June 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

June 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

What book surprised you in June? For me, the answer is The Calamity Club, which completely pulled me in from the get go. See my earlier review post.

Here's the list of the book I read in June. See any favorites?

• Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. I love AC but often forget to read her books. I'd like to read at least one a month but need to concentrate to make that work. This was an overly complicated but still fun Hercule Poirot case set in France.  

• Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling. Schoolboy stories are not my usual cup of tea. These are as good as they get, and I appreciate them as a classic, but didn't really engage with them.

• The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. I got a review copy of this one from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. I was determined to get it read and reviewed, but was daunted by the page count -- it's a doorstop! So I switched to the audiobook from my library and was so happy i did. The two readers did an amazing job and really made the characters come alive. 

• The Bible of British Taste: Stories of Home, People and Place by Ruth Guilding. This coffee table book was fascinating. I expected glossy layouts of fancy houses. But it is more about how real people live in architecturally significant houses in whatever state those houses may be in. It is about preserving, not necessarily restoring or renovating. I was unfamiliar with Guilding's former blog of the same name, so this world was all new to me. 

• Simisola by Ruth Rendell is the 16th book in her Inspector Wexford series and explores issues of immigration, racism, and exploitation. It was a good one. 

• Curriculum Vitae: Autobiography by Muriel Spark. Spark is one of my favorite authors. Her autobiography covers her childhood in Edinburgh, disastrous first marriage to a mentally unstable man she followed to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), work for the British Secret Service during WWII, and early success as an author. It's fascinating to read her story in her own words. 

• The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading, Writing, and the World of Books by Robertson Davies. This was a delight from beginning to end. Davies is another favorite fiction writer of mine. This is a collection of speeches he gave later in life, mostly about reading and writing. I loved every page. 

• Diamond Solitaire by Peter Lovesey is the second mystery in his Peter Diamond series. I have most of the book in cool Soho Crime editions and am excited dive in. Diamond is the kind of schleppy, overweight, own-worse-enemy sort of crime solver I love, sort of an English version of Ian McEwan's John Rebus. 

• Slightly Foxed No. 87 (Summer 2025). This literary quarterly is so interesting it is worth the risk of overloading my TBR shelves. 

NOT PICTURED

• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. This was my first Shafak book and might be my last. I read it for book club and we all agreed that the premise was good but the execution left us cold because she lectures a lot. A lot. 

• Road Rage by Ruth Rendell. This 20th Wexford mystery involves environmental activists protesting the construction of a new byway near "Kingsmarkham," Wexford's fictional town in Sussex.

• The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. I love the Thursday Murder Club books and this new one, the fifth, lived up to me expectations. 

• Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser. This was another book club pick and I did not finish it. I don't include it on my book count for the year, but I include it here because I wrote about it here. 

The Kipling, Spark, and Davies books were from my TBR 26 in '26 stack, leaving me with nine to go.

February 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

 

BOOK THOUGHTS

February 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

Oh, the short month of February, when there are not enough days to read all the books! I managed to finish 13 in my birthday month, but there were several left behind.

I am normally a planner when It comes to my reading. I love to pick books ahead of time, either for the year, like with my TBR 26 in '26 books, or by the month when I pick a stack for my nightstand that I want to get through that month. Because my birthday was in February, I decided to "treat" myself to reading more by whim. I had a couple of book club books I had to finish, but otherwise, I thought I'd pick them as I went. It turned out to not be as fun as I hoped. I think I like the anticipation and planning as much as I like reading the books. 

• The Veiled One by Ruth Rendell, number 14 in her Inspector Wexford series, my new focus. I love Wexford's droll demeanor and the way he's always quoting literature.

• Riders by Jilly Cooper. I loved every 912 page of this rollicking, raunchy chunkster. It’s book 1 of her Rutland Chronicles and I can’t wait to read the others. This was a real birthday treat.

• Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood, a Hogarth Shakespeare retelling of The Tempest. I picked this for book club and am so glad I did. Excellent!

• The Affair by C. P. Snow was a slog, but I’m determined to finish his Strangers & Brothers series. I love mid-century campus novels so want to love this series. But it is dry as dust.

• Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of WASP Splendor by Tad Friend, a fascinating memoir and social commentary about growing up in an extended East Coast, WASP family in the later 20th Century. It reminded me a lot of my first husband's family, which fortunately was humorous to me at this point. One of my TBR 26 in '26 books.

• The Paris Directive by Gerald Jay. A dud for me. Good premise, but I was yelling at the book for the unbelievability of every detail of the murders. Supposedly the best assassin the the world botches the first murder, tries to frame the local handyman, hangs around the tiny French village, and decides to murder the investigating cop and the daughter of one of the victims because they might solve the crime. Seriously? Why doesn't he just leave? Another TBR 26 in '26 book and one I'm glad to have off my shelf. 

• When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter. An entertaining memoir about the magazine business in its heyday, but the name dropping got to be too much. Specifically, he would introduce someone by full name -- which is good, knowing the people he rubbed elbows with is why you read a book like this -- but then all subsequent references were to first names. I couldn't keep up. There was no way I could remember that Henry Smigglesworth at the Oscar party was "Henry" at Paris Fashion Week 200 pages later. 

• The English Country Town by Russell Chamberlin. I thought this was a fluffy coffee table book and discovered it is a readable but serious history of English towns back to pre-Roman days. A surprise highlight of my month. I was fascinated.

NOT PICTURED

• The Appeal by Janice Hallett, a fun, popular mystery told through email and text messages. I read the sequel, The Christmas Appeal, in December and wanted to go back to the original. I actually thought the sequel was better because it was a novella and packed a lot into the shorter format. The original novel felt too long in comparison. 

• Prelude to Terror by Helen MacInnes is one of her later Cold War thrillers and very good. It is the first of three books she wrote featuring CIA spy Robert Renwick. Apparently this was a reread for me, but I remembered none of it, so it felt brand new. 

• Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just by Timothy Keller, a recommendation from our pastor and definitely worth reading.

• St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton. I read this classic as a group read on Instagram. Chesterton's commentary was as interesting as the details of the saint's life. 

• White Noise by Don DeLillo has been on my list forever but just confirmed I am not a fan. It won the 1985 National Book Award and I'm working my way through the winners. I don't plan on picking up any other DeLillo books. 

Did any of your February books stand out?

January 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

January 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

Now that I'm "all-but" retired, I've been reading more. I've also been clearing out and reorganizing all my cupboards and closets. I hope the reading continues and the compulsion to clean up fades. 

Here’s my January wrap-up list. Have you read any of these? 

• A Weed Among the Flowers by Graham Greene, in a miniature special edition. I wrote about it here. 

• Hiroshima by John Hersey, a must read but horrifying. My first TBR 26 in '26 book.

• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, a funny, interesting memoir about the Appalachian Trail.

• The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster includes three novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room. Well done but not my cup of tea.

• Put on by Cunning by Ruth Rendell is book 11 of her Inspector Wexford series, confusingly included in an omnibus with books 2, 3, and 4.

• An Unkindness of Ravens by Ruth Rendell, book 13.

• A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L’Engle is a hidden backlist gem from the author of A Wrinkle in Time. I wrote about it here. 

• Afterward by Bristol Vaudrin. This debut novel offered a wry take on the aftermath of personal trauma. Here's my review.

• The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden by Rosy Gee is a clever new cozy mystery set in Shropshire. My review is in the works. 

• Message from Málaga by Helen MacInnes. I’ll count this Cold War thriller about chasing Cuban spies through Spain as my Spain book for the 2026 European Reading Challenge. It's not too late to join!

• The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene, the first readalong with a "Going Greene" group on Instagram.

NOT PICTURED: Books I read with my ears, as an ebook, borrowed, or mislaid.

• Clown Town by Mick Herron, the latest in his Slow Horses series.

• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is as good as the buzz says. I loved it, especially back to back with A Severed Wasp! I wrote about it here. 

• The Speaker of Mandarin by Ruth Rendell, Wexford book 12. An interesting mystery that begins with Wexford's trip to Communist China. Parts haven’t aged well!

• The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie was an excellent collection of five stories and a perfect book club pick.

• The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty. Pure fun.

• My Friends by Frederik Backman is enormously popular but not for me. The whole theme of "we're the cool ones who really understand art and everyone else is stuffy, pretentious, or fake" put me off with it's reverse-elitism. Surprisingly, my book club ladies disliked it even more than I did.

• Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane was a delight. I'm so glad I finally read it. 

What were your January standouts?

The TBR 25 in '25 & Mt. TBR Challenges -- MY WRAP UP POST

 

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

My Wrap Up Post

I did two TBR challenges in 2025, the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge that I hosted and the Mt. TBR Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. Both aim to clear books off TBR shelves. Any book in your possession as of January 1, 2025, counts as TBR. 

I finished the 25 books I picked for the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge earlier this year. I really buckled down and got 24 of them finished by June. The last one, Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, took my longer because it was dry and dense. I didn't finish that one until the end of September and I started it in March. 

For the Mt. TBR Challenge, I finished an additional 112 books off my TBR shelves, for a total of 137 TBR books. I signed up at the Mt. Everest level to read 100 books off my TBR shelves and exceeded that goal. Inspired to try harder, I signed up for the Mr. Olympus level in 2026, with the goal of reading 150 TBR books. Wish me luck!

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

• One Man’s San Francisco by Herb Cain

• French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David

• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell 

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

• Bitter 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 

• 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 

• 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 

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

• 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

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

The TBR 25 in '25 Challenge dovetailed nicely with the Mt TBR Challenge Bev at My Reader's Block hosts every year. This year, I signed up for the "Mt. Everest" Level to read a total of 100 books off my TBR shelves in 2025.

I climbed even higher! In addition to the 25 books I read for the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge, I read 112 books off my TBR shelves, for a total of 137 TBR books. That's a record for me.

MY MT. TBR BOOKS

Here are the additional 112 TBR books I read in 2025, in the order I read them. 

• Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

• The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes

• Dragon's Teeth by Sinclair Lewis

• Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan

• The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

• The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando

• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

• Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake

• How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz, PhD

• With Thanks and Appreciation: Thoughts, Sentiments, Tokens and Traditions of the Past by Pat Ross

• Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

• The Templars' Last Secret by Martin Walker

• A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

• This Body of Death by Elizabeth George

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• Sun Bird by Lindsay Moore

• Writing Notes with a Personal Touch by Daria Price Bowman

• Love Quotations: A Collection of Romantic Pictures and the Best Love Quotes, compiled by Helen Exley

• The Secret Place by Tana French

• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon

• Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George

• Slightly Foxed, Vol. 84, Winter 2024

• Bamboo Farmer Wisdom: 101 Inspirational Thoughts by Greg Bell

• I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano 

• Lonely Planet Hidden Libraries: The World’s Most Unusual Book Depositories by DC Helmuth

• Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today by Christina Hoff Sommers

• Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George

• Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating from Classic Fiction by Sean Brand

• Penmarric by Susan Howatch

• The Trespasser by Tana French

• What Shall I Say? A Guide To Letter Writing For Ladies by Mrs. Humphreys

• The Snare of the Hunter by Helen MacInnes

• A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George

• The St. Trinian's Story *and the Pick of the Searle Cartoons, edited by Kaye Webb

• The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh

• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

• The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle

• Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke

• Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten

• A New Lease of Death by Ruth Rendell

• A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene

• The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living by Olivier Dupon

• The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis

• Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter

• Transcription by Kate Atkinson

• Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki 

• Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn

• Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience by Shaun Usher

• The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan

• Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life by Daniel Klein

• The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy

• Emma by Jane Austen

• Agent in Place by Helen MacInnes

• Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

• Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnes

• Helena by Evelyn Waugh

• The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

• Wolf to the Slaughter by Ruth Rendell

• The Best Man to Die by Ruth Rendell

• I Like it Here by Kingsley Amis

• Old Bones by Aaron Elkins

• Thus was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell

• The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning

• A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr

• Jazz Funeral by Julie Smith

• August Folly by Angela Thirkell

• Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

• No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym

• A Guilty Thing Surprised by Ruth Rendell

• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

• The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien

• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

• Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Revised by Tamar Adler

• Murder Being Once Done by Ruth Rendell

• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

• Zorba the Greek by  Kazantzakis

• No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell

• Indian Summer by William Dean Howells

• The Luck of the Bodkins by P. G. Wodehouse

• Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark

• The Fisher King by Anthony Powell

• The Light of Day by Graham Swift

• The Anti-minimalist House by Massimo Listri

• Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell

• The Lonely Girl by Edna O'Brien

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

• Shake Hands Forever by Ruth Rendell

• The Complete Stories by Evelyn Waugh

• Ivanov by Anton Chekhov

• Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford

• A Sleeping Life by Ruth Rendell

• Brazil by John Updike

• Falstaff by Rober Nye

• Persuasion by Jane Austen

• Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

• L'Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home by David Lebovitz

• The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch

• The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

• The Devil's Advocate by Morris West

• Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien

• The British Baking Book: The History of British Baking, Savory and Sweet by Regula Ysewijn

• Rabbit Remembered by John Updike

• My Life as a Man by Philip Roth

• The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe

• A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Sleter

• Cat Stories by James Herriot

• Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

• The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

• Tempest Tost by Robertson Davies

• A Christmas Treasury of Yuletide Stories and Poems, edited by James Charlton and Barbara Gilson

• Leaven of Malice by Robertson Davies

November 2025 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

November 2025 Monthly Wrap Up

Thank goodness we have books to get us through the rough patches! November had its highs and lows, but I managed to read 16 books last month. See any here you’ve read or want to? 

My Life as a Man (1974) by Philip Roth. This was a mobius strip of a book. It starts with two short stories featuring a Nate Zuckerman prototype. The second part is a novel about Peter Tarnopol, the author of the two stories, which turn out to be based on his (also fictional) life. Both the Tarnopol and Zuckerman are alter egos of Roth, so it really spirals around itself. Only Roth could pull of a stunt like this. 

Highland Fling (1931) by Nancy Mitford, her first novel. Although not as polished as her later novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, this was a fun country house romp reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh or Anthony Powell.   

The Devil’s Advocate (1959) by Morris West was an undercover gem. I loved it! It is the story of a terminally ill priest assigned to investigate the possible sainthood (ie: play the Devil's advocate) of a man who died in the war in an Italian village. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1959.

Persuasion (1817) by Jane Austen, my final reread in celebration of her semiquincentennial.

Brazil (1994) by John Updike. This was an odd one about star crossed lovers in Brazil. There's a cross country adventure, gold mining, cannibals, and a fantastical twist that turns the story on its head. Add a lot, lot, lot of graphic sex to confirm that this one was not for me even though Updike is one of my favorite authors. Apparently, when you are as successful as him, you get to experiment.  

Shake Hands Forever and A Sleeping Life, both in The Third Wexford Omnibus by Ruth Rendell. These are books nine and ten in her Inspector Wexford series, which I like more and more as I work my way through it.

Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. This short book was the last in a boxed set of Thoreau’s major works. I finally finished the others, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Walden, and The Maine Woods, so, being a completist, I reread this one.

L’Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home by David Lebovitz. I always enjoy a good expat memoir and this one adds cooking (with recipes) and a disastrous home remodel, so it was extra fun.

Girls in Their Wedded Bliss (1964) with Epilogue (1986) by Edna O’Brien. This is the sad, final book in her Country Girls Trilogy. 

Falstaff (1976) by Robert Nye. This 1975 book of historical fiction has been on my TBR shelf for years. It is the fictional autobiography of Shakespeare’s beloved comedic character. His picaresque adventures were highly entertaining. Not only did he participate in the historical highlights of the 1400s, he met other Shakespeare characters along the way. But the sex talk was over the top. It went from bawdy to downright raunchy to sometimes pornographic. A little went a long way and a lot went too far. I’m glad I read it but it’s not for the faint of heart. The book is on Anthony Burgess's list of 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939, a Personal Choice.

The Complete Stories (1999) by Evelyn Waugh. I was in a readalong group on Instagram that read all Waugh's fiction over the last two or so years, one every other month. We finished with the short stories. I loved the entire experience.

The Green Knight (1993) by Iris Murdoch, a typically delightful shaggy tale by one of my favorite authors.

The British Baking Book: The History of British Baking, Savory and Sweet (2020, US Ed.) by Regula Ysewijn. This was interesting and there are several recipes I'd like to try, but is Britain really so obsessed with dried fruit and candied peel?

Ivanov (1887) and The Seagull (1896) by Anton Chekhov are not in the picture above because I forgot. I’m trying to read more classic drama and I'm glad I read these, but I can't say they are favorites. 

October 2025 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

October 2025 Monthly Wrap Up

I read a lot in October because of a lull in my work schedule. Then November blew up and I forgot to post my monthly wrap up. Here's the list of the 19 books I read last month. 

The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse. Madcap fun on an ocean liner.

Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblewaite by Anthony Trollope. This is the only book I managed to read for Victober 2025 and I admit I was disappointed. I loved the both the Barchester and Palliser series. This is the first stand alone Trollope book I've read. The story was soppy and a real downer. Unlike most of Trollope's female characters, the heroine was a nitwit. 

The Light of Day by Graham Swift starts as hardboiled detective fiction and ends as a melancholy love story. It kept me entertained throughout and thinking about it after. 

Autumn by Ali Smith annoyed me until I loved it. It took me a while to get into the writing style and the story. 

Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark, a brilliant, imaginative tale inspired by the Lord Lucan disappearance. I thought it was excellent. 

The Fisher King by Anthony Powell. I’m glad I read it, but probably one for Powell completists like me. It's another shipboard story, so I had a theme going with the Wodehouse book. 

Indian Summer by William Dean Howells. I reviewed this one in an earlier post, here. Howells was an American, so technically not a Victorian author, but he wrote in the late 1800s so this was Victober-adjecent. 

Slightly Foxed, No. 87, the autumn issue of my favorite literary journal from Foxed Quarterly. I love these essays about backlist books, even though they lead to an ever-longer wishlist and tottering TBR stacks. 

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Definitely my fave of the month. I got this book years ago, when it first came out, but never read it. I am so glad I did! I don't like scary books, but I enjoy a story like this that is brimming with eery atmosphere and suspense. 

From Harvest to Home: Seasonal Activities, Inspired Decor, and Cozy Recipes for Fall by Alicia Tenise Chew put me in an autumnal mood. After reading it, I was so inspired, I made a hydrangea wreath. 

The Anti-Minimalist House by Massimo Listri. I’m on a quest to read all my coffee table books and I liked the title of this one. It is different than most of my home decor books because the author/photographer is Italian and most of the houses featured were Italian or French. Interesting, but a different look than the English and American house books I am used to. Lots of dark colors, especially dark red, and what I think of as baroque furnishings. Not literally from the Baroque period, but heavy and ornate. 

NOT PICTURED

The Lonely Girl by Edna O-Brien. This is the second book in O'Brien's Country Girls Trilogy. I liked this one a lot because the two main characters are adults in this one, not children and teen agers like in the first one. 

Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell, book 8 in her Inspector Wexford series. I love this series and plan to continue to plow through it. 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was my book club’s pick for October. Not my favorite, but I don’t like stories about teenagers. And I thought the ending was absurd. 

The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell, the second book in her Hilary Tamar series. I read the first book this summer and was excited to find audiobooks of the other three books. Lawyers who drink wine, travel around Europe, and solve mysteries -- and the books are very funny. I love this series and wish there were more than four of them.

The Sirens Sang of Murder, also by Sarah Caudwell, the third book in the series.

A Grave in the Woods by Martin Walker. His Bruno series is getting on my nerves. This is the 17th book and I am happy there is only one more to go (at least until he writes a new one). I loved this series at first, really loved it. Bruno is a viallage policeman in France who loves to cook. Wonderful! But Walker adds interesting and charming characters in every book then can't let any of them go. Trying to work two dozen or so recurring characters into every story limits the available plots. The books are getting repetitive but this one put me over the edge -- Walker forgot to include a murder mystery! The bodies in the grave in the woods were from WWII and there was no perpetrator to aprehend. 

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz, book three in his Susan Ryeland series featuring a book editor turned amateur sleuth. Unlike the Bruno series, this one is still fresh and lively. I love it.

September 2025 Reading Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

September 2025 Monthly Wrap Up 

I read a lot in September because I was stressed out about work. When I get really busy with work, I don't read much. But when I have time to finish all my work but am stressed out about it, I read a lot to take my mind off my jitters. Do you know what I mean?

Here is the list of the 21 books I read in September, in the order they appear in the stack in the picture. Have you read any of these?

PICTURED  

French Country Cooking by Elizabeth David. David is like an English Julia Child and this book is probably her most famous. It's a classic, but took me forever to read because it is so dense. 500 pages with only a handful of pen and ink illustrations, mostly for chapter headings, and the ingredients incorporated into the text instead of listed at the beginning. I'm glad I read it but don't think I'll cook much from it. This was the last book in my TBR 25 in '25 stack. Woo hoo!

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. I remember the movie playing on tv when I was a kid so I've had it in my head to read for decades and the book has been on my shelf for years. It was an exuberant, bittersweet story and I'm glad I read it, but it isn't a favorite. It counts as my Greece book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge. 

Miss Mole by E.H. Young. I read this one for Spinster September and loved it. The title character has a subversive sense of humor and it was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I'd like to find and read more "Furrowed Middlebrow" books from Dean Street Press. 

No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym, another spinster book. Her books have such a Jane Austen vibe. I love them.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. This one is really popular and the author won the Nobel Prize for literature, but it was not for me. I didn't like the idea of a crime spree with no consequences. I read it the week after Charlie Kirk was killed so a story about killing people you don’t agree with didn’t feel good. Even if you throw in the John Wick-like motive. Still, it counts as a Poland book for the ERC. 

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I had to read something by the ur-spinster for Spinster September! Alos, I'm rereading her six main novels to celebrate the semiquincentennial of her birth. Only one left!

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. I loved this book when I read it in 1992, right after I finished law school. The story of two couples who become best friends shortly after grad school hit me hard as I was starting down that same path. I reread it last month, this time as an audiobook. This time around, the story hit me from the other side, now that I am about the same age as the two couples at the end of their time as friends. It's such a wonderful novel.

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff. I read this because of the title and am glad I did. It was a wonderful, bittersweet family story about so much more than their annual vacation at the beach.

A Guilty Thing Surprised, Murder Being Once Done, and No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell are books 5, 6, and 7 in her Inspector Wexford series. I am really enjoying my tear through this series. Wexford is such an interesting character!

Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Revisited by Tamar Adler. Adler wrote The Everlasting Meal, one of my favorite food books. This cookbook interprets older recipes for contemporary home cooks. It is excellent and the perfect antidote to Elizabeth David. Unlike the David book, I will cook with this one.

The Elements by John Boyne is labeled a novel but is really an omnibus edition of four previously published novellas (with far superior covers), Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. All are quick reads and they kept me entertained, but such unlikeable characters! I had the same problem with the one other Boyne book I read, A Ladder to the Sky. It's the same problem I had with Drive Your Plow. I like the bad guys to get their just desserts.

English Country House Style: Traditions, Secrets, and Unwritten Rules by Milo and Katy Campbell. I am trying to get back to reading my coffee table books and have a whole collection of books about English country houses and decorating. This one was fabulous.

NOT PICTURED

The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien is a gem, even if I forgot to put it in the picture. The Country Girls is the first novel in the trilogy of the same name. I look forward to reading the other two.

Art, Love, and Other Miracles by Kiki Astor was a fun romance book set in Mexico City. I added it to the kindle app on my phone, which I rarely use, but like to have in case of emergency. I was traveling a lot in September, so had many opportunities to read a few pages here and there while waiting around.

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman won the International Booker Prize in 2017. I read this one with my ears. An Israeli friend recommended it and it is very good.

A Chateau Under Siege by Martin Walker is book 16 in his Bruno, Chief of Police series. I love the series but the stories are starting to blur in my mind. Martin has created a huge cast of supporting characters and getting them all crammed into every story means the stories are going to be similar. It's not like Bruno goes off by himself and solves a mystery in Thailand or something. He's there in his French village, with his two ex-lovers, assorted friends, the same co-workers, and a gaggle of neighbors. Only two more books to go, at least before he writes another one.

What were your September favorites?

June 2025 Reading Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

June 2025 Monthly Wrap Up

How about a big mug of coffee to go with a big stack of books!

I had a lull in my work schedule in June, giving me lots of time to read. I read 21 books last month, which is a personal record. Have you read any of these or do you plan to?

Here they are, in the order I read them. If they aren't in the picture, it's because I read them with my ears and don't have a physical copy. Oh, I also forgot to include a Ruth Rendell book in the picture, even though I read it with my eyes.

• Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Gartner. I loved this one and reviewed it here. I didn't know anything about Gartner before I read this, other than that she is called the Barefoot Contessa. Her story is inspirational!

• Maigret and the Spinster by Simenon. I have a lot of Simenon's mystery books on my shelves, but have been slow to read them. I found Maigret to be odd, but charming. I want to read more. This is my France book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge. I'm trying to read more books in translation for the challenge. 

• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg was a disappointment. Read my review here to learn why.

• A New Lease of Death by Ruth Rendell. Now that's I've wrapped up a few other mystery series, I plan to focus on Rendell's Inspector Wexford books. This is the second one. I thought it was terrific, but I haven't really gotten into the series yet. I have time -- there are 24 books in the series. 

• The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George. Her Inspector Lynley series is one I've doubled down on in the last few years. I enjoy the books immensely, this one in particular, but they are so very long! Fortunately, my library recently got many of the audiobooks and that has helped enormously. I can listen to a 24-hour-long audiobook faster than I can read a 900-page book, especially when I speed up the playback speed. 

• Table for Two by Amor Towels. I loved Rules of Civility and this collection of short stories and a novella is in the same spirit. The novella is a sort-of sequel to Rules of Civility. 

• A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler is an early international thriller, published in 1930. The plot was a little messy, but it was a lot of fun.

• A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene was excellent. It's the story of an architect who lost his passion for his work and his religious faith and goes to a leper colony in Africa to lose himself. 

• The Pilgrims Redress by C.S. Lewis. I wanted to like this Christian classic, but I struggle with allegory.

• The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living by Oliver Dupon is a survey of contemporary arts and crafts. It was interesting, but a little dry to read straight through. 

• Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter. This short collection of three southern gothic novellas knocked my socks off. Porter is in the same school as Flannery O'Connor, with maybe a tough of Eudora Welty. 

• Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz, book five in his Hawthorne & Horowitz series. This is one of my very favorite series, but the fourth book, The Twist of the Knife, disappointed me. It was not as clever, more traditionally formulaic, than the first three. So I put off reading this fifth one when it first came out. I'm glad I finally read it because it is as snappy and fun as the first three.

• Meditations by Marcus Aurelias. Let’s just say, I’m not a stoic. This was a slog. 

• Transcription by Kate Atkinson. This story of WWII and Cold War espionage in London was a delight. I wish I read it earlier.

• Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki. This coming of age story about three sisters in Greece was fabulous, a highlight of my reading month. Another book in translation, this was my Greece pick for the European Reading Challenge. 

• Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn. I greatly admire his Patrick Melrose books and Lost for Words is an all-time favorite, so I was excited to read this. It had way more brain science than I expected and not enough story about the human relationships, but it was good and I'm glad I read it.

• Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition by Roger Scruton. This one made me think! It's a survey of western conservative thinking from Plato to the 21st Century. 

• Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience, edited by Sean Usher. 125 letters from ordinary and famous people, with short introductions providing context. It's a fun glimpse into the historical record.

• The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan is his only kids book. It was a short, enjoyable read. 

• Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life by Daniel Klein, At the other end of the lifespan spectrum, this a thoughtful consideration of old age.

• The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy, a forgotten classic that won the 1964 James Tait Black prize. It is the story of a woman from London in the late 1950s who goes to Poland to visit her sister who had married a Polish soldier after WWII. The story is sweet, a little funny, and sad, providing a clear-eyed look at life behind the Iron Curtain. This was my Poland pick for the ERC, even though it is not in translation. 

As work slows down, my reading speeds up! I used to read eight or nine books a month, around 100 a year. The last few years, as I've started to wind down my law practice and turn it over to my junior partner, I've been reading 15 or 16 books a month. June was the first month I really didn't have a lot of work to do and it shows in the number of books I read. I hope this trend continues because I might just have a chance to read all the books on my TBR shelves!

"Green But Unseen" -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Green But Unseen

This blog is my first bookish love, but I do enjoy the spontaneity and general sense of fun found among bookstagrammers on Instagram. One of my favorite things is how bookstagrammers come up with clever ways to highlight the books in their collection. One of the best is posting about a set of books based only on the color of the covers or spines. A popular version of this is to gather "Red But Unread" books. My personal favorite (because I thought of it) is to feature "Orange You Going To Read That" books.

A new one making the rounds is Green But Unseen, showcasing books with green spines or covers. I picked a baker's dozen of 13 books with green spines. These books have nothing intentionally in common besides their green spines and that I have not yet read any of them. 

These are in alphabetical order, by author. Which would you pick first? 

Family & Friends by Anita Brookner. I have so many of her books on my TBR shelf and have only read Hotel du Lac, because it won the Booker Prize. I want to read more, although I've been reluctant to start because I've read that the rest of the books don't stand up to Hotel du Lac. The only way to find out is to try for myself.

The After Party by Anton DiSclafani, a novel about Houston socialites in the 1950s. It sounds fun to me, although it gets mixed reviews.

The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy. This one is not a sequel to The Dud Avocado, but is similar. Avocado is about a 21-year-old American woman who find adventure in Paris. Old Man is about a slightly older American woman who finds adventure in London. 

The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich. This one has been on my shelf the longest. I always like her books so should get cracking on this one.

Crusoe’s Daughter by Jane Gardam. Her Old Filth trilogy is a recent favorite of mine. I want to read more by her and have gathered several, including this one.

The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley. I remember that my sister read this one in college and loved it. It's a modern classic I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while.

Kaleidoscope by J. Robert Janes. I love and collect paperback Soho Crime books with these color-block spines. Occasionally, I come across a hardback version, like this. I prefer the paperbacks because they all match, but will take the hardbacks if it is all I can find.

The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche by M.L. Longworth, book 7 in her Provençal Mysteries series, one of the many series languishing on my shelf. My plan is to start this series as soon as I finish Martin Walker's "Bruno, Chief of Police" series, also set in rural France. 

Midaq Alley, The Thief and the Dogs, and Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz in an omnibus edition. Until I took this picture, I had it in my head that these three novels were his famous "Cairo Trilogy," but they are not. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to these books. Should I? He did win the Nobel Prize for Literature after all. 

Civil to Strangers by Barbara Pym is one of several of her books I have in Virago Modern Classic editions. She’s a favorite, and I feel a Pym jag coming on. Maybe I'll tackle her books next, as soon as I finish my Helen MacInnes deep dive. 

The Babes in the Wood by Ruth Rendell, book 19 of 24 from her Inspector Wexford series. I’ve only read the first one, so I have a way to go!

The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal, in a Modern Library edition. The Red and the Black almost killed me, so I've been putting this one off. But I hear it is more enjoyable than Red & Black, so I'll get to it one of these days.

August Folly by Angela Thirkell, which now I plan to read in August. I've only read one of her books, but I know she is having a resurgence in popularity. I want to read more. 

What unread green-spined books can you find on your shelves?

And if you are a fellow bookstagrammer, drop me a comment with your user name so we can find each other over there. 

Friends of the Library -- MAILBOX HOLIDAY MONDAY

 

MAILBOX MONDAY

Thanks to a client meeting south of Portland, I had a chance to swing by two of my new favorite Friends shops. I don't get out to the exurbs often and when I do, I like to hit the library shops. I came home with a nice little book haul. 

See any in this batch of new-to-me books that catches your fancy? (Links here so you can read more about them. See gobbledygook section here.)

• The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper by Dominick Dunne. I love coffee table books and books about mid-century American "society," so this looks like fun!

• Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison is a favorite book of mine but I couldn't remember if I had a copy. I do, so I'll give this one away. Happens!

• Lark Rise to Candleford is Flora Thompson's lightly fictionalized memoir describing English life in a hamlet, a village, and a country town in the 1880s. I read about this trilogy in Foxed Quarterly and it sounds delightful! While I’d love to get my hands on a fancy Slightly Foxed edition, I’ll settle for good over perfect for now.

• Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane. I've read a couple of books in his Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro series and liked them, so want to read more.

• Devil's Breath by G. M. Malliet is another book in her Max Tudor series. I read the first book in the series and want to get back to it. 

• The Pope's Daughter: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by Dario Fo sounds terrific and I love the Europa edition!

• Middlemarch by George Eliot is one I recently reread, but I couldn't resist the Signet Classic edition from the 10¢ box.

• The Golden Calf by Helene Tursten is a Swedish mystery I picked up because I'm gathering Soho Crime editions. I love the books' color block spines and the stories' (usually) foreign locations. 

• Death at the Alma Mater by G. H. Malliet is from her St. Just series, which I haven't tried, but it looks so good I wanted to read start.

• The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. I was drawn to the striking Modern Library cover. 

• Set This House on Fire by William Styron. I like Styron's books but have never heard of this one.  

• Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell is from her Inspector Wexford series which I've started and want to keep reading. It turns out I also have a copy of this one already. That's the good thing about Friends of the Library shops. I don't feel guilty about spending $1 on a duplicate copy I can pass on to a friend, especially knowing the dollar went to the library. 

YOUR MAILBOX MONDAY BOOKS

What books came into your house recently?

Join other book lovers on Mailbox Monday to share the books that came into your house lately. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught Our Eye.

Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf graciously host Mailbox Monday. They are looking for a helper. If you are interested, see the website for details. 

The Edgar Award for Best Novel -- LIST

 

THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

2021 was the 75th anniversary of the Edgar Awards, the prestigious award for mystery writing from the  Mystery Writers of America. I'm working my way through the list of winners of the Edgar Award for Best Novel.

The Edgar Award is named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, 19th Century American author of spooky stories. Watchful at Night by Julius Fast won the first Edgar Award, then in the category of "Best First Novel by an American Author." The "Best Novel" category has been around since 1954.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2022. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.

So far, I've read 41 of the Best Novel winners, more than half. Those I've read or are on my TBR shelf are noted in the list below.

2022 Five Decembers by James Kestrel

2021 Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara ON OVERDRIVE

2020 The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths ON OVERDRIVE

2019 Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke FINISHED

2017 Before the Fall by Noah Hawley FINISHED

2016 Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy FINISHED

2015 Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King FINISHED

2014 Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger ON OVERDRIVE

2013 Live by Night by Dennis Lehane FINISHED

2012 Gone by Mo Hayder ON OVERDRIVE

2011 The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

2010 The Last Child by John Hart ON OVERDRIVE

2009 Blue Heaven by C. J. Box FINISHED

2008 Down River by John Hart FINISHED

2007 The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin FINISHED

2006 Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here) FINISHED

2005 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker FINISHED

2004 Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin FINISHED

2003 Winter and Night by S.J. Rozan FINISHED

2002 Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker FINISHED

2001 The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale

2000 Bones by Jan Burke

1999 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark FINISHED

1998 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke FINISHED

1997 The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook (reviewed here) FINISHED

1996 Come to Grief by Dick Francis FINISHED

1995 The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker TBR SHELF

1994 The Sculptress by Minette Walters

1993 Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron FINISHED

1992 A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block FINISHED

1991 New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith FINISHED

1990 Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke FINISHED

1989 A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky

1988 Old Bones by Aaron Elkins FINISHED

1987 A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine TBR SHELF

1986 The Suspect by L.R. Wright

1985 Briar Patch by Ross Thomas

1984 La Brava by Elmore Leonard FINISHED

1983 Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer FINISHED

1982 Peregrine by William Bayer TBR SHELF

1981 Whip Hand by Dick Francis FINISHED

1980 The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling

1979 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett FINISHED

1978 Catch Me: Kill Me by William H. Hallahan TBR SHELF

1977 Promised Land by Robert B. Parker FINISHED

1976 Hopscotch by Brian Garfield TBR SHELF

1975 Peter's Pence by Jon Cleary

1974 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman FINISHED

1973 The Lingala Code by Warren Kiefer

1972 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth TBR SHELF

1971 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo FINISHED

1970 Forfeit by Dick Francis FINISHED

1969 A Case of Need by Micheal Crichton (as Jeffery Hudson) FINISHED

1968 God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake FINISHED

1967 The King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling FINISHED

1966 The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall FINISHED

1965 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre FINISHED

1964 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler FINISHED

1963 Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters FINISHED

1962 Gideon's Fire by J.J. Marric

1961 The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons

1960 The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin TBR SHELF

1959 The Eighth Circle by Stanley Ellin

1958 Room to Swing by Ed Lacy

1957 A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong FINISHED

1956 Beast in View by Margaret Millar FINISHED

1955 The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler FINISHED

1954 Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay  FINISHED

NOTE

Updated September 15, 2025.  

OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS

If you are also reading Edgar winners, please leave comments with related posts like your lists and reviews and I will list them here.