June Monthly Reading Thread

I've started the third (and last) of my "beach" reads from the library and in the comfort of my own home, Don't Go Home, by Carolyn Hart. It's the latest in her Death on Demand mystery bookstore series. Annie has promised her husband she won't get mixed up in any more murders, but she just can't help herself.

After months of waiting for a library copy of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, I received a message this morning that it was waiting at the library. I put it on hold back in March (good to know this is a city of readers). I picked it tonight after work, will begin it in a few minutes. I know both Carolyn and Sheri loved it, so I'm tingling with anticipation.

I am half-way through with "Hausfrau" by Jill Essbaum. I will finish it, but I thoroughly dislike the protagonist, a narcissistic, entitled housewife married to a Swiss banker. I am not finding the protagonist realistic or sympathetic. I can't relate to her over-the-top extreme immorality. Has anyone else here read this and what did you think? The new "Madame Bovary"? NOT! And I am hardly a Puritan....

Just finished two Irish themed books . . . not intentionally, just how I picked them up and each SO different from the other.
Don't Wake me at Doyles by Maura Murphy. It makes Angela's Ashes look like an edition of 'The Brady Bunch'. Rather an over-long true tale of a woman growing up in rural poverty in the Irish Midlands. A family with 11 living children despised even by the Tinkers. MM finds a job in Dublin, marries too young and it's down-hill all the way from there. Rape, beatings, fights, babies, miscarriages, endless fags-and-booze, even their 1950's new-built house has neither indoor or outdoor plumbing. A move to pagan England brings work and money but still urban poverty and more babies; the Church wont allow contraception or even a hysterectomy 'til death looms. Despite this nine of the children survive and several of them do OK. MM keeps leaving her drunken husband then returns to more beatings and abuse . . . the language would make a parrot blush . . . Until the books-end when she returns to her home village she is feisty and foul-mouthed. She is probably swearing at St Peter outside the Golden Gates to this day.

By contrast Time After Time by Molly Keane a work of fiction set in Southern Ireland during the 1980's. A family of an elderly brother and his three sisters living in reduced circumstances in a large decaying property. No servants are left and only a boy to help on the farm. All the siblings have 'disabilities' and are kept going by boring routines, petty animosity towards one another and their pathetic 'secrets'. Into their useless lives comes a long-lost and fondly remembered Viennese cousin. And the cat is among the chickens.
Molly Keane is a wonderful observer of the now almost-gone-world of the Irish Ascendency, a 'class' of people unknown anywhere else in the British Isles. Sharply observed and often very funny.

Vee, though I'm not tempted to read the Irish-themed books, I certainly enjoyed reading your synopses.

An Obvious Enchantment by Tucker Malarkey

Enjoying it !

Back to A Scots Quair, the last book of the trilogy. This is the first time I've rechecked a book three times. I just needed a break between the stories, although they are quite good. There are certainly a lot of Scottish words I don't know, but the writing is lyrical.

Vee, I'm with kathy_t. I always enjoy your write-ups. But after reading several of those Irish-themed hard luck stories, the notion came to me that the writers are competing with each other as to who had the most pitiful childhood, the most dysfunctional family, the most abusive spouse, etc., although I know Ireland has had a sad history in many ways. Do you ever get that feeling about some Irish writers?

I just finished a memoir by Carlo Levi that could have been as lugubrious as an Irish one, but somehow isn't. Levi was a political dissident in Fascist Italy. In 1935 he was imprisoned for his outspokenness, but after a few months in solitary confinement in a Neapolitan jail, he was banished to Lucania (now Basilicata) which was considered the most godforsaken province in Italy. It was such a looked-down-on, despised place that the Lucanians themselves admitted that "Christ stopped at Eboli," thus the title of the book.

Levi was well-educated, trained to be a physician. He was a painter by avocation, and perhaps most importantly he was a philosopher. With all of Levi's qualifications I was afraid his book would be abstruse. Not at all! He was not allowed officially to practice medicine in the village called Gagliano where he was to serve out a three-year sentence, but in such a poor place where people suffered all sorts of dreadful health problems -- foremost chronic malaria and malnutrition -- he managed to dispense some of his medical knowledge quietly and help the villagers and peasants. At the same time he took seriously their folk medicine and he believed in evil spirits and witches, both bad and good. He had very little to say about political dissent until nearly the end of the book when he essayed the subject without really mentioning his own situation.

Levi's style is sui generis. I looked to see who translated it into English: a Frances Frennye. Excellent translators never get the recognition they should.

I too am about to read an Irish novel "The Woman Who Stole My Life" by Marian Keyes.
I enjoy her books, she has had an interesting life battling some demons and can still write cheerful fiction but with a knowledge of the darker side giving a realistic feel to her books.

Thank you Kathy and Frieda, I think one of the best Irish writers of modern 'everyday' fiction is possibly Maeve Binchy. She writes of that country as it is with no wallowing in past perceived misery or sentimentality about the 'little people' and Celtic mysticism.
I found that Time After Time had been made into a drama in a collaboration between English/Australian TV.
It 'stars' John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Ursula Howells and other stalwarts of the UK stage . . . including Frieda's Mother's pin-up Trevor Howard!

It was made in 1986 so is looking a little frayed round the edges (aren't we all)

Time After Time

Vee, would that be the Anglo-Irish? (in the book you read). I don't have issues with books about Ireland, but I recall thinking "Angela's Ashes" was a bit of a stretch. Did anyone else feel the same?

Frieda, as I recall, Primo Levi was a Holocaust survivor. To the surprise of many, he committed suicide, after having been through so much....

Hi all - finished up "American Notes for General Circulation" by Dickens - I was happy that I read this title, a rather random pick in the end, as it was entertaining and I did some more learnin'. :-) Always a good thing. Just about to finish up the denouement of an Agatha Christie mystery ("Cold Cypress") and then who knows which title will fling itself into my hands over the weekend? I love that anticipation...

After waiting for library requests to arrive, two came at once! As I am in a Mapp and Lucia mood with the third episode of the TV series on this week, I am first reading "Au Reservoir" by Guy Fraser-Sampson. One of the follow-ups to the original works by E.F.Benson. As there are several authors I know of doing this, I have to remember what has been done to the characters as portrayed by each author in departing from the original stories!
Although staying faithful to the main concept, some have gone in different directions...

Because it's Triple Crown time in American horse racing, I've been re-reading all my Dick Francis books (and I even have a couple by Bill Shoemaker).

Just began MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN...............

I picked up a couple of books at the library this afternoon and am ready to begin Thin Air, the latest Shetland novel by Ann Cleeves.

mary/woodnymph, Angela's Ashes took quite a hammering from the people of Limerick who claimed that what McCourt had written in his autobio. of his early life was largely made-up. At least the book was saved by its humour. His brother, Malachy, who wrote on the 'coat-tails' of Frank, did less well and seems to represent the 'fighting Irish' with his stories of NYC bar brawls and punch-ups.
The Anglo-Irish can date their time in that country from the era of 'Strongbow' and the early Norman invasions, or to the settlers of the sixteen hundreds. They held positions of authority in government, education and Church of Ireland. Many left the country during the Troubles when their country houses were destroyed and the Protestant population felt insecure. I don't know how many are integrated into mainstream Irish life today. We, in England, would not consider them to be English and I don't think the modern Irish quite see them as Irish . . .
Many of their former homes are now golf clubs and fancy hotels; you need many mega bucks to stay in them.
Most of the 'classic' Irish writers came from (or mingled in) that background, from Swift, to Sheridan, Yeats to Wilde. 'Modern' Irish writers eg Edna O'Brien, John Banville, Colm Toibin, Anne Enright have brought a wiff of fresh-air into what had become post independence, a church dominated country.

I am so cross!

SPOILER ALERT

"Au Reservoir" finished by killing Lucia off! I think that is very bad manners! If you borrow and use someone else's property (or characters) you should return them in good order. I was shocked at the ending and very annoyed.
The author wrote to a blogger and said that there were opportunities for more books but if you have disposed of your character finally that is a stretch for a reader. I wasn't expecting that kind of thing and am not happy, as you can tell.
I actually went to the Sunday session at the local library which I never normally do, to return the book. I wanted to see the back of it!

Ann, it seems that the writer has really shot himself in the foot, especially as he has bumped off the main character, who, it might be argued was not his to do away with in the first place. Perhaps this Fraser-Sampson will start on another well-known character and finish them off. Maybe his life's mission is to clear the decks of beloved 'book-inhabitants' so by leaving readers with nothing to look forward to.

Carolyn you had mentioned on the May thread reading on your 'rose terrace' for which I envied you. But as from today the weather has warmed up, sun has been shining and the temps have risen above some very chilly readings in the 50's during the day and the low 40's at night. Many small tomato, sweet corn, cucumber etc plants have curled up, turned blue (literally) and died.
We have a few roses in our walled garden and have just planted a couple of 'old' shrub varieties 'Madame Rothschild' and 'Louis Odier'. Hopefully they will grow to the same size as the 'Sweet Little Pet', which has been here for probably 50 years, 'Buff Beauty' and 'The Pilgrim' both younger, plus a couple of 'damask' roses; all just coming into bloom as I write. Oh! and some early strwberries for 'pudding'!

Vee, and I envy you your strawberries. We visited a niece in North Carolina in May. She took us to a huge farmer's market where we bought a gallon (there were six of us visiting) of fresh-picked, little, and sweet strawberries. We got some vanilla ice cream and went back to her house and made shortcake. Yum! Went to the beach one day and ate lunch at a really good seafood restaurant, too. Double yum.

With great relief, I finished "Hausfrau" by Essbaum. I'm certain the author thought she was writing a latter day "Anna Karenina", but truly it was no more than a psychological study of Anhedonia. If the definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over again and never learning from one's errors, then the protagonist was spot on. Anna was a classic definition of "Passive-aggressive", as well, and seeing a Jungian psychiatrist weekly was clearly not helping her.

Did anyone here read this book and actually like it???

Next on the bedside reading table is "The Husband's Secret."

Hi,

Has anyone read "Our Endless Numbered Days"by Claire Fuller? I feel that I have read this story before...it so weird because it is new in April of this year. But I felt that the last scene in the cabin and the subsequent ending I had read before......is their a similar story out there I wonder, that I read in the past. Just don't know.

Cindy...cindy130

Finished The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I wanted to love this book, but found it merely entertaining, lacking in character development and substance. Also found a few things hard to believe, such as a police officers book club that was "the most popular book club on the island". Through my work, I come in contact with police officers not infrequently, and I cannot visualize any of them in a book club. I can visualize them reading, but not in a book club.

I liked the mention of short stories at the beginning of each chapter. Short stories don't have the following that novels do, it was good to see they got recognition in this book.

Oh I can't believe I wrote the wrong there/their.....mea culpa.......Cindy

Woodnymph,

BookMom read Hausfrau. You can read her comment in the April thread (April 21).

Vee, I had to smile at your comment. I felt as you do about the character not being his to write off. It is sad when an author does this eg Modesty Blaise but that is their right.

Finished and LOVED The Martian. Thanks to all who recommended it. Best of all, my 13 year old non-reader grabbed it and started reading.

Now reading 1421, The year China discovered America.

PAM

A neighbor recommended, and then handed me, the first two books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. After finding out there are 14 books of roughly 800 pages each, I took a deep breath and started. I'm about 200 pages into the first book, The Eye of the World, and I like it a lot. Jordan's writing is very dense and detailed, and so far it's definitely reminiscent of LoTR and all the usual fantasy suspects, but I think still different enough to stand apart. The fact all the books are already written (and the writer deceased) definitely aided in my decision to start these -- I want to read Game of Thrones someday, but not until GRRM finishes writing them!

PAM, The Martian movie trailer is out and it looks good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI

Sheri,

My sister read the whole Wheel of Time series and she loved them. She began reading them when the 1st novel was published, and had to wait for the each of the subsequent books to be published. The whole saga took over 20 yrs.

According to Wikipedia the total number of pages for the series is 11, 916 in paperback and 10, 173 in hardback. I hope the ones you neighbor gave you are hardback.

I finished WE ARE NOT OURSELVES by Matthew Thomas.it took him ten years to write it and it is very thoroughly researched and beautifully written. Nevertheless I found it so upsetting I am almost sorry I read it. I felt depressed the entire time I was reading it. I'm not sure I would recommend it. However you will certainly learn a lot about a pin full subject. Now I am on to THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY. So far I am finding it pleasant enough, but not engrossing. It is a good antidote to the previous book.

I just finished Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. It is so, so funny and a weirdly interesting (crazy) story told through a series of emails and letters that are being studied by Bernadette's daughter Bee during her attempt to find her missing mother. Bernadette is a genius and very famous architect whose career went astray when she moved to Seattle so that her genius husband could accept an important and lucrative position at Microsoft. I don't want to say any more except that it's a wild ride.

Kathy_t

I'm reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette at this very moment! I'm enjoying it, especially the insider jokes/comments about Seattle (I live in Seattle). Many of the places she mentions exist: the Queen Anne neighborhood, Galer Street (though not the school), the restaurant Lola, its owner-chef Tom Douglas, the Chihuly lamps. There is one five-way intersection in Queen Anne that everybody hates, I don't think there are many more. True also that people here are crazy about the environment, about parents being involved in the community, about THE weather, which an inexhaustible topic of conversation.

However, I find Bernadette vitriolic in her loathing of the city. When I read the article below, I realized that Bernadette's hatred was actually the author's.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/books/maria-semple-author-of-whered-you-go-bernadette.html?_r=1

I hope the book does not give a bad impression of the city.

It is a fun book.

Sheri, I read The Martian for my book club and we are planning a field trip to the movies so we can watch it together. It looks fabulous!

Book club also read "Bernadette" with mixed reviews. Looking forward to hearing your opinions once you have finished reading.

Totally engrossed in 1421. It is a fascinating history of China - so far. (100 pages into it)

PAM

Reader in transit - I love to read books taking place in Seattle. My oldest daughter lives there and we have visited her there for years. I am almost caught up with all the J.A. Jance books about Det. Beau Beaumont and am enjoying the series by Robert Dugoni that also take place there. In fact I just got Betrayal of Trust by Jance from the library ready to read next.

Pat

I've started Great Black Kanba by Constance & Gwenyth Little, first published in 1944. The authors were sisters who wrote a ton of what the blurb calls light, cozy mysteries. This one has a girl who has lost her memory and finds herself on a train in Australia being met by a coterie of relatives she doesn't know. I found the title in the newest Death on Demand Bookstore book by Carolyn Hart and requested it from the library. It's fun to read.

Reader in transit - It's interesting to hear that Where'd You Go, Bernadette references real places in Seattle. I've never visited the city - just had a quick plane change in the airport once. But rest assured, in my opinion at least, the novel does not give a bad impression of the city. Bernadette's descriptions of and reactions to Seattle's quirks clearly were more about Bernadette than about Seattle. She isn't exactly a "go with the flow" kind of woman!

Carolyn, I was interested to see your post about the Great Black Kanba mystery. To my surprise my State Library in Western Australia doesn't have it. I did a search for a second hand copy and got an even bigger surprise at the prices asked!
I finally located one under $A10 at Betterworld Books and snapped it up! I went on the train from Perth to Adelaide some years ago and am curious to see what it was like in the mid-1940s.

Sherwood,

I remember reading one of your posts about J.A. Jance books and Det. Beaumont. Was it you who posted years ago that you had had your daughter take you to the places in Seattle that are mentioned in Jance's novels?

Never heard of Robert Dugoni before, but just checked the library website and they have many by him. Any one in particular that would recommend? I don't read a lot of mysteries, but it'd be interesting reading about places that you know exactly where and how they are, just as the Bernadette book. Or learning about new places in your own city.

If you like books taking place in Seattle, there is a Cliff Janeway mystery by John Dunning, The Bookman's Wake, where cop-turned-book dealer Janeway comes to Seattle on an antiquarian book case. I haven't read it yet, I read the 1st one in the series, Booked to Die, which was quite good. That one takes place in Denver.

Kathy_t,

You are right, Bernadette is not an easy going person, it is difficult to like her except that she is so good with her daughter. The scenes with Bee redeem her. But the house... ugh.

Reader - I don't think that was me as I only started reading the Jance books in the last year or so. My daughter has lived there for over 30years and we had already been to most of the places described in the book, so enjoyed being familiar with the area.

I have read the John Dunning books and also read and thoroughly enjoyed The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, that was a wonderful read.

As for Dugoni, he has some stand-alones, but the series I am reading starts with The Jury Master, about David Sloane, a lawyer living in Southern California, but only in that one book, the rest of the series has him moved to Seattle due to events that happen in the book.

Pat

I've just finished my third book by Alexandra Fuller: "Leaving Before the Rains Came." As a writer, I think she just gets better and better with each work. This is a frank memoir about leaving her beloved South African landscapes to live in the American West. Fuller gives, as usual, wonderful descriptions of her inimitable parents and their quirky lifestyle. The author seems to be the type who attracts wild adventures of all sorts. I won't give away the ending, but I read into the wee hours of the morning, unable to put the book down. (Fuller also wrote "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs, Tonight" and "Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness.")

Next up? Probably "Wild."

Sherwood,

You probably know (or maybe you have been there already!) that the Panama Hotel, where the opening scene of The Corner of Bitter and Sweet takes place, can be visited. They have "historical educational tours". The hotel was in the National Register of Historic Place before the novel, but the book made it famous. A friend who read the book went to the tour and enjoyed. I haven't read the book yet.

Thanks for the info about Dugoni's books. I'll let you know if I read one of them.

I finished Kim, wondering if the book I read at school was a digest version as there seems to be a lot in this edition that is more Adult Rated than I recall. The Errol Flynn film was different too! I have ordered a later version with Peter O'Toole which might be more faithful to the book.

At present I am reading "The Woman Who Stole My Life" by Marian Keyes.
It is one of those books that is told by the main character and jumps about a bit!
Normally I don't like that kind of thing but I do like Keyes and am fascinated with the story. It wasn't what I was expecting from the title which I imagined was about identity theft.

I've finished The Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time series and liked it a lot. My one complaint would be that although the story was original enough and certainly well-written, Jordan's world-building and cast of characters are very Tolkien-ish, almost to the point where I was getting annoyed in spots. However, he did have some fresh ideas in the mix, and I'm still eager to get to the next book and see how it all plays out. One down, thirteen to go!

I have just now finished reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. What I liked most about it was that the bookstore itself was the main character. I would describe it as book I genuinely enjoyed, but will not feel the impulse to re-read.

I needed something short to read between book club selections, so I picked up Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. This was recommended by none other than Harper Lee (indirectly through a memoir I read earlier this year, The Mockingbird Next Door, by Marja Mills). It was a trifle of a book, full of amusing anecdotes about southern tradition and a number of extremely fattening recipes for carry-in funeral food. I don't recommend it quite as highly as Ms. Lee did.

I read Memory Man by David Baldacci, brought over by my daughter who really likes his books. It is not part of a series--yet, although it sounds as if it may become one. A young man gets a bad head injury playing football and afterwards remembers everything in detail like a video recording. He becomes a police detective, and his family is murdered. It was pretty interesting.

Just finished 100 Days of Happiness by Fausto Brizzi. Fiction, a man finds out he has cancer and is given 100 days to live. There are 100 chapters in the book, counting down from 100 to 1. One chapter for every day he has left and how he spends them and what he is thinking about as his life winds down. Sounds like a real downer, but it is actually thoughtful, funny, and touching. Really really enjoyed it.

Now back to Mars to read cult classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick for book club.

PAM

Annpan, I meant to say yesterday that I really enjoyed Great Black Kanba and will be interested to hear your comments when you read it.

Have now started Out of Circulation by Miranda Jones. The main character is a research librarian so I thought I'd like it, but there is too much cat and not enough people characterization for me.

Carolyn, I have read all the Miranda Jones stories. They are light and I preferred the Maine Coon cat Diesel series to the other one about the two sisters. I devour light mysteries then pass them on to my daughter when I have to buy them to fill in gaps when the library doesn't buy all of the series :-(
I am waiting for the Kanba book and will get back to you on that one. The library doesn't stock any of the Little sisters works so I shall have to buy those too if I like the writing style.
I raced through "The Woman Who Stole my Life" and still couldn't finish it by bedtime so I cheated and read the end page. Naughty bad reader!

If any of you can remember reading the children's books by E Nesbit
The Railway Children et al, I cannot recommend highly enough a follow-up to Five Children and It called Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders. It takes the story of the children and the Psammead, the wish-granting ancient sand fairy who lives in a gravel pit at the end of their garden and carries it forward a few years to 1914.
Saunders brings the older children into WWI and develops the character of the Psammead so we learn something of his tyrannical past-life when he was worshipped as a god who treated his subjects with indifferent cruelty, in much the same way as the Kaiser treats the soldiers in the trenches.
Saunders manages to keep both the voice of Nesbit and the feel of the Edwardian era quite naturally.
Though it is a children's book it is really just as readable and probably more enjoyable for adults.
If you could do with a little magic in your life you will love this poignant book.

Five Children on the Western Front

I'm re-reading Middlemarch, by George Eliot. It took a while to get used to her very dense style, but now I'm halfway done and really enjoying it.

I'm reading Miss Dimple Disappears by Mignon F. Ballard, another book I gleaned from the last Carolyn Hart book. It is the first of four Miss Dimple books. She is a first grade teacher in small-town Georgia, and this book is set at the beginning of WWII when the men are mostly gone to war and the women have gone to work and are making do. The lazy school janitor is killed in the second chapter, and Miss Dimple is kidnapped in the third.

Finished Where'd You Go, Bernadette a few days ago. It grabs you and some parts are funny, but Bernadette is a difficult person. When I got to the part where she puts the dirty dishes on drawers for the help to take them out the next day to clean them, I thought that she certainly would have benefited from psychiatric help. Her husband deserved better from the author than the unnecessary complication that she throws his way (those who have read the book, know what I'm talking about).

Currently reading A Mortal Terror by James R. Benn ( a librarian!) It's in the Billy Boyle series and has a lot of actual historical people mentioned as it's set in World War II. I am really enjoying the series, it's very well researched. Kim Philby was mentioned towards the beginning of the book, which inspired me to order a couple of books about him. I know the name but am awfully fuzzy on the details. I also just put a hold on Being Dead is No Excuse, mentioned in this thread by kathy_t. Sounds like fun!

Dawn

RIT, I read Where'd You Go, Bernadette last year because a friend talked me into reading some contemporary fiction for a change of pace. It never grabbed me. My friend said it might have helped if I was more familiar with "Seattle-types," which Semple supposedly is satirizing. Maybe so. I've known only a few actual Seattleites and apparently they aren't the representative types that local readers know and recognize immediately.

Question for Book Club readers: Is there a site especially of recommendations and suggestions for what makes good book-club books and discussions? I notice that many book clubs/groups have very similar reading lists, and I've wondered why they are so much alike. I recall that Oprah's suggestions were popular with group readers. Who or what has taken her place?

Dawn, I'm presently reading A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre. Is that one of the books you ordered? I'm enjoying it so far.

Frieda, I've also noticed that most book group recommended lists are rather similar, leaning heavily towards current literary fiction and the book-of-the-moment as decreed by Oprah, Amazon, NYT Book Review, etc. Bookmarks Magazine includes a graph each month showing how many places a certain book has been reviewed, and that certainly explains how a particular book becomes popular, but it's a mystery to me how a certain book gets noticed in the first place in order to rise to the top. Do the publishers campaign for certain titles? Are reviewers wined and dined? Are magical bookseller spells cast? No clue.

My book group read Where'd You Go, Bernadette last summer and everyone really enjoyed it. It was quirky and different and made for a fun discussion, but it didn't land on anyone's "Favorites" list.

I'm currently trying to decide on a book for our next gathering (we each take turns choosing the book and hosting the group), and no matter how I love a particular book or think it will be a terrific read, I am never sure I'm choosing something that would have great discussion value. Sometimes the oddest things cause the best discussions, while subjects you'd think would be great fall flat.

I just finished "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. I absolutely loved this interesting memoir and description of her solitary hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995.The personality of the author shines through with courage and originality.

Now, I have 2 (new to me) books from the library waiting at bedside: one on the sinking of the Lusitania, the other on the life of Chaucer. Good reading ahead!

Vee, I had never heard of the Nesbit book you mention. I adored "Railway Children."

Mary, I too think The Railway Children is a great read, even for an adult. It has been 'done' countless times from an early 1950's series on children's TV to various film adaptations. Nesbit wrote several other books mostly to make ends meet and keep her husband in the style he hankered after. The family were 'Fabians' . . . middle class socialists with modern 'views' on society. 'Free love' was rather popular in their set and the husband had an affair with his secretary and expected Nesbit to care for the resulting child. The free part seemed only to apply to men not their wives!
The Psammead is an entertaining though despotic tiny tyrant. I think you would enjoy this follow-up work.

Just finished reading MISS PETTIGREW'S ISLAND OF PECULIAR CHILDREN .....and I have to say that I rather enjoyed it !

If you liked the HP series, this might appeal to you.

Vee.....I loved THE FIVE CHILDREN AND IT ! One summer many years ago I read a chapter a day aloud to my children and then soon after found it had been made into a movie.

Friedag,

Your friend is right, it would have helped to be more familiar with "Seattle-types". Semple satirizes Seattle with some things that are true: the "green" movement is big here, community involvement is expected from everybody to the point that with some employers your volunteering is one of the points in your yearly work evaluation (an instance in which volunteering ceases to be voluntary, but that's another story). And of course, what Bernadette tells her architect friend in a letter: "What you've heard about the rain: it's all true" (well, it is true). For me it was fun identifying the Seattle stereotypes she was poking fun at, and by "stereotypes" I mean not everybody is like that. IMO, she is rather harsh on her portrait of the city.

Sheri & Friedag,

The booksellers receive incentives from publishing companies to promote some books. Years ago it was only for the big booksellers like Barnes & Noble and Borders. Then the independent booksellers sued and attained equality in that regard. If you go to different bookstores, as I do sometimes, you'll notice the same new books are on display, e.g. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, The Rosie Project, The Martian, etc. IndieBound even publishes a newsletter "For Reading Groups":

http://www.indiebound.org/reading-group-indie-next-list

Of course, it falls to the person choosing the book for the group to go beyond those new books.

When you go to the public library "New Fiction" shelf, you see many books that never make it to the display tables at the bookstores.

I am struggling with a terrible reading slump. Have barely been able to finish a book for several months, with one notable exception: Barbara Pym's <I>Less Than Angels</I>. I did not care for it at first, but some of the characters did grow on me eventually. I have ordered some Barbara Comyns novels (on sale) through Book Depository. I have never read her before, but keep hearing good things about her. Hoping for the best.

I think my lack of interest in reading may be partly due to my vegetable garden, the first I've ever planted. I had no idea that taking care of plants could be so engrossing!

I have started with the Jane Finnes series of mysteries set in early Roman Britain. Luckily my library system has them all. I like the writing style which is amusing and slyly witty.

Tim, some time ago I read Comyns' Our Spoons Came from Woolworth's semi autobiographical and rather sad. Her bohemian 'arty' life full of poverty and struggle.
I have been meaning to read Sisters by a River as she grew up on the banks of the Avon near Stratford where I was 'raised' (as they say in the US)
Good luck with your veggie growing. You may find it is more rewarding than her books.

Timallan, I have neighbours who have a veggie garden and they do seem to spend a lot of time tending it.
Lovely to have home grown food. I did grow cocktail tomatoes once when I had a trellis fence and had a wonderful crop one year. The next year nothing!
I have a good market nearby so it isn't worth my effort to grow my own and a friend with a prolific parsley plant which I can utilise. I pick, chop and freeze what I need to add to soups and garnishes.

Regarding Where'd You Go, Bernadette, I totally agree with reader-in-transit's comment "Her husband deserved better from the author than the unnecessary complication that she throws his way ..." I found that complication (and the event that led to it) really inconsistent with Elgie's character. He truly was caring and patient in every other way and it seemed unfair of the author to throw that in.

In a book full of absurdities (Bernadette), it seems silly to single out certain events as too absurd, but that said, I also found the scene in the downtown store to be too much of stretch.

And yet ... I still really liked the book.

I'm reading The Ghost Fields, the latest by Elly Griffiths. Kate is starting to school--time is flying by--and a WWII plane is found in a field, with the pilot at the controls and a gunshot wound in his head. In this ongoing series, Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist and Kate's mother, is called on to examine the body. She and the (married) chief inspector love each other.

woodnymph--guilty as charged. I did read Hausfrau and reported this: It is thoughtful, precisely written, and intense and unsettling. My book club now has it on our reading schedule (thanks to me) because I think it will create a lively discussion. And yes, I agree with you that Anna had depression, in spades, and needed serious medication/hospitalization rather than talk therapy. Essbaum's use of language is sharp and I liked how the story unfolded, disturbing as it was.

I attended two book conferences in NYC at the end of May; talk about being like a kid in a candy shop, coming home with all sorts of arcs and new books. :) On the lighter side, I loved Re Jane by Patricia Park; it's sort of a reworking of Jane Eyre, but this Jane is a half Korean woman working in her uncle's grocery in Queens and to escape the drudgery, takes a job as a nanny to a Brooklyn family. Jane is witty and sharp as she learns to balance her two cultures. I was completely surprised by Kate White's The Wrong Man--think of a cozy mystery as written by the former editor in chief of Cosmo. A dichotomy that may be, but one that works well for the reader and turned out the perfect beach book.

Have also been (over)indulging my thriller jones...Ruth Ware's In a Dark Dark Wood, about a "hen party" gone bad was OK but I could see it being turned into a movie, and I felt the same about SJ Watson's (good lord I always thought he was a woman) Second Life. Really enjoyed the suspense in Amelia McCreight's Where They Found Her; a newborn is found in a creek at the edge of a college campus and the story unfolds from the perspectives of three women--a married, newly minted reporter recovering from a traumatic miscarriage, the chief of police's wife, and a teen from the wrong side of the tracks. Also, Disclaimer by Renee Knight, about a woman who finds a manuscript left at her house which details a day of her own life twenty some years ago in which she may have been involved in a terrible crime, was definitely pretty twisty and good.

Yoyo, I thought Miss Peregrine was terrific and think it is a great choice for middle grade boys. It has a sequel which I haven't gotten around to reading. And all you The Martian readers, include me as another fan. Oops--way too wordy, sorry!

I got tired of being on a long list at the library for The Martian, so I went out and bought a copy. I'll be reading it next.

I've just started "Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania" by Erik Larson. I find this author makes history enlightening and entertaining, so am looking forward to learning more about WW I and Pres. W. Wilson and Ms. Galt.

Ann, what are "cocktail tomatoes"?

Mary, I recently bought some tomatoes described as 'cocktail'. I had never heard the word used in that way, so assumed it just meant they were small!

Mary and Vee, in Hawai'i tiny to small tomatoes are called 'cocktail tomatoes' that are usually referred to in mainland U.S. as grape tomatoes (the oblong ones) and cherry tomatoes (the round ones).

Mary, I also have on hand Dead Wake by Larson. Have you read his In the Garden of Beasts about the American family that witnessed Hitler's ascendancy in Germany?

Woodnymph, cocktail tomatoes are indeed a small variety. They can be used whole as a cheeseboard addition or an attractive salad garnish. I have fried them, tossed lightly in garlic butter.
I picked over 200 which grew over the summer my vine lived. I planted a red variety but there are others. One is Solanato, which is very sweet and orange in colour.

I wonder if cocktail tomatoes are what we in the states call "cherry" tomatoes or "grape" tomatoes? Do you have "heirloom" tomatoes where you live?

I am re-posting a comment I made above between the one by Vee about tomatoes and one with which Annpan followed up. Some of you may be seeing this twice, but I suspect that some did not see it all! I am perplexed because I don't know what's going on. My post has the time stamp of 22 minutes after Vee's post. I can still see my post on my computer where I composed it, but on my DH's computer it doesn't show up, as if it was never there. Can anyone, please, tell me if you are seeing my original post plus my re-post? Have any of you had experience with disappearing posts that you've made?

Re-posting:

Mary and Vee, in Hawai'i tiny to small tomatoes are called 'cocktail tomatoes' that are usually referred to in mainland U.S. as grape tomatoes (the oblong ones) and cherry tomatoes (the round ones).
Mary, I also have on hand Dead Wake by Larson. Have you read his In the Garden of Beasts about the American family that witnessed Hitler's ascendancy in Germany?

Frieda, very strange. The comments from houzz appear in my email inbox. I don't check them there and usually delete them straight away as they clutter up the system.
Yesterday (Sunday) as I was clicking 'off' the houzz stuff I noticed the word Hawai'i and thought "Frieda must have written something." Yet when I went to the Houzz site and this thread there was nothing there from you. I'm sure this has occasionally happened before, but I have put it down to my lack of attention/old age/senility.
Your original post (last Saturday 12:50PM) is now on my screen in the 'correct' position.

Mary 'heirloom' toms/seeds/veggies are more likely to be so-described in the US (according to DH we call them 'heritage') and refer to older varieties. These plants crop less well but probably have a better flavour and a thinner skin or an irregular shape and colour. Modern seed produces a much greater yield, thicker skin, brighter colour and little taste. It's all a question of marketing. We are constantly told the British Housewife demands all her apples/carrots/plums etc be exactly the same shape and last for many weeks in the 'fridge. Of course this just leads to waste at the farms where the 'mis-shaped' stuff has to be thrown out as the supermarkets wont accept it.
On the other hand . . . we have been sent 'heirloom' flower seeds by a US cousin. After planting the stems grew to be very tall and there were almost no flowers. Obviously the seeds were much more closely related to their 'wild' cousins and didn't make the expected 'show' in the flower-bed.

Frieda, yes, I did read Larson's "In the Garden of the Beasts." I liked it very much. The book on the Lusitania is moving a bit more slowly for me. He is certainly thorough in his research.

friedag, I know I wrote a post about Kim Philby but it doesn't seem to be anywhere in the thread now!

Yes, I am getting the MacIntyre book and also one by Philip Knightley, The Master Spy: the story of Kim Philby.

I am waiting for one other hold to come in (Being Dead is No Excuse) so I can get all my library books in one fell swoop.

Recently I read Anne Rutherford's Opening Night Murder, set in Restoration England, and alsoTracy Weber's Murder Strikes a Pose, set in current Seattle area.

I enjoyed both of them, and am looking forward to continuing reading both series.

Dawn

Freidag, I didn't see the post at first but it is there now. I think that Houzz don't always put posts up straight away as I have seen odd time differences when I have checked the posts to see if there are new ones.
I think that the tomatoes I grew are also called cherry tomatoes now. They were the size of a cherry. I notice that the cocktail ones in the supermarkets are larger and now we have small cherry and grape ones as well as others.
The heirloom/heritage ones are around. The supermarkets have a small variety sold as a mixture with others in a pack.
I was disappointed in the local tomatoes. As Vee says, they are thick skinned with no taste. I did some after school work in a UK farm that grew tomatoes in a greenhouse and got spoiled for taste. I was allowed to take home as many of the ripe tomatoes as I liked that were too soft to go to market.
The supermarkets are now selling "ugly" vegs. Misshapes etc. are bagged and sold at a reduced price. Many items that used to be dumped are now passed on to charities to be cooked into meals for the poor and homeless. Although they were still edible, out they went! Dumpster diving was popular with impoverished students and I remember seeing trucks of day-old bread going to the tip. Such waste!
I finished reading a light novel about a woman who makes greeting cards. I buy special ones from a local girl who does that but I couldn't help wondering what the fictional character charges if she did indeed spend hours on her creations! I usually pay around $A10 max. for mine, depending on how elaborate they are. This is only a little more than one from a shop but unique for the occasion and sometimes unobtainable in the form I want anyway.

This month's reading thread has certainly raised my awareness of Seattle (Where'd You Go, Bernadette, etc.) and oddly, this morning I saw this video on facebook.

http://www.12news.com/videos/news/nation/2015/04/24/26296531/

I don't know why the source is Arizona TV, but it is quite interesting. And to think, I had never heard of Dale Chihuly before. Reader's Paradise is so informational!

annpanagain: I've read probably twenty of Anne Perry's marvelous mysteries which take place in England, and wonder if you have read any of them or can tell me if Jane Finnis' series can compare. Thank you.

I am reading "the loss of A MOTHER's loss" by Jennifer Shriver - I'm enjoying it so far - it seems to be at least based on the relationship of a mother and a daughter through the daughter's eyes after her mother's death. They had a rough relationship and the book outlines the different events through their lives they led them to their estrangement. Going back home for the funeral was awkward for the daughter, to say the least.

Seems I'm late to the party again. I haven't read any Jane Finnis, but am interested in annpanagain's answer! Just finished the first Maisie Hobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. I enjoyed the character development to try another but was a little disturbed by Dr. Blanche's odd psychological mentoring of the young Maisie. Has anyone else read this and care to comment?

Pink, I haven't read Anne Perry's books so I can't comment on them at all! Sorry.

I finished The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, it was just OK. My main reservation had to do with the story being written in the present tense and also trying to do too much (star-crossed lovers, unsolved murder, and a magical dress shop).

I've started the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt, and I'm enjoying it. Next up will be Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat (underdog American rowers in the 1936 Olympics) for my book group.

I may not have been here much (work), but I have been reading - just not quite at the rapid pace that I could before. However, I have still had some good reads lately so thought I'd share those.

One recent fiction read which was stellar was "Elizabeth is Missing" by Emma Healey. The narrative arc follows an older woman who is fighting dementia and it's through her eyes that the reader sees the action. The protagonist is convinced that her friend Elizabeth is missing (thus the title), but her family won't believe her or act on it due to her unreliable memory issues. As the book continues, you'll see the intriguing theme of the role of memory - what is true? What really happened? Whose reality is the correct one? It reminded me of "Stone Angel" which also addresses memory and old age. (I'm really interested in this right now - I guess because I'm old! :-) )

Anyway, loved it and couldn't really put it down. If I did put it down, I was usually thinking about the characters and that, to me, makes a good read.

Did read a disappointing volume of Gerard Woodward's called "Vanishing" which the publisher had sent as I had loved Woodward's "August". Oh well. Can't win them all. There was a Christie in there and now I'm involved with the adventures of a Victorian family in "Aurora Floyd" by Mary Elizabeth (M.E. Braddon) who wrote "Lady Audley's Secret". Sensation novels just hit the spot right now.

And then a trip to Mexico on the beach is on the horizon so thinking about which beach reads to take. :-)

Sheri_z6 - Though I was not eager to read it, I ending up loving The Boys in the Boat. I hope you enjoy it too.

Michelle, I have read all the Maisie Dobbs books and really like them. I've been interested in WWI books in the past few years. Anne Perry has a trilogy set during that time.

I've started Judas Island, another of Kathryn R. Wall's Bay Tanner books, Mary, they are set on Hilton Head. I can't remember if I've already told you that.

I really liked Elizabeth is Missing, too; it made it to the Booker longlist. The Boys in the Boat is the One Maryland One Book choice for 2015. Our library system will "celebrate" it this fall with some tie-in activities. I am looking forward to reading it and will lead a local book group discussion for it.

Lemonhead, I agree with what you said regarding thinking about the characters. Sometimes I get so involved with some that I weave new scenes about them! I can understand people who write fan fiction, although I wouldn't go so far as actually writing a whole book!
I usually continue a story when I am trying to get off to sleep. I may have mentioned here before that I used to tell my little sister Enid Blyton-inspired stories to get her to sleep when we were put to bed in our air-raid shelter and would get so involved that I would go on even after she had nodded off!
If anyone has read Maeve Binchy's "The Lilac Bus", I continued Nancy"s story of what she did about getting new "digs" after she was asked by Mairead to leave the flat they shared. I found Nancy a fascinating character and didn't like to leave her homeless!

lemonhead/Liz, if you enjoy books about memory/old age (or lack of it in my case) try Dear Life by Alice Monroe. A collection of stories some based on her own experiences; the last one is especially powerful.

Annpan, I think much of the 'modern' fiction I read is so dreadful I would spend most of any continuing storylines I might 'dream-up' throwing the central characters over a cliff/under a bus/lost in the wilderness.

lemonhead101: Do keep reading, especially tales that whisk you to another world. If you'd like to match ages, feel sure I'm ahead of you. Remember you are not old, you are just older.

I am 78. The first time I was referred to as "an old lady" I was quite shocked! When the local groomer returned my dog home some years ago, she smilingly remarked that someone had asked if the sweet dog she was putting in the car was hers and she had replied that it belonged to an old lady. Ow!!

I've just finished Erik Larson's "Dead Wake", about the sinking of the Lusitania. I highly recommend this for anyone with an interest in the history leading up to WW I and America's coming late into the war. Larson uncovers several fascinating "secrets" behind the scenes, both in England, with Churchill and the powers that be, as well as in America, with Pres. W. Wilson. Once I got into the book, I could not put it down.

Are you out there, Frieda? This one's for you!

I have just received the DVD of "Kim" with Peter O'Toole as the Lama. So far I am not impressed! The boy playing Kim is too old and Peter's wig is terrible. Lots of interesting background though so I am watching the sets as much as the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed William Trevor's Children of Dynmouth . Written in the '80's we are introduced to the 'out of season' sea-side resort somewhere on the English Dorset/Devon coast, where nothing much happens, everyone knows each other and life on the surface is calm and measured.
The teenage protagonist Timothy Gedge, is an uncared for, friendless and slightly menacing boy who spends his time spying on the residents, while dreaming of an unlikely life as a TV talent-show winner. He looks through windows at night, attends every funeral, does odd-jobs and is a petty thief. What he observes . . . or believes he has seen leads to much soul-searching and worry among the residents. Is Gedge intelligent enough to be a blackmailer or has he picked up on half-truths? He seems to be guileless with little sense of right and wrong and today would probably be given a 'label' and become a case study for an overworked Social Worker.
A highly recommended read.

I finished Touch by Claire North. I had enjoyed her first, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, so was keen to try this one. I enjoyed the premise - people about to die take hold of someone and can 'take over' their body, and thereafter can move from body to body - but I found the story a bit complicated and muddled.

I have now started Daniel Silva's new one, The English Spy. I'm a big fan of Gabriel Allon, so am looking forward to this.

Vee,
I have that book by William Trevor somewhere in the house, but have never read it. Your review may encourage me to read it eventually.

Astrokath,

Do you have to read the Gabriel Allon by Daniel Silva books in order? Someone left The English Assassin in my house. I found in 2 days ago and read the 1st page and it was the sort of opening that grabs you immediately. However, I put it back, because I wondered if they had to be read in order.

R-i-t, I generally suggest it because there are returning characters in most of the books and their backstories develop from book to book. However, that is only the second one, so if it's grabbed you, I'd say go ahead :)

Thanks, AstroKath! I'll check if the library has the 1st one.

Just finished Anita Shreve's Strange Fits of Passion . About a journalist writing about another journalist who has been imprisoned for a murder. It got to be rather complicated as it wasn't always obvious which journalist was doing the writing/talking as their separate 'voices' were identical.
Rather formulaic plot . . . impressionable young woman dominated by cruel/drunk/sexual deviant husband. What I did learn however was that in US law there seems to be much leeway in reporting criminal activity/who might have done it, interviewing witnesses on TV etc before the trial takes place and that the discussions in the Jury Room are not sub-judice as they are in the UK, where to interview or name juror members even after a trial is considered contempt of court.

Vee,

Years ago, I read Resistance by Anita Shreve, and was surprised by how average and formulaic the book was. Her books are quite popular, I expected more. I know other RPer's have read her, I wonder what has been their experience. Maybe it was only that particular book, but life is short, thus I wiped her from my reading list.

Kathy_t,

The video you mention above about the Smith Tower apartment was produced by the Seattle NBC TV station for the show Evening Magazine (the link you found is for the Phoenix NBC station, so they likely share the news feed). I don't watch the show much, but I happened to see it the day this video aired, and I was in awe. It is such a super cool place.

Dale Chihuly is quite renowned here and apparently in other parts of the world. There is even a Chihuly Garden and Glass attraction at the foot of the Space Needle.

I've read two of Anita Shreve's books, neither of which impressed me greatly. The first was The Pilot's Wife, but I can't recall a blooming thing about it. The second, The Weight of Water, was more interesting since it was about the Smuttynose Murders where a couple of Norwegian immigrant women were killed and a third escaped by hiding from the murderer on the tiny island where the killings occurred. I like historical true crime accounts (this happened in the 1870s), but Shreve's book is a fictionalized story which automatically makes me value it less, even if it is very well written which it must not have been or I would have remembered it better.

Strange Fits of Passion doesn't sound very appealing to me.

Vee, the U.S. law that you referred to is part of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which states (among other things) that there will be no "abridging the freedom of speech, [or] infringing on the freedom of the press..."

It is the right of the American people to know of criminal actions and for journalists to inform them of developments in any criminal case that is considered for trial. As for jurors' names and identities, those are not published until after a verdict is found or a mistrial is declared if no verdict is rendered. Jurors have the option, then, after the conclusion, of talking to the press. Some are very willing, for whatever reasons they have. The freedom of speech and freedom of the press are much cherished rights in the U.S., but they are not without controversy: namely, for criminal trials there can be the danger of 'trying the case in the press/media' and the worry that a defendant cannot get a fair trial and a change of venue may be asked for. With today's media saturation all over the country, venue changing is not as effective as it once was. Sub judice drives American journalists and news followers nuts in countries where the practice of investigations and trials is to keep everything opaque, under wraps, and as impenetrable as possible.

This is not intended as a criticism, just an observation.
I notice that in some countries a person on trial appears at Court in a prison uniform. Doesn't this suggest guilt to a judge or jury rather than the presumption of innocence?
Wouldn't it sway a verdict?

Ann, I've noticed that. Over here prisoners on remand/awaiting trial don't wear uniform and I think I'm right in saying that women prisoners don't wear uniform even when convicted.
Interesting Frieda. Of course many of your US laws had their 'beginnings' in English law . . . obviously they have 'mutated' and I don't know how widely they vary from state to state.
We now have the added weight of European Law to contend with which takes precedence over 'our' law and has led to wily lawyers spinning out possible convictions for years. The European Court of Human Rights, set up to help displaced persons after WWII now deals with cases of extradition and their conclusions are (in some cases) seen as 'bonkers'.
eg a convicted terrorist unable to be deported because he has 'taken a wife/partner' and fathered several children, or even more bizarre the alleged terrorist who had bought a cat with which he had formed a 'close bond' so cannot be removed to the country where he is wanted for acts of terrorism.
As you point out Frieda, the ease with which the modern 'media' spreads info. means it is much more difficult to find suitable jury members who know nothing about an upcoming case and as for 'Freedom of Speech' the Govt has to take many difficult decisions over stuff like phone tapping/surveillance . . . where do our 'Rights' end and the safety of the population take precedence?

I was given a pile of Anita Shreve books by a US friend, was one of them Sea Glass; can't remember?
The Pilot's Wife was made into a cheap TV movie part of which I watched on a wet winter's afternoon. I think it was about a woman who's pilot husband turned out to be involved with the IRA (or similar) Being a nit-picker I noticed their house in 'London' had a number on the door that ran into four figures and looked more like a log cabin . . . but then the film was shot in Canada . . .

Re change of venue, we fairly recently had an Indiana case (just across the Ohio River from us) where a man was convicted three times of murdering his wife and his young son and daughter in their car in the driveway of their home. He kept appealing and the venue kept being changed until he is now free. His extra-marital affairs and the fact that he had recently taken out a large life insurance policy on their lives were deemed not admissible in the later trials.

For my book club tonight I have just finished reading California, the dystopian novel by Edan Lepucki. I did not particularly like it. To me it was more a novel about deceit and secrecy than anything else. I found the characters all pretty much unlikeable, every single one of them, though not uniformly as some were more distinctly unpleasant than others. I don't think this author likes people very much. Not recommended unless you like dark books that confirm a prejudice that people are all pretty awful. Some do. Look at the popularity of Gone Girl.

Next month's book is Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. This one I am actually looking forward to reading. I'm also going to pick back up The Martian by Andy Weir. It started out well, and I was enjoying reading it, but I had to set it aside to finish California in time.

Rosefolly

Carolyn, re the 'case' you mentioned are the police now looking for another suspect in the 'murder in the car'? Over here I think the insurance issue would be allowed but not the previous affairs.
Usually the most serious criminal cases are heard at the Central Criminal Court . . . the Old Bailey, others in the County Courts.

Vee, a man convicted as an accomplice is serving time and the apparent thinking now is that he committed the crime alone.

Rosefolly, I really did like Undaunted Courage and went to see the movie, which I thought copped out at the end in the name of political correctness or freedom from religion or something.

I finished Murder on Lexington Avenue and am ready to begin Murder in Paradise after supper. I have said before that my husband says he worries because I know so many ways to kill someone, haven't I?

I read Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" and loved it. I had no idea a film had been made of the trip west by Lewis & Clark. When did the film come out?

Oh, Mary, I was mistaken. Actually, it was a Lewis & Clark TV mini-series last year, not a movie. The book and movie I was thinking of is Unbroken. Sorry.