Saturday 18 March 2023

I have been reading...

I fully admit I've been a bit AWOL lately but thankfully it's not down to anything nasty... I've been reading a book that's 900 pages long and concentrating on it fully rather than reading something else alongside it, as I would normally do. So, lots of reading going on but no posts so I'll try to make up for that today.

So, after A Killer Read by Erika Chase I finished off A Year of Living Simply by TV presenter, Kate Humble.

The author is quite famous in the UK as a sort of wild-life TV person who also did travel docs on the side. She used to present programmes such as Springwatch, but over the last few years she's taken more to documentaries about walking stretches of UK coastal paths and about people who've upped sticks and gone to live in the wilds of, say, the Welsh countryside or Orkney, to start small holdings or holiday lets. She's very personable and I thought this book, with ideas of how to simplify your life and live greener, might be interesting. And it was, to an extent. She talks a lot about going out walking for your mental health, starting a garden, moving to a quieter area, in her case rural Wales. She's also bought a house in a remote part of France. These are not things most of us can do to be frank. Even going out for a walk is not easy for some. The other thing is that I'm not sure jetting off to New Mexico to look at Earthship houses is particularly carbon footprint-friendly. All that said, I did find this gentle book, about simplifying your life, quite interesting, and Kate Humble's writing is delightful: I've already bought her book about walking, Thinking on My Feet, for my Kindle. 3.5 stars upped to 4 for the writing. 

My fourth book for March was a 900 page door-stopper of a book, The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. This is book two in her 'Liveship Traders' fantasy trilogy: I reread book one last month.

Not sure how to make this spoiler free, it being a second book in a trilogy. Basically this continues all of the stories featured in book one, Ship of Magic, which concentrated heavily on the doings of the Vestrits, a family of Traders based in Bingtown on The Cursed Shores. Ronica is the matriarch, when she lost her husband it was thought his live-ship, The Vivacia, would go to Althea, their youngest daughter, because she's been sailing with him for years. But it doesn't, it goes to her sister and her horrible husband, and Althea goes off to prove herself elsewhere. She's back in Bingtown in book two, for a while, patching things up with her family. The ship, meanwhile, with Althea's nephew, Wintrow, a novice monk, aboard, is having plenty of adventures of its own. And then there's Malta, Althea's neice, whose antics in book one brought her all kinds of trouble especially with the Rainwild Traders who live up river in a city in the trees where the water is so poisonous it has 'changed' these humans in some very odd ways. Very hard to describe these epic saga type books in a cohesive manner, but I can assure you they're not hard to read, in fact quite the opposite. 900 pages fair cracks along, I had it read in 8 days and loved every single page. This is very much a book about family, what people will do to protect them and also how certain members are prepared to sacrifice other members for gain or as a result of jealousy. Hobb's first connected trilogy, 'Farseer' is about Fitz, a royal bastard, and his life is all you hear about - the Liveship Traders trilogy is a sea-going romp and you get all kinds of points of view, even down to sea serpents and dragons. It's suspenseful, wierd, political, completely adventurous, one heck of a journey to be honest. And the writing is sublime. A five star read for me, no question whatsoever. I want to read book 3 very soon but think I should give myself a couple of weeks to get my breath back first!

Here's a brilliant graphic showing all of the Realm of the Elderlings books in order of pubication, which is how I'm reading them:

 


 

 So, my current read is this which is slightly less of roller-coaster ride.


Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac is set in a very small, isolated village in North Devon, close to where I live as a matter of fact. A young doctor and his wife move to the village and, although friendly enough, find it ruled over by Sister Monica, the nun who runs a small orphanage. They don't like her one little bit and they're not alone... but most of the village inhabitants call the woman 'wonderful', 'a saint'. But is she? I love E.C.R. Lorac's murder mysteries, so well written and convoluted.

Anyway, I hope you're all well and finding loads of good books to read.

19 comments:

Lark said...

900 pages...yikes! That length alone would deter me, but I'm glad the book's pacing moved well and it was so good. I've never read any of Hobbs' books, but they look like fun fantasies. The Lorac mystery you're reading now is one I want to read, too. I love those British Library Crime Classics. And someday I hope to visit your part of England. :D Have a great weekend!

Jeane said...

I've always thought I should try some Robin Hobb, but haven't yet. Recently got ahold of the Assassin trilogy- glad to see it's first in those series! I do prefer reading things in order.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Count me out of that 900 page 'chunkster' read - in fact 'chunkster' is defined as a book with over 450 pages, so yours is a 'double chunkster'!

Thanks to yourself and Kelly, I have added a few Lorac titles to my 'wish list' and as you both seem to read books from various points in a series, I am assuming that they work okay as stand alone stories.

I also managed to spot a Patricia Wentworth on Dean Street Press as their freebie book a week or so ago, so I have that to read too!

Hasn't it been a lovely day? I hope you have a great Mother's Day tomorrow :)

TracyK said...

Amazing that you read that 900 page book in 8 days. It sounds like an interesting read, I will look into the Robin Hobb series and ask my son if he has heard of it. Although of course I would start with the first book, if I was going to start a long new series.

I can only think of two books I have read with that many pages, plus. One was Under the Dome by Stephen King. That one I read in three weeks and I did like it a lot. The other was Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, which took me about 13 months.

I really do want to comment on the first book and the one you are reading now, but I will have to come back for that.

Margaret @ BooksPlease said...

That's a lot of reading! :)

Some of Kate Humble's ideas in A Year of Living Simply, don't sound something most of us could do and frankly jetting off to New Mexico to look at Earthship houses doesn't sound a 'good' idea. But, I have enjoyed watching her TV programmes and I've got a copy of her book about walking, Thinking on My Feet, in my TBRs - hope I'll get round to it one day.

I really must read The Ship of Magic which I bought several years ago, it sounds like a great saga! And as for Lorac I do enjoy her books and I think Murder in the Mill Race is one of her best.

Sue in Suffolk said...

E.C.R. Lorac is one of the best of the authors BLCC have reprinted I think - hope they do many more as she wrote over 60!

I tried Kate Humbles book a while ago and afraid I gave up after not many pages as it was not at all what I thought, I'm not that keen on watching her either for some reason.

900 pages - that's an encyclopaedia!

Margot Kinberg said...

I think Lorac was such a good writer, Cath! I'm very glad her work is getting some notice again, and I often wonder why writers like her get 'forgotten.' At any rate, I'm glad you liked this one. And I know what you mean about your reaction to The Year of Living Simply. Most of us can't consider buying a place in northern France (or wherever), or some of the other things she does. Still, the idea of living more simply does appeal, doesn't it?

Cath said...

Lark: Yes, 900 pages was slightly daunting! LOL But I knew from reading her other books that they are very readable and the length wouldn't be too much of a problem. I think she's best fantasy author out there to be honest.

Oh I hope you do get to visit my part of England one day, I'll happily show you round. :-)

Cath said...

Jeane: Oh, I really hope you try Robin Hobb soon! I sincerely think she's the best writer of fantasy out there at the moment. Although there are plenty of authors I haven't tried that I would like to... Sarah Maas, Brandon Sanderson, Tad Williams for instance.

Cath said...

Yvonne: LOL... no I won't foist my 'double chunkster' onto you. Worry not. ;-)

Yes, the Loracs work fine as standalones as there's no back story involving the detective. I think this one is book 37 out of 46! I think I have that Wentworth book too, I've read one of hers and liked it a lot so must read some more.

Yes, it's been gorgeous this weekend, nice for Mothering Sunday. Thank you, I've seen or spoken to both my girls so that's really nice.

Cath said...

Tracy: yes, I suppose 900 pages in 8 days is not bad but the books are really readable and exciting so you just want to keep ploughing on. If your son is into fantasy novels then I suspect he would've heard of Robin Hobb.

I wouldn't mind trying The Dome, in fact there are a few SKs I quite fancy since he stopped writing purely horror. I'm a bit impressed that you've read Les Mis as well as Anna Karenina...

Cath said...

Margaret: I enjoy Kate Humble's walking docs. too and she's on again at the moment with another family moving to darkest Wales. Next week I think it's Orkney. I find the willingness of these celebs to jet off round the world at drop of a hat and then tell us to restrict our air miles a bit rich to be honest.

I hope you get to The Ship of Magic soon, it's well worth the effort. And yes, I agree, Murder in the Mill-Race is one of the best Loracs I've read so far.

Cath said...

Sue: Yes, I completely agree with you about Lorac being one of the best authors the BLCC have reprinted. I wonder if they've been surprised at how popular she is now?

I quite like Kate Humble but my husband's like you, not keen. But he absolutely 'loathes' Chris Packham so we don't watch any of his programmes at all. LOL

Cath said...

Margot: I can't work out why Lorac was forgotten either. She's possibly not as versatile as Christie but she's easily as competant as other female crime writers of the time who have been remembered and her books are seldom less than very solid. Odd.

We do in fact live fairly simply, gardening and cooking for ourselves etc. But you can always do more, I just don't think this was quite the book to discover more about that. But it was adecent read nevertheless.

Vallypee said...

Ooh, Murder in the Mill-Race sounds right up my alley. I love the cover too–not that it would influence me to buy it, but it’s very vivid!

TracyK said...

I had to come back and comment more, especially on simplicity books. Back in the early 1980s I read a book by Ernest Callenbach, Living Poor With Style, because we were living on little money in Santa Barbara, which costs a lot to live in, plus the topic has always interested me. He was really hard core, but I admired his approach. Since then I have read many books on simplicity and minimalism, but they differ widely in their approach. Still I always find information about aiming for frugality interesting, even if it is hard to follow. And I agree with your comment that you already do important things in that area, gardening and cooking and canning.

I want to read more by ECR Lorac. Glen has at least two books by that author, and after that I will have to seek them out.

Cath said...

Val: That cover is so gorgeous. A lot of the BLCC covers are old railway posters and I've always had a weakness for those.

Cath said...

Tracy: I'll look that book up because I'm finding the subject quite interesting and different takes on it appeal. Yes, we garden and freeze the produce we grow and sometimes I make jam and pickles. I also like using up leftovers from meals, making them into another meal. I hate wasted food and often the second meal is nicer than the original! LOL

Lorac has become my favourite BLCC author and I'm definitely going to read as many as I can find by her.

CLM said...

I do think that being told to simplify your life in such an expensive way is irritating. There is a grocery store near my office that sells food that is soon to expire (most of the prices are not that impressive but that's another story). Their goal was to sell produce and other staples to low income residents but after they opened they realized the items selling most frequently were the frozen or packaged items because most of the locals did not know how to cook. So the other location started doing free cooking demonstrations - I don't know if they started again since the pandemic but attendance was very slow. I think that people want to buy their groceries and go home to dinner; they may not be in the mood for a cooking class after a long day at work. But at least the store was trying to be practical and helpful.

I once bought the most delicious salad dressing you ever tried for 50 cents. Of course, due to the nature of the items sold, I never saw that particular flavor again.