Moving and Shaking

I am very behind on my posting and yet I have many books to share and compare.  Hoping this week I can finish writing up the Brideshead Revisited review for my Classics Club list and then I will be very sporadic posting.

The reason for my preoccupation is we have sold our house.  Yea! But that also means the clock is ticking on closing and finalizing the purchase/contract of another house so we have been busy. My week has been a mission of finding boxes and packing things I don't need now such as puzzles, winter clothing, photo albums, etc.

That said, I need the mental escape of reading (even if it's not as much as I usually read) and I'm still on for planned buddy reads for Ferrante and Pilcher upcoming.  📚

I may be slow answering comments but be assured I will.  Love my book buddies and keeping up so I'll see you when I see you!

I leave you with photo of Loki enjoying his dental treat.  He tends to hold them upright to get maximum chew.

Chat with you later...........

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon.

Book Rambling

This week my reading time has been off as I've been up in the wee hours of the morning with a sick dog.  Which means a much needed nap was in order over several days.  Hoping to get things resolved so life goes back to my usual uneventful average.  The only book post I made was about Stanley Tucci's latest book here.

Anyway....on a visit to the library I saw the April issue of Book Page is out so picked that up. I found so many to add to my very long to-read list.

Here are a few that caught my attention.

I'm a fan of Ann Cleeves and see the first book in her Inspector Ramsay series, titled A Lesson in Dying, will be released here soon.  Funny thing about that is it was first released in the U.K. in 1990. Thirty-five years later it's now available here.  I wonder why the huge gap in release for the U.S. as her other series such as Shetland and Vera have been available.

Birding to Change the World by Trish O'Kane looks like a perfect companion to the Amy Tan book I read recently.

Emma Donoghue is featured in an interview about her latest book The Paris Express.  She and was moving to the Paris neighborhood of Montparnassee  with her partner and she came across a photo of a 1895 train crash at the Montparnassee station.  After reading about it it inspired her to write a book.  It sounds like one I would enjoy.  The interview with this Dublin born author is interesting.

Rooms For Vanishing by Stuart Nadler is a family saga and I like those very much. This one is unique as it examines how some of the innocent dead of the Holocaust would have gone on to live their lives, had they not been killed.  It's apparently a nonlinear narrative and I bet emotionally charged.  It's a fat 464 pages and I will get to it much later in the year.

Has anyone read one of the titles I mentioned here?  There are many more in Book Page but these attracted me straight off.  I hope your week was filled with good books and happiness.

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon and Joy for British Isles Friday.

What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci{2025 Nonfiction Reading Challenge}

This book is filled with food (hence the title), love of family and travel stories.  I very much enjoyed this book. 

Straight off I wanted the salad of cannellini beans, canned tuna, red onion, tomatoes, basil and olive oil.  I wish I had added cucumbers but I will do that next time. (please excuse my poor photograhy skills)

His love of soups - "it's the greatest culinary invention which can be made with two ingredients or twenty ingredients.  It can be served hot or cold. It can be cooked fast or slow. It can be vegan, vegetarian, paleo, pescatarian or carnivorian.  Soup is life in a pot."

The entry for April 27 was poignant with the memories of his former home, the life he and his first wife Kate created with their children. Memories of raising their children there until her death in 2009.  "The house he watched his children leave for the first days of school, where they learned of their mother's illness, where Kate passed away and where the magnolia tree where some of her ashes are scattered."

The stories in the October entry about working with Ukrainian refugees was very moving to me.  Hearing the women talk about what was left behind and how they are managing with young children but wanting nothing more than to be home. 

So much food and so many ideas I am inspired to prepare from reading this.  It is after all called What I Ate in One Year.  I liked the diary like format and descriptions of life with his family and his working projects as well.

This book is shared with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. Category: Food

Jane Austen puzzle#JaneAusten #BriFri

 If you like puzzles this is a very good one.  If you are also a fan of Jane Austen you will love it.

The back of the photo page, which came along with the puzzle, has information about each character depicted along with which book each character belongs.

This was a thoughtful gift from my kids when we visited them in Nebraska.  I had stowed it away as we planned to move and I knew there wasn't time for a puzzle. Now that the move isn't happening I could get started. 

If you have a fan of both puzzles and Jane Austen this would make an ideal gift.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.