The Correspondent by Virginia Evans{ a good epistolary book with great book suggestions}

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans was a 5 star buddy read with Susan at The Cue Card.   I loved this book and the epistolary style appealed to me.  From decades back I have been a letter writer.  You can create a history of your relationships through your letters, if you save them over the years.

You will meet our letter writer, Sybil Van Antwerp aged 73, and follow her through her from 2012 to 2021.  She writes to family, friends, authors and anyone she wants to share an opinion.  I love Sybil.  She has regrets as I'm sure we all do .  The themes of friendship, grief, love and growth are found within her tale.  Sybil is a strong woman and tries her best with some challenging situations.  I love her letters to Rosalie - her best friend and sister-in-law.  They usually end with "what are you reading, I am reading XX."

There are many characters so in the beginning I would write down the name and relationship so  wouldn't be confused.

I couldn't resist writing down all the books mentioned within her letters.  Some were letters to the authors expressing thoughts on the books and most of the others were a "I'm reading this, what are you reading" between friends.  Have you read any of these?

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Round House by Louise Erdrich
• Inferno by Dan Brown
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
• The World Below by Sue Miller
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• State of Wonder by Ann Pachett
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
• The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Some I've read and some have been on my to-read list.  Maybe this is a good list to start for winter reading. Hmmm...

Please check out Susan's excellent review HERE.

FYI - This book is on sale for Kindle today for $1.99. Check here.

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon.

The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth and a book question

 Two woman who experienced tramatic events in their lives come together and travel.  It's more than that though.

It's about friendship, trust, facing the grief in your life and choosing to move forward. Mariah Ellsworth was an Olympic champion snowboarder and experienced a devasting injury.  Later in the book you'll find out how she was injured and why she's in physical therapy. It definitely wasn't what you would expect. She is also mourning her mother Rachel and decides to finish a book project Rachel started about Parsi tea houses in London, Marrakech, and India.  But she can't do it on her own. She needs physical help and a person who can speak fluent French.

Veronica answers the advert and applies for the position to travel with Mariah.  She is old enough to be Mariah's mother and that makes for an interesting relationship. Veronica needs the job and the money as her husband left for for a younger woman and continually tries to indercut her on alimony. Her adult children are whiny, they don't want mom to be away at Christmas time yet they don't plan to spend any time with her. They will be at a ski resort with dad.  Veronica is  in a bad place and this job and travel is exactly what she needs.

Definitely an armchair travel book.  I liked her book We Believed in Mermaids more than this one but I was never tempted to DNF this book.  If you like the settings in England this book has a bit in London.  The authors book The Lost Girls of Devon will immerse you in that part of England.

Trading Post / Here is  something I thought I'd throw out there and see if anyone has seen this book I am having a wee bit of trouble acquiring. 

The End of Seeing by Christy Collins - Can't find this one on Amazon and I am looking to find a used copy that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.  Big ask.  If you happen to see it at a used bookstore, and it's not too expensive, I would happily trade you a book or paypal you the cost and postage.  Or point me toward a source I'm sure I don't know about and I can acquire. 

UPDATE- Thank you Deb, I bought it!  Just the right price too.

My book habit..... 🤷‍♀️

Upcoming is the nonfiction about Cornwall by du Maurier and The Correspondent review.

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.

Weekly Update

My weekly update is a bit disjointed today so I'll just ramble on. I somehow strained my back and neck muscles. Probably the yard work we have tackled. It hurt to hold a Kindle or book up or for me to look down at the book, as I usually do.  No heating pad in the house so I ordered one from Amazon.  It is helping but if anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.

Question: Has anyone been in contact with Nan of Letters from a Hill Farm? I have not seen her post since March. I had a card to send her and realized I did not have her address.

Monday Mailbox - I'd not had many incoming books so have not been linking with Monday Mailbox hosted by Vicki.  I did receive this cookbook from awesome Jinjer and made a rice dish.  This week I am making a lentil soup.  

Also have the nonfiction by Daphne du Maurier Vanishing Cornwall. This is a memoir/history and myth and legend kinda book.  I've Cornwall but I love shows and book with the setting. 

Just finished a buddy read with Susan at The Cue Card - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans and loved it. Review coming up.

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon 

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Vicki for Monday Mailbox

Good reading and recipes this first week of September

The first week of September almost behind us and I sometimes marvel we have been in our "city" home for almost three months.  I love the quiet street we live on, talking to people who are walking or doing gardening, being close to the library, pizza, ammenities....and no more 25 mile trip to get to the grocery store. Bliss.

Books // This week I finished a Graham Norton book called Forever Home.  The setting is Ireland, as are most of his books, and the subject matter of dementia and relationships are the main themes.   I've read three of Graham Norton's books so far and can say I enjoyed the others more than this one. Most of the characters were believable and well described but there is a subplot about three quarters of the way in that's ridiculous, in my opinion. 3.5 stars

Here are previous Norton books which I enjoyed. Holding, Home Stretch and A Keeper.

For what it's worth I very much enjoyed Holding and could recommend that one for those interested in Irish village life and interactions with the community.

Currently reading The Correspondent as a buddy read with Susan at The Cue Card. The epistolary style is very appealing to me as I still like writing letters.  

What's for dinner //  Thank you to Jinjer for sending me a cookbook!  First recipe that grabbed me was the rice dish with mushrooms, onions and peas.  This rounded out the honeyed lemon chicken dish.  Recipe for the chicken here if interested.

This dish could be the main event for vegetarians (just swap out the chicken broth) or as a filling side.

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon 

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

August Reading, Watching and Lightning Strike

The end of August already.  As the heat was extreme, I was in quite a bit and so my reading time increased.  We did have a severe storm blow in and a lightning strike so close to the house that we had damage. 

It fried our DVD player, 5 outlets in the house and the gas water heater.  Xfinity went out for a bit but I will say I was impressed by the quick response time by a technician.  Thirty minutes after the storm a tech was outside our house hooking us up. Many people in our area were without electricty and Internet for days.  Our neighbor had to have a new air conditioner replaced- yikes!  So while I will complain about a $3,800 gas water heater, it was less expensive than a new AC unit.

Here are the books I finished this month  (Reviews are in the links)

For Nonfiction-  The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede

The Atlas of Abandoned Places

📚  Three Fiction Reads 📚

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Heartland by Amity Gaige

The Quiet American by Graham Greene (Classics Club)

Watching

We abandoned The Terminal List with Chris Pratt after almost finishing the first episode. He is completely unbelievable as a Navy Seal.  What we did find and like is an older show called Person of Interest   starring  Jim Caviezel. It's an interesting concept and we are up into season 2 now.  Loving the slow character reveals and development.  That said, I don't see us watching all 5 seasons.

Shrinking with Harrison Ford and Jason Segal. Love this show and the dialogue between the characters.  Just finished season 2 and I can't wait for season 3 to release! Thank you Les for recommending.  🤎 It brought a tear to my eye at the end of season 2.

Armchair Travel this month took me to Newfoundland, Maine, Australia, Vietnam and many remote places around the world with the Atlas of Abandoned Places :-)

What books and shows did you enjoy this month?  Suggestions are always very welcome.

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon.

Graham Greene and Charlotte McConaghy books this week

Wild Dark Shore.  I was hooked on this story after the first chapter.  A woman, close to death by drowning and hyperthermia,  washes up on the Arctic shore of a remote island.  The woman, Rowan, is dragged up to the lighthouse and cared for by Dominic Salt and his three children.  She has grave injuries requiring stitches where jagged rocks tore her body open.

 

When Rowan awakens the little boy, Orly Salt, asks her name.

"I'm Orly Salt. And you're on an island in the middle of the Southern Ocean, fifteen hundred kilometers from any other landmass.  Closest is Antarctica. So my question for you is: How did you get here Rowan?"

She is on Shearwater island, an island one hundred and twenty kilometers squared.  It's a tundra climate with many species of plants and hundreds of sea lions, seals and the last colony of royal penguins in the world.  It's also a research island where millions of seeds are stored to repopulate the earth after flooding.

All of them have secrets and as soon as you think one has sinister intentions, you get their backstory.  You've heard the saying -  don't-judge-a-book-by-it's-cover - and the reveals of all the characters took me by surprise, just when I thought I was figuring them out.

Rowan does not reveal her husband Hank is a reseacher who sent alarming emails to her while she was in their Australian home.  Dominic Salt, the father, doesn't know she is Hank's wife (at first) and there is quite a story there about Hank. Other researchers seem to have vanished, the children  (Raff, Fen and Orly) have lived on the island for the last eight years with their widowed father and I don't think any of them are thrilled to be leaving for civilization.  You are plunged into the cold, the storms and I hate to use this overused descriptor but it's atmospheric. 

I will be reading more by this Australian author.   5 stars.

The Quiet American

The setting is Vietnam in the 1950's and there is fighting between the Vietnamese and the French. France wants to hold on to the power they have, with the help from American govenment. As we all know, when France pulls out the Americans were involved in the war.  This one was on my Classics Club list I knocked out in a few days.

Aiden Pyle is the American who isn't in Vietnam to absorb the culture or as a journalist to report on the conflict.  He is an agent of the United States with the intent of bringing a better government and way of life to the Vietnamese people. That's one point of view because imposing American "values" to restructure is to ignore the the intact culture and regard as inferior. 

Thomas Fowler is the British opium addicted journalist who befriends Pyle.  Fowler was basically living with the lovely young Vietnamese woman named  Phuong.  She would prepare his opium pipe in the evenings and was quite devoted.  Then Pyle became infatuated with her and promised her marriage, Was he trying to save her from the middle-aged married Brit as well as "saving" her country?

Pyle is naive and ingenuous. Fowler has no moral compass. 

This is a classic but not one I personally found fantastic.  I am obviously in the minority.  In the past I have enjoyed some of Graham Greene's novels but this one was just meh for me. Knocking another off for my Classic Club list. 3 stars

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday

The Classics Club

If I'm stuck inside, I'll be reading...

Only a week and a half into the month and I have some books to share with you.  Some I finished in the last 4 days and the Jim DeFede book I started the end of July. Lots going on here but mostly I am inside because of extreme temperatures, so reading is my go-to for entertainment.

 The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede

This nonfiction was a fast read.  I had no idea about the coordination involved getting scores of planes to land as quickly as possible, steering clear of U.S. airspace after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. After a certain point crossing the Atlantic from Europe a pilot could turn back and return to their original airport or make that decision to push on. Unbeknowst to the pilots, they would be stranded in Canada for many days, with uncertainty about moving on to the original destinations.

Imagine thousands of unscheduled flights finding an airport in Canada.   This book focused on Gander in Newfoundland, the many passengers from all over the world.  The people of Gander coming together to provide food, towels, linens and cots, opening their homes to strangers to give them a place to shower or to stay with them instead of a makeshift shelter.  The spirit of community is a credit to the people in Gander and I wish more people around this conflicted world could be as kind.

There are may reviews on this book and many quotes already but the individual stories about where some came from, friendships made and the back story on handling such as unexpected large scale event made for fascinating reading. You'll read about a few families returning to the US after many weeks traveling to Kazakhstan with their adopted child, a couple who are worried about their NYFD son who is missing while on duty at the towers, refugees,  and so many more personal stories.  5 stars.

The Atlas of Abandoned Places

Places I will never get to and some I would love to see.  What a cool book.  In addition to the locations, including latitude and longitude, there is history and many photos.  Here is an example below 👇 As you can see from the photo they estimate roughly 750,000 of these garden shed sized bunkers all over Albania.  Many are completely abandoned but some have been repurposed as museums, storage for livestock feed and more. They are from the Cold War era.

In England you can see some very interesting forts along the Kent coastal area.  Guy Maunsell designed these forts, sometimes called Maunsell Forts or His Majesty's Forts, during WW II.  They were desgined to guard Thames estuary and the coastal region

They look like they belong in a Star Wars movie.  What a fascinating sight this must be along the Kent coast in England.  

Currently finishing up the Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Wow, what a page turner. I need more of her books but I wonder if any of the others can top this one.

Next up I plan to read another off my Classic Club list, The Quiet American by British author Graham Greene. That's the plan anyway but you never know when a different book will lure me away.

It's still extremely hot in north Florida so Loki says

Yes, please, to a cold Pupcup.

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Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday

July was a busy month...books, visits and food

This past month has been a good one for me reading, armchair traveling and a few days with our Nebraska granddaughter.  

I joined in on the Paris in July at Words and Peace. Prepared many French dishes HERE and read books with the French theme  which were new to me. Much thanks to Emma at Word and Peace for hosting this event. 

✔ Read two from my Classics Club list - A Moveable Feast and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

✔ Completed another nonfiction for Shelleyrae's Nonfiction Reader Challenge -  Hidden Libraries 

🤔 Learning about streaming and Internet after living rural for 33 years.  Wow.  What a world that's been opened for us.

My granddaughter is in town visiting her mother so we've been able to get some visiting in, go for some lunches and school shopping. Fun stuff.

Armchair travel took me to France, England, Australia, Maine and all over the globe thanks to Hidden Libraries.

And now it's August...July went by so quickly.  Hope you had a good month of reading and joyful experiences.

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Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Books for Paris in July ... a wrap up post

This was my first time participating in Paris in July and I had a blast.  While I thought I may do two posts I found myself immersed in the books, food and music.  Check out our host Emma at Words and Peace for info and great suggestions.  

I will round up my virtual time spent in France with a post about books. 

My introduction to French author Valérie Perrin was through the Women in Translation website. There are so many wonderful resources and lists there to help you sort according to your interest.  If it's a particular author or certain countries you are interested in - this site has it.  In August they host an event to read women authors via translation.  I plan to join in and hoped for another book by Perrin, translated by Hildegard Serle.   Alas, I don't think there is a new one out yet.

Previously I have read these by Perrin, reviews are in the links:

Fresh Water for Flowers
Three
Forgotten on Sunday

Other books I've enjoyed which fit our French theme are as follows. (some reviews in the link)

Memoirs 🍷 

The Olive Farm: A memoir of life, love and olive oil in the South of France by Carol Drinkwater

On Rue Tatin by Susan Hermann Loomis (loved this one!)

French Toast by Harriet Welty Rochefort

French Lessons: Adventure with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle

Almost French by Sarah Turnbull

Fiction ( besides French author Valérie Perrin) - there were many more on my old book blog but I can't access it anymore. Alas.

The French Gift by Kirsty Manning

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

Thank you Emma for hosting and sharing so many books, albums and more.  It's been a blast;

Sharing with Emma at Words and Peace and Deb at Readerbuzz.

Hemingway, Cleeves and Bosch

 This has been a good reading week for me.  

This week I posted A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway and Untold Paris by John Baxter.

When I was at the library I picked up The Dark Wives, the eleventh in her Vera series. The setting is Northumberland and Vera is investigating the murder of a young man who worked at a children's care home.  The children housed there are either troubled, orphaned or have a parent missing in their lives. Fourteen year old Chloe is missing and when the detectives find her diary, they wonder if she is the killer or if she is in danger and went into hiding.

Interesting article HERE about Ann Cleeves working as a social worker and how a radio programme about a few unscrupulous care homes inspired her to write this mystery.  Apparently there are some who run the care homes strictly as a business without regard to caring for teens in need of love, counseling and more. Yikes. 

Next up is The Atlas of Abandoned Places. If you read and liked my post about Hidden Libraries by Lonely Planet, I think you would like this book. The photography is fantastic and the stories are equally engaging.  More on it later.

Watching / We have watched a season of Goliath and two seasons of Bosch. I also I have been watching a few baseball games using free access.  Can't bring myself to pay for MLB, so expensive.  I also keep track of the Phillies on my phone and they have had some great games, especially with the Red Sox going into extra innings two games in a row

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Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday

A Moveable Feast and Untold Paris #TheClasicsClub #Paris in July

 A Moveable Feast by Hemingway was the book for the Classic Club Spin.  I had to get the photo of the book against this picture we have above the bar.  It's perfect for the French theme :-) 

This has been one I'd meant to get to for some time and enjoyed most of the writing, capturing his time in Paris.  As it's more memoir type this reflects his point of view, conversations and disputes reported with his bias. 

I loved reading about the time he spent in cafes writing, meeting authors and poets, descriptions of the drinks from a lovely cold bottle of Sancerre, champagne, Rum St James and cafe au lait.   His inspiration for writing about what he knows was interesting. When he speaks of writing a story about Michigan when he is in Paris, and surmises he'd probably be able to finsh a novel about Paris when he was elsewhere. 

He was the masculine alpha dog of his associates befriending and defending Fitzgerald from his wife Zelda, eventually realizing, as he put it, "she is insane." Neither Fitzgerald or Hemingway (or probably anyone else during that time period) considered mental illness and how to handle it. The conversations with Ford Madox Ford were the direct opposite, Hem seeming to despise Ford for his artistocratic ways.  Or was that jealousy?  Again, it's from Hemingway's point of view. 

I loved reading about the creative souls who rubbed elbows, shared stories, drank and sometimes traveled together. Hemingway's focus on writing was extreme, chasing friends and competitors from "his" cafe where he wrote.  While it wouldn't be considered his style as it's a diary of sorts, it was enjoyable to read. 4.5 stars

 📚📚📚📚📚📚 

Now, a juxtaposition of Hemingway's time in Paris may be read in the book Untold Paris: the Secrets of the City of Light by John Baxter.

This book addresses many topics, each with their own well detailed chapters such as Art and Culture, Food and Drink, History, Raymond and Isabella Duncan, Brits and Royals in Paris as well as Hemingway.

The recollections about Hemingway were quite different from his view of that time in Paris.  He was regarded by many as a bully and a cad. Here are some quotes: 

" leaving aside his meagre war record (he handed out chocolate and cigarettes, but never fired a shot ) and the shabby treatment of his first wife, married on the rebound from an unhappy love affair and dumped, along with his baby son, in favor of someone younger and richer...."

"Hemingway had little good to say about Paris when he lived there...scathing about fellow members of the 'lost generation' he sniped in words at his sometime mentor Gertrude Stein, and used his fists in an attempt to dominate such early supporters of Ezra Pound and Morley Callaghan.  I thought he was a bully, recalled theatrical caricturist Al Hirshfield. "Ther was a little gym where artist and writers used to come and Hem was always there, boxing all the time..  I never saw him try and fight anyone his own size."

Without quoting anymore of this chapter it was said he was banned from the Montmarte by the owner as he was always trying to bring people down and was liable to punch you.  

With multiple viewpoints I think the truth is usually somewhere in between. With a famous person there are always many more opinions, more people who have had experiences, good or bad.

Sharing this post with The Classics Club for my spin book - A Moveable Feast and Emma at Words and Peace for Paris in July.