Vee is correct. I posted about a different Brown, a Daniel Brown. The latter is impeccable in his research.

Donna, a few years ago when US RP'ers were discussing Dan Brown, of whom most of the UK had never heard, I ordered a copy of one of his books from the library and was totally underwhelmed by the first paragraph but ploughed on for a while looking for the mystical inscriptions/coded messages et al that were apparently taxing the brains of the cleverest people in Europe. Well I must be considerably brighter than I thought as I 'got' the clues as I read them.

I was roundly derided here for my comments . . . but have lived to fight another day. I suppose the joy of reading is that we all take pleasure in such a wide range of styles and subject matter.

LOL, Vee! I enjoyed "Tha DaVinci Code" though it most of it was extremely improbable. My reaction to nearly every scene in "Angels and Demons" was "Oh, puh-lease" and lots of eye rolling. :) And "The Lost Symbol" was just violent and gory.

Donna

A couple pf quick reads The Bucket by Allan Ahlberg and Cocoa at Midnight by Kathleen Clifford.

Ahlberg is well known for his collaboration with his wife Janet, the illustrator, of several very popular books for small children. This one is made up of a parch-work of reminiscences about his family, from playing in the mud to 'adventures' with other kids. Much of it is in simple rhyme plus some art work by his late wife. I found it rather whimsical with the exception of his description of the hard lives lived by his parents.

Cocoa is about more hard work . . . Clifford was a poor girl from the run-down area of London's Paddington, right next to the huge railway terminus, who never ventured more than half a mile from her home or had even heard of (for eg) Buckingham Palace let alone the King and Queen. She got a job as a kitchen maid in the London house of the Spencer family and gradually moved up the ladder until, when working on a large country estate her 'flair' for maths proved useful as she was able to add-up bills at speed and was surprisingly elevated to the role of housekeeper while still in her 30's. She lived to see the end of the 'servant system' as so over-portrayed in 'Up Stairs Down Stairs' 'Downton Abbey' etc.

This is largely 'ghost written' with similar books in the same 'style' so we never learn much about the jobs she does, just a little about her fellow servants and almost nothing about her own family

I am coming to the end of The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston. He is the author of The Hot Zone and other scary books about epidemic diseases. This is a completely different subject area. He brings his narrative nonfiction style to the redwood and Douglas fir forests of the Pacific Coast, and the obsessed explorers who climb and study these trees. I love redwoods myself. In between our house and garage are four redwood trees planted about 70 years ago, babies as redwoods grow, but enormously tall for backyard trees. I love them, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories of explorations into nature.

I've just finished "A Fall of Marigolds" by Susan Meissner. Good, but not great. It has 2 interlocking stories: one set in the NYC post 9-11, with that protagonist struggling with the question: does everything happen for a reason? The second story is set in 1911, on Ellis Island. That protagonist is a nurse, helping the immigrants who are arriving in America, to re-settle. Thru her friendship and nursing of a Welsh immigrant, she becomes involved in his past history, which has a mystery attached. Along the way, she solves the mystery and makes a new beginning for herself. (I should add, the nurse was involved in the tragic fire of the Triangle Shirt Factory in NYC). I must say I liked the pacing of this novel; it does not drag.

Rosefolly: I love trees of any kind and have paintings and photographs of them in my home. Shall hard look for Preston's book, and thanks for your memo.

I am trying to read The Language of Spell by Sarah Painter but am feeling somewhat outraged. The beginning of the book is so similar to Mary Stewart's Thornyhold that I can't help feeling that this author has to have read it. The premise is of a young woman inheriting a house from her "witchy" great aunt. Her arrival at the house to find a woman there who says she looked after the house for the great aunt and the story she gives of trying to find a "book of recipes" the great aunt had promised to give her and a vein of similar happenings all combined have made me feel disinclined to finish it. I have persevered a bit to see if it differs any and there are subplots that are not in Thornyhold but still, I am annoyed with her.

Has anyone here read either book and thought the same?

I haven't read those books but I share your outrage!

I used to get very annoyed when authors copied Georgette Heyer's plots and character names.She did too and threatened them with legal action!

Sometimes it is done unwittingly though. Colleen McCullough was devastated to find she had used another author's plot in one of her books.

Annpan, I know what book that was. The Ladies of Missalonghi (I hope I spelled that right) is very similar to L M Montgomery's The Blue Castle. And I have read a few books that the author(s) definitely borrowed heavily from Georgette Heyer although I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Vee...lol...if I had read your description first, I'd never have gone for this book! I found it in a roundabout way and was intrigued by the herbs and garden aspect so thought it sounded intriguing. It wasn't until I started reading it that I realized the true nature of the book.

Laughing along with Rouan at Vee's summary - my fastest read ever!

And I have read many of them!

Vee, thank you for a good laugh this morning! That was spot on.

Finished reading The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman. These linked stories set in the town of Blackwell, Massachusetts, start in 1750 with the town founders and move in chronologically order with succeeding generations up to 1990's. I wish the stories were longer since some of the characters are quite engaging and I wanted to know more about them. I liked it very much.

I'm reading All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. It's a YA, and reminds me a lot of Lev Grossman's The Magicians. One main character is wholly committed to technology while the other is a hedge witch, able to speak to animals and heal people. They meet as tweens and then reconnect as adults. Other powers are trying to influence their actions, and I'm guessing there will be some sort of technology vs. nature showdown eventually. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and enjoying it.

Hi all - sorry for the absence here at RP. Life got a bit busy there for a while. I've been reading though (naturellement). Just finished a 1960 edition of "Six Modern Plays for Today" by Bennett Cerf. ("Today" being 56 years ago!) I'm not that well versed in plays, but wanted to read a classic title, was searching for Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 "A Raisin in the Sun". (There was a film of it just a few years later with Sydney Poitier that a few of you may be familiar with.) Anyway, that was a good read. Very powerful (especially in the last Act), so I can only imagine how strong the social message was when it played to full houses back then. (If you're not familiar with the narrative, it's focused on an working class African-American family on the Southside of Chicago slap in the middle of the Civil Rights movement. It's riveting -- or at least it was to me.)

The other plays in that collection were ok, but rather of their time. Playwrights included Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Dore Schary, Paddy Chayesky, and Lillian Hellman, but I'd only heard of Williams.

Then read a Nigerian classic called "Sozaboy" by Ken Saro-Wiwa (1985) about a young man who signs up to fight in a civil war, but then gets disillusioned quickly by the futility of war. It was written in a dialect called "Rotten English" which is a mix of Nigerian slang, British English slang, and then British English colonial-related words. Rather a challenge at first, but once you have it sorted out in your head, it's a breeze. Brilliant read (although not a happy one.)

lemonhead/liz, glad you're back and firing on all cylinders.

I have been reading I Didn't Get Where I am Today by English script writer/author David Nobbs. The title is taken from one of his very popular TV shows 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' and became a well-known 'catch phrase in the '80's. I found DN's books interesting when he described his 'growing up' but once he got onto the writing, mostly books of which I had never heard and TV shows I must have missed, it became a long list of producers, directors, other actors and writers and the good reviews he had received in the papers etc. and general luvviedom that I got too bored to continue.

I started Miss Dimple Suspects by Mignon F.
Ballard yesterday. Miss Dimple is an older single woman who teaches first
grade in a small town in Georgia during WWII. So far in the books I've
read she has captured a Nazi spy, rescued a lost child, and in this one
is taking care of a Japanese-American young woman accused of murder.
The books are definite cozies and are fun to read.

Just finishing my first mystery by Jeffery Deaver titled "Vanished Man". It's the story of a killer who is an illusionist and goes into great detail on dupery far more complicated than Presto !

Reading now Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner (translated from the French), about 3 young people who end up in Montreal. The first character has a broken compass that points to the Alleutian village of Nikolski.

I finished Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan this morning over a Sunday morning cup of coffee. It was a nice start to my day. I enjoyed it very much.

I wonder though, when did "bookstore" become one word?

When you mentioned you were reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, I checked our library system to check it out and found out there is a prequel: Ajax Penumbra. It is 65 pages long, so more like a novella. It deals with how Mr. Penumbra ended in San Francisco and got involved with the bookstore. (I haven't read it yet, our library has it only available as e-book and audiobook). Has anyone here read it?

Found online that the word bookstore is an Americanism and has been in use since 1763. Don't know how reliable the sources are.

R-I-T: Thanks for mentioning there's a prequel. I had no idea.

If you're interested in the 24-Hour Bookstore, I will mention that there's a good bit of tech-talk in it. I didn't mind, because in spite of my age, I spent much of my career in IT, but it might irritate or bore some people "of a certain age" who weren't born with a computer in their crib. Actually, I did wonder about that as I was reading. Any comments from others who've read it?

And really? America had bookstores in 1763? That strikes me funny.

Well, I am about 1/4 of the way through All The Light We Cannot See, and it's due tomorrow. I can't renew since other people have it on hold, but I've placed a new hold to get a copy when available, though I'm not sure I'll want to take it up again.

I don't mind the dual story lines, but it's just so choppy it's hard to stay interested in it! Those of you who have read it will know that each chapter is only 5 or 6 pages (some are as short as one page) and each chapter only covers a few minutes to a few hours at a time. Maybe he used that style to try to build tension, but for me it's just too broken up to keep my interest. Maybe I should try reading several chapters about the girl all in a row then several chapters about the boy.

Donna

I have just finished reading The Seventh Bride by T Kingfisher ( a retelling of the Bluebeard fairy tale). Rosefolly recommended it to another sister so I thought I'd give it a try too. I liked it and am going to try other books by the same author.

I'm reading Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody. It is the first of a mystery series, and the main character is a young woman whose husband, listed as MIA, has not returned from WWI. She has taken up finding lost soldiers, and this is her first paid case looking for a friend's father who disappeared years ago. It's shades of Maisie Dobbs but quite different in character, and I am enjoying it tremendously.

After reading The Past is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg I went on to the second part of her life told in The Road Ahead. It runs from the final months of WWII when CB and her children are living in a village in the Black Forest and her husband has been freed from Ravensbruck but has gone into hiding. The so-called French Army of the Rhine has taken over the area and the mainly N African troops are looting and raping and murdering the locals . . . something I had no knowledge of. Eventually the family get back to the UK after considerable string-pulling. They find life in war-torn and heavily rationed England too depressing and buy a run-down farm in Ireland where CB often offers hospitality to remnants of their German friends families (many had been in the plot to assassinate Hitler) It should be noted that CB's maternal family were the 'Harmsworths' probably the most influential group at the time as her uncles Lord Rothermere and Lord Northcliffe owned almost every newspaper in the UK and knew 'everybody worth knowing'. Her forebears were all from the Irish Ascendancy going back into the mists of time and she paints a vivid picture of the country people and their attitudes to the arrival of many Germans (the ones who didn't get to Argentina) although she says the story of Hitler not shooting himself but going to Ireland to become Pres de Valera's butler are probably untrue. ;-)

Both these books are easy to read and for anyone with a shaky knowledge of WWII from a German civilian p-o-v are very illuminating.

I've just finished Bill Bryson's "The Road to Little Dribbling." As some of you know, this is not his first travelogue about the UK, but the latest. I found it engaging, both with his attitude adjustments and his descriptions of the landscapes and villages. Bryson now has dual citizenship so is quite critical of some of the changes he has observed over the decades in the UK. He is critical of the government induced "austerity" that seems to have swept through England, mentioning closings of post offices, reduced hours in libraries, reduction in trains, closures of favorite pubs, etc. He seems quite nostalgic for the "merrie olde Englande" that we Americans romanticize about. I was surprised by his commentary about the large amounts of littering he found in the English landscape.

On the whole, I find Bryson's travel writings superior to those of Paul Theroux ("The Kingdom by the Sea"). I'd be curious to know what Vee and other Brits think of Bryson's commentary on present-day changes in England.

Mary, I haven't read 'Little Dribbling. . .' although I did enjoy his previous book about England which really 'hit the spot' with the descriptions of our many foibles. I understand he moans much more in this one. Of course many things change over time especially the closures of village PO's/shops, bus services, pubs etc partly due to far more people owning cars and wanting to use 'out of town' super markets etc. Actually, as roads become traffic-clogged there are far more train passengers these days just not enough room for everyone to travel in comfort!

I believe Bryson is/was the president of the 'Keep Britain Tidy' Campaign and must really have his work cut out as this country is plagued with 'litter louts' the unthinking folk who chuck everything on the ground or out of car windows or let their dogs c**p on the pavement or on grassy areas. I pick up bits and pieces everyday and once when I mentioned to a near-by neighbour that litter had been thrown into their front garden I was told the local Council should come and remove it . . . which didn't seem quite the right attitude.

I just finished Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan and loved it. It's a fantasy/romance with very good world-building and interesting characters. I found it recommended on author Gail Carriger's website.

R-I-T I've read the Ajax Penumbra prequel and though I can't recall much of it, I do remember liking it. I really enjoyed Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and more from that world was most welcome.

I tried to get through Little Dribbling but found Bryson far, far grumpier and negative than I remembered him and returned the book to the library unfinished.

I picked up from the library and have begun reading Boar Island, the newest by Nevada Barr. This National Park location is in Acadia, Maine, and begins with a 16-year-old being cyber stalked and twin sisters separated at birth being reunited.

Carolyn - Boar Island sounds interesting, mostly because I have fond memories of Acadia National Park. Have you read other novels in the Anna Pigeon/National Park series? I have not yet read any of them, but I'm interested.

I actually enjoy Bill Bryson's "grumpiness" because it is tempered with a wonderful sense of humor. In his favor, I'd like to add that he still has high praises for the English rural landscapes, in general. I was impressed by how many independent book shops he found in the smallest of villages. The US used to be like that-- I recall browsing in many tiny bookshops in New England and even in points South. But I am afraid most have gone the way of the big box huge, impersonal bookstores. Even in a city the size of Charleston where I am now, with so much culture, there is only one tiny used bookshop that is barely hanging on....

Kathy, I have read all the Nevada Barr books. If you do read them, while not necessary I think you might like them better read in order. I don't buy them but get them through my public library. I love it now that I can sit in front of my computer and request books to be picked up at my nearest branch.

Ms. Barr did a reading once at our best local bookstore, now sadly defunct as woodnymph said above. She was quite interesting and said that her least favorite NP research was at Carlsbad Caverns in NM. She didn't like being underground.

Thanks for the info, Carolyn. I will give the Nevada Barr books a try one of these days (in order). I am currently doing the same as you, requesting Louise Penny mysteries in order as they become available. The library website makes it so very convenient.

Finished Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner (translated from the French), about 3 young people in Montreal, all unknowingly connected: an unnamed bookseller, an archeology student who wants to do a dissertation about how road development affected the expansion of garbage dumps, and a female Internet pirate. It is a well written, intellectual novel with a vague ending.

I have been re-reading "Brat Farrar" by Josephine Tey after many years. One of a bundle of ten books I bought for one Australian dollar from a charity shop!

I am intrigued by this "deception" genre but think they were usually written for the light romance readers. Mostly it was women pretending to be either someone else or of a different social level to get their man!

Not many mystery writers tried it that I can recall, though.

Of course in these days with DNA tests it would be hard, impossible perhaps, to fake a relationship. I even recall a short story from years ago where the person pretending to be a long lost child was told that the child had left fingerprints on a newly painted toy...and that they were a match!

The big twist in that tale!

Ann, another such book is The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart. I always loved her books, but that is one I figured out almost from the beginning.

And Deceptions by Judith Michael - twin girls think it's fun to switch places and fool people, so they try it as adults when one needs a break from her life. It's a good story - I've read it at least twice.

I just finished The Breaking Point by Jefferson Bass. I thought I'd read all their books (Jefferson is the author and Bass is a forensic anthropologist) but this is one I'd missed. I enjoyed it a lot. It had some very interesting plot twists.

Donna

Carolyn, that was clever of you! Although there was a hint of the truth at the very beginning "dreaming of Adam" I missed that.

I did wonder if the actress relation was involved...

Ann, your comments on the 'deception' theme reminded me of the famous Victorian English/Australian case known as the Tichborne Claimant in which a wealthy English family searching for their missing son advertise for information on his whereabouts . . . with an expensive outcome. Apparently it fed the public's love of intrigue and the newspapers desire for 'copy' for many years.

I haven't read a book about it but am sure several have been written. :-)

Tichborne Claimant

"Friction" by Sandra Brown is a good, enjoyable mystery. The fun part is about every ten minutes of reading she inserts a laugh line.

I picked up a book at the library book sale that I thought looked interesting. the Unexpected Miss Bennett by Patrice Sarath is her version of what happens to Mary Bennett. I thought the premise was interesting but the book didn't live up to my hopes.mmShe tried to do too much and bring in all the characters from P &P but it didn't work for me. It's going back to the library for someone else to maybe buy.

Vee, I have read a couple of books about the Tichborne Claimant and came to the conclusion that he was a fraud but the genital similarity is new to me. I don't recall that in any book I read.

My conclusion was based on his lack of knowledge of French. Although unlike him, I never lived there and had only a five year schooling in that language, I have never entirely forgotten it.

I'm reading All Summer Long by Dorothea Benton Frank. She writes a book a year set in the South Carolina Low Country. My daughter loves them, and I buy each of them early enough to read it before giving it to her for her September birthday. They are light summer reads.

Carolyn, are you familiar with the Laura Childs' Teashop mystery series? They are light summer reading and set in Charleston SC and the low country.

Oh, yes. I read the Childs books as soon as they are available from the library. I finished the Frank book and thought it was weaker than usual. It also used "hear, hear!" three times, consistently rendered as "Here, here!" and had a really unnecessary scene near the end.

Carolyn, I have read a lot of Frank's work and I think she is slipping a bit. Somewhat reminiscent of A.R. Siddon's novels, which get quite repetitive in their vocabulary and plots. (e.g. I think she used "spavined" as an adjective in every book she ever wrote!).

I have just finished Ian Caldwell's "The Fifth Gospel." The author claims it took him 10 years to write. In a sense, it is a "tour de force" in terms of scholarship re early Christian church history. The plot has many twists and turns. It is also a study of the separation of the Eastern Orthodox patriarchy from the Western Catholics and the papacy. The novel puts a very human face on the late Polish Pope as well as the Vatican as a small nation unto itself. (Caldwell's previous novel was "The Rule of Four.").