Goodness me, August seems like an interminable month, possibly because I dislike it almost as much as I dislike July and am longing for autumn to arrive... or at the very least the month of September. I know that autumn doesn't officially start until the 21st. September but I personally go with meteorologists who apparently count the season from the 1st. September. 'Plus' the atmosphere has changed and it now feels like very early autumn as opposed to late summer. 'And' there're rumours of a storm coming in over the weekend - the first of the autumn gales?
Anyway, moving swiftly on. Books. Despite my dislike for August it has been an excellent reading month for me. 12 books read, none of them less than enjoyable and readable. Can't ask for more than that.
70. The Postscript Murders - Elly Griffiths
71. Pride and Prescience - Carrie Bebris
72. Naked in Death - J.D. Robb
73. Killing Trail - Margaret Mizushima
74. There's More To Life Than This - Theresa Caputo (very short review)
75. All Roads Lead to Austen - Amy Elizabeth Smith
76. Haunted Shore - edited by Emily Alder, Jimmy Packham and Joan Passey.
77. Three Stripes South - Bex Band
78. Mrs. Lorimer's Quiet Summer - Molly Clavering.
Mrs. Lorimer and her husband live in The Borders region of Scotland. A local house she's long covetted, but not been able to persuade her husband to buy, has been sold. Her family come to stay for a few weeks in the summer holidays, various offspring, their husbands, wives and children plus her unmarried son who is in the navy. He's just been jilted, came back from a posting to discover his girlfriend had married someone else while he was away. The house Mrs. Lorimer wanted has been bought by a Mr. Smellie and his daughter, Nesta Rowena, and it's not long before the two families meet. Well this is one of those quiet, gentle books reminiscent of D.E. Stevenson and I gather the two authors were neighbours and friends. The story meanders along, introducing Mrs. Lorimer's adult children and we see how different they all are and decide who we like and who we don't like. Her best friend, Gray Douglas, takes centre stage quite a lot, she is also an author but not as popular as Lucy Lorimer. Things Happen of course and it's not such a quiet summer as Lucy anticipates and there's romance in the air and misunderstandings and so forth. I loved the book to bits. It was published in 1953 so it's the same age as me and as with me this does show at times: some attitudes reflect the times. I've read one other book by Molly Clavering, Because of Sam, and loved that too so it's obvious that Molly Clavering is an author I'm going to be reading more of. I have Dear Hugo on my Kindle and will probably read that in the late autumn as it's WW2 related.
79. The Runaway Wife - Dee MacDonald.
Connie is 66 years old and has been married for forty years. Their children are now grown, some of them with kids of their own and Connie spends most of her time either babysitting or ferrying her husband back and forth to the golf club. He's a moaner and the kids take it for granted that Connie will always babysit. Now she feels like she's had enough. Leaving a note, she packs her bags and takes off into the wild blue yonder in her little green car, Kermit. What follows is the tale of Connie's adventures and I absolutely 'loved' it. She meets people in strange places, gets to know them, usually helps them, or they help her. It's a real voyage of discovery as she makes her way from London to Scotland, thinking about her marriage, her children, and what her life has become. Is there more to life than this? she wants to know. I think quite a few older women will identify, if not with 'all' of this book, then certainly elements of it. I cheered her on and absolutely loved the people she got involved with and the way in which they all worked to solve problems and help each other. I didn't want it to end to be honest so when I discovered that Dee MacDonald has written a second book about Connie, The Getaway Girls, I grabbed it for my Kindle sharpish. The author also has a crime series on the go, the Kate Palmer books, set in Cornwall, and I've owned the first book in that series for a while and will read that this autumn.
80. Death of a Bookseller - Bernard J. Farmer. (To be reviewed but pretty good!)
81. The Dalai Lama: My Spiritual Autobiography - collected by Sofia Stril-Rever. Been reading this off and on for months. Not as interesting as I'd hoped but I learnt quite a bit about the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s.
So there you go, a bit of a mixed bag, 8 fiction, 4 non-fiction. I've done a bit of travelling - New York, Colorado, all over Latin America, Israel, Tibet and all around the UK. There were no real duds, a couple weren't quite as rivetting as I'd hoped but them's the breaks.
I have lots of reading plans for autumn, quite a few books sorted to read, mainly murder mysteries or spooky/supernatural books. I alway love and look forward to autumn and choosing what to to read. I shall do a separate post about that.
I hope you're all well and finding some good books to devour.
20 comments:
My reading has been terrible this month, mostly of my own making I have to admit, but I have also read a couple of 'challenging' books for Blog Tours.
After two and a half years, Covid finally managed to make it into our home, with hubby testing positive over the Bank Holiday, although he is still able to continue working from home.. (thanks to his lovely client who had an hour appointment face to face with him, then messaged him the following morning to apologise for having tested positive). I'm not sure if I have got away with it or not, as today is really one of those 'blah!' days, so if I still feel rough later I'd better test too!
I have only ever read Dee MacDonald's Kate Palmer series and if you still have book #1 on your Kindle, I urge you to read it soon, as I am certain you will become quite addicted to that series too - and we are already up to book #6! Just as I am about to begin seeking out the two 'Connie' books for my Kindle (thanks for the recommendation)
I too am looking forward to autumn arriving full steam, although we could do without the stormy winds, as we are still waiting for the fencing company to replace over 50 metres, damaged in the last storm and now tied up with string and various other supports!
Have a good September and hope that P is almost feeling back to his usual self now :)
Only 2 out of your twelve read this time. I enjoyed the British Library Crime Classic - bookseller and the Elly Griffiths.
Thank you for the review of the Mollie Clavering. I have all of the Dean St press of hers on my wish list but waiting for the price to drop (it never will!) or someone to buy them for me! But I might splash out on that one now I know it's good
We both disliked July and August despite it being good for reading. I'm with you about fall - my favorite season. Cath, The Runaway Wife sounds like a fun read, I read and Anne Tyler where the wife (younger) just got sick of the wife/mother role and took off to find herself. I could relate to her from my younger harried days. Hope September is a good month for you.
So glad you had an enjoyable month of reading, Cath! That just makes everything better, doesn't it? I really like your choices, too; they're varied, you've got Elly Griffiths here; she's so talented, isn't she? And honestly, I do need to do a spotlight on one of Robb's books; she's been so prolific!
Glad you had an enjoyable month of reading. I have not looked yet to see how many books I have read this month, but it will be lower than usual.
What a great month, Cath; you did well and have uncovered some interesting choices this month for the rest of us to take a hard look at.
I'm with you in that I'm happy that August is finally done. Most of the month, Houston was in a strong drought, and for the last 10 days of so it's rained every day. We were over 100 degrees almost every day before the rains came, so I'm happy for the rainy days for several reasons.
I've been reading a lot about the cost of heating and cooling in Europe, but in particular in the UK, and have to say that such huge price increases sound very hard for the average person to deal with. To me, the answers are rather obvious, but it's a little late to try to put that horse back into the barn now. I hope the forecasts don't turn out to be nearly as ominous as they sound from here.
Hi Cath,
You and I are of like minds. August is my least favorite (or most dreaded) month of the year, but once again I survived! Not without a few complaints about the horrendous humidity and heat. Today, August 31st, has turned almost autumnal. So nice.
I am picking up Postscript Murder(s) tomorrow! I remember I told you I loved it, but I really was referring to her previous standalone, which I think you also read. So now I'm on track.
I do hope that the heat has left you for good!
A very happy September to you! (My favorite month here in the Adirondacks).
Yvonne: oh goodness, I'm really sorry to hear that your husband has Covid. I know how hard you fought to keep it away. I hope he doesn't get it too badly and also that you manage not to catch it. Sending positive vibes.
Yes, I'll be reading that first DM crime novel over the autumn, looking forward to it.
Turning wet and windy from Friday I gather, fingers crossed that your fence survives!
Peter is pretty much back to normal now, apart from a lack of stamina.
You take care.
Sue: I wonder if your library might have some of the Dean Street Press books? Yes, the paperbacks are rather expensive, Kindle a lot cheaper but not everyone has an ereader.
Diane: Fall is definitely my favourite season. Temps are far more bearable and everything feels fresh and clean.
The Runaway Wife was very much a fun read, plus it had a serious side. I liked that the main character was an older woman and all the extra characters were interesting.
Margot: Yes, Elly Griffiths is hugely talented. I have a Ruth Galloway on my list of autumn books, books 13, The Night Hawks. I read that she is bringing the series to an end soon. A shame but nothing lasts forever.
Yes, Robb is hugely prolific so it will be hard to choose 'one' book I would think.
I love to read more suspenseful and spookier books in the fall, too. I just wish it was starting to feel like fall where I live. They're predicting record high temps of 100+ in Salt Lake City for the next seven days. I'm not happy! I was hoping the start of September would start bringing cooler temps, too. All those books on my TBR list that are set in cold places like Alaska and Antarctica are really starting to look really good about now. ;D
Cindy: Thank you. I think really I read my way through August so I didn't have go out in the heat. LOL
Sam: Thanks! Yes, it's another motley bunch of books for me this month.
100F is brutal. We were fortunate and only had a few days like that back in July. Unfortunately it coincided with Peter's pneumonia. Not great. So happy you've had rain, we have too and more due over the weekend and into next week.
Yes, there's a lot of fear in the UK over what's going to happen with soaring energy prices this winter. I think a lot of businesses will fail and there will be huge problems. Yes, this should've been addressed 10 years ago. It's very worrying.
Judith. I think my most dreaded month is July, but closely followed by August. At least with August the heat tends to ease off about halfway through the month and it did that here in the south west. Really pleased it's turned autumnal there. Lovely to imagine autumn in New England.
I hope you enjoy The Postscript Murders, I thought it was great fun and now there's a new book out in that series I believe.
Happy September to you too!
Lark: Oh gosh, really sorry to hear that you still have temps of 100+ over there in Utah. That's brutal. Sending cooling vibes and yes, get the snowy books out!
September and October are usually pretty hot here. The West Coast is having a severe heat wave right now but in Santa Barbara it isn't that bad yet. And definitely not as high as 100+ like Lark.
I only read 6 books this month but all of them were good so no complaints. I was glad to see your review of Mrs. Lorimer's Quiet Summer. I was hoping you would like it. I have some more Clavering books on my Kindle. Unfortunately reading books on the Kindle takes me longer but still... I am looking forward to them.
And The Runaway Wife sounds interesting. I downloaded it and The Getaway Girls to the Kindle to try.
Tracy: Yes, I feel very sorry for people who live in parts of the world where the severe heat doesn't stop in September but goes on into October and so on. Glad to hear it's not too bad in Santa Barbara.
Yes, I really did like Mrs. Lorimer. I'm quite impressed with Molly Clavering I must say, her books say things but in a very subtle manner.
The Runaway Wife was just great. A nice departure from dead bodies cluttering up the place.
For people whose libraries have Hoopla, they may be able to access the Dean Street books electronically. I see the new Susan Scarlett books are available that way.
This is a great assortment! I think your August was impressive. I have been meaning to read Molly Clavering and the Dee MacDonald books sound like great fun (not sure she is published here).
Do you just dislike August because of the weather? How did the tomato crop turn out? I definitely prefer September and October for temperature but work is easier in August when many are on vacation so fewer meetings. Next Tuesday starts a particularly busy period I am not looking forward to. I am planning to do a lot of reading and cleaning on this three-day weekend.
Constance: Molly Clavering is well worth a try, this is the second book of hers that I've liked a lot. With Dee MacDonald I felt like I could identify with the heroine who was in her 60s. Not that my circumstances are the same, just a few issues were similar. A fun read.
Yes, it's July and August weather I dislike, particularly when they're like this year with no rain and too hot. Plus we often get some kind of crisis in the summer, usually to do with Peter's health. The tomato crop was good but is coming to an end before it would normally do so. Sometimes we have tomatoes until November even December, I doubt that will be the case this year.
I hope you enjoyed your 3 day weekend and got some good reading done.
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