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Hello! How was your week? It was a busy one for me as I spent it preparing for my Sizzlin’ Summer Reads program at the library, which took place yesterday. We got 40 people – our biggest crowd yet! We had planned for 15 so I had to re-print my handout several times and we ran out of refreshments. It was heartening to have so many library patrons eager to hear about our summer recommendations (which I will share with you later) and to chat about books to each other. It was worth the hard work.

The above photo is of one of the places I visited in England, Biddulph Grange Garden in Stoke. When I was in London in 2014 I stayed up late one night not able to sleep and watched a program called “British Gardens in Time” on TV. Biddulph Grange was the garden featured on the program that evening and I knew that I needed to go someday as it looked so beautiful and peaceful. It wasn’t realistic on that trip, but since Stoke is only about an hour from Manchester I was able to realize my dream when I was there in May.  And it exceeded expectations! It is such a varied, rambling, yet well-planned Victorian garden. There are different areas of the garden: the Italian garden, the Chinese garden, the Pinetum, Lime Walk, Woodland Walk, etc. It is really like seeing several gardens in one. The weather the day we went was cool and refreshing and there weren’t many visitors. It was so calming and restorative. It was the height of tulip season when I was there so I saw lots of different varieties and was also able to see bluebells and wisteria. Absolute heaven!

Here are a few more photos of Biddulph Grange:

 

Books finished this week:

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield – I read this really quickly over the first part of the week as I had to lead a discussion on it in one of the library’s book clubs. At first, I wasn’t enjoying it because it seemed too slow, too whimsical. But as I continued on I really grew to love it. Setterfield keeps the story moving and flowing like the river that is central to the novel and all of the secondary stories end up making sense as a whole. The characters were good-hearted (for the most part) and I loved the contrast of the modern concepts such as photography and evolution against the superstitions surrounding the river. All in all, this is a beautifully told and well-written old-fashioned story.

What did you read this week?

 

Hello all! How have you been? It’s been three months since I posted here and I have no good excuse for my absence. Life just got in the way.

I did go to the UK for two weeks the first part of May and it was heavenly. Everything was so green and shining and the tulips, wisteria and bluebells were blooming in every garden I went to. I stayed in Manchester this trip and adventured around Northwest England, which I absolutely loved. It is gloriously beautiful and the people are so friendly and genuine. I visited some literary locations (Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, the Bronte Parsonage) –  I’d love to share my impressions with you so I will plan some travelogue posts in the coming weeks.

This week I’ll be furiously preparing for the Sizzlin’ Summer Reads program I do at my library every year where I recommend my summer picks to library patrons. I’m really behind in making my PowerPoint, creating my handout and writing my blurbs so wish me luck getting it all done before Saturday!

Books finished this week:

Circe by Madeline Miller – I flew through this lyrical retelling of the story of Circe, a witch in Greek legend, who was apparently a “minor” goddess. Miller takes her scant story and turns it into a fierce tale of a woman living life on her own terms. I really enjoyed this take on a character from mythology who I didn’t know much about (not that I know much about mythology in general) just as much as I enjoyed The Song of Achilles, her debut novel.

This is the second book I’ve read from the Women’s Prize Shortlist – have you read any from the list? Any predictions on which book will win the prize this Wednesday?

Have a fantastic week!

Hello! It’s been a beautifully sunny week here, with warm, bright sunshine, joyous birdsong and a gentle breeze. As much as I love the fall, March in Phoenix is the most beautiful time of the year. By April it will be blazing hot and uncomfortable so I am going to enjoy the loveliness while I can.

As I was typing this the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced. I always love seeing which books make this list and one day I will have time to read them all before it is whittled down to a short list. Not this year, though… I’ve got to start my reading for the summer book buzz program I’m presenting in June for work. I have already read three books from the list, though: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, Normal People by Sally Rooney and An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (see my less than favorable thoughts below).

Books finished this week:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid – I struggled to finish this love story/fantasy/social justice novel, but I ultimately really liked it. Hamid’s writing style is odd – completely unembellished with sentence structures that sometimes reminded me of the Old Testament. But once I got the hang of his writing style, I thought the story was very beautiful. We’re discussing this tomorrow at the first of the two book clubs I facilitate at the library.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – This is the second book club book I read this month. I’m sad to say that this novel was a disappointment to me. I thought it was slow, boring and the characters were utterly unsympathetic. I love reading novels where nothing really happens as much as the next reader does, but this was too steeped in misery and enjoyed wallowing in it that I had a hard time caring after a while. I’m sorry, Oprah – this was a miss for me. It will be interesting to see if it is chosen for the Women’s Prize short list.

Do you plan to read any books from the Women’s Prize longlist? Have a great week!

Hello, how have you been? I’m sorry I missed posting last Sunday, but I was feeling under the weather. I’m sure you really missed me, haha.

This week has been full of dramatic weather here in the desert. It rained all day Thursday and Friday and was unusually cold. Some parts of the Phoenix area even had snow! It was so nice to have real February temperatures, but we are on track to have warm days going into March.

Books finished in the past two weeks:

A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam – I absolutely adored this book! I listened to an episode of the Backlisted Pod (which I love – do you listen?) where this title was discussed and pulled it off my shelves immediately after. It’s about a young girl, Jessica Vye, and her artistic development during WWII. It’s quirky and funny and has great characters. Jessica is a true heroine. The writing reminded me a bit of Barbara Comyns and that is a good thing!

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold – This is a galley I downloaded to my iPad which will be released in the US in April. It tells the life stories of each of the five women who were victims of Jack the Ripper and is a fascinating social history of working class women’s lives in Victorian London. I love that Rubenhold does not discuss the murders or the identity of Jack the Ripper at all – she purely focuses on the women and how they ended up living on the streets of Whitechapel and makes a point about how we’ve glorified the serial killer and ignored his victims. It made me fairly angry at the lack of choice and power these women had. If you like social histories or books about the Victorian era, you should give this one a go.

This next week I need to finish the two books we’re discussing at the library book clubs on March 4 and I also hope to read my first Persephone of the year. Have a lovely week!

Hello! Have you all had a great week? Mine was so-so. I found myself in a bit of a reading slump after finishing 7 books in January (which is a lot for me). Nothing is holding my interest at the moment so I decided to go short. Short, powerful books usually do help me break out of funks.

This bulletin is going out later than usual because I am working this weekend (I’m writing this on my lunch break) and didn’t have time last night to work on a post. We open in about 40 minutes and I’m hoping things are mellow after a very busy Saturday. But we shall see.

Books finished this week:

Sleepless Night by Margriet de Moor – This a very short book, a novella really, that I started one day at lunch and finished at dinner. It was recommended by the author Claire Fuller who reviews the most interesting books on her Instagram feed. The book hasn’t been released in the US yet, but I was able to download a review copy. It is told in the first person by a woman who gets up in the middle of the night and bakes the most delicious sounding cakes while she ruminates on her marriage. Her husband died many years ago, but she is still obsessed with finding the truth about him and about their relationship as there is a quiet mystery that surrounds it all. I found the language to be so lovely, the imagery is beautiful and it is a story you will find yourself wanting to hear. I had never heard of Margriet de Moor, but she is one of the most prominent novelists in the Netherlands. I’d love to read more of her work.

Have a good week!

I had a bit of a frustrating week, mostly due to work issues. When you work with the public there just comes a time when you feel burned out, disappointed in humanity, impatient with complainers and tired of power trips. Every few months I suffer from all of the above and struggle to get out of bed in the mornings, feel deep ennui when I walk into the library and have to give myself pep talks about how I do believe I am doing a job that is valuable in my community and makes a difference in people’s lives. Still. I am so happy when the weekend comes!

Books finished this week:

Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark by Alan Taylor – Alan Taylor was friends with Spark for the last 17 years of her life. He visited her many times at her home in Italy, exchanged correspondence with her and even traveled with her and her friend Penny. This book is part bio of Spark’s very interesting life and partly Taylor’s own observations of the great writer and her choices and influences. Other than being a bit repetitive, it was really delightful. Spark was such a fascinating person and I enjoyed reading about her life and opinions.

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami – I’m not sure what drew me to this title, but I am glad I picked it up. It is set near Palm Desert in California and the story centers around the death of a Moroccan immigrant who is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Each chapter is told in the voice of a person who is affected by the crime: various members of his family, police officers, a man who witnessed the crime, etc. What I loved about it is that the characters are so well-drawn, so real and truthful. And I admired Lalami’s ability to have compassion for each of the characters and that she showed that fear and grief drive a lot of our hatred, bad choices and dysfunction. There are many “other Americans” in this book and their stories are beautifully told.

And now I am having trouble finding another book to read. I have started a few, most notably Normal People by Sally Rooney, but I am just not in the mood for anything. I’m hoping that something will catch fire today. Have a lovely week!

Hello! How has your week been? I really fought myself this week over feeling obligated to read certain hot books, popular library picks and the books that all of my colleagues are gushing over. I know if I give in to this tendency, I will be an unhappy reader. I still want to read by whim for the majority of 2019 and let serendipity take me where it will. Do any of you feel guilt over not reading the “right” thing? Over not reading what everyone else is reading? How do you combat it?

Books Finished This Week:

The Poison Bed by Elizabeth Fremantle – I am really attracted to historical fiction lately so the galley of this riveting novel jumped out at me from the stack of galleys I have on my desk at the library. I brought it home over last weekend and finished it on Monday night. The writing style is so compelling and the story is based on true events that happened in the court of King James I. Robert Carr, the Earl of Somerset, and his wife Frances were accused of murdering Thomas Overbury, a friend of Carr’s. I didn’t know anything about this scandal so I was engrossed in finding out the ending. I’m not sure how true any of Fremantle’s interpretation is, but it reads like a Jacobean domestic suspense tale – a twisty page turner.

Have a great week – hope you get lots of time for reading what you want.

I finally finished reorganizing my bookshelves on Friday. It was a bigger task than I realized it would be, but I’m really happy I did it. My shelves look so much better and it will be easier to locate titles now. I shelved all of my nonfiction together in my dining room by subject in addition to alphabetizing the fiction by author’s last name. I also weeded a few books that I know I will never read or never read again. Now I need to recycle the twenty or so galleys I have at home that are gathering dust. I have a goal to completely de-clutter my house in the next few months and this was a great start.

Books finished this week:

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao – I read this for one of the book clubs I facilitate at work and at first I really liked it. Then some frankly gross sexual things happened and my liking for it slipped very far, but since it is the book club choice next month I had to complete it. The writing is gorgeous, the imagery is powerful, and the story is riveting, but I’m not sure why the author chose to include the sex scenes she did – something to discuss with the book club next month!

Old Baggage by Lissa Evans – Now this is more my kind of book! Did you ever read Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans? I loved that book when I read it a few years ago. Old Baggage is the prequel to that story set about 10 years after the end of WWI, featuring Mattie Simpkin, a former suffragette who is giving lectures about the fight for women’s suffrage to groups of pretty aloof audiences. She runs into an old comrade at one of the lectures who makes her question if she is really contributing anything to the women’s cause anymore which inspires her to start a girls’ club for teens in Hampstead. Mattie is a remarkable, sympathetic character and there is lots of humor, snappy dialogue, and tender moments. I cried at the end. I absolutely loved this book and recommend it and Crooked Heart both.

Have a wonderful week!

 

Hello! I hope you’ve all had a good week. I spent my evenings reorganizing my bookshelves and am not even close to being finished with the project. I got a wild hair last Sunday evening to alphabetize all my novels by author’s last name (they were organized mostly randomly before) and have worked a bit each evening on completing the project. I am only through the J’s as of last night. It has gone a lot slower than I thought it would and my house is a complete wreck! But I have five days off beginning on Thursday and will finish getting them all in order then. How do you organize your books?

Books finished this week: The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths sounded so good when I saw it pop up on Goodreads a few months ago. I was able to get a review copy from the publisher and spent most of the week utterly engrossed by it. However, when I got to the end I wasn’t satisfied. I think I had such high expectations for the book that it was bound to disappoint. The mystery was fine, the characters were okay, and I did like it – it just wasn’t the knockout that I thought it was going to be.

Did you finish anything wonderful this week?

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had a grand start to 2019. I spent mine working and reading and pondering how I want to spend my time this year.

A few times during the past week I found myself making lists of books that I need and want to read in January. And then I tore them all up because I don’t want to conduct my reading life that way in 2019. I want to read one book at a time this year and choose books by whim as I go along – unless it is something I really do have to read for work. I was asked by my boss to lead two book discussion groups at the library beginning this month so I do “have” to read two books a month for work, but as I get to choose the books it shouldn’t be too much of a chore.

Books finished this week:

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers is such a gem! I read Gaudy Night a few years ago and thought it was enjoyable, but I wasn’t interested in reading more of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Then when I was in the hospital in November and I saw that Miranda from the Tea & Tattle podcast had chosen this for the T & T winter book club I thought it was time to try another one. I liked this one so much better than Gaudy Night. It is set in a small village in the Fens and has a very clever plot, great secondary characters, beautiful (but not too excessive) descriptions of the countryside and a whole lot of information about bellringing, of which I knew nothing and which Sayers manages to make interesting. I can see why this book is a favorite of golden age mystery fans. It’s excellent. I own a couple of the early Wimsey mysteries and I want to read them sometime this year – but I’m not adding them to a list!

Have you read the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries? Have a wonderful week!