The weather is still so terrible that it’s difficult to think of summer but perhaps this wonderful challenge, 20 Books of Summer, will bring that elusive season to the forefront. Wind, and rain, and really cold temperatures, especially at night, has been our present experience, however I feel warmer days are on the way. I’ve started learning to golf once again and am planting our garden. Summer must come!
Murder At The Vicarage: “It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon in the Vicarage.”
Detective: Miss Marple (first appearance)
Published: 1930
Length: 285 pages
Setting: St. Mary Mead, Downshire (fictional)
I was reading Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and composing my review while thinking about times in history that featured non-violent protests. I read Gandhi’s autobiography, My Story of My Experiments with Truth, and along with King’s letter, one of the main things that stood out for me was their concern for their fellow man. While King is attempting to bring attention to racial injustice, the two main themes that ran throughout his letter were LOVE and BROTHERHOOD. And both men, while fighting peacefully for what they believed, actively tried to cultivate within themselves traits that would make them better human beings, traits that would foster unity, empathy, patience and love towards others. With all the turmoil, division and angst all over the world, it was a joy to read a narrative that, in spite of addressing negative issues, was positive in its make-up. Internally, I was lamenting the dearth of such leadership and sentiments today. And nothing similar would never happen in Canada, a country full of very compliant, quiet, obedient citizens. Until ….
“Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.”
There is a wardrobe in an old room. Picture yourself opening the wardrobe door. You climb inside it, carefully leaving the door cracked open slightly as you push your way back in amongst the antique coats, which smell of dampness and age and silent history. But wait! It is cold underneath you and, as you reach down, you grasp a wet, slushy substance that could only be snow!
Jay at Bibliophiilopolis used to host the Deal Me In Challenge every year however 2020 seemed to be the end of the challenge. But since it was one of my favourite challenges, I’ve continued on my own. Last year was almost a complete bust, but I’m going to try again this year, if only for the value I received from stretching myself to read writing I wouldn’t normally choose. So here is my Deal Me In Challenge 2022!
“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!
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.
With both Christmas and New Year now over, I still haven’t posted any challenges and I’m still mulling over what I want to tackle. But what I do have is a couple of lists which I want to focus on. I usually read multiple books at a time but I’ve developed a bad habit over the last few years of starting books and not completing them, even though I have every intention of finishing. So my first list for the new year is unfinished books that I need to … well, FINISH!
Giant’s Bread: “It was New Year’s Eve.”
Main Character: Vernon Deyre
Published: April 1930 (14th published book)
Length: 437 pages
Setting: various: Abbots Puisannts, London, Germany, Holland, Moscow, New York, etc.
My chronological Agatha Christie read continues with Giant’s Bread, her first novel published under the pseudonym, Mary Westmacott. There is no detective work in this story, as Christie/Westmacott treats her readers to a very modern novel. In any case, it must have been a much needed break from the detective novels Christie was expected to write.
Covering a vast number of characters and spanning a few decades of years, this first contemporary novel written under a pseudonym, proves Christie wanted this genre of her writing judged on its own merits instead of being buoyed up by her previous successes.
“Mary Clay looked out of the window of the old farmhouse.”
I’ve deviating from my Everyman Christmas compilation with a Christmas story out of a collection of Librivox short stories. The Christmas Present was written by Richmal Crompton, an English woman author, and is a curious story in more ways than one. Let’s find out why …