Some good reading this month

The end of May already....wow. Nothing new here except catching up on some emails and errands. We finished watching the series Firefly and I sure wish they had continued it. Next week is my birthday so we will get a pizza and watch The Martian that evening. Loki has been looking a bit unhappy about the lack of furniture in the house these days but that will all change soon.

On to book chat.  I have been very behind in writing anything or linking up.

I read Rick Steves On the Hippie Trail but never linked up. Review in the link.

I also finished Where the Forest Meets the River.   This picks up five years after the first book with all the same characters and I loved it.  Can't wait for her to publish the last one in this series because I need to know what happens with Greg, Rose, Nate, Richard and ...well, all of the characters in this small town.  There have been some revelations, some closure and lots of hope but she sure left us with a few cliff hangers!

Most recently there was The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell, a recommendation by Les at Coastal Horizons.   As with any O'Farrell book I've read this one grabbed me straight away.  There isn't a lot of dialogue, especially in the beginning chapters, but the descriptive writing drops you right into the middle of Jake's Hong Kong new year celebration and resulting tragedy.  The other storyline, which will eventually merge, takes us into Stella and Nina's world in London, Wales and Scotland. All three of our main characters have big secrets.

Next up will be a roundup for Elena Ferrante and Rosamunde Pilcher books.

I hope you have gotten some good reading in this May.  Thinking of Shelleyrae at Book'd Out where she is dealing with severe flooding.  Thoughts are with you!

Armchair travel for May has taken me to Maine, Scotland, England, Hong Kong, Italy and Ireland.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday and Deb at Readerbuzz  for Sunday Salon.

 

Rick Steves on the hippie trail(2025 Nonfiction Reading Challenge}

Rick Steves' travel books and shows are always informative and entertaining.  This publication isn't a typical guide book.  Actually, it's not a guide book at all. It's a memoir and diary of an amazing trip he and his friend endured when they were in their twenties.

I did say endured as it was described as an primitive adventure with total lack of refinement. Filthy conditions for sleeping, dangerous border guards and at times meals with questionable concern regarding preparation. That said, it's exactly what he and his friend wanted to check off the bucket list.  The Hippie Trail. You know straight off you'd have rough conditions but it's the adventure of a lifetime.

This is actually the diary of two 23 year old friends who make this trip work on a showstring budget.  They controlled themselves by limiting photos to 11 per day.  These were the days of film and no cell phone snaps. 

The appeal to me was reading about the youthful carefree attitude regarding travel.  Something I have done, but wouldn't repeat now.

I was in Europe the same year Steves arrived to start this journey but my loose itinerary was all about seeing western Europe (and as much of it as possible) before money ran out. A one way ticket from Miami to Luxembourg and savings lasted me (and the now ex-husband) for a year and a half before returning home.  I interject this because I get the youthful sense of adventurous traveling, sleeping in a van, discovering new foods and cultures with zero responsibilities. 

Much thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for the opportunity to read this book.

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

Also sharing with Vicki for Mailbox Monday.

Boxing and Reading

Hello fellow book bloggers. The whirlwind of putting the house on the market, selling in two days and getting in contract for another put my head in a spin. While I had finished two books prior I've yet to get it together for reviews.  Those two are coming up next week as I have to have a goal.  And I need some fun time that doesn't involve boxes, bubble wrap and labels  😊

Currently reading Elena Ferrante's book The Story of a New Name, the second in the trilogy, with Susan as a buddy read. I like it better than the first book and the story picks up where book one left off.

I had finished The Book Club by Roisin Meaney and couldn't remember if I posted it so...here it is.

The Book Club by Roisin Meaney grabbed me by the name of the book as well as the setting. A book club and it's in Ireland - yes, please. Just about all of it takes place in Ireland with some London memories thrown in. I enjoyed the mentions of Doolin, Cliffs of Moher and Nenagh, all places we have visited years past.

The main characters are listed in the front so I bookmarked that page for reference as I read. A makeshift library was created by Beth Sullivan as the town didn't have a library for the residents and the book club met in this cozy book filled cabin. The location was near the Sullivan home off a cliff with ocean views. That might be a deal breaker for me - moving to a town without a library. Good for Beth creating an impressive collection for the readers in town.

Beth is a 72 year old retired widow who has had her share of tragedy. Her only daughter, son-in-law and a granddaughter were killed in a car accident. Immediately after the accident her other granddaughter named Lil dropped out of college, stopped speaking then then moved in with her grandmother. This is important to the entire story line.

The story weaves in and out with several characters overlapping each other's lives. Not one single unlikable character in the book. Next door to Beth we have Tom, the newest addition to the community who has moved from Dublin to the Kerry coast. He is renting a house from Beth located next to hers. The empty house was her deceased daugher's so you know there will be emotional moments over that. Tom also has a secret and he doesn't reveal that to his new community.

The characters are well developed so I had a good mental picture of them and the dialogue was smooth. A coastal Kerry setting, a book club, a pub, a gift shop and nice people made this a feel-good book. While I wasn't tempted to abandon the book there were things that I wish had panned out differently near the end.

For instance, we eventually learn what Tom was hiding but it doesn't come up until near the end of the book. It's something people may not be comfortable with had they known about it without understanding the circumstances. Also Lil's constant writing in a notebook to communicate, as it's evident she has no medical reason to remain silent, got a little contrived. Things wrap up quite neatly but so quickly at the very end...meaning a few pages from the end. All the secrets and turmoil could have been introduced earlier, in my opinion, instead of a rushed ending. It leaves the reader to come up with their own conclusions to what happens to certain characters.

That said, I would read another of Irish author Roisin Meany's books as I was kept interested and love the setting. 3.5 stars

Loki

Last but not least - have a look at unbridled joy.  Loki rolling in the sunshine.

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

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh #BriFri # ClassicsClub

 Brideshead Revisited was on my spin list for the Classics Club but I wasn't able to finish it in time.  It was interesting n some parts but other parts I found it a slog.  This would cause me distraction and I'd read something else. Hence my lengthy reading time with a 400+ page book.

The book starts in the WW II time period with Captain Charles Ryder moving his troops along the English countryside. When his company comes upon an estate to set up their camp it's revealed to be Brideshead, a vast property and mansion owned by the wealthy Flyte family. Charles is very much familiar with the home and property as he spent a good deal of time there, in what seems to him, a lifetime ago when he was a student at Oxford.

Immediately after arriving at Brideshead Captain Ryder, as the narrator, recollects how he met fellow student Lord Sebastian Flyte at Oxford roughly twenty years earlier. It's a very rude introduction as Charles is hosting a party in his rooms and Sebastian walks by, drunk, leans into the window to speak and vomits all over the floor. To make amends he invites Charles to his home for a lunch and apologizes.  This ignited a deep friendship between Charles and Sebastian. As they spent more time together Charles was embraced by the Flyte family and became close to Sebastian's sisters - Lady Julia and Lady Cordelia.

As Evelyn Waugh embraced Catholicism in the 1930s it influenced his writing, making religion a prominent theme with this particular book.  As you read about Charles' relationships with Lady Marchmain, Julia and Sebastian you'll see how Catholicism becomes rather it's own character, a cape of guilt for Julia when her father suggests she is living in sin.  The sin was her leaving the church to marry Rex and then her affair with Charles. There are many other instances where faith, guilt and life styles  are explored.

“I've always been bad. Probably I shall be bad again, punished again. But the worse I am, the more I need God. I can't shut myself out from His mercy. ... Or it may be a private bargain between me and God, that if I give up this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite despair of me in the end.”

There are many sections to this book.  The Oxford years, Sebastian leaving England for Venice, his alcoholism, Charles and the Flyte family and of course the war.

Overall, I wasn't crazy about the book but I am most likely in the minority. 3.5 stars

Linking up with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday and The Classics Club.

The whirlwind of this week.....

Just a quick post taking a break from packing. After 33 years in this house I am still amazed by how much we have accumulated.  Car loads have been taken to a charity shop yet there is still all this...stuff.   I posted about the sale of our home Here and since then we've managed to get a moving quote, pack up the immense quantity of music CDs, just about all the DVDs and many books. 

It will certainly be weird yet cool to have access to the Internet but in the meantime, this is what I have entertainment wise this week.

 Library Loot - I'd not seen either of these series and but started Poldark last night and like it. Poldark's time period is just after the American Revolutionary War and the setting is Cornwall.  Ross Poldark returns to his home in Cornwall after serving as a soldier only to find his father has died and the woman he loves engaged to his cousin.

Does your library sell magazines?  People kindly donate magazines, books and DVDs for the library sale table.  It's like shopping locally :-) I picked up this issue of Better Homes and Gardens called Global Flavors.  We tried the steak and snow pea yakisoba.

Next time I will add water chestnuts.  It was good and I see you could replace the sirloin with boneless chicken if desired.

Sharing with 

Vicki for Mailbox Monday.

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon