59. The Road to Tholonet by Monty Don. To be reviewed but this was a lovely book with the Gardener's World presenter touring famous French gardens, but also talking about his life and what France means to him. Delightful.
60. Sleep No More by P.D. James. Murder mystery short stories. Excellent anthology.
61. Printer's Devil Court by Susan Hill. One of the author's famous ghost story novellas. This one about a group of doctors in (I think) Victorian times who try to raise people from the dead. Quite atmospheric and nicely written.
62. The Distant Echo by Val McDermid. The lives of four students are ruined when they stumble over the dead body of a girl back in the 1970s. Cold-case story. Very good.
63. The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. le Guin. Non-fiction book of essays on writing and reading. Slightly underwhelmed by this. A few of the essays I enjoyed but many rambled on too much and I lost interest. One for the charity shop box.
64. Dear Susan: Letters to a Niece by Ben Hartley. Another non-fiction, this time by an artist who moved from The Peak District down to Devon to teach art in Plymouth. Ben Hartley went to live in a rural village and wrote letters to his niece that were illustrated with beautiful little drawings and full of interesting anecdotes. A totally charming view of life in a Devon village in the 1960s.
So, six books is not bad. Truthfully, the first book was half finished I think before November started, and three of them were quite short books. So the six is not as impressive as it sounds! A favourite? Well, I liked Sleep No More by P.D. James and The Distant Echo by Val McDermid equally, very different books but both excellent. The non-fiction French gardens book, The Road to Tholonet by Monty Don, was also delightful. So, for once I don't think I'll pick an outright favourite.
To be honest I'm not in much of a reading mood at all at the moment. Here's what I am in the mood for:
Very large jigsaw puzzles. This one was 3,000 pieces, and a real pleasure to do, mentally challenging, which I find I need sometimes.
So, here we are back in December again. I've no idea where these years go and am finding the speed that they fly by quite scary. Before we know it Christmas will be over, 2018 will here and another year will zoom by. Like I said, 'Scary'.
7 comments:
OMG!! 3,000??!! How long did that take??? All that and books too?!! and taking care of Peter!! You are Wonder Woman!! Those books all sound good. I am glad you got so many read. I am sick with Sinusitis ..no reading for another total week.. gah.. I haven't even read 40 books this year! But never fear I will never give up! lol
Your way ahead of me in both departments, Cath! 3,000 pieces! I don’t think I have a table big enough.
Gosh I think Dear Susan and something by Monty Don will have to go on my list.
I have the PD James now..ut haven't had a chance to open it yet! isn't that just the way.
I don't tend to puzzle but do enjoy Suduko ..they're a different task for the brain and as they say "a change is as good as a rest"
Quirky thought..but have you read Painting as a Pastime by Churchill ?
https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/churchillws-paintingasapastime/churchillws-paintingasapastime-00-h-dir/churchillws-paintingasapastime-00-h.html
Some lovely books and as usual you've read a good mix of genres. I like the sound of the Monty Don book and Dear Susan - hoping my library has copies!
I haven't got out my jigsaws yet - but thanks to my friend, who introduced me to digital jigsaws, I have been totally absorbed in doing them on my Kindle Fire - less tiring on my back!
oh and thanks Val for the link to Painting as a Pastime by Churchill as I've been on the lookout for this for a while now!
Pat: The 3000 jigsaw took me 3 weeks. An easier scene might have been a bit quicker but it's not a race and I really enjoyed doing it.
Wonder Woman? Trying to imagine me in her outfit... not a pretty sight. LOL!
Sorry to hear about your sinusitis. Nasty thing... I get a lot of it too. Hope it's better now.
Peggy: I have a piece of perspex I use for large jigsaws. But it's pretty much worn out, cracked and patched. So we had the bathroom done this year and there's some nice wallboard left over and Hubby has cut a piece for a new jigsaw board for me. I'm thrilled to bits with it.
Val: Both Dear Susan and Monty Don are delightful but I would get them from the library if you can. Although you might not be lucky with Dear Susan as it's very local to this area. Yes, that's always the way... Christmas is a busy time for us ladies.
I like Sudukos too but I go through phases... don't do any for months and then I *must* do them every day. Same with jigsaws really.
Funnily enough, that Churchill book is very much on my radar and has been for a while. I'll grab that from Gutenberg, thanks for the link. I saw a doc. about a painting he did in the south of France. I think they were trying to authenticate it as one of his. Piqued my interest rather.
Margaret: I do like to ring the changes every month with the books I read. The Monty Don book should be easily available. Not sure about Dear Susan as I found it in our local section in the library, plus it has only one reader on Goodreads: me. So it may be that it's a bit rare and not available in your county.
I enjoy online puzzles too. I use the Jigidi site but there are lots of others. Also there's a very nice FB page, Jigsaw puzzle Connections. All good fun.
I've bought Sleep No More and Dear Susan. So looking forward to them.
I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy both of them, Nan.
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