come out. I confess I had never read any of her books but when R. waxed lyrical about the joy of crawling into clean sheets to read the latest, I scouted out the least expensive one for my Kindle to check out Moyes' writing.

Set in a small coastal town in England (Merham), centred around a beautiful timeless but modern house, with a cast of characters with compelling personal stories, all of which form the substance of the book, well, I see why R. enjoys Moyes' stories so much. Perhaps not quite at Elizabeth Taylor's level of writing, for me, more what I'd call chick lit.

31: Slightly Foxed, No. 84, Winter 2024
Reviews:
1. I Too Am Here,The letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle, by Norma Clarke.
2. Making the Best of It E.M. Delafield, Diary of a Provincial Lady, by Ysenda Maxtone Graham.
3. Something Cooking Robert B. Parker's Spenser stories, by Sam Leith.
4. A Very Good Egg Delia Smith, Delia's Complete Illustrated Cookery Course, by Samuel Saloway-Cooke.
5. Stiff Martinis and Bitter Marriages John Updike, Couples, by Felicity James.
6. As Old as the Hills, James Hawes, The Shortest History of England, by Jonathan Law.
7. Not just for Christmas by Andy Merrils. J.J. Abrams & Doug Dorst, S.
8. Something in the Dust by Alex Woodcock. Seamus Murphy, Stone Mad.
9. The Hard Stuff by Robin Blake. Georges Simenon, The Snow Was Dirty.
10. Ingerlond Their Ingerlond by Boyd Tonkin. Julian Rathbone, Kings of Albion.
11. Getting it Right by Richard Smyth. D.S. Macnutt, Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword.
12. Paradise Lost by Flora Watkins. Barbara Vine, A Fatal Inversion.
13. Dublin Shades by Patrick Hudson. Anthony Cronin, Dead as Doornails.
14. Looking on the Dark Side by Flora Neville. Edward Gorey, The Dwindling Party & The Gashleycrumb Tales.
15. Academic Angst by Adam Sisman. Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim.
16. Into the Wilderness by Christine Whittemore. Carys Davies, West.
17. Shaving with my Father by Nigel Andrew. On reciting stirring narrative verse.

>94 tiffin:, >95 richardderus:, >96 laytonwoman3rd: I’m not checking IDs at the door… 😂

>107 tiffin: I think I've had that issue in the car since it came, in case of needing emergency reading material (one never knows...). Ergo, I don't think I've actually read any of it! I'm almost finished with the latest one, though.

32: Good Behavior, A Dortmunder Novel Book Six, by Donald E. Westlake

Kindle edition {added}



I didn't know there was a genre called comic mystery. There is, and this is a prime example of it. There have been very few books in my life which have made me laugh out loud. Winnie the Pooh when I was five; Catch-22 when I was around 15. After 7+ decades of reading lots and lots of books, I'm a hard sell now, so this book did not elicit a guffaw or even a snort. It did, however make me have a few of those little brain smirks that say the author isn't doing a bad job of it at all. Little things like naming washrooms "Setters" and "Pointers".

Dortmunder is a hapless petty thief, prone to mishaps, with a tendency to choose fellow unfortunates as partners in crime. In a caper to steal some cases of caviar, a security alarm is set off. His partner chooses the wrong way to escape, into the arms of the police, while Dortmunder takes the other direction across the rooftops with the police not far behind. He somehow manages to wiggle into a louvered window, sealing it behind him, only to find himself and his newly acquired sprained ankle balancing on a beam high up in the ceiling of a nunnery. Not any old group of nuns but ones who have taken a vow of silence, only speaking for two hours on Thursday afternoons.

They won't turn him in but he has to rescue one of their own who has been kidnapped by her mafia don type father and is holding her on the top floor of his impenetrable high rise fortress until she gives up this foolish career choice as a nun, and agrees to wear furs and drip with jewels. So there is the basic plot. Dortmunder bounces from the improbable to the disastrous, in an exhausting series of near misses. I don't know if I could tolerate a steady diet of this but every decade or so it's quite manageable. The Keystone Cops cross-bred with Monty Python.
P.S. It really stuck in my craw to spell Behaviour as Behavior.

>109 laytonwoman3rd:: I'm working my way back through back issues. Some I bought when you could still get all of the issues, so I could have the complete set. Others came in more recently (only five of those left) that I somehow did things like leaving one in a car. As you do.

>110 tiffin: In the current era of amity-minus between the US, still the bastion of correct spelling despite abdicating positive leadership (that was always spotty) in all other real areas of life, and the Dominion of Canada, it fails to surprise me you feel that way, Tui. Soldier on, it's totally situational.

>112 richardderus:: We like our u, Richard, and many of you, spotty leadership notwithstanding.

>113 tiffin: I'll not, not for the first time, that "u" is the first letter of "useless"....

*hugs*

>108 drneutron:: Maybe you should, Jim. There is the odd (and I use the word advisedly) scruffy old woman wandering in here with her bathrobe and slippers on.

33: The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Kindle edition {added}



I have to say right upfront that I didn't enjoy this book very much. I thought it was a murder mystery but it was one of those psychological tales with a deeply flawed narrator where the story goes in circles and loops. It was more of a novel about obsession than the kind of mystery I like: a whodunnit with a body, a handful of likely suspects, where you try to figure out who did it and why.

I might add the plot line later when I stop being so po'd about having wasted two nights reading it.
ETA: decided I didn't want to spend any more time on it. Just not my cuppa. Nuff said.

34: Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay

Kindle edition {added}



This was a really lovely tale. Using the bones of French and English history, including Joan of Arc, but turning events into a different tale, GG Kay gives us a story of a city, Orane, which is deeply loved by a tavern poet, Thierry Villar, who finds himself caught up in a grim murder at the story's onset. Villar is more than just a tavern performer, he is also a quick-witted trained avocat with a way with words, all of which get him caught up with the nobility and protectors of Orane, moving amongst people and events he had never thought not only to be familiar with but with whom to become close friends.

Kay's characters are wonderful: fey types who see and hear the world beyond, a Provost whose honour is well matched with his intelligence, a mad king and a powerful queen, a woman poet whose friendship helps Villar to become the poet he should be, a soldier with personal secrets, his bar (alcoholic, not legal) companions, the duke responsible for much of the murder and mayhem in the story, and those who would stand up against him.

This more than made up for the previous book.

>115 tiffin: this cracked me up Tui!

>118 lauralkeet:: I know you get this, Laura!

>115 tiffin: >118 lauralkeet: >119 tiffin: I suspect there are more than 3 of that breed around here.

Indeed, Peggy!

35: Japan, a History, by Lucas Peyton Thomas

Kindle edition {added}



A not particularly in-depth survey of Japan's history from beginning to WWII. Useful for keeping events in order but not too much deeper than that.

36: Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin

Kindle edition {added}



This collection of stories seem to have evolved over time, some of them appearing in different publications or online sites like www.infinitematrix.net. I found them almost breathtaking at times in their scope, imagination, and philosophy. On its most simple level, it is a travelogue by a woman sitting bored and irritated in an airport who discovers that she can transport herself to other planes using a method discovered by someone named Sita Dulip. Time is fluid and elastic, so she returns to her home plane (Earth, as it happens) having lost little time on the other planes where she might actually have spent several days or weeks.

What she experiences on these alternative planes inhabited by somewhat humanoid beings are lives and histories which are remarkable when their stories are told. I could only read a couple of these stories at a time because they needed time to distill, to settle. This was an unexpected discovery as I hadn't known about this LeGuin collection. What a delightful surprise!

>123 tiffin: Not one I’m familiar with Tui.

Nor was I, Caro! So very glad I found it. ETA: some thoughts at >123 tiffin:.

>124 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds intriguing Tui.

Have a great day.

Thank you, Paul. I really appreciate that!

I hope your Canada Day is utterly de-Southed, Tui. Sending hugs.

Thanks, Richard. Doing our best!

37: Frobisher's Savage, by Leonard D. Tourney

Kindle edition {added}



Historical mystery about a young Inuit man who was stolen from his world and brought to England by Frobisher as proof of his explorations. Adam Nemo, as he gets renamed, ends up serving as a servant to a wealthy landowner, learning to speak English, being a dutiful servant, but keeping to himself with only one friend, a neighbour's deaf and mute son. The murder of the latter's entire family results in Adam Nemo and the deaf lad, Nicholas, being prime and convenient suspects. The merchant Matthew Stock and his sharp-witted wife Joan work to unearth the truth of the murderer's identity, to save the two young men.

38: Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 48, Winter 2015

Reviews:
1. Surprised by Joy, The Diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner, by Jonathan Law
2. A Literary Love Affair, Helene Hanff, 84 Charing Cross Road, by Maggie Fergusson
3. Ripping Rhymes,Hilaire Belloc, Cautionary Tales for Children, by Ranjit Bolt
4. Happy Lands, The Novels of Keith Waterhouse, by Robin Blake
5. Learning by Heart, The Oxford Book of Ballads, by Julia Blackburn
6. A Talent to Amuse, Arthur Marshall, Life's Rich Pageant, by Derek Parker
7. Touched with a Secret Delight, Gilbert White, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, by Melissa Harrison
8. I Was Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf, The Waves, by Richard Holloway
9. Shadows of Orkney, Robert Shaw, The Hiding Place by Morag McInnes
10. Where There's a Will, Wilkie Collins, No Name, by Andrew Lycett
11. A State of Dressing-gown-ness, Ivan Goncharov, Oblomov, by Tim Blanchard
12. Nothing in Moderation, E.M. Delafield, Consequences, by Louisa Yates
13. Ambassadress Extraordinaire, The Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville, , by Roger Hudson
14. One Man and His Dog, Alfred Ollivant, Owd Bob, by Shena Mackay
15. Outrunning Darkness, Robert Walser, The Walk, by Simon Willis
16. 'Is there any news of the iceberg?', The Archives of Punch, by C.J. Wright

39: Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 83, Autumn 2024

Reviews:
1. Benefit of Clergy, Deborah Alun-Jones, The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory, by Sue Gaisford
2. The Getting of Wisdom, Dorothy Whipple, The Other Day, by Hazel Wood
3. Casus Belli, Barbara Tuchman, August 1914, by Jim Ring
4. The Smell of Lavender Water, Elizabeth Taylor, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Posy Fallowfield
5. Marvellous Meals, Maurice Sendak, The Nutshell Library, by Richard Smyth
6. A Shameless Old Reprobate, Christopher Isherwood, Mr. Norris Changes Trains, by Michael Barber
7. Small Crimes, Big Consequences, Mary Westmacott, Absent in the Spring, by Rachel Sherlock
8. So far Yet So Near, Jane Austen, Persuasion, by Richard Crockatt
9. From World to World, William Golding, The Inheritors, by Nick Hunt
10. Joining the Grown-Ups, Mary Norton, The Bread and Butter Stories, by Becky Tipper
11. Studying to Be Quiet, Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time to Keep Silence, by Guy Staff
12. Live Fast, Die Young, Leon Garfield, Smith, by Suzi Feay
13. Not Utterly Oyster, Marion Crawford, The Little Princesses, by JaneRidley
14. Brits Behaving Badly, The novels of Gwyn Griffin, by Jonathan Keates
15. The Land of Lost Content, A.E. Housman, Collected Poems, by David Fleming
16. Counting My Chickens, On her mother Elspeth Barker's Writing Life, by Raffaella Barker

I have 15 unread editions left to finish, or rather I would have if the latest edition didn't keep landing in. If I weren't so busy/lazy I could show you how beautiful the covers are of this wonderful set of reviews.

40: Slightly Foxed, the Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 49, Spring 2016

Reviews:
1. Murder at the Majestic, J.G. Farrell, Troubles, by Patrick Welland
2. Evasions and Deceits, Diana Petre, The Secret Orchard of Roger Ackerley, by Peter Parker
3. All for Art, Alison Lurie, Real People, by Helena Drysdale
4. Joyce to the Life, Richard Ellmann, James Joyce, by Margaret Drabble
5. Birch, Bell and Book, Brian Moore, The Feast of Lupercal, by Jonathan Smith
6. The Spell of Stout Angus, James Stout Angus, A Glossary of the Shetland Dialect, by Robert Macfarlane
7. Learning from the Wilderness, Ronald Welch, Mohawk Valley, by Galen O'Hanlon
8. Motorway Madness, Cortazar & Dunlop, Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, by Sarah Bakewell
9. Wisdom from the Ivory Tower, F.M. Cornford, Microcosmographia Academica, by Matthew Adam
10. Dresden and After, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, by A.F. Harrold
11. A Victorian Quartet, Penelope Fitzgerald, TheKnox Brothers, by Sue Gee
12. The Sadness of Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridge, by William Palmer
13. Lost Cities, John Lloyd Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, by Charles Elliott
14. London at War, Michael MacDonagh, In London During the Great War, by Juliet Gardiner
15. Old Devil in a Dog-collar, Lorna Sage, Bad Blood, by Linda Leatherbarrow
16. Getting the Idea, Seeking Inspiration, by Oliver Pritchett

broken shoulder. no reading, posting, or punctuation at the moment.

Oh no. I'm sure that's painful. Take very good care of yourself and heal quickly! ((((((Tui))))))

too old for this stuff, peggy. thanks.

40: How to Share an Egg, by Bonnie Reichert

Random House hardcover {added}



Moving, poignant and quietly powerful story of Bonny Reichert's father's near death in Auschwitz-Birkenau and his ultimate survival/freedom in Edmonton. I normally can't handle Holocaust stories but I heard Bonny talking about her book on CBC radio, and her quiet way of talking about how she came to write her father's story when he was 94, after having procrastinated about doing so for many years (like me, she can't handle Holocaust stories) compelled me to order the book immediately.

41: Pet Whisperer P.I., books 1-3 by Molly Fitz

Kindle edition {added}



post accident reading at just about the level i can manage

42: The Midnight Bookshop, by Amanda James

kindle edition {added}



I felt a sense of deja vu while reading this but it was marked unread. A pleasant read regardless.

>140 tiffin: I'm glad to see your shoulder's less painful, Tui, and you're back on the pinctuayion train. It's the milestone to really healing.

if i can stretch my fingers to reach, i do but it's a lot slower. shoulder a mess, i'm afraid. waiting for word on replacement surgery. see surgeon in two weeks.

>142 tiffin: *crossing All crossables for quick replacement*

duplicate removed

>143 richardderus:: thanks, Richard.

44: Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 50, Summer 2016

Note: I'm still typing with one finger, awaiting a shoulder replacement after Teagh the Terror yanked me off of the 4' high back deck to sail 8' through the air to land on the back lawn baked to concrete by the drought. So no details about this edition's contents for the foreseeable future.

I had been reading this back issue of Slightly Foxed on the kitchen table because I can't hold books at the moment. Someone had moved it to the bay window beside the table to keep it safe. Alas and alack, young Teagh came racing into the kitchen to hurl himself into the window to protect the house, landing square on the formerly pristine cover with his muddy paw, so it now sports a large muddy Teagh print and also a large bent corner. There are two big strikes against this six month German Shepherd.

Poor Teagh. POOR Tui! I'm sorry you're having to cope with him with a big hurt he caused. I trust that he will turn into a good dog, and that you will win through this undeserved pain and recovery.
(NO need to type anything with 1 finger to speak to me!)

peggy, he has a sweet and happy disposition without a drop of malice in him. He was just all excited because the tree guys were there to fix the ice storm damage, and he is big, strong for his age, and very fast. I had no chance to drop the retractable leash. I don't blame him for being a puppy. He will be a very good dog and indeed already is. I hope in a year, this will be a distant memory!

Amen to that!

45: Under an English Heaven, an Ellie Kent mystery Book 1, by Alice K. Boatwright

Kindle edition {added}



A good English cosy mystery, if "cosy" can have three deaths in it.

46: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

Harper Voyageur Deluxe Limited Edition, hardbound {added}



So good. I love this woman's writing. Review to come when I have better use of my left arm again.

>151 tiffin: Wow! That deluxe edition is very deluxe indeed. I'm glad the read did not disappoint, Tui.

thanks, Richard. Her take on grad school was spot on.

47: What Child is This, Ellie Kent mystery book 2, by Alice K. Boatwright

Kindle edition {added}



Another enjoyable one.

48: In the Life Everafter, Ellie Kent Mystery Book 3, by Alice K. Boatwright no touchstone

Kindle edition {added}



I think this all she's written so far.

49: All the Water in the World, by Eiren Caffall

Kindle edition {added}



This is the story that we know is coming, with all the glaciers melting, the world getting hotter, the waters flooding coastal cities around the world, and life as we know it forever changed, the time before as it is becoming the time after. Nonie, her older sister Bix, and their scientist parents live in a nearly deserted New York city, on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History which they have shortened to AMEN, as they and others strive to protect the specimens in the museum, boxing them up to try to get them to safety or recording the ones that have been lost. Modelling themselves after the curators of the museums and galleries of Leningrad and Iraq, they keep detailed logs wrapped in oilcloth so that the time after will know what has gone or what got saved.

The storms, which have been getting wilder, finally flood New York in one monster storm, killing the few remaining people who have no means of escape. Nonie's little group finally has to leave the security of AMEN. Their mantra has been take nothing from AMEN unless there is dire need: they take the birchbark canoe and paddles from the indigenous people's diorama.

All of this is seen through the eyes of a 12 year old girl possessed of a phenomenal memory and an uncanny affinity to water in all its forms. I was captivated by Nonie's voice, her wisdom far beyond her years, while her inexperience and youth still rang true. I really don't enjoy apocalyptic stories which are devoid of hope. This wasn't one of those. Yes it had fear, death, loss and all those fearsome things but it had incredible courage and a fierce will to succeed, to live, in Nonie's little group. It spoke to how we survive by making community, by daring to love, the antithesis of despair.

50: The Poison Song, the Winnowing Flame Book 3, by Jen Williams

Kindle edition {added}



I've had this floating around on my Kindle for yonks now, so finally decided to read it so I could file it where it belongs. A good bit of fantasy writing.

51: Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth Bonesteel

Kindle edition {added}



Science fiction.

52: Home and Away by Mats Sundin, with Amy Stuart

Simon & Schuster hardbound



I grew up listening to and watching hockey. Lying in bed in our apartment in Montreal as a young girl, I'd listen to Hockey Night in Canada chirping away on our black and white tv in the living room, while my dad, a diehard Habs fan, cheered them on with increasing volume and fervour. When we moved back to Ontario, I hung on to my love of the Canadiens for a while but over the years my loyalty switched over to the Leafs as certain great players took over as favourites because of their wonderful play and obvious love of the game. One of these was the Swede Mats Sundin who went on to captain the Leafs for eight years.

This is the story of his growth from a gangly kid in Sweden to one of the best players in the world, a holder of many records and honours, who ended up being one of the all-time most loved Toronto Maple Leafs' players, now a hockey Hall of Famer. A simply told story but full of love for his family, his team mates, both countries he calls home, and for the game of hockey. A refreshing read for this old hockey fan and kind of a gentle antidote for these fraught times.

53: Flowers for the Judge, by Margery Allingham

Kindle edition {already added}



An inadvertent reread but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

54: The Love of Impossible Sums, by Panayotis Cacoyannis

Kindle edition {added}



I vacillated between really liking this book, and being quite irritated by it. It wasn't his writing, which bordered on the poetic at times as he wrote a love poem to London, England as the background to the story. It was the people themselves. The main protagonist, Oliver or Ollie to his friends, is in the throes of deep grief after the loss of his wife to breast cancer. When the story begins, he is quite lost and finished with being alive.

His friends are navel-gazing intelligentia types whose sexuality is fluid, some of whom hop in and out of bed with anyone who passes by while others slide back and forth with regard to commitment, what constitutes love, etc. I didn't have a problem with this per se but in the case of some of them there is real cruelty, opportunism, intense ego-centricity. I just didn't like them as people, and wouldn't if they were real, not just fictional, so didn't particularly want to be around them. Call me old fashioned but I like nice people.

Oliver meets a woman named Alex, a meeting seemingly by chance but as we learn, anything but. While she pulls him back from the edge of the cliff, she carries with her dangers of her own. There is just too much questioning, soul baring, analysing, and angst in the mid-section of the story. I nearly gave up on it but slogged through to the end where, I admit, Cacoyannis saved the day by retrieving three or four of the characters from the miasma, actually giving an ending where hope still has a chance. I give him full marks for writing a story which gets to the core of certain kinds of human behaviour. It's just that in this era of Trump and his merry gang of thugs and nightmares, this isn't the kind of place I want to spend my time right now.

55: The Heiress of Linn Hagh, Detective Lavender Mysteries, Book 1, by Karen Charlton

Kindle edition {added}



Historical mystery, the first in a series. Set in the time of George III. It was ok but I don't know if I'll pursue the following books. Highwaymen, gypsies, poor landed gentry who are quite awful, an heiress who is quite nice indeed, and two Bow Street policemen (Lavender and Woods) who have been sent north to solve the nice heiress's disappearance. The requisite local farmers, innkeepers, and townspeople flesh out the rest of the cast.

56: Homeworld Lost, book 1, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

57: Forsaken Crown, Homeworld Lost Book 2, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

58: Leviathan's Bane, Homeworld Lost Book 3, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

59: Paragon's Fall, Homeworld Lost Book 4, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

60: Earth Rising, Homeworld Lost Book 5, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

I've been bingeing on this Science Fiction series but think I'm going to take a breather from the remaining books. Good old sentient spaceships, lots of alien species and antagonism amongst them, earthlings doing good and evil in the mix. All that good stuff. It has been a fun distraction from soft tissue and nerve damage from the fall but--good news--the humerus has healed.

HOORAY for the healed humerus! I'm glad for you and hope that nerve damage, especially, is also on the road to normal.

Oh dear. I can't start another series, but sentient spaceships, etc. are sirens to me. I'll check them out.

Hi Peggy: thanks for the "hooray". The nerve damage is worrisome but I'm plugging away with physio in the hope that I'll regain some use. Reading easy breezy stories is pure escapism. There are 15 books in this series so far!

>169 tiffin: Healed humerus is wonderful news indeed! I'm recovering from pneumonia...a little low-energy...and finally today starting a course of ear drops to see if my ear will unblock itself or need more serious intervention.

Stay well, Tui my dear old friend.

So sorry to hear you've been poorly, Richard. Pneumonia is awful stuff. Do take care! And thanks: it's wicked slow, this whole process.

62: Absent in the Spring, by Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott

Kindle edition {added}



I was a bit surprised at the poignancy of this novel. It wasn't a mystery but an exploration of a woman's life which up to the point we meet her in the story had been largely unexamined. She has hitherto done everything according to a narrow set of rules by which she has lived to this point, with an unknown-to-her smugness at her own behaviour. Her own children don't like her very much, and her husband views her with pity, as her affect is constraining to others.

She has gone out to Baghdad to visit her youngest daughter who has fallen very ill, an illness we come to understand was not from a biological but a psychological cause. Joan, however, remains oblivious until much further on in the story. Meanwhile we readers are cluing in to the reality of who Joan really is as a result of Christie's clever peeling back of her character. This dramatic irony informs a strange combination of pity and exasperation in the reader, similar to her husband's response to her.

A compelling little book that left me thinking about it for quite a while.

63: Obsidian Gate, Homeworld Lost Book 7, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition



Yes, I succumbed to another one of this series.

>174 tiffin: Interesting...I've known that Agatha Christie wrote as Mary Westmacott, but don't think I ever read any of that output. I will look for this one.

64: Book of Lives; A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood

Hardbound McClelland and Stewart



I'm a few chapters in to this latest by our Peggy, and so far I'm loving it. Because of its heft, it's a kitchen table read but lovely to do so with a cup of tea. She's a bit older than I am but we share many experiences in our youth. I sat right up at the Sucrets tin mention, as well as skating on the Rideau Canal as kids, and parents living in The Soo.

Addendum: This was not a hard read at all, except for its heft. It was the story of a favourite author's life and, as it progressed, of other Canadian writers I've known (some in real life) and loved.

Five stars, Maggie!

Note to self: Unable to add any of the Homeworld Lost books to my library as some kind of link is down with Amazon. Try to add these in later.

65: Rebels' Ultimatum, Homeworld Lost series, Book 8, by JN Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

66: Hero's Return, Homeworld Lost Book 9, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition



It gets a bit improbable and silly at times. Only 6 left to read in the series and I can read them for free with my Kindle membership, so you know I'll carry on.

67: Shining World, Homeworld Lost Book 10, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

>181 tiffin: I really like the cover art on this series.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Tui!

>182 richardderus:: It's classic, isn't it, Richard!

>183 tiffin: Absolutely! I'd've picked it up in 1969, 1999, or 2019. Says exactly what it is inside, and when that's what you want, it's good to find.

68: Darkness Falls, Homeworld Lost Book 11, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon no touchstone

Kindle edition

69: Galaxy's Requiem, Homeworld Lost Book 12, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition



Only 3 left to read! I can read these for free with my Kindle membership, which is great. Also, they do a recap at the start of each book of the previous books, so the books are smaller than you might think.

70: Galaxy's Horizon, Homeworld Lost Book 13, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

71: Pirate's Nebula, Homeworld Lost Book 14, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

72: Starship's Champion, Homeworld Lost Book 15, by J.N. Chaney and Scott Moon

Kindle edition

About the Homeworld Lost series:
After I broke my shoulder (or rather, our GSD pup broke my shoulder), I couldn't read at all for a month, so I lost the month of August. This series filled in a kind of hole left in my usually constantly reading life. Sentient spaceships who could configure their interiors to adapt to their passenger load, who could also create shuttles from their living matter, and who could rebuild the shattered bodies of earthlings flung into outer space in ships which exploded, were about as much as tiny brain could handle. So I bopped around several galaxies with various species, battling the bad guys and putting out metaphoric fires. It was a good distraction from healing, hospital visits, and physio.

It got a bit formulaic near the end, as I knew what was coming. But I liked the characters even if the main character was a bit too "American know how" under the guise of a bumbling cowboy for me at times. I could tuck the Kindle in my handbag and lug it around to waiting rooms, or prop it up on the kitchen table to read while having my porridge. It came free with my Kindle membership but I don't know if I would have forked out the cash for the whole series otherwise, even though I am a dreadful completist.

73: Sleepless City, a Nick Ryan Novel, book 1, by Reed Farrel Coleman

Kindle edition



New York City detective novel. The underbelly of things with Ryan as an Afghan veteran turned cop turned detective who is also an assassin in a secretive dark knight kind of way. Okay as these things go.

Tui my dear, as y'all celebrate this year, remember:

Words to live by, Richard. Happy Christmas to you too!

74: The Raven Scholar, Book 1 of the Eternal Path Trilogy, by Antonia Hodgson

Kindle edition



A brilliant story. Really looking forward to the second book in the series.

CARO

There is a bench
Where you liked to sit
In a garden special to your heart.
Would I sense you there
If I could sit near that certain tree?
Would I hear you
Rustle its leaves, or would you
Be standing just beyond sight
In the flowers that you loved?
Unseen but seeing,
Silent but always felt.

I too have a garden
Special to my heart.
There is a bench there
Where only you can sit,
In that garden with the others
Who wait with infinite patience
Until that day when
We can gather up all the flowers
And walk into the light.

>195 tiffin: "There is a bench there
Where only you can sit," Got me right in the heart with that one, Tui. Beautiful.

>196 laytonwoman3rd:: Thanks, Linda. You know the bench Caro loved to visit. I must write and write at the moment, to deal with this. xo

>195 tiffin: I love this so much. I know that bench too, from photos she shared.

Carl Larsson (28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919), a Swedish Arts & Craft painter whose works I love:

Oh Tui, my heart goes out to you and the others here who knew Caro better than I did and, therefore, loved her dearly. Please see that her sister gets your poem when the time is right.

This is a really hard one for me, Peggy, so thank you for your kind words. Em has the poem and it will be read at her memorial service. I wish I could make it over for it but my shoulder and arm aren't healed enough to even think about it at this point. I'm going to try to emulate Caro by putting things of beauty on my thread in amongst the books.

>201 tiffin: The best memorial: emulation. It will keep her in our eyes as well as our hearts.

Today in the woods: Arlen's older dog and our young Teagh (the lighter looking dog). Steady snowfall all day and they love it.
https://youtu.be/E3QMSCInU4E?si=nctXthhnY5-iMzCF

>203 tiffin: I just watched that with the sound on, and Molly leaped into the window ledge next to my computer to see where the dogs were!

When Arlen played it for us, both dogs crowded in to see themselves on the IPad! So funny.

75: The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop, by Takuya Asakura

Kindle edition



This gentle book was a good note to end 2025 on. It has a series of stories linked by a bookshop that appears with a specific kind of cherry blossom in bloom, a book held in the hand of the bookshop's owner, Sakura, and in the hand of the next character(s) in the next short tale, as well as the bookshop's cat, Kobako. The enigmatic duo, Sakura and Kobako, travel about to heal and soothe the minds and spirits of various troubled souls.

My soul was greatly in need of soothing, so this book worked its magic on yet another person.

My reading continues here for 2026: https://www.librarything.com/topic/377096#n9055431