Category: Memes

Sixes: a Selection from the last Six Months of Reading

Published on by Margaret13 Comments

Jo at The Book Jotter started this meme last year to summarise six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories and she’s done it again this year. Here is my version for 2013, with links to my posts on the books where appropriate:

Six books I have enjoyed, not including Crime Fiction:

Wild Swans etc

  1. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (non-fiction)
  2. The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
  3. The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien
  4. After Flodden by Rosemary Goring
  5. Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
  6. The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

Six Crime Fiction books I’ve enjoyed:

Redemption etc

  1. The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona MacLean
  2. Dead Water by Ann Cleeves
  3. The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves
  4. The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards
  5. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie
  6. Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter by Ruth Rendell

Six authors new to me:

  1.  Roger Deakin – 
  2. Carola Dunn
  3. Julia Stuart
  4. Peter May
  5. Julius Falconer
  6. Patrick Leigh Fermor

Six authors I have read before:

  1. David Lodge
  2. Agatha Christie
  3. J T R R Tolkien
  4. Charles Dickens
  5. Erle Stanley Garner
  6. Kate Morton

Six Books ongoing reading or books on hold, which I’ll be getting back to €¦

 

  1. Charles Dickens: Life by Claire Tomalin
  2. Agatha Christie: an English Mystery by Laura Thompson
  3. Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor
  4. The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg
  5. Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford
  6. Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser

Six books that were not as good as I’d expected:

  1. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
  2. Airs and Graces by Erica James
  3. Small Kindnesses by Fiona Robyn
  4. The Daughters of Fire by Barbara Erskine
  5. The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris
  6. Peaches for Monsieur Le Curé by Joanne Harris

W…W…W… Wednesdays

Published on by Margaret12 Comments

Image for weekly meme W... W... W...This is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB, over at €˜Should Be Reading’. I’ve been reading it for a while and have not contributed before. It is quite simply to answer the following three questions€¦

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

I’m currently reading two books:

Daughters of Fire by Barbara Erskine. This is a long book, taking me longer to read than I like. I’ve read 66% (statistic from Goodreads). I am enjoying it, although wishing the pace would pick up. Maybe it will from now on.

Two thousand years ago, as the Romans invade Britannia, the princess who will become the powerful queen of the great tribe of the Brigantes, watches the enemies of her people come ever closer. Cartimandua’s world is, from the start, a maelstrom of love and conflict; revenge and retribution.

In the present day, Edinburgh-based historian, Viv Lloyd Rees, has immersed herself in the legends surrounding the Celtic queen. She has written a book and is working on a dramatisation of the young queen’s life with the help of actress, Pat Hebden.

Cartimandua’s life takes one unexpected turn after another as tragedy changes the course of her future. But the young queen has formidable enemies €“ among them Venutios, her childhood sparring partner, and Medb, a woman whose jealousy threatens not only her happiness but her life.

Viv’s Head of Department, Hugh Graham, hounds her as she struggles to hide her visions of Cartimandua and her conviction that they are real. Her obsession grows ever more persistent and threatening as she takes possession of an ancient brooch that carries a curse. Both Pat and Hugh are drawn into this dual existence of bitter rivalry and overwhelming love as past envelopes present and the trio find themselves facing the greatest danger of their lives.

The other book I’m reading is Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart. This is very different from Daughters of Fire and I like the contrast of this quirky book. I’ve only read 29%, so I’ve yet to decide whether I really like it.

Meet Balthazar Jones, Beefeater at the Tower of London. Married to Hebe, he lives and works in the Tower, as he struggles to cope with the tragic death of his son Milo, three years ago.

The Tower of London is its own magical world; a maze of ancient buildings, it is home to a weird and wonderful cast of characters – the Jones’s of course, as well as Reverend Septimus Drew, the Ravenmaster, and Ruby Dore, landlady of the Tower’s very own tavern, the Rack & Ruin. And, after an announcement from Buckingham Palace that the Queen’s exotic animals are to be moved from London Zoo to the Tower’s grounds, things are about to become a whole lot more interesting€¦

Komodo dragons, marmosets, and even zorillas (‘a highly revered yet uniquely odorous skunk-like animal from Africa’) fill the Tower’s menagerie €“ and it is Balthazar Jones’s job to take care of them. Things run far from smoothly, though €“ missing penguins and stolen giraffes are just two of his worries!

I’ve recently finished reading:

After Flodden by Rosemary Goring, historical fiction due out in June. I loved it.

This is a fantastic book and I’ll be writing more about it, but for now I’ll say that it’s a dramatic story of what happened to several of the characters involved in the Battle of Flodden that had taken place on 9 September 1513 between the forces of James IV of Scotland and Henry VIII of England. Well written, well researched this is a compelling and powerful book, bringing the characters and the Edinburgh and Borders of 1513 vividly to life.

What am I going to read next?

I’m not sure, as I have several new books crying out to be read as well as books that have been sitting unread on my bookshelves. It could very well be The Frozen Shroud, Martin Edward’s new Lake District mystery, but then again it could be something else.

 

Best new-to-me crime fiction authors: a meme: January to March 2013

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

New to meKerrie at Mysteries in Paradise has set up this meme. To participate just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you’ve read in the period of January to March 2013. After writing your post link HERE and visit the links posted by other participants to discover even more books to read.

So far this year I’ve read crime fiction books by 2 new-to-me authors, both books being the first in a series:

  •  The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona MacLean  – a fantastic book, historical crime fiction, full of atmosphere and well-drawn characters. A book with the power to transport me to another time and place. I hope to read more of MacLean’s books. I found this book by accident, as it were, in my local library.
  • Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn –  the first in the Daisy Dalrymple series.  It’s a quick and easy read, a mix of Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse, set in 1923 at the Earl of Wentwater’s country mansion, Wentwater Court. I first came across the Daisy Dalrymple books in other book blogs. This is an enjoyable book, but not one to overtax the brain, but interesting enough to get me reading more in the series.

My Day in Books 2012: a meme

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

Today I was going to write a post about one of the books I’ve read recently but then I saw that Cornflower had posted this meme: ‘œMy Day in Books’. I did this last year and fancied doing it again with this year’s books. The task is to complete the sentences using the titles of books you have read this year.  Here’s what I came up with:

I began the day by The Secret River

before breakfasting on Red Bones (that’s all there was!)

and admiring The Victorian Chaise-Longue.

On my way to work I saw The Woman in White, 

and walked by The House of Silk

to avoid Our Mutual Friend

but I made sure to stop at The Village.

In the office, my boss said, Death Comes to Pemberley

and sent me to research The Murder on the Links.

At lunch with My Cousin Rachel

I noticed A Man Lay Dead, 

in A Room Full of Bones, 

greatly enjoying  A Quiet Life!!

Then on the journey home, I contemplated Endless Night

because I have A Weekend with Mr Darcy

and am drawn to Dancing Backwards.

Settling down for the evening in A Place of Greater Safety

I studied Dark Matter

by Blue Lightning

before saying goodnight to (the) Bad Boy.

I’ve written posts about most of them. Here are the links If anyone wants to to read what I thought about the books:

My Life According to Books, 2012 Edition

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

I saw this meme on Cath’s blog, Read Warbler. Like Cath I’m behind with writing book reviews but instead of doing that today I decided to do Pop Culture Nerd’s new version of the My Life as a Book meme. Every year she gives us fill-in-the-blank sentences to complete by using the titles of books we’ve read that year.

Here’s my contribution for the 2012 edition:

1. Every Monday I look like: The Help (Kathryn Stockett)

2. Last time I went to a doctor was because: (of) The Parasites (Daphne du Maurier)

3. Last Meal I ate was: Red Bones (by Ann Cleeves)

4. My savings account is: The Safe House (Nicci French)

5. When a creepy guy asks for my number I: Bring Up the Bodies (Hilary Mantel)

6. Ignorant politicians make me: (think of) The War of the Worlds (H G Wells)

7. Some people need to spend more time: (in) A Room Full of Bones (Elly Griffiths)

8. My memoir could be titled: A Quiet Life (Beryl Bainbridge)

9. If I could have, I would’ve told my teenage self: (to beware of the) Dark Matter (Michelle Paver)

10. In five years I hope I am: (in) A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel)

Crime Fiction Alphabet: Q

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

For the letter Q in Kerrie’s Crime Fiction Alphabet I’ve chosen Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong.

Death of a red heroineQX

I  ‘discovered’ Qiu Xiaolong in 2010 during a previous series of the Crime Fiction Alphabet when I wrote about his second book, A Loyal Character Dancer. Death of Red Heroine is his first book featuring Chief Inspector Chen. It won the Anthony Award for Best First Crime Novel in 2001.

Synopsis from the back cover

Shanghai in 1990. An ancient city in a Communist country: looking to the future for its survival. Chief Inspector Chen, a poet with a sound instinct for self-preservation, knows the city like few others. 

When the body of a prominent Communist Party member is found, Chen is told to keep the party authorities informed about every lead. And he must keep the young woman’s murder out of the papers at all costs. When his investigation leads him to the decadent offspring of high-ranking officials, he finds himself instantly removed from the case and reassigned to another area.

Chen has a choice: bend to the party’s wishes and sacrifice his morals, or continue his investigation and risk dismissal from his job and from the party. Or worse . . .

My thoughts:

I think this is as much historical fiction as it is crime fiction. There is so much in it about China, its culture and its history before 1990 – the Communist regime and then the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s – as well as the changes brought about in the 1990s after the massacre of Tiananmen Square. This does interfere with the progress of the murder investigation as Chen has to cope with the political ramifications and consequently there are several digressions and the pace is slow and lacking tension. As Chen is a poet as well as a policeman there are also references to Chinese literature which although interesting, don’t move the murder mystery forward. A fair amount of concentration is needed both to understand the background and work out the plot.

Chen is a reluctant policeman, he has a degree in  English literature and is a published poet and translator. However, he is a good detective and helped by Detective Yu begins to unravel the mystery. Having found a suspect it is really the motive that provides a stumbling block, that and the constant need to keep in mind the ‘interests of the Party’ that prevents a quick resolution.

I like the characterisation, Chen and Yu in particular are clearly drawn, distinctive characters, and the setting is superb. I also like the many descriptions of food (as there are in A Loyal Character Dancer), such as this dinner menu Chen lays on for a party in his new apartment:

For the main dishes, there were chunks of pork stomach on a bed of green napa, thin slices of smoked carp spread on fragile leaves of jicai, and steamed peeled shrimp with tomato sauce. There was also a plate of eels with scallions and ginger, which he had ordered from a restaurant. He had opened a can of Meiling steamed pork and added some green vegetables to make it another dish. On the side, he placed a small dish of sliced tomatoes, and another of cucumbers. When the guests arrived, a soup would be made from the juice of the canned pork and canned pickle. (page 12)

It’s a fascinating book on several levels and one I enjoyed reading. I’m a bit late catching up with reading Qiu Xiaolong’s books as there are now seven Inspector Chen books:

1. Death of a Red Heroine (2000)
2. A Loyal Character Dancer (2002)
3. When Red Is Black (2004)
4. A Case of Two Cities (2006)
5. Red Mandarin Dress (2007)
6. The Mao Case (2009)
7. Don’t Cry, Tai Lake (2012)