Advice from a gardener 120 years ago

 My local library recently purchased a book published in 1904, written by a woman about the garden at her summer home in my town. 

Gardening is completely new to her, and she freely admits the mistakes she makes as well as delights in the successes. 

I loved the following which I think is a lesson we all must learn over and over again. At least this is my experience.

I have found it advisable, in buying plants from a florist, to buy from one whose nursery is either near by, or, at least, located where the conditions are similar to the climate. For they are more likely to fulfil the promises of the catalogue if they are raised in the same kind of climate as the one in which they will be expected to grow.

I have had gardens for a long time, and I still get wooed by a plant in a catalogue which grows perfectly the first year, or sometimes even the second, but then gives up the ghost!

My thoughts on the Rex Stout books many years ago

 Before blogging, there were email groups online that I belonged to that talked about books. I have kept all my emails to those groups, and just came across the following, written about Champagne For One. The words are just what I would still say, and they were written in May 2006 a few months before I began my blog. The second words are from 2003.

I am so enjoying my visits to Wolfe and Archie as I read them all again in publication order, though as I have said, they really don't have to be read that way. 

I go on and on to anyone who'll listen about the greatness of the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin books.  Some in the series are stellar, like this one, and others not so perfect, but I don't really look at them individually.  They are all of a piece about the life.  It's like checking in to see what Wolfe and Archie are up to.  I love the old familiar words and descriptions of how many steps up to the door of the old brownstone, what Archie is having for breakfast, how the office is arranged, what Wolfe is reading, and of course the mystery he must work on to pay for his gourmet food and his thousands of orchids.  Wonderful, wonderful books.

 I love the way Archie repeats details in each book, in case the reader is on his
first Nero Wolfe story.  "I climbed the seven steps up to the old
brownstone".  "Cramer sat in the red chair".   I love the house
descriptions.  The plots are really secondary.  Each book is a portion of
the lives of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.  I think between the Stout
books, and P.G. Wodehouse books, I really could survive without any other
reading material.

The Whitstable Pearl Series by Julie Wassmer

The past few months have been a strain at Windy Poplars Farm. 

Tom's 93-year-old mother has had increasing signs of dementia, and is currently in a hospital where they are evaluating what is going on. From there we are expecting a move to a mental care facility and we hope it will be a place that is five minutes away from us. There have been a few times when his mother has expressed interest in moving up here - to independent living, and later to assisted living -  but every time it didn't work out. 

Our son Michael and his wife, Estée have separated. It has mostly been harmonious, but it is still one of those big changes that are very stressful and worrisome. They are now both settled into rental houses in the same town. They are, without any court intervention, sharing custody of Campbell and Indy. The kids seem to be doing alright, even well. Maybe at six and seven they are able to grasp that their parents are happier apart; better friends and parents not living together. As you may guess we, and Margaret have been very involved in this whole process. The kids have been up here a lot, which is good for all of us. I have a blog post planned with summer fun pictures.

With two big emotional situations in our lives, there haven't been many minutes to read during the day, and in the evening I just want to settle into one of the wonderful television shows available or an old, much-loved DVD. So almost all my reading has been bedtime, or early morning reading in bed, which means the Kindle. 

A few months ago, Acorn TV offered a new detective series called Whitstable Pearl. I enjoyed it, and naturally bought the first book in the series. As is so often true, the books are very different and offer a much more in-depth story and character development than television. This is not to say that the book is always better. I could barely read the Inspector Morse books, but I adore the television production and actually think it is much better! 

I expect I am not alone in being a foreigner who did not know that Whitstable is a real town. Look to the right - on the coast, and almost even with London on the map.

You can see loads of photographs here. It really sounds beautiful, though Julie Wassmer, the author of the books makes it clear that there are the usual problems with vacation destinations. The DFL, Down From Londoners, buy up property and use it occasionally, while the rest of the time they rent it out. These rents are mostly too high for the locals, and young people can't afford to live in the town they grew up in. Whitstable seems to have been able to avoid one of the downfalls of popularity and that is that their stores are less national names than local, independently owned. The author does an excellent job of portraying the landscape, the businesses, the public lands. 

I had the supreme reader's joy of reading the eight available books in the series, one right after the other. I so love finding a new-to-me author and doing this. The main character is Pearl who owns a restaurant called Whitstable Pearl which offers local seafood. She is a single mother whose son is now going to college in nearby Canterbury. This city is also described beautifully. Pearl's mother is a widow, quite alternative in her thinking (a bit like this reader), and very flamboyant in her choice of clothes and haircolors (not a bit like me there!). There are other characters who appear in many of the books, and then new ones who are introduced in each new murder case.

When Pearl was young she began going to school to become a police officer. She became pregnant with the love of her life (who by then had moved away), and had to leave. She isn't the kind to look back with regret. She has made a wonderful life for herself and her son. After her son leaves for college, she starts her own detective agency. She has a real gift for the work. She is one of those rare characters - a woman who is contented, self-assured, and quite genuinely happy.

I love this series and look forward to next year's offering.

February books

I began three new mystery series this month!

10. A Shot in the Dark - book 1 in the Mydworth mysteries

by Matthew Costello (with Neil Richards)

mystery 2019

Kindle

finished 2/6/21

This is a new series set in the late 1920s. I completely enjoyed this story of an aristocratic Englishman, Sir Harry Mortimer and his Bronx-born wife, Kat. They have both been active in government service, and are now home in England. Happily for them, there are enough murders to keep them from getting bored. I like the main characters and I liked this story. I will read more and more of this series.

11. A Pint of Murder - book 1 in the Madoc and Janet Rhys series

by Alisa Craig 

mystery 1980

Kindle

finished 2/20/21 

This was my first book by Charlotte MacLeod writing as Alisa Craig. It was a very sweet kind of book (if you don't mind a few murders!)in which the reader is introduced to Madoc Rhys, a royal Canadian mountie, and Janet Wadman. I enjoyed it and plan to read the other four books in the series. I've read a very few of MacLeod's books; one in the Peter Shandy series and one in the Kelling/Bittersohn series. I do like her, and am happy to be back in her company. 

12. The Old Woman Who Named Things

by Cynthia Rylant

illustrated by Kathryn Brown

children's picture book 1996

print

finished 2/22/21

I recently bought this book. I wrote about a library copy here on the blog. It was written 20 days before Margaret was rushed to the hospital. I wasn't such an old lady then as I feel like now. Hoping when the virus lessens, I will kind of find myself again. 

If you go back to read it, and read the comments, you'll see the first one was from Cait O'Connor. Her blog is still up, and the last entry is just so sad. I didn't leave a note, and I'm sorry about that. 

13. A Little Night Murder - book 2 in the Mydworth mysteries

by Matthew Costello (with Neil Richards)

mystery 2019

Kindle

finished 2/24/21

I liked this one just as much as the first! 

14. Murder at Melrose Court - book 1 in the Heathcliff Lennox series

by Karen Baugh Menuhin

mystery 2018

Kindle

finished 2/27/21 

I so enjoyed this book that I've since read the second, and am now on the third. If the author's name sounds familiar, her husband is the son of the late Yehudi Menuhin. She has a website here, and you can sign up for her reader's club which of course I did. In the first email, there is a link to get a short story about the main character, Heathcliff Lennox. He hates his first name. He fought in the First World War, and this is another series set in the 1920s. He has a dog, and soon has a cat as well both of whom he loves. He is quite eccentric, a loner, but pleasant enough to other people. He is a different character than I've read before. 

This month I don't have a favorite. I completely enjoyed every book. And I am still reading The Splendid and The Vile. Great, great book. We just gave a copy to a friend for his birthday. 

January books

January - 9

1. The Purple Onion Mystery (aka Murder on Friday) - book 7, and last, in the Spike Tracy series 

by Harriette Ashbrook

mystery 1941

Kindle

finished 1/2/21

Sorry to say farewell to Mr. Tracy. I've so enjoyed these books.

2. The Theft of the Iron Dogs aka Murderer's Mistake - book 28 in the Robert Macdonald series

by E.C.R Lorac

mystery 1946

Kindle

finished 1/10/21

One of my favorite books in the Macdonald series. He goes back to an area, and sees some of the people he met in a previous book, Fell Murder. Such good characters, and she was a really good writer. I've read she's getting a lot of acclaim since being re-introduced through the British Library Crime Classics series. She deserves every bit of the praise.

3. The Railway Children

by Edith Nesbitt

children's fiction serialized in The London Magazine 1905, published as a book in 1906

Kindle

finished 1/14/21

Best book of the month! I loved it so much. She is a great writer, and I plan to read more of her this year. Wonderful family relationships. Realistic children. Life in the "olden days" when kids could pretty much live their own lives during the long days. 

4. The Owl Service

by Alan Garner

children's fiction 1967

Kindle

finished 1/16/21

I really wanted to like this, but I mostly felt it was odd. I don't want to say too much because it is a good story to come to fresh. I am interested in the mythical stories about old England and Wales, but this one just didn't strike my fancy.

5. Murder in Vienna - book 42 in the Robert Macdonald series

by E.C.R. Lorac

mystery 1956

Kindle 

finished 1/21/20

Still loving Lorac so much. What a terrific character Macdonald is. It is one of those series where you don't see him at home, or with relatives. It is just him on the case, yet readers get to know him as a person.

6. Kamala and Maya's Big Idea

by Meena Harris; illus. by Ana Ramirez Gonzalez

Children's book 2020

print

finished 1/24/21

7. Joey  The Story of Joe Biden

by Jill Biden; illus. by Amy June Bates

Children's book 2020

print

finished 1/24/21

8. The Fatal Flying Affair - book 7 in the Lady Hardcastle mysteries

by T. E. Kinsey

mystery 2020

Kindle

finished 1/27/21

I love this series! It is historical fiction set in the pre-WWI years. Awfully good relationship between two women, both of them strong and interesting. 

9. The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse

by Charlie Mackesy

illustrated fiction for adults and children 2019

print

finished 1/27/21

My main print reading is a very big (and wonderful book) about Churchill and the Second World War but I did read a few children's print books this month. 

I heard about The Boy...  from The Duchess of Cornwall. And then I saw it everywhere, so I bought it. I must be missing something. I think it is a perfectly fine children's book, but I am not one of the many adults who've written about how wonderful it is. I thought it rather simple and bland and not surprising or interesting. Probably I'm the only reader in the world who thinks this, but there you go. 

The book about President Biden was really quite wonderful. We got it for all the grandchildren for Christmas. It is quite detailed about things in his life. I think it will show children that ordinary people can do great things as children and may even be President someday.

This book about Kamala Harris and her sister, Maya written by Maya's daughter was based on a story the writer had always heard. It isn't necessary factual but is a good story. I didn't care for the illustrations. 

February Books

February - 5

7. Overdue - book two in the Village Library series
by Elizabeth Spann Craig
mystery 2019
Kindle
finished 2/6/20

I liked this, and will read on in the series.

8. The Man of Property - book one in The Forsyte Saga
by John Galsworthy
fiction 1906
Kindle
finished 2/20/20

It was The Forsyte Saga that made Tom and I television Anglophiles. I think it was on in the US in 1969, but was seen a couple years earlier in England. Beautifully written about a certain branch of society at a certain time in history. This is a family that shows hardly any real emotion and whose raison d'être is to accumulate property and money. The property sadly includes human beings, like wives. Well worth reading. I'm going on with the series.

9. Bread and Jam for Frances
by Russell Hoban
Illustrated by Lillian Hoban
children's fiction 1986
print
reread
library book that Margaret took out for Hazel
finished 2/21/20

The other day we were down at Hazel's house. She was quietly playing and Tom was sitting down, and I began reading aloud a most beloved Frances book. I wrote about this series years ago here. As I read along, Hazel went upstairs for something but I kept on and Tom and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It tells of a very wise mother's handling of a tricky situation - that of a child not liking too many foods and not wanting to try any new foods. Being myself what the world calls "picky" and I call "discerning", I appreciated how there was no cajoling on the parents' part to eat what she didn't want to eat. My folks were excellent about this. If I wanted spaghetti with butter in a restaurant, they had no problem ordering it for me. My mother never made me eat tripe which I found unbearably disgusting. I have grown up to still be a "discerning" eater, but I eat a lot more foods than I did as a child. Becoming a vegetarian introduced me to a world of eating I had never known growing up.

10. Indian Summer of a Forsyte - an interlude between The Man of Property and In Chancery
Now would be called 1.5 in a series
55 pages long
by John Galsworthy
fiction 1918
Kindle
finished 2/23/20

This short novella, what Galsworthy called an interlude, was sublimely beautiful. Old Jolyon is different from his brothers and sisters, and especially so when he is in his eighties. He is mellower, and a great appreciator of nature, and beauty, and his grandchildren. The writing is lovely.

11. Lassie Shows the Way
by Monica Hill
pictures by Lee Ames
children's fiction 1956
print
reread
my childhood Golden Book
finished 2/25/20

Hazel ate supper at our house on my birthday as her parents had to go out. We rented the movie Home on Amazon Prime. It is currently her favorite movie. It was really quite delightful, and warm spirited. Afterwards, she picked up one of my childhood books, and "read" through it, and then asked me to read it to her. I so enjoyed going back in time. Lassie was very popular when I was a child, in books and movies and television. Though played by a male dog, Lassie was a female in the shows. I have had a lifelong love of Collies, and we had one for seven years until the dear boy died young.

This is our MacIntosh in 2002.

I wrote about him on the blog here, and just a few months later wrote about his death here.

We wanted to get another but just didn't dare. We didn't think bear going through possible epilepsy again.

Anyhow, back to the story. Timmy stops in at the store for his mother, and there is a stranger there. The guy thinks his dog will win the dog show. As Timmy leaves he hears the man asks for his address. Today a store keeper would never give a stranger a child's address!! Lassie is later stolen, but comes back home as she always does! And leads the sheriff to the "bad guy". Pretty much par for the Lassie course, but to Hazel it was all new and she enjoyed it.

So that ends my reading month. Not many finishes, but lots of reading joy.

January Books

I had a good reading month, though I still mean to read more of my print books. I've begun my reading from the 1920s.

January - 6

1. Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War - book one in the Mrs Caldicot series
by Vernon Coleman
fiction 1993
Kindle
finished 1/2/20

As I read a line in this book, I had a flash of seeing a television production of it. I looked it up, and it starred Pauline Collins and John Alderton. I don't remember much about it, but from what I read, the film was changed some from the book. The story is about a very passive, very sheltered woman whose overbearing husband suddenly dies. Her son feels that she should go into a retirement home. She is my age (gulp!). The book is all about how the residents become empowered about their living conditions, and their lives. It is quite inspiring, with a happy ending, though there is sadness for the reader seeing how this place is run. And that there is such little regard for the inhabitants until Mrs C shows up.

2. The American Agent - book fifteen in the Maisie Dobbs series
by Jacqueline Winspear
mystery 2019
library book
Kindle
finished 1/8/20

Gosh, a lot of time has passed since we readers first met her in 2003. I so enjoy these books and the characters. One of the very great pleasures of my reading life.

3. The Nine of Us
 Growing Up Kennedy
by Jean Kennedy Smith
nonfiction 2016
print
finished 1/8/20

Jean Kennedy Smith is the last surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. She has written a really lovely telling of her life. Even if you've read everything about the Kennedys, she offers a new perspective. I loved this book, and am so happy she wrote it.

4. Mavis of Green Hill
by Faith Baldwin
fiction 1921
Kindle
finished 1/13/20

My first book of the 1920s, and such a joy it was. This wasn't about flappers and gin, but about a young woman who was bedridden from a train accident a dozen years before. She begins a correspondence with a young poet, and rather falls in love with him through his poems. She is a romantic soul who doesn't have a lot to amuse her in the life she leads. A new doctor comes into her life who suggests new treatments, and suddenly her whole life changes. One of the treats of the book is seeing Cuba in those days.

5. Brooklyn Legacies - book five in the Erica Donato series
by Triss Stein
mystery 2019
Kindle
finished 1/16/20

I do so enjoy this series. The reader learns something new about Brooklyn in each book. This one focused on the tensions of development between the Jehovah's Witness church and an historical home. The only negative for me is that I got annoyed at the main character's little criticisms of older times, while she is an historian!

6. The Cask
by Freeman Wills Crofts
mystery 1920
Kindle
finished 1/30/20

I've never read anything quite like this 100-year-old book. It is the ultimate police procedural, with the emphasis on procedure. It was almost like reading a police report, and then later a lawyer's report.

These policemen are mostly all men, except for a short time when three women do some work. They don't have families or girlfriends. They have friends, and they eat out, and they go to the movies, but there is no romance. They are totally devoted to their work. This work is slow and methodical.

I actually had to look up the word cask.  It is a large, barrel-like container used for storing liquids. In this book casks also held statues, and a dead woman's body.

The people investigating went back and forth from England to France to Belgium, trying to find out who killed her. The phrase about not leaving a stone unturned absolutely applies to these men. A fascinating book with a thrilling ending.

I have mentioned before, I think, that I subscribe to a publication called Give Me That  Old-Time Detection put together three times a year by a man named Arthur Vidro. The autumn edition featured Mr. Crofts. The 1996 review ofThe Cask was written by Charles Shibuk in the British publication CADS. I am going to quote some of the review.

Crofts suffered a major breakdown of his health in 1919 and, while seeking something to distract him from a slow and tedious period of convalescence, decided to try his hand at writing a detective novel.

The Cask (1920) secured rave reviews, and was translated into many languages, and had sold the not inconsiderable total of 200,000 copied by 1940. 

With the exception of E.C. Bentley's Trent's Last Case (1913), The Cask is probably the best first detective novel in the history of the form, and with Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), it heralded the advent of the detective story's great Golden Age. Critic Anthony Boucher, reviewing a 1967 reissue of The Cask, remarked: "Probably the most completely competent first novel in the history of crime, it is the definitive novel of alibis, timetables - and all the absorbing hairsplitting of detection..."

Ellery Queen, who considered it one of the ten most important detective novels, described it as the first great modern police novel.

The Cask is available on the Kindle, in paperback, and in hardcover. Not bad for a century-old book! Well worth all the praise. I was completely immersed and fascinated.

January 2019 books

January - 7

1. Little Christmas

by Agnes Sligh Turnbull

fiction  1964 in book form, 1947 in Farm Journal magazine

print

reread

finished 1/6/19 (on Little Christmas)

American writer/American setting

This is such a special book. I wrote about it here.

2. Someday the Rabbi Will Leave - book 9 in the Rabbi Small series
by Harry Kemelman
mystery 1985
Kindle
reread
finished 1/7/19
American writer/American setting

3. One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross - book 10 in the Rabbi Small series
by Harry Kemelman
mystery 1987
Kindle
reread
finished 1/10/19
American writer/American setting

4. The Day the Rabbi Resigned - book 11 in the Rabbi Small series
by Harry Kemelman
mystery 1992
Kindle
reread
finished 1/14/18
American writer/American setting

5. That Day the Rabbi Left Town - book 12 (and last) in the Rabbi Small series
by Harry Kemelman
mystery 1996
Kindle
reread
finished 1/19/19
American writer/American setting

My beloved Rabbi Small books came to an end with this one. They have a very strong sense of place - Boston and its suburbs. There is a lot of talking, which may put some off, but I love it. I love reading about what it means to be Jewish, I loved reading about Israel, I love the relationship between Rabbi Small and the Irish-Catholic police chief, Lanigan. This was my second-go-round of the books, and I still look forward to reading them all again.

Kemelman's obituary is here. The books were very popular. I love this picture of him. Such a cheerful, pleasant looking fellow, and I believe that spirit comes through in the books.

6. If Morning Ever Comes
by Anne Tyler
fiction 1964
Kindle
library book
finished 1/24/19
American writer/American setting

You may have noticed on the sidebar that I've announced 2019 to be my Anne Tyler year. I got thinking about it in November of last year when I read this. I went to my authors list and saw that I have read only four by her since I began the blog - Back When We Were Grownups, Noah's Compass, A Spool of Blue Thread, and now If Morning Ever Comes. I'm really looking forward to reading/rereading her work.

I borrowed this from my state's downloadable books program. I didn't notice when it was written and was completely astounded to learn after I had finished that this was her first book. What a way to begin! She was only 22, yet the book reads as if it were written by someone much older. I loved every minute of the book. A young man comes back home for a bit from college in New York City. Home is a small town in North Carolina, in a houseful of women - his grandmother, mother, and six sisters. The interactions between them all, the descriptions of their lives, the town and its residents were all so well written. As a reader, I loved being amongst these people. I thought it was a  wonderful book.

7. The Hopes and Dreams of Lucy Baker
by Jenni Keer
fiction 2019
Kindle
finished 1/30/19
English writer/English setting

I loved this book. The author describes her writing as "romantic comedies with a twist", which I think is just perfect. The characters are believable, there is romance, and the interiors are beautifully described - which is very important to me as a reader. I like to know where I am in a book. This book gave me the same kind of feeling as a book I read last year, Frances Garood's Ruth Robinson's Year of Miracles. What a complete pleasure it was to read each of them.

There was a lovely friendship between a 25-year-old woman and a 79-year-old woman. The older woman reminded me of a character in Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs. They are both herbalists, growing herbs in their gardens which they make into remedies for ailments. Her kitchen was "a room that resembled an old-fashioned apothecary, with racks of jars and tins on every wall." There is a wee bit of magic in the book, which I believed in. It was quite, quite perfect for me. Addendum: I meant to say that I first heard of this new book here.

In January I read:

3 fiction
4 mysteries

6 Kindle
1 print

4 by men
3 by women

1 - 1940s (woman)
1 - 1960s (woman)
2 - 1980s (man)
2 - 1990s (man)
1 - 2011-2019 (woman)

6 by American authors
1 by an English author

5 rereads
1 library book
1 new-to-me author

November books

Finally, I'm caught up! I just got it into my head that I had better do this now. 2018 is slip, slip, slipping away! As with all these posts, read from bottom to top. Sorry for confusion. This was just the easiest way for me to list them.

November - 8

57. Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry - book 2 in the Rabbi Small series
by Harry Kemelman
mystery 1966
Kindle
reread
finished 11/27/18
American writer/American setting

56. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late - book 1 in the Rabbi Small series
by Harry Kemelman
mystery 1964
Kindle
reread
finished 11/22/18
American writer/American setting

I read the Rabbi Small books years and years ago. I listened to them on Recorded Books tapes. I learned so much about what it means to be Jewish. The rabbi is great friends with the local policeman, who is Roman Catholic. He solves crimes through logic and the Talmud. Fascinating. I'm quite sure that nothing has ever been written like these books. They are informative, interesting, and just plain fun to read. This is one of my favorite mystery series.

55. Still Life with Bread Crumbs
by Anna Quinden
fiction 2014
Kindle
library book
finished 11/19/18
American writer/American setting

And I loved this one, too. Very different story, but it was just terrific. How do writers come up with ideas like this? Or any other fictional books. It is a miracle to me that one could invent a whole world, peopled with interesting souls.

55. Miller's Valley
by Anna Quindlen
fiction 2016
Kindle
library book
finished 11/17/18
American writer/American setting


I haven't ever read any of Anna Quindlen's fiction before. I've sometimes caught a word or two about the books, and the subject matter just didn't appeal, but I knew when I first heard about this book that I would like it, and I more than liked it. I thought it was a great book. I don't want to say much about it because it is nice to discover a story on your own. The time period was about the same as my growing up, so there was a lot of familiarity, but even if you are older or younger, it is still such a good, good story.

54. Quiet Girl in a Noisy World
An Introvert's Story
by Debbie Tung
nonfiction graphic novel 2017
finished 11/16/18
English writer/English setting

Along with the Garrood book below, this was my favorite of the year. I thought the drawings were fantastic, her story so interesting. It was just perfect. I am definitely an introvert, which I knew already, but this book pointed out new facets and I just nodded my head. I am so fond of this author who I don't even know.

53. Night Blind - book 2 in the Dark Iceland series
by Ragnar Jonasson
crime fiction 2015
print
finished 11/13/18
Icelandic writer/Icelandic setting

I so liked the first book, and couldn't wait to read this one. In it we have gone ahead five years. The third book goes back to just after the first book. Interesting way to do it. I heard that the author was supposed to be at the Malice Domestic conference, which shows that, as I noted before, this is not noir. The head of the police is shot dead, which so upsets the balance of this small town in Iceland. I really enjoy this series.

52. The Conqueror Inn - book 18 in the Bobby Owen series
by E.R. Punshon
mystery 1943
Kindle
finished 11/12/18
English writer/English setting

Time for some more Punshon, I thought. I love these Bobby Owen books. Always interesting.

51. Ruth Robinson's Year of Miracles
by Frances Garrood
fiction 2018
Kindle
finished 11/1/18
English writer/English setting

If pressed, I might say this is my favorite book of the year. It is everything I love in a book. Warmth, country living, people who care about each other, characters who are individuals. I heard about it here. I could hardly wait to begin and I enjoyed every minute of the book.

October books

October was a gem of a reading month. I read and read and read.

October - 9

50. The Book of Stillmeadow
by Gladys Taber
nonfiction 1948
print
finished 10/28/18 (read monthly over the year)
American writer/American setting

As you know, this was a year long book which I finished in October. Wonderful Gladys.

49. A Front Page Affair - book 1 in the Kitty Weeks Mystery series
by Radha Vatsal
mystery 2016
Kindle
library book
finished 10/27/18 (another 3 day book)
Indian born writer - lives in the US/American setting

I really liked this book set in the early years of the twentieth century. I didn't think I was a big historical fiction fan, but I was wrong. I've read so many this year, and loved them all. Kitty Weeks writes for a newspaper, and longs to report on the more serious stories, which of course happens! Looking forward to reading the next one.

48. Rogue Lawyer
by John Grisham
fiction 2015
Kindle
library book
finished 10/24/18 (a three day book)
American writer/American setting

I am a big Grisham fan! I recently went searching on my state's downloadable books site and found lots of his books. I plan of reading them all over time. He tells a good story, the pace is good, the characters are good. What's not to like. Oh, and I like the author. I've heard several interviews, and he just seems like a really nice person. Rogue Lawyer is very good!

47. Even If the Sky Falls Down
by Susan Jackson Bybee
fiction 2015
Kindle
finished 10/21/18
American writer/South Korea setting

Years ago, I used to read Susan Bybee's blog. I believe she was teaching in South Korea, a place dear to my heart because my children were born there. I had lost track of the blog over time but was aware she had written a book. I finally bought it for my Kindle, and truly enjoyed it. An important part of the book is the history of the older Korean characters who talk about the wartime. These reports are very moving, and give the reader a good sense of that time, and the country itself. Wonderful book. I did find her new-name blog and it is here.

46. The Music Shop: A Novel
by Rachel Joyce
fiction 2017
Kindle
library book
finished 10/15/18 (another two day book!)
English writer/English setting

Such a wonderful book. I loved it to pieces. It reminds me a tiny bit of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity in the sense of the importance of music. Good people, these characters. I wish I knew them in real life.

45. The Death of Mr Lomas - book 1 in the Inspector Knollis series
bu Francis Vivian
mystery 1941
Kindle
finished 10/13/18
English writer/English setting

Another new author for me, and I liked this book so much. I've bought the second one, too. Exciting for me to have found lots of new writers this year!

44. The Word is Murder: A Novel - book 1 in the Detective Daniel Hawthorne
by Anthony Horowitz
mystery 2017
Kindle
library book
finished 10/9/18 (two days!)
English writer/English setting

I just loved this book! I could hardly put it down. A unique and fascinating idea - he is a character in his own novel! I don't want to say anything about the story, except read it!

43. Death in Dark Glasses - book 17 in the Thomas Littlejohn series
by George Bellairs
mystery 1952
Kindle
finished 10/2/18
English writer/English setting

More Bellairs!! Great book.

42. No More Words 
A Journal of My Mother,
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
by Reeve Lindbergh
nonfiction 2001
print
reread
finished 10/1/18
American writer/American setting

This is an exceptional book on many levels. It is about the last years of Reeve's mother's, the author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, life. It is frank and honest. She began writing a diary after her mother came to live in a little house built for her on Reeve's farm. She had had a stroke and couldn't live alone or travel back and forth from Connecticut to Vermont anymore. Anne had exceptional caregivers, Buddhists who were compassionate and so very helpful. I wonder if I were in Reeve's position if I would have dared to write some of the things she did- thoughts we all have when a parent dies a lingering, long death. But she did because she knew it would help others who were going through it. That need to have your mother be herself again - caring about you, her child, rather than you having to care for her. Reeve is eloquent in her plain speaking. This is a beautiful book, and if you haven't read it, please do give it a try, and really every book Reeve Lindbergh has written. She is just so, so good.

September books

September - 3

41. The Murder of a Quack - book 4 in the Thomas Littlejohn series
by George Bellairs
mystery 1943
Kindle
finished 9/22/18
English writer/English setting

40. The Dead Shall Be Raised aka Murder Will Speak - book 3 in the Thomas Littlejohn series
by George Bellairs
mystery 1942
Kindle
finished 9/11/18
English writer/English setting

When I discover a new-to-me author, like Mr. Bellairs, I wonder how many others there are that I've never heard of. I am so delighted with almost every one I've read over the past several years. We readers are lucky, lucky that there is so much choice in our world! I am looking forward to both of Martin Edwards' books about some of these gems from the past, The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books and The Golden Age of Murder. I'm sure I will meet many more writers I've never heard of.

39. Fatal Finds in Nuala - book 4 in the Inspector de Silva
by Harriet Steel
mystery 2018
Kindle
finished 9/3/18
English writer/Sri Lanka setting (Ceylon in the story)

Every book is good in this series, and I've just bought the new one, a Christmas book!

August books

Please don't feel you need to comment on these book posts. My notes are short and sweet without giving you much information. If any book piques your interest, you could look it up on Goodreads.

August - 5

38. Murder in an English Village - book 1 in the Beryl and Edwina mystery series
by Jessica Ellicott
mystery 2017
Kindle
library book
finished 8/30/18
American writer/English setting

A new mystery series set in post World War 1. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and look forward to the second in the series! One of the women is an American adventuress and the other an English lady. They knew each other at school, and now circumstances have brought them together. I just loved the characters.

37. Death Sends for the Doctor - book 27 in the Thomas Littlejohn series 
by George Bellairs
mystery 1957
Kindle
finished 8/23/18
English writer/English setting

It didn't seem to matter that I began this terrific series at book 27. I so enjoy Chief Inspector Littlejohn, and have read a few others. I really can't get enough of these old mysteries.

36. Moving To The Country
by Reeve Lindbergh Brown
Reread
fiction 1983
print
finished 8/22/18
American writer/American setting


I read this book many years ago, and after seeing Reeve at my local library, I decided to find a used copy and buy it. I had told her while she signed my copy of her new one,Two Lives how much I liked her first novel. She seemed happy I had mentioned it and said it had been a while since she had read it. I liked it a lot. It is very true to the time period, and I expect a lot of it is based on her own life.

35. At Seventy
A Journal
by May Sarton
nonfiction 1984
print
finished 8/8/18
American writer/American setting

I had a reading scheme this year to read along with May as she went through the year following her 70th birthday. I tried, but it just didn't work. I ended up reading it all at one time, though I did write about the first month here. I so enjoyed this book, and after reading a part where a little movie was made of her, I went searching and bought a copy. It was wonderful to see her!

34. Dead Cold Brew - book 16 in the Coffeehouse mysteries series
by Cleo Coyle
mystery 2017
Kindle
finished 8/8/18
American writer(s)/American setting

I do so love this series. I have written many book reports about various books over the years. Even after all these books, I find the characters and stories as interesting and gripping as ever. There is a warmth to the series that one doesn't always find in mysteries. The reader really knows the characters and cares for them. Just lovely.

July books

Honestly, couldn't I have found a few minutes each month to write about that month's books, instead of zooming through like this in between making bread and doing desk work, and last night in between episodes of the new GBBO!

July - 6

33. Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek - book three in the Samuel Craddock series
by Terry Shames
mystery 2014
Kindle
library book
finished 7/31/18
American writer/American setting

32. The Last Death of Jack Harbin - book two in the Samuel Craddock series
by Terry Shames
mystery 2014
Kindle 
library book
finished 7/24/18
American writer/American setting

31. A Killing at Cotton Hill - book one in the Samuel Craddock series
by Terry Shames
mystery 2013
Kindle
library book
finished 7/19/18
American writer/American setting

Boy, did I ever love this book, and the others I've read so far in the series. Samuel is an ex-policeman in Texas who keeps some cows and goes to visit them each day. He loves where he lives, and truly cares about the townspeople. They care for him as well, and often call on him for help instead of the often-drunk or hungover new chief of police. Here is a little video of the author (try and ignore the music!).



30. Murder at the Brightwell - book one in the Amory Ames series
by Ashley Weaver
mystery 2014
Kindle
finished 7/13/18
American writer/English setting

What a great and promising beginning of a series! I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, the setting, the time period, and fully intend to go on and on reading the adventures of Amory Ames, a really delightful character. This is another series written now and set in the 1930s, a time period I enjoy spending time in.

29. Heart Spring Mountain
by Robin MacArthur
fiction 2018
print
finished 7/6/18
American writer/American setting

Not only did I really, really like this book, but I will always remember it as the heat spell book I read sitting in the living room in front of a fan for hours! I've written about Robin MacArthur's book of short stories here, and her first novel is equally good. She has an amazing eye for the realities of life that aren't always visible in rural Vermont (or any other rural area of this country, I would guess). This is a wonderful book, and she is a terrific author. I can't praise her enough, and Heart Spring Mountain really deserves a long post of its own.

28. Nigel
My family and other dogs
by Monty Don
nonfiction 2016
print
finished 7/1/18
English writer/English setting

This is the year that Monty Don has come into our lives. Britbox began offering the English television program Gardeners' World. It is one of the best shows I've ever seen. Monty Don is the warm, calm, reassuring, enthusiastic, humble host. I bought two of his books, follow him on Instagram, and am also watching some other shows he has done via Netflix. Wonderful how we can get these programs over here now! Nigel is his aging Golden Retriever. He and a younger Golden, Nell are the real stars of Gardeners' World. Don writes about the other dogs in his life, telling him a bit about his own life in the bargain. Really wonderful. I loved it.