I am almost finished with State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hilary Clinton. I know many of you pooh-poohed it, but I am finding it to be quite a page-turner. I can’t really say I’m enjoying it, since the subject matter is terrorists and finding their nuclear bombs in time, but it is gripping. Near the end LP has thrown in some references to Three Pines which have nothing to do with the story and are silly, in my opinion.

Up next is The Lincoln Highway. I was on the waiting list at the library for a long time and it finally became available.

Donna

Mary, I liked The Huntress as I have all of the Kate Quinn books I've read although none is as good as The Rose Code. I tend to read for the story and am not a good literature critique the way many of you are, a flaw in my character that comes from reading as many books as I can as fast as I can for my whole life just for the stories they tell me, I suppose. Stories are so much more entertaining than my life (which all in all has been good, I hasten to say).

Regarding pikelets, in my family they were always eaten hot, with either sugar and lemon juice, or Golden Syrup, which is a bit like maple syrup.

My first effort at making pikelets was a disaster. I got the measurements wrong and the poor things were so thin they were almost transparent!

I think every Australian girl mixed batter almost from sitting up in her baby high-chair but the women at the tea party were very polite and murmured that "they were a special kind" to their dumbstruck husbands.

I recently finished Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. It was well written and interesting enough, but I didn't feel the "big thing" that was bothering the narrator throughout the book was big enough to write a novel about. We all have regrets in life, but this loomed rather overly large, in my opinion. And by the way, she was regretting a decision someone else made and had to live with, not even her own decision.

I've read two of Mary Lawson's books recently...her latest A Town Called Solace and a previous work, Road Ends. Although she's a talented writer with a style all her own, I find the use of a red pencil would be beneficial. She has a tendency to be repetitive [through her characters contributions] where I think it's unnecessary and it causes her stories to drag. It's as though she wrote that particular chapter...set it aside...and when she came back to continue writing ...she had to repeat through her characters what she, herself, had forgotten.

I couldn't find a copy of Crow Lake, locally, and after reading your comments Kathy, I'm glad I couldn't. Instead, I've moved on to Lisa Gardner's works...her latest, One Step Too Far and I'm currently in the midst of When You See me.

You might like both of them, Kathy. I'm pretty good at solving mysteries long before I get to the end of a book but One Step Too Far had an ending I never suspected. Gardner's good at what she does!

Winter - Thanks for the info on mysteries. Thinking back over Crow Lake, I realize there was that same sort of unnecessary repetition in that book also - so I think you made a very good point.

Winter - I just checked and discovered my library has 14 copies of One Step Too Far and a waiting line of holds. Must be quite popular!

I'm impressed with her writing talent. Kathy. I hope you like the book. I'd buy everything she's written if I could find them in hard copies but most of her older books are in commercial paper back now and I have reading restrictions that make the commercial paper backs hard to handle. [I have to read with the aid of a lighted magnifying glass and trying to manage handling a book and holding the glass gets a little cumbersome if the reading matter is too small.] When You See Me is a tall rack paper back which is more like a hard copy so I can manage it. She creates wonderfully complex characters that are as intriguing as the mysteries that she writes. Enjoy!

Thanks to Frieda for recommending Rosemary Sullivan's "The Betrayal of Anne Frank". It is dealing with a "cold case" and reads like a good mystery. I can scarcely put it down.

My granddaughters and I have been reading The Trixie Belden Mysteries because I happened to remember that one of the main characters is adopted and this character's backstory and adoption feature prominently in the first several books. The girls are quite taken with the adventures of Trixie and 'The Bobwhites' (club) as I must have been for me to recall the bit about adoption.

Before Trixie, we read Anne of Green Gables. I had completely forgotten that adoption is part of the "Anne" books.

I put out feelers for 'adoption' stories, and the girls and I now have over 150 books to explore. I want to start with the most positive ones. As the girls mature, they can eventually read the pitiful. poignant ones on their own if they so choose. Unfortunately -- but realistically -- there are many of those. I didn't realize how many. To excuse my obtuseness a wee bit, there's a matter of semantics . In older books the authors often used the terms adoption and fostering interchangeably, although I had in my mind that they were different. Apparently, historically this was not always the case.

Outside the novels, I've ben reading about the history of adoption. I have learned that adults were formally adopted sometimes, particularly when a family wanted to keep an illustrious name going. I read about one of those adult adoptees recently, but now I've forgotten who he was! -- British, I think.

Because I enjoyed The Paris Apartment, I requested The Guest List by Lucy Foley. I started it last night and like it but less that the Paris one. For one thing, it is written in present tense which is driving me a little crazy and is set in the present day on a small island off the coast of Ireland featuring a wedding among the up and coming and/or wannabes. Is that offputting? It is holding my interest but not my breath.

For those of us who like mysteries and those of us who enjoy Colleen McCullough's writing talents, are you aware that she wrote mysteries in her last years from 2005 - 2013? They're referred to as the Carmine Delmonico series and having read all of them, I can attest to the fact that they're superb. If you're looking for something new to read...as I often am...you might try one or all of these. They're written as a series but can be read and enjoyed individually.

On, Off (2005)

Many Murders (2009

Cruelty (2010)

The Prodigal Son (2012)

Sins of the Flesh (2013)

Annpan I thought of you when I started The Librarian by Salley Vickers. Set in 1958 when a young woman gets the job of children's librarian in an English country town.

SV had been a librarian and her 'heroine' probably follows the same path, introducing new book/authors to the collection and single-handedly encouraging the local children and their parents to use the facilities, caring for some of them while their parents are elsewhere and coaching them for exams.

Along with these good-works there is the nasty head librarian to contend with and a slightly sordid 'love-interest'.

The books is written in a strange style as though aimed at bright children, rather in the manner of Noel Streatfeild (think Ballet Shoes etc) but with a political undertow.

I 'looked up' Vickers and found her parents had been strong supporters of the Communist Party which might account for the politics and that her father spelt her name with a 'e' to make it refer to salley willows which he claimed to be Irish . . . he was a supporter of the Irish IRA movement . ..

I sometimes feel parents have much to answer for!

Frieda, i loved the Trixie Belden mysteries when I was a tween, I still have a few boxed up here somewhere with my old Dana Girls and Nancy Drews.

I just started The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd and it has definitely grabbed me. I've also started yet another Scotland Street book, A Time of Love and Tartan.

Vee, not quite my story but I did have a nasty head librarian! I put up with her for two years and then went into the Civil Service.

I have just started The Time of Her Life by Kate Fenton. I can only manage a few pages at a time as my palsy is still bothering me so I have to keep my right eye closed and moist.

The library sent me some audio books but the discs were MP3, however my son bought me a player and brought it over today. I listened for a while to Mrs McGintys Dead, performed by Hugh Fraser.

We are now having cooler weather, quite pleasant after the hottest Summer in years.

I'm reading La Mia Sorella ....just started it.

I've started Devil's Garden, another DI Kelso Strang by Aline Templeton and quite good.

I'm reading a new-to-me SF author, Adrian Tchaikovsky. The book I started on is called The Doors of Eden. I found it a bit slow at first, but after I got a bit further into it the pace picked up. Interesting, well-written, and a good mix of idea and action. I plan to read his book Elder Race next.

In the meantime I am listening to my book club selection A Witch In Time by Constance Sayers. Once again, the miracle of listening has occured. I was impatient and annoyed when I tried to read this. But it flows well when I listen. It's not going to be a favorite, but I am going to be able to finish it for the discussion.

I recently finished Go Ask Fannie by Elisabeth Hyde. It's about three adult siblings who gather to visit their father for a weekend. Years ago, the siblings lost their mother and a brother in a car accident, a fact that drives much of discussion and bickering. There were a couple of amusingly interesting plot twists, but overall, I'm not going to recommend this one. I'm pretty sure it's a book I won't remember much about a few months from now.

Back to add, in case you were wondering about the title, the deceased mother's Fannie Farmer cookbook, which contains many of her handwritten notes, plays a major role in the story also.

I finished The Time of Her Life by Kate Fenton. It is a modern take on Jane Austen's Emma, so no plot surprises! I found it distracting having to work out the character and scene parallels. It was cleverly done but after waiting so many years for a new book, I would have liked something original!

I checked with Goodreads to see what others thought and some, obviously not Austen readers, missed the idea and even got the heroine's name wrong! I agreed with one person who would have liked to see Emma's fearful father included. If he was there, we missed him but all the other characters were there in one form or another.

Sadly, I am still lopsided and one-eyed, drinking through a straw and checking the mirror every morning, hoping to be able to blink again! I miss having a hot cup of tea the most!

My mother always cooked out of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook! I own four editions, a copy of the one I think she had when she was first married which disintegrated from use, one she bought to replace it, a more recent one, and an older one she never used. I keep them mostly for sentimental reasons, as I do not cook very frequently. I am blessed with a husband who is a far better cook than I am and enjoys it. I am perfectly happy to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen. Oh, and eat the wonderful food.

I have just finished Never, the latest by Ken Follett, and I'm speechless. It's a good book but a hard story.

Carolyn - Wow, speechless? That sounds like a recommendation. Am I right?

Thanks to Carolyn for recommending Jennifer Ryan's The Chilbury Ladies Choir. A light quick read set at the outset of WWII in a Kent village where the men had left home to fight the Hun and the women sing to lift the spirits of the community. The usual characters of bossy lady of the manor, handsome young men in uniform, spoilt daughters, a wicked midwife and add to the mix spies and black marketeers.

Vee, just a slight niggle, the Hun were WW1 and we fought the Nazis in WW2.

Having lived during the London Blitz, my heart goes out to the people of Ukraine and especially the children. We moved to the seaside later when the threat of invasion was over and the V2 rockets fell soundlessly but I was miserable at the strange place even if it was safe. Going to a new school, new surroundings and living in a flat after having a house and garden to play in was too disruptive.

I'm slowly working my way through The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Can I ask why everyone seems to be enthralled with this book? I am finding it mostly ho-hum, peaking at mildly interesting. It's too broken up switching betweeen characters for my taste, and now that I'm about 350 pages in with another 100 to go, I'd have to say it's about 200 pages too long.

What am I missing? :)

Donna

Thank you, Donna. After reading a synopsis of The Lincoln Highway I decided not to read it for the very reasons you cite. At the time I thought I might just be getting cranky with the literary attempts of repetitive authors but I now feel quite vindicated. I'd read his other books and felt this one was an effort on Towles part to stay in the public's eye. Personally...I don't think you're missing anything. I think you hit the proverbial nail on its head.

Good to hear these opinions. I was never a fan of Amor Towles, as I found "A Gentleman in Moscow" somewhat tedious and predictable. Could it be that this author is over-rated?

Never is a talented creation by Follett but it definitely is a hard book to read in these times. I was stunned at the parallels between the atrocities we're currently observing on a daily basis and the contents of Never. Although I'm an inveterate reader of most fiction these days, I'm also an admitted news junkie. I found Follett's scenario leading up to a possible WWIII so disturbingly realistic at times that I had to put it down for days to read something lighter. It really is a scary piece of fictional literature. Would I recommend it? As an artistic creation, it's one of Follett's better contributions...and I've read them all. But...in our current world condition...I, personally, would save it for another calmer, more peaceful time when it could be considered the fantasy that it was intended to be. I think the title NEVER was a reflection of Follett's hope that it will never come to pass.

Winter, another "news junkie" here. I wonder if "Never" is worse than Cormac McCarthy's "the Road." I found the latter incredibly depressing. Have you read it?

No Wood...I haven't read it but from the synopsis I just read at your spurring of my insatiable curiosity...I'm not likely to do so in the present or very near future. I find I need a large helping of sunshine in my life these days. I can deal with the usual blood and gore of fictional mysteries but bringing semi realistic fiction to my reading chair seems a bit unnerving lately. I did feel from what I did read that it had a common thread with...or had been influenced by...Soylant Green. Remember that? Soylant came first in the late 60's followed by McCarthy's The Road in the 70's. Both being rather dystopian in content but they're becoming increasingly realistically chilling as our world evolves. Would you agree?

As to whether The Road is worse than Never...I think it may be from what little I read. Follett dances around the gore and devastation of a nuclear war by concentrating on the attitudes and involvement of his characters...never actually creating mutilating scenes. But, in this day and age, it's almost unnecessary to have to do so. Those of us of a certain age genre don't need reminding and today's younger generations seem to have very vivid imaginations when it comes to the thought of world destruction. But please note. This is my opinion.

Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

Kathy, Winter has answered your questions. I was only going to ask whether you are a nail biter or a worrywart.

Vee, glad you liked the Ryan book. All of her others that I've read are good, too, and involve some of the same characters.

Re The Lincoln Highway, I didn't like the story nearly as well as Towles' other two books, but I'm impressed by his ability to write so well about such different subjects.

Carolyn - I'm not much of a nail biter or worrywart, but still, I think I'll pass on the Follett book.

I must admit to cheating! If my book has a character or animal in a dangerous situation, I flip through to find the outcome. I cannot abide being on tenterhooks in a fictional setting. It is bad enough in real life!

I've started Dark Sacred Night, one of Michael Connelly's Renee Ballard-Harry Bosch books. I love his books, gritty though they are.

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who didn’t care for The Lincoln Highway! I just finished it and I’m glad it’s done. 😁

Donna

The only Towles book I've read is A Gentleman in Moscow, and while I liked it, I also was not motivated by it to find and read other books by Towles. The book seemed mostly to be a suite of character studies, which were beautifully drawn and interesting, but not enough to keep the book going for me, especially with its glacially slow plot. It was not only easy to put down, it was easy to read something else instead of picking it up again. :)

Regarding books that are so dark or grim that it's hard to keep reading! Yes, The Road was one of those, but another one that I read last year was Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray, a YA historical about the Soviet oppression, purges, deportations of the Baltic republics in the 1930’s. Beautifully done, and I’m so glad to have read it, but geez, there were some days I just couldn’t take it, and had to put it down.

I finished Steven Petrow’s Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old, featuring short essays generally only a few pages long, about aging gracefully. Some really amusing, but increasingly serious as I read further on. Example: an early essay is “I Won’t Refuse to Change My Ways” while a later essay is titled “I Won’t Die Without Someone to Hold My Hand.”

Just started Wild Honey Bees: An Intimate Portrait by Arndt & Tautz. Interesting text but it’s the photography that is really spectacular.

Just finished The Exmoor Files by Liz Jones. She has a column in a mid-market very popular paper and before that was a fashion editor of glossy mags. One of those high maintenance females who dresses in designer labels, drives expensive cars, dines in the most fancy restaurants with the 'in crowd' etc.

Nothing is spared, no detail too small or private about her soon to be much younger ex-husband from his sexual inadequacies to his meanness (he lives 'off' her). They divorce. She moves to a huge house in the deepest West Country and surrounds herself with cats, sheep and rescue horses all fed on pure organic food, washed and polished with herbal remedies and holistic treatments and sleep on cashmere rugs.

She is rude to and about the locals, complaining about both their lack of teeth and farming habits. Sheep shouldn't be kept, horses shouldn't be shod. The vets in the area do very well out of her as she phones them night and day for Reiki healing and soothing unguents.

But . . . she can be funny . . . and another but never get to know her as you might find your every word repeated in her next column.

FInished Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams and liked it. Now on to The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris .

Just ordered a copy of The Consequences of Fear , #16/17 in the Maisie Dobbs series , as somehow I hadn't read it. There is a new one just out , The Sunlit Weapon , #17/17 so I must get caught up ! I always love sitting down with Maisie and a cuppa :0)

This morning I finished Traveling Alone, a Nordic Noir novel by Samuel Bjork who is actually Frode Sander Oien. I guess that means he's well known enough in Norway to want to hide his identity as an author? Not sure, since they give it away on the back flap of the book cover.

In the novel, dead little six-year-old girls are being found hung from trees in various forests. All are dressed in identical doll dresses and are wearing a "Traveling Alone" sign (like the ones they apparently put on children flying without an adult). At this point, you might be wondering why I would be reading such a deeply noir novel, which is a legitimate question. Well, the investigators are very clever and interesting people. Although the book kept me on the edge of my chair, I will probably stay away from this genre in the future.

I'm reading a golden age book by John Bude titled The Cornish Coast Murder where the main character is the local vicar and the police inspector who is from a bigger town is glad to use his knowledge of the village. They are quite chummy, unlike modern detectives!

Just got The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Oh, watch out for those Cornish vicars! Think "Jamaica Inn" by Daphne du Maurier.

Kathy, hairy old English joke:

Man "To the woods to the woods!"

Country maiden "Oh no. I'll tell the Vicar."

Man "I am the Vicar."

"Just got The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn"

Mine's arriving tomorrow. I can hardly wait!

Just finished The Boy In the Field...an excellent character study by Margot Livesey. As it was published in 2020, I'm a little late to the parade for this author but will, definitely, be reading more of her works. As the NY Times wrote...her writing is quiet, observant and beautifully efficient.." as well as thought provoking.

One of my favorite British coms was The Vicar of Dibley.

Of course there are naughtier ones, but here's a tame limerick :

I once took our vicar to tea
It was just as I thought it would be
His rumblings abdominal
Were simply phenomenal
And everyone thought it was me

I got The Diamond Eye from the library electronically this morning. I just need to finish up Murder in Piccadilly, another Golden Ager (1936) by Charles Kingston that I'm almost finished with, so that I can start it.

Okay, all you people who have begun The Diamond Eye, did you ever think you would be on the side of the Soviet Russians? I'm on page 235 of 1,080 in my e-book download.