I think that new cars for young drivers are safer than clunkers! Nearly every news program on TV has reports of road accidents. Driving is more a problem than it was years ago, with so many vehicles and careless speeding.

We could manage with cars you wouldn't want your children to drive now.

We thought we were doing fine making my toddler D sit in a dining room chair booster seat wedged into the car's back parcel shelf! Before that she would lie on her tummy on that shelf, waving to the people in the car behind. Nowadays reportable child neglect!

So far this month I’ve read three books:

Golden Prey by John Sandford, the 27th book in the Lucas Davenport series. It was very gory.

The 24th Hour, the latest Womens Murder Club by James Patterson. They left it open for a 25th book, but I’m not sure I care any more.

Holmes, Marple and Poe - a new series by James Patterson. HM&P are private detectives with mysterious pasts. The next book is due out in early 2025.

I’m currently reading the fourth Morland Dynasty book, The Oak Apple, by Cynthia Harrod Eagles.

Donna

Speaking of series ending, I just finished re-reading The Vault, the second-to-last Inspector Wexford mystery by Ruth Rendell. I enjoyed it but it does have a few serious plot holes and too many coincidences to be believable. But a long-term character like Wexford can be forgiven, in my opinion.

msmeow, I adore the Morland Dynasty books and have them all (in paperback). I hear that there will be a new one in 2025 and can hardly wait.

Carolyn, I also have a set of the Morland books, and have to admit that a few years ago, I replaced the early ones so they all matched!

I am rereading City of Dreams by Beverley Swerling, set in very early New York City, so I can move on to the sequel, which I have had on my TBR pile for a long time. I am listening to another Harrod-Eagles book, The Mistress of Ashmore Castle, which is number three (and currently the last) of a series. It is set in the early 1900s in Britain and is sort of Upstairs, Downstairs (or Downton Abbey for any younger readers) in style.

I haven't read anything that really absorbed me in the past few weeks, but hope springs eternal.

Probably the best of a rather dull lot was The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley. It is a road trip story of a grumpy teen girl and a grumpy 80 year old woman. The first third was slow, and I would have given up if I had not been reading for my book club. It did improve once the two took off on their journey. I'm not sorry I read it, but I would not read it again.

That is my personal test of a good book.

I have been reading Jocelyn Playfair's A House in the Country on the recommendation of Persephone Books, a company that does re-prints of works once popular (or worthy) but now out of fashion. They send me emails.

I'm glad I didn't buy my copy as I found the language much too flowery with lots of philosophising and moralising. Of course it was written in 1944 and is set in 1942, when WWII was going very badly for the people of the British Isles who's backs were 'to the wall'.

Our heroine is too beautiful, kind and uncomplaining and runs her country manor house as a retreat (B&B) for those forced to relocate for war-work or safety. Dispersed among her everyday 'new life' of endless cooking and meeting guests at the station in the pony and trap are chapters in which her erstwhile lover is in a lifeboat floating in the Atlantic and while awaiting rescue has similar idealistic thoughts.

If you have ever seen the old film 'Mrs Miniver' you will get the picture. A movie claimed by Churchill to have brought the USA into the conflict.

Vee, Just a point of information. The US entered the war on December 8, 1941, the day after the perfidious Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Mrs. Miniver, the movie, was released in 1942 when we were already at war. Wikipedia gives no source to prove it but says Churchill supposedly said the movie did more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers. But it didn't bring us into the war.

Thanks for your helpful review of A House in the Country. I hadn't heard of it. And I think I'll re-watch Mrs. Miniver, with this interesting background.

Thank you for the information Ginny. As you will know the film was made by MGM and shot entirely on set. I don't think any houses in England, at that time were so elegant or were designed 'open plan', nor do we have picket fences or men so hansom or girls so pretty. Walter Pigeon does do a good job as the tweedy, pipe-smoking husband . . . but he was American! Greer Garson went on to marry the young man who played her son; there was only an 11 year age difference. But, all in all, a great movie.

I didn't know anything about the making of the movie til I read the Wiki about it, Vee. I thought it was British but you are so right--Hollywood's version of England. Still a classic.

I'm first on the list at our library for Beatriz Williams newest book Husbands And Lovers.

Just finished the very last Inspector Wexford mystery by Ruth Rendell--No Man's Nightingale. She died not long after this was published. I have enjoyed re-reading most of these and may well do so again.

Meanwhile, thanks to someone's recommendation here a few months ago, and I apologize for not remembering who it was, I finally was able to get North from Rome by Helen MacInnes thru my library. Came from the other side of the state. I'm looking forward to starting it tomorrow.

Ginny, I don't know if I commented here on Helen MacInnes' books, but I have enjoyed them all. My mother had North from Rome, and it was the first one I read.

I finished All on a Winter's Night by Phil Rickman. It is next to the last of his Merrily Watkins series, and I like parts of the books very much and other parts not so much.

Carolyn, I think it was you so thank you!

I'm reading another Elizabeth Berg book......Open House.

I'm reading a Slider book by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles that I had somehow missed, Dying Fall published in 2021.

Several here have mentioned Hillbilly Elegy in the past. I haven’t read it but now that the author is running for vice president, I think I will. Requested it from the library. It sounded depressing so we’ll see.

I read The Oak Apple, the fourth in the Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. Neither library I use has this series available so I’ve been buying them on Amazon. The first two were 99 cents! I purchased the fifth and sixth books yesterday, $1.99 each.

Now I’m reading Twisted Prey, a Lucas Davenport book. I think I have two more in this Prey series, then I can start on the newer ones with Lucas and Virgil Flowers.

I’ll have a whole lot of time to read soon. Next Thursday I am having surgery to repair my left rotator cuff (shoulder). I am extremely left-handed so this one will hamper me much more than the right side, which I had fixed in 2017. It will be several weeks in an immobilizing sling, so no sewing for a while.

Donna

Good luck with the op' Donna. As you say more time for light reading and hopefully someone on hand to bring you tasty snacks and drinks!

Sorry to hear that you have to have shoulder surgery, Donna. Hoping it goes well and gives you a big improvement. Meanwhile, enjoy your books and TV, if there is something you like. The Olympics are coming up soon. Sending my very best wishes.

Hope the surgery goes well Donna. If you are enjoying the Morland books, there are lots to keep you happily reading for a while! I love that series.

Since I live alone and am at such an advanced age, I elected not to have my rotator cuff fixed. It doesn't bother me much except limit my ability to fasten stuff behind my back. It's my left shoulder and I'm right handed. My daughter is a nurse and says sometimes older patients don't do well with anesthesia.

I've finished Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon. I've only read a very few of her series and so decided to begin at the beginning. This is the second book and quite depressing what with all the dealing with official corruption.

Donna, my best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Carolyn, I too am opting out of a procedure, this is for extracting a broken tooth, as I have a heart condition. The dental surgeon and my cardiologist have advised me to live with it if possible!

I broke it to almost gum level on a soft-centred chocolate, would you believe!

I returned almost unread the Leonie Swann book as I couldn't get into it. I loved her Three Bags Full mystery though. It seems that her other book Grey hasn't been translated yet.

Speedy recovery Donna !

I 've had issues with a partial tear in my rotator cuff for years.

It flares up and then gets better over time. Right now I'm in a big flare up.

it's my right ( dominant) side and it is horrible trying to use a hair dryer. I have to prop that arm up on a shelf in order to do it.

Carolyn......

I too am averse to any surgery unless it's absolutely necessary.

.

I had to check up Google to find what a rotator cuff was. I have had a shoulder problem for very many years but I don't think it is from that.

We do so many things to ourselves and the resulting problems get worse with age.

I had to go to a chiropractor last year as my hip joint was badly out of whack.

"Have you been hauling bricks?" he asked.

No! I don't do anything physical as even bending pulling weeds can cause problems.

My garden has a healthy crop from all the recent Winter rains but they will have to stay put until the Summer sun blasts them.

Actually the small spreading things look quite decorative!

May I add that I have had two hip replacements--left and right--in the last year and that both major surgeries went smoothly, anaesthesia and all? Recovery takes awhile but I was delighted with the results, no more pain--at least from the hips--and normal mobility back. Everyone is different but I did want to add that for anyone considering hip replacement. Wish I'd done it years ago.

Sounds like we're all "of an age" where every day is a surprise ailment !

I subscribe to the old Sicilian adage : " As it came, so it will go . "

I walk 30-40 minutes every day .......doing house walks inside in bad weather or winter.

Anything we can do, including replacements, to maintain quality of life is of utmost importance .

Remember the days when you'd go out at 10 pm with friends ??

yoyo , these days tucked up in bed with a book and a mug of cocoa!

Thank you all for the good wishes! Ginny, I am glad to hear you’ve had two successful hip replacements!

Since I had the same surgery on the right shoulder several years ago, I know what to expect. And I know I can push myself harder with the PT so the recovery won’t be so long.

I’m all set with books (both ”real” and digital), a jigsaw puzzle, and my iPad. Also, my sister now lives with us so we can play Scrabble or just hang out and watch TV. And I am retired now so I won’t have the 20 mile commute (each way) in horrible traffic to deal with.

Donna

A good plan, Donna. The second was easier in that I wasn’t as nervous and I knew what to expect. I hope the same for you.

A most unusual read for me has been Critical (Science and stories from the brink of human life) by Dr Matt Morgan. He is a Welsh Dr specialising in intensive care medicine. Much of the 'science' part of the book is way beyond my head, but he gives interesting eg's of how particular patients, always with life-threatening conditions, have been treated (by him and his Team) and brought back 'to life' or even able to go on to lead full lives. He describes how the first ICU first came about in Denmark in August 1952 when a child with polio had her lungs kept open manually by a team of medical students. They carried on until Jan 1953 when an iron lung became available. It is amazing how, even from these small beginnings, science/medicine has advanced at such a pace.

I decided to get the last two Maisie Dobbs books and will have read her entire series.

The next to the last one is A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear.

I am ready to start Clete by James Lee Burke. This is one of the few authors I still buy. He is such a good writer, even though his books are full of bad language and violence.

I finished North from Rome by Helen MacInnes and enjoyed it very much. It's a Cold War mystery with a romance attached. I could do without the romance aspect but really liked the description of Rome and Perugia. Armchair travel. MacInnes is a very good writer. This is a spy story, mixed up with drugs. I was surprised to see the narcotics trade in a book published in 1958 as I think of that as beginning in the late 1960s. Naive of me, I suppose.

I enjoyed it enough to request two more of hers from the library--Above Suspicion and Assignment in Brittany. The first has to come across the state, as did this one. So surprising for such a popular author. Libraries seem to be focusing on lots of other things besides books, at least where I live.

I was in the mood for rereading so picked up (and finished) the three beginning Valdemar books. I wish the author, Mercedes Lackey, would use someone to double check her books as she changes things from one book to the next. I have noticed this in a few of her series. Afterwards I read One Night in Boukos by A J Demas. I had purchased it quite a while ago but never got into it, so decided to settle down and read it. I did like it, maybe even enough to reread it at some future time. Now I have downloaded the latest book by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer, Rocky Start.

Last night I finished Kate’s Progress by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. Kate’s grandmother gives the grandchildren their inheritance so she can enjoy knowing what they do with the money. Kate wants to escape London for a while so she buys a decrepit cottage in the country with the intention of fixing it up and selling it. She quickly becomes involved in the local community. It was a good story; I really enjoyed it.

Donna

Rouan, Sadly the new Cruisie is not in a book format. I would have liked to read it.

I like her amusing stories even if she does change a dog's sex half way through in Welcome to Temptation. Oops!

I have finished Clete. I do love the Robichaux books. This one was a little more other-worldly than most.

Wild City by Florence Wilkinson was not my usual sort of read but I just picked it up from the library as it was a new, clean copy. FW writes about 'urban nature' in and around London. In each chapter she meets people who are knowledgeable about birds, bats, pond-life etc and once at the location realises she is not wearing the correct clothes suitable for wading through a stream or climbing a tree. She is a good writer but the book is diminished (?) by the feeble line-drawings.

Husbands And Lovers by Beatriz WIlliams. ( her latest novel )

Village Politics Can Be Murder by Jeanne M. Dams. I've read this series for years and, like others, find the first ones are the best.

Carolyn, Thanks for the tip. I have never heard of this author but just requested the first five in the series from the library. My library doesn't have them but others in our consortium of nearby towns have them all. Fingers crossed.

I finished Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, which is a fictionalised retelling of a court case brought on behalf of two young African American girls who were sterilised without consent in the early 1970s (and it turns out they were among hundreds).

It was an interesting story, and one I had never heard, but I think the book was spoiled by a 'sort of' romance and too much of the narrator's story.

I'm enjoying the latest Beatriz Williams book, Husbands and Lovers, as I knew I would !

I am considering reading her Wicked trilogy since they are the only books written by her which I have not read.

I read The Last Murder by George Dekle. Mr. Dekle was the prosecutor in the trial of Ted Bundy for the abduction and murder of 12 year old Kimberly Leach. The book starts with her abduction and goes through the massive search for her, building the case against Bundy, and the trial and his ultimate execution. It was well-written and informative. (Doesn’t really sound right to say I enjoyed it.)

My surgery evidently went well last Thurs. First PT was this morning.

Donna

Donna, Glad your surgery went well and hope your recovery does too. You are braver than I am to read a book about a serial killer like that.

I just finished re-reading When in Rome by Ngaio Marsh. It's a mystery. I read it some years ago before a trip to Rome. It takes place in a church in Rome that is almost 1,000 years old, built on a church 700 years older than that which is built on a Roman temple. The church has a fictitious name in the book but is actually San Clemente. I had never heard of it but went there and spent a fascinating afternoon exploring these layers of Roman history.

The book is as good as I remembered it and fortunately I didn't remember the culprit. To me, it's the best of all the Ngaio Marsh books and I recommend it for mystery-lovers or Rome-lovers.

Donna........good luck with your PT and good thoughts coming your way for a full and speedy recovery !

Thank you, ladies! This one feels better than the first time. I already have pretty good range of motion. I think it helps that I am retired now…not having the stress of driving 20 miles each way in awful traffic and working all day!

I'm reading The Last Hope, the latest Maggie Hope book by Susan Elia MacNeal. I'm not sure if the title means it will be the last Maggie book or the last chance for victory in WWII. The race to develop the atomic bomb is on.