Bookish thoughts...

On Daphne du Maurier.  After reading Rebecca, several of her short stories, and My Cousin Rachel this year, I'm eager to read more of her work. And she's written a lot to choose from, both fiction and non-fiction. I'm leaning towards The Scapegoat or The House on the Strand. Or maybe Jamaica Inn or Frenchman's Creek.  Luckily, my library has copies of all of them.  The only problem is deciding which to read first. Which would you recommend?

On Mother Teresa.  Pope Francis made her a Saint last month. It's pretty obvious why. Like everyone else, I admired the way she lived her life--her compassion and selflessness and her devotion to God. I also admired many of the things she said and wrote. Here's my favorite Mother Teresa quote:
      If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
      If you hare honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
      If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
      The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
      Give the world your best and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
      For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It never was between you and them anyway.

A blog recommendation.  Want to read a blog with posts that are well-written, thoughtful, articulate and humorous? Check out My Life as a Harvard Reject. It's all of these things and more. It's also written by my nephew. So take a minute and click over to his blog and read a few of his amazing posts. They're worth reading; I promise you won't be sorry.

Happy Reading!

The Gilded Cage by Lucinda Gray

It's 1821, and an unexpected inheritance brings Katherine Randolph and her older brother, George, from their farm in Virginia all the way to England. It's not an easy transition, but Katherine is working hard to learn the rules of etiquette and how to act as a proper lady. Her cousins, Grace and Henry, are there to help. And George. But then, the morning after their introduction ball, George is found dead. Drowned. Every one thinks it's a tragic accident, but Katherine believes someone killed him. And her insistence that her brother was murdered soon puts her own life in danger.

While Katherine falls in love a little too quickly for my tastes, she's also a spunky and determined heroine. I liked how she never gives in to her two cousins, or to anyone else. After all, Katherine isn't a delicate English maiden; she's a fearless Virginian farm girl who knows how to shoot a gun and defend herself. Her own brother calls her Wildcat. I only wish I could have gotten to know her brother better; I suspect I would have liked him, too. And while it was pretty obvious who was behind George's death, there is a twist at the end that I wasn't expecting. Overall, this YA mystery is a fun read. I did find myself wishing that the author had fleshed out certain scenes and characters more than she did though. At only 245 pages, this story sometimes felt a little thin and rushed. But then, if it had been over 400 pages, I'd probably be complaining that it was way too long and needed editing. Isn't that the way it goes?

Happy Reading!

Bookish thrills and chills...

Title:  1222 by Anne Holt
First line:  As it was only the train driver who died, you couldn't call it a disaster.
Summary from the blurb:  "A train on its way to the northern reaches of Norway derails during a massive blizzard, 1222 meters above sea level. The passengers abandon the train for a nearby hotel, centuries-old and practically empty, except for the staff. With plenty of food and shelter from the storm, the passengers think they are safe, until one of them is found dead the next morning."  Paralyzed by a bullet, retired police inspector Hanne Wilhemsen is among the rescued passengers. And when old instincts kick in, she can't help investigating her fellow passengers. But time is running out. "Trapped in her wheelchair, trapped by the storm, and now trapped with a killer, Hanne must fit the pieces of the puzzle together before the killer strikes again."

My thoughts:  It was the whole trapped-in-a-snowstorm setting that drew me to this Norwegian mystery. I blame my fascination with bookish blizzards on having read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder so many times as a child. And this locked-room murder mystery is a pretty good read. At times, especially when the murderer is revealed at the end, it reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel. Holt creates some great characters. although it took me several pages before I started to warm up to Hanne, who's a very distant and guarded woman. Adrian, a fifteen-year-old teenage runaway with a sullen disposition and a penchant for angry outbursts was my favorite character; he reluctantly helps Hanne with her investigation. My only real complaint is that for a supposed thriller, 1222 is actually a pretty slow read. I blame that on the first-person narrative. Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting mystery, but I wouldn't call it a fast-paced page turner. Personally, I prefer the mysteries of Kristina Ohlsson and Yrsa Sigurdardottir to this one.

Happy Reading!

A gallimaufry

gallimaufry - n. hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley; mishmash

That's what this post is. A confused medley of some of my favorite things, chosen at random, just for fun.

"Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,

The Time of night when Troy was set on fire; 

The time when screech owls cry, and ban-dogs howl,

And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves."

                              --William Shakespeare

    

Flammulated Owl -- #150 on my list

Pumpkin Pancakes:

1 3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

1 egg

2 Tbls. vegetable oil

Combine ingredients. Then add:

2 c. flour

2 Tbls. brown sugar

1 Tbls. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

Mix together until moistened. Heat griddle. Pour 1/4 c. batter onto grill. Cook on both sides. Serve.

Wake not the Dead:--they bring but gloomy night

And cheerless desolation into day...

That which from life is pluck'd, becomes the foe

Of life, and whoso wakes it waketh woe.

Seek not the dead to waken from that sleep

In which from mortal eye they lie enshrouded deep.

--Johann Ludwig Tieck

Happy Reading!

I Dare You!

"Before I started my Year of Firsts, I was stuck ... But, as I discovered during the year, it's the smallest changes that eventually change everything:  They got me "unstuck". They brought the life back into my life. And they also made me realize something incredibly important:  Firsts don't have to be big, dramatic, and risky to recharge and reinvent your life. By just trying small things, you begin to see the world around you with fresh, child's eyes ... Firsts are the antidote for being stuck."

In I Dare Me, Lu Ann Cahn chronicles her year of trying one new thing every single day; and she does it in a way that's joyful, entertaining, and inspiring. By the end of the book, I wanted to make a list of Firsts and try a bunch of new things, too. Maybe not an entire year of them, but still...  Cahn's Firsts ranged from participating in a Polar Bear Plunge, eating Ethiopian food, climbing a tree, teaching a class, riding a mechanical bull, and baking a cake. She tried exciting things, scary things, easy, fun things, and things that challenged her and helped her to grow. And it changed her life. I loved her humor, and her tips and advice on new things to try, and all the wonderful quotes she includes throughout this book. It's a great weekend read!

"My hope is I Dare Me dares you! I want you to look at your world with new eyes, to make your own list of Firsts, to stop waiting for someone to rescue you from whatever you can't control and to rescue yourself with something new every day. That's how your life starts to change, one First at a time ... My world opened up and is still evolving today as a result of my Year of Firsts. It's my greatest hope that you find a similar spark somewhere in these pages, something that lights a fire under you to make this not just a life, but your best life. I dare you."

Happy Reading!

Similar read:  My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock

Reading New England Challenge...

This reading challenge, hosted by The Emerald City Book Review, has several different challenge levels, from reading just one book to reading twelve. I chose to do the Six State Challenge because I thought reading a book set in each of the six New England states sounded like fun, and because I thought I could successfully complete it. And I did!

Here are the six books I read:

For Maine:  Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobsen

For New Hampshire:  Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

For Vermont:  Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

For Massachusetts:  The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent

(Although I later read Nobody's Secret by Michaela MacColl,
which is also set in Massachusetts, and which I ended up liking a lot better.)

For Connecticut:  The Inheritance by Tom Savage

For Rhode Island: A Gilded Grave

I had a lot of fun completing this reading challenge. And I added several other New England books to my TBR list like Olive Kitteridge, The Secret History, Folly, It and The Boston Girl, which means I just might do this reading challenge again next year all on my own. Of the books I read this year, my two favorite were Small as an Elephant and A Gilded Grave. But I'm glad to have read all six. So thank you, Lory, for hosting this great reading challenge!

And Happy Reading!

September's Bookish Art...

Hans Olaf Heyerdahl - At the Window

"One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, 

for words have the power to change us."

--Cassandra Clare