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Looking back at last year’s Top Ten post ‘Winter 2018 TBR’

Published on December 15, 2019 by Margaret10 Comments

In advance of this coming Tuesday’s Top Ten post on our Winter TBRs I thought I’d look back at last year’s Top Ten post Winter 2018 TBR to see how many of those books I actually read. (Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.)

Links from the book titles will take you to my reviews or to Goodreads.

I finished 6 of them!

Greenmantle by John Buchan – from my Classics Club list. Yes

It’s the second of five novels featuring the character of Richard Hannay and is an adventure and spy story with a highly improbable plot. It’s pure escapism.

Bitter Lemons of Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell – Yes

I read this nonfiction about Durrell’s time in Cyprus, during the 1950s Enosis movement for freedom of the island from British colonial rule. His writing is richly descriptive and made me wish I could have seen Bellapaix in the 1950s.

The Accordionist by Fred Vargas – Yes

It’s the third book in The Accordionist (Three Evangelists 3) the Three Evangelists series and it’s probably the most puzzling of the three. They are quirky crime fiction novels, with eccentric characters and intricate plots.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – No

I gave up on this book. It just didn’t appeal to me.

Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves – No

I am amazed, I thought I had read it! It’s the 8th and last book in her Shetland series. I will read it soon.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper – Yes

This is a powerful book, a family drama, set in an isolated part of Australia hundreds of miles from anywhere, revolving around the death of Cameron Bright. I loved it.

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield – Yes

Once Upon a River

An intriguing and mystifying book, historical fiction with a touch of magic that completely beguiled me with its mysteries and fascinating characters. A badly injured stranger enters the Swan Inn at Radcot carrying the drowned corpse of a little girl. Hours later the dead child, miraculously it seems, takes a breath, and returns to life.

The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea – Yes

The Glass Woman Set in Iceland in 1686, this has a dark atmosphere, saturated in sadness, fear and superstition. It’s a story of suspicion, love and violence, as a body surfaces from the ice-crusted sea, a body that had been weighted down with stones. It was too long, too drawn out and slow, especially in the first half of the book for me.

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold

Mythos: the Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry – No

I began it but put it aside for a while, can’t think why that was. I will get back to it.

The BrontÃ«s The Brontës by Juliet Barker – No

I did start it, but I found the sheer size of it and the small font made it difficult to read, but I shall persevere.

Fell Murder: a Lancashire Mystery by E C R Lorac (British Library Crime Classics)

Published on December 14, 2019 by Margaret4 Comments

‘…this crime is conditioned by the place. To understand the one you’ve got to study the other.’

Fell Murder was first published in 1944. This edition, published in association with the British Library, has an introduction by Martin Edwards and also includes a rare E.C.R. Lorac short story ‘The Live Wire‘. It’s the 25th book featuring Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, a shrewd detective, not easily ruffled or fooled.

E C R Lorac was a pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett (1894-1958) who was a prolific writer of crime fiction from the 1930s to the 1950s, and a member of the prestigious Detection Club. She formed her pseudonym by using her initials and for the surname, the first part of her middle name spelled backwards. She also wrote under the name of Carol Carnac.

My thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed Fell Murder. I’ve read three other books by E C R Lorac, Bats in the Belfry, Fire in the Thatch, and Murder by Matchlight, all of which I enjoyed. Fell Murder is rather different. Set in Lunesdale in Lancashire towards the end of the Second World War, it has a slow start as Lorac takes 25% of the book to describe the landscape and introduces the characters. She obviously loved the area, just south of the Lake District, and describes in detail not just the scenery but the way of life of a close-knit community of farming folk. She also describes the changes to the traditional farming methods forced by wartime regulations and the uncertainty of living in an unstable and changing world.

Then the mystery begins with the discovery of the body of old Robert Garth – found dead–’dead as mutton‘–in the trampled mud of an ancient outhouse. The Garth family, live at Garthmere Hall, ruled by Robert with a rod of iron. The Hall is a gloomy medieval building, with mullioned windows, dating from Jacobean times but with a ‘new wing’ added in Queen Anne’s reign.

When the local police officer, Superintendent Layng, investigates the murder he doesn’t get very far, failing to win the confidence of the local people, finding their slowness in answering his questions frustrating and bewildering. So Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald from Scotland Yard is called in. There are a number of suspects, the main one being Robert’s eldest son Richard who had only just returned to the area, although not to his family, after an absence of twenty five years. Richard has a sister, Marion who helps run the farm, and two brothers, Charles, and Malcolm who all live at Garthmere Hall.

Macdonald’s understanding of the ways of the community helps him get to the bottom of the mystery. I had little idea who the culprit could be and think the ending was a bit rushed. What I enjoyed the most about this book are the characters and the way Lorac has captured the essence of that particular place and time during the War.

I also enjoyed the excellent short story, The Live Wire, which I thought was amusing and most original.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for a review copy via NetGalley.

Snow on the Cobbles by Maggie Sullivan

Published on December 12, 2019December 12, 2019 by Margaret5 Comments

snow on the cobbles

I’ve been watching Coronation Street for years so when I saw Snow on the Cobbles, a Coronation Street story on NetGalley described as ‘perfect for Coronation Street fans’ I requested it. It’s the third book in the Coronation Street series. It’s set in 1945 as the Second World War is coming to an end with some of the familiar Street characters – the main one being a young Hilda Ogden, with minor roles for others such as Elsie Tanner, Albert Tatlock, Ena Sharples and the young Ken Barlow. But there are also other characters who have never appeared in the TV soap.

The story centres around Hilda Ogden and new characters, Lizzie Doyle, her mother and her brothers, who have recently moved into No. 9 (currently home to Tyrone Dobbs, his daughter Ruby Dobbs, Fiz Stape and her daughter Hope Stape). Their new neighbour, Elsie Tanner, tells them that the house is said to have bad luck and they are worried about strange noises from the loft. Lizzie makes friends with Hilda when they both start working at the Pride of Weatherfield, a pub that had recently reopened in competition with the Rovers Return, where Annie Walker is in sole charge whilst her husband Jack is away at the war.

The story is of their daily lives, struggling to make ends meet and their joy and celebrations as the war comes to an end and the men return from the war. Lizzie, however, has a secret that threatens her relationship with Steve, the barman at the Rovers Return. And the new manager at the Pride of Weatherfield is involved in some very dodgy dealings.

I read it quickly and enjoyed it as I liked the setting and the historical details about the end of the war. I also liked the biography of Jean Alexander, who played the role of Hilda Ogden and I think Maggie Sullivan has captured the essence of Hilda in this book.

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy via NetGalley.

What’s In a Name? Challenge Completed

Published on December 11, 2019 by Margaret3 Comments

WhatsinaName14

I’ve completed this year’s What’s In a Name? Challenge hosted by Andrea at The Carolina Book Nook. The challenge was to read a book in any format (hard copy, ebook, audio) with a title that fits in each category.

Here are the categories and the books I’ve read:

A precious stone/metal: Who Killed Ruby? by Camilla Way – a tense and emotional mystery.
A temperature: Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves – the 7th Shetland murder mystery – the body of a dark-haired woman wearing a red silk dress is found in the debris of a flood.
A month or day of the week: Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck – with eccentric and funny characters, wit, humour, irony and a touch of farce and surrealism.
A meal: The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies – historical fiction set in Ceylon in the 1920s.
Contains the word “girl” or “woman”: The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea – historical fiction set in set in Iceland in 1686, a story of suspicion, love and violence.
Contains both the words “of” AND “and”: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford – historical fiction set in Seattle, a bitter sweet story of commitment and enduring hope.

I enjoyed reading all of them and it is so hard to choose a favourite! So, it has to be a tie between Sweet Thursday and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

Top Ten Tuesday: ‘Winter’ Books

Published on December 10, 2019 by Margaret19 Comments

top-ten-tuesday-new

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.

This week’s topic is a Freebie and I’m focusing on books with Winter in the titles.

A Winter Book by Tove Jansson – a collection of some of Tove Jansson’s best loved and most famous stories.
The Nature of Winter by Jim Crumley – a nature writer reflecting on mountain legends, dear departed friends and an enduring fascination and deep love for nature.
Winter: an Anthology for the Changing Seasons edited by Melissa Harrison – a collection of prose and poetry about the winter season.
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse – a story of two lives touched by war and transformed by courage set in the winter of 1928.
Winter by Christopher Nicholson – a novel about the last years of the writer and poet Thomas Hardy and his second wife.
Winter by Ali Smith – 4 four people, family and strangers spend Christmas in a fifteen-bedroom house in Cornwall but will there be enough room for them all?
Winter Solstice by Rosemary Pilcher – about Elfrida and Oscar, in the evening of their lives, as the winter solstice brings love and solace.
A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy – about an Irish woman, Chicky Starr, who opens a hotel, and the people who come to stay for the first week.
Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons Book 4 – ice skating, blizzards, igloos and a polar expedition.
The Willows in Winter by William Horwood – in this re-creation of The Wind in the Willows, William Horwood, the author of the Duncton trilogies, brings to life the characters of Badger, Water Rat, Mole and Toad.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Published on December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 by Margaret8 Comments

‘He’d do what he always did, find the sweet among the bitter.’

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Allison & Busby|2013 paperback edition| 396 pages| 5*

It’s not that often that a book brings tears to my eyes, but reading the ending of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet did just that. It is a beautiful book moving between two time periods, the early 1940s and 1986, mainly in Seattle.

Synopsis (Amazon):

1986, The Panama Hotel

The old Seattle landmark has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made a startling discovery in the basement: personal belongings stored away by Japanese families sent to interment camps during the Second World War. Among the fascinated crowd gathering outside the hotel, stands Henry Lee, and, as the owner unfurls a distinctive parasol, he is flooded by memories of his childhood. He wonders if by some miracle, in amongst the boxes of dusty treasures, lies a link to the Okabe family, and the girl he lost his young heart to, so many years ago.

My thoughts:

I had little idea when I began reading this book how much I would enjoy it and how much I would learn from it. It moves at a much slower pace than I would like but this means that I could absorb the detail easily and follow the story without puzzling out the sequence of events. I had no problem at all in moving between the two time periods, as I have in some other books, the characters come across as real people with real lives and real problems. The settings are remarkable, even though I have never been to Seattle, and knew nothing about its history – its Chinatown and the Japan town, Nihonmachi – it came to life as I read on.

In 1942 in Seattle Henry Lee, a 12 year old Chinese American boy meets Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American girl and they become great friends, even though Henry’s father is against the Japanese because of the enmity between China and Japan. He makes Henry wear a badge “I am Chinese” so that people won’t think he is Japanese.

As the war progressed the persecution of Japanese Americans intensified and they were removed from their homes and interned. I knew this had happened after Pearl Harbour, but this book brings home the reality of the situation, of how their lives were uprooted and the prejudice and the terrible conditions that they experienced. Keiko and her family are moved to Camp Harmony, a temporary relocation centre at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, and not allowed to take their belongings with them. Many Japanese families, including Keiko’s, manage to store some in the basement of the Panama Hotel. Henry is devastated, certain he won’t see her again, especially when the families are moved to a permanent relocation centre, Minidoka in Idaho. But his search for Keiko didn’t end there and with the help of his friend Sheldon, a black jazz musician he continued to look for her.

The book is not just about Henry and Keiko it’s also about family relationships, about the importance of communication, of talking and sharing experiences and feelings and about friendships. And it’s a love story – of both a love lost and a love found as Henry and Keiko grow into adulthood. It is a bitter sweet story of commitment and enduring hope and one that I loved.

About the author:

Jamie Ford grew up in Seattle’s Chinatown and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was his debut novel. His second novel, Songs of Willow Frost was published in September 2013. Love and Other Consolation Prizes, was published in September 12, 2017 and is also set in Seattle, inspired by a true story, about a half-Chinese orphan boy whose life is transformed at Seattle’s 1909 World’s Fair. And so one book leads on to yet more books to read …