Current Read-Cassandra Chan

I found this book by chance in the library and I really loved it. It is a British mystery about a Scotland Yard's sergeant Jack Gibbons  and his side kick a wealthy young man, Philip Bethancourt who is fascinated with figuring out who done it. Philip has a large dog, a Borzoi.called Cerberus who goes everywhere with him. You get a combination of gritty police work and high society.

Cassandra Chan has written 4 books so far and this was the last one.  I decided to read the series in reverse

Trick of the Mind is her third book and I'm now starting her second book Village Affairs. They are in the country for this one.

Here is her author page. I highly recommend these if you are into British mysterys.

My new blog is coming along, should be up soon.

Linda

Anne Perry Mysteries

A rainy day today. I just finished this book of Anne Perry's. I first read her Christmas stories and liked those so decided to see what else she had written. This is part of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series in Victorian England. This one is all about corruption in the police department and covers an interesting subject. I enjoyed it, so now I want to start at the beginning of the series.

Linda

"Dying to Read"

I just finished reading Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney. She is a Christian writer, here is her page that tells about her books. I loved the Ivy Malone series. This book is about a young woman who is out of work and helps her uncle a PI as a temporary job and she gets entangled in a murder mystery. It's cute and my library has the second book in the series on order, Dolled Up to Die. The series is called the Cate Kinkaid Files.

Linda

Living in Paris

Just finished another Paris book. This one "A Family in Paris" by Jane Paech was quite interesting. It showed how different raising children in Paris is from here. They were from Australia and lived in Paris for about 6 years.

After reading this I don't think I could live in Paris. It is just to difficult to do the ordinary things like go to the Post Office.

She went back again 5 years later with one of her daughters and saw that there were a lot of changes, but also a lot was exactly the same.

I thought it was interesting that when they moved back home to Australia, they saw things as a French person would and had to readjust and when they went back for a 2 week trip they had to readjust again.

Her conclusion was that yes it was a difficult city in many ways but a beautiful one and many think worth the effort.

Linda

La Tartine Gourmande

I got this great French Cookbook, "La Tartine Gourmande" by Beatrice Peltre, out of the library. Her photos are beautiful and her recipes are very interesting. She has a great blog here.

I'd like to make her Marjoram-Flavored Ricotta and Zucchini Tart or Chocolate and Plum Almond Cake.

Linda

Lunch in Paris

I was looking for some french cookbooks in my library catalogue and this book came up. It's actually a biography but has some recipes too. It's a cute story like some others I've read about a girl who falls in love with a Frenchman and goes to live in Paris and what it's like dealing with the French as an American.

I found out she has a blog with lots of recipes here.

Linda

Rosamunde Pilcher's Winter Solstice

Loved this book. It had two of my favorite things in it Christmas and Scotland. A group of people come together in a large house in Scotland. Some of them know each other and some don't but they all love being there and mesh very well. The story is each of their stories and how they help each other and how a wonderful Christmas celebration comes together.

I have read a few of her books, some I liked and some I didn't. My favorite was Shell Seekers. I think I liked that so much because it was a movie with Angela Lansbury one of my favorite stars.

Anyway I'm trying to read the books on my shelves and I have 3 or 4 of hers, so the next one I'm reading is Coming Home. Hope it's as good as this one was.

Linda

Old and New Christmas Stories

Here are a couple more books I'm reading.

 I love the Miss. Read books and she has several Christmas stories. She has two story lines going one is at Fairacre and one at Thrush Green. I love both. It's fun to read about their old fashioned Christmas celebrations, very much centered around the church and village life.

Debbie Macomber's books are more romance type books, but I love the ones set in Seattle on Blossom Street (not a real street as far as I know)  being I live in the area. "Christmas Letters", is about a woman who writes Christmas letters for other people. They want her to make their lives sound better then they are. This, of course is a modern story with all the problems of modern day life and holidays.

Hope you have time to read, there are so many good stories.

Linda

Holiday Reading

Now that my shopping is done I have time to get into some of my Christmas books. 

I'm reading one of my favorites "Home for the Holidays" by Rebecca Kelly, part of the Tales from Grace Chapel Inn series of books.The sisters own a bed and breakfast and planned to close for the holidays so that they could enjoy the time together, but a snow storm strands a group of tourist and the sisters come to their rescue. I love these books because of the talk about food and their lovely home. It's so warm and cozy.

Another favorite is "The Christmas Quilt" by Jennifer Chiaverini. This is part of the Elm Creek Quilts series. The books are wonderful for their quilting talk, but also for the history that is shared.

I hope you have time to enjoy some holiday reading.

Linda

Thanksgiving Reading and Decluttering Books

I thought I'd share my Thanksgiving books that I'm reading before Thanksgiving is over. I've decluttered most of my books and I've told myself that anything I keep I have to have the intention of using unless it is a very special item I just want to keep, but even those I can't just keep them in a box or a drawer, I have to put them out and enjoy them or pass them on.









So I have a lot of reading to do. I pulled out 2 books to read, one is called "Drug Store Days" by Richard Armour about growing up as the son of a drug store owner. The store was founded by his grandfather, Armour Drug Store in Pomona, California in 1890. So far it's delightful. The other one is "Transfer Point" by Kathryn Forbes. She also wrote "Mama's Bank Account" which is a charming book. It inspired "I Remember Mama", so this one should be good too. It's published in 1947. I love old books.

I still have sewing/craft books and cookbooks to go through. I hope to do those in the next week or two and then it the Christmas decorations. I have way too many and hope to just keep the special ones.

I love children's books and like to set them out to add color and whimsy.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. 

Linda

Ready For A Cup of Tea and A Good Book

This is what I did with my coffee table. I love putting out tea pots and cups, along with books at this time of year.



I'm still reading cozy mysteries. The latest is the Miss Seeton series by Hamilton Crane. Here is the author page with all the books in the series listed. I was surprised to the author is a woman. Anyway I especially love British cozies.

Linda

How About a Picnic

I've started my fall decorating. It has been a cool summer and now is when we get whatever heat we're going to get, but it is definitely cool at night and in the morning.

You can't see the cup but this is my Brambly Hedge Autumn cup and plate. It's time to read some Brambly Hedge books. I can't find my Autumn one but I bet I know who has it.

Linda

That Hideous Strength, C.S.Lewis

Well this is the last book of his space trilogy. I finally finished it. I'm  not sure what to say about this book. I didn't really like it. A lot of gross things are described in it. The basic idea of the book was interesting, but it just got a little too gruesome for me. I really enjoyed the first two books of the series. Here is the Wiki page on it. It says it was highly influenced by his friend Charles Williams, that may be why I didn't like it.

Linda

Jack's Life

I just finished another great book about C.S.Lewis, this one by his step son Douglas Gresham. It's called Jack's Life. It fills in some more  detail about his personal life and because Douglas is a Christian he talks about how Jack tried to live his faith.

He had a lot of trials with Mrs. Moore the lady he promised to take care of for her son who died in the war. She was very difficult, but he tried to show her Christian love even when it undermined his own health. There are some that think something was going on between him and her, but after reading this book, I think he thought of her as a mother figure.

It talks a lot about the deprivation during and after the WWII. I hadn't realized how bad it was in Britain for several years after the war ended. It makes me realize how blessed I am, even though I feel I don't have enough food money. It shows me what real deprivation is. I need to count my blessings and take care of what I have.

It makes me sad every time I read about his last years and his death, but he had found contentment in God in spite of his unhappiness at the loss of his wife. He was a remarkable man.

Linda

Perelandra, C.S. Lewis

I finished this one, the second in his science fiction trilogy. As with the first one I looked on line for some enlightenment on exactly what it was all about. I got the Adam and Eve part but his twists on the story left me wondering what he was trying to tell us. Here is a good explanation from a religious point of view and here is the Wikipedia page. I think I could really read these several times, esp. this one to get everything out of it. Lewis's writing is difficult for me at times. So the last book takes place on earth, no more space travel. I'm kind of sad about that, because that was the part I liked the best. His imagination is very fascinating.

Linda

Out Of The Silent Planet, C.S.Lewis

 

I wanted to read this for a long time and so I finally have read it and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure I understood what Lewis was trying to tell us other than people can be idiots, but we already knew that. So  I decided to do some research and found this and this and also this. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I'm not really a fantasy lover, but my gd's have been introducing me to it and I'm learning to love it more every time I read some of it. I use to love the old Star Trek tv show, but never got into Star Wars.

Of course Lewis is not just telling us a story but he is sending us a message about cultures and mankind. He was writing from the perspective of his time and the coming war. We know so much more now about the universe, but he speaks a universal language that transcends time.  The theme of man's inhumanity towards others hasn't changed.  I love his writing but sometimes it takes a bit of thought to really get it.


Linda

Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries

I managed to find time to read another one of these. I really like them and this was another good one. They had to find a kidnapped victim and keep it secret at the same time. A nice cozy.

I'm feeling kind of tired this week, so relaxing a little more. It has been beautiful out but it's grey this morning.

Linda

Garlic Herb Crackers and Books I'm Reading

I tried another cracker recipe. It taste like ranch dressing. It has dried herbs and garlic granules in it. It's not my favorite. I still think the 2 precious recipes were the best, but here's the link if you like ranch dressing.

I'm reading like crazy. I just read a book yesterday about housekeeping and am motivated to do some more decluttering. My dd has given me a couple of books by Michael Pollan about our food and I've got C.S.Lewis's "Silent Planet".

I used the Vegamix yesterday, that thing is amazing. You have a smoothie in 2 seconds and it holds a lot of greens. I need to start saving my dollars.

Linda

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

I just finished this. It is a fantasy about heaven and hell. He stresses that he is not saying this is what they are like. It was pretty interesting. What I got out of it personally is not to hold on too tightly to the things I use as coping tools or the things I love. The people in the book either were angry or afraid of letting go in order to stay in the heavenly realm. Many of them went back to hell unhappy but not willing to listen and learn. I was thinking about the things I love in my life and if I had to give them up how hard it could be. I don't mean physical things, but things I like to do. I've decided I need to spend more time listening to God by just sitting quietly. It's back to making choices. I want to choose now to listen and learn while I still can.

Linda

Agatha Christie's Garden

I was watching this dvd set I got from the library and was delighted to find on the last disk a documentary called Agatha Christie's Garden. It was about her home, Greenway. A retreat from her busy life as a writer during her second marriage. They described this wonderfully amazing garden that she had. I wanted to see if I could find a more detailed description of it on line, but didn't come up with anything. I did get a chronological list of her books. I have watched all the dvd's but have never actually read her books. I got interested after hearing them talk about her, so I think I'm going to try and read my way through the list, a little at a time. Here is a link to an Agatha Christie site. I noticed that this documentary is on U Tube.

Linda