Friday 25 October 2019

Library Books and A.N.Other

A great ol' heap collected yesterday - thank goodness.

So what will I be reading in November? From the top down. First is a tiny book "Why You Should Read Childrens Books Even Though You Are Old". Shouldn't take long to read this Very Small book. Then another Neil Ansell, which I'm sure I've tried before. Thought I would try again after re reading his book "Deep Country- Five Years in the Welsh Hills". Every now and again I order one of Ronald Blythe's books for a change, they are taken from his writings for a church magazine. He writes about the countryside and people around his home on the Suffolk/Essex border.
The Hocus Girl by Chris Nickson is the second in a series set in Regency Leeds.
The book by Ann Cleeves isn't a Vera or a Shetland - hope it's just as good as they were. There are 3 non-Fiction below that .......Dancing with Bees by Bridgit Strawbridge. The Hare and the Moon by Catherine Hyde is a book of paintings. A book for looking at rather than reading, and A Modern Herbal is just that.
On the right another crime book by Ann Granger who has been very prolific over the years. Short crime stories on a scientific theme in the  British Library Crime Classic series and finally All Clear by Connie Willis something I saw mentioned somewhere but have no idea where or anything about it.

I didn't get on very well with the few books I collected in September

National Provincial was too much like hard work, before I'd got to page 40 so many people had been introduced that I was already lost on who was who. I cheated and looked at the end - and just couldn't be bothered for all the 100s of pages in between!

The Offing was good - already written about that.

Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver wasn't a novel but essays - and I didn't find it interesting enough to read - sadly - as I've enjoyed some of her other books (but not all)

Even the one crime didn't get finished, it was just a bit too silly for my liking.

I started reading the book left from August - the new Erica James - Swallowtail Summer but that was about un-happy marriages which I didn't feel like hearing about.

That left H is for Hawk which I'd borrowed to try again after failing when it first came out and won prizes. Have to say I failed again.

If you look at my Books Read 2019 page you'll see that I've read fewer?/less? books than in any other month this year ..............or maybe ever! Why?..... Due to starting several and not finishing them, having visitors and too much time spent fiddling about on the lap top. I've been transferring the story of Colin's illness from the blog to Word so I can print out. I thought it might be interesting for children and grandchildren in the future to see the story of those 2½ years and the way their Dad/Grandad fought his way through it all. I'd already forgotten how much time was spent traveling to and waiting at hospitals.Once you get caught up with the cancer treatment there's hardly any time left for real life.
I've also been transferring all my frugal bits and some diary pieces onto Word ready for printing out for a Penny Pincher Paper letter. Our group of letter writers has more or less come to a halt so I'm doing it more for me than anyone else.

I also have....... Many, Many Thanks to Dean Street Press........ a copy of this.
After writing HERE about the two other books by Ursula Orange that I'd read both reprinted by them under the Furrowed Middlebrow name, I had an email from DSP offering me a copy of the book by her that I hadn't read. Scott at FM had passed on the book review to them. What a treat.
Thank you so much to Victoria at Dean Street Press. I shall look forward to reading it after I've got through all those library books.

Back Tomorrow
Sue



39 comments:

  1. I am so delighted you have been sent the Ursula Orange book. What a lovely gesture! Unexpected gifts like that bring such pleasure.

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    1. The email was a lovely surprise. I shall enjoy reading it

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  2. How lovely to receive an unexpected gift - enjoy it!
    I love Catherine Hyde's work - it's so evocative.
    xx

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    1. I hadn't heard of her before - is she well known?

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  3. Aww, it always makes me sad when folk say they've failed with a book Sue - you didn't fail with any of them. They just aren't for you and let's face it there are far too many out there that are...

    I too love Catherine Hyde's images so that one sounds lovely.

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    1. Yes you are right, there are always so many good books and so little time

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  4. That is a nice haul of books there, Sue! Just right for the dodgy weather which is meant to be heading our way.

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    1. Hope the weekend isn't too grotty. I want to be out and about

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  5. I sometimes wonder if you ever sleep.

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  6. How lovely to receive the Ursula Orange book.

    We were talking with MiL earlier in the week about time. She cared for her husband who had cancer, then for her mother who had dementia. Both passed away and now she has plenty of hours in the day but still does all her weekly tasks in super quick time as she's just so used to having to cram "real life" into short slots.

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    1. Looking back at all the travelling and waiting we did I feel bad because I complained more than Col did!

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  7. How lovely to get a nice surprise of a book. When I moved a very good friend of mine sent me a subscription to 'Woman's Weekly' which she has renewed unfortunately I cannot read very well now but it has helped me a lot and of course I can see some lovely photos in the magazine, and of course the puzzle page is good.
    It's lovely to read I think you are not alone with a book.
    Hazel c uk

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    1. This is my second book surprise of the last few months after getting the one from a mystery reader thanking me for the blog

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  8. Sorry, a bity off topic. Knowing how you like churches, (so do I), Terry is doing a tour of churches in Suffolk, and I thought of you. He is searching out piano's, and in this latest video he finds an organ and plays it beautifully.
    https://youtu.be/ShcmvLnpb7U

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    1. I'll have a look. I've seen plenty of church organs but not many pianos

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  9. What a great idea to print off you and Col's story!

    As for the books...sometimes when I read the back of a book I think 'oh wow, that sounds like a great story' and it is, but the blurb on the book was the best of it and when I start reading I just can't finish. Life is too short and there are too many books to make yourself finish one that doesn't catch your attention.

    Hope you have a good weekend!

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    1. Everything we went through is on the blog but I thought it would last longer on paper to keep

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  10. Barbara Kingsolver - I loved The Poisonwood Bible but got so bored with her book Flight Behaviour that i only read 1/2. Wouldn't try her again.

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    1. I couldn't read The Poisonwood Bible too depressing, but have enjoyed one or two others

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  11. Reading time should be enjoyable and like you if a book is not giving enjoyment then I quit it. You've listed many books I've not tried. I'll have to consult your list when next I need a book.

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    1. I love getting ideas for reading from other blogs.

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  12. I really should follow your lead and when a book does not catch my fancy give it up. Instead I plow my way through it not enjoying my reading at all.

    God bless.

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  13. I just read the Ann Cleeves book and enjoyed it- very different character but still absorbing and well written. I couldn't get in to "H is for Hawk" either. Have you read Deborah Crombie's mystery series? They are very good. I do so enjoy your blog.

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    1. I'm glad you like reading the blog. Yes I've read all the Deborah Crombie I think unless there's a new one out. The library don't always get them straight away as she is American so I guess published there first

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    2. Just finished her latest called " A Bitter Feast". Set in a lovely little country village for a change from London. You'll like it when it finally shows up!

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  14. I have looked up the reviews for all your November titles and they look very promising. I'm going to the library to look for Connie Willis who, despite being a major prize winner is new to me. I rather like the fact she wrote her major works in her sixties. It makes me feel aging is not quite as useless as it sometimes seems.

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    1. Turns out the Connie Willis book is the third of a series and Sci Fi with people going back in time from 2060 to wartime and trying not to change history. I've given up before I start!!

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    2. Please get the first and give them a try. The time travel is a minor part of the story. She does a lot of research and I learn something from each book. She's a favorite author of mine.

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  15. Well, I wrote you a comment earlier today Sue, but, would it be on another version of the blog? Maybe you know how to find it?!!!

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    1. Another version of the blog would be a surprise!! So no idea where your comment is unless it's on an old post. I'll have a look

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  16. Ann Cleeves was (today) on the podcast I like to listen to - "Fortunately" with Fi (Glover) and Jane (Garvey).
    Very enjoyable. She sounds like a very down-to-earth, nice person.

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  17. You deserve it Sue you are always happy.

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  18. I struggle if there are too many characters in books and have also started to put them down if I don't like them. In the past I'd persevere but as I can't remember what I've read half the time anyway, there seems no point making myself read something I don't like only to forget it.

    I think printing out the story of Colin's illness for the family is a wonderful idea. xx

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  19. I start and fail to finish at least 30% of all the books I buy, Sue, but the charity shops gain by my book habit. One book I am loving though, is Tracy Chevalier's latest, A Single Thread. It has a needlework background, and is (for me, anyway) an absolute delight.
    Margaret P

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  20. How lovely to receive a surprise book and what a good idea to print out Colin's story.

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  21. I love B Kingsolver's Bean Trees and others in that style. Then The Poisonwood Bible and well, full stop. Just couldn't get into it and haven't found myself engaged in her newer works. I went back to the Bean Tree and found I still enjoyed it.

    I went through a big reading stretch this summer - staying at an RV park (caravan park) in the mountains with iffy wifi and NO cell service. I brought boxes of books and also read a lot in the wildly diverse "library" at the park. Funny - but since I now have full computer access I am not reading as much...

    I am going to look at your book "lists" as I've become a dedicated reader of British mysteries. I find a lot of the American mysteries just gruesome - long on blood but not much on plot. One series I am going to start collecting is the Vera series as I LOVE the TV shows and am interested how the author creates her in words.

    Mary

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