This and that

I've had to enable 'comment moderation' on here due to a recent increase in spam... at least, I'm trying to enable it, still waiting for email confirmation and am now wondering if I've done it correctly. Oh, to be technically savvy! And why the hell can't these morons find something better to do with their time like ... you know... read a book!

I know it's early to be thinking about 2020 reading but I've already decided that I'm cutting right back on challenges next year. I get all enthusiastic at the beginning of the year because they all sound fun and interesting and I have books on my tbr pile that fit perfectly. Then I find I have tons of books to review, which is fine, but sometimes I don't feel like it or I've not got time, but if I don't review it the book won't count. The other thing is, I kid myself that the challenges will take books off my tbr mountain. They don't. Or rather they do but the number doesn't decrease because I keep adding new ones! And I'm not very good at book buying bans... So anyway, I will probably limit myself to two, definitely the European one, which I love, and one other, possibly Mount TBR but keep the number small and target specific books, possibly 12 chunksters or non-fictions. We'll see.

I've just finished this:

I have to thank Judith at Reader in the Wilderness for encouraging me to revisit Maisie Dobbs. If it wasn't for her I never would have gone back to it after reading book one, feeling a bit so-so about it, and thus not bothering with any more for years. The series is both thoughtful and thought provoking, making you consider issues about World War One that would never otherwise occur to you. In Among the Mad Maisie finds herself 'invited' (ie. not given much choice in the matter) to work with Scotland Yard and Special Branch on a case where a possible WW1 veteran is making a toxic gas which he intends to use to kill hundreds in London. He writes letters to the government demanding better treatment for veterans who, of course, returned from the battlefields scarred forever, not just physically, but also mentally which is the issue in this book. War veterans were very poorly treated, not looked after, pensions were not at all automatic, and there were very few jobs. Many ended up on the streets begging. This was an absolutely superb book. I didn't mean to read it in two days but that's what happened, I just couldn't put it down. Jacqueline Winspear, in this book, somehow managed to make you feel sorry for the perpetrator of a potentially horrific crime, via Maisie and her understanding of human nature and of the horrors inflicted on men who fought in WW1. Also featuring strongly in the book are women's mental health issues connected with the death of a child, a common occurence in those days, in fact my own grandmother lost a young son in the 1920s. An amazing book, gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, no dithering at all (and I can dither for England over Goodreads' ratings). Among the Mad is my book 27 for Bev's Calendar of Crime challenge, covering the December category of 'Primary action takes place in this month'.

Currently reading this:

Which is all about sailing and the sea and how daunting it can be crossing the Atlantic in a yacht. For people who like 'sea-voyage' travel fiction I can't recommend this series of books by Sandra Clayton enough. The first two books are Dolphins Under My Bed and Turtles in My Wake and there are now two more books I gather, making, I think, five altogether.

Not sure how that led me to this, Moby-Dick, apart from the fact that it also has a strong 'sea' theme, but I thought after years of procrastinating, I'd give it a go. All 600 pages of it.

I foresaw it taking me months to read, 'into infinity and beyond' sort of thing. But when I did the Maths I realised that if I read 10 to 20 pages a day I should be at the end by the New Year. Not sure how I'll get on, naturally it's a book that divides opinions... it's wonderful 'the best book ever written'... or it's so tedious people can hardly stand it. I reckon if I go into it knowing it rambles on a bit I am forewarned and thus forearmed. Works for me. Well, hopefuly it will.

Happy autumn reading!


~~~oOo~~~