“No seaside town in the south of England is, I think, as attractive as St. Loo.”
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Published: 1932
Length: 270 pages
Setting: St. Loo(e), Cornwall
Peril at End House by Agatha Christie
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Category Archives: Classics
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
“When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.”
It seems like eons ago that I read a book by John Wyndham …… The Chrysalids, I believe it was …. and I should have remembered that it was weird. Just like The Day of the Triffids. Meat-eating plants with poison stingers and an odd way of transportation, not to mention a world-wide calamity that leaves most of the population blind. What could be stranger?
Mapp and Lucia by E. F. Benson
“Though it was nearly a year since her husband’s death, Emmeline Lucas (universally known to her friends as Lucia) still wore the deepest and most uncompromising mourning. “
Why is it that the British seem overstocked with authors who can write humorous tales that make readers want to read more, immediately after they finish the first book? I can think of a number of books and authors that fit into this category: P.G. Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome, I Capture the Castle, The Diary of a Nobody, Henrietta’s War, Stella Gibbons, and now E.F. Benson comes to the forefront.
I first was introduced to the Mapp and Lucia BBC production and wondered if the books could be just as entertaining. I was wrong. This one was even better!
Back to the Classics Challenge 2022
If there’s one challenge I regularly participate in each year, it’s the Back to the Classics challenge. I participate whether I complete it or not as it gets me reading more classics and often helps me with my Classics Club list. I’m so glad that it’s back this year to give me more focus with my reading.
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Quo Vadis: “It was close to noon before Petronius came awake, feeling as drained and listless and detached as always.”
Quo Vadis was part of the read-along hosted by Nick at One Catholic Life and, thanks to him, I’ve finally finished this book that I’ve long been meaning to read. It was truly fascinating to be completely immersed in the Roman Empire under Nero, and Sienkiewicz did an outstanding job of describing it’s grandeur and excesses, it’s beauty and cruelty, in a way that remains with the reader long after he is finished the novel. Perhaps it’s not surprising that Quo Vadis helped Sienkiewicz win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905.
Classics Club Spin #27 ………….. And the Winner Is …..
Classics Club Spin # 26 … And The Winner Is ……
Tevye The Dairyman and Motl The Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem
Tevye the Dairyman: “In honor of my dear, beloved friend Reb Sholem Aleichem, may God grant you health and prosperity together with your wife and children, and may you have great fulfillment whatever you do and wherever you go. Amen. Selah!”
Actually, I read this book for Cirtnecce’s Classic Club Spin, choosing to join her to check off a book on my own Classics Club list. I was expecting a light, enjoyable read and Aleichem lived up to my expectations, with a lively and appealing look in at a Jewish-Russian family and their lives and struggles told through the narration of Tevye, the father. Tevye is an honest and pious Dairyman who strives to make a living for himself, his wife, Golde and his seven beautiful daughters. But children who are not good children (in Tevye’s eyes), can be challenging at the least, and a poor dairyman’s life is not always easy. Tevye will tell his stories and you can’t help but listen.
Top Ten Winter Books to Read
My top ten winter books. Ah, well, how could I resist this topic? How could I pass up a chance to list all the books I want to read before the end of December and others as well? I can’t. So here I go ….
Christmas at Thompson Hall by Anthony Trollope
Christmas at Thompson Hall
Those of you who have read Anthony Trollope’s novels know that he is a master of the art of character creation. Each of the people who populate his novels have distinct personalities that bring them alive to the reader and draw them into his world. With a short story, however, I wondered if Trollope’s fine skills would hold up using a smaller palette. And so I began to read Christmas at Thompson Hall with a somewhat apprehensive curiosity.