Ginny, there are so many things to enjoy in the book, the office pettiness about arrival times, clever Jessie getting her man and Prudence missing out! So many scenes I can easily visualise.

I am reading Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn. I like Raybourn, but this one is kinda dumb.

Carolyn, did you read Killers Of A Certain Age by Raybourn ? It is the prequel to Kills Well With Others. I wonder if that would make a difference. I had considered reading it because I did enjoy the first one.

I am half way through The Lost Passenger and am enjoying it, though it is fairly predictable.

Yes, I did read Killers of a Certain Age, and I finished this one, but I wasn't in the mood for it. I am now reading Midnight and Blue, a Rebus book by Ian Rankin written in 2024 that I wasn't aware of. It suits me much better. My daughter and I met him once at a bookstore in London. He was signing a new book but was not busy, and we talked to him for quite a while. She was reading the book he signed coming home and left it on the plane. She was so mad

Almost finished with The Lost Passenger and it's really a good story ! I look forward to getting back into it each day.

I’m still working on The Medici Return by Steve Berry, and in my opinion, it is far too long. 550 pages on my iPad.

I am reading Some Tame Gazelle, Barbara Pym's first published book. Laughing out loud. Two unmarried sisters of a certain age, a curate whose "combinations" show when he sits down, a pompous vicar, the parish garden party--I love it so far. I do wish she had not chosen such an obscure title. It sounds like a wildlife book.

In between Barbara Pym, I am re-reading Magdalen Nabb's wonderful mystery series set in Florence. I just finished The Marshal and the Murderer. Very good portrayal of how memories of the war do not die in a small village.

I have read Some Tame Gazelle but don't remember the story! I have dug out my paperback copy of No Fond Return of Love to read again. It has all the other book covers shown inside the front cover so I can see what to look out for at charity shops etc. as the library has none now. They are short of space and ruthless about what is kept!

I just finished Midnight and Blue. I really like the Rebus books and Googled to see if a new one is in progress. Alas, not yet.

Just finished Pym's Jane and Prudence and found I much preferred the character of rather scatty Jane over self-indulgent Prudence, with her many boyfriends/love-affairs and expensive wardrobe. I also felt Jane's clergyman husband. although vague but well-meaning is the only male in the story that Pym has any time for. All the others are rather pale and 'drippy' or very conscious of their great good looks.

One or two laugh-out-loud moments.

Some Tame Gazelle is part of the trilogy, but I shall save it for now. I like as wider range of reading material as possible.

Isn't Miss Doggett appalling? Going through Jessie's things out of sheer nosiness!

I rather liked Geoffrey Manifold who is a thoughtful kind person and deserves better than the fate Prudence has in store for him!

Just started The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee .

It begins :

"It started as an accident. The small Herend rabbit had fallen into Claire's purse. "

hmmmm.......

Yoyobon, I read The Piano Teacher 15 years ago when it was released, and my notes called it a 'strong' book ( I assume I meant that it was well-crafted in terms of structure and language) but very depressing. I will be interested in hearing what you think of it.

Off topic, btw, but the opening sentence originally caught my interest because of the Herend porcelain reference. Both my and my husband's families are Hungarian, so we have several Herend porcelain pieces in the house, including 2 place settings and multiple serving pieces of the Rothschild Birds pattern. The rabbit in the story is probably one of the small fishnet pieces; I have a small frog and a small goose in fishnet, but not the rabbit.

Back on topic, I am working on Paula Fredriksen's history Ancient Christianities while taking breaks with re-reads of Cherryh's Foreigner series.

You all read such erudite books. I'm reading Death and Glory by Will Thomas, one of a series I have never quite decided if I really like. It is set in London in the 1800s, and that I do like.

I must admit that I had never heard of Herend porcelain so looked it up! It certainly has lots of Middle-European exuberance about it and I should think original pieces are very much collectors items.

Donnamarie.....oh dear, " very depressing " might not be what I should be reading right now. My DH is facing some very daunting chemo and radiation and I need a happy book . Monday-Friday for 6 weeks...and it's a 30 min drive each way.

Perhaps I'll shelf that one and pick up Miss Benson's Beetle instead.

I finished Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym last night. The obscure title is taken from an obscure poem that means we all have to have something to love. In this book, it is two sisters, Belinda and Harriet, content with being unmarried and middle-aged. They each have "something to love". Belinda has her secret cherished love of the local vicar which will never go anywhere, nor does she want it to. She likes things as they are. Harriet 'loves' a succession of young curates whom she feeds and fusses over like an older sister. Proposals of marriage are made to the two but they prefer their modest but comfortable lives and their own version of 'something to love'. A group of other characters have their own back stories in this English village of the 1930s. And of course, everything revolves around their C of E parish.

For me, Pym's books are not so much about a dramatic story but about her wry and often amusing observations both from and about the various characters. I haven't laughed out loud in reading a book in a long time.

Yoyobon, I apologize. My post above was written as yours was. I am so very sorry to hear about your husband and pray his treatment will be successful.

Bon, I am also praying that your husband’s treatment goes well, and that you can take care of yourself, as well.

Carolyn, I read plenty of ”non-erudite” books! Currently reading 25 Alive (newest in the Women’s Murder Club series) by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro. Not sure I’ll read any more new ones. The writing isn’t great and it feels like time to retire these characters.

That said, I did recently read a very interesting book about the Jewish roots of the Last Supper.

Donna

Yoyobon, I was sorry to read your post. I wish for a good outcome from the treatment.

Bon, sending best wishes to your DH for his treatment, it does sound daunting,

Yoyobon, I'm sorry that you and your husband need to go through chemo & radiation therapies. My best wishes for your husband's treatment to be successful without being too exhausting. I know from my dad's treatment that it does catch up with you.

I actually don't remember anything from The Piano Teacher anymore, so I'm just relying on my notes: I thought it was depressing because it showed the "...brutality of conquerors in war, the callous selfishness of frightened people, the disillusionment of innocence, the treachery of egotists...shows many people at their worst..."

I also read Miss Benson's Beetle! My notes there are 'both fun and bittersweet,' which seems a little more suitable, I hope.

yoyobon, I'm sure everything will go well for your husband and reading Miss Benson's Beetle will help take your mind off things. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to her latest The Homemade God if ever the library buys a copy!

Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts.

This is a special group of women .

Well, 25 Alive just…ended. They didn’t really wrap anything up, so left it wide open for book #26. Now I’ve started The Lost Passenger. I haven’t read much yet, but liking it so far.

Yoyobon - I'm just now catching up with this thread and feeling sad to learn of the medical challenges you and your husband are facing. He's fortunate to have a spunky, upbeat gal like you at his side during these tough times though. You will make a difference. And yes, read something uplifting if you can find the right book. Have you read How to Read a Book by Monica Wood yet?

Kathy......I have read that book and enjoyed it very much !

Have you read Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club ? I really liked that one as well.

When my husband had to stay in hospital for a while I lent him Doreen Tovey's books about cats but he had to stop reading them as he laughed so much he hurt himself!

It is good that you only have a 30 minute drive for his treatment or is that a problem with heavy traffic?

I have just found a Maeve Binchy book that I have not read, a collection of short stories A Few of the Girls. Just the right mood for me in the change to Spring. The gardeners have lopped all the bushes and trees overgrowth back to let the sunshine cheer me up! This has been the worst Winter I can recall here. I needed the thickest blanket on my bed and heat on all night.

Yoyobon - I have not yet read Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, but it's on my TBR list.

I'm sorry to hear about your husband's ordeal, Yoyo, and add my prayers to the list. Sometimes life is just not fun. Thank goodness for books, huh?

I just finished Light from a Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris. It's my book club's choice for this month. It was pretty good tho not something I ever would have picked up on my own. It's set in our time and the main character in the story is a 13 year old girl. It's set in a New England town where things happen, including a murder, tho the book is not a mystery. The most important theme is moral courage--who among the characters has it or doesn't and how that affects the various lives involved. Has anyone read any of this author's books? I think she is pretty well regarded.

Carolyn, thank you. Reading and weaving at my loom are my happy places.....along with long walks listening to books :0) Thank goodness for these blessings !

I’m really enjoying The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn.

Donna, I knew you might like that one ! Have you read The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods ?

Bon

No, I haven’t. I’ll look for it!

My sister gave me a throw pillow that says Books Are My Happy Place.

I have read another Miss Julia book. Not great literature but funny as can be.

Carolyn.....Miss Julia is always a nice cozy read ;0)

Donna......Have you read The Golem And The Jinni ? Ooooo.....there's a tale to fall into.

Yes, Bon, I’ve read that one! Enjoyed it a lot, though I didn’t care much for the sequel.

Currently reading The Enigma Girls by Candace Fleming, about several young women working at Bletchley Park during WWII.

A long detailed read Original Sin by P D James. I found I had to concentrate with this one. Lots of characters working at an old-fashioned publishing house set in a beautiful building right on the banks of the River Thames. So much detail into the lives of everyone that the 'plot' almost takes second place.

PDJ even manages a reference to the excellent women found in Barbara Pym's books!

So much fiction written recently about the goings-on at Bletchley Park. Of course as it was a very hush-hush organisation I imagine most of the stories are most unlikely or truly unbelievable!

The Rose Code was based in part on actual interviews with some of the women in the story.

Vee, That's interesting about PD James' reference to Excellent Women. I think I will re-read PD James in the new year. She is worth it.

I assume that enough time has passed since WWII that information has recently been declassified, hence the uptick in writing about that era.

The Official Secrets Act ended in 2023. I have long been impressed with how carefully so many British who had signed the Official Secrets Act decades ago continued to observe their oath. You see this in books, on TV and in the movies. What a different world. The Act was replaced with another national security act. Perhaps that is why we are seeing more Bletchley Park etc etc themes today.

I did not hear about the ending of the Official Secrets Act. That lets me off the hook but the secret I knew dating from the 1950s has lost its importance now! This dealt with an order for telephone poles whose destination was not to be revealed. Just a few of us, mostly minor clerks, knew and at the time did not realise the significance of the location.

It was all very exciting though, to be solemnly reminded of the oath we had signed!

The whole affair became public later but I never mentioned my small involvement.

That's an interesting part of your own history, Annpan. As I'm sure you know, you can Google for more and accurate information. I used "official secrets act repeal" to search. I have great respect for all those who kept national secrets for such a long time. Could it be done today? I wonder.....And of course, there are always those who didn't, the Cambridge Five being the most notorious.

msmeow, is The Enigma Girls as good as The Rose Code? I really liked TRC.

We have just returned from a holiday in the UK which included visiting many National Trust properties, including Highenden, which was Benjamin Disraeli's house. In about 2003, a NT volunteer heard a man telling his grandson about what the house was like when he was there during the war. The volunteer approached him, but he wouldn't say more (Official Secrets Act) so the National Trust followed it up, and eventually was told about a secret operation there called Hillside. It involved creating maps for RAF bombers using aerial photographs, printing them in suitable colours to be read in the planes during low-light conditions, and taking them up the road to Bomber Command. Since the participants had been released from their oaths, they interviewed as many as they could find, and there is a display covering several rooms there now.

Many years ago I had childhood friends who's mother had been a wartime agent. Of course no one knew this and it was not until the 'story' appeared in a tabloid paper some years ago that we became aware of it. Apparently the officer who had been her 'minder' went on to marry her. I've no idea in what way she did her 'spying' and a less likely secret agent would be difficult to imagine!

Carolyn, the author (Candace Fleming) is known for non-fiction for young readers, so this book is geared toward teens or young adults. The women she writes about were all in their teens or early 20s when they worked at Bletchley Park.

There are a lot of photographs, and CF has several chapters explaining the difference between codes and ciphers, and how to create and break them. It’s well-written and I’m enjoying it. It’s not the same as the fictional Rose Code, but is informative and interesting.

Donna

Thanks, Donna.

I'm reading Jane and Prudence, quite different from my usual murder mysteries.