Have just tried to read both Matthew Pearl novels, "The Poe Shadow" and "The Dante Club." Still have them checked out, but somehow their plots were just too convoluted for my mood at present.

So I switched to a straightforward biography: "Ella" by C. Warwick, about one granddaughter of Queen Victoria who married an imperial relative of the last Tsar and ended by being declared a Saint. Interesting, so far, especially all the interconnections between all the European royal houses prior to WW I.

I decided to read my book club's selection for this month before starting The Children of Hurin. It is Jump at the Sun by Kim McLarin, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the story of an upper middle class black wife and mother who feels trapped by her family role after losing her job. I loved the fact that this book defied the perfect-mother/monster-mother myth we seem to believe these days. The scene where a desperate working mother secretly sends Tylenol to school with her mildly feverish child so she can go to work and earns the scorn of her peers is priceless. I found the story believable and enthralling, the main character sympathetic even on the occasions I regretted her decisions.

I'm travelling for the next few days and have with me Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. I was intrigued by the BBC movie and am enjoying the book as well.

Rosefolly

Cindy - Thanks for the input on Pratchett. I'm still plodding through Monstrous Regiment, and I do like the characters, but the story is rather slow-moving. I'll look for the websites you mentioned.

Frieda, to my shame I had never heard of the Book Depository in Glos' although it is only about 20 miles up the road. I wonder if one can just turn up there? Probably not!
Glad you enjoyed the House by the River. Tindall is such a good writer. I shall order the 'Fields' from the library. I read Ackenfield many years ago and have since learnt that Blythe was criticised by some 'locals' for writing untruths about them.
Do you remember Peter Carr's Portavo about an N Irish coastal area? Part II is out taking us to the present day; another I shall order from the library. I buy very few books.
I'll get back to you if/when I think of other titles. These types of books are quite popular over here but are often published by smaller 'local' presses and never make the headlines.

A book slightly along those lines is Home by Julie Myerson, in which she goes into great detail about all the people who have ever lived in her house in Clapham, S London. I have it here from the library but its sheer size is daunting. Considering her house was only built in 1870 (a snip in time by UK standards) I think the blue pencil should have been put into use.

Sarah, heres one:(scroll down)

>Poe's Shadow

I have been a Poe fan since Jr Hi, and was eager for this book. One of my book groups chose it for next month so I got it and started reading. I got bogged down early, and then bored. Let me know if you make it through and if you liked it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pratchett book reading order

this one is good too

Here is a link that might be useful: Another Pratchett site

I've always loved Poe, too, so I was eager to read The Poe Shadow and was first on the list at the library. Unfortunately, the writing wore thin for me very quickly, and I remember rolling my eyes a lot for some reason. Maybe that was before I got my reading glasses, but I digress. I quit reading it before I got very far. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy it and went on to other things.

I finished Tana FrenchÂs debut novel In the Woods. ItÂs a gorgeously written, psychologically tense, atmospheric police procedural set in Ireland.

Warning  Mild Spoiler (Not really a spoiler per se, but some people are sensitive to any kind of information about how the story turns out. If youÂre one of them, you may want to skip the next paragraph.)

This book is generating some great reviews, but also some irate reviews over at Amazon from readers unhappy with the ending. You see thereÂs an important plot point that remains unresolved at the end of the book. IÂm hoping itÂs part of a story arc that the author intends to address in future books featuring the same character. If IÂm wrong and this is a standalone as those Amazon reviewers have assumed, that would be bad. Very bad. I canÂt find anything online that would tell me one way or the other. Until then, I cautiously recommend this book.

Next up is Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest, which has been described as a southern gothic horror novel. ItÂs basically about a young woman who can see dead people. There are two sequels, so I'm hoping to like it.

Cindy - Thanks so much for those links. That will really help at the library or used book store.

Sarah

Just about to finish "Therapy" by David Lodge. It's been a good read so far although I glazed over the existentialism talk that he went through. This is one of those books that I was lent (and forced to read) -- see thread about being loaned books for more info.

Can't wait to finish it and then get on to one of my own books. I think Ackenfield would be a nice one. Thanks Vee!

Thanks for warning me about "The Poe Shadow." I may not finish it. Did those of you who could not pursue to the end like Pearl's other work: "The Dante Club"?

Well, I wasn't too bothered by The Dante Club and I'm trying to slog through The Poe Shadow.

I'm having problems with Poe since, well, nothing's happening. Dante, I found, wasn't too bad -- pacing was ok.

I MIGHT continue with Poe but ..... I'm not going to hold my breath. ;-)

I am not a fan of Poe, so haven't read The Poe Shadow, but I am a fan of Dante and really hesitated before reading The Dante Club. I ended up enjoying the book, even though the plot was oddly convoluted. I gleaned some insight into Dante's life and gathered some intriguing information about the Inferno, also. The experience reminded me of what Bill Cosby used to say to introduce one of his children's shows that was in a cartoon format, "You better be careful - you might learn something!" Is it possible that Pearl is using the novel "Poe" as a teaching tool?

frieda,

I know of a book you may enjoy. It is called Life in an English Country Cottage by Adrian Tinniswood. It is a larger size, being approx. 9 x 11 inches, and full of color photographs and art. But the text is wonderful, too. It tells what it was really like to live in the cottages so many of us romanticize. Perhaps you've already read it, but I loved it so much I needed to share the title with you. I do have others on the topic (a la Akenfield, which I loved) but haven't had the time to read them yet. I can share the titles and you can weed out which ones strike your fancy.

I've just begun Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party. At page 10, I am enjoying it but cannot say much more than that the main character seems to be Auguste Renoir.

PAM

I am thoroughly enjoying The Secret Servant the latest by Daniel Silva. The plot is right off the front pages and Silva certainly knows his "stuff" of course he did work at CNN for years.

Pat

I am trying to read Vreeland's "Luncheon of the Boating Party." I've only read the first chapter and am finding it rather slow. Those of you who are also reading this, does it get better?

Mary, I am on page 36 of Luncheon of the Boating Party so I do not know if I am ahead or behind you. But I got a book of Renoir's works from the library and one on impressionist painters. Both of these books have really helped to make the book better because I now know what many of the people actually looked like. Perhaps this will help to make it more enjoyable for you as well. Keep me posted on your thoughts on this book, please!

PAM

Finished up "Akenfield: A Portrait of an English Village" by Ronald Blythe. Really enjoyed it and felt as though I was right there when the characters were being interviewed. It's an ethnographer's study of a small English village in 1969, and there are first-person interviews with everyone from the village squire to the grave digger. I was really surprised to read that they were still using thatchers and wheelwrights back in 1969. I thought most of those occupations had become extinct, but apparently they were still going on.

I did some further research and found out that a Canadian has done a follow-up to Akenfield called "Return to Akenfield" with some of the same characters and an interview with the original author who was 80 at the time of this second book. Contemplating reading it but will have to see.

Next, I am going to go for a total change of pace and read something about King Arthur.

PAM, thanks for mentioning the Tinniswood book. I will definitely look for it. Yes, please, I'd appreciate you posting any titles that you have.

Liz, I want Return to Akenfield, by the Canadian fellow. Let us know if you read it. Do you know if Blythe's other books are as good or interesting?

I read a stack of books while at the beach--some good, some not worth mentioning. I really enjoyed The Painted Veil which I chose thanks to the kudos on this site. A novel called Triangle about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire will lead to non-fiction reading about this tragedy and interests me especially since I had an immigrant great-grandmother doing factory work in NYC around the same time. Unfortunately, the Pearl Buck books which are the second and third in The Good Earth trilogy are not nearly as fascinating as the first.

I finally finished Susanna Clark's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It took me about 400 pages to really get into it, which was about halfway through, but I'm glad I persevered since the last half of the book was the most enjoyable to me.

Today I read The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and thought it was wonderful. I'm not sure what to pick up next, but maybe I'll start on Tolkien's The Children of Hurin.

Frieda, Here are a few books you may enjoy. I've not read them so I cannot add a personal recommendation. They do, however, look rather attractive on my bookshelves!

The Blue Field: Portrait of an English Village by John Moore. This is non-fiction about the people who lived in Brensham, in Shakespeare Country, copyright 1949.

A Village Girl: Memoirs of a Kentish Childhood by Sarah Shears with an introduction by R. F. Delderfield. From the front flap: "In this enthralling and deceptively simple book, a memoir, a work of art, a delight - Sarah Shears writes about growing up in England in the settled, calm years between the great wars." copyright 1971

Down the Village Street by Peter Douglas. Douglas and his wife left a well-paid job in the midlands to run a general store and post office in deepest Norfolk. It is a chronicle of his first year. I am not entirely sure if this is non-fiction...he may have greatly embellished events and changed the names of people. copyright 1978

The Green Lane to Nowhere by Byron Rogers. He left the city for life in the village of Blakesley. He wrote a column entitled The Village Voice for The Sunday Telegraph. This book is a collection of those essays of life in his English village. copyright 2002

Exmoor Village by W. J. Turner From the jacket flap: "The attempt has been made here to give an authentic account of the way of life, the outlook, and feelings of the people described, and to do this as well as possible, the book is based on actual studies made." This may make it sound boring, but the book itself looks fascinating. copyright 1947

And another one by Adrian Tinniswood: The Polite Tourist. I just really like his writing style. He doesn't write "down" to the uninformed, but neither does he fill his works with techno-babble. This book is about Four Centuries of Country House Visiting. It goes back to Elizabethan Times and how tourists would tour castles and goes forward to discuss current tourists viewing homes in the National Trust. copyright 1999 in the USA.

Hope this helps. If you find any of them or read them, I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts and impressions. In the meantime, I think I've got a few more around the house someplace...I'll keep looking.

PAM

PAM, there isn't actually a place called Brensham It is rather an amalgam of several villages and the ancient town of Tewkesbury (recently badly flooded) about which Moore wrote. He was highly thought of in his day. Several books in the series.
You beat me to recommending the Byron Rogers book. He is a Welshman who moved to Northamptonshire. Not a well-known area of England except for Althrop where the late Diana P of W grew up and Northampton home of boot and shoe making.

Here is a link that might be useful: John Moore

> really enjoyed The Painted Veil which I chose thanks to the kudos on this site.

I was surprised by how much I loved the book. I ended up reading a bunch of Maugham this summer because of it (not On Human Bondage, just couldn't get into it)

>A novel called Triangle about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire will lead to non-fiction reading about this tragedy

By Katharine Weber? I have heard good things about it. I also have an interest, my grandparents were also in the business at about the same time in NYC.

Cindy--yes, by Katharine Weber. The story starts out slowly with alot of talk about the intersection of music composition and math theory and seems forced but it turns into a very good book. As a result, I've been drawing Sierpinski triangles and ordered from the library a non-fiction work by Von Drehle about the fire. My Baba worked in a cigar factory in NYC; she was all of 14 years old and here on her own and I find it amazing that her story is not unique. Her daughter, my Nana, worked in a garment factory in Scranton sewing lace onto women's undergarments as her first job.

PAM, wow! All I had to do was ask and look what I've received. Thank you so much.

With Vee's second of the Byron Rogers book, I think I will order that one next. I've already ordered Tinniswood's Life in a Country Village and The Verneys -- the latter being a biography of a family (quoting the New Yorker review at Amazon) "with a long lineage and a habit of backing the wrong side." Vee, do you know about these Verneys?

I've just started Things That Must Not Be Forgotten: A Childhood in Wartime China by Michael David Kwan. Kwan, whose father was Chinese and his mother Swiss, endured World War II and the post-war period as a cultural outcast because he was biracial. So far, I'm enthralled. I've been reading quite a bit about China lately, and now I wonder why I didn't read more before.

Frieda, there is a village near where I grew up in Stratford called Compton Verney, probably owned by an off-shoot of the Buckinghamshire Verneys of Claydon, where there is an an interesting connection with Florence Nightingale.
What it must have been like to be a woman in those times, where your family just married you off to the highest bidder and everything you owned automatically became the property of your husband. All you could hope for was to become a wealthy widow too old to be bossed about by your father or brothers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Claydon House

veer, thank you for the clarification and the website. I have ordered the two missing books from the Brensham trilogy by John Moore so I can complete the set. I appreciate your insight and knowledge of the area as well as your recommendations.

Frieda, you are always welcome. In turn, I've learned of the Country Village book by Tinniswood from you! I've not ordered it yet, since I just ordered the John Moore books and the TBR read pile now takes up a whole room. But if you come upon any other gems in this category, please, please share them!

PAM

Ach, PAM, I've misled you. I meant that I ordered Life in the English Country Cottage. That'll teach me to always check for the correct title before I put my fingers to the keyboard. My apologies.

I reviewed my order and found that I also ordered Tinniswood's By Permission of Heaven: The True Story of the Great Fire of London. I just love it when I find a new author, to me, and I often go a bit wild trying to get everything s/he's written. I know exactly what you mean about TBR piles, but I'm delighted nonetheless in acquisition...in fact, that's half the fun.

Vee, interesting connection between the Verneys and Nightingales. I'd forgotten about Florence's sister being named Parthenope -- it's not just modern parents who give their offspring fanciful names.

Just finished Jeffrey Deaver's latest, The Sleeping Doll, as I went to a lunch with him (and about 12 others) today. The book was quite good, the lunch was wonderful and Deaver himself was charming and funny, so had a great day.

Checking in from my Maine holiday cottage -

Today the tide is in as far as I have seen it this week, accompanied by fog and rain. This is not a cause for distress, however, as there are a couple of museums to be visited and my sunburn needs a day of rest.

I had brought Peony in Love, only to be very disappointed. After a promising beginning, I all but abandoned it half-way through, then picked it up and skimmed the remainder. I enjoyed Lisa See's first book enormously, but this one just fell flat with me.

The disappointment was short-lived; in fact it was a relief since the walls of this old cottage are lined with books left behind by generations of holiday residents. Some of the books that jumped out at me:

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
Several James Thurber collections - wonderful!
Stalking the Wild Asparagus - Euell Gibbons (remember him?)
Herbs and Apples - Helen Hoover Santmyer (author of ...Ladies of the Club)
World Enough and Time - Robert Penn Warren
Inside, Outside - Herman Wouk
The Boston Cooking School Book - Fannie Farmer

Also represented: Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, Rumer Godden, Chaim Potok

I could go on and on. Several books about Maine history and plenitful non-fiction. Also, of course, a large selection of popular novels from the last 40 years or so. I would love to read or at least look through all of them. There are a few I would like to "borrow" - of course I won't! Next year I will bring some to add to the collection.

Of all the pleasures I expected from my holiday in Maine, I didn't foresee having an eclectic and unique library at my disposal!

Siobhan - can't be bad. Last place I stayed had a large collection of books in the hotel reception area, but they were in many languages - and the English ones were all rubbish.

Taking a short break from Booker Prize long list (as I couldn't find any in the bookshops), so I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy as a nice light easy read....gordon bennett, it's grim reading, isn't it! But morbidly fascinating.

Martin - my mum read "The Road" on the plane from England to America and she said she cried her eyes out. It must be very sad for this to happen. BTW, haven't heard "gordon bennett" for yonks so this was funny to see....

I have been struggling for a few days with what to read. I picked up a few but nothing stuck and so finally, I drove to the library and got a few Alexander McCall Smith's detective books which seem to be doing the trick.

BTW - you all should be proud of me. I turned down a book from a friend yesterday! And it went very well. Yeah for me.

Cindy, if you're out there, I seem to recall that earlier you said something about reading Joseph Kanon's The Good German. Did you read it, and if so, what did you think? I've been eyeing it for quite a while but can't decide whether I want to read it since I didn't like Los Alamos at all and only finished it because that was back in the days when I would force myself to finish books even when I hated them.

Astrokath, how fascinating that you had lunch with Jeffrey Deaver. I've always liked his books, and even though I didn't think The Sleeping Doll was one of his best, I still enjoyed it.

Before I forced myself to start cleaning the house today, I finished Tolkien's The Children of Hurin and loved it. I wish I didn't have so many other books in the TBR stack or I would start reading it again. I'm thinking about picking up North River by Pete Hamill. I haven't read any of his previous works, so I'm not sure what to expect, but it's gotten great reader reviews on Amazon.

color, I started it and made a bit of headway - then school started and honestly nothing I pick up to read is able to get through the brain right now. I remember thinking that the writing is very good in terms of imaging what was happening in German post WWII, and thought the characters well interesting. I stopped a little after the murder was discovered. Can't say much more - think if I have more time I will get it out again.

Thanks, Cindy. I picked it up at the library, so I guess I'll try it and see how it goes after I finish a couple of others I checked out as well.

Right - finished The Road. One good thing is that ANYTHING I choose to read next is going to be more cheerful, no matter what it is. But yes, an excellent book. I thought it was interesting that the way he chose to write the prose (no quotes around the dialogue, no names given - even the use of things like hadnt instead of hadn't) sort of emphasises the bleakness of the whole place and situation.

Now back to the Booker long list. About to read The Gathering by Anne Enright. I probably wouldn't have been interested in this, in the usual way, but it was the only one on the long list I could find in the bookshop. Still, five people who ought to have more than the average opinion reckon it to be one of the best thirteen books of the year. You never know - I might have picked up a gem!

Slugging along through Luncheon of the Boating Party by Vreeland. Actually, slugging isn't the right word because I am now wrapped up in it and carry it around the house just in case I have a moment to grab a page. I only have about fifty pages left and shall finish it sometime today.

PAM

Martin, I read The Border Trilogy by McCarthy and the punctuation was missing in that too. At times I had trouble in a long section of direct speech in working out who was saying what, and it annoyed me a bit.

While in vacation in Maine, in a B&B part of which was built in 1760 and is decorated tastefully in that time period, sitting in front of a fire, and then on the front porch overlooking the Bay - I finished 1776. Well done on McCullough's part to make history so accessible, and his use of so many journals and letters supports the "facts" so well. Oh, and also reading in the library, with a print of the painting of Washington praying before the battle at Trenton...enough said.

I am now reading The Whistling Season by Doig and enjoying it immensely. His young characters are a hoot! Some good thoughts on education. I like the way the young interact with the adults...the adult responsibilities they bear, yet retaining their childhood enthusiasms and mischief.

Veronicae, between you and Siobhan describing your holidays, we will all have to take up vacationing in B&Bs in New England. It sounds wonderful, especially in light of the fact that we in Kentucky have broken all records for length of days with temps above 90, highest temps on several days (up to 105), and drought situation while all those other states are flooded. We are told we may get some relief the middle of next week.

I made a trip to the main branch of our library a couple of weeks ago and found the first five of the John Harvey books featuring Charlie Resnick, detective in Nottingham, and am really enjoying them while I stay in the house with the air conditioning running non-stop.

Carolyn-Nottingham is my home town and I thoroughly enjoyed Harvey's books about Resnick and then went on to read his books about Frank Elder-all very good IMO!

Have you read the books by Stephen Booth?

I am currently enjoying some lighter fare-Clive Cussler & his Trojan Odyssey. I enjoy the way he incorporates naval history into all his books and the fact that he really is responsible for discovery of a lot of sunken ships....which he also incorprates into his books, giving the back history of the ships.

Pat

sherwood, Cussler is one of my husband's favorite writers, for the same reasons. He hasn't cared for his newer books, esp the ones he writes with another author, but he still appreciates his writing. BTW the author has a home here in the Phx area and frequently gives readings at area bookstores. DH has gone a few times to them, says he is an excellent speaker.

I finished "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" and then found "The Reluctant Fundamendalist" by Moshin Hamid. Read that in one afternoon - very fast, pretty good - and now back with the Mme Ramotswe series, "Tears of a Giraffe".

I would like to be vacationing in a B&B on the East Coast. It's gotta be cooler than here and there's the sea....

Camden Maine has an annual book weekend...several authors who live in the area give talks, the entire town is involved. It is on my to do list! We could all meet there...get rooms in the same B&B...what fun we could have

I'm in a bit of a reading slump -- I'm stuck on The Poe Shadow and I'm just not in the mood to continue and finish that book.

I've got the three volume biography of Nixon by Stephen Ambrose but .... maybe that's for the winter.

I think I'll get over this slump once the work situation clears up -- maybe by next week. Right now I'm reading mind candy -- I'm rereading all of Robert Asprin's Myth series. It's a comedy fantasy series from the late 70s starring an apprentice magician named Skeeve and a demon named Aahz. It's funny and it's light. What more can one ask for? ;-)

I recently read Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart. I liked it so much, I've ordered a few other books by him and am anxiously waiting their arrival.

Stewart reminds me a little bit of Gaiman in his ability to balance humor with dark fantasy elements. The protagonist in this one sees dead people, which is not the least of his problems. The humor reminded me a bit of the type of humor you find in the film, Raising Arizona, and most of this book takes place in Houston, Texas, so it has a regional flavor. This may also appeal to fans of 80s style alternate music. In fact, the title refers to a song on R.E.M's Murmur release, and the protagonist's name - William "Dead" Kennedy, is an obvious homage.

>I'm rereading all of Robert Asprin's Myth series.

Oh I loved that series. BTW he edits a book of stories called Theive's World. Its much like his Myth books, but each story is by a different fantasy writer, using the same charcters and setting. Great fun

>Stephen Ambrose

His Undaunted Courage, about Lewis and Clark, is well worth the read, btw.

>Stewart reminds me a little bit of Gaiman in his ability to balance humor with dark fantasy elements.

Ok, you've sold me! (I love Gaiman)

Now reading The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley. I bought this book about Katrina and NOLA soon after hearing him on NPR last year. With the second anniversary of the hurricane this week, and the horrible conditions that many of the refugees still live under, I thought it finally time to read. Stayed up way too late last night reading. If you want to know what happened and why it happened, learn some history of the area along the way, check this one out. Don't be daunted by 600 pages - its very readable (except when I have to put it down in frustration)

Just finished "Ella: Princess, Saint, and Martyr" by Christopher Warwick. I will read almost anything about Imperial Russia and the last Tsar, so this was a winner for me. Ella, one of queen Victoria's granddaughters, married Serge, an Uncle of the last Tsar, who was killed tragically. Ella, a.k.a. Elisabeth, was caught up in the Revolution and ultimately died a martyr, but not before doing a lot of good works, with charities, hospitals, etc. She was the elder sister of the Tsarina, Alix, but quite different in character and less well-known.

Now, I must try to return to Vreeland's "Luncheon of the Boating Party" of which I have read only the first chapter.

Dyno, I never could get into "The Poe Shadow", so it has gone back to the library.

Pat, I read the Frank Elder series first and then went looking for the Resnick books. I liked them, too.

I checked our library listings on line, and they do have Stephen Booth's books. Are they as good? And not too dark? I like Ian Rankin a lot but read his Black and Blue as my first one and didn't read any more of them for a long time because the subject matter was so depressing. I've had more than enough of abuse and dysfunction books.