What I've been reading so far this month

I'm really behind with reviews at the moment, due to being quite busy, so I thought I'd just do a quick post about the three books I've read since the start of the month.

First up, Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan:

This is book 3 in the author's Lady Trent series.It's a kind of alernate reality, Victorian, type setting wherein women are not supposed to have an intelligent interest in dragons or anything else really. In fact, the books are as much about Isabella's struggles against the restrictions on women as they are about dragons. In this one she goes off to an archipeligo on a ship called The Basilisk to look for dragons, accompanied by her young son and the usual suspects. All kinds of adventures ensue and I really enjoyed the sea-voyage, 'try to blend in with the natives', travelogue-ish, theme to this story. If you're looking for books about dragons where they feature a lot, this series is probably not for you, try Anne McCaffrey, Naomi Novik, Robin Hobb. But if you're a fan of Victorian female travel writing and think you might like a touch of fantasy thrown in, you could do worse than this series. At the very least the covers are just gorgeous.


Next, Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz:

This book is a one-off - the first I've come across where you have two books, not one, in one complete story. Editor, Susan Ryeland, is given a manuscript to read, the latest by her publisher's star writer, Alan Conway. He writes a crime series about a German detective, Atticus Pund, who lives in England. Susan reads the latest instalment but finds, to her horror, that the last chapter of the manuscript is missing. Where is it? And more to the point, whodunnit? I'm a bit worried about spoilers here so I'm not going to say any more but seasoned crime fic readers will guess that there will be deaths and all kinds of Rum Goings On, and it's all very engrossing. And almost as soon as the book begins the reader has the manuscript of the new book to read... when that finishes Susan's investigations begin, so really it is two books in one. I won't pretend I didn't get confused, because I did. I occasionally had to stop and remember which characters belonged in which book, which were fictional and which... well... they're all fictional so you can see where the confusion comes in. It's beautifully written by the creator of the wonderful TV series, Foyle's War, very clever and enjoyable.


Lastly, a non-fiction, The Olive Tree by Carol Drinkwater. This is my third book for my What's in a Name? challenge, covering the category, 'A fruit or a veg'.

In her book, The Olive Route, which I read two years ago, Carol Drinkwater went looking for the origins of the olive tree. In that book she travelled to the eastern Mediterranean, covering The Lebonan, Irael, Palestine, Libya and so on. In its successor she tours the western Med starting by touring Spain, mainly by bus. Morroco follows Spain and then Algeria, two countries where it can be difficult for western women travelling alone. In fact in Algeria it's arranged for her to be escorted by a network of bee keepers, who take her safety very seriously; despite that, it's not a country that she felt comfortable in. From there Carol is back in Europe, touring Italy. This was my favourite section and she clearly adored it too... I thoroughly enjoyed all the island hopping. I think I probably enjoyed the first book more than this, but only slightly. The olive is not as centre stage as it was in book one and I have to admit that her experiences in Morroco and Algeria took up more of the book than I would have liked. That said, Carol Drinkwater is a superb writer, lovely observations of simple things, of people, of quirky happenings and stunning landscapes. She may not think of herself as a travel writer but she surely is.


~~~oOo~~~

More jigsaw puzzles

It seems I last did a jigsaw puzzle post in February so it's more than time to inflict another one upon you. *Coughs* I've slowed down a bit this past few weeks as summer is always a bit busy with grandkids and the garden. Also I usually do them in our conservatory and it's just been too hot in there for weeks on end; the heatwave has now ended thank goodness.

Anyhoo, a few puzzles (not all) that I've done since February.

These two were charity shop buys, both unopened. They're from W.H. Smith and both 1000 pieces. I tend to think I'm not a cottagey person when it comes to jigsaws but I think I must be lying to myself as I love this kind of nostalgic scene.

I love maps so this 2000 piece one was a joy to do. Quite tricky with all the sea but I like a challenge.

A dear friend was clearing out some puzzles and sent me a lovely surprise parcel of them (the joy!!) and this was one. I loved how difficult it was with all the rigging and the tricky sky.

A painting by Monet which was a gift from one of my daughters (the jigsaw not the painting, sadly) and a lovely collage of American lighthouses, both 1000 pieces.

Another gift from my daughter, a scene of a garden in Thailand. 1000 pieces and quite a challenge with all those hedges that look the same.

Finished this one a couple of days ago. Took me three weeks which is hardly surprising looking at the cartoon picture and how much detail is in it. Loved doing it. 2000 pieces, art by Jan van Haasteren, puzzle by 'Jumbo'.

Sometimes I wonder if I have too many indoor hobbies and ought to get out more and, although I do work in the garden a bit, this is probably the case. The trouble is my natural inclination is to get comfy in my favourite chair with a book, a puzzle, a computer game, or something detective-ish on the TV. I like being outdoors but I don't love it as much as I love being warm and cosy indoors with things that interest me. Something to ponder.


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Books Read in July

July was a fairly average reading month for me, six books read and enjoyed. All fine and dandy. Except... I really hate the month of July. And this year it was especially bad with very little rain and high (for us) temps. The countryside is all yellow and brown from lack of water and so is our grass. Veggies struggling, we have watered a bit but you can't go mad in case there's a water shortage. Horrible. I can't wait for autumn to be honest, although thankfully we've now had a fair bit of rain and it's a bit cooler.

Anyway, these are my books for July:

35. Blood on the Tracks - edited by Martin Edwards

36. Death on the Riviera - John Bude

37. The French Riviera - Ted Jones

Blurb from Goodreads: The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers is a reader's journey along the fabled coast which has provided the inspiration and setting for some of the greatest literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From Hyères and St. Tropez in the west to the Italian border in the east, Ted Jones introduces the lives and work of writers who passed this way, from distinguished Nobel laureates to new authors who discovered their voices there. His encyclopaedic work covers them all: writers such as Graham Greene and W. Somerset Maugham, who spent much of their lives there; F. Scott Fitzgerald and Guy de Maupassant, whose work it dominates; and the countless writers who simply lingered there, including Louisa M. Alcott, Albert Camus, Bruce Chatwin, T. S. Eliot, Ian Fleming, Sylvia Plath, Jean-Paul Sartre, Leo Tolstoy, Evelyn Waugh, Oscar Wilde - and countless others.

That sums it up much better than I ever could. I enjoyed this journey along the coast of the French Riviera, reading about individual writers and their connections to certain towns. Perhaps it wasn't quite a as rivietting as I was hoping it might be, but there you go. I read it at the same time as Death on the Riviera by John Bude so I could see that the observations he made about the British expats there were spot on. I have The Riviera Set by Mary Lovell to read so that should increase my knowledge a bit more.

38. Valour's Choice - Tanya Huff

39. Busman's Holiday - Dorothy L. Sayers

40. I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron

I'd heard of Nora Ephron but wasn't quite sure who she was. Apparently, she's a screenwriter and film director of films such as Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally. She's also a fine essayist. I really enjoyed this books of her essays, covering all kinds of subjects but especially female experiences, marriage (I think she's been married several times), and life in New York. If I'm honest I liked her writings about New York more than those about the female body. I'm not really into make-up, trying to look younger and glamorous and so on but I was fascinated to hear about the famous appartment block she lived in, what happened, and other tales of New York. I think I don't read enough of this type of book, *note to self* search out more.

Favourite book of July? Hmm, difficult as all the vintage crime yarns were terrific. But, by a small margin, I think it would have to be this:

Because, when all's said and done, who doesn't love a bit of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane?

So, that was July and now it's August and hurray for that as I can see Autumn at the end of the tunnel! Let joy be unconfined.

~~~oOo~~~

Catching up

A bit busy at the moment and thus several book reviews behind on here. So, this is a 'catch up' post, wherein I make an effort to be brief and fail dismally.

First up, Death on the Riviera by John Bude.

Detective Inspector Meredith and Acting Sergeant Strang are heading by car to the south of France. They've had information that 'Chalky' Cobbett, a notorious counterfeiter, is plying his trade in Menton, and the idea is to catch him at it and send him back to England. The trail leads to The Villa Paloma where Nesta Hedderwick, a middle-aged wealthy woman, holds court and and has constant house guests and permanent lodgers of the artistic persuasion. Her neice is one of those staying and when Strang comes across her in an art gallery it proves to be a convenient 'in' to the secrets of the villa and of those staying there. But what's all this got to do with Chalky Cobbett? And should Meredith and Strang be enjoying themselves quite so much when this is, after all, a police assignment?

This has got to be one of the best British Library Crime Classic books I've read so far. I really enjoyed the setting of the south of France, and feel the author got the hedonistic lifestyle of some of the foreigners who lived there spot-on. I'm currently reading a non-fiction book about it and although it deals mainly with a slightly earlier era, the details haven't changed much and John Bude clearly knew his stuff. This one was written and set in the early 1950s and the war was still very fresh in people's memories, but it still came as quite a shock to me to see Dunkirk described as still wrecked and practically unnavigable. Little things like that bring history home with a jolt and I like these reality checks. There's a touch of romance in this, humour, skulduggery, food and drink porn, and an excellent sense of place... loved it.


Next up, Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff.

The Confederation is an alliance of planets in which the populations have become too peaceful to fight their own wars. When 'The Others' start attacking from another galaxy they offer membership to several other less pacifist planets on the condition that they fight The Others for them. Another warlike race, the Silsviss, a reptilian species, is set to join The Confederation to help in the fight and Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr is sent, with a small brigade of her men, to accompany the diplomats who're going to negotiate. *Not* her usual kind of mission. It's all going well until their ship is shot down over a wild area where young males of the planet spend time working off their severe aggression. Suddenly that aggression is pointed at the diplomats and their protectors. Who will prevail?

I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads which was possibly a bit miserly of me. 3.5 would've been more accurate as I enjoyed it and read it quite quickly. It comes under the heading of 'Military Science-fiction' I believe... these days science-fiction seems to have been compartmentalised into far more categories than it ever was years ago... and I'm not sure it's my thing precisely. I'm OK with it in small doses perhaps but endless battle scenes do bore me a bit and about half of this book concentrates on the long battle to survive against the rampant young males. I did think the various alien races were well imagined and depicted, especially the Silsviss and their planet. I'm curious about The Others as not much is said about them in this book. And I rather liked Torin Kerr as the main protagonist, her honest, no nonsense approach to everything was refreshing. So, whether I'll read more in this series is uncertain. It's a trifle too military for me *but* the world building and characterisation are both really excellent. Perhaps I'll see where the next books are in the Devon library system and go from there.


Lastly, Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Harriet Vine and Lord Peter Wimsey are now married. They head off to a large house in the village where Harriet grew up, for their honeymoon... Peter decided to buy it because Harriet always loved it as a child. The seller is supposed to be there to meet and help them settle in, but for some reason he's not there. Eventually they gain entrance and the housekeeper, gardener, vicar, chimney sweep, Uncle Tom Cobley, and Bunter, Peter's valet, all help get the house ready to live in. But where *is* the owner? 'In a neighbouring town attending to business', suggests the housekeeper. And they all accept this explanation until something is required in the cellar...

I gather Dorothy L. Sayers wrote this as a love story about Peter and Harriet after their wedding, with a little murder and mayhem thrown in to keep crime readers happy. It's not the place to start if you've never read any of her Wimsey books as this is the last novel she wrote about him, the final volume being a book of short stories I believe. I thought it was delightful, full of humour, quite a lot of romance, and the murder aspect was actually very good. I didn't solve it and had no idea who the culprit was until it was revealed at the end. The thing about Harriet and Peter is that they've neither of them had an easy time of it. Harriet was accused of murdering an ex-lover, culminating in a notorious court case (Strong Poison), and Peter has not been the same since he fought in World War One (the same can be said for the men I knew who fought in World War Two). So it's brilliant to have a book where they've both found happiness at last and I can't help but feel they're perfect for each other. I have an anthology of all of the Wimsey short stories Sayers wrote, Lord Peter, and I honestly can't wait to read them now, plus I have a few of the early Wimsey novels still to read.

~~~oOo~~~

Blood on the Tracks

When I heard, via Martin Edwards's excellent blog, that the BLCC were bringing out a volume of vintage crime short stories based on railways I was delighted. I'm not a railway buff, let's get that straight, but for some strange reason I really enjoy ghost or crime stories set on trains. I've read several by Agatha Christie and as ITV3 are currently showing old Poirots I've recently 'seen' a couple too. Love them. So, Blood on the Tracks, edited by Martin Edwards, was an obvious buy for me and I've been reading it over the last few weeks.

A quick run-down of the stories:


1. The Man With the Watches - Arthur Conan-Doyle. A man is found dead in a railway carriage with six watches on him. The solution to this comes via a letter to the narrator, explaining everything. Slightly underwhelmed by this one.

2. The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel - L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace. This is a tale of a mysteriously dead signalman, the body found at the mouth of a railway tunnel. When another man dies in similar circumstances people suspect a supernatural cause. Excellent story, well written and slightly creepy.

3. How He Cut His Stick - Matthew McDonnell Bodkin. A bank employee is robbed of £5,000 on a train, it seems an impossible crime but female investigator, Dora Myrl, eventually works out how it was done. Not bad but didn't get a strong sense of the detective.

4. The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway - Baroness Orczy. One of series based on 'The Man in the Corner' who apparently sits in a café telling 'Polly' how murders were committed. This one involves a woman who's been killed on the undergound. Quite good.

5. The Affair of the Corridor Express - Victor L. Whitechurch. The son of a millionaire is kidnapped while on a train. An expert on train timetables works out how it was done. Another impossible crime with an ingenious solution.

6. The Case of Oscar Brodski - R. Austin Freeman. Silas Hickler, a crooked dealer in diamonds, kills a man he knows is carrying a stash of them on him. Will he get away with it or will two doctors, using scientific methods, manage to catch him? This long story was an excellent read. I liked how the murder featured at the beginning, so we know what's happened, and then we get to observe the detectives try to catch him. I've just bought four books by this author as a job lot for my Kindle for £1.99. Bargain!

7. The Eighth Lamp - Roy Vickers. An underground railway worker is absolutely terrified when he's given the job of closing up the station last thing at night. It's turning out that last light and being momentarily in the dark that unnerves him. Why? Excellent little supernatural story.

8. The Knight's Cross Signal Problem - Ernest Bramel. The cause of a nasty accident is in question. The driver of the train swears the signal was green and indicated he could go, the signalman swears it was not so. What's going on?

9. The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man With No Face - Dorothy L. Sayers. On a train journey, Lord Peter Wimsey joins in a discussion with the people in the carriage. A body has been found on a local beach, the face all bashed in, who is it and how was he killed? Terrific story this, Dorothy L. Sayers is not one of the best known female crime authors for nothing. Love how she does the speech of the common man.

10. The Railway Carriage - F. Tennyson Jesse. Solange Fontaine is only just in time to catch her train. Already in the carriage are two very odd people indeed... This is an excellent little supernatural story that works very well.

11. The Mystery of the Slip-Coach - Sapper. A man is found dead in a railway carriage. Four other occupants swear they didn't kill him and obviously didn't, so who did? Nice little 'impossible crime' story.

13. The Adventure of the First Class Carriage - Ronald Knox. This is a Sherlock Holmes story by an author other than ACD. A housekeeper comes to see Sherlock Holmes about her employers. She's worried that the husband is about do away with the wife. Quite a good story which I've read before somewhere.

14. Murder on the 7.16 - Michael Innes. Quirky little story about a body found on a film set train. Innes is famous for his John Appleby series of crime books and this is a good short story featuring that detective. I need to read a few of the novels I think.

15. The Coulman Handicap - Michael Gilbert. The police in London are watching a middle-aged woman who they know is acting as a carrier for stolen jewellry. They plan to catch her using The Underground. Enjoyed this one as it was slightly different.

I've read a few of these BLCC short story collections and this one ranks as one of the best. Possibly I'm slightly biased by the subject, I don't know, but there were only a few stories that I found 'average' the rest I thought were very good indeed. In particular The Unsolved Mystery of the Man With No Face by Dorothy L. Sayers, The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace and The Case of Oscar Brodski by R. Austin Freeman. These three really stood out for me, partly because they were different in some way but also the writing was superb. Mind you, *all* of the stories are well written as I have come to expect from vintage crime books and short stories. I particularly like that at the beginning of each story Martin Edwards writes a little about the author and what he was famous for writing. Staggering how many of these authors were hugely popular in their time but are completely unknown now. A real shame. Thank goodness for the British Library in bringing these authors back in these delightful books.

~~~oOo~~~

Update on 2018 challenges

We're now halfway through the year so I thought I would do an update on my reading challenges. I decided this year to only do two... also that both should be easy, books that I would read anyway. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself at the beginning of a new year by trying to do too many challenges that I haven't a hope of completing. So, this year, just two.

First up, The European Reading Challenge, 2018, which is being hosted by Rose City Reader.

This runs from the 1st. January 2018 to the 31st. Jan 2019. I'm doing:

FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. So far I've read five books:

1. Summer in the Islands - Matthew Fort (ITALY)

2. A Climate of Fear - Fred Vargas (FRANCE)

3. Snow Blind - Ragnar Jónasson (ICELAND)

4. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee (SPAIN)

5. Travellers in the Third Reich - Julia Boyd (GERMANY)


So, five books read which is enough to say I've finished but I haven't. I plan to read on and hopefully explore more countries. I have to say, this is definitely one of my favourite ever reading challenges.


My second and last challenge for 2018 is the What's In A Name? challenge, which is being hosted by The Worm Hole.

This runs from the 1st. January 2018 to the 31st. December 2018. These are the categories:


1. The word ‘the’ used twice.

2. A fruit or vegetable.

3. A shape.

4. A title that begins with Z

5. A nationality.

6. A season.


I'm not doing quite as well with this one. Two books read:

1. The Word 'the' used twice The Lost Book of the Grail - Charlie Lovett

3. A shape: The Cheltenham Square Murder - John Bude

I'm currently reading a third book for 'a nationality' which will put me at halfway through after half the year has gone so that's not too bad. I also have books for the other three categories, I just need to read them!

~~~oOo~~~

Books read in June

Despite other things going on this month (the garden, a holiday, grandkids) I also managed to read 7 books so that's not at all bad really. Of course that's helped by the current heatwave. I hate being outside when it's hot so at the moment I'm to be found indoors in the afternoons, windows and doors open, reading.

These are my 7 books for June:

28. The Enchanted April - Elizabeth Von Arnim


29. Travellers in the Third Reich - Julia Boyd


30. Dog Will Have His Day - Fred Vargas


31. The Dark Vineyard Martin Walker


32. Between the Woods and the Water - Patrick Leigh Fermor.

This is second part of the trilogy which charts the author's walk from England to what was then Constaninople and is now Istanbul. In this part he walks through Hungary and Transyvania stopping off at intervals to stay with various contacts or friends of friends. It sounded idyllic but always you're aware that this is the mid-1930s and within a few years the whole region will be changed beyond recognition by the war. There're beautiful descriptions of the mountains, the old towns, and a wonderful carefree atmosphere pervades the whole book. The people are friendly and thrilled to have an Englishman staying with them. A beautiful book but I found it impossible to shake the sense of impending doom.


33. Maigret and the Flemish Shop - Georges Simenon


34. A Wild Herb Soup - Emilie Carles.

Emilie Carles was born Emilie Allais in the year 1900 in the village of Val-des-Prés, in the Haute Alpes region of France. It was very remote and isolated and the Italian border was just a few miles away over the mountains. The family were of peasant stock and proud of it but life was hard, hard, hard. Emilie lost her mother when she was six, she was gathering in crops when she was struck by lightning and killed instantly. Her father, Joseph, then had six children to bring up on his own so all the children had to pull their weight. Work was a way of life because if you didn't work, you didn't eat. Simple as that. But somehow through all this Emilie managed to get herself an education and become a teacher. It's an incredibly inspiring story, heartbreaking in places - a sister died in childbirth because she didn't know what was happening and wouldn't let anyone near her, her husband being away fighting in WW1 - but through it all Emilie's spirit shines. What an amazing person she must have been... a thinker, a reader, a campaigner, a teacher in the best sense of the word. When I read about the hard lives of women like this I realise that these days we hardly know we're born.

It's so nice to have a reading month like this. Lots of really good books with different settings which have taken me all over Europe... Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and Romania, that's not bad!

It's very hard to pick a favourite. The French crime yarns were all excellent, The Enchanted April is a delightful book, and I loved reading about Emilie Carles's life in a remote region of France. But really the book I found the most interesting and 'unputdownable' was Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd:

And this is where I spent a few days earlier in the month: Arundel in West Sussex. One of the prettiest counties I've been in... rolling hills and pretty villages galore. We had a super time.

~~~oOo~~~