Library Loot

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

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This week’s visit to the library was good. Although I didn’t go armed with a list of authors and titles I was pleased to find some books/authors that I’d read about on blogs recently – they  seem to jump out at me.

First, I saw The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton. The Slaves of Galconda had read this for their last book and from their reviews and discussion I thought I would like it and it looked different from other books I’ve read recently. The library catalogue’s summary is:

The Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding house is an oppressive place, as grey and lonely as its residents. For Miss Roach, ‘slave of her task-master, solitude’, a window of opportunity is suddenly presented by the appearance of a charismatic American lieutenant. His arrival brings change to the precarious society of the house.

Then Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill. Gautami wrote about another book by Cotterill this week, so this book caught my eye too. The library’s summary is:

Courtesy of a runaway logging truck, a blind, retired dentist has just checked into Dr Siri’s downtown morgue. Laos’ one and only coroner is mildly curious as to how anyone could be run over in a country where two vehicles on one road would be considered a traffic jam. Is the ex-dentist’s demise connected to the letter in his pocket?

Ever since I read The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry I’ve been wanting to read more by him and this week I found The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty. From the book cover this is:

the secret history if a lost man who, while leaving no trace on the record, become stamped upon the heart of the reader. It is a deeply felt account of flight and the underlying pull of home, written with passion, tenderness and wit.

Normally sequels and prequels are books I avoid, particularly ones to Jane Austen’s novels, but I saw this on the shelf and thought I’d have a look at it – The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough. This tells what became of Mary, the Bennet’s prim daughter. Now I’ve got it home I’m not at all sure I’m going to like this, although I do like McCullough’s books;  the reviews on Amazon and LibraryThing are hardly encouraging. I’ll have to see.

I think I’m on safer ground with the next book – The Hound of Death by Agatha Christie, this is a collection of tales of fate and the supernatural, described in the library catalogue as:

12 unexplained phenomena with no apparent earthly explanation, including a dog-shaped gunpowder mark, an omen from the ‘other side’, an eerie wireless messages, and a levitation experience.

library-lootLibrary Loot is hosted by Eva.

Which Niche Books Do You Read?

Published on by Margaret20 Comments

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There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)

But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.

What niche books do YOU read?

I think a lot of people probably read the same “niche” books as me – on cookery, gardening, health, nutrition, travel and crafts, such as knitting, cross stitch and so on. I also have quite a lot of books on yoga, religion and philosophy and also on creative writing. Looking on my bookshelves I see I also have books on photography, which I’d forgotten about – Digital Photography Handbook and Learn Photography in a Weekend, now those sound useful.

I’m much better at reading these books than I am at putting them into practice.

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie: Book Review

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

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Peril at End House by Agatha Christie was first published in 1932.  For once I wasn’t totally bemused and I was doing well, following the clues, or so I thought because I did solve some of the puzzles before Poirot revealed the culprit. But I hadn’t got the final solution!

Poirot is on holiday in Cornwall and boasting of his modesty to Captain Hastings, who is the narrator of this story. In his own words he is happy to be in retirement:

To sit in the sun – what could be more charming? To step from your pinnacle at the zenith of your fame – what could be a grander gesture? They say of me: “That is Hercule Poirot! – The great – the unique! – There was never any one like him, there never will be!” Eh bien – I am satisfied. I ask no more. I am modest.

But when he meets Nick Buckley who tells of her “accidental brushes with death” he just cannot resist investigating who is her would-be killer. Nick treats it all as a joke but Poirot is convinced that she is in grave danger. Indeed it seems as though he is right, especially when her cousin Maggie, wearing Nick’s shawl is shot.

But why would someone want to kill Nick? She lives at End House, badly in need of repair and “mortgaged up to the hilt”. Could it be Ellen, the housekeeper, or one of her friends – the languid, affected and mysterious Frederica known as Freddie, or her cousin Charles, who will inherit the house if she dies. Or maybe it’s the Australian couple renting the lodge house from Nick, who knew her father when he was in Australia. And what is the significance of the secret panel in the house – if it really exists?

There are plenty of twist and turns as usual with an Agatha Christie plot and not everyone is who they seem to be – identity plays a large role in this complicated mystery. I enjoyed it very much, not least because of Captain Hasting’s comments on Poirot’s outrageous vanity, such as this one:

His fame and reputation meant nothing to her – she was of the generation that knows only the great names of the immediate moment. … He was to her only a rather comic elderly foreigner with an amusingly melodramatic mind.

And this attitude baffled Poirot. To begin with, his vanity suffered. It was his constant dictum that all the world knew Hercule Poirot. Here was someone who did not. Very good for him, I could not but feel – but not precisely helpful to the object in view!

agatha_christie_rcHave a look at the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival for more posts on her books.

Where Are You?/Teaser Tuesday

Published on by Margaret13 Comments

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 It’s Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

Today is 5 December 1942 and I’m at Porter’s in a little side street off the Strand in London, with Mr Craven. It’s Thursday evening and we’re sitting under the bust of Mrs Siddon talking quietly, holding hands under the tablecloth.

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Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

Share a couple or more sentences from the book you’re currently reading. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your ‘teaser’ from €¦ that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

And please avoid spoilers!

My teaser is from page 114 of Good Evening, Mrs Craven: the Wartime Stories of  Mollie Panter-Downes:

They always enjoyed the joke that the waiter supposed they were married. It went with the respectability of Porter’s that any nice couple who dined together continuously over a long period of time should be thought of as husband and wife. ‘We’re one in the sight of God and Mrs Siddon’s,’ he said, but although she laughed, it wasn’t a joke with her. She liked being called Mrs Craven.

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Musing Mondays – Reading Time

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

Musing Mondays (BIG)Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about reading time€¦

Do you have a set reading time (before bed, perhaps)? Do you read more at night or during the day? Is there a day of the week, perhaps, that you set aside to catch up on reading?

My main time for reading is first thing in the morning, including reading blogs. I also read at night but not for long as I usually fall asleep very quickly once I’ve started to read.  I now have more time for reading in the mornings than I used to when I went to work full-time and could only snatch half an hour or so. I used to read at lunchtime at work but now I’m at home I don’t. Sometimes, I read for a while in the evening when there’s nothing on TV that I want to watch.

I take a book with me most places, especially when I’m waiting for a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment  so that I have something to occupy my mind. Last week I went with my husband for an eye appointment at the local hospital and we had to wait 2 hours – lovely reading time! (It was a good job I went with him as he was unable to drive home – his eyes were all out of focus due to the drops they put in. Thankfully the doctor said his eyes are OK!)