January 2025 Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

January 2025 Wrap Up

How did your reading year start? Thanks to a lull in my law work while I wait for a ruling from the Court of Appeals, I had more time than usual to read. I finished 15 books in January and hope to maintain that pace through the year.

Are there any on my January list that you’ve enjoyed or would like to read? 

GROUP READS

I participated in several group and buddy reads on Instagram, which I enjoyed very much. 

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh with a group working our way through all his novels, one every other month. Scoop was a reread for me and I appreciated the satire much more this second time around than when I first read it about 20 years ago. 

The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes was the first book for a MacInnes readalong project I organized on Bookstagram. Our next is The Salzburg Connection in March. If you are on Instagram and want to join us, DM me there @gilioncdumas. I'll add you to the group. 

Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster. This wraps up the Du Maurier Deep Dive project I participated in for the past three or so years. We read all du Maurier's fiction and then finished with reading a biography of our choice. I thought Forster's was excellent. 

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Because this is the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, I want to reread her six major novels. I joined a bookstagram group doing the same so we can chat about them as we go. 

IRISH AUTHORS

II joined an Instagram chat group focusing on reading books by Irish authors this year. I don't know how intensely I will participate because I have a lot of books and reading goals for the year, but it it did help me read a few books that have lingered on my TBR shelves for a while. 

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien knocked my socks off. It was definitely the highlight of the month and a book that will linger with me for a long time. Read my review here. 

Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan. This was my first go at one of his books. I thought it was interesting, but it didn’t wow me. I thought he packed things into this family story (a black husband, a lesbian affair, and more) to be intentionally provocative. And the pacing was so uneven, I was distracted by trying to sort the timeline.  

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods engendered lively discussion in my IRL book club. Overall, the group enjoyed the historical fiction side of it, with its braided narrative switching between the 1920s and present day. But the magical realism caught most of us by surprised and didn't go over well. 

The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell. This retelling of events during the 1857 Indian Rebellion won the 1973 Booker Prize. The events and the writing are serious, but the absurdities of the colonial class system also gave Farrell opportunity to poke fun.

JUST BECAUSE

Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair, the 1943 Pulitzer Prize winner and one of my Classics Club II picks. This was way more engaging than I anticipated and felt very current. 

The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando. My husband gave me this for Christmas because I could eat beans every day. It is a fantastic cookbook and I've already made a few things from it that were delicious. 

Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch is the final book in her “Starbridge” series of Church of England novels that take place in the mid-20th Century. Now I plan to move on to the "St. Benet Trilogy" set in a London parish in the later part of the century.

AUDIOBOOKS (NOT PICTURED)

Slough House by Mick Herron. This is the seventh book in his Slow Horses series. I'm racing through all of them. So far, there are eight novels and four novellas. A new novel comes out this September. 

The Patriarch by Martin Walker, the eighth novel in his Bruno, Chief of Police, series set in a French village. This is another series I love and am trying to complete, but it will take me longer because there are 18 novels and several novellas and short stories.  

We Solve Murders by Richard Osmond, the first in a new series. It was hard for me to switch from Thursday Murder Club to this new group of characters, but I'm sure it will grow on me.

Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld, a thriller set in Oregon. This is my IRL book club's pick for our next get together. The story, inspired by true events, really grabbed me.

TBR 25 IN ‘25 & THE EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

Six of the books I read in January were from my TBR 25 in '25 list. These were the Waugh, Forster, Woods, Farrell, Sinclair, and Howatch. I wanted to start strong with that particular stack of books so they don't make me feel rushed later in the year.  

I traveled some for the European Reading Challenge, but not with any native speakers. I visited the UK, Italy, Ireland, Bosnia, and France. But none of the books I read were in translation and I have a goal to read more books by authors who do not write in English.  

There's still plenty of time to join both challenges if you want to. Click through to the main TBR 25 in '25 page and main European Reading Challenge page for details and to sign up. 

My Goal to Read 425 Vintage Penguin Green Tribands -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

My Goal to Read 425 Vintage Penguin Green Tribands

I wonder how many bookish goals we set with no intention of actually following through? One of my book goals -- more of a book fantasy -- is to read straight through my collection of vintage mysteries in Penguin green triband editions. 

For context, early Penguin paperbacks were issued without illustrations on the cover, just a band of color at the top, the title on an off-white band in the middle, then another band of the same color at the bottom. Hence, "triband" editions. They were color coded. Orange is the most common because it was used for general fiction. Green was for crime fiction -- mysteries, thrillers, and, less commonly, true crime. These early Penguins were not sold in the United States (for copyright reasons I don't understand). You can now find them here used, but not often. 

(Also, Penguin has, more recently, reissued some books with triband covers, along with triband coffee mugs that match the books. Those are cool in themselves, but not what I collect. I go for the vintage editions.)

I don’t have nearly all the original green tribands, but I have 425 of them. Almost all of mine (421) came in one job lot that I bought on eBay from a seller in England. A few are first Penguin editions, most are Penguin reprints, all are pretty tattered. It was during the covid lockdown and, like others, I did some retail therapy when I was cooped up at home and couldn't go anywhere. I had a set of shelves built in my little home office just for my collection of vintage Penguin paperbacks.  

But that was almost five years ago and I have only read a handful of them since I got them. This is why I fantasize about reading straight through the entire collection. I figure I could read them all in about two years if I really made an effort. But as much as I love vintage mysteries, I think doing so might have a deleterious effect on my brain chemistry. I’d see clues everywhere, always suspect foul play, and never be able to attend a dinner party without denouncing a guest as a murderer.

So I think the better plan would be to read them steadily, but salted in among other books. I just need to get going! The picture above shows a random selection of ten that should inspire me to get reading. 

Coroner’s Pidgin by Margery Allingham

Hag’s Nook by John Dickson Carr

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Crofts

Stealthy Terror by John Ferguson

That Yew Tree’s Shade by Cyril Hare

He Laughed at Murder by Richard Keverne

The Twenty-Third Man by Gladys Mitchell

The American Gun Mystery by Ellery Queen

The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer

The Hatter’s Ghost by Simenon

The Department of Dead Ends by Roy Vickers

See any you’ve read or would like to?

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

While still a young man, John Courteney Boot had, as his publisher proclaimed, "achieved an assured and enviable position in contemporary letters."

-- from Scoop by Evelyn Waugh.  

Not, on its face, the most humorous opening lines for what is one of the funniest books I've ever read. The laughs start when the wrong Boot -- William, not John -- gets sent by London's sensationalist newspaper, the Daily Beast, to cover an impending revolution in a (fictional) African nation. William Boot, far from having an enviable position as a contemporary author, lives a quiet life in the country and writes a weekly nature column for the Beast. And yes, the current online Daily Beast got its name from Waugh's book. 

Scoop is a first-rate satire of newspaper journalism and a contender to be my favorite of Evelyn Waugh's comic novels, right up there with Decline and Fall. I read it again in January as part of a Waugh readalong group on bookstagram and loved it even more than when I read it the first time. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Scoop:

Mrs Earl Russell Jackson padded in stockinged feet across the bare boards of the lounge looking for a sizeable cigar-end, found one, screwed it into her pipe, and settled down in the office rocking-chair to read her bible. Outside--and, in one or two places, inside--the rain fell in torrents.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another. Acting on a dinner party tip from Mrs. Algernon Stitch, Lord Copper feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia.

So begins Scoop, Waugh's exuberant comedy of mistaken identity and brilliantly irreverent satire of the hectic pursuit of hot news.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

The Little Red Chairs has been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while now because I planned to read Edna O’Brien’s more famous Country Girls Trilogy first. But I was daunted by tackling a trilogy, so decided to start with this shorter, more recent book. I’m still recovering!

O’Brien published The Little Red Chairs in 2015, when she was 85 years old. I’ve read her autobiography, but this is the first novel of hers I read. I didn’t have any expectations about the book, but I sure wasn’t expecting such a gut punch.

The Little Red Chairs is the story of a charismatic stranger who moves to an Irish village. He sets up shop as a “healer” and becomes immediately popular, offering herbs, tinctures, poetry, hot stone massages, nutrition advice, and smoldering good looks. So far, the story is charming and even a little funny, giving almost Maeve Binchy vibes. Things get a bit racy when he has an affair with the local beauty.

Then, WHAM-O! Things get really dark, really fast. It turns out the charming stranger is an evil war criminal, responsible for the death and rape of hundreds during the Bosnian war. O’Brien vividly depicts the war and its violence. But it is when that violence follows “Dr. Vlad” to Ireland that the story is almost too horrible to read. 

I have struggled with my reaction, wondering if the story was more effective for me because it involved one Irish woman instead of hundreds of nameless Bosnian women. I know it is human nature to respond with greater empathy to one, specific person we know (even if only as a character in a book) than to a generalized horror happening to a large number of unknown people. O'Brien, like all good storytellers, understands this and uses it to great advantage. But she could have told the story of a particular Bosnian woman and she chose not to. Instead, the victim was in Ireland, which made me think about how I responded viscerally to an attack on an English-speaking, middle class, Irish woman much more than I did to the descriptions of violence against the "foreign" Bosnians in whom I did not recognize myself. That made me think and I'm still mulling it over.

There is more to the book. Much more. The story moves on to London and its immigrant community, then to a war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Much of it was a tough read, but excellently executed. And it has a hopeful, if not happy ending. This one will stick with me for a long, long time. I consider it a Must Read. 

Have you read The Little Red Chairs? What did you think?

NOTES

If you have reviewed The Little Red Chairs and would like me to share your review, please send me a link in a comment and I will list it here. 

This was my first book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge. I am counting it as my Bosnia books (technically Bosnia and Herzegovina), although I could count it as my Ireland book. But I know I will read other Ireland books but doubt I will find another Bosnia book this year. 

Arches Bookhouse -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Arches Bookhouse, Portland, Oregon

I'm curious if my fellow book bloggers prefer new books or used books?

Probably 90% of the books I buy are used. I only buy a new book if I can't find it used and either need it right away or have been looking for a used copy for a long time and give up looking for one.

I love everything about used books – the inviting shops, the vintage charm of the books, saving books from the landfill, the price, all of it. As much as I like to support authors and independent bookstores, used books almost always win out for me. Fortunately for me, Portland has several amazing used bookstores, from the huge Powell's City of Books to tiny, hole-in-the-wall shops you have to search for. 

One of my favorites is Arches Bookhouse in North Portland, near the University of Portland. They have a very good website for online orders, but I love going in to browse. I stopped in last week to sell Adam some books I recently culled from my office shelves. He carries all sorts of books, with an “emphasis on scholarly humanities books.” I figured he would be interested in a few of the Catholic Church books I gathered for my legal work and I was right.

If you've sold books to a used bookstore, you know you get way more in store credit than you do cash. A what book lover doesn't want more books? So, of course, I immediately used the store credit I got for the books I brought in, plus some. I can never leave that store empty handed. You can see from the picture why I would dawdle over the shelves. So many treasures!

Here are the Arches Bookhouse treasures I found:

• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim in a beautiful Folio edition, without the slipcover. He had one with the slipcover, but it cost more, so I got this one. I've been meaning to read this for years and hope this fancy edition inspires me.

• The Best of the Raconteurs, edited by Sheridan Morley & Tim Heald, also in a Folio edition, this one with the slipcover. This is a collection of humorous anecdotes and stories by Winston Churchill, Jessica Mitford, Joyce Grenfell, David Niven, P.G. Wodehouse and others.

• Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac. I went on a short Balzac jag when I was in law school then stopped. I would like to get back to his books. Also, I love vintage Penguins. 

• Loser Takes All by Graham Greene. I read this brilliant novella last year so was excited to find a vintage Penguin copy with the Paul Hogarth cover

• The Imitation of Christ by Tomas a Kempis is one I have in a later edition and with a different translator. But I couldn't resist the vintage Penguin edition. I'm reading this one in February with a group on Instagram. 

• Selected Stories by H. E. Bates. This author is unknown to me, but the description on the back sounds good, so I took a flyer. I particularly like vintage Penguin tribands, even if the cover on this is a vertical triband, not the better-known horizontal version. 

Books by Irish Authors -- BOOK LIST

 

BOOK LIST

Books by Irish Authors

I have not a drop of Irish blood in me, but I do enjoy books by Irish authors and books set in Ireland. When I saw a chat group on Instagram dedicated to reading books by Irish authors in 2025, I knew I wanted to join in the fun. 

As it turns out, I don’t have a huge number of unread books by Irish writers on my shelves, but several of those I have have been on my shelves for a long, long time.

Here are the books I’ve rounded up. I hope to read most, maybe all, of them this year. Edna O’Brien is first up because she’s waited on my shelf the longest. But I also want to try the Donan Ryan book because he is new to me and apparently hugely popular in Ireland.

See any I absolutely shouldn’t put off?

• Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan
• The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle
• The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle
• The Commitments
• The Snapper
• The Van
• At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
• Castle Corner by Joyce Cary
• The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien
• The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien
• The Country Girls
• The Lonely Girl
• Girls in Their Married Bliss
• History of the Rain by Naill Williams
• Dr. Copernicus by John Banville
• The Untouchable by John Banville
• Athena by John Banville
• The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
• Farewell Companions by James Plunkett

These are just the books I found on my unread fiction shelves. I'm sure I missed a few and if I find them, will add them to this list. The bigger lacunae are crime fiction and nonfiction. I was afraid my list would overwhelm me if I included those, especially mysteries and thrillers. 

If I get around to it, I might make a long list of all the Irish books I can think of, read, unread, literature, crime fiction, nonfictions, whatever. That list would be like the French Connections and Venice Books lists I keep. 

I'll come back and update this as I go. 

If you have ideas for other Irish books I should read, please leave a comment and tell me about them!

Books Read in 2024: BOOK LIST

 

BOOKS I READ IN 2024

Every January, when I remember, I post a list here on Rose City Reader of the books I read the prior year. I keep track of the books I read on LibraryThing.

Here's the list of the 177 books I read in 2024, in the order I read them. I've never read so many books n a year before this. I credit the jump to my work finally slowing down a bit. Maybe when I really retire, I'll read even more, which I would love. I added a notes, which I haven't done in the past but might continue. It helps me remember the book. 

Notes about my rating system are below the list.

• My Almost Cashmere Life by Margie Adams, my first TBR 24 in ’24 book of the year. A memoir about the end of a dysfunctional but long-term marriage. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Myers, a fantastic campus thriller. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh, for a bookstagram readalong of all Waugh’s books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Quentins by Maeve Binchy, a major feel-good book. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope, the first book in his six-books Palliser series, which I read as part of a bookstagram readalong. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription by William F. Buckley, Jr., my favorite title of the year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, a reread for me and another bookstagram readalong. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz. A rallying cry for long-form reading and other intellectual pursuits. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin, from his John Rebus series, which I love but want to wrap up. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury, a crazy trip through the Soviet Block. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Beartown by Fredrik Backman, more serious than his other books I’ve read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Political Woman: The Big Little Life of Jeane Kirkpatrick by Peter Collier, a fascinating slice of recent history. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin, another Rebus book. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz was a favorite! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Aunt Dimity Goes West by Nancy Atherton is a book I picked up on a whim. I love a cozy mystery but struggled with this one because . . . ghosts. What the heck? 🌹🌹1/2

• Books Make A Home: Elegant Ideas for Storing and Displaying Books by Damian Thompson was a gift from my husband and exactly my cup of tea. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier. Historical fiction about DDM’s own great, great, great grandmother, an infamous London courtesan. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Year I Stopped to Notice by Miranda Keeling is a sweet little book about daily observations. A friend gave it to me so I spent a pleasant rainy afternoon with it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. A rollicking, ribald adventure. I loved it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Bibliostyle: How We Live at Home with Books by Nina Freudenberger was my second cup of tea from the same pot. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. After three attempts to read this one, I finally finished it. I know I’m in a very small minority, but I found this one almost impossibly slow and couldn’t hack the mystical, vague atmosphere. 🌹🌹🌹

• Slow Horses by Mick Herron. I finally started this amazing series. I can’t wait to read them all. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Murder in Clichy by Cara Black, from her Aimée Leduc series set in Paris, one of the many mystery series I’m trying to finish. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• My Kind of Place by Susan Orlean, travel and general nonfiction essays from an amazing writer. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto, a thoroughly enjoyable book club pick. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Foster by Claire Keegan, another book club pick. 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle, a wine-themed cozy mystery set in Marseille. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope, the second Palliser book and one I liked very much. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David, food, restaurant, and travel essays from England’s Julia Child. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead by Charles Murray, a common sense guide to adulthood. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Slightly Foxed, Vol. 81, Spring 2024, which I list to keep track of which ones I’ve read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Horse’s Mouth by Joyce Carry. A classic about the artist life, but there’s a reason you don’t see it around. The protagonist is highly unlikeable, which made the book a slog. 🌹🌹

• The Way We Lived Then by Dominick Dunne, a delightful memoir (with snapshots) about Dunne’s life in Hollywood in the 1950s and ‘60s. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux, about his 1978 train journey from Boston to Patagonia. 🌹🌹🌹

• Menagerie Manor by Gerald Durrell was my first book by him but won’t be my last. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin, which left me with only one more John Rebus book. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Habits of the House by Fay Weldon, the first of a historical fiction trilogy similar to Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Long Live the King by Fay Weldon 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The New Countess by Fay Weldon 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• I’ll Never be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier, my least favorite DDM book. 🌹🌹

• His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle, which brought me closer to the end of the Sherlock Holmes series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Songbook by Nick Hornby, the only author I like enough to read a 20+ year old book about pop music. 🌹🌹🌹

• Silverview by John le Carre, his last book. Not as grim as some of his earlier books (I’m still traumatized by The Spy Who Came in from the Cold). 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Snow in April by Rosamund Pilcher. I’ve only read The Shell Seekers so I was happy to come back to read more by her. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The King of Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling, which won the Edgar Award for best mystery in 1967. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Reivers by William Faulkner, his last novel, winner of the 1963 Pulitzer Prize, and way more accessible than other Faulkner books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Dead Lions by Mick Herron, the second in the Slow Horses series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Pocketful of Poseys by Thomas Reed, a somewhat complicated but charming family story. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Death and the Conjurer by Tom Mead, an entertaining start to his "locked room" mystery series featuring magician turned sleuth Joseph Spector. 🌹🌹🌹

• Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, a medieval adventure and highlight of my year. Loved it! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes. I enjoyed everything about this creative historical mystery and Fellowes is definitely a new favorite. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Julius by Daphne du Maurier. A well told story about an unlikeable protagonist. 🌹🌹🌹

• Winter Count by Barry Lopez. Brian Doyle named this one of the 20 Greatest Oregon Books Ever, so I was surprised that none of the essays in this classic book of nature writing have a connection to Oregon other than Lopez himself. 🌹🌹🌹

• The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer, a fast-moving, pre-smart phone, financial caper. 🌹🌹🌹

• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which I enjoyed, but not as much as I thought I would. 🌹🌹🌹

• Still Life by Sarah Winman, a contender for my favorite book of the year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead, the second of three locked room mysteries set in 1930s London. 🌹🌹🌹

• After All These Years by Susan Isaacs. Her books are always fun. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh. Loved! Basil Seal’s scheme to make money by (repeatedly) selling off three refugee children (with their complicity) was the funniest thing I read all year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier. Her first novel, which I liked more than I expected. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable. Fun armchair travel and I learned about antique furniture. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin. With this, I have read all his John Rebus series, until he writes another. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury. Fascinating! My husband also read it and thought it was terrific. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Light of Day by Eric Ambler, the 1964 Edgar Award winner. My first Ambler but not my last. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Warming Up Julia Child: The Remarkable Figures Who Shaped a Legend by Helen Horowitz Lefkowitz. I love all books about Julia Child. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Real Tigers by Mick Herron, Slow Horses book three. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Sideways by Rex Pickett, my book club read before we went on a winery field trip. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George, one of her more shocking and grisly Lynley/Havers mysteries. 🌹🌹🌹

• The Third Man by Graham Greene, the novella he wrote before writing the screenplay for the movie. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene, an eerie novella about a little boy with bad parents.  🌹🌹🌹

• Loser Takes All by Graham Greene, an extremely clever gambling story. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement by Lee Edwards, a quick biography. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Messenger by Megan Davis, a dual-timeline thriller set in Paris that wasn't my cup of tea because I don't really like stories about teenagers. 🌹🌹🌹

• The Stranger House by Reginald Hill, my introduction to this author and I loved it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope, the third Palliser novel and a reread for me. Makes a good standalone. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah, one of her earlier books, very sweet. 🌹🌹🌹

• The Vacationers by Emma Stroud, a wonderful summer read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Hanging the Devil by Tim Maleeny, my introduction to his Cape Weathers series, which I now want to explore further. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead, the third in his Joseph Spector series. 🌹🌹🌹

• The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, which I found engrossing, especially the W. Somerset Maugham storyline. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Castle Dor by Arthur Quiller Couch and Daphne du Maurier. She agreed to finish this historical novel when her friend "Q" died, but should have passed. It is dry and slow. 🌹🌹

• Into the Boardroom by D.K. Light and K.S. Pushor, which is dated, but a good introduction for someone like me trying to learn more about business. 🌹🌹🌹

• Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. So good but so sad. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Out of the Shelter by David Lodge. This is his first book, semi-autobiographical, and a charming glimpse of life in post-war England. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis, a group read on bookstagram and part of my effort to read all his books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal by Melissa Jacoby. For work, obviously, but still fascinating. And she cites one of my briefs in the Boy Scout bankruptcy case! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. This was a book club pick and I loved it. It was my first McBride book but won’t be my last. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh. This is the first in his Sword of Honor trilogy and I had a great time reading it my bookstagram group. It is also on my Classics Club II list. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope, the fourth Palliser novel. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Heat Wave by Penelope Lively. Just perfect. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• J by Howard Jacobson, a story of dystopian antisemitism that was good, but a little murky.🌹🌹🌹

• The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett was a fun little bon bon, although not as delightful as I had anticipated. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Dark Vineyard by Marin Walker, the second in his Bruno, Chief of Police series. I am diving into this one now that I wrapped up a couple of other series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Spook Street by Mick Herron, the fourth in his Slough House series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz. This was a book club read and I thought it was fantastic. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Now in November by Josephine Johnson, a Dust Bowl drama that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1935. Not my cup of tea but I’m trying to read all the winners. 🌹🌹

• The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis is excellent. Part of my quest to read all his books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch, an excellent example of her novels. It ticks all the Murdoch boxes. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. I finally read this classic chunkster and loved it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I’ve wanted to reread this American classic for a long time and enjoyed it even more than when I read it last in college. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The New Men by C.P. Snow. One of the more readable books from his dry as dust Strangers and Brothers series, but definitely one I’m just happy to have finally finished. 🌹🌹🌹

• Black Diamond by Martin Walker, book three in his Bruno, Chief of Police series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• James by Percival Everett is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, Huck’s runaway slave companion. Excellent, although I wasn’t wild about the ending. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Things I Don’t Want to Know: On Writing by Deborah Levy, the first in her memoir trilogy. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy, the second in the trilogy, was a gift from a friend and I was so happy to finally discuss it with her. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler has put me in the mood to read more of her books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Last Chance in Paris by Lynda Marron. A heartwarming novel, set in Paris, that weaves together several storylines. Loved it! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• In Five Years by Rebecca Serle is a clever romcom set in New York but too much magical realism for me. 🌹🌹🌹

• Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull is the kind of ex pat memoir I devour, always with delight. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Crowded Grave by Martin Walker, the fourth Bruno book. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• You Can’t Joke About That: Why Everything is Funny, Nothing is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together by Kat Timpf. I can’t say I’m a big fan of stand-up comedy, but this book was interesting and funny. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. I've now finished my project of reading all the Sherlock Holmes books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh, the second in his Sword of Honour Trilogy. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Come Fill the Cup by Harlan Ware was a surprisingly good vintage novel about newspaper journalism and alcoholism. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope, the fifth book in the Palliser series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud was a book club pick because one of our members is moving to Morocco. I hear the movie is better than the book. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier. I never like short stories as much as novels. 🌹🌹🌹

• Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy is wonderful, just wonderful. Both my book clubs read it and loved it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Scandinavian From Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden by Nicole Accettola. I read it cover to cover, just like a regular book. Now I’m inspired to try new things for my holiday baking. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived by Antonin Scalia is a collection of Scalia’s public speeches. It was really very good and not too lawyer wonky. I saw him speak once and he was an excellent, entertaining public speaker. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, a reread for me of an all-time favorite. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Slightly Foxed, No. 83, Autumn 2024. I always love the Foxed Quarterly journals. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George is the prequel to With No One as Witness. Too much social commentary and no mystery, so it fell flat for me. 🌹🌹

• The Devil’s Cave by Martin Walker. I’m racing through his Bruno series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. I read this for Victober and adored it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• I’ll Take the Back Road by Marguerite Hurrey Wolf, a vintage memoir about moving to a Vermont farm. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• London Rules by Mick Herron, number five from his Slow Horses series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The End of the Battle by Evelyn Waugh, also called An Unconditional Surrender. The final book in his Sword of Honour Trilogy. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, my second Victober book and a terrific Victorian melodrama. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek, a surprisingly engaging nonfiction comparison of planned and market economies that deserves its status as an economics classic. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier, short stories. 🌹🌹🌹

• Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier, more short stories. 🌹🌹🌹

• The Resistance Man by Martin Walker, more Bruno, number six. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, the last book on my TBR 24 in '24 list and an Austria book for the European Reading Challenge. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Living Color: A Designer Works Magic with Traditional Interiors by Gary McBournie. I’m trying to read all my coffee table books. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Three Men and a Maid by P. G. Wodehouse, an accidental reread because it has alternate titles, but just as enjoyable the second time. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Unsuspected by Charlotte Armstrong, a vintage mystery in the American, hard-boiled tradition. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong, another vintage mystery and my Classics Club “spin” pick with The Classics Club. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison was sad but engrossing. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Turret Room by Charlotte Armstrong, another vintage mystery. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Doll by Daphne du Maurier, the last DDM book with my bookstagram readalong group. We will wrap up with a biography in early 2025. 🌹🌹🌹

• The Cheesemaker’s Daughter by Kristin Vukovic. A terrific family story and my Croatia book for the European Reading Challenge. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Duke’s Children by Anthony Trollope, the last of the Palliser novels and my favorite. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, the new Jackson Brodie mystery. Loved it! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell. A perfect plane read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The New Bohemians Hand Book: Come Home to Good Vibes by Justina Blakeney. Definitely artsy-fartsy-hippie-dippy-woo-woo, but I enjoyed it. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Children Return by Martin Walker, the seventh Bruno mystery set in France. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Death and Croissants by Ian Moore, the first book in his comic mystery series, also set in France. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Leaves of Grass (Vol. I) and Democratic Vistas by Walt Whitman. I loved the exuberance of the poems and the insight of the essay. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler, part of my project to read all her books. I found this one particularly charming. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Joe Country by Mick Herron, the sixth Slough House book. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater, which I read to kick off the holiday season. It involves too many raisins, currants, and other dried fruits for me to love it unconditionally. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten. An odd collection of short stories that counts as my Sweden book for the European Reading Challenge. 🌹🌹🌹

• Object: A Memoir by Kristin Louise Duncombe, the best memoir about the effects of child sexual abuse I’ve read, and I read a lot of them for my work. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Real Estate: A Living Autobiography by Deborah Levy, which I loved. The final book in her memoir trilogy. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Evelyn Waugh’s Oxford by Barbara Cooke. More academic than I expected. 🌹🌹🌹

• Promise Me by Jill Mansell. A cute, romantic story set in the Cotswolds. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Murder in the First Edition by Lauren Elliott, which kicked off my project of reading only Christmas books in December but was too cozy for me. 🌹🌹1/2

• A Christmas Journey by Anne Perry, my first of her Christmas novellas set in the late 1800s. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Christmas in London by Anita Hughes, a fun romcom. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Fatal Winter by G. M. Malliet, featuring ex-MI5 agent, now Anglican priest, Max Tudor. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber. Too fluffy for me. 🌹🌹1/2

• Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan, an entertaining homage to the Golden Age of mysteries. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan. My first Morgan book, and I enjoyed it so much I read others right away. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Christmas Legacy by Anne Perry, another historical novella. I like these more than I expected. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Christmas Party by Kathryn Croft. A made-for-audible Christmas thriller, formulaic and heavy on atmosphere, but fun. 🌹🌹🌹

• Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham was no holiday, but was well-written and made me think. 🌹🌹🌹

• A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan. My favorite of the three Morgan books I read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Bruno and the Carol Singers by Martin Walker. A short novella featuring Bruno at Christmas. 🌹🌹🌹

• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. A must read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Redbird Christmas by Fanny Flagg was 100% charming and I loved it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry, which mixed Christmas and Dracula. 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Christmas Revelation by Anne Perry. Another of her historic Christmas novellas. 🌹🌹🌹

• There Came Both Mist and Snow by Michael Innes. This vintage mystery featuring detective John Appleby was denser than I expected but highly entertaining. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk appealed to my Bavarian heritage. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• One More for Christmas by Sarah Morgan. Another good one, this one set in the Scottish Highlands. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson. A vintage mystery with quirky humor and an intricate plot. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

MY RATING SYSTEM

I now use roses for my rating system, since this is Rose City Reader. My rating system is my own and evolving. Whatever five stars might mean on amazon, goodreads, or Netflix, a five-rose rating probably doesn't mean that here. My system is a mix of how a book subjectively appeals to me, its technical merits, and whether I would recommend it to other people.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Five roses for books I loved, or would recommend to anyone, or I think are worthy of classic "must read" status." Examples would be Lucky Jim (personal favorite), A Gentleman in Moscow (universal recommendation), and Great Expectations (must read).

🌹🌹🌹🌹 Four roses for books I really enjoyed and/or would recommend to people who enjoy that type of book. So I give a lot of four roses because I might really like a book, but it didn't knock my socks off. And while I'd recommend it to someone who likes that genre -- mystery, historical fiction, food writing, whatever -- I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who asked me for a "good book.".

🌹🌹🌹 Three roses for books I was lukewarm on or maybe was glad I read but wouldn't recommend.

🌹🌹 Two roses if I didn't like it. Lessons in Chemistry is an example, which proves how subjective my system is because lots of people loved that book. I found it cartoonish and intolerant.

🌹 One rose if I really didn't like it. I don't know if I've ever rated a book this low. The Magus might be my only example and I read it before I started keeping my lists.

I use half roses if a book falls between categories. I can't explain what that half rose might mean, it's just a feeling.

Here is a link to the star rating system I used for years. I include it because the stars I used in years past meant something different than these roses, so if you look at my lists from past years, the ratings won't mean quite the same thing.

The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell 

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Anyone who has never before visited Krishnapur, and who approaches from the east, is likely to think he has reached the end of his journey a few miles sooner than he expected.

-- from The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell.

Farrell won the 1973 Booker Prize for The Siege of Krishnapur, a novel based on historical events. In telling the tale of one of the battles during India's 1857 Great Mutiny, Farrell critiques colonialism and examines the beginning of the end of the British Empire. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Siege of Krishnapur:

Yet it was the Collector himself who was responsible for this fortnightly torment since it was he who had founded the Society. He had done so partly because he was a believer in the ennobling powers of literature, and partly because he was sorry for the ladies of the Cantonment who had, particularly during the hot season, so little to occupy them.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

India, 1857--the year of the Great Mutiny, when Muslim soldiers turned in bloody rebellion on their British overlords. This time of convulsion is the subject of J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur, widely considered one of the finest British novels of the last fifty years.

Farrell's story is set in an isolated Victorian outpost on the subcontinent. Rumors of strife filter in from afar, and yet the members of the colonial community remain confident of their military and, above all, moral superiority. But when they find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion--at once brutal, blundering, and wistful--is soon revealed.

My Wrap Up Post -- THE 2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

 

THE 2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

My Wrap Up Post

I finished the 2024 European Reading Challenge, but without any flair or fanfare. I even forgot to do a sign up post in 2024 -- and it's my challenge! 

There are some amazing ERC participants who always read interesting books from all over Europe. Some people have managed to read books from all 50 European nations in a year, even in multiple years. See Sabine's Literary World on Instagram to see what I mean. But my European tour was slapdash at best. I intend to be better planned in 2025. 

Go to the main 2024 European Reading Challenge page to see who signed up and find links to the reviews and wrap up pages. If you finished the challenge, please add a link to some sort of wrap up post (even an updated version of your sign up post) on the wrap up post here. 

If you want to join the 2025 European Reading Challenge (and I hope you do), go to the sign up page, here. 

MY 2024 EUROPEAN TOUR

In 2024, I read 125 books set in Europe or written by European authors, mostly from the UK. However, I only visited 14 different countries, and only one book from each country counts for the challenge. 

I traveled with English-speaking authors for the most part. Only four were in translation, something I struggle with every year. I mean to read more books in translation, but I also want to read the books on my TBR shelves. Those goals compete. 

Here is my itinerary, with one book from each country: 

AUSTRIA: Chess Story by Stefan Zweig (translated)

CROATIA: The Cheesemaker's Daughter by Kristin Vukovic

DENMARK: Scandinavian from Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden by Nichole Accettola

FRANCE: The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker

GERMANY: Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk

GREECE: The Light of Day by Eric Ambler

HOLLAND: King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling (translated)

ICELAND: My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean

IRELAND: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

ITALY: Still Life by Sarah Winman

SPAIN: The Vacationers by Emma Straub

SWEDEN: Beartown by Fredrik Backman (translated)

SWITZERLAND: Object by Kristin Louise Duncombe

UNITED KINGDOM: Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

My Sign Up Post -- TBR 25 IN '25 & MT. TBR CHALLENGES

 

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

My Sign Up Post

This is my sign up post for the TBR 25 in '25 and Mt. TBR Challenges. If you want to join me in the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page, here. Bev at My Reader's Block hosts the Mt. TBR Challenge. You can find the details for that one here. 

The number of unread books on my shelves is staggering. I long ago stopped referring to "my TBR shelf" because there are many shelves of unread books in my house. I prefer to think to it as a "library" and may never get to all of them. But I mean to try. 

Last year, I read the 24 books I picked for the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge, plus another 70 books for the Mt. TBR Challenge, for a total of 94 books read from my TBR library. I hope to reach at least 100 this year. 

You do not have to pick your TBR 25 in '25 book ahead of time. You can. Or you can pick them as you go. Or you can pick and then change your mind. The only "rule" is that the books have to have been on your shelf before January 1, 2025. 

Here are my TBR 25 in '25 picks, in alphabetical order by author. I'll read them in any old order:

• One Man’s San Francisco by Herb Cain

• French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David

• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell FINISHED

• Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster NOW

• Biter Orange by Claire Fuller

• Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

• Q.’s Legacy by Helene Hanff

• Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith

• Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith

• Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch FINISHED

• Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay

• The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

• The Widow on Dwyer Court by Lisa Kusel

• The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev

• Lost & Found: Public Theology in the Secular Age by Michael A. Milton NOW

• Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell

• Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl

• Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair FINISHED

• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen by Nigel Slater NOW

• The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

• Zabar's: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar

There was no rhyme or rhythm to how I picked these. A few, like the Herb Cain book, have languished on my shelves for too long. Others came to me more recently, but with the understanding that I would read them right away, which I haven't. Some are for group reads on Instagram, like Imitation of Christ and the du Maurier biography. A few won prizes and I'm trying to read all the winners, like the Charlotte Jay book that won the very first Edgar Award for best mystery in 1954.

I got this post up so late that I've already read several of these. I wanted to start strong in January so I have momentum to read these and then move on to my Mt. TBR books. 

I don't know which books I'll read for that one yet. But I signed up for the Mt. Everest level to read a total of 100 books off my shelves. That means I need 75 in addition tot he 25 listed above. I'm ready to climb!

 

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS O FRIDAYS

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

Yikes! I did it again. I forgot to post. To be honest, I forgot what day it was and only realized this morning that it is Saturday already and I had forgotten (again) to post Book Beginnings.

There's been a break in my work while I wait for a big decision from the Court of Appeals. But I can't keep track of time or days without a work schedule. If I'm this bad when I'm only on a break, what will it be like when I retire? I better find a good calendaring system!

A big thank you to those of you who come back to add your Book Beginnings on Fridays post late. I'll see all of you back next week when I post on time. I Promise!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The town takes its name from the river. 

-- from The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. 

Edna O'Brien sprang to literary fame, or notoriety, in 1960, with the publication of her first novel, The Country Girls (later expanded to The Country Girls Trilogy). The book scandalized Ireland with its honest portrayal of female sexuality. O'Brien continued to write books for decades, until she was almost 90 years old. The Little Red Chairs was her penultimate book, published in 2015 when she was 85.

I'm reading this now and it is fantastic. It's the story of a mysterious man claiming to be from Montenegro who moves to a small Irish village. Things are not what they seem. It's a great yarn, full of warmth, humor, intrigue, and anguish. I love it and plan to read more of her books. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag so we can try to find you. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.


MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Little Red Chairs:

We were fifteen in all, boys and girls, and we walked in pairs through the town, over the bridge and about one mile more to Killooney Wood. We sang as we walked and when we could remember no more songs, the Doc sang folk songs from his own country, in his own tongue.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

One night, in the dead of winter, a mysterious stranger arrives in the small Irish town of Cloonoila. Broodingly handsome, worldly, and charismatic, Dr. Vladimir Dragan is a poet, a self-proclaimed holistic healer, and a welcome disruption to the monotony of village life. Before long, the beautiful black-haired Fidelma McBride falls under his spell and, defying the shackles of wedlock and convention, turns to him to cure her of her deepest pains.

Then, one morning, the illusion is abruptly shattered. . . . The Cloonoila community is devastated by this revelation, and no one more than Fidelma, who is made to pay for her deviance and desire. In disgrace and utterly alone, she embarks on a journey that will bring both profound hardship and, ultimately, the prospect of redemption.