Ditto, Ginny - hoping you are able to get out and about soon. Books are indeed great for helping you through the recovery time. Readers have an advantage!

Thank you all for your good wishes. They are much appreciated. I will be in until at least Easter so am very glad to be a booklover.

What would we do without books in times of difficulty? I'm glad you have them to occupyyou, Ginny.

Best wishes, Ginny. I hope you are able to enjoy chocolate eggs for Easter. Have you read Helen MacInnes? She has a book called North from Rome, and her books, mostly of espionage, are set in many different countries. Travel through mysteries from your bedside might pass some more hours. She was Scottish and died in 1985.

What a nice group this is! Thank you. Being house-bound can be so isolating so your friendly words mean a lot.

Great tip, Carolyn. I read The Salzburg Connection some time ago and really enjoyed it. I will definitely request North from Rome. I didn’t know Helen Mac Innnes wrote others. Thanks!

Ginny, I am almost housebound so I understand how frustrating it is! Don't try to rush your recovery though. Best wishes!

To add to my woes, there have been extensive renovations done to the homes next door and right behind me. The noise has been horrendous and makes me appreciate when it is quiet!

I have been watching TV to drown some of it out. Daytime reading is impossible!

Ginny I hope it is quieter where you live without similar noise to that made by Annpan's workmen. Also hope you are being waited on hand-and-foot and served delicate meals . . . which I hope will be the case for me tomorrow (Sunday) when we in the UK celebrate Mothering Sunday (not to be confused with US Mother's Day) It was traditionally a day when servants had the day off to go back to their parent's homes, no doubt taking a few goodies prepared by the cook at the 'Big House'.

It has been a lovely quiet day and I even managed to leave home for a short while to have blood tests! I had a good night's sleep for once and the weather was pleasant, also for once!

All the Get Out Today boxes were ticked!

I was able to do a little shopping as well, to spend a Xmas voucher, buying a wallet for my Big Button phone. The brand didn't have a cover available for my occasional outdoor needs.

Ginny, can you get out in a wheelchair? I can walk short distances. I really like a companion but that isn't usually possible. My usual Support Worker's Agency isn't covered for insurance to accompany me! I go out sometimes with a family member if they drop by and have time.

I could employ someone from a different Agency who is covered but don't always feel like I want to go out when the other Agency person is available. Tricky!

You have my sympathy, Annpan. Noise is a terrible stressor. I hope the construction near you ends sooner rather than later. It’s not noisy here.

My grown children took good care of me for ten days but now are home. Someone from home health care comes in twice a week. This is not permanent so I can’t complain.

Ginny......there are so many wonderful novels by McInnes !

To list a few : ( * I read and enjoyed )

Above Suspicion(1939) * .... made into a movie in the 1940's

Assignment in Brittany(1942) *

Friends and Lovers(1947) *

Decision at Delphi(1960) *

The Venetian Affair(1963)

The Double Image(1966)

The Salzburg Connection(1968)

Message from Malaga(1971)

The Snare of the Hunter(1974)

Agent in Place(1976)

Ride a Pale Horse

Ginny, I think most of the interior work is finished. They are now laying pavers and creating patios but next comes painting and fumes! There is already a sickly smell which may be from glueing tiles.

My musician son is off on a tour soon but dropped in to help clear a back storage area for me.

My next but one neighbour who is also being inconvenienced saw the big boxes in my garden and I assured her I wasn't moving out. She said she wouldn't blame me if I did! I would be mad to do that though as this is normally a very pleasant place to live and should be again eventually!

After several rainy days, we hd two nice days in a row, with temps in the 50’s (F), only to fall back into rainy (turning to snow later tonight) and gloomy weather. I am not complaining however, as it’s supposed to warm up again in a couple more days.

I watched the latest adaptation of Sense and Sensibility a couple of days ago which has inspired me to reread the book to get the not bad, but also not great, taste of it out of my mind.

This comment by Rouan is the first I have heard of a new Sense and Sensibility. I looked it up and the reviews are not that good! There is a new Persuasion too which has mixed reviews.

I have to wait for DVDs as I don't get the streaming services which show these productions.

Annpan, I doubt I will watch it again, but may try the new Persuasion if it comes on a station that I get.

A book that proved a rather long but interesting bed-time read has been The Fields Beneath: the History of One London Village by Gillian Tindall. Originally published back in the '70's GT had researched the area in which she lived, Kentish Town. It is just North of the old city and changed over the centuries from old tracks and fields to gentleman's residences, to acres of railway lines, in-building, war-time bombing and some slummy areas. If any RP'ers have travelled via 'the tunnel' to the continent you will have been to St Pancras, the old parish of which Kentish Town is part.

Since the book was written the area has gradually 'come up' with middle classes moving in to 'do-up' the old Victorian houses which now change hands for silly prices.

I have just read The Tale of Hilltop Farm by Susan Wittig Albert. It is a story of the Beatrix Potter house near Lake Windemere in the English Lake Country. My daughter and I were there last September, which really added to my enjoyment, but I loved this book.

Carolyn, Beatrix Potter was an amazing woman. She accomplished so much--all the Peter Rabbit stories, land conservation, rare sheep preservation and more. I was also lucky enough to visit Hilltop Farm about ten years ago. A pouring rainy day and cold even in July but full of visitors despite the weather. A treasured memory.

It was rainy the day we visited, too, Ginny. The perennial garden looked exactly the way I wish mine looked.

Has anyone read Wicked Autumn ? I just ordered a used copy on ebay and am eager to read it. Seems to have good reviews.

I just finished Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown. A few days ago an ad came up in one of my iPad games that was an article about Millie Bobby Brown (odd name, isn’t it?) appearing on the Drew Barrymore show. I’ve never heard of her but read enough to learn she’s a British actress. The next day I was scrolling through the NYT bestsellers on the library website and I see Nineteen Steps by MBB. So I thought I’d give it a try. At first I thought, ”This is a sweet story but not much to it.” Then I found myself completely wrapped up in it, staying up way too late last night reading, then finishing it this evening. It’s set in Bethnal Green during WWII and is the story of Nellie Morris, a young woman who is secretary to the mayor of the area. She meets an American airman and they fall in love. Her family is involved in the Bethnal Green Tube disaster. It’s a really nice story of love and loss. I recommend it!

Donna

Yoyobon, there are five of G. M. Malliet's season series. I have read four of them. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have Pagan Spring, and I seldom buy books anymore. I've read some of his other books, too, and obviously like him well enough to keep at it.

Coming out of lurk-dom to say it is nice to see interest in Helen MacInnes. I devoured her books many decades ago. One that is not listed above is While Still We Live, set during the early days of WWII, beginning in Poland. The main male character is named Adam Wisniewski, and that grabbed my attention as I was newly married to a USAF officer of Polish descent with that surname! Still one of my favorites. =)

I finished The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady by Susan Wittig Albert. It tells of President Roosevelt's CCC workers during the Depression and the positive effect the program had on small towns across the nation such as Darling, Alabama. These are small town folks in the deep South and you have to love them as they go about solving crimes mostly through gossip.

I'm now ready to start Philip Rickman's The Magus of Hay.

Whoops! I've already read that one. Have now started Murder at Kensington Palace by Andrea Penrose.

Currently enjoying Night Of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg, the second in a three novel series .

For the fans of the Brittany mystery series by Jean Luc Bannalec, there is a new one cocoming oout in April, Death of a Master Chef. My library said the person who requests that it be purchased will be first in line so I requested it. Usually there is a long wait for these. Looking forward to it. And a heads up for other Brittany fans heeere..

Ps, sorry my keyboard is acting up..

I came across an Agatha Christie I can't remember reading They Came to Baghdad. It was written in 1950 so I might have missed it as it isn't in the usual mystery style and I was still at school then!

The description of air travel was interesting. Cotton wool in the ears and an arranged hotel stopover as part of the journey.

I like a break during the UK to Australia trip and return but that is my choice rather than non-stop.

Interesting, Annpan!

Thanks, Ginny! I recently read The Granite Coast Murders so I’m caught up with Bannalec. Off to see if my library has a wait list!

Another good writer who's book I have just enjoyed reading was Penelope Lively's Passing On. Written in the '80's (how can that be forty years ago?) it is the story of a middle aged brother and sister who are dealing with the recent death of their terrible Mother. A hateful domineering woman who overruled and ruined the lives of everyone she came into contact with. It is rather 'English' in the way it deals with emotions, or lack there off as the brother and sister find it almost impossible to deal with anything other than the most mundane day-to-day jobs and chores, while the Mother still haunts the thoughts of the put-upon daughter/sister. Will their lives ever improve?

I've just started From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell as part of my plan to read some of the older mystery writers' series in date order. This is the first Inspector Wexford. Google has several meanings for doon. One is the plains which are formed by rivers while cutting their courses through the ranges, another is a Scots word for down, and another is a fort, castle, or fortified hill. I haven't got far enough yet to know what applies to this title.

Carolyn, I re-read From Doon with Death--by accident :)--a year ago and thought it was pretty good. I meant to go on with the Wexford books in re-reading but later ones got more grisly than I like, if memory serves.

I am proceeding with my Ngaio Marsh books, some I've never read and others I have. I've read three so far from the 30s and 40s. Just finished Died in the Wool last night. The most interesting thing wasn't the story but the setting--the South Island of New Zealand and a sheep station. I'm sorry to say I find her books full of too much talk, talk, talk and not enough events to move the plot along.

I've just started The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods ( a new release ) :

The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

Read less

I've just finished the last Miss Julia book, Miss Julia Happily Ever After. I haven't read very many of them, but lots of the older ones are not available online. They are so much fun, the only books I can remember reading and being startled into laughing aloud, although they are quite simple in plot. Set in small town North Carolina, complete with gossip at lightning speed and in southern style.

Ginny, I hope you are progressing well. It's so good to be a reader when you can't get around.

I read Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver, written in 1958. It's a courtroom drama, based on a real case in which the pseudonymous author was the defence attorney. He later went on to be a judge. It was wordy but interesting - if TV shows are even a bit true to life, the rules of court have changed a bit since then.

I listened to Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran. This is set in Sri Lanka during the Civil War and in Australia in the 80s and present time. It was quite a confronting story, as it dealt with crimes against people during the war and current-day racism in Australia, starting with the casual kind (where are you from? Sydney. No, I mean where are you really from?) up to and including physical acts of violence against people because of their colour and supposed religion, although the Sri Lankans in this case were Tamils and Hindu, not Muslim as the racists thought. It was well worth reading even though it was uncomfortable at times.

Kath, Thank you. I am progressing but it is slow but at least going in the right direction.

Yesterday I finished reading my first Michael Connelly book. Now I know why they are so popular. Resurrection Walk was a really interesting plot-driven book. No wasted words here. It was the story of a trial to get a wrongly imprisoned woman out of prison. It's amazing how many things can get in the way of justice. I believe I heard of the book here. Thanks to whoever recommended it.

Kathy, there are a whole bunch of Harry Bosch books before that one, if you want to catch up! LOL

Donna

I have read all the Bosch books and impatiently await another one, although Harry is aging as we go.

Carolyn, I'm waiting for that one, too! Have you read the Mickey Haller books? I've read some, but not all. Mickey's story line doesn't engage me as much as Bosch.

Donna

Carolyn and Donna - You're giving me ideas. Do you have any favorite Michael Connelly novels? And is there any reason they should be read in order?

I can't say I have a favorite, Kathy. I did read them in order because I came to them late, and the back story does build but not so much you can't pick up on it. You will also want to read his Mickey Haller books since they come together with Harry at points. Is there ever any end to books?

I am now reading a real book from the library, Stella Rimington's The Moscow Sleepers. She has a new release after quite some time, so I borrowed this one tooas it was the only one not available online. I began reading ebooks (which made it easy to read series in order) when the libraries closed during the pandemic and have gotten used to reading that way, although many older books are not available electronically.

Have just finished Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana one of his lighter, shortish works. Written in the '50's is takes something of a pot-shot at the Secret Service and their attempts to recruit the unassuming vacuum salesman into the world of espionage. Some funny moments.

We heard from a US cousin of DH's recently who lives in Alexandria VA who casually mentioned in connection with having electric power restored to their street after an 'outage' that their near neighbour is J D Vance. Although I had heard of him I knew almost nothing about him so just sent off for his book Hillbilly Elegy.

Without getting into a political rumpus have any of you read it, should I believe every thing there-in, is it an accurate look at life in the backwoods? Having some input from fellow RP'ers would help me understand what I am reading. Thank you in advance.

Vee, I haven't read Hillbilly Elegy, but here is part of an article from Google.

Hillbilly Elegy does not vilify poverty, as so many critics claim. It places some responsibility on the individual but acknowledges the generational challenges that make assuming this responsibility difficult. Vance is not the hero of the story, and Bev is not the villain. Vance’s future successes aren’t presented as a consequence of his superiority, exceptional talent, or work ethic. They are a product of his Mamaw’s intervention and his support system—all things Bev never had.

Critics do not hate Hillbilly Elegy because it blames the poor for being poor or oversimplifies Appalachia. They hate Hillbilly Elegy because of their preconceived notion of Vance’s right-leaning political beliefs, which are not discussed in the movie. Sarah Jones at Vulture even criticized Vance’s politics explicitly during her movie review, portraying him as connected to the alt-right when he is a moderate conservative.

From reading further in the article, it seems people liked the book but hated the movie. I'll be interested in hearing your opinion after you read it. The setting is Ohio, which I hadn't thought of as being Appalachia, but, of course, it is.

I've finished Rip Tide, another Stella Rimington book that I had missed when reading the Liz Carlyle series. They are so good. She has two of a different series written more recently, so I will be interested in seeing how they are.

I just finished Colour Scheme, another Ngaio Marsh mystery. It’s set in New Zealand during WW2. There is lots of local color and glimpses of Maori life. Marsh was a native of New Zealand and loves her homeland, deservedly so. Alleyn shows up very late in the book. While still not top notch among all mysteries, this is among her best and I really enjoyed it.

My next book is The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine.

Borrowed a couple of Spencer Quinn library books, a Chet and Bernie (love the dog, who acts like one!) and Mrs. Plansky's Revenge which I dumped early on.

I was so bored waiting for the plot to start. It was all description of two lives at the beginning.

Checked some reviews and I see I am not the only one to lose patience!

Carolyn, many thanks for the Google article on the Vance book. I made a start on it and then 2 books ordered from the library arrived (rather like buses) so I have had to put it aside for the time being. I presume no-one else has read it?

I did not read Hillbilly Elegy because it seemed dark and depressing from all the reviews. There was a great deal of talk about it so it may well be excellent but I try to limit my reading of such books. There is so much of it in the newspapers that it's all I can handle.