Ann, I too hate it when authors throw in too much description to show off their research!

Bookmom - l loved House of Mirth; hope you do, too. And thanks for the recommendation for The Heart Goes Last. I haven't read a Margaret Atwood for years.

Kathy - You're the second person now who's recommended Station Eleven. This is not my usual genre, but from what you've described, it sounds intriguing. I'll let you know if I pick it up!

I finally finished Ann Tyler's "A Spool of Blue Thread." I still don't get what everyone sees in this author's works. Her protagonists were truly unremarkable and nothing out of the ordinary occurred in this novel. I finished it and felt I was left hanging: "so what? so what was the message? what were we meant to learn from this book?" I suppose the house was the main character in the novel.(?)

Mary, I'm with you regarding A Spool of Blue Thread. To me it's bland. True, it goes down as easy as Junket, and with about as much substance. I like realism in fiction, but, because it's fiction, I think it's permissible for the author to be cohesive and to tie up loose ends -- something that can't always be done in nonfiction. I'm afraid that I won't remember ASoBT past next month. I think it's already faded after only two weeks. As I recall, that's the problem I had with the other book by Tyler (The Accidental Tourist) I read, too.

Ann, I just read the newest Jeanne M. Dams, and she mentions her "friend in Wales" in it. I read both these series. I liked Ms. Dams better at the beginning of her writing, perhaps because I would love to live in England for awhile and she made the setting sound so lovely.

Carolyn, it seems that I should have read Dams earlier books! Sometimes I come across a series when the author is running out of plot ideas!

I went back to live in the UK with my husband after thirty years in Australia. It was only supposed to be for a year but the time extended for many more years as we appreciated how easy it was to visit interesting places both there and in Europe. Australia is so huge and it isn't a simple matter to pack up and drive to a different city in a day! You can drive for hundreds of miles and the scenery is much the same!

We went to Wales quite a few times and it is like going to a different country with the Welsh language road signs etc.

We were based near London and were very handy to the motorways that can take you all over the country very quickly. We particularly liked to go to the Cotswold for a break. That is a really beautiful part of England but there are many other places we enjoyed visiting too.

Ann, I don't know how long it has been since you lived in England but now the motorways are so clogged with traffic moving nose-to-tail, until there is an accident or a breakdown leaving folk stranded for many many hours. A friend was recently held up for over seven hours with no food or drink or 'facilities' available. It is often quicker and more pleasant to take country roads/lanes plus the scenery is better!

Vee, I was there in 1991 to 2002 when we drove on the motorways. I only had two delays. Once when a load of nails was spilled and we stranded motorists got out and picnicked on the verge and once for about half an hour at night after a collision in the fog.

We were impressed by the facilities when we were on trips and later when my husband did courier work, which enabled us to tour at someone else's expense! The price of fuel was a problem. By taking on these courier trips we were able to travel around, not only in the UK but also went over to Ireland both North and South and even to the Continent, Germany, France, the Netherlands and a rushed flight to Spain to deliver a corrected billboard for an exhibition.

We blessed signwriters who cannot spell. We got a couple of good jobs from their errors!

I enjoyed the night drives. The roads were quieter and we would flash our lights at drivers of huge lorries to allow them to pass our little Berlingo van and they would flash back the rear lights politely in thanks.

It was cosy and warm in our heated van, we took the little dog too and so we had to take food and our separate teas in Thermos flasks for refreshment as he got anxious if he was left. If it was a long trip, we could call ahead for a motel booking to stay rather than risk driver fatigue but we mostly did the long trips to Scotland and back, around 18 hours, in one go.

From what you say, it wouldn't be so pleasant now but I have some happy memories of those days.

Ann, that sounds like quite an adventure! The other day here in central FL a beer delivery truck overturned and spilled hundreds (maybe thousands) of cans of beer all over the highway. They said the driver was distracted by his dog. I was wondering if his bosses were asking why he had his dog in the truck with him! Lots of people here travel with their dogs but I don't think he should have had his in the commercial vehicle.

Donna

Robert Crais is amazing if you love a fast moving mystery. Lots of action and his stuff keeps you going. Recently read "Two Minute Rule" and am currently reading "Hostage". If you love these, go back and read his Elvis Cole series!

I am returning the lives and times of archy and mehitabel by don marquis new edition with an introduction by e.b. white and pictures by george herriman yes, all lower case ! I keep dipping back into it, I have liked archy and mehitabel for years and this is a version I want to get for my bookshelves.

Just started Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by Wlliam Kuhn and am really enjoying this book. I thought I would give it a try because I enjoyed Alan Bennett's Uncommon Reader ( The Queen finds a bookmobile at the Palace and then feels it her duty to check out a book, life at the palace will never be the same) and it was one of those " similar books" suggestions. I find the idea of Queen Elizabeth using a bookmobile or taking a train intriguing!

Dawn

Dawn, I enjoyed both the books about the Queen very much.

bluejean baby,

Uncommon Reader is a favorite in this house and gets read once a year, as does Ethel and Ernest. I will have to check out Mrs. Queen Takes the Train.

Just finished the psychological mystery, The Return, 2nd in the Van Veeteran mystery series by Hakan Nesser. I was in the dark until the end. Van Veeteran is quickly becoming a favorite fictional detective for me... akin to Lucas Davenport, Sherlock Holmes and Cormoran Strike. Human, yet brilliant and sassy.

PAM

I've started The English Spy by Daniel Silva. Similar to the others, of course, but I like Gabriel.

I have just finished "Death of a Ghost" by Margery Allingham, a Vintage reprint that I can't remember reading before but I did see the TV version in the Albert Campion series.

I am going away on a trip to the North of Western Australia next week so I am not borrowing another library book but will be taking a couple of recently purchased books I have been keeping to take with me.

Reading now Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel. Takes a place in the 1970's in Israel. A young Canadian woman that has emigrated to Israel to study falls in love with man who is an army interrogator. On page 22 she tells him "I'm not going to have a relationship with you. I can't. What you do is just too weird", but of course, we know she is going to, no matter what she says.

I am about half way through The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks, and enjoying it very much. It is the story of King David of the Bible, and for those who are more knowledgeable about the Bible than me, it is narrated by Natan. She uses more original spellings like Yonatan, Shmuel and Shaul too.

I re-read a favorite: "The Lady & the Unicorn" by Tracey Chevalier and liked it even more the second time. Now, I am re-reading Beryl Markham's "West With the Night." Hemingway praised the gifts of this author back in the day. i have no desire to travel to Africa but I love reading about it.

Blue jean baby, that's quite an endorsement! Thanks!

I finished The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks and thought it was excellent. I work with a bloke who is something of a Bible expert and he also liked it very much, and thought the author did a good job of filling in some characters who are only mentioned in passing in the Bible.

I thought it was very well written, with an interesting story, and it has made me want to find a map of Israel at this time to see all the places mentioned.

Thanks, Kath - I love novels set in Biblical times - I will have to read it!

Donna

I'm reading The Rest is Silence, the last published WWII Billy Boyle book by James R. Benn. There is a new one, The White Ghost, due out in September. I found these books two or three years ago and just love them. I'm a little sorry to have caught up with the series.

blue_jean, You and I shall have to agree to disagree on Mrs. Queen, although I freely admit that my opinion may have been clouded by my "non-fiction" mood. I read the first few chapters with amusement, but when the tabloid/photography chapter (chapter 3?) began, I tossed it across the room. (no spoilers..)

Now reading The Girls of Atomic City, the untold story of the women who helped win WW2 by Denise Kierman. It is my new book club book and far far superior to the previous (and painful) chick lit title from last month.) From the back: " The Tennessee town of Oak Ridge was created in 1942. One of the Manhattan Project's secret cities, it didn't appear on any maps until 1949, yet at the height of WW2, it was using more electricity than New York City and was home to more than 75,000 people, many of them young women recruited from small towns across the South. Their jobs were shrouded in mystery. They knew something big was happening at Oak Ridge, but few could piece together the true nature of their work until the bomb "Little Boy" was dropped over Hiroshima.". The book is non-fiction and based on interviews with some of the women who transferred to Oak Ridge to work.

PAM

I took a jumble of books on vacation with me and managed to only finish two: The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornsby (mentioned here, I think?) which was mildly interesting as I don't know much about him (but his book addiction is a familiar one) and the light and lovely Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell, I also nearly finished Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout, and I'm still plugging away at he second book of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I really like his books, but I find that I need a good chunk of reading time to get back into the story and immerse myself in his world. It would also speed up my reading if I wasn't sharing the book with my DD, though she's promised to leave it behind when she leaves for school this week.

Astrokath, thanks for the mention of the newest Geraldine Brooks -- I love her writing, and didn't know she had a new book out. That goes right to the top of the list.

I'm now engrossed in Ian McEwan's latest: "Sweet Tooth". It is told from a female point of view, set in the early 70's in England. Some of the issues it touches on are labour unrest, the IRA terrorism, the Cold War, and espionage. I can scarcely bear to put it down, am reading into the wee hours of the morning. I think it is one of his best, but then, I've loved all of his work. Waiting on the To Be Read pile are "Call the Midwife" and a novel by Josephine Humphreys, a SC author.

Pam - I bought Atomic City for my mother-in-law because she lives in that area. Not sure if she actually read it, but I thought it looked good. Will be interested to hear your thoughts!

Also, Woodnymph, I love the Call the Midwife series! Will also be interested to hear how the book holds up to it!

Reading In the Shadow of Lies right now. Set in the '40s in California. A murder mystery surrounding the treatment of Italian citizens in this country due to the war. I have often heard of the terrible detentions and deportations of the Japanese, but not Italians. A bit hard to get into just yet...

I'm reading Cup of Blood by Jeri Westerson. She has published it as a prequel to her Crispin Guest medieval mystery series, but she says in the foreword that it is actually her first CG book. The problem was that it deals with a search for the Holy Grail, and she wrote it the year Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code came out so no one would publish it. Undeterred, she just went on and wrote Books 2 and 3 and has been sitting on this one over the years. It's quite interesting even though you already know some of the back story.

Sheri, the Brooks book isn't out until 6th October. I had an advance reading copy. It's worth the wait though IMHO.

I finished "Sweet Tooth" and hated to see it end. For any fans of Ian McEwan (I am one) I recommend this highly. Also, for anyone interested in espionage of the Cold War days and the London of early 70's. It will be a hard act to follow....

Mary, I've requested it from the library. Thanks.

I finished reading The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. I would rate it as mildly entertaining.

>Sigh<...I am having a hard time finding anything to capture my interest! I read a light murder mystery called "Pies & Peril"; it was okay. Then I started "Happy Hour at Casa Dracula" by Marta Acosta. Vampire stories aren't usually my thing; this one goes from "oh, please" to fairly interesting and back. I decided to give it a break and yesterday started "Shark Skin Suite" by Tim Dorsey. His writing sounds like he's copying Carl Hiaasen, but weirder (if you can believe that). I've read a couple of his books, but not sure if I'll stick with this one or not.

So, maybe I'll go back over this list of what y'all have been reading and try some of those. And maybe I'm just not much in the mood to read right now!

Donna

There are some authors who just can't seem to write a bad book (IMHO). Among those are John Grisham, John Sanders.

Finished "The Fireman's Fair" by Josephine Humphreys. A portrait of life in the low country of SC and in Charleston, in particular, with specific neighborhoods, buildings and people mentioned. Now my history class has started, so will be reading Gilgamesh, Grendal, and Elaine Pagels.

Hi, all! At the risk of being cheeky, can I invite all of you to check out my website: michellecoxwrites.com and possibly sign up for my newsletter if you're so inclined? My book, A Girl Like You, will be out in April with SheWrites Press, and I need to be able to show my publisher and publicist a healthy-looking list of newsletter subscribers! No weird marketing or gimmicks! Thanks in advance if you can help out! It just takes a minute!

Ooh, Nymph, that one sounds right up my alley...will check it out!

D

Mary, I read All the Single Women by Dorothea Benton Frank today. This one is set on Sullivan's Island and is perhaps not as good as usual. A new one comes out about this time every year, and I buy them for my daughter's September birthday. She really likes them, and I do, too.

I just finished The Truth According To Us by Annie Barrows (co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society). Set in 1938 in a small West Virginia town, it was full of Oddballs and Characters and circled around the truth of what really happened the night the mill
burned down in 1920 and one of the town's best and brightest young men
was found dead on the scene. Partially narrated in letters, partially in first-person narrative from the POV of a Scout-ish young lady aged 12, partially told in flashbacks, and partially told in the omniscient third person (whew!) there was a lot of switching gears, but somehow it just barely held together. Overall, charming, but still a little messy. Back to the library it goes.

Just finished X -- the new Sue Grafton. I love all of her Kinsey books -- it's like visiting with a friend I haven't seen for a while. Great characters in this one -- very quirky.

Michelle, nice website and I enjoyed the excerpt from your novel--will definitely look for it when it comes out.

For anyone who liked The Night Circus, (which I loved,) I just finished The Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry. Twin girls work in their mother's sideshow on Coney Island, 1900ish. A fire destroys the business and one sister takes off for NYC. The other eventually goes to track her down, winding her way through the underbelly of the city, following shreds of clues and coincidences. It is fantastical, seamy, poignant, and a social commentary and I really enjoyed it.

Also sort of skimmed Lionel Shriver's Ordinary Decent Criminals, published earlier as The Bleeding Heart. Takes place in Belfast, deals with the troubles, is so full of slang and acronyms and historical reference that the author included a glossary to decode the conversations. It's about relationships and politics and I didn't really care for it--but skimmed thru to the end since I wanted to see "what happened." If anyone has read it, let me know so YOU can explain the ending to me. I think I missed something...

Thanks, Bookmom! I appreciate it. And Church of Marvels sounds really good.

I just finished Refusal by Felix Francis, and as my kids would say, 'meh'. I thought it needed a good edit, as there were lots of words wasted on pointless thoughts of the MC. And that was Dick Francis's Sid Halley, so I wasn't over-thrilled about that either.

Michelle - As bookmom already said, that's a nice website. I too read the excerpt and am interested in reading more. I never heard of a 26 girl before. Interesting stuff.

Michelle, your website is quite impressive. I really like the old city scenes in sepia. I have never heard of a 26 girl, either.

I'm reading In the Dark Places by Peter Robinson. I watched the reruns of Inspector Banks on PBS this summer and was ready for the new book.

Carolyn - My father just finished reading In the Dark Places and really liked it. Every time I saw him in the past couple of days, he had his head stuck in it - couldn't seem to put it down.

Carolyn, I finally read "Great Black Kanba" and enjoyed it very much, thank you for the recommendation.

Ann, I googled to refresh my memory, and if you are interested Abe Books has a used copy for $75. Ha!

Ha! Indeed. I got the Rue Morgue reprint from Betterworld Books but as it had a lot of typos, the original Dell publication might have been a better choice.

I think it was set in prewar times as the heroine had travelled from the US but although I first came to Australia in 1960, so many things were the same. The older men preferred their women to be ladies who neither drank much or swore but smoking was all right!

Fortunately I didn't go by train across the continent until the track was standard and so I went on the Indian-Pacific with no changes or dead bodies en route!

Thanks Kathy and Woodnymph!! It's exciting that you liked the website - I really, truly appreciate any support. I'm not really the pushy type, but it seems you have to "put yourself out there" now to get a book out. I'm trying! I'll let everyone know how things progress.

Meanwhile, almost finished with In the Shadow of Lies. Not really liking it, which is disappointing because I really wanted to.