Hobbies and Crafts

I borrowed The Lost Tudor Princess by Alison Weir from Libby, the library app. I haven’t finished it and can’t renew it as someone else is waiting, so I have put a Hold on it and it will come back to me at some point so I can finish it. I normally read quickly but find Alison Weir’s work so packed with names and dates and so dense that I can only read small amounts at a time, or I start to go brain dead.

This book is the story of Lady Margaret Douglas who was the niece of Henry VIII and at one point was his heir. She seems to have had a turbulent life, going in and out of favour at court. She was a very strong and determined woman and involved in various political intrigues between Scotland and England, being a member of the Royal Family in both countries. It was her grandson James who came to reign in both lands as James VI of Scotland and James I of England.

I’m also on the fourth book of a four book series by Sharon K Penman, an American writer. They are historical novels based around the 12th century struggle for the throne. Eleanor of Aquitaine is regent in England while her son King Richard the Lionheart is being held prisoner by the Holy Roman Emperor. Her other son Prince John wants the throne for himself. Without giving the story away Justin de Quincy becomes a sort of agent for Eleanor, a “Queen’s Man”. The books do follow on from each other so are best read in order. They are pure novels but based on solid historical facts. I’ve really enjoyed them. The only niggle has been the very occasional modern Americanism that’s crept in. Did they really say that someone is comfortable in his own skin in medieval England?

The four books are The Queen’s Man, Cruel As The Grave, Dragon’s Lair and Prince of Darkness.

Libraried are closed at the moment. A good chance to start to read a few more of the books on the "waiting" shelves.

Still reading (very slowly) just don't get round to coming on here to give the book a mention.

At the moment I am reading Rubicon by Steven Saylor. Not sure that I have ever read books by this author before. This one features "Gordianus the Finder" and as it mentions his previous investigations, it seems that it isn't the first book about him.
The blurb on th back cover says
A Story of Murder and duplicity during the Roman Civil war .Featuring Gordianus the Finder.

Caesar and his troops have crossed the Rubicin and are marching on Rome. Pompey, his rival, is preparing to flee south with his loyal troops, leaving the city unguarded and ungoverned. Before Pompey leaves Rome, however, his cousin and protege is found dead, garrotted in Gorianus;s garden
Enraged, Pompey demands that Gordianus discovers and names the killer.

There are a few extra twists to the story so far.

Historical and a murder mystery.. interesting on both counts.

(Got it from the library - paperback printed in 2000)

Just finished Lee Child's Last Tense which was a good Jack Reacher read.

am now reading A spark of Light by Jodi Piccoult

A lone gunman takes the women and doctors at a controversial abortions clinic hostage Tense negotiations for their release unfolds, hour by hour back in time through the day that brought the hostages and their captor to this moment.
Because matters of life and death look very different when you or the ones you love are staring down the barrel of a gun.

Poerful,, thought provoking and deeply involving.

Last of the trilogy The Mirror and the Light by Hilary
Mantel following Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
Is on Amazon £12:49 for kindle version. Bit rich for me so will wait till
it comes down in price. :-)

Hi happy readers :-D <3

Well I have given up on the last book after chaper 2 !! afraid it was not for me!

Maybe a great read to some but not one for me!!

Will be starting a new one shortly, so keep you posted :-)

Happy Reading <3

Hi lovely readers hope everyone is ok and enjoying themselves...

I am reading a book at the moment which would not originally
be my type of read but decided to out stretch my reading length...
So decided to give it a go....

31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan


Who killed Dr. Harvey Burdell?

Though
there are no witnesses and no clues, fingers point to Emma Cunningham,
the refined, pale-skinned widow who managed Burdell's house and his
servants. Rumored to be a black-hearted gold digger with designs on the
doctor's name and fortune, Emma is immediately put under house arrest
during a murder investigation. A swift conviction is sure to catapult
flamboyant district attorney Abraham Oakey Hall into the mayor's seat.
But one formidable obstacle stands in his way: the defense attorney
Henry Clinton. Committed to justice and the law, Clinton will aid the
vulnerable widow in her desperate fight to save herself from the
gallows.

Set in 1857 New York, this gripping mystery is also a
richly detailed excavation of a lost age. Horan vividly re-creates a
tumultuous era characterized by a sensationalist press, aggressive new
wealth, a booming real-estate market, corruption, racial conflict,
economic inequality between men and women, and the erosion of the old
codes of behavior. A tale of murder, sex, greed, and politics, this
spellbinding narrative transports readers to a time that eerily echoes


Happy Reading :-D

I have finished Forget-me-not girl and really enjoyed it. Reading the suthors note at the end confirmed my suspicions that it was based on truth. apparently the main character Emma (the Forget-me not girl) was her Great Grandmother and she researched her life and wrote the book mostly fact, part fiction on her. It is very informing while being a light read. And, as it only cost me a£1 really good value.

I am reading a paperback at the moment picked up in the works £1 sale. By Sheila Newberry it is called The Forget-me-not Girl. Quite a light read but nostalgic as well starts in 1936 then flashes back to 1836, quite a lot of general historic information covering all sorts of things like farming communities, the RN and ship life, Life as a cook in a big house etc, sort of a fictional biographic. She is a talented writer I see she has written a lot of books but this is the first of hers I have read, I will look out for more as it is good holiday reading.

That sounds like a good dip in and out book Dermot. At Christmas OH was given a book of 2041 facts from QI, the TV programme. It’s sitting on a desk upstairs and every time I go by I open it at random and read another fact that generally makes me smile.

I’ve been reading some detective novels recently. Nothing too taxing. I read Wild Fire by Ann Cleves and this is apparently going to be the last of her Shetland novels, but it was a fairly open sort of ending so I am wondering if she is going to move her detective Jimmy Perez to another location. I’ve also read a couple of Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler novels.

I’ve now downloaded via the Libby app a book by Linda Castillo, which was suggested by Det.. i’m looking forward to reading that one as we usually seem to like the same books.

'Oxford A-Z of English Usage' published by Oxford University Press (2013) & edited by Jeremy Butterfield.

195 pages of wonderful stuff. An absolute gem!

I've added Rebecca Tope to my "to be read" list Ann. Trouble is, the list is getting longer and longer.

Yes I like the Agatha Raison books If you like her you might also like other similar light read books by Rebecca Tope There are a lot some set in the Cotswolds, Some in the Lake district and some in Devon.

I saw that she had died Pat. I liked her Agatha Raisin and Hamish
McBeth books. Sometimes you want a slightly lighter read and I am not into romances so these fitted the bill.

Happy New Year :-D :-D <3 <3

Not started too well for some readers.

M C Beaton has died RIP

loved Agatha

Thanks for passing the message on Ann.

Det, if you are looking in, thanks for the recommendations. I’ll look out for them. I’ve read a few books from the Libby app now, which I would never have found if you hadn't mentioned it on here.

Vera a message from Det:(By PM)

You could suggest to Vera, the Kate Burkholder series of books by Linda Castillo. Kate is a small town Chief of Police in Ohio where there’s a sizeable Amish minority. Kate was raised Amish but left the fold. Most of the crimes she investigates involve the Amish in someway. Our county library has them on the Libby App.
Another series I’ve discovered is that by Daniel Silva, also on the Libby App.
The most recent one I’ve read is The New Girl. Basically it’s a modern day take of the world of spying & foreign intrigue -. Russia, Israel, America & Saudi Arabia & reflects recent events. Easier for her to look it up than me to try to give details!

Thanks for those recommendations Tawny.

I finished reading C J Sansom’s Tombland which was as good as the earlier books in the series about Matthew Shardlake. This one was based around Kett’s rebellion in Norfolk which took place when Henry VIII’s young son Edward was king and it was a good read.

I’ve also read a book by Graham Norton called The Keeper. Various blurbs called it gripping, creepy, atmospheric. I just found it an OK read and well enough written. Taking place in Ireland, a woman who never knew her father is sorting out her mother’s belongings after the mother’s death. She comes across some letters which set her on the road to learning her mother’s strange past and who her father is.

I’m currently reading a paperback by Frank Muir called The Walpole Orange, which I picked up for 50p. William is Secretary of the Walpole Club and is tasked with organising their 250th birthday celebrations. The book tells of his problems in getting the event organised. It’s a light but pleasant read, gently humorous. Typical of Frank Muir if you remember him from his radio days.

A book I cannot recommend enough is Pearls Of Childhood by Vera Gissing. Vera was born in Czechoslovakia in 1928. Aged just 11 Vera and her older sister Eva escaped on the Kindertransport. Vera began writing diaries of her experiences and these form the basis of her book.

Despite first reading this book aged 12 it is not a children’s book and at times it made difficult reading but I couldn’t put it down.

I’m now rereading First Light by Geoffrey Wellum. I absolutely love this book about his experience training to be a fighter pilot just as WW2 is about to break out.