I totally read this in Julia Child‘s voice in my head.

(To clarify Julia wasn‘t talking about Italians, but referencing the low fat health craze that eliminated butter and sought alternative cooking oils)

From my brief Litsy scrolling, I see I‘m virtually joining a few other Littens for a Friday unwind with book/libation. Cheers!

With a bio coming out on Judith Jones, who I didn‘t know is a reason we were introduced to Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, Lidia Bastianich, to just name a few. I wanted to read her memoir as my introduction to this gastronaut I‘ve not been acquainted with before. It‘s riveting. Halfway thru & highly recommend

💚Some news from Virago. I adore the original green spines though. My heart goes pitter pat when I spot a green spine at a used bookstore. They are becoming fewer and fewer though for me in the wild!

A bit of circa 1905 bookish advice from Hatchards. I feel like most of have No. 7 mastered 📚💛… whereas, speaking for myself, I‘m a lost cause on No. 2.

Starting this now with a lovely cider from the local lavender festival. Lavender cider and the July #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub read are what I needed on this Sunday evening. @Tamra I‘m adopting your quiet hour before making dinner routine!

Honest take: I think this was a seasonal pushed out read because a major loose end of the first book remains a loose end. It wasn‘t even addressed. But overall, a cozy mystery with a missing prize ram, a pensioner convinced someone is out to murder her (and they do!), and the hunt for the killer begins as the victims pile up. Chapman doesn‘t seem to stop with one death. Which has me wondering how large of a population is this village?!

Pre-order placed!! I‘ve been a fan of Rebecca Romney since her appearances on Pawn Stars. One of my prize books is one she recommended to my husband and signed when he reached out to get a copy of the Printer‘s Error signed by her. I‘m floored he was able to text her and talked her through my bookshelves so she would get an idea of my fav books to make a recommendation. Check out her IG to see the editions of the books she mentions in this book!

4.5⭐️ I‘ve started this one before and for some reason didn‘t finish it. This weekend pulled it off the shelf and couldn‘t put it down! A well written dynastic format that follows a family, their secretary, servants, and a few close friends in the West End, London during 1927, 1940, and 1947. I hope to be able to come across (in my price range 🤞🏼) other books written by Prunella Beckett.

4⭐️ A cozy-ish (??) mystery set in the Yorkshire Dales with Detective O‘Brien returning home pending an inquiry at his police force. His reception is mixed. And murders are popping up in the Dales pointing to a common theme with an old friend‘s speed dating sessions for the town. Local farmers, a bakery owner, pensioners, pub keeps, curmudgeons, and a newly sober father who may have lost the farm all have roles to play in this lovely who dunnit.

5⭐️ It‘s been some time since a book moved me to tears. This one did a few times. I found Perrin‘s writing to be gorgeous, poignant, melancholy tinged at times, engaging, and reflective. A few times her descriptive scenic writing reminded me a bit of Frances Mayes early books.
Highly recommend this one. It completely absorbed my attention and I jotted quotes down from it frequently.

😭My bargain $1.17 VMC was too good to be true. I flipped through the pages to discover a book heathen tore out pages 108-130. The seller offered a refund (which mournfully the $6 shipping was more than the price) or select another equally priced book from their site. So I‘ve ended up with this lovely Julia Chapman replacement. But I don‘t know what to do with my damaged copy. Any ideas? I can‘t bring myself to recycle bin a VMC…

And from the infant pages of this book, she‘s captured my attention.

Any one else read Valérie Perrin?

Beth Bonini on IG had posted a bit about this book and I was thrilled my library had a copy. I‘ve been finding I must live under a rock because I‘m very late in learning about authors many others have been loving!

📬A much needed dose of cheer straight from the mailbox. I am shocked how quickly the Slightly Foxed Summer Quarterly made it across the pond.
Anyone read Jane Gardam? A bold group member posted her in an undervalued women writers group and was told she isn‘t undervalued nor does she fit in the time period. I appreciated the post as she‘s new to me and other members recommended this one. I was sure to express my thanks to the OP for sharing her.

4⭐️ I‘ve been dipping in and out of this one since early April. So many bookstagrammers highly rate the series. I enjoyed it but I wasn‘t absorbed in it. I could easily put it aside for other books. I enjoyed the summer life in the countryside full of the children‘s antics mixed with the grown ups‘ problems. The threat of war looms and yet life goes on. Eventually, I hope to get around to the others in the series.
Any other thoughts on the book?

4⭐️ I enjoyed this fast paced mystery with two female protagonists. One living and one deceased but very much a part of plot workings. I had a hunch on the ending but it isn‘t obvious. I would have liked more character development but perhaps that‘s the author‘s plan as it seems this is to be a series? It‘s a nice summer read that I‘d recommend getting from the library. It falls into the pleasant read but not a keeper category for me.

1965: Frances attends an English country fair to get her fortune told. She‘s told she will be murdered. Thus launching her into a nearly 60 year investigation into a crime yet to be committed.
Present Day: Her grandniece Annie is summoned to meet with Frances. Only to find Great Aunt Frances is dead and now Annie must solve the murder with many villagers having motive.

What an intriguing blurb that had me scooping this off the library shelf!

Fellow #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub members, my thanks to you graciously being such good sports to read this novel. I chose it and am horrified how over the top it was! The best parts were your witty comments. I counted two times a villain was twerking his mustache! The simple dialogue and writing, dim heroine, non existent mystery it was all so obvious, and the bizarrely fast forwarded HEA all disappointed.
No cute deck drinks with this book photo! 😒

After a few false start the last two weeks, I‘ve picked this one up in earnest. And am loving reading the reactions from the #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub. It‘s so campy that already by page 16 a potential bad guy is twirling his mustache and creeping out our helplessly dim heroine.

Even if it doesn‘t turn out to be a good one, the group‘s reactions to it are making it an enjoyable one for me so far.

🕵🏻I can‘t believe it‘s May and time to read this book! I‘m so very much looking forward to reading this with the #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub. I‘m in the mood for a good Golden Age Mystery too. And fingers crossed I‘ll be granted some free time this weekend to crack it open instead of being drafted into the deck painting project we‘ve been putting off!

May my next photo of it be from a freshened deck with a beverage in hand. 📖🍸

Once I started, I couldn‘t put this book down. I eagerly turned the pages in half anticipation half suspense in following Rakoff‘s job as the assistant to J.D. Salinger‘s agent. When Rakoff shared she‘d never read Salinger‘s work as it never came up in school or interest; I felt connection. As I too have never read his work. 😬 Yet when she describes how moved she was when she did, I‘m tempted to make this year a Salinger reading year. More ⬇️

I enjoyed this one immensely. I needed the soothing rhythm of Stevenson even though the circumstances the daughters are in were hardly soothing. I was disappointed in the loss of Anna as a character once she remarried. The tidy far too convenient way we reached the happy ending. And after rereading the passage, I‘m irked we aren‘t told what exactly was wrong with Helen? And I missed the witty acerbic Augusta Millard. #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

A dramatic scene that broke my heart for Rosalie! And left me wondering what exactly the timely “little red pill” was provided by Mother.

I‘m finishing this #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub read at the eleventh hour! Then will backtrack to the discussion! 🥴

📬Recent bookmail.
Season of Snows has newlyweds torn apart by the war. While the husband is serving, the wife finds herself being pursued by the married partner at the firm where she works. Then her newly released POW husband returns. (Queue dramatic 🎶)
Cottage Sinister is one of the Quentin books that is co-written by a woman. And it sounds like a terrific read.
Doesn‘t this Belgian chocolate bar look like the perfect Middlebrow accompaniment?

4⭐️ The “tragic comedic elements often found in domestic relationships” (Guardian quote from her obituary) were indeed present in this novel. I found the writing acerbically funny, entertaining (see scene where teenagers throw house party), and reflective on stages of moving on in relationships. That being said, the ending disappointed me. To be fair, Mrs Fytton was always clear on her end aim. I, the reader, just didn‘t believe her.

Currently reading. My first Mavis Cheek novel and at 33 pages in, I know I‘ll be seeking out her others. Her writing so far is clever and relatable. Any one else read her novels and enjoy her work?

#JessReads2024

What stood out for me was the departure from family centered domesticity to outright family dysfunction in this Scarlett novel. The heroine isn‘t a beloved older daughter from a loving family, but a more worldly veteran of bombings, factory work, and trained in nursing on the job. The villain is pure evil. The victims undeserving and vulnerable- which was the hardest part of the book for me to read. Overall, a page turner on a blustery winter day.

I spotted a well loved edition of Cranford in the library of Meadowbrook Hall. I asked the docent if the family read the books in the library or collected books. I was told the books were the family‘s books, they indeed read them, however, there was a secret staircase leading to a loft for the less visually appealing paperbacks. I said “Oh, the books they didn‘t want people seeing they read?” and the docent didn‘t find me funny. She said no.

“A stylish and penetrating comedy of manners: Chekhov with more cigarettes and English emotional frigidity..”

I happily was influenced by bookstagram to buy this one. But the book blurb on the back cover has me sold! Slipping in a holiday read under the wire it feels like. Where has December gone? And still, I‘ve managed to find the time to eat far too many Christmas cookies. 🎄

Happy Mail from yesterday! It‘s something to look forward to when I rest my feet after hosting Thanksgiving today. 🧡 Anyone else get their copy?

So glad for the lovely #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub members that tagged me in all their lovely reviews. I immediately got hustling to participate and enjoyed the book immensely. I love reading books that make me smile while reading. The wholesomely sweet Carson family charmed me. Just the right amount of light suspense in a jealous cousin, young romance, and a happy Christmas ending was what I needed.

My picks for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub May 2024 are a DSP published Golden Age Mystery by Annie Haynes and (I think Cate and I had Elizabeth Fair on the brain for 2024!) “Bramton Wick. I‘ll tag that book in the comments. Both are written by authors I‘ve been meaning to read for awhile now. Litsy doesn‘t have blurbs for either- I‘ve linked them below for plot descriptions 😄

❄️I‘m very much looking forward to diving into this one. Simon Thomas always writes the best, most well informed, and interesting forwards to the British Library Women Writers series. Anyone else got this on order or have plans to read?

-It appears it hasn‘t been added to Litsy yet-
#britishlibrarywomenwriters #middlebrow

🦊Friday evening unwind.

Looking forward to seeing everyone‘s weekend reading plans!

Her sentence about having her “real life” just resonates. Summer is a lovely season. It also tends to be a busy social season. Routine is shifted, personal time is allocated differently, and I find my reading life has to become one I fight for in the summer months. It‘s nice to be able to shift in and out of real life for a bit.

Saturday morning coffee, baklava, and the Raising the Middlebrow bookclub (on GR) July selection. Which I‘m told the cover of this book is atrocious in keeping with the plot. And a fellow member observed Dickens portrayal of post war life is very different than Panter-Downes‘ portrayal in One Fine Day (June read). All of which makes me eager to dive to see what it‘s all about. Has anyone else read this one? Would love to hear your thoughts!

I am still slowly savoring May Sarton‘s words. She‘s got me contemplating the clusters of my life and finding comfort in the knowledge they occur. I am hoping to embrace a brief cluster of bookish solitude this weekend. 🌻💛

“After all, it is summer. You are on holiday. You are in the company of your own choosing. The air is clean. You can smell wild fennel and thyme, dry resinous pine needles, the sea. For my part, I ask no greater luxury. Indeed I can think of none”

O‘Neill says “I don‘t return to Elizabeth David to remember how to cook, I read her to remember how I wanted to live and why I learned to cook in the first place.” I completely agree.

I always have a bit of dread on a buddy read when I didn‘t enjoy the book. Especially when I didn‘t select it. This one falls into that uncomfortable bookish category for me.

I was kept interested in the whodunnit, but the characters didn‘t seem likable and the ending unbelievable. In a sensational sort of a way that left me disappointed. It was my first French novel so perhaps it wasn‘t the right one since she‘s so popular an author?

📚📬Bookmail Day!

This one sounds like it could be a good bookclub or group read. Anyone read it?

#virago #middlebrow #viragobooks

Review: 5⭐️ Run for a copy! All are part of the Kindle Unlimited program. And then I promptly treated myself to the set for my rereads. I couldn‘t put the books down, until the moments I was laughing too hard to keep reading. If you love a brave, cynical, witty heroine and an assorted cast of lovable friends, frenemies, and mortal enemies; this is your series! Emma‘s adventures while saving herself from ruin and grief will move you.

“Begin here. It is raining”

Aptly, it‘s raining here too. And as May describes the rain ticking at the window, I hear it too.

I won‘t stoop to calling her a “windbag” like one reviewer did. She was 89 when she wrote this. She‘s entitled to a bit of a droning on. My disappointment was in the lack of sharing about her editor days and bookish tidbits. But that fault lies with me; the book never promised that. Overall, glad to have read it. Yet, I can‘t quite recommend it. Left it in a Free Library stand with the hopes someone else loves it more than I did. ⬇️

Back from a long hiatus combined with a Savannah, GA trip. Which is never complete unless I visit the bookshop cats at E.Shaver (subsequent purchases ensue) and The Booklady Bookshop where luck brought me two Virago green spines.

3⭐️ and not even in the Litsy database. I wanted to like this one and did for the first half. Then the story seemed to have lost its way. Morton writes out a main character unexpectedly. The rest of cast wallows in their emotions and engages melodramatically in classist behavior. It was a shame because the plot was original and building upon nature vs nurture.

#jessreads2023 #vintageread #bookreview

As @Ruthiella mentioned, it‘s a fast read once picked up! I was absorbed in needing resolutions to each of the characters‘ stories. Angela‘s struggle with trying to help Peter knowing the correct societal norm would be to marry yet she‘s got a brilliant career ahead of her was moving. She‘s lived a life and has one ahead of her. Beauchamp‘s portrayal of the mental and physical results of the war on soldiers along with the impact of their return ⬇️

“Gardeners are simply custodians, each handing on the tradition of stewardship, of protecting the land and caring for the ground, until the next generation succeeds us”

This resonated with me. Holt‘s gorgeous writing and passion for native plants spoke to my plant loving heart. I could identify with her efforts in hacking back the wilderness of an overgrown plot and transforming it into a fragrant colorful paradise. Marvelous! #jessreads2023

4⭐️ As an aspiring seasonal reader, the title caught my eye. Fresh off of my first Susan Scarlett novel, I was curious how this compares. This one is less romance more focus on family dynamics during the beginning of WW2 and the impact of taking an evacuee family in. The main female lead is selfish and immature (imo) but experiences character growth. She has conflict with her husband and carries it over to her in laws. ⬇️ #jessreads2023

A 2023 reading goal is to always have a nonfiction or biography running simultaneously with my fiction reading. This 2nd 2023 bio read conversationally while slipping into a Who‘s Who List on influential people Chanel mingled with. To sum it up, Chanel was mysterious, inventive, prone to mixing truth with omission and embellishment in the story of her life. Chaney tried to piece it together but it‘s very surface level and speculative at times. ⬇️

“She has a powerful imagination, and systemically thinks the worst of everyone.
‘The typical elderly spinster, in fact,” said Melchett with a laugh. “Well, I ought to know the breed by now. Gad, the tea parties down here!”

I couldn‘t put it down! I meant to read it slowly for the #goldenagecrimeclub discussion at the end of the month. It was too fantastic of a read. The Vicar as a narrator and an unknowing Watson to Miss Marple was perfect.

“Again I called. ‘Miss Hargreaves-Miss Hargreaves-‘ “

This was a pure pleasure to read. I felt thrust into a whirlwind of dizzying action following Norman‘s experiences with a creation from his imagination, Miss Hargreaves. His fibs have turned into a reality and now he‘s got to control his creation, before she controls him? It‘s comedic gold and yet, I read it with suspense in having to know how it ends! I hope to read more Frank Baker in 2023.