I am being led by the author through the squalid streets of St Giles, London in the mid 1870's with prostitutes and beggars on every side. From there I am taken to the newly built suburban district of Notting Hill where the 'client' of one of the prostitutes lives with his ailing wife and a multitude of servants.
Am reading this because a BBC series is coming up shortly and the book only cost a penny from Amazon.

I have just left Botswana and am now in the Scottish Highlands with a red-headed policeman and his odd pets.

Vee, more info. please?

Regarding Shakespeare, I believe he left his second-best bed to his wife. I wonder who got the best one? Anyone know?

I'm now where woodnymph was back on March 20 -- Oxford reading ancient texts on alchemy and trying to avoid a seductive vampire.

Veronicae - Now you have me interested in the Ackroyd book. I'll have to buy it. ...

BTW: Later I attended -- for a couple years -- an all-girl high school taught by nuns from a different order (not the Polish one I'd had in grade school). ... They were somewhat worldly for nuns-- talked about Shakespeare's "Dark Lady", told us girls what "Get thee pregnant with a mandrake root" meant, etc. It wasn't all bad -- the discipline, high academic standards, and love of European culture were good for we who attended parochial schools. Here in New York City many non-Catholics send their children to Catholic schools for those very reasons.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Annpan -- Are you reading an Alexander McCall Smith book? If so, which one? Sounds like one I haven't read ... yet.

Lauramarie, I was reading Mma Ramotswe's Cookbook. See my posting on the March reading thread. I won't try the recipes but I enjoyed looking through them. The book is beautifully presented.

Ann, the book is The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. I don't know how it will be squeezed into so few episodes, especially as there are bound to be many scenes of naked buttocks/heaving bosoms etc. But, it might also give the viewers a glimpse of the extreme faces of Victorian morality.

Lauramarie I too was taught by nuns (Ursulines, considered by some to be the top educators). Certainly much time was spent on SIN, the jaws of Hell and its avoidance. Interesting that Veronicae describes Anglicans as the 'foe' for these nuns still regarded any 'non-Catholic' as a threat, especially wicked young men who might wish to form relationships with their pure girls. ;-)
The same nuns also were inclined to forget that throughout history many cruel things have taken place in the name of true religion eg the burning at the stake of hundreds of Protestants during a couple of years of the reign of Mary Tudor and a lesser number by Henry VIII.
Lauramarie, I think nearly all the Catholics within the UK (certainly up to the 1960's?) are descended from 'incomers' of that religion. Though not RC myself, I have very many friends who are and nearly ALL through either an Irish grandparent or maybe a Spanish/Italian/Belgium connection.
There are only a few aristocratic families (eg Dukes of Norfolk) and a handful of people from really remote Scottish islands who remained RC. Nowadays the waining RC population is being bulked up by incoming Polish etc workers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Up Coming TV Drama

Vee, I looked up the plot on Wiki and I don't think it is my kind of program but I know how much one can look forward to the dramatisation of a favourite book.

Regarding Catholics, When we moved from London as the V2 rockets were making my 4 year old fragile sister a nervous wreck, there was a Catholic school opposite our lodgings. However we were not able to enrol there, being C.of E. so had to walk a mile to the general school. Not good in snowy weather. Later when I went to the grammar school, the Catholic students had separate Religious Knowledge classes.
I don't think this segregation was a good idea .I would have liked a mixing of culture, leading to better understanding.

In real life, I have workpersons(!) installing a roller shutter which noise is distracting me from my Paris mystery novel locale.

Annpan - I went through the book re: the second best bed. It seems in those times, the "best" bed was used only by guests. The second best bed was one that the husband and wife used - so he was leaving her their marriage bed, and not slighting her.

Veronicae: Thanks for that. The idea of having "best" for visitors has gone down the ages in England. My grandmother kept a beautifully furnished sitting room for when visitors came and Christmas Day. She had another room for everyday use!

Veer --
Weird Coincidence: As I read your post I was -- am -- across the street from an Ursuline convent! ... Very old - 1855, and still going strong. Still has an all-girls' school, too.

Here's a link for all the Alexander McCall Smith fans. This interview was done this Monday. Enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Alexander McCall Smith interview

Kathy_t, I think you are Alys in "The World Is Not Enough," by Zoe Oldenbourg. One of my favorite books although I am always infuriated by the way women were treated during the twelfth century (I'm equally infuriated by the way they are treated during the twenty-first). Am I right about the book?

Rule34, you are right! I am so surprised to find someone who knows about The World is Not Enough. I thought it was pretty obscure.

It's nice to hear of someone who enjoyed it. My mother, who departed this life a couple of years ago, told me several times that it was her favorite novel. However, it didn't interest me much and so I never read it while she was alive. When I came upon it among her things, I felt badly that I had not been willing to read her favorite novel and discuss it with her. I know it would have pleased her. So, belatedly, I've made my amends. I hope she knows. (And no, I wasn't crazy about the book. I struggled through those pages and pages about the Crusades, as I suspected I would.)

I've been spending the last twenty years moving from Edinburgh to London, from horrible student-type bed-sits to plush apartments mixing with wannabe actors/writers/TV highflyers always unsuccessfully seeking happiness.

I'm in Texas, with a young child growing up in a dysfunctional family. I saw the author give a talk last week: she defines a dysfunctional family as any that has more than one person. Her talk was excellent, and her memoir makes one feel like saying "so I'm not the only one who feels that way."

I'm in London and have apparently become invisible after helping a rather dirty and bloody girl escape from two rather strange men. On the whole, I'm more confused than I usually am, but I've just met someone who can actually see me, so I'm off to follow him. Probably not the best idea, but my options appear to be limited.

(I'm so tempted by Game of Thrones, but I'm a bit hesitant to get into it right now. Maybe by the time I get to read it the TV series will be available on Netflix. Jason Momoa and Sean Bean ... sigh!)

I'm in Ireland having traveled with my husband's boss, posing as his half-sister, to help clear his name of treason and thus help my husband keep his job.

Veronica - I am guessing that you are reading Half Broke Horses. (I so want to put a hyphen in that title.) Am I right?

I haven't read it yet, but will in a few months with my book club. Shortly after reading The Glass Castle, I saw Jeannette Walls speak, and while she did not give us her definition of a dysfunctional family, that sounds exactly like something she would say. She's a gem!

Accompanying a tubby priest as he goes around solving mysteries.

Currently staying in a big country house with the large family of brothers, sisters, cousins etc. It's summer and there seems to be endless amounts of time to muck about. It's between the wars, although getting perilously close to the outbreak of WWII, and yet, despite all the signs, people seem to be ignoring Hitler's activities.

I'm in an abbey on the border between Wales and England, and there is a rather nasty war going on around me. Good thing I have something to hold onto to keep me balanced and sensible.

Rosefolly

kathy t - The book I was reading was The Liars' Club by Mary Karr.

For the past couple of weeks I have been spending each bed-time with a doctor's new wife and family in a small country town in the England of the 1830's. Not a great deal happens, young men call, ladies discuss the latest fashion for ribbons with which to trim their bonnets and the 'new' Mother, risen from humble governess, is a dreadful snob. An excellent way of dropping off to sleep.

Veronica - Well, that was a bad guess! Do you recommend the The Liars' Club?

Vee - Wives and Daughters?

Yes Paula/rosefolly, spot on!

Veronica - I loved "Liars Club." I have her next book, "Cherry," on my bookshelf, but I haven't read it yet.

I'm with a little old lady in some small town in the U.S. She's about to stake out a graveyard to see who's been vandalizing the headstones.

I'm in Wisconsin, slowly and reluctantly poisoning my wealthy older husband with arsenic.

I'm in Italy. I have amnesia following an accident, my aunt has taken me to her villa, and I am very frightened by a single earring in my bag from the hospital and by the lemon garden at the villa.

This is a paperback I picked up at a used-book store and reminds me of the good old gothic romance/damsel in distress days.

Kathy - I enjoyed The Liar's Club immensely. The weekend before I read it, my husband attended a lecture she gave. It was excellent...the time passed much too quickly.

Sarah...a while ago I mentioned that we seem to like a lot of the same books, but couldn't come up with any examples...so here's one.

I just took a look on youtube, following a Google trail, and found snippets from some of her talks. Very interesting, especially the ones from ABC and PBS interviews, and complement her books, poems and the talk we saw.

Veronica -- Do you use Goodreads? It's a fun way to share what you've read with others ... and to keep track yourself of what you've read. Siobhan connected with me there. I'm not sure how you do it, but it would be fun to compare books. I have pretty eclectic taste -- everything from fantasy to Austen. I'll have to watch and see what you're reading.

If you like memoirs, you might like Rick Bragg's All Over But the Shoutin'. I read it years ago and really enjoyed it.

Sarah, I do enter the books I have currently read and am reading. I initially was going to enter books I had read in the past, but decided not to.

I'm not quite sure how to connect either. I'll work on it. Are you also Sarah Canary there?

I am eleven years old and trying my hardest to solve a few murders in my little English village just after WWII. I am a whiz at chemistry as well.

BookMom - It's hard to imagine reluctantly poisoning someone. I love these descriptions!

Kathy, I thought someone would guess my book immediately with that description. Not sure I would recommend it, though.

I've started to use Goodreads to keep track of much of what I've read, but sometimes have trouble making it do what I want it to do; I'm sure it's my fault but it doesn't seem user-friendly.

bookmom - I agree about Goodreads. Some parts are easy, some are not. I put a book on my "Currently Reading" shelf and then I couldn't seem to move it to the "Read" shelf.

I'm with Alaric crossing the frozen Rhine on my way to Rome.

&

I am on a circa 1918 destroyer, routed by the Japanese right after Pearl Harbor. We came out of a squall to find the sea full of man eating fish and the land covered with man eating lizards. A war is beginning between what looks to be a race of evolved Velociraptors and a race of what what the enlisted men are calling cat monkeys. Looks like we are throwing in with the Cat Monkeys.

Sheri, I'm with you. Momoa may just be the most beautiful man on TV.

I'm on a ship heading from India to Africa. (This should be an easy one for several of you.)

Martin Z, your wisecracking private eye from Boston is a favorite of my husband and me. We were sorry when the author died suddenly last year. We'll miss Spencer and Hawk. I won't miss Susan at all. I found her eating habits incredibly annoying.

Rosefolly

Just found this site. I have cloned myself so I can be in several places at once.
At work I am in California visiting a dying friend and putting together incidents that are all linked to a murder to help another friend.
In the car I have visited Gettysburg for a re-enactment of Lincoln's speech, and am now visiting the Eisenhower Library so I can give Bill Clinton advice on setting up his library.
And at home I am heading to Duck, NC. But instead of relaxing in the sun I am going to help a psychic mayor solve a murder.

Many of us are busy solving murders, it seems. I am in Iceland, a single mother of two, and a grisley murder investigation has landed in my lap. I am researching its background by reading an ancient tome, "The Hammer of Witches". Iceland is chilly -- is Netla still here at our forum?

jaxsonmom, I am quite familiar with Duck NC. That's a great beach area. Enjoy!

I'm on an old beat-up racetrack in West Virginia watching Medicine Ed use goofer powder on the horse he wants to win, Mr. Boll Weevil.

I'm following both Woodnymph2 and Sarahcanary's footsteps but instead of avoiding the handsome vampire, I am now with him at his palatial home in the countryside near Lyon, France.

veer, if you're still following this thread, would you mind telling me the title of the book you mentioned on March 19 at 10:49? :) Thanks so much.

pfmastin, it was the first of the Agatha Raisin books by MC Beaton. A friend has lent me nine of them, but I haven't found the first one and an quarter enjoyable or well-written. Almost no 'plot', shoddy characterisation and sloppy grammar . . . otherwise fine. ;-)

veer, thank you for validating my response to the Raisin books! I enjoy his Hammish McBeth series so I tried the Agatha Raisin and found them almost painful to read. A sense of ennui comes over me, then overwhelming hopelessness. I see no reason for living and realize I've landed in Sartre's No Exit.

I have just finished writing about the (ongoing) aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans - horrifying.

I am also in the 1950's, admiring my new chrome-edged table and chairs for the kitchen and super-excited about the introduction of TV dinners and Tang...!

I write and direct films, and have come to Perth for a film festival. I was born here, but my mother was an Australian war bride, and I've lived most of my life in the USA. On my first day here, I run into my American ex-husband--a famous director also attending the festival--and an Aussie surgeon I had an affair with 10 years ago in NYC, where he was doing some research.

Thank you,veer.....I think. ;

woodnymph2, I spent vacations on the Outer Banks for several years and loved the area.

I am now in a charming seaside town in Washington State. I recently moved here and have found a corpse. Oh, and did I mention that I can now see ghosts and that one of them wants me to solve his murder, which was over a century ago?

In an alternate life (book) I'm a tough, dedicated, hot (and not just beacuse there's a heat wave) NYC detective stuck with an irritating journalist following me around. I don't know whether to kill him or maybe, just maybe, admit there's an attraction. Bur first I've got to solve two murders before there are more.

I'm in a Japanese POW camp.

I am absolutely fascinated by this book. It annoyed me when I had to stop reading and cook supper.