Tag: book-reviews

Reading in October and Other Things

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In some ways, I feel like I haven’t read a whole lot this month, yet, looking at my book journal, I’ve ticked off eight books this month.

My book club read Fiona Davis’s The Magnolia Palace, which tells the story of Lilian Carter and Helen Clay Frick. When Lillian escapes from the police, who want to question her in the murder of her neighbor, she finds herself being hired as Helen Frick’s personal secretary. There, she discovers that she is more than a model for sculpture, but quite capable as an organizer. When Henry Clay Frick dies under suspicious circumstances and a valuable piece of jewelry turns up missing, Lillian escapes again. In 1966, another model comes to the Frick mansion for a fashion photo shoot and ends up getting locked in the museum while a blizzard closes down the city. Veronica and Joshua, an intern who also finds himself snowed in the museum, follow clues to a treasure hunt Helen Frick left behind fifty years earlier, and find the missing jewel–and the solution to an unsolved murder. I truly enjoyed this book, and now I want to visit the Frick Collection to see the art myself.

I read one nonfiction book this month, Church in the Wild, about how to “do church” beyond the brick and mortar buildings that often define church. Victoria Loors makes a case that the outdoors and the wilderness are places where we, as Christians, can encounter the voice of Christ speaking the gospel to us. Loors is not arguing for a “New Age” or pantheistic religious practices at all. She invites us, though, to look at the Scriptures through a new lens to see how God speaks to us through the natural world. This book definitely provides me with much to think about.

As usual, I read quite a few historical mysteries set in the nineteenth century, most of which are continuations of series of novels I’ve been reading over the last couple of years. Irina Shapiro’s Murder of a Vampire brings together James Redmond, an American surgeon who inherits a title and estate from his British grandfather, and Daniel Haze, a Scotland Yard detective, to solve the murder of a young immigrant who has been murdered and given a “deviant burial” as if she were a vampire. As usual, Shapiro captures the atmosphere of the Victorian era in this novel.

Word of the Wicked by Mary Lancaster is the fifth book in the Silver and Grey series. They are hired to investigate a series of anonymous letters sent to various citizens accusing them of injustice or mistreatment of others. While there are no murders involved in the case they are hired to investigate, the return of Solomon’s twin brother complicates things. David is a suspect in a murder, and Solomon must divide his time between investigating the letters and clearing his brother of murder charges.

In Mary Lancaster’s Vengeance in Venice, Constance Silver and Solomon Grey go to Venice on their honeymoon. While Solomon intervenes in a street fight, Constance is kidnapped after being mistaken for the mistress of the man who is being attacked. Later, the kidnapper’s employer is murdered, and Solomon becomes a suspect. Together, Constance and Solomon investigate to clear his name and solve the mystery of the murder. They get embroiled in the politics of the conflict between Italy and Austria during the investigation.

Andrea Penrose brings back Charlotte Sloane, her wards Raven, Hawk, and Peregrine, and her husband, Lord Wrexford in another twisty mystery that involves murder and mayhem. Set in London at the end of the war with Napoleon, Wrexford is asked to investigate the possibility that the French have developed an electromagnetic telegraph machine after a controversial scientist is murdered. The case takes a twist when there is a threat to the London Stock Exchange. Andrea Penrose is able to blend historical figures and events into her fictional world seamlessly. I learned more about the stock market in this novel. This is the kind of historical mystery I truly enjoy.

I have read James Patterson’s Alex Cross novels before, but I was delighted to find his collaboration with Brian Sitts, Holmes, Marple, and Poe. Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple, and Auguste Poe join forces to form a private investigation agency and buy an abandoned bakery where a young woman was murdered early in the 20th century. Together, they work on four cases, including the theft of priceless books, a murder, a kidnapping, and bribery at the highest levels of New York City government. The biggest mystery, though, is the identities of the three PIs. Each of the three PIs has unique gifts that combine to solve the crimes, often showing up the police. I will be reading the second book, Holmes Is Missing.

My least favorite book of the month is The Venice Murders by Merwyn Allington. Set in 1958, Flora and her new husband, Jack, celebrate their delayed honeymoon in Venice. The concierge of their hotel turns up dead in a canal. Flora cannot help but investigate. While Jack tries to control Flora’s “intervention,” his stepfather asks him to investigate the theft of a religious painting. Jack reluctantly agrees when there is a tenuous connection between the two crimes. Allington does not capture the atmosphere of Venice as successfully as Lancaster.

I am using my book journal to keep track of my reading. I’m working on revamping the organization, but that’s a post for another day.

March Reading Roundup

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This has been a strange month for reading. It seems I have started a lot of books, but didn’t finish them for some reason or another: Persuasion by Jane Austin, Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin (almost finished–I’m on the last chapter), The Let Them Theory (just started, so I can’ complain too much about not finishing that one). . . . I put The Covenant of Water on pause, but do plan to get back to it in April. It is such a beautifully written book that I do not want to abandon it. So, what did I read? A lot of “fluff”!

I started the Locke and Steele series with The Agent’s Demon and The Rose and the Ghost. The Agent’s Demon has paranormal investigator Agent Hazel Locke and her demon partner investigating the Whitechapel Murders of Jack the Ripper. When they discover the identity of the Ripper, they must flee England to Paris to save their lives. While in Paris, they plan to investigate the murder of Steele’s family. The Rose and the Ghost tells the story of the search for the identity of the murderer of Steele’s family, but also includes a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera. Reading the latter book has prompted me to read the classic Phantom although I may be singing the songs from the musical in my head while I read. These were enjoyable paranormal mysteries with a bit of history thrown in, but I’m not likely to reread either of them although I will read the next installment when it comes out.

Ellery Adams is a “local” author from North Carolina. I thoroughly enjoyed her Book Retreat mystery series and started the The Secret, Book, and Scone Society series last year. The Lost Little Library was another fun read that kept me guessing until the end. Nora, Grant McCabe (the sheriff and Nora’s lover), and the women of her book club have two mysteries to solve: the mysterious death of Lucille Wynter, who leaves Nora a book that takes her on a scavenger hunt for various items that will uncover a family secret and the theft of YA books from her book store. What I love about Adams’s two series is the allusions to all kinds of books, so much so that I regret not writing down the titles as I read so that I can read them as well! This is another series I look forward to the next installment.

Another mystery series that held my interest was Mary Lancaster’s Silver and Grey mysteries. Constance Silver and Solomon Grey team up to solve a couple of murders in this series. They work well together, and there are the beginnings of a potential romance. I will be looking forward to continuing this series as well.

I can’t lose when there is a Steve Berry book. The Medici Return is the latest book in the Cotton Mather novels. Mather is a retired agent from the Magellan Billet, a top secret intelligence organization in the U. S. government. In this installment, Mather is sent to Italy to investigate the possible criminal activities of an archbishop. However, things get complicated when a businessman and member of the Italian legislative body claims to be a direct descendant of the Medici family, to whom the Vatican owes a great deal of money. I love all the history and “local color” that Berry infuses into his novels–and the fact that he can keep me guessing about the outcome until the very end.

I am well on my way to meeting my goal of six nonfiction books. So far, I’ve read Maya Angelou’s The Heart of a Woman in her series of autobiographies and Mary Miller’s biography of Belle Baruch, who is responsible for a true South Carolina treasure, Hobcaw Barony, which she set up with the state to be an educational and research facility in the Low Country. This book was interesting in so many ways. First, Belle Baruch was an interesting woman, a feminist and women’s libber before there were such things. Second, she was a paradox, known for her generosity and kindness but also somewhat bigoted and prejudiced. It was her love of nature, though, that stands out. As I read the book, I kept thinking, “Why haven’t I learned about this?” There was so much South Carolina history, as well as U. S. history in the biography. I didn’t know there were U-boats off the coast of South Carolina or that German spies actually made landfall in the Low County. I didn’t even know about Bernard Baruch’s role in history as advisors to seven presidents. It was an eye opening experience reading this book, and we had a lively discussion during the book club meeting.

I will probably finish Women of the Word this week. This book describes a method of Bible study that goes deep into the Word of God. Although the target audience is women, the method of study outlined by Jen Wilkin is applicable to anyone who wants to study Scripture in a meaningful way. I have tried several study methods over the years, but Women of the Word brings them all together. I am also using another method, the James Method, which incorporates many of the same elements (but with different names) as Wilkin’s method.

This morning before I began this post, the Book of the Month Club posted its April selections. I’ve chosen Six Days in Bombay, a historical novel; Famous Last Words (a BOTM exclusive), and The God of Woods (I’m late to the party for this book). Hopefully, I will be able to get into the books more in April.

Oh, by the way, April is National Poetry Month, and my “practice” for this month will be to collect quotes from poems every day of the month into a handmade commonplace book. I am starting with Mary Oliver’s collection, Devotion.

Year-end Reading Wrap-up

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I did it. I set a reading goal of reading at least 52 books this year, and I met that goal before June. Then I set a new goal of 100 books and met that goal in October. As of today, I have read 119 books, and will probably read and finish one more before December 31. I started The Teller of Small Fortunes earlier this month but have not finished it.

In some ways, this was a slow month; I finished seven books. It was also a busy crafting month to get ready for Christmas as well as the other busy-ness that comes with the holiday season. I have to admit that I started a few and put them away or they are still in progress.

Five of the books I read this month fall into the category of historical novels, some with more romance than others. I read the latest installment of the Tabitha and Wolf novels, An Intrepid Woman, and enjoyed it. It is an easy read with a story that is more plot driven than character driven. Actually, the same can be said for the first five books. Of those books, I especially liked the Victorian mystery An Exhibition of Malice by Emily L. Finch, which is set against the background of the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1862, ten or so years after the exhibition sponsored by Prince Albert in the middle of the 19th century. If we think industrial espionage is only a modern thing, this novel suggests that stealing plans for inventions has been around for a whole lot longer.

The two contemporary novels, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year and The Last Love Note were both good reads. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year was a lot of fun. It is light-hearted and funny as well as a good mystery. It makes use of the “enemies to lovers” trope even though the enemy part is one-sided. And, of course, there is the happily ever after ending. This novel makes use of the Agatha Christie country-house mystery and a locked-room disappearance. Ally Carter also uses Agatha Christie’s own mysterious disappearance for inspiration in this novel.

When I began The Last Love Note, I thought I was going to read a rom-com. The first couple of chapters made me laugh out loud; however, the novel started getting pretty heavy as it developed into the story of a forty-year-old widow’s coming to terms with the death of her husband from early onset and rapid Alzheimer’s and single-parenthood. Yet, in spite of the heaviness of these plot threads, there is a lightness and at times some comic relief as she slowly learns that she can have a new life (and love) and a second chance at happiness. I admit that I did the ugly cry through the last ten chapters of the book.

As I finished this book, I thought back over the books I have read this year and looked at my list of best books of each month:

January–The Fury

  • January–The Fury
  • February–The First Ladies
  • March–The Lost Apothecary
  • April–Touch Not the Cat
  • May–Shakespeare: The Man Who Paid the Rent
  • June–The Women
  • July–The Lost Story
  • August–The Cliffs
  • September–Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries
  • October–Lady Macbeth
  • November–Before the Coffee Gets Cold
  • December–The Last Love Note

All of these books were such good ones, and it is hard to pick my favorite. I am going to go with The First Ladies, though. It is a novel about the friendship between Mary McLeod Bethune and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. These two women are often footnotes in the history books, and their roles in the civil rights movement are overshadowed by likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and other men. Yet this novel showed how important their work was. Moreover, it also showed how difficult interracial friendships can be, even today, when we are supposedly more enlightened. I often learn more history from the historical novels I read than from the history books, and this one certainly played into my interest in history.

I tried to read more nonfiction this year and actually finished three really wonderful books: Judi Dench’s autobiographical Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Boys in the Boat about the 1936 US Olympic eight-man rowing team. It would be hard to choose which is the better book, but I will admit that Shakespeare:The Man Who Pays the Rent is my favorite. Dame Judi Dench gave me such insight into the characters from the plays she performed, and I almost wished I were teaching again so I could share those insights with my students. I listened to both of the books on Audible and realized that I loved listening to nonfiction more than fiction. Killers of the Flower Moon is a difficult book to read and listen to because of its subject, the exploitation of Native Americans out of greed. I highly recommend this last book.

I am already lining up my books for the coming year. I can’t wait to see what selections will be offered in the Book of the Month and the Aardvark Book clubs. My book group that meets monthly at the local coffee shop will be reading Wuthering Heights as our first book of the year. I am looking forward to reading that one again. I wonder how much it has changed since I read it as a sixteen year old, a twenty-six year old, a thirty-something, and now as a sixty-six year old. And I wonder how my reading will compare to our high school senior’s reading. (Imagine a book club with three sixty-something women and one seventeen-year-old! We do love our girl, though. She has been a wonderful addition to our group!)

September Reading Wrap-up

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I know, it’s only the 26th and there are four more days. I probably will finish another book before the end of the month, but I’ve read the bulk of the books for the month. I didn’t read as many books as I have some months, but that’s okay. I started a couple that I haven’t finished, though, so I’m still reading.

Most of the books I read this month were lighter fare. At least four were murder mysteries of one sort of another. A couple could be classified as romance novels. One of the books fell into the category of magical realism. Several were historical novels.

Irina Shapiro did not disappoint in the latest addition to the Redmond and Haze series. Murder of Innocents had Dr. Jason Redmond and Detective Daniel Haze searching for the murderer of two little boys. Dr. Redmond may be an aristocrat, but he is from America. He served as a surgeon for the Union army during the American Civil War and spent time as a prisoner of war in the infamous Andersonville prison. His knowledge of anatomy and medicine and Haze’s skills as an investigator make them a formidable team.

C. Hope Clark’s Reunion on Edisto follows the career of Callie, Edisto Beach’s first female police chief. In the seventh installment of the series, Callie, now sober for nearly a year and in a stable relationship with Mark, the owner of the new Mexican restaurant, El Marco, has to search for a missing classmate who has come to the island to plan a class reunion. As Callie works the case, she also solves a cold case from her high school days. While I was not sympathetic to Callie when I first began the series, I began to like her as I near the end of the series.

I read two books by Madeline Martin last year, The Last Bookshop in London and The Keeper of Hidden Books, both set during World War II. The Booklover’s Library is also set during World War II. Like The Last Bookshop in London, The Booklover’s Library is set in England. The Booklover’s Library begins before the Blitz and tells the story of a young widow who must make the agonizing decision to send her daughter to the countryside for safety. She also must find a job to support herself during this time. The novel speaks to the power of books to comfort during hard times. I learned more about the effects of war on women and children from this book. That’s the power of a good historical novel; it brings the history to life.

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina is way out of my comfort zone in terms of genre. I liked the book. However, it took me quite a few pages and chapters to buy into the elements of magical realism. There are a couple of things that really struck me in the story. Orquidea’s need to have roots takes on a physical aspect when she turns into a tree the day she dies. We all need that place we can put down roots and belong. Marimar finds that place in Four Rivers on her grandmother’s estate. The second thing that resonated was the idea of “inheritance.” What do we actually inherit from our ancestors?

The book I disliked this month is That Night in the Library. I could not sympathize with any of the characters; they were all unlikable to some degree. The death from some kind of poisoning of one member of the small group gathered to re-enact an ancient Greek ritual sets off a series of additional deaths. By the time the group is rescued, only two of the seven remain alive. Moreover, with the exception of Kip, the first to die, nearly every one of the others kills, helps to kill, or witnesses the violent death of others. This is a “locked room” mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie, but there are no redeeming characters in this novel, and no feeling that justice has been served in the end.

Studies at the School by the Sea is a light-hearted romance of two teachers from two different schools, both English teachers, and both concerned with the well-being of their students. However, there are obstacles to their romance ranging from an ex-fiance’s accident to the lack of privacy on a school Outward Bound retreat. I haven’t read the first three books in the series; however, that did not hinder me from enjoying this book.

My pick, though, for the book of the month is Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries. Emily goes to an isolated island in the Arctic Circle to conduct research for book, an encyclopedia of faeries. From facing hostile villagers and down-right mean changelings, Emily has a number of adventures. When her colleague joins her, though, things get really interesting, and she discovers his secret identity. I had fun reading this book! I do enjoy a good fantasy.