Spring being a tough act to follow, God created JUNE READING

7 years ago

I've been away for a time, nursing my dear father through his final days. I read nothing at all during that process, and since then have had an extremely short attention span for books I've tried to read. I decided a mystery might help get me back in the groove and so I've begun The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves. So far, so good.

I recently watched an interview with Ann Cleeves on the PBS Well Read TV program. (Love that show!) I enjoyed Ann's personality so much that I felt I would surely enjoy her books. During the interview, when asked "Where does all this stuff come from?" Ann replied, "I'm just very nosy, so I listen to other people's conversations. I don't know how you could be a writer if you don't use public transport." So amusing!

Ann Cleeves on Well Read

Featured Answer

merryworld

7 years ago

Kathy, I'm so sorry for your loss. The author Ann Hood came to our library a number of years ago and one of the things she described was how after the sudden loss of her child she was unable to read at all. She couldn't even make out the words in the newspaper. It was taking up knitting that helped her, something she had never tried before and had no associations with life before the tragedy but that also required her full attention.

I'm currently reading A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Cline. So far so good, but I'm not far into it yet.

I finished An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. He describes the nitty gritty of astronaut life. It amazes me how difficult and painful it is for the body to adjust to life back on earth after months of being weightless.

Rouan, I love Enchanted April. I could use an Enchanted June about now. It's rainy and cold and I have a winter sweater on.

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Comments (62)

carolyn_ky
7 years ago
Ann and Mary, I have just requested the books you recommended. I picked up two books at the library today, and when I looked at my requests just now I see that six more have been shipped. I should get off the computer and start reading! Anyway, thanks for the tips.
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
I'm now reading one of my library requests--Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I was not aware of this book or author until I saw an online discussion in posts about a new book by him, A Gentleman in Moscow. Another library request in my future because this one is a really good book. The setting is late 30s in New York City's cafe society.
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rouan
7 years ago
Besides re-reading some old favorites, I picked up Cut to the Quick by Kate Ross, which I have had for a couple of weeks and only now am reading. I believe the author died a few years ago so there are only a few books in the series. I like this one enough to look for the next one in the series.
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
rouan, I have read the Kate Ross books and was very saddened that there would not be more of them.

I stayed up until 12:30 last night finishing Rules of Civility, and today's book seems quite boring in contrast. It is Our Lady of Pain by Marion Chesney an Edwardian mystery.
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vee_new
7 years ago
Just read a couple of entertaining books. Full Marks for Trying by Brigid Keenan describes her 'Colonial' upbringing in India and return to a cold, grey post-war UK. Through a series of being-in-the-right-places she lands a job with the Express paper and gradually makes her way up through the world of fashion journalism to work under US guru Ernestine Carter, (think The Devil Wears Prada ) meets all the '60's icon-models/photographers and visits the top Paris fashion houses and lands up in charge of the 'women's section' of the Observer and then top-of-the -range fashion mags. She has since married a diplomat and has written other books about her travels, often to deeply unlovely countries.

Crooked Heart by LIssa Evans, was not a corny love story as the title suggests but one about a family of 'dubious morals' (hence the crooked) and the less than noble/glamorous side of the population to the bombing/blackout.

I notice that it has become popular with US reading groups but some Americans didn't enjoy it as it showed the English in what was probably their 'true colours'. I would recommend it as Evans, while too young to have been around then has done her homework on what real life was like and paints realistic characters.
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kathy_t
Original Author
7 years ago
I finally finished the Ann Cleeves mystery, The Crow Trap. I'm sorry to say I was not enamored. I so wanted to like Ann Cleeves and her character, Vera Stanhope. Perhaps I need to give them both a second chance. We all deserve a second chance, right?
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msmeow
7 years ago
I finished The Aviators Wife today. I liked it a lot, though it was getting a bit repetitious.

Donna
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sheri_z6
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I finished At the Broken Places by Mary Collins and her transgender son Donald Collins for my book group. It's a book of essays about their individual experiences going through Donald's gender change. Mary was very much against it (they have since reconciled), and she writes about her anguish grieving her "lost daughter", and about the lack of support and information for parents who are not 100% on board regarding their child's transition. Balancing her POV are her son's essays. Although Donald felt he'd been abandoned by his mother, he found a great support system within his high school and college as he made his transition. It's definitely interesting reading, and offers a lot of information about a very hot-button subject. I'm looking forward to our book group discussion tomorrow night.

I also flew through the newest Nora Roberts, Come Sundown. I'm always a fan, but I thought this was one of her better books character and plot-wise, though the bad guy in this one was truly disturbing.

Finally, I finished book #6 in the St. Mary's time travel series, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, which was great fun. Now on to book #7.
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ci_lantro
7 years ago
I'm still plodding through Steven Ambrose's D-Day. I'm so tired at night from trying to get caught up on yard work that I don't get many pages read before I fall asleep.
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
I finished my daughter's copy of David Baldacci's The Fix. This is the third of his Amos Decker books. Amos had a head injury that makes him see certain things in color (death is blue) as well as not being able to forget anything, ever. He is now working for the FBI. These are good stories.

I've just picked up a whole bunch of library books that all came in at once and started Murder in the Bowery by Victoria Thompson while I ate supper. The main character is a midwife in Victorian New York City.
msmeow
7 years ago
Carolyn, I read The Last Mile and enjoyed it a lot. I need to read the other Amos Decker books.

I started The Whistler by John Grisham yesterday. I think I will enjoy it.

Donna
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woodnymph2_gw
7 years ago
I just finished "Orphan Train" by Christina Kline. This is fiction, but based upon the historical orphan trains that rain in the US from pre Civil War days up until ca. 1930. I had no knowledge of this little known part of American history. It seems the streets of Eastern big cities were teeming with children of immigrants who were unsupervised, often hungry, poor, and almost homeless. Thus the idea began to round up these poor children and ship them off to the towns and rural parts of the Mid West, where they were able to supposedly make a new start, as adoptees of "Christian" mid-westerners. The trains would stop and the townsfolk would flock to the stations and choose a child to adopt. It was a luck of the draw for the child as often it would end up in a home or on a farm that exploited his or her free labor at will. Other children found good homes with caring parents. But their pasts were obliterated and often their names were changed, so they had a void in their early lives. This interesting narrative tells the stories of a pair of orphans and their subsequent fates and how they were able, at long last, able to trace some fragments of their pasts. I really enjoyed this book and could scarcely put it down. The orphan trains ended in the 1930's when Roosevelt's "safety nets" kicked in to help the" down and out."
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
That is a coincidence, Mary, because my Victoria Thompson book is dealing with the search for an orphan train child. (Her husband is a private detective.)
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
I'm now reading The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths. This one is good again; I was disappointed in the last one.
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dandyrandylou
7 years ago
kathy_t - I'm now plodding through "The Crow Trap" hoping to discover some exciting diversion in the theme - so far - no go. Has anyone else read it?
kathy_t
Original Author
7 years ago
dandyrandylou - I'll be interested to hear what you have to say after you've finished The Crow Trap. I said I want to give Ann Cleeves another chance, but not yet. I've started reading A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny, an author I know I can count on. So far, I'm liking it.
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woodnymph2_gw
7 years ago
I'm at the beginning of Elizabeth Kostova's new novel, "the Shadowland." It is almost 500 pages long, so I hope I can stay with it. The book is set in Bulgaria, which is the author's adopted country. She spent many years there and married a Bulgarian. Having spent a little time in Bulgaria years ago, I can say that she certainly captures the feel of the post-Communist regime and landscape. So far, so good....
dandyrandylou
7 years ago
kathy_t : Finished it. Disappointed.
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kathy_t
Original Author
7 years ago
dandyRL - Not surprised, but feeling validated.
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Rosefolly
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Tom has not read The Crow Trap yet. However, I will say that he finds the Ann Cleeves mysteries to be at best second tier mystery novels for him; readable, but not eagerly awaited.

I'm reading in a distracted manner these days. I finished the Outlander costume and am now working away on a new late Georgian era costume, 1797. It is to consist of a dress, open robe, and lace cap. I originally planned fingerless linen mitts, but it is clear I am not going to have time for those, even though I put several hours in every day. I've been binge-watching Doctor Who while I sew. Somehow it seems perfectly appropriate! Later this summer I plan to sew a new Ren Faire costume. It should go quickly because I already have the underpinnings from a previous, less authentic version, so it will just be linen bodice, skirts, cap, and apron. I'm also thinking of updating my Dickens Faire costume and my Gatsby picnic costume. Those may wait until next year. I can only spare so much time away from the garden. I did a good garden clean up between the two costume projects, but it is starting to slip away from me again.

As you can see, I live in a costume-rich environment. It is probably part of that high tech-fantasy marriage that fuels Silicon Valley.

What I have been working on the past few days is the Lies, Damned Lies, and History, the most recent of the Chronicles of St Mary's time traveling historian series. It sits upon a tall stack of books that I really do want to read, and I am working my way through them in fits and starts. There are some really good books in that stack so I currently am not making as much use of the public library as I generally do.

Rosefolly
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msmeow
7 years ago
I finshed The Whistler by John Grisham yesterday. It was okay - not my favorite by him. The last 50 pages or so seemed like he'd gotten bored with it and just wanted to wrap it up. Maybe his editor said it was getting too long! :)

I've just started Memory Man by David Baldacci, the first Amos Decker novel. I read The Last Mile a while back and enjoyed it a lot.

Donna
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vee_new
7 years ago
Looking for a light read I pulled from the TBR pile Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, expecting an easy and undemanding read but finding it held my attention more than I had expected.

A young out-of-work 'blue collar' girl answers an ad for a companion to a man who has become a quadriplegic after an accident. Being an English setting the differences in 'class' are rather overemphasised as he is from a wealthy family and she lives on the wrong side of the tracks, but the interplay between the two, with him being sarcastic with no interest in life and her trying to get him to enjoy what limited abilities he has, is interesting. It has been made into a 'major motion picture' and sold about a million copies.

I noted on Amazon (which I tend to check after I have read a book) most people loved it while a few said it made them want to vomit . . . and that Moyes had no idea of her subject matter . . .
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
I'm reading Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French, the third Frieda Klein book. Dark again, but they are such interesting books.
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netla
7 years ago
So sorry for your loss, Kathy.

After I lost my paternal grandmother I found that reading some of the books I inherited from her was a good way to help me grieve for her. I felt as if she was with me, reading over my shoulder, and felt comforted.

I have been in a reading slump lately. I did finish a couple of books in May, but have read very little in June. My current (slow but steady) read, is The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names by John Wright. I found out about this book on BBC 4's Word of mouth podcast, which I like to listen to when I'm crocheting. It's informative and some of the chapters on the names themselves are quite funny.
kathy_t thanked netla
lemonhead101
7 years ago
I'm sorry for your loss, Kathy. I hope you're doing ok.

Just like others, my reading has been all over the place this month, but for good reasons. My lovely old mum visited me for a week or so, and whilst she was here, we started a (never-ending) 1000-piece puzzle. Her flight left on Tues, but now I've put so much time and effort into the darned puzzle that I can't scrape it up and put it into the box just yet. There goes my reading time. =)

In between the puzzle, I have just finished an Arnold Bennett, "Anna of the Five Towns", which for some reason took weeks to complete despite its thin page count. I'm also trying to pay much more attention to reading books by and/or about POC, so it's been super-fun scouring the shelves for titles that fit that. Just about to start "Jazz", the second in the "Beloved" trilogy by the great Toni Morrison, and then my NF is "Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States" by Hector Tobar (imagine a couple of accents in the right places please). That's a very academic title for the book contents, and it's actually really interesting to read about the U.S. is (and will be) changing wrt population demographics and different needs.
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kathy_t thanked lemonhead101
annpanagain
7 years ago
It is winter here in Western Australia but has been fairly mild with little rain. Not good for the farmers though.

I have been comfort reading mostly. Old favourites, so I don't have to exert my brain too much! I can't seem to settle for a long spell of reading and find I am putting books down after a chapter or so. For that reason I have been buying books from charity shops which don't need to be returned within a period of time like a library book.
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msmeow
7 years ago
Lemonhead, what is POC? I know Toni Morrison gets huge acclaim, but I detested Beloved (though I did slog all the way to the end) and I've never tried another of hers.

I'm still working on Memory Man. Baldacci tells a good story and moves it along at a good pace.

Donna
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woodnymph2_gw
7 years ago
I also wonder what POC is.

I have almost finished "The Shadow Land" by Eliz. Kostova. I was greatly anticipating this novel, as I had loved her "the Historian." IMHO, I don't find this one to be as great. It seemed to bog down in the middle of the book and I was forcing myself to continue. I do think the novel could have been cut, to make the work camp descriptions in Bulgaria shorter. So much was redundancy. The book starts off as a real page turner, but I think the narrative fizzles after that. I will say that I found the 2 main characters believable and sympathetic.
carolyn_ky
7 years ago
Donna, I am so glad to hear someone else say they didn't like Beloved. I read it through, also, but just because I had to know how it ended.

I've finished the Frieda Klein book and am just a little way into The Last Time I Saw Paris, not far enough to comment.
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vee_new
7 years ago
Just read a detailed and interesting biography of Edith Cavell by Diane Souhami.

She is probably little known of in the US, but was an important figure in nursing both in England and then Belgium. Having grown up the daughter of a vicar and spent time as a governess, she went on to train as a nurse at the London Hospital (mentioned often in 'Call the Midwife') using methods laid down by Florence Nightingale. In the early 1900's she was asked to open a training school for nurses in Brussels where the hospitals were run only by nuns. By the outbreak of WWI, 1914, she was Matron in charge of many nurses and after war was declared the hospital began treating both Allied and German casualties. With her strong Christian ethic she was asked to help the wounded to get back to their own 'lines' over the Dutch border and became part of an escape route for these troops. Eventually spies reported her to the authorities, she was arrested and after solitary confinement had a very dubious trial and was speedily 'shot at dawn'. That a woman and nurse should be so treated was the cause of Allied outrage and set back the German 'cause' . . . though there was no cause as the Germans had planned to annex Belgium and probably put to death their Royal Family . . . It even slightly hastened the US involvement in the conflict.

We learn about the 'horrors of the trenches' but what I hadn't know much about was the civilian suffering at the hands of the Germans with their total Prussian control and over-bearing rules, their cruelty to the ordinary population.

A worthwhile read.
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
On my recent Rocky Mountaineer trip to the Canadian Rockies, we were told that a particular mountain was named for Edith Cavell and then the name was changed after her death as a supposed traitor. Another peak was named for General Eisenhower and that was also rescinded, but I can't remember why.
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vee_new
7 years ago
Carolyn, Mount Edith Cavell still bears her name which it was given after her death . . . she had nursed many Canadian soldiers . . . I don't think any free country ever saw her as a traitor; just the opposite.

Mount Edith Cavell Jasper National Park
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Vee, I could have sword the guide told us that. Maybe they discussed it, or maybe he got it wrong, or maybe I was on information overload (quite possible).

I finished The Last Time I Saw Paris this afternoon and enjoyed it, Nazi spies and all. This has been a good day. All I accomplished was getting the laundry done. It's been a beautiful day weatherwise, and I spent the afternoon on the patio reading.
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sheri_z6
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I picked up a book from our local Little Free Library on a whim, Same Beach, Next Year by Dorothea Benton Frank. I've never read her before, but I'd heard of her and expected the book to be at least OK in the light family saga category. However, so far -- meh. She spends a lot of time telling rather than showing, and her characters are pleasant enough, though fairly boring. Every once in a while one of them will get upset and just when you think something might actually happen to move the plot along, they all have a glass of wine, everyone smiles at each other, and everything is wonderful again. I suppose I'll finish it, but I won't be looking for anything else by her.
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msmeow
7 years ago
I started Gone Girl the other day. At first I thought I wouldn't like it - the back and forth structure between Amy in the past and Nick in the present seemed like it would be annoying - but so far I'm enjoying it. It's 450 pages long, so we'll see how I feel at the end! LOL

Donna
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lemonhead101
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Several of you had wondered what the acronym POC referred to, and sorry about that. Thought it was a more widely spread term (my fault for assuming!). It stands for "people/person of color" (POC) and in this particular instance, I was using it to refer to anyone or any topic that is by or about someone who is not white/Caucasian.

In my reading, I find it's very very easy to slip in an all white author/topic world, and I like to diversify my reading which means that I have to pay attention to things like that. No pressure or judgment for anyone else though. There's nothing wrong with doing that, but for me, I like to be stretched through seeing the world through lenses way different from my own sometimes, so it's something that I look at. The more I learn....

BTW, I rather liked Beloved (this link takes you to my blog review) but must admit it wasn't the easiest read. Once I worked out how to read it, I thought it was brilliant. :-)
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merryworld
7 years ago
Just to clarify, Edith Cavell was shot by a German firing squad for treason because she helped allied troops escape from German occupied Belgium in WWI.

I finished A Piece of the World. It was well written and I enjoyed most of the book, but by the end the main character was a little too much of a bitter, stubborn old woman for me.
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woodnymph2_gw
7 years ago
Sheri, I concur with your opinion of the work of D.F. Frank. I did like the first book I read by her. I think it was called "Folly Beach." That is the part of SC where I live now, having relocated from VA 6 years ago. I think her work has increasingly become formulaic. The last book by Frank that I tried to read I could not finish, out of boredom. Some authors need to quit while they are ahead, IMHO.
carolyn_ky
7 years ago
Merryworld, this from Wikipedia:

She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and in helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial
and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she
was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide
condemnation and extensive press coverage.
She is well known for her statement that "patriotism is not enough, I must have no hate in my heart". Her strong Anglican beliefs propelled her to help all those who needed it, both German and Allied soldiers.

Our tour guide did say that she helped German soldiers escape, but he didn't tell us much about her.
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vee_new
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Carolyn and Merry, after reading the book mentioned above it appears that the court tried to 'get her' on a charge of spying. The German trial dealt with over 80 people in one day and no prisoners had been allowed to be seen by a defence lawyer. None of the court justices spoke French, the prisoners didn't speak German. Nurse Cavell spoke only French and a single interpreter was able to go from French to German but none of the prisoners or the defence members were allowed to read/check the German written statements taken at the time of arrest.

At the time the only person in authority to 'help' EC was the head of the neutral US Legation in Brussels (representing UK affairs) who suffered from a delicate constitution and had taken to his bed. Much hand-wringing throughout Europe but little practical help and (in hindsight) only a day in which to do it.

After the very speedy execution and burial the German General who had passed the sentence was hastily 'recalled' by the Kaiser and the US Head of Legation sent back to DC for 'recuperation'.

I am not a lawyer but wonder at the term traitor in this context. I'm sure one of you knows if you can be a traitor in the country in which you are working, that has been overrun by another power. So EC though English, working in Belgium for all nationalities is a traitor to the invaders . . . very complicated. Had the Geneva Convention been introduced by WWI? Perhaps I'd better look it up myself.
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woodnymph2_gw
7 years ago
Good question, Vee, re the term "traitor." Did you find the answer?
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
Today I finished The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes, recommended, I believe, by Annpan. It certainly was a different and amusing book. The back cover says, "But the real joy is in the journey itself: watching Keyes's quirky characters as they change partners, reveal battle scars, and command your attention on every page" and "A tasty literary latte."
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annpanagain
7 years ago
Carolyn, I am glad that you enjoyed the book. I first came across Marian Keyes when I read another story about the Walsh family. "Anybody out there?"

The whole family have dramas! I didn't like the writing style of "Watermelon" so much. All those single sentences were rather off-putting.

I started "A distant View Of Everything" by Alexander McCall Smith but couldn't get into it. Isabel Dalhousie drifts off so much that it is a good thing she has help with her children. I worry that she will forget she has them when she has her dreamy philosophical thoughts!
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annpanagain
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Carolyn, Have you read "The Herring Seller's Apprentice" by L. C. Tyler?

It is another unusual mystery and has nothing to do with fish! It is the first in a series featuring a writer of mysteries and his agent.
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
No, not familiar with that writer. Did you like it? I'm not usually fond of funny mysteries. (I'm serious about them.)
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annpanagain
7 years ago
Yes, I thought it was very clever and deserved the multiple awards. I have read the whole series. I like amusing mysteries as no one seems to be writing the kind of humorous novels I liked years ago.

You do like some "cosies" though, don't you?
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kathy_t
Original Author
7 years ago
As the month winds down on this June Reading thread, I want to thank all of you for your kind messages of sympathy. You are a lovely, supportive group of people and I appreciate you.
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carolyn_ky
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Kathy, I received some of that kind sympathy last fall when my husband died. This is a good group, and let me add my continued sympathy to you.

Yes, Ann, I do like cosies if they are well written. I'm presently reading A Woman Unknown by Frances Brody. It is part of her Kate Shackleton series in which Kate has become a private investigator following her unsuccessful search to find out what happened to her husband who did not return from WWI. The telegram just said Missing, presumed dead.
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vee_new
7 years ago
Kathy, I feel that the greatest healer is time. As Carolyn says this small group of RP'ers is always there for each other at times of difficulty; it's a comforting thought.

Mary/woodnymph, regarding the 'treason' thing in relation to Nurse Cavell. I tried looking up some information but not having a trained legal mind it wasn't easy to find/understand. Many of the books/papers on the subject use the EC case as a precedent for the correct behaviour in these circumstances.

Over the years both the Hague and Geneva Conventions have been up-dated. For eg in the early 1900's (pre planes) it was illegal to drop explosives from hot air balloons . . . It seems that the German Military Code allowed the death penalty for non-combatants.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but had PR been available to the Germans ie shooting a woman never being a good idea and had Edith Cavell worn her nurses uniform at her trial her fate might have been quite different. Certainly after her speedy dispatch no other people found guilty on that day faced the death penalty, just terms of imprisonment.
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Spring being a tough act to follow, God created JUNE READING

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