Timallan, I have neighbours who have a veggie garden and they do seem to spend a lot of time tending it.
Lovely to have home grown food. I did grow cocktail tomatoes once when I had a trellis fence and had a wonderful crop one year. The next year nothing!
I have a good market nearby so it isn't worth my effort to grow my own and a friend with a prolific parsley plant which I can utilise. I pick, chop and freeze what I need to add to soups and garnishes.

Regarding Where'd You Go, Bernadette, I totally agree with reader-in-transit's comment "Her husband deserved better from the author than the unnecessary complication that she throws his way ..." I found that complication (and the event that led to it) really inconsistent with Elgie's character. He truly was caring and patient in every other way and it seemed unfair of the author to throw that in.

In a book full of absurdities (Bernadette), it seems silly to single out certain events as too absurd, but that said, I also found the scene in the downtown store to be too much of stretch.

And yet ... I still really liked the book.

I'm reading The Ghost Fields, the latest by Elly Griffiths. Kate is starting to school--time is flying by--and a WWII plane is found in a field, with the pilot at the controls and a gunshot wound in his head. In this ongoing series, Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist and Kate's mother, is called on to examine the body. She and the (married) chief inspector love each other.

woodnymph--guilty as charged. I did read Hausfrau and reported this: It is thoughtful, precisely written, and intense and unsettling. My book club now has it on our reading schedule (thanks to me) because I think it will create a lively discussion. And yes, I agree with you that Anna had depression, in spades, and needed serious medication/hospitalization rather than talk therapy. Essbaum's use of language is sharp and I liked how the story unfolded, disturbing as it was.

I attended two book conferences in NYC at the end of May; talk about being like a kid in a candy shop, coming home with all sorts of arcs and new books. :) On the lighter side, I loved Re Jane by Patricia Park; it's sort of a reworking of Jane Eyre, but this Jane is a half Korean woman working in her uncle's grocery in Queens and to escape the drudgery, takes a job as a nanny to a Brooklyn family. Jane is witty and sharp as she learns to balance her two cultures. I was completely surprised by Kate White's The Wrong Man--think of a cozy mystery as written by the former editor in chief of Cosmo. A dichotomy that may be, but one that works well for the reader and turned out the perfect beach book.

Have also been (over)indulging my thriller jones...Ruth Ware's In a Dark Dark Wood, about a "hen party" gone bad was OK but I could see it being turned into a movie, and I felt the same about SJ Watson's (good lord I always thought he was a woman) Second Life. Really enjoyed the suspense in Amelia McCreight's Where They Found Her; a newborn is found in a creek at the edge of a college campus and the story unfolds from the perspectives of three women--a married, newly minted reporter recovering from a traumatic miscarriage, the chief of police's wife, and a teen from the wrong side of the tracks. Also, Disclaimer by Renee Knight, about a woman who finds a manuscript left at her house which details a day of her own life twenty some years ago in which she may have been involved in a terrible crime, was definitely pretty twisty and good.

Yoyo, I thought Miss Peregrine was terrific and think it is a great choice for middle grade boys. It has a sequel which I haven't gotten around to reading. And all you The Martian readers, include me as another fan. Oops--way too wordy, sorry!

I got tired of being on a long list at the library for The Martian, so I went out and bought a copy. I'll be reading it next.

I've just started "Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania" by Erik Larson. I find this author makes history enlightening and entertaining, so am looking forward to learning more about WW I and Pres. W. Wilson and Ms. Galt.

Ann, what are "cocktail tomatoes"?

Mary, I recently bought some tomatoes described as 'cocktail'. I had never heard the word used in that way, so assumed it just meant they were small!

Mary and Vee, in Hawai'i tiny to small tomatoes are called 'cocktail tomatoes' that are usually referred to in mainland U.S. as grape tomatoes (the oblong ones) and cherry tomatoes (the round ones).

Mary, I also have on hand Dead Wake by Larson. Have you read his In the Garden of Beasts about the American family that witnessed Hitler's ascendancy in Germany?

Woodnymph, cocktail tomatoes are indeed a small variety. They can be used whole as a cheeseboard addition or an attractive salad garnish. I have fried them, tossed lightly in garlic butter.
I picked over 200 which grew over the summer my vine lived. I planted a red variety but there are others. One is Solanato, which is very sweet and orange in colour.

I wonder if cocktail tomatoes are what we in the states call "cherry" tomatoes or "grape" tomatoes? Do you have "heirloom" tomatoes where you live?

I am re-posting a comment I made above between the one by Vee about tomatoes and one with which Annpan followed up. Some of you may be seeing this twice, but I suspect that some did not see it all! I am perplexed because I don't know what's going on. My post has the time stamp of 22 minutes after Vee's post. I can still see my post on my computer where I composed it, but on my DH's computer it doesn't show up, as if it was never there. Can anyone, please, tell me if you are seeing my original post plus my re-post? Have any of you had experience with disappearing posts that you've made?

Re-posting:

Mary and Vee, in Hawai'i tiny to small tomatoes are called 'cocktail tomatoes' that are usually referred to in mainland U.S. as grape tomatoes (the oblong ones) and cherry tomatoes (the round ones).
Mary, I also have on hand Dead Wake by Larson. Have you read his In the Garden of Beasts about the American family that witnessed Hitler's ascendancy in Germany?

Frieda, very strange. The comments from houzz appear in my email inbox. I don't check them there and usually delete them straight away as they clutter up the system.
Yesterday (Sunday) as I was clicking 'off' the houzz stuff I noticed the word Hawai'i and thought "Frieda must have written something." Yet when I went to the Houzz site and this thread there was nothing there from you. I'm sure this has occasionally happened before, but I have put it down to my lack of attention/old age/senility.
Your original post (last Saturday 12:50PM) is now on my screen in the 'correct' position.

Mary 'heirloom' toms/seeds/veggies are more likely to be so-described in the US (according to DH we call them 'heritage') and refer to older varieties. These plants crop less well but probably have a better flavour and a thinner skin or an irregular shape and colour. Modern seed produces a much greater yield, thicker skin, brighter colour and little taste. It's all a question of marketing. We are constantly told the British Housewife demands all her apples/carrots/plums etc be exactly the same shape and last for many weeks in the 'fridge. Of course this just leads to waste at the farms where the 'mis-shaped' stuff has to be thrown out as the supermarkets wont accept it.
On the other hand . . . we have been sent 'heirloom' flower seeds by a US cousin. After planting the stems grew to be very tall and there were almost no flowers. Obviously the seeds were much more closely related to their 'wild' cousins and didn't make the expected 'show' in the flower-bed.

Frieda, yes, I did read Larson's "In the Garden of the Beasts." I liked it very much. The book on the Lusitania is moving a bit more slowly for me. He is certainly thorough in his research.

friedag, I know I wrote a post about Kim Philby but it doesn't seem to be anywhere in the thread now!

Yes, I am getting the MacIntyre book and also one by Philip Knightley, The Master Spy: the story of Kim Philby.

I am waiting for one other hold to come in (Being Dead is No Excuse) so I can get all my library books in one fell swoop.

Recently I read Anne Rutherford's Opening Night Murder, set in Restoration England, and alsoTracy Weber's Murder Strikes a Pose, set in current Seattle area.

I enjoyed both of them, and am looking forward to continuing reading both series.

Dawn

Freidag, I didn't see the post at first but it is there now. I think that Houzz don't always put posts up straight away as I have seen odd time differences when I have checked the posts to see if there are new ones.
I think that the tomatoes I grew are also called cherry tomatoes now. They were the size of a cherry. I notice that the cocktail ones in the supermarkets are larger and now we have small cherry and grape ones as well as others.
The heirloom/heritage ones are around. The supermarkets have a small variety sold as a mixture with others in a pack.
I was disappointed in the local tomatoes. As Vee says, they are thick skinned with no taste. I did some after school work in a UK farm that grew tomatoes in a greenhouse and got spoiled for taste. I was allowed to take home as many of the ripe tomatoes as I liked that were too soft to go to market.
The supermarkets are now selling "ugly" vegs. Misshapes etc. are bagged and sold at a reduced price. Many items that used to be dumped are now passed on to charities to be cooked into meals for the poor and homeless. Although they were still edible, out they went! Dumpster diving was popular with impoverished students and I remember seeing trucks of day-old bread going to the tip. Such waste!
I finished reading a light novel about a woman who makes greeting cards. I buy special ones from a local girl who does that but I couldn't help wondering what the fictional character charges if she did indeed spend hours on her creations! I usually pay around $A10 max. for mine, depending on how elaborate they are. This is only a little more than one from a shop but unique for the occasion and sometimes unobtainable in the form I want anyway.

This month's reading thread has certainly raised my awareness of Seattle (Where'd You Go, Bernadette, etc.) and oddly, this morning I saw this video on facebook.

http://www.12news.com/videos/news/nation/2015/04/24/26296531/

I don't know why the source is Arizona TV, but it is quite interesting. And to think, I had never heard of Dale Chihuly before. Reader's Paradise is so informational!

annpanagain: I've read probably twenty of Anne Perry's marvelous mysteries which take place in England, and wonder if you have read any of them or can tell me if Jane Finnis' series can compare. Thank you.

I am reading "the loss of A MOTHER's loss" by Jennifer Shriver - I'm enjoying it so far - it seems to be at least based on the relationship of a mother and a daughter through the daughter's eyes after her mother's death. They had a rough relationship and the book outlines the different events through their lives they led them to their estrangement. Going back home for the funeral was awkward for the daughter, to say the least.

Seems I'm late to the party again. I haven't read any Jane Finnis, but am interested in annpanagain's answer! Just finished the first Maisie Hobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. I enjoyed the character development to try another but was a little disturbed by Dr. Blanche's odd psychological mentoring of the young Maisie. Has anyone else read this and care to comment?

Pink, I haven't read Anne Perry's books so I can't comment on them at all! Sorry.

I finished The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, it was just OK. My main reservation had to do with the story being written in the present tense and also trying to do too much (star-crossed lovers, unsolved murder, and a magical dress shop).

I've started the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt, and I'm enjoying it. Next up will be Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat (underdog American rowers in the 1936 Olympics) for my book group.

I may not have been here much (work), but I have been reading - just not quite at the rapid pace that I could before. However, I have still had some good reads lately so thought I'd share those.

One recent fiction read which was stellar was "Elizabeth is Missing" by Emma Healey. The narrative arc follows an older woman who is fighting dementia and it's through her eyes that the reader sees the action. The protagonist is convinced that her friend Elizabeth is missing (thus the title), but her family won't believe her or act on it due to her unreliable memory issues. As the book continues, you'll see the intriguing theme of the role of memory - what is true? What really happened? Whose reality is the correct one? It reminded me of "Stone Angel" which also addresses memory and old age. (I'm really interested in this right now - I guess because I'm old! :-) )

Anyway, loved it and couldn't really put it down. If I did put it down, I was usually thinking about the characters and that, to me, makes a good read.

Did read a disappointing volume of Gerard Woodward's called "Vanishing" which the publisher had sent as I had loved Woodward's "August". Oh well. Can't win them all. There was a Christie in there and now I'm involved with the adventures of a Victorian family in "Aurora Floyd" by Mary Elizabeth (M.E. Braddon) who wrote "Lady Audley's Secret". Sensation novels just hit the spot right now.

And then a trip to Mexico on the beach is on the horizon so thinking about which beach reads to take. :-)

Sheri_z6 - Though I was not eager to read it, I ending up loving The Boys in the Boat. I hope you enjoy it too.

Michelle, I have read all the Maisie Dobbs books and really like them. I've been interested in WWI books in the past few years. Anne Perry has a trilogy set during that time.

I've started Judas Island, another of Kathryn R. Wall's Bay Tanner books, Mary, they are set on Hilton Head. I can't remember if I've already told you that.

I really liked Elizabeth is Missing, too; it made it to the Booker longlist. The Boys in the Boat is the One Maryland One Book choice for 2015. Our library system will "celebrate" it this fall with some tie-in activities. I am looking forward to reading it and will lead a local book group discussion for it.

Lemonhead, I agree with what you said regarding thinking about the characters. Sometimes I get so involved with some that I weave new scenes about them! I can understand people who write fan fiction, although I wouldn't go so far as actually writing a whole book!
I usually continue a story when I am trying to get off to sleep. I may have mentioned here before that I used to tell my little sister Enid Blyton-inspired stories to get her to sleep when we were put to bed in our air-raid shelter and would get so involved that I would go on even after she had nodded off!
If anyone has read Maeve Binchy's "The Lilac Bus", I continued Nancy"s story of what she did about getting new "digs" after she was asked by Mairead to leave the flat they shared. I found Nancy a fascinating character and didn't like to leave her homeless!

lemonhead/Liz, if you enjoy books about memory/old age (or lack of it in my case) try Dear Life by Alice Monroe. A collection of stories some based on her own experiences; the last one is especially powerful.

Annpan, I think much of the 'modern' fiction I read is so dreadful I would spend most of any continuing storylines I might 'dream-up' throwing the central characters over a cliff/under a bus/lost in the wilderness.

lemonhead101: Do keep reading, especially tales that whisk you to another world. If you'd like to match ages, feel sure I'm ahead of you. Remember you are not old, you are just older.

I am 78. The first time I was referred to as "an old lady" I was quite shocked! When the local groomer returned my dog home some years ago, she smilingly remarked that someone had asked if the sweet dog she was putting in the car was hers and she had replied that it belonged to an old lady. Ow!!

I've just finished Erik Larson's "Dead Wake", about the sinking of the Lusitania. I highly recommend this for anyone with an interest in the history leading up to WW I and America's coming late into the war. Larson uncovers several fascinating "secrets" behind the scenes, both in England, with Churchill and the powers that be, as well as in America, with Pres. W. Wilson. Once I got into the book, I could not put it down.

Are you out there, Frieda? This one's for you!

I have just received the DVD of "Kim" with Peter O'Toole as the Lama. So far I am not impressed! The boy playing Kim is too old and Peter's wig is terrible. Lots of interesting background though so I am watching the sets as much as the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed William Trevor's Children of Dynmouth . Written in the '80's we are introduced to the 'out of season' sea-side resort somewhere on the English Dorset/Devon coast, where nothing much happens, everyone knows each other and life on the surface is calm and measured.
The teenage protagonist Timothy Gedge, is an uncared for, friendless and slightly menacing boy who spends his time spying on the residents, while dreaming of an unlikely life as a TV talent-show winner. He looks through windows at night, attends every funeral, does odd-jobs and is a petty thief. What he observes . . . or believes he has seen leads to much soul-searching and worry among the residents. Is Gedge intelligent enough to be a blackmailer or has he picked up on half-truths? He seems to be guileless with little sense of right and wrong and today would probably be given a 'label' and become a case study for an overworked Social Worker.
A highly recommended read.

I finished Touch by Claire North. I had enjoyed her first, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, so was keen to try this one. I enjoyed the premise - people about to die take hold of someone and can 'take over' their body, and thereafter can move from body to body - but I found the story a bit complicated and muddled.

I have now started Daniel Silva's new one, The English Spy. I'm a big fan of Gabriel Allon, so am looking forward to this.

Vee,
I have that book by William Trevor somewhere in the house, but have never read it. Your review may encourage me to read it eventually.

Astrokath,

Do you have to read the Gabriel Allon by Daniel Silva books in order? Someone left The English Assassin in my house. I found in 2 days ago and read the 1st page and it was the sort of opening that grabs you immediately. However, I put it back, because I wondered if they had to be read in order.

R-i-t, I generally suggest it because there are returning characters in most of the books and their backstories develop from book to book. However, that is only the second one, so if it's grabbed you, I'd say go ahead :)

Thanks, AstroKath! I'll check if the library has the 1st one.

Just finished Anita Shreve's Strange Fits of Passion . About a journalist writing about another journalist who has been imprisoned for a murder. It got to be rather complicated as it wasn't always obvious which journalist was doing the writing/talking as their separate 'voices' were identical.
Rather formulaic plot . . . impressionable young woman dominated by cruel/drunk/sexual deviant husband. What I did learn however was that in US law there seems to be much leeway in reporting criminal activity/who might have done it, interviewing witnesses on TV etc before the trial takes place and that the discussions in the Jury Room are not sub-judice as they are in the UK, where to interview or name juror members even after a trial is considered contempt of court.

Vee,

Years ago, I read Resistance by Anita Shreve, and was surprised by how average and formulaic the book was. Her books are quite popular, I expected more. I know other RPer's have read her, I wonder what has been their experience. Maybe it was only that particular book, but life is short, thus I wiped her from my reading list.

Kathy_t,

The video you mention above about the Smith Tower apartment was produced by the Seattle NBC TV station for the show Evening Magazine (the link you found is for the Phoenix NBC station, so they likely share the news feed). I don't watch the show much, but I happened to see it the day this video aired, and I was in awe. It is such a super cool place.

Dale Chihuly is quite renowned here and apparently in other parts of the world. There is even a Chihuly Garden and Glass attraction at the foot of the Space Needle.

I've read two of Anita Shreve's books, neither of which impressed me greatly. The first was The Pilot's Wife, but I can't recall a blooming thing about it. The second, The Weight of Water, was more interesting since it was about the Smuttynose Murders where a couple of Norwegian immigrant women were killed and a third escaped by hiding from the murderer on the tiny island where the killings occurred. I like historical true crime accounts (this happened in the 1870s), but Shreve's book is a fictionalized story which automatically makes me value it less, even if it is very well written which it must not have been or I would have remembered it better.

Strange Fits of Passion doesn't sound very appealing to me.

Vee, the U.S. law that you referred to is part of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which states (among other things) that there will be no "abridging the freedom of speech, [or] infringing on the freedom of the press..."

It is the right of the American people to know of criminal actions and for journalists to inform them of developments in any criminal case that is considered for trial. As for jurors' names and identities, those are not published until after a verdict is found or a mistrial is declared if no verdict is rendered. Jurors have the option, then, after the conclusion, of talking to the press. Some are very willing, for whatever reasons they have. The freedom of speech and freedom of the press are much cherished rights in the U.S., but they are not without controversy: namely, for criminal trials there can be the danger of 'trying the case in the press/media' and the worry that a defendant cannot get a fair trial and a change of venue may be asked for. With today's media saturation all over the country, venue changing is not as effective as it once was. Sub judice drives American journalists and news followers nuts in countries where the practice of investigations and trials is to keep everything opaque, under wraps, and as impenetrable as possible.

This is not intended as a criticism, just an observation.
I notice that in some countries a person on trial appears at Court in a prison uniform. Doesn't this suggest guilt to a judge or jury rather than the presumption of innocence?
Wouldn't it sway a verdict?

Ann, I've noticed that. Over here prisoners on remand/awaiting trial don't wear uniform and I think I'm right in saying that women prisoners don't wear uniform even when convicted.
Interesting Frieda. Of course many of your US laws had their 'beginnings' in English law . . . obviously they have 'mutated' and I don't know how widely they vary from state to state.
We now have the added weight of European Law to contend with which takes precedence over 'our' law and has led to wily lawyers spinning out possible convictions for years. The European Court of Human Rights, set up to help displaced persons after WWII now deals with cases of extradition and their conclusions are (in some cases) seen as 'bonkers'.
eg a convicted terrorist unable to be deported because he has 'taken a wife/partner' and fathered several children, or even more bizarre the alleged terrorist who had bought a cat with which he had formed a 'close bond' so cannot be removed to the country where he is wanted for acts of terrorism.
As you point out Frieda, the ease with which the modern 'media' spreads info. means it is much more difficult to find suitable jury members who know nothing about an upcoming case and as for 'Freedom of Speech' the Govt has to take many difficult decisions over stuff like phone tapping/surveillance . . . where do our 'Rights' end and the safety of the population take precedence?

I was given a pile of Anita Shreve books by a US friend, was one of them Sea Glass; can't remember?
The Pilot's Wife was made into a cheap TV movie part of which I watched on a wet winter's afternoon. I think it was about a woman who's pilot husband turned out to be involved with the IRA (or similar) Being a nit-picker I noticed their house in 'London' had a number on the door that ran into four figures and looked more like a log cabin . . . but then the film was shot in Canada . . .

Re change of venue, we fairly recently had an Indiana case (just across the Ohio River from us) where a man was convicted three times of murdering his wife and his young son and daughter in their car in the driveway of their home. He kept appealing and the venue kept being changed until he is now free. His extra-marital affairs and the fact that he had recently taken out a large life insurance policy on their lives were deemed not admissible in the later trials.

For my book club tonight I have just finished reading California, the dystopian novel by Edan Lepucki. I did not particularly like it. To me it was more a novel about deceit and secrecy than anything else. I found the characters all pretty much unlikeable, every single one of them, though not uniformly as some were more distinctly unpleasant than others. I don't think this author likes people very much. Not recommended unless you like dark books that confirm a prejudice that people are all pretty awful. Some do. Look at the popularity of Gone Girl.

Next month's book is Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. This one I am actually looking forward to reading. I'm also going to pick back up The Martian by Andy Weir. It started out well, and I was enjoying reading it, but I had to set it aside to finish California in time.

Rosefolly

Carolyn, re the 'case' you mentioned are the police now looking for another suspect in the 'murder in the car'? Over here I think the insurance issue would be allowed but not the previous affairs.
Usually the most serious criminal cases are heard at the Central Criminal Court . . . the Old Bailey, others in the County Courts.

Vee, a man convicted as an accomplice is serving time and the apparent thinking now is that he committed the crime alone.

Rosefolly, I really did like Undaunted Courage and went to see the movie, which I thought copped out at the end in the name of political correctness or freedom from religion or something.

I finished Murder on Lexington Avenue and am ready to begin Murder in Paradise after supper. I have said before that my husband says he worries because I know so many ways to kill someone, haven't I?

I read Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" and loved it. I had no idea a film had been made of the trip west by Lewis & Clark. When did the film come out?

Oh, Mary, I was mistaken. Actually, it was a Lewis & Clark TV mini-series last year, not a movie. The book and movie I was thinking of is Unbroken. Sorry.