My laptop is seriously misbehaving. It is around 11 years old … In any case, I’m putting this post up so it will appear on Monday with the hope it actually will. And next I need to learn how to do all the bits I do here (not many) on the MacBook. Wish me luck.
Well, the outer world is all over the map. Post our mini heatwave it’s been much cooler, rainy and sometimes windy. Like we’re going backwards towards late March. But, the heatwave means the lilies are in bud (which seems early – maybe it’s not) and the jasmine is starting to produce buds as well. We’ve been told in the media to expect an El Niño event in the next few months.
Now marking week 3 of no sugar. I have no clue about the effects except I seem to be sleeping better and it appears (I may be making this up) that the dark areas under my eyes have lightened up considerably. But, that may also be due to the new serum I’ve been using which is a product of the leftovers of wine-making plus botanicals (I think there’s some tomato in it). It smells otherworldly. Not cheap though. Will probably write about it at some point in a summer skin roundup.
I’ve got two magpies that visit. New this year. I think they live in the large garden behind mine. They are quite bold, which I enjoy. When they first discovered my house and garden, they spent 10 minutes hopping up and down the glass roof in my kitchen, nibbling on the moss that falls from the roof, cleaning out the gutter (much appreciated), and chattering to each other about who knows what. I make sure to say hello to them whenever they arrive. That’s an important magpie thing.
On to recent reading. These sorts of books have become something of an antidote to what’s going on in our world daily. I’ve always read a lot but it’s now become a bit of breathing space.
First and second far behind third one in reader satisfaction.
The Brothers McKay (number 22 in the Longmire series) Craig Johnson. These have been samey for the past few books. Still worth reading. Sheriff in a fictional county in Wyoming. Writing is good, atmospheric (never managed to get to this part of the country when I lived in the US). Interesting, quirky narrative. Will continue to read the books as he churns them out.
The Keeper (number 3 of 3 in The Cal Hooper Series) Tana French. I feel quite ambivalent about Tana French. I’ve read a couple of others she’s written, part of a different series, but this series is the only one that I found really engrossing. Former cop from Chicago moves to rural Ireland figures out mysteries. The best characters are the two women – the teenager (close to feral in the first book) and the love interest. Sometimes secondary characters are way more interesting than the primary one.
A River Red with Blood (number 22 in the Charlie Parker series) John Connolly. Now, this – this was so very good. Connolly goes up and down with the books, particularly when he’s trying to bridge a narrative into the next book. But, all in, these remain very compelling. Beautiful writing, great characters and great relationships between characters. Mostly set in Maine now. The Parker, Louis and Angel triumvirate is so … unique and powerful as friendship groupings go.
Finally, I am awaiting the next in the Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovich. I vaguely mentioned this book grouping back in a book post in 2022. If you haven’t heard of these they follow a young cop in London with twists. No point in giving away the central premise but magical realism, set mostly in London and environs, and Aaronovich manages to include a lot of history and natural history regarding the city. The series also has ancillary novellas which are worth a look. My fave at this point is What Abigail Did Last Summer. And Aaronovich used to (he’s dropped off recently) email followers very short stories from the narrative every once in a while. My fave from those was set right before Christmas one year and featured magical foxes.
Beyond books, I meant to go see The Devil Wears Prada 2 a couple of weeks ago but got sick instead. Have probably missed it in the cinema now and will have to wait for online.
Any books/tv/cinema you are into currently/recommend?
Pics: pexels, wiki
Hey there Cinnamon,
I’ve been rereading. Just finished The Ellenium triple from David Eddings and now Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. Both fun, easy reads, fantasy fiction. I can always tell when my mind needs some rest or a diversion, it chooses rereads.
That magpie! Did you take the pic. So beautiful.
Portia xx
I do that — reread when things are busy/too much/when something is just so worth reading again. Not my pic of the magpie — they don’t stand still long enough in my garden. They are wonderful birds.
What’s your most reread book? I have three. LOTR, Dune, Good Omens.
Most reread … the two Asher Lev books by Chaim Potok, In the Skin of a Lion Michael Ondaatje, and A Thousand Feasts Nigel Slater
After being seriously traumatized by ‘Yesteryear’ ( Caro Claire Burke) I am now on to Maria Semple’s ‘Go Gently’, which is turning out to be a fun read – not silly, just gently charming. I’m also re-reading some of Shelley Laurenston’s Honey Badger series… because her mayhem is so very much fun … and totally epic! And the world today could use a few Charlie McKilligans!!!
You got me laughing! There is a Honey Badger series? After I post this, I’m going to Amazon. Once upon a time, I was with some friends (at least I think they were friends) and we came to the bright idea to decide what animal we each were like. The consensus was that I was honey badger! lolololol. Definitely starting this series. 😉
Yes! Start with Charlie’s story, to get a feel for the series. Like most series it benefits from big gaps between stories.
But I love them. They are a hoot!
Never heard of Yesteryear. Not sure I want trauma. There’s enough of that in the news. I think you’ve mentioned Honey Badger in the past. Will go looking for it again.
Hmmm… based on what I ‘know’ ( or think I know) of you, from your posts… I am inclined to think that the Honey Badger series is Not Your Style. It’s very PHYSICAL, with a bunch of truly terrifying shifters, written in a very funny way. Not a philosophical thing about it, though there are interesting tacticals that delight me.
But I am the woman who thinks hours of close combat training is the perfect way to spend the day
And ‘Yesteryear’ is new, the subject matter weaves’tradwifery’ and Social Media… the difference between ‘living’ and ‘lifestyle’
Ha! I’m reading The Searcher right now! Picked it up out of our little free library down the street. Also reading Middlemarch (finally! it’s like a marathon), just finished Anne Patchett’s Tom Lake which was lovely and atmospheric. Carolyn and I each have a constant stack of books and regularly swap.
What do you think of The Searcher? I have this idea I might finally read Anna Karenina or War and Peace. Might …
I’ll preface by saying that like perfume, we all like different things. I read Anna Karenina – all million pages of it. Tolstoy supposedly wrote magnificently of the tsarist aristocracy and if that’s true……….they were the most boring, uninteresting, shallow people on planet earth. I could not have cared less what happened to any of them including Anna Karenina.
Dostoevsky though is incredible, but definitely not light reading!
I’m really enjoying The Searcher. I need something Less Literary (but still well written) in my rotation to counterbalance the more “high lit” stuff.
I love your book recs. I am reading total trash: “Myron”, the sequel to “Myra Breckenridge”, Barbara Payton’s autobio “I Am Not Ashamed” (although when it comes right down to it..) and for about the 47th time, “Little Me” by Patrick Dennis. It’s a furiously funny spot-on take on the celebrity bio, where the heroine is born on the eve of the 20th century to the end in the present day (1960’s) where the heroine, “frankly forty” draws the veil.
I tend to read mystery and police procedurals with flawed protagonists. Not sure why that floats my boat. Every once in a while I’ll switch up to something a bit more high-brow such as the huge book on the opioid crisis which was well worth the time but hard going and harrowing.
We love the Rivers of London series. In the evenings, instead of tv, we listen to audio books and it is one of our favorites! We get most of our audio books from the public library, their online resources are amazing.
As with any long series I enjoyed some books more than others and wondered if Aaronovitch might have gotten a bit tired or bored in places. But, liked the last one and some of the ancillary shorter ones have been great. Who read the audio books?
Isn’t that magpie beautiful! I don’t do ‘series’ books myself so…currently reading Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. TDWP2 was just….meh. Wishing I hadn’t seen it at the theater lol.
Is Theo of Golden good? It’s one of several that I was thinking of getting the kindle version of.
I’m halfway through….so it’s a gentle and kind story, beautifully written…a bit of a departure from my usual but I’m enjoying it nonetheless!
Magpies are lovely. And very chattery.
I am getting that feeling — that the sequel wasn’t that wonderful — from a lot of places. Were the clothes as good as last time round?
I liked the clothes better in the first one. I felt there was more ‘meaning’ behind them whereas in the second it seemed they were just putting on clothes for the sake of wearing…something.
Cinnamon,
You are the second person to recommend the Rivers of London books to me, so I will have to look into them soonest. I am reading The Rooster House by Victoria Belim — she’s the perfume blogger who does Bois de Jasmin blog. The book is a non-fiction family history about her growing up in Ukraine, emigrating to Chicago, intertwined with the current war, the history of Ukraine’s and Russia’s dealings, and a mystery about a relative who disappeared years ago and is never mentioned. It’s very engaging and absorbing. I love your magpies. British magpies are so striking and beautiful.
I do think the series is well worth a look.
I follow Victoria’s blog but have not looked at the book.
I loved London Falling, non- fiction, and Of Mice and Murder, light mystery.
I’m thinking of getting Britbox.
Have you seen the Emily Blunt thing, The English? Not set in England but I found entrancing.
We’ve been watching McDonald & Dodds. A UK TV cop show based in Bath. Senior DI previously in the Met given a long serving desk Sergeant as a partner with instructions to get him out. They both teach each other important life & work lessons.
Reading biographies of various Royals. All Royals should be made to read them to learn lessons from history. If so, they may stop repeating the same mistakes ad infinitum.
John Connolly’s stuff is full or strange and interesting (and oddly beautiful) life lessons. Also, his series is now mostly set in a part of Maine where I spent some of my teenage summers, so a bit of nostalgia.
Flagged to get on my Kindle
Best to start at book 1 with him. The later books imply the backstory but better to know it. Oh, and they can be quite dark but in a strange way so not jump scare dark, if you get what I mean.