Humouress humming around Europe - third thread

Still in Ireland! Just setting up my new thread.



Jasper - on his way home after being groomed in anticipation of our return to him/ Singapore.

First 16 mine ...

>2 humouress: ticker & covers (this thread)

>3 humouress: books (this thread; 3rd quarter) September
>4 humouress: August
>5 humouress: July
>6 humouress: books (previous thread) 2nd quarter April - June
>7 humouress: books (first 2025 thread) 1st quarter January - March

>8 humouress: constellation
>9 humouress: icons
>10 humouress: reading inspirations

>11 humouress: currently reading
>12 humouress: bookmarks & book bullets / series to continue
>13 humouress: reviews outstanding

>14 humouress: Alphabetical roots
>15 humouress: Acquisitions for the year

>16 humouress: welcome in!

⏮️ 75 Books Challenge for 2024; thread 4

2025
1️⃣ 75 Challenge Humouress hops Down Undah in 2025 - first thread
2️⃣ 75 Challenge Humouress at home - second thread
🌳 ROOTs humouress ROOTing (and re-ROOTing) in 2025
🐉 Green Dragon Humouress popping in and out of the pub in 2025



LT meet-up in Regent's Park, London. June 2025)

2 - ticker & covers (this thread)

September

61. 60.

58. 57.

56. 55. 54.

August

53. 52

51. 50.

49. 48. 47.

July
46. 45.

44. 43. 42.





📚 - physical book (my own)
🌩️ ⚡️ - e-book (my own)

🎧 - audiobook (library)
📖 - physical library book

3 - books (this thread; 3rd quarter) September

review posted/ rated/ written/ read/ (released)
✔ /  / (#) / Title

September

✔   61) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1902) 📚
✔     60) Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers (1934)/ (BBC Radio Collection)(2001) 🎧
 59) Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard 📚
✔        58) The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews (2024)
✔     57) The Missing of Clairdelune by Christine Dabos (2015)
✔     56) The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen (2008) 🎧
✔     55) The Ravenswood Witch by Jenni Keer (2024)
✔      54) The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen (2018)

4 - books (this thread; 3rd quarter) August

review posted/ rated/ written/ read/ (released)
✔ /  / (#) / Title

August

✔     53) Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (2019) ⚡️
✔     52) The Secret of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt (1965){translated 2015}
✔   51) A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow (2018)
✔   50) A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith (2024)
✔   49) A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey (2023)
✔     48) All the Wandering Light by Heather Fawcett (2018)
✔   47) A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (2022)

5 - books (this thread; 3rd quarter) July

review posted/ rated/ written/ read/ (released)
✔ /  / (#) / Title

July

✔     46) A Hero Returned by Eura Abrams (2025) ⚡️
✔     45) Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen (2008)
✔     44) Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer (2020)
✔        43) Finn's Causeway Adventure by Lauren Graham; illustrated by Dave Orchard (2006)
✔     42) Samson's Titanic Journey by Lauren Graham; illustrated by Roisin Matthews (2004)

6 - books (previous thread) 2nd quarter April - June

review posted/ rated/ written/ read/ (released)
✔ /  / (#) / Title

June

✔     41) Northern Lights (BBC Radio Dramatisation by Philip Pullman (1995/ 2004) 🎧
✔     40) The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (2021)
✔   39) The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten (2023)
✔        38) Penelope Goes to Portsmouth by M.C. Beaton 1991/ 2011
✔     37) The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (2024)
✔     36) The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (2014) 🎧

May

✔   35) The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen (2022)
✔        34) Elven Blood by Mark Stanley (2024)⚡️
✔   33) The Murderous Marriage/ 'The Disappearing Trick' by M.C. Beaton (2009) 🎧
✔     32) Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart (2015)
✔     31) Belinda Goes to Bath by M.C. Beaton (1991/ 2011)
✔   30) The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White (2019) 📚
✔     29) The Smoke Hunter by Jacquelyn Benson (2016)
✔          28) Foothills Fae Academy Book Three by Callie Woodridge (2024) ⚡️
✔     27) A Mere Formality by Ilona Andrews
✔     26) Silver Shark by Ilona Andrews
✔        25) Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews (2009/ 2018)

April

✔        24) The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews (2024)
✔   23) The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall 📚
✔     22) A Stitch in Time by Kelly Armstrong
✔     21) Other Aether edited by Greg Schauer and Danielle Ackley-McPhail (2024) ⚡️
✔     20) Princess of the Sword by Lynn Kurland
✔     19) The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

7 - books (first 2025 thread) 1st quarter January - March



first quarter

review: LT/ rated/ written/ read/ (released)
✔ /  / (#) / Title

March

✔   18) The Wizard of Evesham by M.C. Beaton {BBC adaptation} (2009) 🎧
✔     17) Who's Sorry Now? by Maggie Robinson (2019)
✔        16) Stars Beyond Realms by Marie-Hélène Lebeault (2023) ⚡️
✔     15) Love in Lockdown by Chloe James (2020)
✔   14) The Call of the Sword by Roger Taylor (1988) 📚
✔        13) The Spare Room by Laura Starkey (2024)
✔     12) Emily Goes to Exeter by M.C. Beaton (1990)
✔     11) The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews (2022)
✔   10) Abhorsen by Garth Nix (2003)
✔     9) The Mage's Daughter by Lynn Kurland (2008)
✔     8) Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson (2019) 📚

February

✔   7) Blood Spirits by Sherwood Smith (2010) 📚
✔     6) Funny Story by Emily Henry (2024)
✔   5) Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland (2008)
✔        4) The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (2011)

January

✔     3) Starling House by Alix. E. Harrow (2023) 📖
✔     2) Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst (2020)
✔     1) Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2020)

8 - constellation

  You have got to read this one!                           
  Really good; worth reading                                 
     Good, but without that special 'something' for me   
      Very nice, but a few issues                                    
         An enjoyable book                                                   
         Um, okay. Has some redeeming qualities                   
              Writing is hard. I appreciate the work the author did    
             (haven't met one - yet)                                              
                  Dire                                                                            
                  Rated only as a warning. Run away. Don't stop.              

Purple stars, from Robin's thread:

5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5

Robin has made coloured stars for me (happy dance) and the codes are now enshrined in my profile.

9 - icons/ library holds


Reading at home :

‘Waiting for the boys to finish classes’ book :

Bedtime reading :Tashi series (yes, still)

Kindle :

Downtime : Skulduggery Pleasant

Sometimes I make notes on Litsy (also as humouress) as I'm reading so I tuck them in after my reviews.

school parents' Book club (on holiday)(it seems to have faltered)

SF/F Book club Six of Crows (we haven't had a chance to meet & discuss for a while)(this was pre-pre covid; doesn't look like it's gonna happen)

online story

LT Early Reviewers

e-book

audio book

own book/ ROOTs (Read Our Own Tomes)

Overdrive start line & bookmarks:

 
The Tiger's Daughter
The Game of Kings


Holds
{none}

Holds released:
(The Storyteller’s Death
Psalm for the Wild-built
Lost Tribe of the Sith
Things in Jars
Dune)

 

Holds
The Whispering Skull

Holds released:
(The Librarian of Crooked Lane)



Holds
{none}

Holds released:
(Daughter of the Moon Goddess)

Litsy Notes
The Husbands
Call of the Sword

Libraries:

       

10 - reading inspirations

11 - currently reading

12 - bookmarks & book bullets

A Case of Mice and Murder - from the Green Dragon; so many folks there

Series to continue reading:
(Library)
Belles of London : next 4/4 The Muse of Maiden Lane
Jane Wunderly : next 2/6+1 Murder at Wedgefield Manor
Assistant to the Villain : next 2/4? Apprentice to the Villain
Old Kingdom : next 4/5+1 Clariel
(Travelling Matchmaker : next 4/6 Beatrice Goes to Brighton)
Lady Adelaide Mysteries : next 3/4 Just Make Believe
Agatha Raisin
Li Du : next 2/3 The White Mirror
Hart and Mercy : next 2/3 The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
(Cormoran Strike : next 3/8 Career of Evil
The Nightshade Crown : next 2/3 The Hemlock Queen
Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica : next 2/8 The Search for the Red Dragon
Killers of a Certain Age : next 2/2? Kills Well with Others
Hawthorne & Horowitz : next 2/5 The Sentence is Death
Glass and Steele : next 7/13 The Cheater's Game
Mirror Visitor Quartet : next 2/4+1 The Missing of Clairedelune
Fire and Thorns : next 2/4+3 The Crown of Embers
Bryant & May : next 2/21+2 The Water Room
NeoG : next 2/4 Hold Fast Through the Fire
Malazan : next 2/10 Deadhouse Gates
Exordium : next 3/5 A Prison Unsought

(Own)

Attwater - Regency Faerie Tales: next 2/3+2 Ten Thousand Stitches
Britain - Green Rider: next 4/8+2 Blackveil
Duncan - King's Blades: next 10/11 Impossible Odds
Flanagan - Ranger's Apprentice: next 9/12 Halt's Peril
Goddard - Greenwing & Dart / The Nine Worlds
Hambly - Darwath: next 2/3(5) The Walls of Air
Hamilton - Rebel of the Sands: next 2/3+1 Traitor to the Throne
Jordan - The Wheel of Time: next 4/14 Shadow Rising
Klasky - Glasswright: next 2/5 Glasswright's Progress
Novik - Scholomance: next 2/3 The Last Graduate
Owen - Merciful Crow: next 2/2 The Faithless Hawk
Pierce - Song of the Lioness: next 3/4 The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Rogerson - Sorcery of Thorns: next 2/2 The Mysteries of Thorn Manor
Ross - Letters of Enchantment: next 2/2 Ruthless Vows
Smith - Dobrenica: next 3/3 Revenant Eve
Stroud - Lockwood & Co: next 2/5+3 The Dagger in the Desk
Taylor - Chronicles of Hawklan: next 2/5 The Fall of Fyorlund
White - Camelot Rising: next 2/3 The Camelot Betrayal

13 - reviews outstanding

2023

January
3, 4, 5
March
10, 11, 14
June
21, 26, 27
August
35, 37 (reviews posted; photograph covers)
December
61

2024

May
31, 34 (review posted; photograph cover)
June
38, 39, 43
July
47, 48
October
60, 62
December
65, 68

2025





September
59, 61

Alphabetical roots



Last year (2024) I decided I would try to read books off my shelf alphabetically by author. I thought that f I could do two a month I should be able get through the alphabet by the end of the year ie A and B in January; C and D in February and so on. Of course there are some letters (like Q and X) that I don't have any authors for but it's just an experimental idea at this point. I didn't do too badly, getting down to P (especially considering that some sections of my physical library are currently quarantined for suspected mould).

A = Atwater, Olivia - Half a Soul : January
B = Britain, Kristen - The High King's Tomb : January (re-read)
C = Clough, Brenda W. - King of the Book : October
D = Duncan, Dave - Paragon Lost : March
E = Eloise, Roxy - Guidal: Discovering Puracordis : March
F = Fleury, Clive - Off Season : March
G = Goddard, Victoria - Stargazy Pie : April
H = Hambly, Barbara - The Time of the Dark : June (re-read)
I
J = Jones, Marty Kay - Girl Meets Horse: An Easy Introduction to Horse Care and Riding for Kids and Tweens : August
K = Kästner, Erich - Emil and the Detectives : July (re-read)
L = Ledford, Hannah - Elephant and Castle : June
M = Miller, Karen - The Innocent Mage : December
N = Novik, Naomi - A Deadly Education : December
O = Owen, Margaret - The Merciful Crow : February (re-read as a library book and then acquired)
P = Pierce, Tamora - Alanna: the First Adventure & In the Hand of the Goddess : December (both re-read)

Continuing on in 2025:

Q no authors beginning with Q in my library
R = Rogerson, Margaret - Sorcery of Thorns : March
S = Smith, Sherwood - Blood Spirits : February
T = Taylor, Roger - The Call of the Sword : March
U no authors beginning with U in my library
V
W = White, Kiersten - The Guinevere Deception : May
X no authors beginning with X in my library; adding an anthology Other Aether edited by Greg Schauer and Danielle Ackley-McPhail : April
Y no authors beginning with Y in my library
Z

15 - Acquisitions for the year (see post 13, thread 1/ post 14, thread 2 for provenance)



1 - Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (Murderbot)
2 - The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
3 - Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon
4 - The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
5 - Marend of Marloven Hess (The Norsunder War) by Sherwood Smith
6 - The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith
7 - Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard
8 - Love-in-a-Mist (Greenwing & Dart) by Victoria Goddard
9 - Blackcurrant Fool (Greenwing & Dart) by Victoria Goddard
10- Whiskeyjack (3) (Greenwing & Dart) by Victoria Goddard
11- Bee Sting Cake (Greenwing & Dart) by Victoria Goddard
12- Stargazy Pie (Greenwing & Dart) by Victoria Goddard
13- The Super Easy Carnivore Diet for Beginners: 1500 Days of Quick and Satisfying… by Jessica G Snider
14- The Carnivore Diet for Beginners: Recipes and Meal Plans for Weight Loss, Healt… by Chris Irvin MS
15- Hundred Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka: Ancient, Medieval and Modern by Mr Sanmugam Arumugam
16- The Work Wives
19- The Symbicate: A Roaring, Whimsical Adventure by Sean M. T. Shanahan
20- Necromancing The Rose - Book 1 of the Whim-Dark Tales by Sean M T Shanahan
21- Grim, Ghastly & Gripping by Sean M T Shanahan
22- Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners (Teach Yourself, 1) by Olly Richards (since he's started learning Spanish at school this year).
17- The Bullet That Missed: The third novel in the multi-million copy bestselling… by Richard Osman
18- The Last Devil To Die: The fourth novel in the multi-million copy bestselling… by Richard Osman
19- Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel 1) by T. Kingfisher
20- Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel 2) by T. Kingfisher
21- Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel 3) by T. Kingfisher
22- Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel 4)
23- Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
24- To Guard Against the Dark by Julie E. Czerneda
25- This Gulf of Time and Stars by Julie E. Czerneda
26- Relight My Fire (The Stranger Times 4) by C. K. McDonnell
27- The Sacred Hunt Duology by Michelle West
28- A Hard Day's Knight (A Nightside Book 11) by Simon R. Green
29- Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

and a few more from our trip:

30- The Alhambra of Granada published by Dosde - for exploring the Alhambra when we were there
31- Mr Men in Ireland by Adam Hargreaves - souvenir ;0)
32- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - a gift from a schoolfriend now working as a virologist in a budget-struck NHS.

A couple from the Books Kinokuniya sale:

33- A Heart Full of Hatred by Derek Landry
34- Arabian Folk & Fairy Tales: Fables, Folkore & Ancient Stories (Flame Tree Collector's Editions)

And (Thingaversary books 😬) from Books K webstore sale:

35- The Bride of the Blue Wind by Victoria Goddard
36- The Warrior of the Third Veil by Victoria Goddard
37- The Cleopatra Crisis (Time Wars) by Simon Hawke
38- The Dracula Caper (Time Wars) (Volume 8) by Simon Hawke
39- The Khyber Connection: Volume 6 (Time Wars) by Simon Hawke

= @libraian

= @firelion, @superboy

16 - welcome in!

17 - holiday photos (from my previous thread - please see for more detail)

St Paul's, London:

     

Alhambra, Granada:



Palace of Comares, Alhambra; by day and by night:

 

Court of Lions, Alhambra; by day and by night:

 

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, Nina!

Happy new thread

>18 foggidawn: Thanks foggi!

>19 drneutron: Thank you Jim!

>20 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita!

Happy new thread, neighbour.

Happy new thread, Nina!

>24 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul!

>25 atozgrl: Thanks Irene!

Well, we're leaving Dublin soon. Yesterday we went to the Guinness storehouse (though they stopped brewing there in 1988) and had the obligatory pint of Guinness. And in the evening we went to Trinity College to view the Book of Kells. Their Kells 360 show is an amazing piece of animation. And of course we also saw the Long Room. It's so beautiful. At the moment it's mostly empty of books, though, as they are undertaking a project to clean all the books and digitise them. Instead (I presume) they have an art installation called 'Gaia' which is a huge revolving globe with the image of Earth (as photographed by NASA spacecraft) on it.

Did I tell you that we went to the Titanic museum in Belfast and the last room is a wonderful sound and light show of the story of the ship? And we drove to Giant's Causeway (where we learned about the movement of the Earth's plates which helped to form the columns - the Atlantic is still widening at about the same rate as your fingernails grow) on the way to (London)Derry. Then we drove to Dublin and at some point crossed the border from Northern Ireland to Ireland and the EU.

Phew - this has been an intense trip. And it's not over yet.

I picked up a couple of story books at St George's market in Belfast from O'Donnell Press and (shhh!) thought I'd better sample them first.

42) Samson's Titanic Journey by Lauren Graham; illustrated by Roisin Matthews

{stand alone; children's, picture book, historic fiction}(2004)



This is a story about a mouse who decides to seek his fortune in America and to travel on the Titanic on its fateful journey to get there.

It's a good introduction for young children to the journey and the sinking of the Titanic. The plot is fairly simple/ superficial though it does connect some of the historical facts together (even if it is reminiscent of the film - you know the one - in parts). I like the pictures (on every page), by Roislin Mathews, in the book which also have a wealth of historical detail in them.

Worth it to give young children an idea of what happened to the liner.

July 2025
3.5 - 4 stars

Happy new thread! I'm glad you're continuing to enjoy your travels. Dublin is a great city!

>30 Sakerfalcon: Thanks Claire!

Happy new thread, Nina!!

>15 humouress: I love that picture. I need a copy of that one, lol.

>17 humouress: Lovely photos!

Happy new thread, Nina! Safe travels!

>32 curioussquared: Thanks Natalie!

>33 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia!

The picture does sort of encapsulate my desires :0)

43) Finn's Causeway Adventure by Lauren Graham; illustrated by Dave Orchard.

{stand alone; children's, picture book, Ireland}(2006)



Finn is a shark who travels to the Northern Irish coast every summer. Normally he stays out in the depths but this year he decides to come closer in to the Causeway Coast where he sees the Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the beach at (presumably) Whitepark Bay and has adventures.

I bought this book for a niece when we drove along the Causeway Coast and the illustrations by Dave Orchard, which I liked a lot, are realistic and accurate. The story highlights the features of the Coast and is a good introduction to it for young children though I could have done with a few more details about Finn, such as what type of shark he is and where he spends his winters.

July 2025
3 stars

Happy new thread, Nina! Looks like you are having a wonderful time touring around.

>36 humouress: That's a great purchase! I was in Limerick recently for a conference and visited a bookshop with another delegate, who said that whenever she travels she tries to buy a picture book in the local language. She is from Finland, and we found the Irish section of the children's department where she was able to find a nice book.

My two favorite Irish things to do: Kells, and the Giants' Causeway! I'm glad you got to see both.

Cheers, All!

>38 Sakerfalcon: That's a lovely idea. Did she find one in Gaelic? One of our tour guides said that kids learn it in school but don't use it at home.

>39 richardderus: Thanks Richard :0)

>37 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg! We've just landed back in Singapore, so that's the end of our adventuring for now. (To be honest, the kids and I were starting to get on each others' nerves. They're at that age where they think they know better than me and try to take charge of everything without getting the full facts first ... Anyway, we're home now.)

44) Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer

{first of 6? In Jane Wunderly series; Egypt, 1926, murder, mystery, historical fiction, romance}(2020)

 

Egypt 1926:
Jane Wunderly is a young American widow (after a short, abusive marriage, her husband died in WWI) holidaying in Egypt and staying at the Mena House as a guest of her rich aunt Millie. When one of the other guests is murdered, Jane is the prime suspect. Determined never to be a victim again, she decides not to leave it to the local police to investigate. Helping her is Redvers, a mysterious Englishman, whom her matchmaking aunt has obviously pushed her towards in spite of Jane's secret determination to never get married again. But maybe there's a spark of attraction between them?

“Mrs. Wunderly, I presume?” The low, pleasant rumble interrupted my gawking at the scene around me, nearly startling me out of my skin.
I turned and faced the broad-shouldered owner of the posh British accent that addressed me. As my hazel eyes met dark chocolate ones, a frisson of electricity traveled down my spine before I tamped it down. Hard. Handsome men were not my concern.
He nearly towered over me, and I was not a small woman by any standard. I eyed him, one eyebrow cocked, wondering how he had discovered my name before any introductions had been made. Perhaps he had some magic at his fingertips. Another shiver tickled my spine.
“Well, you’ve pulled my name from a hat. Will you be performing any more tricks this evening? Pull a coin from my ear, perhaps? I could use one to pay for this drink, frankly.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “Your aunt mentioned you when she introduced herself to me just now.”
“That was fast,” I muttered, and cursed my inattentiveness. I wasn’t at all surprised that my aunt had sniffed him out and then sent him over—especially once she realized he wasn’t wearing a wedding band. Which I cursed myself for noticing also. I was just surprised she had managed to do it so quickly.

This story is narrated from the first person point of view (past tense) so we get to see some of Jane's thought processes. I liked Jane's spirit and the fact that she was willing to jump in and give it a go (even if I thought some of her actions were ill-advised). There was one scene where aunt Millie, who was usually distant and uncaring, was downright nasty to our heroine which seemed out of character; maybe it was there just to further the romance - which is fairly chaste and tentative in this book (though I see from the previews of some of the next books in the series that it progresses a bit).

I thought this book was fun though the writing feels more early 21st century than early 20th century; though we're told at the beginning that it's set in Egypt in 1926 I can't really identify the time period from the story other than early (first half) 20th century. I've come across that issue before with 'historical fiction' so I ignored it and just enjoyed the story.

My reading was a bit fragmented as we were travelling around Europe when I read the first half of the book so I didn't get the best sense of this one. I didn't really get into the story and I wasn't quite au fait with the secondary character list. There were some red herrings and other petty crimes along the way to distract our attention from the main crime and criminal.

So my final impression was that, though fun to read, the story was nice but not great. However I'm willing to test it by reading the next book in the series.

(July 2025)
3.5 stars

Litsy Notes

My reading is a bit fragmented as we're travelling around Europe at the moment so I'm not getting the best sense of this one. Though we're told at the beginning that it's set in Egypt in 1926 I can't really identify the time period from the story other than early (first half) 20th century.

Because my reading, especially at the beginning, has been piecemeal I‘m not quite au fait with the secondary character list

I'd missed that you were travelling, Nina. Love your photos- I'd heard that the Alhambra was horribly busy but your photos make it look more than worthwhile.

>44 charl08: Thanks Charlotte. There were more people than I expected but I wouldn't say it was horribly busy. Maybe it depends on the time of year? Though I'd guess this is peak season or approaching it. There were, obviously, fewer people on the night tour though we didn't have the place entirely to ourselves, which was what I was hoping.

How on earth did you manage to have just the obligatory pint at the Guinness brewery? I am a West of Ireland fan boy. Cork all the way up to Donegal.

>46 PaulCranswick: They gave us a shot in the tasting room so we could learn how to savour Guinness and our ticket came with a voucher for the Gravity bar on the top floor (great views of the city and surroundings) but we did sample a few pints on our travels and must admit, it did get better the closer we got to Dublin. I'm not a beer person, I'm afraid.

>47 humouress: Ah, that brings back great memories, Nina. There is beer and then there is Guinness!

>40 humouress: Yes, we found the Irish language section which had some lovely picture books. She found one that was originally written in Gaelic, not a translation of an English text, which was her goal. We were also told that about the language. Maybe when the current generation who are learning in school start their families they might speak it at home.

>45 humouress: Ooh, this makes it much more tempting to me. I'll add it back on the (endless) list of places I want to get to eventually...

>48 PaulCranswick: Guinness is actually a stout, right? (Told you I'm not a beer person.) They actually add the bitterness with hops, which is what puts me off, but I found it less bitter in Dublin itself. I'm more of a cocktails and wine girl - though mainly I just drink it; I'm probably not what you'd call a connoisseur ;0)

I did learn that in Spain I can ask for wine that is semi-dulce. Although, talking of beer and Spain, we met up with friends in Madrid who took us to a restaurant in the Réal Madrid stadium where they brew their own beer. The guys in their family are Réal fans - but the ladies support Athletico.

>49 Sakerfalcon: When we were told that I thought of the Welsh language making a comeback and was reminded of Rhian learning Welsh.

>50 charl08: I think it's definitely worth a visit. Our boys kept their interest through the time we spent there, which (to be honest) surprised us a bit. Our bookings were just entry for the day and then for the next night and while it was fascinating to wander through, we didn't know what we were seeing. So for the night tour we got a guide. Oddly enough, they don't have guides at the Alhambra itself so you have to book one in town but our hotel kindly organised someone for us.

There are three palaces in the complex as well as the Generalife across the valley so there's enough space for all the visitors.

>43 humouress: That series sounds like one I might enjoy, so I will at least give the first book a try if I can find a copy. Thanks for the review, Nina!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

>54 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia.

Woo hoo! A possible future book bullet! But more of a ricochet because it was recommended to me - it looks like by LibraryThing. But actually by way of a different book in the series ... this one is all over the place. Duck and cover!

>55 humouress: Yep, we have to watch out for those ricochets too!

A few more photos from our trip, this time from the Irish leg:



These are the amazing rock formations of the Giant's Causeway.

The story is that Fin McCool built a causeway to go over to Scotland to challenge the Scottish giant (I'm sorry, I forget his name) but once he got there and saw the giant, he realised he was much bigger than Finn, so he ran back to Ireland. Unfortunately the Scottish giant saw him and chased him back. Finn (dropping his boot as he fled - though we didn't go and examine that rock formation; however we did see Humphrey the camel) rushed back to his cave and asked his wife 'What can I do?' and Oonagh said 'Go into the nursery and get into the crib.

So Finn, did so, squashing into the crib and plopping the baby's bonnet on his head. When the other giant came in and demanded to see Finn, Oonagh replied 'He's out, but stop shouting or you'll wake the baby'. Finn accidentally made a noise (maybe squeaked in fear), and the Scottish giant rushed into the nursery to see Finn in the cradle. Well, he thought, if that's the size of the baby, I don't want to meet the father - and he ran back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway behind him.

(ETA: this is quite similar to the cover illustration for >36 humouress:, a story about Finn the shark.)

Humphrey the camel:



(I think this was Finn again.) So Finn had seven league boots and liked to go wandering but his wife said 'Make sure you're home for dinner or you won't get any.' One particular day, Finn had ended up in Egypt and suddenly realised he would be late back. So he looked around for some way of getting home quickly and bought a camel. He rode it home (and was in time for dinner) and the camel liked Ireland so stayed on to this very day.

The Causeway, formed when America separated from Europe and molten lava came up through the crust but cooled slowly allowing the columns to form, was initially miles inland until more movement of the Earth's crust allowed the sea to come in.

There are also similar formations on the Scottish coast facing Northern Ireland. We were lucky enough that the weather cleared the morning we went there so we could see the island of Islay from the Causeway.



(You can see Islay on the horizon.)

And we saw dolphins surfing through the bay!

This is the stunning Long Room in Trinity College, Dublin; where we went to see the Book of Kells (which has its own separate room and exhibition). Currently, they are emptying the books from the Long Room to digitise them and to clean the books and the shelves. There is an art installation called 'Gaia' which is a globe suspended in the room which is based on NASA's satellite imagery of the Earth.

>59 humouress: Our bit of it's called the Jersey Palisades:

The banner from the Park's website. It's impressive!

>62 richardderus: Oh wow - I didn't realise that it stretched that far. I somehow got the impression that it formed (inland) on the European side after America moved away. I knew about the Palisades, of course, but I didn't know that it was formed of the same basalt columns (or I'd probably have made an effort to go and visit them when we lived there). {ETA: I can't find evidence on the internet that the Pallisades and Giant's Causeway are part of the same geological formation although they were created in a similar manner to each other.}

This (the National Trust visitor centre at Giant's Causeway) is where I learned that the Atlantic is still widening at the same rate as our fingernails grow.

Coincidentally, I'm currently reading two portal fantasies; A Hero Returned (an LT ER win) and Here Be Dragons on audio. I don't usually read more than a book at a time (or I risk starting to conflate them) but, as one is on audio, I can listen while I'm doing other stuff.

I found a t shirt in a recent clearout, a souvenir of a 90s trip to see the Book of Kells. I do want to go back at some point. Seems ridiculous to be so close and not visit!

>63 humouress: They're from the same event, the separation of the landmasses; not the same geological formation like I thought. The separation event was a long process, apparently, and lots of volcanism involved, so no wonder these formations look alike, the two sides were by definition similar geologically. Cool to see 'em.

The Ring of Fire's subduction volcananism is related to that Atlantic expansion, since Earth gets no wider and the stuff's gotta go SOMEwhere. Interesting...I've always had a romantic notion that the legend was a kind of ghost of the real geology but it isn't. *sad sigh* Another illusion you've punctured, La Overkill.

>65 charl08: The Book of Kells itself is in a dimly lit room, but at least you do get to see the actual artefact; held open under glass so you can see a page of it. The exhibition in the rooms before you get to it tells you about the history of the Book and how it got to Trinity college and after seeing the Book there is an amazing presentation in a room where it's projected onto all four walls followed by another presentation in the next room, set up to look like the Long Room, telling you about the books and the current project. I seem not to have retained specifics because I was marvelling at the presentations themselves. I'm assuming this is recent so you may not have seen it on your visit.

There was a similarly amazing presentation in the Titanic museum in Belfast which was a light and sound installation based on a suspended, slowly turning representation of the Titanic with different lighting effects and pictures with accompanying narration or music projected on the wall telling/ implying the story of the Titanic which also had me mesmerised.

>66 richardderus: a) That makes sense.

b) Just doin' my job *dusts off hands*

45) Here, There be Dragons by James A. Owen

I didn't realise I had read this before; this time I listened to it as an audiobook. This is my review from May 2013:

 

(July 2025)
4 stars

Litsy Notes

Listening to this and (4 chapters in) enjoying it. Has a feel of Narnia about it so far.
ETA 🤦‍♀️ looks like I borrowed this from the library and read it 12 years ago - but I liked it then too

You were lucky to see dolphins! What a lovely sight. I've seen the Scottish side of the Causeway, the isle of Staffa and Fingal's Cave (maybe Fingal was the Scottish giant? I don't know the legend). Anyway, lovely photos!

>70 Sakerfalcon: Thanks Claire!

I associate dolphins and sharks with warmer waters so I was surprised and pleased to see them.

It could have been Fingal? The internet does give a name but I thought our guide mentioned a different one; it didn't look the way I remembered it sounding.

Dilemma: so it'll be my 17th Thingaversary on the 2nd of August but looking at >15 humouress:, I've already acquired (at least) 29 books this year already. Now, do I go ahead and buy another 17 + 1?

Decisions, decisions .... (Normally this would be a no-brainer - but space constraints.)

>72 humouress: I don't think anyone here is going to advise restraint. ;-)

>73 foggidawn: 😅

46) A Hero Returned by Eura Abrams

{first of ? in The Last Rae of Hope series; fantasy, portal fantasy, sword and sorcery} (2025)

   

This was a LibraryThing Early Reviewer win for me and generally I enjoyed it. There were some aspects of it that I found slightly confusing but it was easy enough to go with the flow and assume things would be explained later (though it didn't happen in this book - maybe in the next book?). I don't read manga or web serials and I get the impression that this book is written to match those styles, so I don't know if I missed out on anything. I don't know if this is an authorial debut (currently this is the only book listed on LibraryThing for this author) but I found this better written than a lot of recent Early Reviewer books I've been reading; most of the rookie mistakes are absent though not completely (if I want to be nitpicky).

We start with a prologue titled 'How Did I Get Here?' which jumps in at (presumably) the end of the story - but unfortunately doesn't tie up with the end of this book (I would have left it out altogether or written one that did tie in to this book), though the story obviously continues so I suppose it will tie up with the end of the story.

The story proper (narrated in the first person, past tense by Rachel (Emily Smith)) begins with Rachel and her best friend Nora in school as they are making their college applications. Rachel doesn't have many friends but she and Nora have bonded over reading the same ongoing serial web novel, 'The Last Rae of Hope'; however at this point, after a climactic battle (but no resolution), the villain causes Rae, the heroine, to disappear and then the author announces that she is taking a hiatus from writing which upsets the girls.

The story continues about five years later when the girls have graduated from college and are applying for their first jobs. They both get an interview at the same time for a job at a publishing company and it turns out that, following their comments and ideas on the last chapter of 'The Last Rae of Hope', the author Eura 'Euphridia' Abrams (yes, the same name as the author of this story) wants them to help continue the story. However on their first day on the job they go through a portal to the world of Sperenza (a play on 'hope'?) where Rae (actually, only Nora calls her that, to match with the heroine of the web novel) is mistaken for Raelynn Lightbringer, Seventh Appointed Hero of Legend. They meet Raelynn's former companions - Iron Tiger Tetora and Aleph the Ox-like - and decide to head for the city of Chairo to talk to the Holy Sage Relias, another of Raelynn's companions, finding friends, foes and adventures on the way. Although the book doesn't end on a cliff-hanger, it is obviously not the end of the story.

I enjoyed this story including the 'post-chapter omakes' that follow some of the chapters towards the beginning of the book where Eura, Rachel and Nora discuss the book they are writing (ie this one) about their adventures, including some input from the villain - who doesn't seem so bad.

There are some hints dropped that I couldn't fit into the puzzle, such as Rachel getting help from other iterations of the heroine (such as Raeonna, Third Appointed Hero of Legend) who speak to her within her mind but can take control of her body and speech if they require; or a secret from Rachel's past which is gradually revealed to the reader over the course of the book but not really explained; or Euphridia being the name of the Goddess of this world. I'm sure they'll be explained in future book(s). It also took me a while to get the hang of Rachel integrating her thoughts and the reactions in her head into the flow of the story (even though, admittedly, I often have my own running commentary going inside my own head) because I kept missing the transition from speech to thought, but I appreciated them.

I did not appreciate the sudden appearance of randomly italicised phrases from chapter 23 onwards. In the last couple of chapters the writing tends to jump a bit; for example, Rae & co. take shelter from the battlefield in a warehouse and when they decide to join the battle there's suddenly a convenient stable full of horses just there for them. And if I'm going to be nitpicky, I felt that some word choices (such as 'A lump formed in my throat, threatening to activate that awful cranial nerve responsible for tears of sorrow') were a bit awkward (especially in the prologue and in the chapters towards the end). There is a map provided (yay!) but unfortunately, in the format I received it, it was rotated through 90º so it was a bit too small to read. But these were small issues which did not throw me out of the story.

I enjoyed this book and I'm curious to see how the story ends.

(July 2025)
4 stars

Litsy Notes

Received this via LT Early Reviewers. Sadly the map is at 90º so it's a bit small. Narrated in 1st person, past tense. It took me 6 chapters to realise that we're reading a book she's writing about her experiences (still getting into the story); 'omake' is Japanese for 'extra' and ch 6 has an omake with her discussing the writing with her co-authors.

I'm still getting the hang of this story but enjoying it so far.

Now that I'm getting the hang of them, I'm appreciating the post-chapter omakes. It also took me a bit to get the hang of Rachel integrating the reactions in her head into the flow of the story (even though, admittedly, I often have my own running commentary going inside my own head) but liking those, too.

Ch 23: sudden appearance of randomly italicised phrases

Some word choices are a bit awkward, especially in the prologue & near the end. In the last couple of chapters) tends to jump a bit (as with less experienced authors) eg they take shelter from the battlefield in a warehouse and when they decide to join the battle there's suddenly a stable full of horses just there.

Though it doesn't end on a cliff-hanger it doesn't link up with the prologue, which starts at the end with 'this is how I got here'

So, it's my Thingaversary today (or was; we've crossed midnight to the 3rd here now) and I'm due 17 + 1 books. I'm going to (have to) count the books I picked up on my trip:

1-Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel 1) by T. Kingfisher
2-Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel 2) by T. Kingfisher
3-Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel 3) by T. Kingfisher
4-Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel 4)
5-Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
6-To Guard Against the Dark by Julie E. Czerneda
7-This Gulf of Time and Stars by Julie E. Czerneda
8-Relight My Fire (The Stranger Times 4) by C. K. McDonnell
9-The Sacred Hunt Duology by Michelle West
10-A Hard Day's Knight (A Nightside Book 11) by Simon R. Green
11-Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

There are several more, which I will dig out in the morning (including a gift from a friend). I would like to get the Penderwicks series, to top it up to the required number.

Happy Thingaversary, Nina. Enjoy your acquisitions. It will be my 15 th thingaversary on August 9th, but I wont be buying any books, unless by chance I feel I need one that day.

>77 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah! Happy Thingaversary in advance.

47) A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

{first in Elements of Cadence duology; fantasy, elemental spirits, romance, YA, adult, magic, enchantment, music, bard, laird}(2022)

 

Jack Tamerlaine is called back to the isle of Cadence after ten years of exile, learning music at the university on the mainland. He feels that he was banished at the age of eleven but the islanders on the east side of Cadence have been waiting for him to return to them as their bard to play for the elemental spirits which only live on Cadence. The spirits are capricious; they can compress four hills into one and five miles into one as you travel, if they're feeling benevolent - or the other way round for their own amusement.

Now his laird has requested his return, with his harp, as Jack is the only one who can play to summon the spirits; two little girls have gone missing, literally disappeared into thin air with no trace for trackers to find, and only the mischievous spirits could do that. The laird is in failing health and Jack has to work with the laird's daughter Adaira, Heiress of the East and his childhood nemesis, to call up the spirits.

Adaira glanced across the room, her face solemn. “Two weeks ago, eight-year-old Eliza Elliott went missing on her walk home from school. We searched acres of land, from the school to her family’s croft, but we found little trace of her. Only a few places in the grass and heather, where it looked like she walked, only to vanish.” She paused, her eyes returning to his. “I’m sure you remember the ways of the isle, Jack.”
He did.
He remembered the perks as well as the dangers of straying from Cadence roads. The roads were pathways that resisted enchantments. The spirits couldn’t influence the roads, but they could toy with the grass and rocks and wind and water and trees of the isle. They could turn three hills into one, and one hill into four, but even then, there were ways of knowing the lay of the land, and which parts of it were prone to shift, and which landmarks remained fixed. Many children who didn’t know that secret map had gotten lost for hours if they wandered from the road.
“You believe the folk have tricked her?” Jack questioned.
Adaira nodded.

In all these years Jack hasn't seen his mum, Mirin, who lives by herself near the clan line which divides the east side of Cadence from the west. Due to a long ago curse, in the east any magic done comes with a cost to the wielder's health but the west suffers from poor harvests and hard winters and so the Breccans of the west raid across the clan line for food for their families.

Jack could soon see firelight in the distance, escaping through closed shutters.
It drew him off the road, where he found the narrow path that wound to Mirin’s front yard as easily as if he had walked it yesterday, the grass whisking against his knees. The air smelled sweet from bog myrtle and sharp from smoke, which streamed from the chimney, smudging the stars.
All too soon, he reached the yard gate. Jack stepped inside it, his eyes sweeping the ground in the dim light. He could see row after row of vegetables, ripe from warm days. He remembered all the hours he had knelt in this soil as a boy, tilling and planting and harvesting. How he had complained about it, opposing everything Mirin had asked him to do.
He was stricken with nerves as he approached her door.

There are multiple points of view in this story including that of Torin - nephew to Laird Alastair and captain of the East Guard who watch the clan line to defend the Tamerlaines from the Breccans - and of his wife, Sidra, who is a healer. This lets us see different facets of life on Cadence as well as the lives of different people while keeping the story flowing.

I enjoyed this story which was somewhat reminiscent of Susan Dexter's writing - one of my favourite authors. It is the first half of a duology but it ended at a natural pause and not on a cliff-hanger. I liked the gentle, sweet romances (yes, more than one) and appreciated there not being spicy scenes in my fantasy reading (but do be aware that there are a couple of bedroom scenes, though not steamy). I felt that the outline of the plot, though executed differently, was similar to that of Divine Rivals, also by Ross; two young people who have traditionally been enemies find common ground (and romance) and have to work together (but then find that there are otherworldly powers and a larger picture involved).

I'm looking forward to the second book in this duology.

(August 2025)
4.5 stars

>76 humouress: continuing the list:

12 - The Alhambra of Granada - Dosde
13 - Mr Men in Ireland by Adam Hargreaves
14 - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - a gift from a schoolfriend now working as a virologist in a budget-struck NHS.

>76 humouress: Happy thingaversary! Lots of great selections

>81 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita!

48) All the Wandering Light by Heather Fawcett

{second in Even the Darkest Stars duology; fantasy, young adult, YA, climbing, expedition, adventure, magic, sisters}(2018)

 

I've been looking for the Emily Wilde series by Fawcett in my Overdrive libraries but they don't have it so I thought I would try this duology instead. Following on from Even the Darkest Stars - where Kamzin wanted to prove she could be an explorer and mountain climber like her mother rather than a shaman (which she has no aptitude for) and beat her sister Lusha to the top of Mount Raksha but received a shock when she got there - she decides to team up with her sister. They are going to try to prevent the witches of this world from taking revenge on the emperor for casting the spell that limits their magic - which is the very essence of their being - by destroying the Empire. Kamzin especially wants to protect their tiny village of Azmiri which lies on the outskirts of the Empire, close to the Nightwood where the witches live.

Something rustled in the trees behind him. Probably a ghost—the forest was full of them. Any creature that died in the Nightwood tended to stay there—something about the forest was sticky, and held on to the spirits of the dying like spiderwebs. They were humans mostly—merchants, soldiers, village children. Esha was responsible for many of them. River’s brother had never discriminated between soldiers of the Empire and her children, something River found distasteful. There were also animal spirits, those of livestock stolen from the mountain villages. River had encountered more than one yak ghost, which was always unpleasant. Many animals mistrusted witches for their ability to assume their shapes, but yaks, for some reason, had particularly disliked him. It was an antipathy they seemed to retain in spirit form. There were no witch spirits. Witches didn’t become ghosts.

I'm trying to write this review without spoilers for Even the Darkest Stars so there isn't much I can say but, though it follows on from the first book and is a result of the actions taken in it, this is a different story as Kamzin, Lusha and friends attempt to circumvent River and the witches. Well this is in the blurb, so I can say that a shooting star was seen falling in the mountains. As fallen stars have immense power (shades of Stardust) the witches want to find it to help them raze the empire; in fact, the emperor used one to help him cast the spell that limits the witches' power. When Kamzin discovers this, she decides that they need to recover the star before the witches do and take it to the emperor. And so the race is on.

I thought this adventure, told mainly in the first person (past tense) from Kamzin's point of view with some chapters (in the third person) from River's and a couple of other characters' points of view, was well paced. The scenes of them climbing down the glaciers of the mountains (though I've never been - nor am likely to go - climbing, especially in cold climates) were described effectively. Fawcett demonstrates the fae nature of witches, who don't have the same concerns or magics as humans, and how different they can think and act although they look human. Contrary to tradition, most of the witches that the story focuses on are male.

I like the way that there are so many dragons scattered inconsequentially around. They're small and only used as a source of light (contrary to tradition where they're big and scary/ big and friendly) but it's still fun when you come across a mention of them. And there are also yaks.

Three witches claiming to be innocent travelers,” said the man, with a glance at Lusha. “Several dragons, and one confused yak.”
It took a second for this to sink in. “Azar-at,” I muttered, knowing the fire demon, wherever it had gone, could hear me, “you brought the yak?”
You said “us,” Kamzin.
I closed my eyes briefly.

There are one or two loose ends at the end of the story but it's clear that the characters will deal with them. With the witches and their shadow magic this could have been darker (and I'm glad it wasn't), especially as some of the witches are cruel and vengeful, but it focused more on the adventure and the relationships Kamzin has with her sister (they're always competing with each other but would die to save the other) and the others in their group.

(August 2025)
3.5-4 stars

litsy

I borrowed 'Even the Darkest Stars' (the 1st book in this duology) in Oct 2024 because I was trying to borrow 'Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries' by the same author but none of my Overdrive libraries have any books in that series. Continuing on ...

So many dragons scattered inconsequentially around; they‘re small and only used as a source of light

Quotes
Chapter 4:
Something rustled in the trees behind him. Probably a ghost—the forest was full of them. Any creature that died in the Nightwood tended to stay there—something about the forest was sticky, and held on to the spirits of the dying like spiderwebs. They were humans mostly—merchants, soldiers, village children. Esha was responsible for many of them. River’s brother had never discriminated between soldiers of the Empire and her children, something River found distasteful. There were also animal spirits, those of livestock stolen from the mountain villages. River had encountered more than one yak ghost, which was always unpleasant. Many animals mistrusted witches for their ability to assume their shapes, but yaks, for some reason, had particularly disliked him. It was an antipathy they seemed to retain in spirit form. There were no witch spirits. Witches didn’t become ghosts

Chapter 19:
Three witches claiming to be innocent travelers,” said the man, with a glance at Lusha. “Several dragons, and one confused yak.”
It took a second for this to sink in. “Azar-at,” I muttered, knowing the fire demon, wherever it had gone, could hear me, “you brought the yak?”
You said “us,” Kamzin.
I closed my eyes briefly

Great photos of God's own Ireland, Nina. I need to go back there soon - especially the West Coast is calling to me.

>84 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. This was my first visit to Ireland. We did the top part of the east coast and the north coast (Londonderry, Belfast & Dublin and, of course, the Causeway Coast drive). The nearest we got to the west coast was Londonderry.

>85 humouress: Derry is probably the starting off point to the West but Donegal, Galway, Dingle, the Ring of Kerry, the lakes of Killarney and County Cork (Kinsale especially) are uniformly wonderful.

>86 PaulCranswick: We'll have to visit them next time. Cork was mentioned when we were planning our itinerary but my heart was set on visiting Giant's Causeway and I thought it would be too far to incorporate in a driving holiday with my boys.

>87 humouress: In terms of miles not perhaps too daunting but Ireland is a country with roads to meander along not speed upon.

>88 PaulCranswick: I thought the Causeway Coastal route and the cross-country between Londonderry and Dublin would be awkward, based on what I remember of a childhood trip through Wales and our Cornwall trip in 2022, but they were all good roads. I think we missed our turn heading to Dublin, because I had thought we'd be on a larger road, but we ended up on country roads. Not, thankfully, the one-lane wide blind corners with high hedges on either side but decent, though meandering, ways.

My elder son was in a bit of a sulk because I drove instead of letting him, with his newly minted (less than a year old) licence. He's confident - but maybe a touch too confident.

>72 humouress: what >73 foggidawn: said

>76 humouress: Happy haulage, Nina! My 19th (!!) is in six days. Twenty ebooks to scrape from the DRC aggregators...I can do that in a lead-pipe cinch.

>91 richardderus: >90 richardderus: Thank you!

>59 humouress: Nice to see Islay again, if only from afar. I've been there on the hunt for ancestors a couple of times.

Congrats on your Thingaversary, Nina, and for finding a way to get in the requisite books without drowning in them. It was my 17th this year too but in February so I didn't have the dilemma of having already bought more than required.

>93 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg! I do still have space on my list for one or two more ;0)

Saturday will be National Day for Singapore and I was hoping that Books Kinokuniya would have a sale on so I could top up my Thingaversary purchases but I never got an e-mail. I took the boys to the dentist today - which just happens to be in the same building (same tower/ lifts, even) as the Books Kinokuniya main store and I had to renew my discount card, which expired on 4th August so of course I had to pop in. And good thing we did, too, because they had a sale on for members just for the 7th and 8th.

I went to the counter to renew my card but apparently it's all done on the app now. The lady at the counter kindly talked me through it (despite the dreadful internet signal) while my eldest son tut-tutted at my lack of tech aptitude because I could have just done it myself at home. Then I browsed the shelves, spotting a few books I had been looking for but picked up in London this time, but my youngest son rushed me along, since we had a dinner booking.

Nevertheless, he picked up A Heart Full of Hatred, the latest in the Skulduggery Pleasant series (which I may eventually read but I've stalled on the first book in the series 3 times already) and I snaffled:

15 - Arabian Folk & Fairy Tales: Fables, Folkore & Ancient Stories (Flame Tree Collector's Editions)

>95 humouress: How lucky that you happened to go to Books Kinokuniya today and could take advantage of the sale! And why is everything done online these days?

I just dropped by to catch up on your doings, and was reminded that today is my 17th Thingaversary. I've already surpassed the number of new purchases for this year, so I'm not looking for anything else at present.

>96 atozgrl: Thanks Irene and Happy Thingaversary to you!

And, yes; grrrr! to everything having to be online these days. I'm just trying to convince my kids to pay cash for everything because just tapping a card or clicking a button makes them immune to the number of zeroes that come at the end of a price. I'm hoping that having to count out physical money and having to make sure there's enough in their wallets will make them more aware. My younger son agreed with me and said he'll do it but he also pointed out that - especially after covid - a lot of places have gone cashless/ touchless which will make it harder to carry out my plan.

Well, now that I've renewed my card, I just got a text message that Books K has a sale on for members from 9th-11th August. 🤔 Maybe I'd better pop down there.

>98 humouress: Heavens...it's like a Sign From The Divine! I sense shelf-stocking in your future, Nina.

>99 richardderus: How right you are Richard :0)

>1 humouress: I didn't get around to putting my usual photo of Jasper at the top of my new thread but I've remedied that now.

My husband (who returned home/ to work while the boys and I toured Ireland) took him to the groomers just before we were due back. He's gleaming - though he always has glints in his fur (I mean, he is a golden retriever) - and they gave him a snazzy little neckerchief too.

>1 humouress: Jasper looks quite spiffy indeed...though the neckerchief truly is The Last Word.

>102 richardderus: Why thankee. And he didn't seem to notice he was wearing it - unlike the Christmas hat I tried on him a couple of years ago.

>103 humouress: Putting something on or near a dog's ears makes 'em pretty testy.

>104 richardderus: And yet he luuuuurrrves having his ears massaged 🤗

49) A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey

{stand alone; fantasy, alternative London, bargaining, true love}(2023)

 

When Henry VIII wanted to annul his marriage to Catherine the Vatican refused to allow it and so he pulled away from the Catholic church - and allied with Faery. Below London, if you need to, you can find the Untermarkt, also known as the goblin market where everyone shouts their wares in rhyme, where you can buy ... anything.

the Untermarkt stepped in to tempt him.
‘Prose spelt in poseys! In pansies and roseys!’
A single voice leapt out at him, clear above the clamour. Right on cue. The Market couldn’t resist an unspoken desire.

Anything your heart desires - but you pay in kind, not in money. You might want the strength of ten men, flowers that literally freshen you up or lustrous locks or the lustre of the locks; you might pay with a first blush, a memory, the ability to see in the dark ... anything.

‘Why does it have to be so complicated? What’s wrong with plain money for stuff, no tricks?’
‘It’s boring,’ Deri answered without thinking, ‘and what would most of us do with a bunch of dead metal anyway? It’s easy enough to get, in Faery. The last blush of innocence, though, that’s truly rare. That has lasting value.’ Deri bit his tongue before it spilled any more freebies.
‘I’d not thought of it that way,’ Owain said.
‘Most mortals don’t need to.’ Deri glanced around at the crowded market.

In the time of High Queen Victoria, seventeen year old Deri is an indentured servant to Merchant Maurlocke (a humanoid being with skin of gold and eyes of flint) who, of course, runs him ragged and extracts every ounce out of their contract as any worthy merchant of the Untermarkt would. Deri, who is an irrepressible mortal and determined not just to survive his servitude but to beat the system and come out on top, has picked up tips and tricks and traded on his mystrer's reputation to build his own relationships with other merchants to amass bits and pieces of wealth (such as someone's good luck for a few hours) to hopefully buy himself out of his contract in about a year instead of five and a half. When he comes across a princess in the market looking to sell her destiny he knows that his fortune is made - if he can play his cards right; Maurlocke is entitled to take Deri's property unless Deri can prevent ym from finding out about it.

Then Deri, who had almost amassed enough to buy out his contract even before finding the princess, meets Owain who is an indentured servant in London Above to the Graspars, who run a factory on the labour of children like Owain (we all know about the horrors of workhouses), Dame Aurelia Steele turns up looking for the lost princess and then his life really gets complicated. Does Deri have the nous to win his future as well as that of his new friends'?

This was a lot of fun; nicely plotted, well written though it started picking up more for me around chapter 9 (of 52) despite some delightful ideas earlier on. I like the magic and the irreverence for traditional items.

the incense smelled of his favourite meal – fish and chips –

or

Aurelia took a deep breath of the clear country air and nearly choked on the smell of manure

(Well that does happen, as my sons discovered on our recent holiday.)

I like Aurelia and her sister.

Silvestra ignored both the verbal barb and the needlessly complex idiom. Aurelia waxed sesquipedalian when stressed.

Aurelia is a Knight to the High Queen while Silvestra is an inventor, following in their father's footsteps.

Pay attention to names; there are elements of the Dick Whittington story woven into this one as well as a riff on 'Oranges and Lemons, Say the bells of St. Clements'. Deri speaks the language of bells (who are very gossipy) ...

Did you hear? Did you hear? rang the Bell of Auld St. Cyr. The Merchant Shade did disappear!
Pish and tosh! Pish and tosh! rang the bell near Merchant Kosh. He’s simply gone to do his wash!

(I like the way that the phrase each bell says rhymes, not only with itself but also with their names) ... and is trying to learn the Language of Gold (all gleams and shine) which Maurlocke speaks to shiny items, and especially to yse sentient tent whose material is threaded with gold, without others being aware.

Much like Deri, from whose viewpoint we see most of the action, this was a charming, ebullient story set in a parallel London which is (given his name - Trip Galey (gaily?), though the copyright is to Powder Thomson) the author's intent, I'm sure. There were some dark themes but Deri and his friends worked together to overcome them.

Recommended.

(August 2025)
4-4.5*****

Litsy Notes

9781803363691
Intriguing concept, though I‘m just starting this. I like the way everyone shouts their wares in rhyme in the Untermarkt and the bells sing their messages to rhyme with their names (as in ‘Oranges and Lemons‘ say the bells of St Clemens)

Author‘s name is Trip Galey (gaily?) but copyright is Powder Thomson

Lyrical descriptions

I like Aurelia.

It started picking up for me around ch 9 (of 52) despite some delightful ideas earlier on

Quotes:

Ch 1

Did you hear? Did you hear? rang the Bell of Auld St. Cyr. The Merchant Shade did disappear!
Pish and tosh! Pish and tosh! rang the bell near Merchant Kosh. He’s simply gone to do his wash!

the Untermarkt stepped in to tempt him.
‘Prose spelt in poseys! In pansies and roseys!’
A single voice leapt out at him, clear above the clamour. Right on cue. The Market couldn’t resist an unspoken desire.

Ch 2:

‘Why does it have to be so complicated? What’s wrong with plain money for stuff, no tricks?’
‘It’s boring,’ Deri answered without thinking, ‘and what would most of us do with a bunch of dead metal anyway? It’s easy enough to get, in Faery. The last blush of innocence, though, that’s truly rare. That has lasting value.’ Deri bit his tongue before it spilled any more freebies.
‘I’d not thought of it that way,’ Owain said.
‘Most mortals don’t need to.’ Deri glanced around at the crowded market.

Ch 3:

the incense smelled of his favourite meal – fish and chips –

Ch 9:

Silvestra ignored both the verbal barb and the needlessly complex idiom. Aurelia waxed sesquipedalian when stressed.

Ch 34:

Aurelia took a deep breath of the clear country air and nearly choked on the smell of manure

Jasper is looking marvellous.

Hope there are some good books in the sale!

>107 charl08: Thank you! He's especially happy now that all four of us are at home.

I didn't end up going to Books K today. It was on my list of errands but I ran out of time. I'm not too upset because I did go last week plus they have an offer on their website that I intend to make use of, if I can get organised and update my Wishlist.

And so; Books K had a discount sale on their website today so I dropped by and ordered a few books. Let's see; I was up to 15 for my Thingaversary ... I needed to get to 18 ... 15 + 12 makes 18, right?

In other news, yesterday I slipped on some slime while walking Jasper and landed on my bum but jarred my right arm. Looks like there are a couple of small fractures but - until I can get a cast on it - my arm is bandaged fingertip to elbow with a splint to prevent me bending my wrist, which is rather inconvenient.

So I'm currently functioning one handed which means peck-&-hunt typing; please excuse typos, shortcuts, cut & paste posts etc.

>110 humouress: Ouch! Hope you're not in a lot of pain?

(I just had to fill out a form for the GP in whether I'd had any falls recently. I decided they didn't want me to include giving myself a black eye due to an incident with my sister's dog and an unexpected step...)

>111 charl08: Not too much. If i try to turn my hand it twinges but anyway I can't move it much with the bandaging - though i'd like to wriggle some circulation into my fingers.

Oof - I hope that wasn't too painful.

>109 humouress: In biblioholic math, it's -6.

>110 humouress: Oh owwwww

I hate the idea of fractures! I hope they heal quickly.

Oof, sorry about the arm!

>113 richardderus: >114 foggidawn: Thanks for the well wishes.

>113 richardderus: So you're saying I need to get 6 more. I could force myself ...

>116 humouress: But of course, you need AND deserve at least six more sale books!

>117 richardderus: Well, if you insist :0)

>109 humouress: Sadly, 3 of my 12 books aren't available; Drowned Ammet, Reap the Wild Wind and Rift in the Sky. I'm surprised about the Wynne Jones but not really about the Czernedas - they're quite old and the price was unusually low.

Richard, does that change the maths?

I have a half cast on my arm now, down just one side of my forearm to support my wrist, having spent half the day in a hospital waiting room. They couldn't see a break but it's just in case until I can see a specialist. At least I can wriggle my fingers now!

meanwhile, Jasper (our retriever) has been moping - but that probably has more to do with @superboy (our eldest) returning to the UK.

Sorry about your arm, Nina! I slip and fall a lot (including once on national television) but I haven't injured myself yet (knock on wood!)

>121 norabelle414: Thanks Nora. I thought i'd get through life without breaking any bones. This is the 1st time any of us have needed a cast (@firelion couldn't have/ didn't need one for his collarbone and my husband fractured his toe once but they don't do casts for that) and my nuclear family (growing up) haven't broken anything; touch wood, may it continue forever.

National TV? Do tell.

>112 humouress: It was more the shock of it: made me very careful on stairs for a while.

Trying to make the house a bit more senior-friendly, hoping to have someone from the local council come and check out the place. I imagine we're going to get told about lots of trip hazards we need to sort that I haven't even considered.

Hope Jasper cheers up soon (and that your eldest is enjoying his studies too!)

>123 charl08: I'm sure.

It's nice that there is that service. Best of luck.

It's the weekend so everyone's at home; Jasper is dozing. He doesn't seem to be moping but he did suffer the indignity of a bath today.

>119 humouress: Sadly not. There are so many books you have not read that the acquisition pile is not dentable...honestly it never is. Time to go forth and mine, mine, mine that TBR!

>125 richardderus: Hey, whose side are you on?!

I have been trying, truly. I have a ROOTs thread but have only managed 9 so far this year.

>126 humouress: ROOTs is a good goad, I'm guessing, but there are books on your wishlist...which for our purposes is the TBR's roots...that must be acquired.

Hey, them's the rules. They''s books to be bought.

>127 richardderus: Oh, I see: 6 more plus 3 more. I thought you were denying me the top-up.

>128 humouress: NEVER EVER would I commit such a human-rights violation! When we force the scum to institute UBI across the planet I'll insist on a separate sum for books.

50) A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith

{first in Trials of Gabriel Ward series; detective, crime solving, law, Inner Temple, early twentieth century, London, Edwardian Britain}(2024)

   

BB @jillmwo, @pgmcc

Set in Edwardian Britain, London, May 1901 in the Temple (which has been a centre for English law since the 14th century) when forensic methods were in their infancy. (It was also the era in which little children should be seen (rarely) and not heard. Percival (Lord Dunning's son) - otherwise seemingly a child after Sir Gabriel's heart - obviously does not subscribe to that philosophy.)

Smith herself is a KC (King's Counsel), now retired, who still resides in the Inner Temple. There is a map of 'Gabriel's Temple' which is helpful. I love maps in my books (although I've been finding those in e-books a bit problematic).

Sir Gabriel Ward KC is startled to find the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep as he arrives at his chambers on the morning of 21st May 1901. Lord Dunning had clearly been murdered and inexplicably, since he was otherwise impeccably attired in full evening dress, was not wearing any socks or shoes.

‘But he has bare feet.‘
‘Even the Lord Chief Justice has feet, officer,‘ said Gabriel. ‘And in this instance,‘ he added with the characteristic little snuffle that indicated a witticism, ‘they were feet of clay.‘

(Initially I wasn't sure if we were supposed to like Ward but, as his quirks and habits were explained, I came to empathise with him.)

Ward, studious and brilliant, and Dunning, not academically gifted but the scion of a line of senior judges, have studied and worked at the same institutions since they were 7 and 8 years old respectively (although they have been more acquaintances than friends). Dunning is ... er ... was generally popular and conformist

He was the very last sort of man to be murdered.

while Ward (who resembles a turtle in appearance and mannerisms) is somewhat shy and reclusive, happiest when tackling a complex case.

He was the very last sort of man to become an amateur sleuth.

Gabriel, our protagonist, is a very precise individual who loves the law and loves the letter of the law. He is the barrister that your solicitor takes you to consult if your case is especially tricky (or a bit hopeless). His current case, Cadamy vs Moore, is particularly fascinating him but he is ordered - to his horror - by Sir William Waring, Master Treasurer and the head of the Inner Temple (which title he carries with great officiousness) to take a week to question the inhabitants of the Inner Temple before allowing the City of London police to investigate (the Inner and Middle Temples being outside their jurisdiction). Fortunately for Gabriel, who has dwelt quite happily within the Temple precincts with no necessity to leave them since he first arrived ...

Looking from the great dark bulk of the library looming in front of him to the green slope leading from the Terrace to the wide expanse of the lawn, he would often murmur to himself the words of the great Roman advocate Cicero: ‘If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.’

... Constable Maurice Wright (I do like Constable Wright; he's more open minded than his superior officer, Sergeant Rayner, who doesn't believe in modern nonsense like fingerprinting) is assigned to help him. The two men bond over a convivial glass of sherry

Now off-duty, it was time for Constable Wright’s nightly beer, but he gingerly held out his large pink hand to take the exquisite stem of the eighteenth-century sherry glass proffered to him. Sipping the pale liquid, he tried to hide a slight grimace.
‘I do hope it is not too dry for you?‘
‘No, sir, thank you,‘ said Constable Wright, whose mother had brought him up to be polite. ‘It is really quite wet.‘
Gabriel looked at him rather sharply; Constable Wright looked back. And suddenly Gabriel chuckled. He did not often chuckle, but when he did, it was immensely charming. Without knowing why, Wright beamed, and they sat for a few seconds in a silence that was of a different, almost companionable, nature.

Through Gabriel, whose snobbery is of intellect not social standing

‘Are you patronising me, Sir Gabriel?‘ was the sharp reply.
‘No,‘ he said in his considered way, ‘and I should be sorry if you thought I was. I merely sought a fresh mind, and yours was available.‘

(which is why he gets on better with Wright than with Dunning), we meet the denizens of the Inner Temple, some from adjoining Fleet Street and also take a peek at the domestic lives of a handful of the senior judges as Smith passes on some social commentary concerning social and gender inequalities of the time.

Interspersed with this investigation is the case that Ward would much rather be investigating, that of Cadamy vs Moore. He is to represent Herbert Moore who owns Moore & Sons, a publishing house across the road from the Temple, which usually prints legal tomes. Four years previously Moore had come into the possession of the manuscript for Millie the Temple Church Mouse, a children's book, which had been left in a parcel on the doorstep of Moore & Sons. Moore published the book to please his young daughter and as a Christmas gimmick - and it turned into an unexpected success. Despite his efforts to find them the author did not step forward at the time. On the back of this success, Moore entered into various contracts on behalf of 'Miss Cadamy' and Millie the Mouse plush toys (and other such paraphernalia) were created (also a wild success). The resulting financial windfall came at just the right time for Moore & Sons, which had been in trouble.

But now someone has come forward to claim that they are the author, writing under a pseudonym; not, apparently, for the money but because they want Millie the Mouse to be attributed to the correct person. The case law is not clear on whether the claimant has a case nor on what kind of restitution they might be due - the kind of puzzle that Gabriel relishes.

And yet, having been emotionally blackmailed into investigating the case of the Lord Chief Justice and forced to undertake excursions outside the Temple precincts (chaperoned by Constable Wright), against his nature Gabriel finds himself involved in the case.

Gabriel hesitated. His week of enforced detecting was over. He had complied with Sir William‘s demands. He was released from the investigation he had so reluctantly undertaken, and surely also from the threat to his home. He was outside the boundaries of the Temple, and the suspect was … (redacted)
He was surprised to find the suggestion of continuing involvement in the mystery utterly irresistible.

That’s good because I’ve enjoyed getting to know Gabriel and his … associates. I’m looking forward to reading A Case of Life and Limb.

(August 2025)
4.5-5****

TBC; typing 1-handed ...

Litsy Notes & Quotes

Set in Temple (a legal centre since C14) in May 1901 when CSI methods were in their infancy

‘But he has bare feet.‘
‘Even the Lord Chief Justice has feet, officer,‘ said Gabriel. ‘And in this instance,‘ he added with the characteristic little snuffle that indicated a witticism, ‘they were feet of clay.‘

Set in the era in which little children should be seen (rarely) and not heard. Percival, otherwise seemingly a child after Sir Gabriel‘s heart, doesn‘t subscribe to that.

Ch 1:

He was the very last sort of man to be murdered.
...
He was the very last sort of man to become an amateur sleuth.
...

Looking from the great dark bulk of the library looming in front of him to the green slope leading from the Terrace to the wide expanse of the lawn, he would often murmur to himself the words of the great Roman advocate Cicero: ‘If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.’

he would often murmur to himself the words of the great Roman advocate Cicero: ‘If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.‘ 🌺📚

Ch 9:

Sipping the pale liquid, he tried to hide a slight grimace.
‘I do hope it is not too dry for you?‘
‘No, sir, thank you,‘ said Constable Wright, whose mother had brought him up to be polite. ‘It is really quite wet.‘
Gabriel looked at him rather sharply; Constable Wright looked back. And suddenly Gabriel chuckled. He did not often chuckle, but when he did, it was immensely charming. Without knowing why, Wright beamed, and they sat for a few seconds in a silence that was of a different, almost companionable, nature.

Ch 25:

‘Are you patronising me, Sir Gabriel?‘ was the sharp reply.
‘No,‘ he said in his considered way, ‘and I should be sorry if you thought I was. I merely sought a fresh mind, and yours was available.‘

Ch 28:

Gabriel hesitated. His week of enforced detecting was over. He had complied with Sir William‘s demands. He was released from the investigation he had so reluctantly undertaken, and surely also from the threat to his home. He was outside the boundaries of the Temple, and the suspect was not a member of that august body but just another Fleet Street vagrant.
He was surprised to find the suggestion of continuing involvement in the mystery utterly irresistible.

>129 richardderus: Oh phew!

UBI?

>131 humouress: Universal Basic Income.

>132 richardderus: Ah. Gotcha now. 👍

Well, I'm 2/3 of the way to my target for the year which means i'm just about on track. Let's see if the Nov/ Dec devoirs derail me ... again.

Spent the afternoon seeing the specialist (etc, etc). Looks like I do have a. couple of fractures. I was getting fed-up with the 1/2 cast yesterday, down the inside of my wrist; that's off (yay) but now I have a full cast for another 3 weeks. But it's lighter than the plaster cast and lets me move my fingers fully.

51) A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow

{stand alone; short story, online, fantasy, urban fantasy, escapism, library, librarians, witches}(2018)



A librarian ...

(There have only ever been two kinds of librarians in the history of the world: the prudish, bitter ones with lipstick running into the cracks around their lips who believe the books are their personal property and patrons are dangerous delinquents come to steal them; and witches).

... monitors a young boy returning over and over again to the county library and tries to help him by giving him books to read that speak to him and feed his soul. But she is forbidden by the librarian witches' code from giving him the one book he really needs.

This is so me:

So, it’s only a certain kind of patron I pay attention to. The kind that let their eyes feather across the titles like trailing fingertips, heads cocked, with book-hunger rising off them like heatwaves from July pavement.

Available here: https://www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-magazine/post/a-witchs-guide-to-esca...

(August 2025)
5 stars

>136 humouress: Well, I don't think I'm prudish and bitter, and I never wear lipstick (well, hardly ever), so I must be the second kind?

>137 foggidawn: I would assume so.

I'm trying to work out which I would be; I do tend to have ownership issues.

Typing 1-handed is a pain 😡. I am lurking around the threads; just commenting less than usual.

I hear the Thursday Murder Club film is out; star cast!

A shout out to to all LT dogs on International Dogs Day.

Jasper will be 9 (human yrs) on 5th September which will make him somewhere between 54-66 in dog years.

ETA- missed word: was looking at my keyboard, not my screen :0)

>140 humouress: *baaawww* what a pweshus boop-snoot he is!

>141 richardderus: (I agree with you but shh - I may be somewhat biased.) I'll have to scatter more photos of him through my threads for my own gratification.

Sorry to read about your fall and resulting cast, Nina. I have fractured a vertebrae ( thanks to osteoporosis) and that was very painful . I did that a couple of years before I turned 50. Then a few years later, I slipped and fell in our foyer. I ended up with a fractured wrist and foot. What a pain and inconvenience. Blessedly, so far no more fractures and long may that continue.

>143 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. Oh wow - sorry to hear that. Wishing you a fracture-free future.

They took some blood to test and will scan me for osteoporosis when I go for my follow-up.

>135 humouress: I'm slowly making my way around the threads to catch up. I'm sorry to hear about your fall and the fractures, but I'm glad you've got a better cast now. Sending wishes for quick healing!

>136 humouress: I'm not sure I like that description of librarians. I don't think I am (or was) either kind.

>145 atozgrl: Thanks Irene :0)

Oh dear, all the librarians I know on LT seem to be taking objection to that quote. She's talking about good witches, including the protagonist/ narrator, who help people.

52) The Secret of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt

{second of 3 in Unauwen series; adventure, battles, children's, young adult, fiction, knights, fantasy}(1965)
(translated from Dutch by Laura Watkinson)(2015)

 

I read this for the August TIOLI/ The Grand European Tour memorial reads for @FAMeulstee; it also works for Women in Translation month.

Tonke Dragt (according to Wikipedia) was born in Indonesia in 1930 (she died only last year, in 2024) and was interned in a Japanese camp during WWII, along with her family, which was where her writing career began at the age of thirteen; maybe a little of her overseas experiences have made their way into her works in her illustrations and the landscapes she describes.

Less than a year after his adventures in The Letter for the King (which I enjoyed reading a few years ago) Tiuri, now 17 years old and a knight of the kingdom of Dagonaut, is on his way along with Piak, his squire, and Ardanwen, his black horse, to meet some of the friends he made on his adventures. He meets them, as agreed, at Castle Ristridin and later a party from the kingdom of Unauwen, travelling to the capital of Dagonaut on a secret mission, arrive as well. Tiuri plays chess with one of them to pass the time since they are still waiting for Sir Ristridin - sent on a mission to the Wild Wood by king Dagonaut - who continues to be missing. Worried about him, the friends set off in different directions to search for him which results in further adventures for Tiuri, Piak and their friends. Tiuri and his squire head for the mysterious and forbidding Wild Wood and end up experiencing many trials including being captured and held prisoner, fighting battles and encountering the black knight with the red shield again (an enemy from the first book) as well as meeting more friends, both old and new.

The book is divided into eight parts, some of which are told from other characters' points of view (not just Tiuri's). There is also a bit of comic relief from a character called Red Quibo, who is usually to be found in pubs.

“At my age it is too late to begin another life,” said Red Quibo. “I‘ll never get used to drinking water"

I do like the illustrations at the beginning of each section, which are by Dragt. I’ve just discovered - after finishing the story - that there are two maps (at the beginning) which are useful although they’re a bit difficult to read in the e-book. Some of the names can be a bit puzzling until you get used to them; for instance, Tiuri's father is also called Tiuri and in this series the kingdoms seem to be named after their kings - or maybe it's the other way around. I do wonder if Robert Jordan had read this before he wrote the Wheel of Time books;

“But history becomes legend, and legends are forgotten.”

is a similar sentiment to the quotes he put at the beginning of each book in his series.

Initially I found this book nice but not engaging and the writing a bit rough, which snagged me and slowed me down. Whether that was due to the translation or the original writing I don't know; I think you'd have to ask someone who has read the book in the original Dutch. Though, to be honest, I'm a little vague on how the black knight got so many men to follow him and I've forgotten the details from The Letter for the King about the kingdom of Eviellan - minor quibbles - I thought the plotting was good especially of the over-arching story. There are occasional rich details and subtleties to the story, such as the second chess match, but I felt that the vocabulary and maybe the pacing were off. It's not all happily ever after; Tiuri and his friends face real danger and there is some loss of life, both friends and foes.

I thought this story improved somewhat as it went on. By part 3, with its maybe-fey woods and cryptic remarks by several characters, I started to feel we were on the cusp of something. In part 8 (of the 8) the tension was really mounting, which pushed up my rating by half a star - I even had to put it down at the penultimate chapter to regroup!

The ending is slightly open-ended but there are only two novels in this series - though there are some short stories set in the same universe so maybe there are some conclusions in those. I'll have to see if any have been translated into English.

(August 2025)
3.5-4 stars

Litsy Notes & Quotes

for the memorial read.

I liked 'Letter for the King' a few years ago. Nice but not finding it engaging (whether that is due to the translation or the original writing I don't know). I do like the illustrations, which are by the author

Part 3 chapter 7: with its maybe-fey woods and cryptic remarks by several characters I feel we‘re on the cusp of something. First we were looking for a friend, who still hasn‘t turned up, and now we‘re helping another friend find his way home, but he doesn‘t seem sure that he wants to go there.

Finding the writing a bit rough (the original?/ the translation?); I keep getting snagged and it‘s slowing me down. ETA: I think the plotting is good but the vocabulary and maybe pacing are off. There are subtleties (the chess match) and tension - I had to put it down at the penultimate chapter. Better get back and see what happens…

“But history becomes legend, and legends are forgotten.” (Part 6, ch 4) WOT anyone?

“At my age it is too late to begin another life,” said Red Quibo. “I‘ll never get used to drinking water, (part 8 ch 8) - Quibo is usually to be found in pubs

>146 humouress: Oh, good witches? So like Glinda, in the original Wizard of Oz. (I haven't seen Wicked yet, so I'm not quite sure how she comes off in that version of the story.) That does make a difference. I don't usually think of "good" in connection with Witches.

>148 atozgrl: 😅

>146 humouress: I wasn't really taking objection, per se, and I was imagining a witch like Morwen from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

>150 foggidawn: Oh phew.

53) Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

{first in Greenhollow duology; novella, TOR, fantasy, romance}(2019)

 

I got this years ago as a free e-book from Tor.com and am finally reading it now. Set in a parallel (presumably) Britain similar to the Victorian era, mainly in the countryside, this is the first of a duology. We see this story from the point of view of Tobias Finch, a reclusive woodman (though he does have a cat)

Pearl graciously crawled into his lap and butted his hand with her head to indicate he might have the honour of petting her.

and he is a conscientious guardian (I love the fact that he always looks after his socks. And, of course, his knives.)

Tobias sharpened all his knives, and darned all his socks, and checked and rechecked his crossbow, and patrolled every night through the woodsmen’s copse and around the boundary-stones of the village.

The story begins when he invites Henry Silver into his cottage, since he is standing outside getting soaked in the rain. Silver has come to Greenhollow to research the legendary Wild Man of Greenhollow (or 'Greenhallow' as Tobias pronounces it). As he does, he relates the folktales he collects to Tobias and we (as readers) slowly uncover the legend, piecemeal, although there's a feeling that the puzzle may not be complete. Until one day Silver's ogress of a mother turns up - and everything changes.

“And don’t think you can send me off with thorns in my ears,” added the voice tartly. “The very idea! I don’t approve of you using a dryad for a guard dog, either. She’s much too old to be running about this way; you’ll go peculiar, young lady, if you keep this up.”

I like Adela Silver and her practical, no-nonsense attitude. When Tobias finds himself at a loss:

He had thought himself a thing uprooted, like the great oak, ready to begin his death.
“Mr Finch,” said Mrs Silver, the one time he said anything about it, “you are not, in point of fact, a tree.”

I did feel bad for the poor old, innocent oak tree.

I thought this was a lovely little story but I would have liked more information about the legends and stories within it. I thought the perspective of Bramble, the dryad, was interesting:

“And you, my dear?” Tobias said after a moment. “You should choose yourself a tree, you know. Plant yourself. Else you’ll get peculiar.”
“I am peculiar,” said Bramble. ”
...
“Good,” said Bramble. “He’ll need you.”
“You won’t, though.”
“No,” she said patiently, “because I’m not a people. But I will still love you.”

I hadn't realised this was the first of a duology; now I'll look out for Drowned Country to read as well.

(August 2025)
4 stars

Quotes:

Cat attitude:
“Pearl graciously crawled into his lap and butted his hand with her head to indicate he might have the honour of petting her.”

Tobias makes sure his socks and knives are always in tip-top condition:
“Tobias sharpened all his knives, and darned all his socks, and checked and rechecked his crossbow, and patrolled every night through the woodsmen’s copse and around the boundary-stones of the village.”

and he feels like part of the woods:
“He had thought himself a thing uprooted, like the great oak, ready to begin his death.
“Mr Finch,” said Mrs Silver, the one time he said anything about it, “you are not, in point of fact, a tree.”

The perspective of Bramble, the dryad:
“And you, my dear?” Tobias said after a moment. “You should choose yourself a tree, you know. Plant yourself. Else you’ll get peculiar.”
“I am peculiar,” said Bramble. ”
...

“Good,” said Bramble. “He’ll need you.”
“You won’t, though.”
“No,” she said patiently, “because I’m not a people. But I will still love you.”

54) The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

{first of 5+1 in The Bridge Kingdom series; fantasy, enemies to lovers, war}(2018)

 

Lara and her half sisters, the daughters of King Silas, are trained from the age of five for one them to marry the king of Ithicana, infiltrate the country and send information back to Maridrina. Lara, despite being somewhat inept compared to her sisters, is the one finally chosen to fulfil a fifteen year old peace treaty which was entered into after Maridrina tried to invade Ithicana to take the Bridge. The Bridge is an ancient, enclosed structure which runs high above the islands which make up the kingdom of Ithicana and connects the north and south continents. Ships can make the dangerous crossing in calmer months but the Bridge is the only safe way to move goods and people across, year round. Though Lara has no cause to love Silas, she hates the Ithicanians for charging such high tolls on the trade passing along the Bridge that Maridrinians are forced to starve. And so, though she marries King Aren, she views him as her enemy. Of course, when she goes to live in Ithicana, they don't trust her either and, of course, as she sees her world from a different perspective things gradually change.

I’m a bit divided on this one. I thought the background story was different. I liked the unusual setting of this world where Lara went from the desert to sub-tropical islands; I was imagining a setting similar to Australia as I read. And the Bridge - part man-made, part natural, winding above and through the island kingdom of Ithicana and connecting two continents - was unique. I thought the cover art on my e-book (jade green, art deco/ art nouveau style) was lovely.

On the other hand I thought the ‘romance’ element of the story, with them admiring each other’s bodies even though they didn’t trust each other, the obligatory bedroom scene with the same old obligatory sequence of events etc was a bit bland. It felt like I’ve read this plotline before but with a different background. I could see them moving from lust to caring about each other but not necessarily falling deeply in love within the time frame; I’d rather Jensen had focused less on the romance aspect and ironed out some of the wrinkles in the story itself (twelve daughters all the same age, for instance, seemed a bit improbable). I was not a fan of the non-communication trope and I felt that the descriptions of Lara were not borne out by what we’re shown of her. The twist at the end (though it was telegraphed) wasn't convincing character development and the about face of a secondary character didn’t ring true. There is some animal cruelty, which made me uncomfortable, and some snakes are killed (though, admittedly, some are just moved to somewhere safer).

This book was told in the third person from both Lara's and Aren's points of view and I see that the second book in the series continues their story, as it's not finished in this book, but other books in the series seem to focus on other characters such as Aren's sister. I'm intrigued enough to borrow the next book to see where this story goes.

(September 2025)
3.5 - 3.75 ***

Descriptions of Lara not borne out by what we’re shown.
the surprise at the end (telegraphed) wasn't convincing character development
The about face of a 2° character didn’t ring true
Told in 3rd person Lara & aren; other books other perspectives
Animal cruelty
Non communication!
Some wrinkles
nice cover - art deco/ art nouveau

Thank you for consolidating the clues for the treasure hunt, and for the hint to the one about Circe - I'd read that book and it still didn't ring a bell from the clue - d'oh. I made it to 20 but only just.

>154 charl08: You're welcome :0)

This is our birthday boy when we first got him. Jasper turns 9 today (in human years).

Happy birthday puppy! Keep smiling.

And, in case you feel sad that he was locked up in a cage, don't be:

>157 humouress: Hahahahaha!

>158 foggidawn: He has very definite ideas of his place in life, that dog.

Aw! What an escape artist...

>157 humouress: Love the escape artist pic, Nina!

>160 charl08: >161 Familyhistorian: He's a bit more mellow these days but still keeps us entertained.

He has a routine, especially when my husband comes home. We have a split level sitting room/ dining room. Jasper meets him at the door and then runs to the steps and sits in the higher level so his ears can get a good mauling rub without my husband having to bend down. (I think they've been doing that for a while but I only realised recently. My powers of observation ...)

My Thingaversary books have started coming in. 3 were unavailable and 1 was reordered because Books K received it damaged. The rest should start turning up soon (waiting to receive them from the suppliers) but I have these for now:

The Bride of the Blue Wind by Victoria Goddard
The Warrior of the Third Veil by Victoria Goddard

(These were both surprisingly slim.)

The Cleopatra Crisis (Time Wars) by Simon Hawke
The Dracula Caper (Time Wars) (Volume 8) by Simon Hawke
The Khyber Connection: Volume 6 (Time Wars) by Simon Hawke

Great pictures of Jasper, Nina. Enjoy your new books.

>164 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah.

55) The Ravenswood Witch by Jenni Keer

{stand alone; Victorian England, English countryside, supernatural, mystery}(2024)

 

The story, set in Victorian England and written in the third person, opens with a girl running from the law but, just as she's about to reach the ferry and escape across the river, she (literally) runs into a man - Marcus Greybourne - and falls, breaking her ankle (and I thought she was awfully polite to him, considering). Surprisingly, rather than giving her up to the people chasing her, he claims that she is his wife and takes her back to his house to help her recuperate. It's a two-way deal; he needs her to impersonate his wife, Luna, during an upcoming visit from representatives of his wife's lawyers (who have not met Luna before) to ensure their marriage is sound and secure Luna's inheritance, which Marcus needs to keep his house standing.

The mystery girl agrees and inhabits her character so thoroughly that she is only known as 'Luna' for the rest of the book. But where is the real Luna - who apparently has had a tendency to disappear in the past? How is Marcus sure that she won't reappear soon and expose the deception? We discover that the real Luna was a troubled character who has vandalised Ravenswood House and killed the local ravens - there is a legend that Ravenswood Hall (Marcus's house) will stand as long as the ravens remain in the woods. The house is at a distance from the nearest village and, as the local gentry and madwoman - Luna is known as 'the Ravenswood witch' - the Greybournes seem to not have mixed with them much. The new 'Luna' is similar enough, both having blonde hair, though she's a bit smaller and her eyes are a different colour so it's possible that the ploy will work.

We also see flashbacks of a girl named Eloise though the two stories don't connect up until closer to the end of the book. I thought she wasn't unlikable but she was a little bit silly, and got sillier as the story went on, and I didn't really empathise with her.

Will the 'Greybournes' pull off the deception successfully? Does the new Luna want to? What happened to the real Luna? How does Eloise's story relate to the main story? What will the imposter do once her foot has healed? And is there a ghost haunting Ravenswood House?

This is the first book of this author that I've read. The writing is quite good though this genre is not quite in my wheelhouse; I was actually looking for another book of hers but didn't find it. I approached this with the attitude that the odd occurrences could be explained logically but the author writes as though there are some supernatural elements. I was confused by the choices the girl makes; she asserts that she is Luna even to the people who know that she is not, for example.

Mr Webber grunted his agreement, obviously reluctant to execute the ridiculous pantomime that a complete stranger could step into Luna Greybourne’s shoes.

Thinking back on it, there were issues I had with things that not just Luna but Marcus did that I wasn't entirely happy with. But this was a pleasant way to pass the time and not knowing what the true story was until the end kept me guessing.

(September 2025)
3.5 stars

Set in Victorian England.

I approached this with the attitude that the odd occurrences could be explained logically but the author writes as though there are some supernatural elements.

Thinking back on it, there were issues I had with things that not just Luna but Marcus did that I wasn't entirely happy with.

Litsy Notes & Quotes

A girl, running from the law, runs into a man and breaks her ankle. Feeling responsible, he claims that she‘s his wife. I‘m confused by the choices the girl makes; she asserts that she is Luna even to the people who know that she is not. And, from the story of her past life, which we get gradually in flashbacks, she‘s had a silly infatuation and behaved irresponsibly. At the halfway point; let‘s see how it goes.

It's written q. well (3rd person POV) and Eloise - of the flasbacks - isn't unlikable but she's a little bit silly and I don't really empathise with her.

Mr Webber grunted his agreement, obviously reluctant to execute the ridiculous pantomime that a complete stranger could step into Luna Greybourne’s shoes.

>156 humouress: a very cute puppy

>163 humouress: *smoochieschmoozles* for The Jasper, and congrats on Thingaversary haul books starting to show up!

>167 figsfromthistle: >169 richardderus: Thank you :0)

I'll pass the smooches on.

56) The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen
narrated by James Langton

{second of 8 in Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica; fantasy, audiobook, quest fantasy, adventure, children's, young adult, YA}(2008)

 

We're back in the Archipelago of Dreams where myth and fantasy mix and the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica are called back to help with another crisis. This story begins '9 years to the day' after the start of the first book, Here, There Be Dragons. I would read these in order especially as this one starts with a recap of the first book and there are some spoilers for book one plus it does help to know the background of the characters and this world going into The Search for the Red Dragon.

The three current Caretakers - John, Charles and Jack - have avoided each other since their earlier adventures so as not to raise the suspicions of who they really are by any observing enemy forces but now they have all been having bad dreams and suspect that something is going on in the Archipelago. They meet and decide to search for previous Caretakers to find out what's going on and to work out how to return to the Archipelago to help sort things out.

Time moves at the same rate in the Archipelago and they catch up with their friends and the progress made since they left the Archipelago. Children around the Archipelago have been disappearing without a trace, including Aven's son, and the only clue they have is something cryptic about a Crusade returning. Almost all the Dragonships have disappeared too, which will handicap their search somewhat, so they go in search of the last one, the Red Dragon. We meet the Lost Boys - and Girls - catch up again with Aven, Bert and Tumnus and make the acquaintance of one Peter Pan as well as the rather grumpy Cartographer

'Anyone who's indifferent to the fate of Edwin Drood is okay in my book'

who lives (perforce) on the top floor of the Keep of Time and keeps the Imaginarium Geographica up to date. (The Mystery of Edwin Drood was published about half a century before this book was set.)

There's a lot going on; we visit the underworld and see the place where Dante (another Caretaker) got his inspiration for the nine circles of hell, where J.M. Barrie (yes, a previous Caretaker) picked up ideas for Neverland and one of the present Caretakers rediscovers their inner child. Owens pulls together history, myths and legends and gives them a twist of his own. I confess that I tripped myself up trying to guess where the story would go based on the legends he used (especially since my ancient Greek legends are a bit rusty). I listened to this as an audio e-book with the same narrator as the first. I did get a bit confused with a couple of mythical characters (it's hard to go back and check on audio).

Still fun; I look forward to the third instalment.

(September 2025)
4 stars

Litsy Notes & Quotes

9780743569330

begins '9 years to the day' after the start of the 1st book. read in order - starts with spoilers for the first book

'Anyone who's indifferent to the fate of Edwin Drood is okay in my book'

Yay! I'm out of 'hand prison', as the doctor called it.

I spent half of yesterday in the hand department of the hospital. It's efficiientlu organised with little bays of 6 rooms for each speciality, so I went to one to have the cast removed, then another for X-ryas, then I had to go to another department for scans because the machine wasn't working, then back to another bay to see thedoctor and then the last bay to see the OT for a splint and some exercises.

I can't believe how stiff my hand is and painfu to get the range of motion back, my wrist having been immoblised for a month. I can type faster without having to look at the keyboard so often bt it's still a bit awkward - so there are still typos (which I'm too laz y to correct. But it'll still take another month or two to heal fully.

>173 humouress: Glad to hear you've been "released": I imagine typing is useful exercise?

>174 charl08: Thanks :0)

Um; yes mum. I'll try to be more conscientious ;0)

57) The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos
(translated by Hildegarde Serle)

{Second of 4+1 in The Mirror Visitor quartet; fantasy, translated from French, Overdrive/ Hills}(2015)

 

Ophelia - the protagonist of this series - is a quiet girl but she's not timid. She is a reader, someone who can see the history of an object by touching it. Ophelia's talent is exceptionally strong as she can see all the way back to an object's creation. She is also a mirror visitor - someone who can travel short distances by stepping through mirrors. Originally from the ark of Anima she is now living on Pole (a cold ark), engaged to tall, angular Thorn with his abrupt and taciturn manners.

The arks are islands floating in the atmosphere and were formed after a cataclysm shattered the Earth (or, at least, the original planet of this world). Each ark has its own family spirit; they seem to be immortal beings, related to each other, but interact (as they choose) with the families on their arks.

As Ophelia's marriage to Thorn approaches she is finally taken to court to be presented to Mr. Farouk, the family spirit of Pole, whose psychic presence when she is under his regard almost overwhelms her. As a consequence of the meeting she, Aunt Rosaline and Berenilde (Thorn's aunt who is expecting Farouk's baby) are moved to the Gynaeceum, a floor in Farouk's tower where men aren’t allowed. Fortunately for Ophelia, given the hostility exhibited towards her by the Mirage family (who have the power to cast strong illusions), Archibald, Farouk's ambassador and a member of the Web family, has taken a liking to her and extends his protection to her.

Farouk, who has such a bad memory that he writes down everything important he wants to remember in notebooks, is obsessed by his Book. Artemis, the family spirit of Ophelia's home ark of Anima, has a similar Book. The story is interspersed by interludes where we see Farouk focusing on memories of his childhood in an attempt to remember more of it and remember something he has forgotten - which may have been deliberately erased from his memories.

People on the ark of Pole have started disappearing from within Clairdelune (hence the title of the book; I realised that 'missing' is used as a noun not a verb), the ambassador's residence, which is the most secure on Pole. Farouk orders Ophelia to find them using her abilities as a reader. She discovers that the missing people had received threatening letters before they disappeared; she too has received similar letters. Will she be the next target?

Meanwhile Thorn, supposedly her fiancé, is dutifully sticking to his work schedule and barely has time to see her. Ophelia, already (understandably) upset with him, is not satisfied with his cursory answers and peremptory orders to her. But when they do finally manage to spend some time together (at his request) we discover that he is meticulous about carrying out his duties as Treasurer which leaves him very little free time (which is probably why he's always consulting his watch). He also seems to be investigating something which he warns Ophelia away from although he won't tell her what it is.

We begin to see that there is something sinister going on, beyond the disappearances and involving not just Pole but the whole of this world.

And in the midst of all this Ophelia's family (whose talents allow them to animate, for example, the tableware) arrives from Anima for the wedding. Much as she loves them, it throws an additional spanner in the works.

I felt that this book was easy going to begin with; but then we start working out the puzzle of Pole and getting a sense that there's a bigger puzzle, involving the whole of this world and it seems to be linked to a person called the Other. I liked both enigmatic, taciturn, lugubrious, duty-bound Thorn (in spite of himself) and Ophelia, who is a quiet character but still feisty and adventurous and protective of those close to her.

I think the second book was better than the first book, especially the second half (or so). A sense of the original French comes through the translation which has a charm of its own. I wouldn't leave it too long between A Winter's Promise and this one, especially with all the political machinations of this world and the backstabbing that goes on on Pole. Although there is a synopsis at the beginning, there were things I'd forgotten.

So now I'd better look for the third book in the series; especially since I want to find out what happened after that finale ...

(September 2025)
4-4.5 stars

- 'missing' is n not v
- I like enigmatic, taciturn, lugubrious, duty-bound Thorn (in spite of himself)
- Ophelia is quiet but not timid.
- easy going start but then we start getting a sense that there's a bigger picture; we start working out the puzzle of Pole.
- don't leave it too long between the first book and this, especially with all the political machinations of this world and the backstabbing. though there is a synopsis at the beginning, there were things I'd forgotten.
- a sense of the original French comes through the translation which has a charm of its own

>176 humouress: I tried to read that after enjoying the first book, but I could not get into it. If I were to try again at this point, I'd have to reread the first book. It was intriguing world building, but I can't seem to get up the enthusiasm to tackle it again.

>177 foggidawn: I think the second book was better than the first book, especially the second half (or so).

58) The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews

{fourth of 4 in Belles of London series; horses, horse women, Victorian, romance, friends} (2024)

 

This is the fourth and last book of a series about four friends who are avid horsewomen, set in Victorian England. It wraps up the series; the timeline overlaps with book 3 and then extends it for a conclusion.

Stella Hobhouse, whose hair turned completely grey when she was sixteen, is the sister of a strait-laced clergyman and is completely dependent on him (as their parents have both died) except for a small amount of money expressly for her to have two seasons in London and which enables her to afford the upkeep of her horse, Locket, a groom and a horse for her groom. Her brother is about to get married, her future sister-in-law sees no use for her other than to turn over her money for 'charitable' purposes and her friends, who would help her at the drop of a hat, are all married or are about to be.

Fortunately, her friends arrive to sweep her off to London for the wedding of the third of the horsewomen. There she runs into Teddy Hayes, a wheelchair-bound artist, whom she had briefly met a couple of times previously and who wants her to be his muse (a scandalous proposition at the time) - although he is not attracted to her otherwise. But then, while she is sitting for him, they fall in love.

This was a clean romance (although there is a wedding night) and continues Matthews's theme of non-traditional male leads in that Teddy has to use a wheel chair - though he is still described as 'broad shouldered'. (However I can't find anything, after a brief internet search, which suggests that scarlet fever causes paralysis.) Teddy is apparently a side character in one of Matthews's other series, Parish Orphans of Devon, and it looks like many of the protagonists of that series appear in this book, including the lawyer who helped Evelyn in the first book of this series. They are all portrayed as nice people and a close-knit bunch.

I did feel (my usual complaints) that the characters' manners were anachronistic and there was instant attraction with no cause. I thought the plot dithered a bit and Matthews used lots of words, especially for various fabrics, that I had to look up (some of which didn't return results from Wikipedia).

While I appreciated 'Teddy's' (was that a British name? somehow it seemed more of a North American contraction to me) frustration about having to use a wheelchair, it didn't excuse his churlishness towards people trying to help him. He was especially rude to the poor man who had to push his wheelchair and lift him in and out of it. I'm not sure if it was the author's intention to compare or contrast Teddy's movements being at the mercy of his family to Stella's but Matthews didn't highlight it, which made him seem selfish and self-centred in comparison to Stella especially as she didn't fight back openly. When Teddy's beloved brother-in-law and sister need to return to France for the duration of a delicate pregnancy and discuss his going home with them

“Just as a compromise,” Tom said. “It needn’t be permanent.”
Teddy rolled himself back from the table in a burst of frustration. “Well, what am I to say to that? I can’t stop you from pushing me here or pulling me there."

Stella's family was annoying and I was disappointed that they didn't get a come-uppance.

I read this book to finish the series. I thought all the books were okay though this one was probably the least impressive. I may look for the Parish Orphans of Devon at some point in the future if I need to read a clean romance - those are getting harder to find these days.

(September 2025)
3-3.5 stars

- connects to one of her other series
- continues the theme of non-traditional male leads (but still 'broad shouldered')
- clean romance
- anachronistic manners
- does dither a bit
- instant attraction with no cause
- appreciated 'Teddy's' (was that a UK name?) frustration (can scarlet fever cause paralysis?) but it didn't excuse his churlishness towards people trying to help him
- lots of words esp for materials that I had to look up (some didn't return results from Wikipedia)
- not sure if it was the author's intention to compare/ contrast Teddy's movements being at the mercy of his family to Stella's; she didn't highlight it, which made him seem churlish/ self-centred
- Stella's family was annoying; shame they didn't get a come-uppance

Quote

“Just as a compromise,” Tom said. “It needn’t be permanent.”
Teddy rolled himself back from the table in a burst of frustration. “Well, what am I to say to that? I can’t stop you from pushing me here or pulling me there

I'm glad you are out of hand prison, Nina! I recall my wrist was so stiff when I got it out of a cast. I really didn't expect that and was quite shocked. It took quite a few months of OT for me to get just about all of my mobility back, - I went in twice a week and then once a week and of course the exercises at home. I wish you well with getting your mobility back quickly.

>180 vancouverdeb: Thank you Deborah. Yes, it's really surprising how much my flexibility has been curtailed.

59) Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard

{second of 7 +6 in the Greenwing and Dart series; or (currently) eleventh of 32 in the author's recommended reading order of The Nine Worlds; fantasy, magic, empire, adventure, manners, society, fantasy of manners, mischief, dragon, cake}(20)

 

Well, for the quietest town in the county, possibly country, there's a lot going on in Ragnor Bella - especially around Messrs Greenwing and Dart - and I had to rewrite this a couple of times to fit everything in and not give away spoilers:

In Astandalas, after the Fall of the Empire (oh - that Fall), 'magic is out of fashion'.

Jemis, at 21 and recently out of university, doesn't care whether magic is in or out of fashion. He's too busy keeping his head down until the Midwinter Assizes - especially after the events which occurred last week, in Stargazy Pie - so his stepfather's will can finally be read. As the story opens Mr. Dart (speaking to Mr. Greenwing at his place of work) misses the derring-do of their adventures (despite the consequences) in Stargazy Pie and proposes more of the same. Jemis, however, is having none of it.

As they leave the bookshop they find Hal Leaveringham (pronounced 'Lingham' - you know, like the castle *ironically*), who was Jemis’s roommate for the three years they were at university, coming off the coach and Jemis is pleased to be able to introduce two of his best friends to each other.

We have nothing so exciting in Fillering Pool, let me tell you. No one gossips about our summer fair across three baronies. As we came south the more serious-minded kept trying to get on topic of the current crop of legislation or the dangers of highwaymen or the strange lack of Noirell honey, but everyone else wanted to gossip about how Mad Jack Greenwing's son is back from university and the bets are accordingly wide open. I am delighted to find you're a local, Jemis, I desire greatly to meet the man."
"Indeed," I said weakly.

As yet (surnames and origins being forbidden to be mentioned at Meadowlea) Jemis hasn't confessed to Hal that he is the son of the infamous Jakory Greenwing, hero of Orkaty and traitor of Loe, but now he has to explain the locals' odd attitude to him including his uncle's and aunt's disdain.

The story takes place over a weekend which will culminate in the Dartington Faire on the Sunday when Jemis intends to run in the three-mile event, having run on his university's cross-country team, and Hal - who has been hearing about nothing but the Faire and the mysterious Mr. Greenwing on the coach - proposes that they team up to bake a cake for the baking competition. Jemis suggests that they make his mother's Bee Sting cake, which will require Noirell honey.

(I was inspired to find a recipe and make my own Bee Sting cake. Bee sting cake is a German dessert made with a yeast dough with a baked on topping of almonds, honey and cream and a filling of custard or buttercream. It is connected to a 15th century legend of bakers’ assistants defending their town from attack by a neighbouring town by throwing bee hives at the attackers.)



Mr. Dart invites them both to spend the night at Dartington Hall (stopping first at Jemis’s place where we all meet his bewilderingly large extended family through his stepfather). At dinner, along with Mr. Dart’s brother Torquil and Jemis’s father’s cousin Sir Hamish, they learn the true story of Jakory Greenwing’s heroism and purported treachery from around eleven years ago, just before the Fall. Sir Vorel (Jemis's father's brother) is also present.

At this point words did fail him, and he choked up, finally let go of my hands, and plunged to stand with his elbow on the mantelpiece and hand over his brows in a gesture as affected as it was fine, breast heaving with emotion and oratory.

Hal wants some Noirell honey as a Winterturn gift to ... um ... sweeten his mother's disposition. Since supplies have been dwindling in the greater world and have finally run out the three friends head for the Woods Noirell, which are known to be a bit strange - possibly due to being over the border in another world - which will also provide the opportunity for Jemis to reintroduce himself to his maternal grandmother, the Marchioness of …

dragon's riddle
gambling ring
Hal's magic demonstration, identity, botanist
about 10 years after the Fall; Jemis is 21
typos (~4)
(quotes)
(TBC)

You could say this is just a story about friends spending a weekend together but chaos seems to revolve around Jemis. I mean, there's the afternoon that the three of them are (accidentally) co-opted into doing Magistra Bellamy's chores which they do cheerfully (and it does give Jemis time to catch Hal up on his life) but then there's the dragon ... and the Woods Noirell ... and, of course, the Faire.

I finished this in a day; it's just so much fun. Having read Stargazy Pie, the first book, a while ago I couldn't remember all the details. You don't need to have read it first but it would help with those details and knowing most of the characters. But Hal is in a similar position (until, presumably, Jemis fills him in later). I like the way almost everyone (though, as this is told in the first person from Jemis's point of view, we mainly see his friends) is supportive of Jemis even though he's had a run of bad luck from a young age and there are some touching memories of his parents.

(September 2025)
5*****

Litsy Notes & Quotes

Just starting this one. It opens a week after ‘Stargazy Pie’. It’s odd (or maybe it’s a fad) that they address each other as ‘Mr Greewing’ and ‘Mr Dart’ when they’re only just out of university and have been friends from school. I’d like to read the story of Mrs Etaris’s youth; I wonder if it’s told in one of the books in this series? Every chapter title is someone having an idea.

Bee sting cake is a German dessert made with a yeast dough with a baked on topping of almonds, honey and cream. It is connected to a C15th legend of baker’s assistants defending their town from attack by a neighbouring town by throwing bee hives at the attackers. It has a filling of custard or buttercream (which would have been difficult for early versions as it would need to be kept cool).

Tad Finknottle - an homage to PGW’s Gussie Fink-Nottle? At least we get more of an idea about Jemis’s family. Very more-ish.

Intending as we were to go chasing dragons, of course Saturday dawned as sodden and wet an autumnal day as anyone could imagine.

We have nothing so exciting in Fillering Pool, let me tell you. No one gossips about our summer fair across three baronies. As we came south the more serious-minded kept trying to get on topic of the current crop of legislation or the dangers of highwaymen or the strange lack of Noirell honey, but everyone else wanted to gossip about how Mad Jack Greenwing's son is back from university and the bets are accordingly wide open. I am delighted to find you're a local, Jemis, I desire greatly to meet the man."
"Indeed," I said weakly.

At this point words did fail him, and he choked up, finally let go of my hands, and plunged to stand with his elbow on the mantelpiece and hand over his brows in a gesture as affected as it was fine, breast heaving with emotion and oratory.

A gentle soul, generally very kind, very interested in everyone, always listening regardless of rank. Except sometimes he forgot..."
"To be gentle?"
...
If you startled him when he wasn't expecting anyone to be there - he loved insects, was a great entomologist, loved to spend the day by himself in the meadows looking for butterflies or beetles - how he reacted. Those first moments before he caught himself - it's hard to explain. He would just look at you, with this expression of - outrage? Outrage isn't quite right. He would look at you as if the idea of someone daring to interrupt him was inconceivable. As if every time he was startled he was shocked to the core of all his philosophies."

"It seems" I said a little later, "that not only is my family life literally the stuff of melodrama, it is in fact the stuff of high gothic melodrama." - Jemis, still unsure of himself after the way his university career ended.

>182 humouress: I was swinging by to see how you were getting along with this one, and I see you were able to read it much faster than me! I'm about halfway through my reread and very much enjoying myself, but alas, work and other obligations mean I'll most likely finish it over the weekend.

Stasia and I are reading through on the pace of about a book a month if you want to continue keeping up with us (there are a couple of short stories that go along with it too that we might revisit). The newest book in the series comes out soon, and since it'd been 2 years since we read it, we figured we'd refresh our memories.

>183 bell7: I didn't get to it until Wednesday and I wasn't sure if you and Stasia were reading chapters together though I know she's effectively 'off grid' at the moment. But since I'm sticking close to home until my arm heals (usually I volunteer at Riding for the Disabled on Wednesdays but right now it wouldn't be the safest thing for me or anyone else) I decided to dedicate the day to reading and, really, it's just such fun that I finished it - though I did stay up late reading.

I'd like to join you, thank you. I have the main books of Greenwing and Dart but not the in-between ones. I was looking at Victoria Goddard's website and she says she had thought it would be a 7 book series but it's looking as though it'll go to 10 now.

ETA: interleaved as the sub-series of the Nine Worlds are I dare say you're getting more out of the re-read than I am on reading it for the first time. I suspect that Hal's grandfather was someone very important, for instance ... and where did that arrow come from? ... and ...

>184 humouress: Yeah, we usually update each other on where we are (she'll match her reading pace to mine, generally) each day, but somehow even when we don't, we usually end up finishing around the same time so decided to just go for it at our own pace this time and see what happened.

The Nine Worlds series are done in one of my favorite methods, where they are so intricate that no matter what sub-series you start with, there's a hint of something more and the significance of something else only becomes clear as you're reading them all. So no matter where you start and how you continue, there's an "aha!" moment when you start to see the connections. Stargazy Pie was her first book, so it's a sensible starting point, though I started with The Hands of the Emperor. You could read that now, then The Return of Fitzroy Angursell, to get more of the world-building in the meantime, though it won't answer all of your questions. As you observed, it makes rereading extremely rewarding, though not everything has yet been fully explained, either.

I hope your arm heals quickly!

>185 bell7: Good to know, thanks. I'll try to keep pace next time.

I'm accumulating the Nine Worlds series slowly; as they're published independently they tend to be more expensive than mmpb although I've been looking at her website and they seem to be at a lower price than my local bookshop sells them at.

Thank you!

I saw the occupational therapist yesterday and am making progress with my hand (though I think I've got to become more diligent with my exercises) but it is still swollen (I've always had dreadful circulation). So now I've got finger socks! which are pressure bandages for each individual finger. And I have to massage it down and give my arm a hot wrap before doing the exercises - more pampering!

The balcony outside my study has been busy today. In the last hour an olive-backed sunbird hid in the camellia bush and gave himself a good, long preen. He must have been there for a good 15-20 minutes. Usually the Asian starlings (or is it mynahs? I tend to confuse them - they're both very common here) use the pot that my passionfruit vine is planted in as a daily water bath. Today I have bulbuls as well. Two were enjoying a splash when a larger mynah came in and displaced them. One came back afterwards and was sharing it with a starling (similar sizes) but I think the starling got too splashy so it waited and then had a more refined bathe. The problem is that if there's standing water around, the mozzies start breeding. Mind you, probably nothing can survive all that splashing.

ETA: oh my goodness; now there's a queue of about five birds waiting for their baths. My mistake - they're just looking for dinner.

60) Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers

{eighth of 11 in Lord Peter Wimsey; BBC Audio/ eleventh of 15 in Lord Peter Wimsey series; detective, crime, murder, fens, East Anglia, fen country, fenlands, bell ringing}(1934)(BBC dramatisation 2001)

   

I listened to this BBC dramatisation of the Lord Peter Wimsey book for the Green Dragon's memorial read for @MrsLee as it was a favourite of hers. 'Nine Tailors' (according to Wikipedia) is a bell ringing term. They are the nine strokes rung at the beginning of a toll for a man who has died (Six Tailors being for a woman).

Ian Carmichael (who played Wimsey in the 1970s TV adaptations) reprises his role in these recordings. (I have only recently started trying audiobooks and discovered the BBC dramatisations of some of the Agatha Raisin books. I must say that the Penelope Keith version of Agatha - and Ashley Judd's take in the TV shows - seems to be more appealing than the book persona. But I digress.) I haven’t read any of Dorothy Sayer's series before, though I did catch some episodes of the TV series back in the ‘80s (with Edward Petherbridge in the title role), and it sounds as though, from comments from others reading the book for the memorial read, that a lot of her descriptive detail of the landscape and so on are lost - somewhat of a given for what is essentially a scripted adaptation that comes in at around 3 hours worth of listening, more or less. Though the very effective sound effects substitute for some of them, the details and inferences of other authors' works seem to be a special trait of Sayers’s (as @haydninvienna says, she starts a lot of mental hares). However, this just means that I can start reading from the beginning and enjoy the (written) series though I did enjoy this dramatisation.

As Lord Peter and his man Bunter are tooling through the wintry Fen country on New Year's eve they end up in a ditch. Since they cannot travel further until the car is hauled out, on hearing church bells (‘civilisation’ according to Lord Peter), they make for nearby Fenchurch St Paul's where the vicar puts them up. As recompense Lord Peter offers to help with the vicar’s project to ring in the New Year with a marathon nine hour session on the church bells - which all have their own names (it reminds me of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series)

Gaude, Sabaoth, John, Jericho, Jubilee, Dimity, Batty Thomas, and Tailor Paul

(Lord Wimsey calls them off) - since they are a man down with the influenza going around. Sadly while he is staying at the rectory word comes that Lady Thorpe, a member of the local gentry, is poorly and requests the last sacrament. Lord P is intrigued to learn that about a decade or two previously (in 1914) an emerald necklace was stolen from one of her wedding guests but, although the thieves were arrested, was never recovered.

Sometime later, early in the spring, Lord Peter receives a request for help from Reverend Venables. Sir Henry Thorpe died three months after his wife but when they opened her grave, so as to inter the two together, the body of an unknown man (sans hands) was discovered buried on top of Lady Thorpe’s coffin - and Lord Wimsey is up for the hunt.

I enjoyed this full cast dramatisation, which was easy to listen to and even re-listen to, and I found the sound effects (the bell ringing, the outdoor scenes and so on) worked well to convey the ambiance - and, unusually for me, I guessed the identity of the murderer correctly. I find it difficult to keep track of characters’ names when listening to audiobooks (I do some crafting while listening so my focus is split) but the varied accents made it easy to keep track of the characters themselves.

I think I will add the (original) Lord Peter Wimsey series to the TBR pile.

(September 2025)
3.5 - 4 stars

Only 130+ posts behind, Nina. *sigh*

>189 humouress: I really enjoy that one too! It has been far too long since I read it though.

>190 alcottacre: Welcome back.

Well, you still have four days to join in the group read ;0)

>191 humouress: Unfortunately 4 days is not nearly enough time given how many other books I still have remaining for TIOLI books in September. . .

>179 humouress: Teddy is very much a UK name - nickname for Edwin, Edward etc.

I hope your injury is soon back to normal, Nina.

>192 alcottacre: Ah well. But given how fast you read ...?

>193 Familyhistorian: I suppose so. It somehow sounded more an American nickname to me. The only (UK) Edwards I can think of go by Eddy or Ned.

The arm is getting better thanks. It's still stiff so I have to be more conscientious with my exercises but it's a pain.

61) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

{fifth of 9 in Sherlock Holmes canon series; detective, Victorian England, London, Devonshire, moors, murder, mystery, Gothic}

 

As a teenager I read as many Sherlock Holmes books as I could get my hands on (until I got a bit fed up with Holmes's omniscience); I'm hoping to interest my children in this classic (and then, hopefully, other classics). The introduction to our edition (Puffin Classic) is by Judith Kerr. Rereading this now I found it actually quite funny, at least at the beginning.

'I presume that it is Mr Sherlock Holmes whom I am addressing and not -'
'No, this is my friend Dr Watson.'
'Glad to meet you, sir. I have heard your name mentioned in connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much, Mr Holmes. I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.'

The story (the third novel but the fifth book in canon) is narrated in the first person by Dr John Watson, self-appointed biographer to Sherlock Holmes the great detective. It opens with them pondering the mystery of a 'Penang lawyer' (an Anglicised misnomer), a type of walking stick, which was left behind by a potential client. Having made deductions about the owner (erroneously by Watson, as it turns out), the man himself - a doctor, Mr ('Mister, sir, Mister - a humble MRCS'*) James Mortimer, from Dartmoor, Devonshire - turns up to reclaim his stick and to request Holmes's aid (and skull) in a case regarding one of his patients; Sir Charles Baskerville, a baronet who had rebuilt his decrepit family fortunes to £740,000 after the legacies in his will (in 1889 - which would be worth somewhere near £100 million today (September 2025)!). He reads out to them the Baskerville family legend of a wicked ancestor who was eventually, according to the legend, killed by a supernatural hound and then tells them that the current head of the family had recently died from unknown causes with a look of terror on his face.

'I presume, sir,' said he at last, 'that it was not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that you have done me the honour to call here last night and again today?'
'No, sir, no; though I am happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well. I came to you, Mr Holmes, because I recognize that I am myself an unpractical man, and because I am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognizing, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe -'
'Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?' asked Holmes, with some asperity.
'To the man of precisely scientific mind the work of Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly.'
'Then had you not better consult him?'

Mortimer wants Holmes's advice as to whether he should warn off the heir, Henry Baskerville, who is just about to arrive in London from Canada, or accompany him back to Baskerville Hall. Holmes's response - especially after noticing someone following Sir Henry - is to send Watson to Devonshire with the two men since Holmes himself will be tied up in London with some important cases, but Watson is to report to him every day. It wasn't until a third of the way into the book that we finally left London and arrived at Baskerville Hall - sans Holmes.

And so Watson describes to us the gloomy, spooky nature of the Hall and the moors that surround it while he investigates the servants and neighbours on Holmes's behalf. The case is further complicated by an escaped convict from nearby Princetown prison and another suspicious character seen on the moors as well as by rumours of the unearthly cries of a hellhound.

The story telling varies between narrative, letters and diary entries. Conan Doyle originally serialised this Gothic-style story in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 - April 1902 (according to Wikipedia) so this tactic would have stretched out the narrative and encompassed a few cliff hangers to keep readers coming back for the next instalments. (At one point I felt sure we had lost Sir Henry as well, for instance.)

I must say that I have memories of being spellbound (and slightly scared) when I read this as a child but as a sceptical adult (with some vague memory of the outcome) I didn't feel quite as apprehensive as it did the first time I read this fairly slim book, though it does build the brooding atmosphere well.

Word of warning - this is a book of its times and there are cases of abuse which are written about quite matter of factly but which I found a bit upsetting; several animals die over the course of the narrative and it's a bit startling to remember that women were still effectively property of their husbands with few rights.

It is still well written and mesmerising. Don't worry - Holmes does turn up to save the day before the end.

I read this for the September 2025 TIOLI Challenge 6: Read a book discussed in any September on the BBC Worldservice Bookclub and then listened to the podcast. Obviously they couldn't interview Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself but they had two Holmes scholars who answered questions sent in by Sherlock Holmes societies around the world. These are points that I gleaned from listening:

- Though Conan Doyle borrowed ideas from contemporaries such as Edgar Allan Poe and Wilkie Collins he differentiated the Holmes stories by adding Watson as a narrator.
- They suggested that Conan Doyle didn't dislike his creation but he didn't like the pressure of producing the stories to a schedule
- and pointed out that there are similarities between Holmes and the villains he battles, such as Moriarty of similar intellect.
- Sherlock Holmes was such a success that he has seeped into the culture and affects it even now, inspiring such modern day characters as House MD.

- After disposing of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, Conan Doyle succumbed to pressure to write more adventures for him; The Hound of the Baskervilles was written after, though set before, The Final Problem. He put the villain in plain sight and then distracts us.

- Holmes is missing for first part of The Hound of the Baskervilles and it is more of a gothic novel than a detective story. It sets the paradox of Holmes's logical deduction against the supernatural; Conan Doyle made use of medieval legends of supernatural hounds from parts of the country such as Devon, Yorkshire and Norfolk.
- Apparently Conan Doyle was writing gothic stories 20 years before he authored this book so it was not really a departure from the norm for him.

* MRCS = Member of the Royal College of Surgeons; once qualified as a surgeons, practitioners revert to 'Mister' (or other relevant title) from 'Doctor'.

(September 2025)
4.5****

Litsy Notes & Quotes

As a teenager I read as many Sherlock Holmes books as I could get my hands on until I got a bit fed up. I‘m rereading this now and - 8 pages in, it‘s actually quite funny. Too many instances already but their visitor‘s 1st request on entering is to examine Holmes‘s skull. I‘m hoping to interest my kids in this classic. Introduction (Puffin Classic) by Judith Kerr. £740,000 in 1889 is worth £121,517,801.68 today

Finally, 1/3rd of the way in, we leave London and arrive at Baskerville Hall. The story telling varies between narrative, letters and diary entries (was this originally serialised in newspapers?). Very Gothic.

From the podcast

- questions from SH societies around the world
- borrows from Poe, Collins
- adds narrator (Watson)
- seeped into culture; basis of eg House MD
- written after, set before Final Problem
- Gothic; CD wrote gothic stories 20 years before HofB; paradox of detective vs supernatural
- Holmes missing for first part (more gothic than detective)
- medieval legends from Devon, Yorkshire, Norfolk
- similarity between Holmes and villains
- villain in plain sight, CD distracts us

I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull'.

Dr. Mortimer on meeting Holmes for the first time.

'I came to you, Mr Holmes, because I recognise that I am myself an unpractical man, and because I am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognising, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe -'
'Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?' asked Holmes, with some asperity.
'To the man of precisely scientific mind the work of Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly.'
'Then had you not better consult him?'

Oops 😲

>196 humouress: A lot of Conan Doyle, and Bram Stoker his contemporary, has more humor than most people point out. They were witty guys and that gets missed out in modern reviews. (I haven't read really old ones, might not get much play there either for All I know.)

Good week-ahead's reading, Nina, and do those exercises! Stroke Man over here tells you what a big difference they really do make.

>197 richardderus: Thanks Richard. I appreciate the advice.