Category: Fiction

Book Beginnings on Friday & The Friday 56: Archangel by Robert Harris

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.

I’m featuring Archangel by Robert Harris, one of my TBRs, a book I bought five years ago. It is a thriller set in late 20th century Russia.

Book Beginning:

Late one night a long time ago – before you were even born, boy – a bodyguard stood on the verandah at the back of a big house in Moscow, smoking a cigarette.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Page 56:

Stalin had suffered a catastrophic haemorrhage in the left cerebral hemisphere some time when he was alone in his room between 4 am and 10 pm on Sunday March 1 1953. Academician Vinogradov, who examined the brain after death, found serious hardening of the cerebral arteries which suggested Stalin had probably been half-crazy for a long while, maybe even years.

Synopsis from Amazon:

When historian Fluke Kelso learns of the existence of a secret notebook belonging to Josef Stalin he is determined to track it down, whatever the consequences. From the violent political intrigue and decadence of modern Moscow he heads north – to the vast forests surrounding the White Sea port of Archangel, and a terrifying encounter with Russia’s unburied past.

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What do you think, does it appeal to you? What are you currently reading?

Book Beginnings on Friday & The Friday 56: The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Published on by Margaret8 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.

I’m featuring The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, the last book I bought. It’s set in 18th century England, beautifully written, and it’s weird and wonderful!

Book Beginning:

People like to say they seek the truth. Sometimes they even mean it. The truth is they crave the warm embrace of a lie.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Page 56:

The De Lacy family swiftly became my new obsession. I spent many hours up in the attic in that autumn of 1739, wedged between a moth-eaten crocodile, a broken astrolabe, and the tusk of a narwhale, curiosities banished here by Mrs Freemantle.

Description from Amazon:

Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s The Square of Sevens is an epic and sweeping mystery set in Georgian high society, a dazzling story offering up intrigue, heartbreak, and audacious twists.

A girl known only as Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller, travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient method: the Square of Sevens. When her father suddenly dies, Red becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar.

Now raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendour of Bath, her fortune-telling is a delight to high society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her soul: who was her mother? How did she die? And who are the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find him?

The pursuit of these mysteries takes her from Cornwall and Bath to London and Devon, from the rough ribaldry of the Bartholomew Fair to the grand houses of two of the most powerful families in England. And while Red’s quest brings her the possibility of great reward, it also leads her into grave danger . . .

~~~

What do you think, does it appeal to you? What are you currently reading?

The Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

8

which for me is The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas. The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 2 June 2024.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Set at the height of the “tulipomania” that gripped Holland in 17th century, this is the story of Cornelius van Baerle, a humble grower whose sole desire is to grow the perfect specimen of the tulip negra.

When his godfather is murdered, Cornelius finds himself caught up in the deadly politics of the time, imprisoned and facing a death sentence. His jailor’s daughter Rosa, holds both the key to his survival and his chance to produce the ultimate tulip.


I loved The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas so I’m hoping to love this one too.

Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?

Spell the Month in Books – April 2024

Published on by Margaret2 Comments

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!

This month’s theme is Poisson d’Avril – The French version of April Fool’s Day involves fish, so let’s look for books related to fish, bodies of water, or comedy. But, I looked and didn’t come up with any ideas to fit the theme.

So, this month the books I’ve chosen are all books I’ve read.

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton 4*


Sue Grafton is the author of the alphabet- titled series of books featuring Kinsey Millhone, a private investigator. The books are set in and around the fictional town of Santa Teresa, California, based on Santa Barbara.

 Kinsey is a likeable, strong character. In this first book she comes across as a loner. She’s 32, twice divorced with no children or pets, or indeed any ties, although she does have plenty of friends and contacts who help out with her investigations and she goes jogging – a lot. There are  some cameos of characters, who I suspect feature in the later books. There is her landlord Henry Pitts, a former baker aged 81 who makes a living devising crossword puzzles. Kinsey is ‘halfway in love’ with Henry.

It’s a fast-paced book, easy to read and with no gory details, which I have to skim read in other books (the equivalent of watching the TV  behind my fingers). I liked it but haven’t read any of the other books in the series.

P is for The Private Patient by P D James 4*

When the notorious investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn books into Mr Chandler-Powell’s private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring and long-standing scar, she has every prospect of a successful operation by a distinguished surgeon, a week’s peaceful convalescence in one of Dorset’s most beautiful manor houses, and the beginning of a new life. She was never to leave Cheverell Manor alive. Commander Adam Dalgleish and his team are called to the Manor to investigate her death. 

R is for Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville 4*

This is the fictionalised life story of Kate Grenville’s maternal grandmother, Sarah Catherine Maunder, known as Dolly. She was the sixth child of Thomas and Sarah Maunder, born in Currabubula, New South Wales, Australia in 1881. She was not only restless but also clever and determined – she knew what she wanted and she did her best to achieve it.

Restless Dolly Maunder casts light not just on Dolly’s life but also on life in Australia for most of the 20th century. The book has a relentless pace as it tells her life story as she propels herself from place to place and from business to business, enjoying success whilst it lasted and enduring all else, not stopping to pause breath in her restless pursuit of what came next.

I is for Imperium by Robert Harris, historical fiction set in Ancient Rome. 4*

Beginning in 79 BC, this book set in the Republican era is a fictional biography of Marcus Tullius Cicero by Tiro, his slave secretary. Tiro was a real person who did write a biography of Cicero, which has since been lost in the collapse of the Roman Empire. Tiro is credited with the invention of shorthand. Harris has based Imperium on, among other sources, Cicero’s letters, which Tiro had recorded, successfully interweaving Cicero’s own words with his own imagination.  It is basically a political history, a story filled with intrigue, scheming and treachery in the search for political power as Cicero, a senator, works his way to power as one of Rome’s two consuls.

L is for The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton 4*

This is a long and detailed book, written with such intricate plotting and numerous characters that it bewildered me at times. It’s historical fiction set in New Zealand in the 1860s, during its gold rush and it has everything – gold fever, murder, mystery and a ghost story too.

I loved the pictures it builds up of the setting in New Zealand, the frontier town and its residents from the prospectors to the prostitutes, and the obsessive nature of gold mining. And I did become fully absorbed in the story during the week it took me to read.

The next link up will be on May 4, 2024 when the optional theme will be Nature.

WWW Wednesday: 10 April 2024

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently I’m reading The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin, written while Crispin was an undergraduate at Oxford.I wrote about its beginning and an extract from page 56 in my Book Beginnings post here. It’s the first Gervase Fen Mystery, a locked room mystery, first published in 1944.

Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of (Robert) Bruce Montgomery (1921-1978). His first crime novel and musical composition were both accepted for publication while he was still an undergraduate at Oxford. After a brief spell of teaching, he became a full-time writer and composer (particularly of film music. He wrote the music for six of the Carry On films. But he was also well known for his concert and church music). He also edited science fiction anthologies, and became a regular crime fiction reviewer for The Sunday Times. (from Goodreads)

The last book I read was Nero by Conn Iggulden, an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley; the expected publication date is 23 May 2024. It’s the first in a new trilogy, historical fiction set in Ancient Rome, telling of Nero’s birth and early years, so it’s more about his mother Agrippina than about Nero. It doesn’t shy away from the brutality of the age, particularly those of Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, who was easily as ruthless as his predecessors. I read and watched the TV series I Claudius and Claudius the God years ago and this book is making me want to re-read those books. I find the period absolutely fascinating. I’ll be writing more about nearer to its publication.

I’m never sure what I’ll be reading next but it could be: Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 by Ian Black because I want to understand more about the conflict between Palestine and Israel.

Synopsis from Amazon UK

A century after Britain’s Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish ‘national home’ in Palestine, veteran Guardian journalist Ian Black has produced a major new history of one of the most polarising conflicts of the modern age.

Drawing on a wide range of sources – from declassified documents to oral testimonies and his own decades of reporting – Enemies and Neighbours brings much-needed perspective and balance to the long and unresolved struggle between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land.

Beginning in the final years of Ottoman rule and the British Mandate period, when Zionist immigration transformed Palestine in the face of mounting Arab opposition, the book re-examines the origins of what was a doomed relationship from the start. It sheds fresh light on critical events such as the Arab rebellion of the 1930s; Israel’s independence and the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba in Arabic) of 1948; the watershed of the 1967 war; two Intifadas; the Oslo Accords and Israel’s shift to the right. It traces how – after five decades of occupation, ever-expanding Jewish settlements and the construction of the West Bank ‘separation wall’ – hopes for a two-state solution have all but disappeared, and explores what the future might hold.

Yet Black also goes beyond the most newsworthy events – wars, violence and peace initiatives – to capture thereality of everyday life on the ground in Jerusalem and Hebron, Tel Aviv,Ramallah, Haifa and Gaza, for both sides of an unequal struggle. Lucid, timelyand gripping, Enemies and Neighbours illuminates a bitter conflict that shows no sign of ending – which is why it is so essential that we understand it.

Although this is a weekly meme I’m only taking part occasionally.

Book Beginnings on Friday & The Friday 56: The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin

Published on by Margaret8 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.

I’m featuring The Case of the Golded Fly by Edmund Crispin, a Gervase Fen Mystery, one of my TBRs – a locked room mystery, first published in 1944.

Book Beginning:

Prologue in Railway Trains

To the unwary traveller, Didcot signifies the imminence of his arrival at Oxford; to the more experienced, another half-hour at least of frustration.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Page 56:

In the big entrance hall, lit only by a single bulb in the roof, the night porter dozed uncomfortably in his box and so failed to see either the person who flitted silently up the big staircase to Peter Graham’s room, or what that person was carrying out on its return.

Description from Amazon:

The very first case for Oxford-based sleuth Gervase Fen, one of the last of the great Golden Age detectives. As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as P.G. Wodehouse, this is the perfect entry point to discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin – crime fiction at its quirkiest and best.

A pretty but spiteful young actress with a talent for destroying men’s lives is found dead in a college room just yards from the office of the unconventional Oxford don Gervase Fen. Anyone who knew the girl would gladly have shot her, but can Fen discover who did shoot her, and why?

Published during the Second World War, The Case of the Gilded Fly introduced English professor and would-be detective Gervase Fen, one of crime fiction’s most irrepressible and popular sleuths. A classic locked-room mystery filled with witty literary allusions, it was the debut of ‘a new writer who calls himself Edmund Crispin’ (in reality the choral and film composer Bruce Montgomery), later described by The Times as ‘One of the last exponents of the classical English detective story . . . elegant, literate, and funny.’

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What do you think, does it appeal to you? What are you currently reading?