I am just loving "The Hatbox Baby" by Carrie Brown, great historical fiction, the setting is 1933 The Chicago World Fair.

I think that I may have discovered a new writer to follow!!

I was in Paris recently and brought along The Paris Wife which is the story of Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, from her perspective of their time together. It's well written, thoroughly researched and although it seemed to drag in a few spots, I really loved getting to know Hemingway through her. And I forgave him for writing "The Old Man and the Sea" which made me gag in Gr.8 because, well, I was in Gr.8 and we had to analyze it to a briny death.
(While in Paris I was talking to one of the pilots who said one of the reasons he loves the city, is that it never changes. The buildings in our North American cities are often torn down, rebuilt and over a few decades neighbourhoods can change dramatically. I was delighted to wander the Parisian streets and discovered many of the locales and haunts of the 1920's literary greats still exist.)
When I got home I read Hemingway's novel, "The Moveable Feast" which is his memoir of those Parisian years and was published after his death. Interesting man, interesting life.
The last book I read was "Cloud Atlas", mainly because of the movie buzz and that it was a Booker Prize winner that was staring up at me in a Costco aisle. You know, every time I see a Booker Prize, I think of Martin. Anyway, it took a while to warm up to as I was having problems with the "voices" of the characters - writing styles, accents etc and then the book seemed to jump all over the place. But then things clicked and I loved it. I dragged my husband and daughter to the movie which Hollywoodized the book, using cliche after cliche. It was fear and loathing for my husband, but my daughter borrowed the book after I assured her there was a lot less fluff in the novel itself.

Janalyn, welcome back! I enjoyed both books you mentioned. I was fortunate enough to live one entire year in Paris in my youth. I still miss that year --- the city is magical.

Good to see you posting again, Janalyn. Have you seen the movie Midnight in Paris? Kind of hokey, but a pleasant look at the Hemingway era.

Yesterday I read The Walnut Tree, a novella by Charles Todd. It was listed as a "Christmas book," but it hardly touched on Christmas and had just a smidgen of a mystery in it. It is basically a nursing sister in WWI and a romance. I liked it a lot, but then I like everything by that mother and son pair of authors.

Yes I did see Midnight in Paris. It actually prompted me to pick up the novel - well the trip to Paris actually did that, but the movie was an appetizer. I need to see it again after reading the books.
And glad to see you too Carolyn. So happy so many of you are still around :)

janalyn and carolyn, Have you read "Valley of Grace" by Marion Halligan set in Paris, it is a wonderful collection of interlocking characters. It is a gem.

I just finished a stunning novel, set in Persia, in the 1600's: "The Blood of Flowers" by Anita Amirrezvani. The author traveled to present-day Iran three times, during the nine years it took her to write her book. It certainly opened my eyes to some of the customs of that country, particularly the plight of women. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of the Middle East, and especially how the carpets are woven. (The title comes from the juices of wild flowers which make up the dyes used in Persian carpets.)

I've been re-reading the three novels of Mary Elgin, a writer in the Mary Stewart/Victoria Holt tradition, though with a Scottish overlay. Her real name was Dorothy Mary Stewart and she died in 1965. Her bio in the back of one of the books lists her as the wife of an army doctor. Other than that, I don't know anything about her except that she truly loves Scotland. A couple of times I have cringed at some dated social attitudes in the novels (women's roles, attitudes toward gays), but then I'd hate to be called on the way I think about things 50 years after the fact. Yes, the 1960's were some 50 years ago; how's that for a shocker this winter morning? Anyway, despite the fact that we have moved on, I'm enjoying my nostalgic re-reads. If nothing else, she's making me want to see Scotland. I actually had a trip planned for next summer but events intervened. Still I do hope to go one day.

Rosefolly

Welcome back Janalyn.

Tim - Thanks for your comments wrt the opera singer in Cather's book. Fascinating story! And I have just finished the Hardy and loved it. I think his other work gets much bleaker...

Last night I finished Andrew Taylor's The Anatomy of Ghosts, a mystery set in a college at Cambridge in the early 1780s. The book had a very rich sense of historical detail, some of which was quite disgusting. I enjoyed the book, though it was not a very deep read. Readers interested in the eighteenth century, particularly in London, might find it very interesting.

Rosefolly, I remember the Mary Elgin books. In fact I have two of them in paperback .

I haven't posted here lately because...I haven't been able to find anything that holds my attention for more than a few minutes. I've started a few books but none of them have held my attention. I think I'm going to have to make a special trip to the library and Barnes & Noble to see if I can break my book drought.

June, I haven't read Valley of Grace but have just requested it from the library where I am 1 of 1 in line for it and where I saw that Shadow of Night has been shipped but not yet received at my branch. I can't remember how long I've been on the waiting list for that one.

I'm presently reading Anne Perry's new Christmas book, A Christmas Garland, which features a young Victor Narroway investigating his first case as a newcomer to the Army in India just after the mutiny. I find the books interesting in that they shed light on minor characters from her two Victorian mystery series.

I started reading Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth and I find I cannot put it down. I hope it continues as well as it has started. Already there has been a rather startling twist. I have stayed away from reading reviews as they often give away endings, so I have no idea what to expect.

I have been deep in the murky lives of the 'resurectionists' as grave robbers were known, with Sara Wise' The Italian Boy. A very detailed account of the seamy side of life in the London of the 1830's, where the population was growing with in-comers from the countryside and abroad looking for work and crowding into fetid slums.
No sooner was a body buried in a heaving churchyard than someone was there to dig it up and sell it to the medical schools for dissection. It appears that some grave robbers didn't have time to wait for a death but started bumping off people; the younger and healthier the better . . . sold for a higher price!
Sara Wise has done a tremendous amount of research and even moved 'side ways' and looked at the meat trade of the famous Smithfield Market where thousands of animals were walked into the City each week, causing chaos and terrible smells, eventually leading to various Acts of Parliament against cruelty to animals (cruelty to children came later . . .)
Liz, this might interest you. Wise also has another book out about the treatment of lunatics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Inconvenient People

I, too, sought out Edith Wharton's Summer after seeing it mentioned here. Does Wharton have happy endings? She is a magnificent writer but I am always overwhelmingly anxious while reading her. I dread getting to the end. I don't want to know the bad choices her heroine makes. And we always know those bad choices are coming. I don't think I would have handled well those times when women's choices were limited.

Ooh, Vee - thanks for the heads-up about Sara Wise. I am not familiar with her work, but she will definitely be added to the list... You know I loves me some Victorians. :-)

Just finished a quick read of Dickens' A Christmas Carol - a traditional seasonal read for me, and it seems that I see something different about it each time I read it. According to researchers, this book was instrumental in "bringing back" a secular Christmas to Victorians (along with old Prince Albert who brought the German tradition of Christmas trees to UK)...

Then picked up an impulse buy at Barnes the other day: The Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht and Patricia Rasmussen (non-fiction). Libbrecht is one of the world's foremost snow researchers and this book was *fascinating* to me.

This title is a very in-depth explanation of snowflakes (or "snow crystals" to be more accurate) and takes it down to the atomic and molecular levels, talk of which would normally make me run screaming in fear from the room. (Haven't any science since I was 16. No physics or chemistry since I dropped them as fast as I could at the age of 12.)

However, Libbrecht (coupled with the microphotos by Rasmussen) makes it as clear as they can about the life cycle of a snowflake, and if I can understand it, trust me dear reader, you can as well. The author is a professor (not sure at which school -- CalTech?) who helps even a rather non-science-y person through the maze -- he decodes jargon, uses metaphor for complicated theory, and doesn't really "dumb it down" but does make it more accessible. It was a whole new world for me to enter.

I have always been completely intimidated by physics since I was much younger and optioned out of that class as soon as I could. However, I have worked in medical, scientific and engineering worlds since then, and can actually see the point of these things now. (Not at all clear in my 12-year old head back then so there was a lot of time spent burning wooden spills in the Bunsen burner instead of really listening!)

The chapters are organized logically, going from the big picture ("why is snow white?" and the genesis of snowflakes) to the micro level and is clearly illustrated by photography from both Libbrecht and Rasmussen.

Libbrecht has a snowflake lab where he and his team can study the morphology of snowflakes, and yes -- even design their own personal snow flake if they so wish. There is a section called the Field Guide to Snowflakes (for identification: stellar dendrite, anyone?) and it's just plain interesting. It was also cool to see overlaps between wind and snowflakes (seeing as I work in wind science and engineering). I actually had no idea it would be *so* interesting to be honest.

Due to the science stuff covered, I wouldn't call this the easiest read in the world, but if you don't freak out about the jargon and physics in general, perhaps you'll find it as fascinating as I did. (Read it on Sunday afternoon -- could not...

carolyn, I would love to hear from you after reading "Valley of Grace", I am sure you will enjoy.

I have just finished and so enjoyed "The Hatbox Baby" by Carrie Brown, I shall follow up with her other novels.

I have three small blue oak saplings I was planning to plant this morning but the rain, delayed several hours, has begun. So here I am at my computer. I realized that I read the beginning of this thread and the later parts but somehow skipped the middle.

I wanted to say welcome back to Janalyn.

And Cece, I am so sorry for all you have had to endure in recent months. I am wishing you the strength to get to the time when you start to feel a little better. Loss is always painful, and losses close together compound the pain.

Rosefolly

Thank you all who said hello :) There are some books that I associate many of you with, simply because I remember our discussions from years ago. Some of those discussions I saved and still have.

I am currently reading /The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. The subtitle is "A tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary."

I actually got it at my Book Club's Christmas book exchange last week. :) Somehow it is really really hard for me to associate murder and insanity with something so staid and conservative as the Oxford Dictionary but the world is a strange and beautiful place.

Is Freida still around or Russ? I always enjoyed their posts. :) And thanks to Russ I made it through The Brothers Karazmov! I consider that one of the items on my Bucket List. Moby Dick - well I have been struggling with that one for years. Maybe I should make it part of my New Years Resolutions...which gives me an idea for a thread.

veer, I am sure you would find "The Resurrectionist" by James Bradley interesting, very dark and foggy (London 1826). It is classed a a gothic thriller.

Janalyn, Russ left RP long ago, I enjoyed his posts, too, and he introduced me to W.G. Sebald's work. Frieda pops in occasionally here.

I am happily ensconced with Susan Hill's latest Serailleur mystery, "A Question of Identity". Carolyn, thanks for telling me about it.

Happy holidays to all!

I finished The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron this afternoon. She writes the best southern family stuff of any author I've read in her Deborah Knott series, and in her last two books she has incorporated Sigrid Harreld from her first books into the Knott books. These are mysteries but the violence is off scene, and I find them delightful.

I have been captured with my latest book "Alone in the Classroom" by Canadian author Elizabeth Hay, I shall be following up with more of her novels.

Siobhan, I just finished Mr Pemumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore. What a delightfully quirky quick read!
Now it's back to my Nook and The Last Storyteller by Frank Delaney. Irish Folklore and the uprisings of 1956.

(ANOTHER)Pam

I'm reading The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. It's about an orphaned red-headed white child who is brought up by a slave family on a southern plantation. She is brought up in the "kitchen house," but eventually is moved into the "big house" where she doesn't fit in very well. It's interesting, but a little too dependent on misunderstandings driving the plot.

Janalyn -

In ref to your reading of WInchester's The Professor and the Madman and the making of the OED: I just learned that Thomas Hardy's first job after WWI service was researching the "W" words for the OED...

It's amazing some of the rubbish that I retain in my head. I have no idea where my keys are, but I know literary trivia!

:-)

pamies...I read a wonderful book of Frank Delaney's "Ireland" there was a travelling story teller in it, I wonder if it the same character?

Janalyn, I am so glad you are back here with us.

I listened to A Christmas Carol this afternoon while going for a walk and afterwards doing some baking. It seemed to be just the right time for it. I remember being surprised the first time I listened to it last year that it was only about 3 hours long. I hadn't realized just how short of a story it really is.

One year our local public radio station had a reading of "A Christmas Carol". I absolutely loved it, and listened all the way through. Wonderful!

I'm listening to Jonathan Winters's version on the radio right now. It's very good!

Finished Sweet Tooth, enjoyed it very much. I found it to be a bit different than McEwan's other novels, the ones I've read at least. Now I'm finishing How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton, which I like so much that I'm thinking of purchasing it. (I'm reading a library copy.)

I got an Amazon gift certificate for Christmas!

I got a Barnes and Noble gift certificate so will have fun deciding what to use it on.

I am reading an extension of "Sanditon" and trying to be fair to the writer but she has already changed the name of a character! Careless!

I am stressed. I have a bunch of books that I carry around or stack in various handy spots at home. I pick them up and read a few pages but nothing is grabbing me. Nothing. In a reading sludge. Perhaps now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays are over, I can sit still a while and give a book a chance.

Frustratedly yours,
PAM

I am about one-fourth of the way into Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness. It has been so long since I read A Discovery of Witches that I've forgotten it to some extent, but she is doing a good job of dredging up details to remind me of the major happenings. I'm enjoying it, as I did ADOW, which surprises me as they are not my usual fare.

I have just started "Children of the Archbishop" by Norman Collins, wonderful characters so far, and many more to come I am sure. veer, thanks for the recommendation.
The book has 500 pages of very small print, I hope my eyes hold out!!

Rosefolly reminded me of an author I had forgotten about - Mary Elgin. I have two of her books but knew there was a third one so ordered it from the library. When it came, I realized that I had read it but had forgotten much of it so it was almost new to me. The title is The Wood and the Trees. A little dated as Rosefolly mentioned but a good story nonetheless.

I'm reading an Irish mystery: "Broken Harbor" by Janet French. Lots of Irish "slang" in it, with intriguing characters. Concurrently, I'm also reading a book on the history of sundials.

I'm pleased to say that I received four books for Xmas.

June, thanks for the recommendation for 'The Resurrectionist' and glad you are enjoying 'Children of the Archbishop'. Why is it so many 'modern' novels have lost the element of a good old-fashioned story?

Veer, I agree with you re the "good old-fashioned story" I am finding "Children of The Archbishop" so enjoyable, the characters are fascinating, Norman Collins has a wonderful way of describing his characters and their situations.

Have finished "Just Kids" by Patti Smith, which was a Christmas present. I came away regarding her as well-grounded, highly imaginative, warm and loyal. And she can write, which can not be said for every rock star, actor, celebrity who wants to pen a book. I had no idea she had an enduring relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, either. I don't care for his art or her music but was taken with this book.

Minor correction: the author of "Broken Harbor" is Tana French, not Janet French.

Thank you for the kind thoughts-Christmas was bittersweet at times, and there were some group tears moments-but over all it was fun-DD and DS-in-L were in from the West Coast and we enjoyed our half of their visit.

After an autumn of comfort rereading, I am moving on-first I read Sister Queens by Julia Fox-a tandem biography of Catherine of Aragon (1st wife of Henry VIII) and Juana of Castile, queen of Aragon and Castile in her own right and mother of a Holy Roman Emperor. Interesting parallels even though they met only once after Catherine left for England at age 16.

Now I am treating myself with Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson. Charming, light, a bonbon. Work has started up again-deadline on the 3rd-so reading time will become slim and precious.
For BookClub in January we will be reading Killing Lincoln

Ccrdmrbks, I remember reading Miss Buncle's Book, it's a light hearted, funny story. There is a sequel to it but the title eludes me just now. I like most of D E Stevenson's books but I think my favorite of hers is The Young Clementina.

I somehow got on to re-reading the Amelia Peabody series and have just finished reading the third one - The Mummy Case. It's a snowy day and I need something to read so if I can't find something else that appeals, I may go on to the next one in the series.

I just finished Paris in Love: A Memoir. It had been on request for so long at the library I forgot about it. The author, her husband, and two children move to Paris. Both she and her husband are professors (and she is also a romance novelist)so it was a sabbatical year. It is very light, and actually reads more like a group of blog entries than a book. It makes for a very disjointed read in parts.

Kathleen_se, I agree with you. I read it a couple of months ago and although I found the idea of it interesting, I thought it was disjointed in parts too.

Rouan: I think the sequel is Miss Buncle Married. My favorite D.E. Stevenson books are the Mrs. Tim set.

I envy you just starting the Amelia Peabody books-there are 18 or 19 of them, so you have pleasures to come.

cece, as an Angela Thirkell fan you might enjoy her first book (1931) Three Houses which has just been read as a short serial on BBC radio. It is about the remembered homes of her Grandfather, the famous painter Edward Burne-Jones, her Uncle Rudyard Kipling's place on the Sussex coast and her own family home in Kensington, London.
As I recently read and enjoyed My Grandmother's and I by Diana Holman-Hunt, I thought it might be interesting to compare the two. I don't know if Angela and Diana knew each other or where of a similar age. Must check.

After reading a book based on Proust, I'm back to Swann's Way. This is not a book that you read quickly, as anyone familiar with Proust will probably agree. My reaction to it is the same as Virginia Woolf's - there is no point writing anything because Proust has written about everything as well as it can be done. I'm pretty much giving myself the rest of my life to read the entire opus.

I read Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks for a new book club I'm attending. This novel is takes place 1666 in the 'plague village' of Eyam, Derbyshire, England. Very good although very sad.

Ccrdmrbks, I liked the Mrs. Tim books too and thanks for reminding me of the other Miss Buncle title. :)

I've been an Amelia Peabody fan for years. I first encountered her when I worked at a library and a patron who was recovering from an operation or serious illness kept ordering the audiobooks to listen to. I tried the first one as an audiobook (with Barbara Rosenblat as narrator -she will forever be the voice of Amela Peabody to me) and was hooked. This is my umpteenth time re-reading the series and I'm still having fun with it.

Siohban-I read Year of Wonders-sad-but enjoyable-but with a strange ending I thought? I read it after reading and throughly enjoying her-People of the Book.

I got several free ebooks by Ryne Douglas Pearson in the past month from Amazon. I had never read him before and ended up becoming a fan! I read Capitol Punishment; Cloudburst; Simple Simon and then yesterday finished Confessions. All very different but helped me get past this rotten cold I picked up from somewhere.

Pat