Sheri, have you read any of Kate Morton's books? They remind me somewhat of Susana Kearsley, whom I really like.

I'm reading Death in St. Petersburg by Tasha Alexander. I saw a paperback copy of it at Barnes & Noble and was intrigued enough to request it from the library. It is 12th in a series featuring Lady Emily and set in Victorian times, this one in 1900, and includes the murder of a prima ballerina dancing the lead in Swan Lake. My daughter and I were in St. P. for a few days this summer and saw Swan Lake performed, and I like Victorian mysteries, so this was a real come-on for me. It's not wonderful, but I am enjoying it.

I finished an ARC of Louise Penny's upcoming book, The Kingdom of the Blind, and found it vaguely dissatisfying. I feel that perhaps she is struggling to put Gamache in the mystery now that he has a new position.

We have been listening to a compilation of books, called The Monster Collection. It has The Stange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which was wordy but OK; Dracula, which we have only just started, but has promise; and Tedious Whinging, aka Frankenstein.

Now I know Shelley was young when she wrote it. I know books tended to be wordier and more descriptive in the past. But the book seems to be about 50% Frankenstein moaning about how awful his life is, how depressed he is, how everything is ruined etc. The plot, such as it is, has holes the size of a house in it, and interesting things, like how he actually made the monster and why he made it much bigger than a normal human, are left out. We were happy to finish it and move on.

After reading well into The Confessions Of Mrs. Godwin I simply could not finish the book. It was like slogging through a muddy swamp on a cold, dreary, rainy day.

Yoyobon - I can understand your reaction to The Confessions of Frances Godwin. While I liked it overall, I definitely had some trouble "slogging through" certain parts also. My book journal entry about it, which I wrote in 2015, is unusually long and starts out this way:

I’m torn about this book. There was a whole lot in it that I liked, but also decent-sized chunks of it that I didn’t enjoy at all. I thought it was creative and well-written, but for me, the long, erudite and extremely detailed passages about things like how to set a telescope to view certain stars and the inner-workings of a grand piano interrupted the flow. The basic plot is that Frances is writing a memoir late in life in which she describes a highly academic and cultured life in which she was a well-traveled high-school Latin teacher who married her Shakespeare-specialist college professor, Paul (after an affair while he was married to another woman), and their daughter Stella, who Frances thought would become a professional poet. Instead, Stella took up with and married …

I omitted the part after "Instead" because it contains spoilers, but Frances's reaction to Stella's life path is the interesting part of the book (where you learn about the need for a confession).

Carolyn, I love Kate Morton and I've read all her books. I have her newest, The Clockmaker's Daughter, in the TBR pile. It's in line behind the Kearsley library books and Overstory for next month's book group. I'm looking forward to getting to it!

I've just finished Wild Boy by Jill Dawson, which opens out the true story of a young lad found living wild in the Aveyron forests in France just after the worst of the atrocities of the Revolution.

In the novel she describes how a young teacher from the Deaf Mute Institute of Paris was put in charge of the boy and attempted to teach him, while a Madame Guerin took him into her home and had better luck in 'domesticating' him and continued in this role for nearly thirty years.

It seems possible that the boy may have suffered from what we now call autism as he never learnt to speak more than three words and maybe his strange behaviour was what drove his parents to abandon . . . or do away with him.

Certainly a 'different' book for me. Woodnymph/Mary you might enjoy this as there are many references to areas of Paris that are unchanged today.

NB Francois Truffaut's film L'Enfant Sauvage is based on these events.

Woodnymph - I picked up a library copy of Louise Penny's The Beautiful Mystery. Once home, I abandoned two other books I'd started (and am liking) to begin this one. I'm really liking it so far.

I recently finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards for book club. It generated a surprisingly good discussion. Since this was only my second meeting with this group I had a lot of questions and asked about a list of what was read so far this year. No list - better: there is a bookcase filled with all the books previously read since the group's inception four years ago that are available to borrow at no charge. Wonderful. Many I haven't read but are on my list. Happy days!

I'm currently reading The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee. It's a memoir/history and it is an absolute delight. I'm trying to go slow and savor but was up until after 3:00 this a.m. loosing track of time and very much enjoying myself. Up next is Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips, a thriller about an active shooter event that takes place in a zoo. I had this on my list and found It for sale at the Library this weekend. I'm looking forward to it for a change of pace. I think I'm back to my old reading self and couldn't be happier about it.

I'm reading The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis and enjoy her research on these NYC landmark buildings. However.......she is touted as giving a glimpse into 1950 life yet I found a glaring error when she has a character say " Taste this, it's to die for ! ". We all know that expression is not from the '50's. Am I expecting too much from the author ?

Has anyone read this book ? It sounds like the perfect read for any avid book lover.

Scribbles In The Margins...50 Eternal Delights Of Books by Daniel Gray.

Haven't read 'Scribbles' . . . but it gets five stars from intelligent* UK Amazon readers

* They all enjoy reading and owning books and they don't write 'I loved this book it was lovely, he/she is a lovely writer and I shall read everyone of his/her l....y books.'

Vee, that sounds like high praise. Perhaps worth a look.

Lol, unlike the US Amazon readers who either critically acclaim a book or write such an unintelligent pan that it begs for a snarky reply ;0)

I'm reading The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly and have made a big mistake. I had not read this author until recently and set out to read his Harry Bosch books chronologically. This is the fourth of his Harry series, and the library had it in an omnibus along with the next two--three of his books in one ~800 page volume. I requested it on line, sight unseen. I can hardly pick it up, much less carry it around to read while waiting at appointments, etc. Fortunately (or not) I also have other library books and started one of them at the doctor's office today. I trust that no one else will be as naive as I so that I can recheck this fat monstrosity for an additional three weeks.

Reading now Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes, published in 2003. There are 2 narratives: a woman in the early 1910's, travels with her new anthropologist husband and mentally challenged younger sister to Easter Island; in Feb 1973, an American botanist goes to Easter Island to do pollen research.

Kathy, I enjoy the Harry Bosch stories, too. I hope you are able to finish the collection you have! :) I heard someone talking about a TV series callee Bosch and wondered if it was the same character.

I have been striking out on reading lately. I started The Mysterious Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, but just couldn't get into it. The author keeps interrupting the narrative with little side comments and I found it to be distracting and annoying. I also decided to give Stuart Woods another try with his current NYT best seller, but OMG it was AWFUL! I used to really enjoy his stories, but this was just...awful. The dialogue is stupid and the writing is terrible. I don't know if he's just burned out or if he has someone ghost writing or something, but I sure won't be reading any more.

I started another novel called Orchard Grove, but after several times of using an apostrophe when there should be one (such as, "we went out to dinner with the Smith's") and many typos I gave up about three chapters in.

So now I'm back on Faye Kellerman. :) This one is called Sanctuary.

Donna

Donna - In your comment about Harry Bosch stories, I believe you meant to say "Carolyn" instead of "Kathy." And my goodness, you HAVE had a run of bad luck with your book selections lately. I hope Faye Kellerman gets you back on track.

A quick read Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper. The title is taken from a pamphlet published in the 1650's and was the tale of a young woman hanged for infanticide, cut down and taken for dissection when . . . horror . . . she was found to still be alive.

Hooper heard of the story and has written 'round' it but the basic facts were probably correct. Interesting that present at the dissection among a group of eminent doctors of Oxford was student Christopher Wren (of St Paul's Cathedral fame) who made a sketch of the girl's body.

The book seems aimed at YA readers and some of the social info might be rather inexact (did they have 'Paris Fashions' then or little coaches pulled by ponies?) but it is easy to be pulled into the story; thank goodness we were not born in Puritan times.

I have read that and I think someone here recommended it. I also borrowed the book about the jewels the Duke bought her. She had a flamboyant taste!

I'm reading The Taken by Inger Ashe Wolfe, a Canadian author. DI Hazel Micallef, just celebrating her 62nd birthday and working in a small town near Toronto, has had serious back surgery. Her 80-year-old mother is not able to lift her, so with no one else to help, she is recuperating in the basement of her former husband and his new wife. New Wife doesn't seem bothered and carries her meals down to her, but ex-husband is having a hard time. The beginning is pretty funny, but then a headless mannequin is pulled from a fishing lake and the police department starts to get spooky untraceable emails of partial photos indicating bad stuff is happening to someone.

I put Six of Crows aside for a while; I just am not interested at this time. My neighbor lent me a copy of The Murder of Roger Akroyd by Agatha Christie which I have just finished. I had read it a number of years ago and the only thing I remembered was "whodunnit". Since I knew that part I was able to pick up on some of the clues but most of it was fresh to me.

I just finished the final volume of the trilogy by Cixin Liu, Death's End. The female characters in the final volume, while far more perfect than I, were not so idealized as the girl in the middle volume so I was able to enjoy them. I found it deeply engaging and I'm glad I read it. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys science-based science fiction. (Some SF is not in particular.)

While I found much to ponder in these books, I was struck by a comment made by the last volume's female protagonist. Considering the complications of her adult life, she remembered her childhood wistfully as a time when all she had to do was "study hard and please her parents". I thought to myself how profoundly different her life had been than the life of an American child!

I finally finished the lengthy biography: "Housman Country", which included the complete book of A.E. Housman's poems: "A Shropshire Lad." It was worth the read for myself and I love the musicality of the poems, although most are sad. The little book of Housman's poems has never once been out of print and was carried by British and American servicemen in the pockets of their uniforms during both World Wars. Housman made that part of the English landscape come alive with his descriptions of the "blue, remembered hills." This little masterpiece also influenced English composers, e.g. Vaughn Williams, Butterworth, and others. Parker writes in a lively style, with a dry English sense of humor.

Taking a break from SF, I am reading Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux. I'm abut halfway through and enjoying it very much. Setting aside the added material it is only 220 pages long, and a quick read at that. Still, it is enlightening. Apparently Little Women was a much brightened picture of Louisa May Alcott's real family life. I recommend it to all of us who loved the novel growing up.

I have just read "The Moving Toyshop" by Edmund Crispin, a classic "Locked Room" mystery, from my TBR pile. Quite amusing and apparently a scene was used by Alfred Hitchcock in a movie, without attribution. I notice also that the story was in a TV series and has Maigret mentioned! So he may have been substituted for the actual detective.

Reading Summer At Tiffany , a delightful memoir of two friends who got a job at Tiffany in NYC for the summer during the 1950's. Not award-winning writing but a nice pleasant read.

Annpan, I read "The Moving Toyshop" many years ago and remember not understanding the who/why dunnit aspect of the book. Perhaps I totally failed to see either the plot or the point . . . maybe a re-read is in order.

Vee, it is rather a complicated mystery but the humour is enjoyable. The excellent writing makes one able to visualise the scenes. The mystery is almost a background for the actions of the characters IMHO!

I Googled some sites after I read it to get some extra info about the book's hidden humour and references. The problem in reading Golden Age mysteries is that some things go over my head and some authors love to quote poetry...and Latin! But what else can be expected of a book featuring Oxford Dons and a poet? I did like the poet's explanation about writing poetry which is something like my own. Inspiration filtering through your personal experiences to achieve a result.

The paperback I bought for a tiny sum was so old, the front cover came off as I handled it!

Yoyo - I have Summer at Tiffany in my TBR shelf. I remember picking it up at a sale years ago because I liked the title/cover. Might be time to move it up in the queue. Thanks for the reminder. (and the list grows longer...)

Currently reading Beartown for my book club, a gloomier, more depressing novel I cannot remember reading in quite some time. In fact I am listening to it as I could not force myself to read the words on the page.

To break up the unrelenting grimness of the book, I paused to read Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson. This is a light, decently written romantic comedy with a touch of New Age-ishness. In general that ruins a book for me, but the characters we like are so darn likable that I managed to not be bothered by it at all.

(Coming back to add more: I don't think Beartown is a bad book, in fact I think it is actually a very good book. It is just that I am finding it difficult to read.)

I'm reading Trunk Music, second of three books in the Harry Bosch omnibus that I have just found out I cannot recheck. I still have about a third of this one and all of the last one to read by the 31st. No problem; I'm a champion reader, right?

Also have four more library books out and eight requested, but I'm so far down the list on some of those that it may well be 2019 before I get my hands on them.

Carolyn, yes, you are a champion reader! From your posts here, it seems as though you are reading a book every other day. I'm lucky to get through one a week . . . and that's only when they are shortish and 'undemanding'.

Vee, that must mean you do more work and cooking than I do. However, today I deadheaded huge hydrangeas and now have three big garbage cans full of them for the yard waste truck on Friday. And there are still some dried up blooms on the tops that I couldn't reach.

I did finish Trunk Music and am now ready to start Angel's Flight, the last novel in the Bosch book.

I finished The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. I really did enjoy the remote monastery setting and the information about chants, but it wasn't my favorite Louise Penny book. I thought it was short on plot - too much repetition and not enough focus on the main mystery, due to the detectives reminiscing about the past.

I agree the detectives in Penny's mysteries do spend a lot of time in re-telling their back stories, Kathy. Which mystery of hers is your favorite?

Carolyn, some people save the dried hydrangea blooms and manage to make winter floral arrangements from them.

I'm not big on house cleaning, but I do love to cook!

I just started a book called Widow's Point by Richard and Billy Chizmar. I picked it up on a whim from the Library new book shelf. Not far in but I already know that I want to read it all at once. It's short, at 150 pages so I just need to set aside some time. Looks to be the perfect read for Halloween. Anyone else read it?

I have a bouquet of dried hydrangeas on my DR table right now.

Woodnymph - I reviewed the Louise Penny books in my book journal (because the titles do not tell me enough to jog my memory). I think I liked the first one the best. That was Still Life, about the artist who was shot with an arrow in Three Pines. I remember enjoying all the "hidden" art in her house, which was brought to light after her death.

I also liked A Rule Against Murder in which Armande and Reine-Marie spent their anniversary in a big log lodge in the woods where a murder occurred during family reunion being held at the lodge.

Kathy, my favorites were "A Great Reckoning" (about deciphering the map) and "How The Light Gets In" (about the Dionne Quintuplets, although their name was disguised). I did not care for "A Rule Against Murder".

Woodnymph - I've not read either of those Louise Pennys yet. I'll look forward to them!

Just stated A Little Breton Bistro by Nina George. I really enjoyed her first Little Paris Bookshop.

Mary, judging by the dried petals in my hair after I was finished with the hydrangeas, I wouldn't want an arrangement in my house! Perhaps they get dipped in or sprayed with some kind of preservative? Skibby?

Carolyn - I pick them fresh and place in a vase with water. Once the water is gone, the hydrangeas are dry and much sturdier than if you picked them already dried. I would say that a spray fixative would work fine in that case but I remember from my florist days that the smell was overwhelming (for a product call mum-tite) and didn't really dissipate. That was years ago of course and I'm sure those treatments have come a long way. Nice smelling or non scented hairspray would work too. If you have cats though, all bets are off.

Finished Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes. There are 2 storylines: a woman in the early 1910's travels with her new anthropologist husband and her mentally challenged younger sister to Easter Island for her husband to do research; in Feb 1973, an American botanist goes to Easter Island to do pollen research.

Very slow paced, especially the first 99 pages. This is a novel for the scientifically or anthropologically inclined. None of the storylines could be called riveting. I learned a couple of things, though: pollen in the deep layers of the soil can be studied to determine what sort of plants lived in a place centuries ago, and about the rongorongo tablets found on Easter Island, which have never been deciphered.

Just wanted to pop back in and say that I ended up after all liking Beartown very much indeed. It had huge strikes against it for me. For one thing hockey is the heartbeat of the story and I have absolutely no interest in sports. For another it is told in present tense and novels written in present tense really irritate me. It seems so affected, much like uptalk, reminding me of teenaged girls' conversations. Despite these two demerits I found it a powerful book. This is the book this year that made me glad I have a book club expanding my reading horizons. There is one every year. I never would have picked it up without my book club, and certainly would not have finished it if I had not made this commitment.

Turn away all of you who don't like biographies. I've just finished White Cargo by English actress Felicity Kendal about growing up in a company of travelling actors. Her parents put on shows throughout India during the '40/50/60's mainly of Shakespeare and some of the others 'classics'. FK was on the stage from a very early age and organising the costumes and 'props' from teen years.

Her love of the country and people shine through the writing and the contrast with the heat dirt and poverty is marked by the cold and dullness of '60's England when she arrived to spread her wings.

The family's way of life was described in the Merchant-Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah made with the family and famous Bollywood star Shashi Kapoor who became her b-in-law.

FK is better known over here for the much-loved TV shows The Good Life and Rosemary and Thyme

The Good Life

Skibby - Yesterday I finished Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler, and like you, I can't stop thinking about it. I even had to back-off from starting another book last night because it was interfering with the warm, pleasant and calm feeling that Birds in Fall left me with. I wanted to keep that going for a while.

As Skibby already mentioned in our September reading thread, the book is about a disparate group of people who come together at a B&B on an island off Nova Scotia to be near the site of a plane crash in which each of them lost a loved one. They are there to grieve, attend a memorial, and to claim whatever remains and personal belongings have been found in the waters surrounding the crash site. I am still marveling at the author's skill at providing such a pleasant, and even uplifting, reading experience about such a melancholic subject. I guess you can tell I really, really liked this book. Thank you for recommending it, Skibby.

Vee, I have seen "The Good Life" (called Good Neighbors here) and enjoy it a lot.

I gave up on Becoming Belle by Nuella O'Connor. I just couldn't get into it. It was the story of a girl (19 or so) leaving home and going to London to be an actress.

Now I'm reading The Fallen by David Baldacci. It's an Amos Decker story, and must be new because I think I've read all of them. I'm engrossed in it - Amos and his partner Alex are visiting Alex's sister in a small town in the midwest and there have been six murders. Even though Amos & Alex are on vacation they are caught up in the investigation.

Donna

Yes, msmeow, The Fallen is the latest Amos Decker. My daughter buys the Baldacci books as soon as they come out, and she loaned this one to me not long ago.

I finished Angels Flight, the last Harry Bosch book in the three-volume book I got from the library--and won't do so again. It is a huge book! It is due back tomorrow, and two more are waiting to be picked up: The Last Hours by Minette Walters and Crisis by Felix Frances, plus I have on hand and partially read Dark Tide Rising by Anne Perry, and Murder in Mind by Veronica Heley, and Walking Shadows by Faye Kellerman. So many books . . .

Carolyn, I'll be interested on what you think of the Walters book. I finished it but had a hard time with it.

Kath, has there been a big gap in Walters' books, or have I missed some? I haven't read anything by her in ages. I did go to the library today, got the two books that were waiting, and then got the new Kate Morton, The Clockmaker's Daughter, from the 7-day shelf. Reading, reading, reading.

I've finally started The Overstory by Richard Powers for my next book group gathering next week. He writes beautifully and I'm entranced. I'm only half way through so we'll see how it all comes together, but so far I'm impressed.

Two more Susanna Kearsley books just came in from the library (The Winter Sea and Mariana) so those will be next.