3rd #10BeforetheEnd book read

I really liked this, but it took a while to get going. Generational trauma/mothers and daughters, but with a fair bit of light comedy and interwoven as well. Hansen particularly pokes fun at city folk with idealistic ideas about rural life. Vera came to Northern Germany as a child refugee from the east just after WWI. She becomes a local eccentric and refuge herself for her niece and grandnephew some 30 years later.

#TLT

Thanks for the tag @KadaGul 😊

My Thanksgiving experience is pretty traditional, so my score is low. My three favorites are as follows, because this is pretty much the only time of the year I eat them:

😋 Green bean casserole
😋 Pumpkin pie
😋 Stuffing

This was a delightful romp with a little bit of romance.

Middle aged Mr. Partridge takes a chance and hitches his star to young Lizbeth Campion, who is trying to reform her rather useless brother Ronnie. The trio moves to London and finds an assortment of odd jobs, but will Ronnie stick with anything? And will Lizbeth marry her rather strait laced fiancé, Captain Brocard, who very much disapproves of Ronnie?

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

#WhereAreYouMonday

I have way too many books on the go, so am literally literarily all over the place! 😂 But the one I‘m reading the fastest is the tagged book, set in a rest home outside of a Norfolk village in second half of the 20th century. A carer at the home befriends one of the patients and it turns out that both of them have secrets they are hiding.

This book is also one of my #10BeforetheEnd picks.

I‘m ever so slowly making my way through my #10BeforetheEnd stack.

This was a dense and thought provoking read. Translated from the Turkish and set in the 16th century during the Ottoman Empire, this reflects a culture which is largely unknown to me. It does have a murder mystery as its overarching plot, but that‘s just a framework used to delve into larger philosophical questions about art and religion.

Here are my two possibilities for September 2025 for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub members to choose from.

Both are authors we‘ve read previously. Another light romance set in Scotland from Clavering OR another humorous look at village life from Fair.

Let me know in the comments which one tickles your fancy the most!

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday I‘m in Northern Germany, outside of Hamburg with a newly separated mother of a toddler and her eccentric Aunt Vera, who came to the village as an ethnic German refugee from what is now Poland after WWII. A bit romantic comedy, a bit family history, a bit satire on society, especially city life vs rural.

My first #10BeforetheEnd book. I did enjoy it, particularly in its frank depiction of ancient Athens society during the Peloponnesian Wars. The main character comes from a noble Athenian family and Renault doesn‘t try to hide the ways Athenian culture differs from our modern sense of morality or ethics. At the heart of this is a love story between two men, which was completely accepted then. It was a slow and dense read, but worth the time.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday

Thank you for the tag @dabbe ☺️

These are three books set during the Christmas/New Year season that I have only read the once.

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday finds me in 16th century Istanbul among the scribes, miniaturists, gilders, and other artists of the empire who have been commissioned to create book which will also be a work of art for the sultan. Only 50 pages in, but definitely getting The Name of the Rose vibes.

#weekendreads

I‘m primarily only reading the tagged Mother Doll. It‘s a library ebook and I am at 50%, will hopefully finish this weekend. 🤞

Nancy Drew ,is of course. for this month‘s #NancyDrewBR .

The rest are from my #10BeforeTheEnd pile and I have a t least read the first chapter of each. I will try to prioritize Altes Land since it works for November‘s #TBRTarot prompt.

Happy Halloween #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub friends! 🎃 Next month is our last pick for 2024. We‘ve read Margery Sharp before (Four Gardens) and I quite liked it, so I have high hopes for this one.

As usual, read at your own pace and post your thoughts as you like. Be sure to copy everyone when you do, so we can comment.

All are welcome. If anyone wants to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know.

@LitsyEvents

#ToBWaiting

Here‘s my six guesses for the 2025 Longlist. I‘ve only picked books that I have not read which are eligible and might make the cut. 🤞

#TLT #ThreeListThursday

Thanks for the tag @dabbe 😊

Crime fiction and mystery is probably my favorite genre, so it was great fun to peruse this list. Listed are the top three from the list that I HAVEN‘T read yet, but really want to.

Feel like trying it out for yourself? Consider yourself tagged. This is the link: https://www.listchallenges.com/litsy-time-magazines-100-best-mystery-and/list/3

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know.

2. In some ways this is primarily a mystery novel. Did you like that aspect of it? Did you guess who the real culprit was?

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

1. How do you feel about the concept of”uplifting” another species? Is it ethical? Is it plausible?

#WhereareyouMonday

Today finds me in Ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian Wars following the fate of young Alexias, an Athenian noble, as he matures, meets his mentor and lover Lysis, becomes a soldier and sailor… He also encounters Socrates, Plato, and other famous Greek names which have come down to us through history. Slow read, but satisfying.

I‘ve started in on my #10BeforetheEnd pile! I need to ignore the lure of library books! 🤞

#whereareyoumonday

This Monday finds me in outer space again with this month‘s #LitsySciFiBookclub pick. I am orbiting Earth in 2086 on a luxury space station (think a cruise ship turned up to 11). The guests are all there for a high school class reunion with all the emotions and drama that brings. Plus an unsolved murder, lower decks tension, a race for Mars… there‘s a lot going on!

I started this on audio, which wasn‘t working for me. Switched to print and blew through it. A gothic tinged mystery. Ruby McTavish‘s adopted son left home soon after her death in 2013 and hasn‘t returned, wanting nothing to do with his adoptive wealthy family. What happened? Does it have anything to do with the fact that Ruby was kidnapped as a baby? Why is Camden‘s wife so keen for him to return to the family home? Quick, fun popcorn read. 🍿

I get that Kushner isn‘t for everyone, but she‘s definitely for me. I loved this book about a former US covert operator who‘s now free lance and on a gentle downward spiral. In her assignment to infiltrate a group of environmentalists in France, she falls under the influence of one the commune‘s mentors who is obsessed with Neanderthals. A thought provoking and entertaining blend of facts and fiction.

#weekendreads

This is what I have on tap this weekend. Hope to finish the Kushner, I‘m over halfway through. Escape Velocity is for #LitsySciFiBookclub . I might bail on The Heiress. So much heavy foreshadowing, which irks me. Sadly none are my #10beforethernd picks. 🙃

Very detailed and rich description of food and cooking but purposefully vague in other respects. It more or less worked IMO. Piglet is a childhood nickname which has stuck. She‘s now late 20s - early 30s and her life is magazine-spread perfect - which is impossible to maintain and Piglet has appetites, not only for food, which have been sublimated in her attempt to achieve such perfection. It‘s going to crack, and when it does, it won‘t be pretty…

#WhereAreYouMonday

This week finds me somewhere in the south of France 🇫🇷 trailing a possible ecoterrorist group whose leader is obsessed with Neanderthals.

This is my #10beforetheend list. Only 10 more weeks in 2024. 😱 These are all books I‘ve acquired this year but not yet read. I don‘t know if I will manage to get to them all by December 31, but I‘d at least like to make a dent!

#TLT
#ThreeListThursday

Thank you for the tag @The_Penniless_Author @Eggs

“Thrills” is a weird criteria IMO, but what the heck? I‘ve only seen 15 of the 100 listed. Attached are three based on books that I have read.

#whereareyoumonday

I‘m in NYC with the protagonist, Bea as she ensnares rich blue blood Collin Chase. This is a #blameitonLitsy choice. Bea is a con artist, but the reader also roots for her. It‘s complicated.

#weekendreads

A bunch of library ebook holds came in today and instead of postponing a few, I downloaded them all (cue nervous laughter). 🤭 still plugging away at Sundiver for #ClassicLSFBC and The Message in the Hollow Oak is for #NancyDrewBR this month.

Thank you for the tag @PageShifter 😊

#whatsyourjobmonday

This book has a lot of “main” characters. I‘ll pick Sand dan Glotka. In this book he‘s a former army officer turned Inquisitor after surviving torture and imprisonment. Makes my contracts and international trade administration job seem much easier… 😱

#WhereAreYouMonday

Today I am somewhere in the highlands of Australia 🇦🇺 at a snowy, slightly run down resort, with a rather unpleasant family. So far the death toll is two, but it is going to get worse…😬

I‘ll finish it, but this is one of those books where the entire plot could have been avoided if characters just had a conversation. 😳

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

🌙 Clark portrays a positive view of the future. Yes, there are sexist assumptions in it, but it also envisions a multi-cultural, peaceful human society. He also made a few predictions about human culture in the 21st century. What did he get right and what did he get wrong?

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

🌙 This novel definitely skews toward hard science fiction. The plot is pretty much one of problem solving with either technology or psychology. Did you enjoy this aspect of the book?

#weekendreads

📚Still chugging through the Abercrombie. I had to back burner it to finish some other stuff last week.

📚 Listening to the entertaining if glib “Everyone in My Family…” murder mystery.

📚 Getting an early start (for once) on this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick.

QUOTE: “The final ‘though‘ indicated recognition of the fact that something lighter would be appreciated here - say one of the decadent but amusing comedies of the 1980s, which had invaded the airways in such numbers with the collapse of TV censorship.”

I have to admit, thus is where my thoughts went when thinking of some of the dumbest ‘80s television comedies that Clark couldn‘t have begun to imagine. 😆

#ClassicLSFBC

#WhereAreYouMonday

I‘m in the Republic of Ireland in a rural area where many inhabitants are sheep farmers. It‘s a particularly hot summer, however, and tensions run high when the ne‘er do well Johnny Reddy returns with a get-rich-quick scheme.

#weekendreads

Excited to start three new books this weekend.

✔️ A Fall of Moondust is for #ClassicLSFBC and my first Arthur C. Clark novel.

✔️ The Joe Abercrombie is totally new to me, but obviously highly recommended by others.

✔️ Tana French is a familiar favorite. This is only book from her that I‘ve not yet read.

Oof! 😳 I really did not like this book. And I LOVE John Irving. This is the eighth of his novels that I‘ve read and I didn‘t feel any spark. I found it unnecessarily repetitive and the constant use of descriptors instead of a pronoun irritated me (“the future writer”, “the former river driver” “the Mexican house cleaner”). And I hated Ketchum. I will still keep reading Irving, you can‘t win ‘em all. This one just was not for me. Womp Womp.

#WondrousWednesday

Thank you for the tag @Eggs and @Deblovestoread 😊

💛 Tagged!
💛💛 Paper!
💛💛💛 Mystery!

#WhereareyouMonday

This Monday finds me back on the 🇮🇹 Italian Riviera the 1920s at a resort hotel populated mainly by English tourists. As I roam the grounds, I can see many of my read-along companions from the #HashtagBrigade

There was disappointingly only one reference to Spam on the whole book! 😂

This was fun, but not quite as fun as I anticipated. The book is Verily Anderson‘s experiences in London and in the countryside during WWII. Kicked out of the FANY, she marries and raises children in some pretty adverse and sometimes ridiculous circumstances. She seems to have been the kind of person who is able to find humor in any situation.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

#ihavequestions

🌼 Spring: A Room with a View - the possibilities of youth; allowance to change one‘s mind and choose a new path.

🏖️ Summer: The Fortnight in September - a lovely two week holiday at the English seaside mid century.

🍂 Fall: The Secret History - Portentous and gloomy in a university setting.

❄️ Winter: The Enchanted April - a great book read when the weather is wet and cold.

Thank you for the tag @RaeLovesToRead ☺️

1. I‘d like to visit Wigtown, Scotland someday.

2. The tagged book is a memoir by a bookseller located there.

#WondrousWednesday

Thank you for the tag @Eggs and @PageShifter ☺️

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday finds me again outside our solar system, this time on space station orbiting a planet abandoned thousands of years ago by unknown aliens. 👽 🚀

Is the recent suicide of a crew member due to mental stress or was it murder? A beleaguered psychologist and this reader are trying to find out.

#weekendreads

It‘s boiling hot this weekend in Southern California, so this pool looks particularly inviting. 💦

I‘m still laboriously making my way through Parade‘s End. About halfway through. Everything else is a group read:

The Hotel for #HashtagBrigade ,
Spam Tomorrow for #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub , and
Ghost Station for #LitsySciFiBookClub .

#HashtagBrigade
#Pemberlittens

My copy finally arrived! I did read the first chapter on Hoopla, but I dislike reading on my phone. Now to catch up! 😃

Thanks for the tag @PageShifter 😃

I‘m going to pick three movie villains where the film was based on a novel:

🎥 Nurse Ratched from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest”

🎥 Hannibal Lecter from “The Silence of the Lambs”

🎥 Mrs. Danvers from “Rebecca”

I found this pic of the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA on the blog: http://keepingupwiththejones-s.blogspot.com/2010/06/midnight-in-garden-of-good-a...

This book was everywhere in the ‘90s. It only took me 30 years to get to it. It was pretty good, like a really long, tangential magazine article. The true crime aspect is almost overshadowed by the detours and eccentric characters. Still, a very evocative portrait of Savannah.

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday finds me with Nancy, Bess, and George somewhere at a resort area in Maryland. Makes me wonder where the fictional Drew hometown River Heights might be located…Pennsylvania maybe? 🤔

Published in 1994 but about a true crime that happened in 1981. I‘ve had this book now probably since the early aughts and providentially picked it up yesterday to read because it will fit this month‘s #TBRTarot tag “Set in the‘80s”

A few questions if anyone wants to discuss this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC 🦠 pick.

Question 3: I think for any Litten, the loss of literature would have been devastating…could the parents have at least read picture books to their children to keep stories alive? Or would this have been too strange, given that the world depicted in many of the story books would not make sense to the children given their extremely limited society?