Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.

-- from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Everyone knows the opening sentence from Pride & Prejudice ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."), but I think all her opening sentences are excellent, especially this one. 

I just finished reading Northanger Abbey as part of my project to reread all six of Austen's major novels to celebrate her 250th birthday. I had forgotten how funny it is! All her books have humor in them, but this one is a satire of the popular Gothic novels of the day, and is particularly funny. I loved it. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Northanger Abbey:

Towards the end of the morning, however, Catherine, having occasion for some indispensable yard of ribbon which must be bought without a moment’s delay, walked out into the town, and in Bond Street overtook the second Miss Thorpe as she was loitering towards Edgar’s Buildings between two of the sweetest girls in the world, who had been her dear friends all the morning. From her, she soon learned that the party to Clifton had taken place.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

During an eventful season at Bath, young, naïve Catherine Morland experiences the joys of fashionable society for the first time. She is delighted with her new acquaintances: flirtatious Isabella, who shares Catherine's love of Gothic romance and horror, and sophisticated Henry and Eleanor Tilney, who invite her to their father's mysterious house, Northanger Abbey. There, her imagination influenced by novels of sensation and intrigue, Catherine imagines terrible crimes committed by General Tilney. With its broad comedy and irrepressible heroine, this is the most youthful and and optimistic of Jane Austen's works.

Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. That's what I did this week.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Blandings Castle slept in the sunshine. Dancing little ripples of heat-mist played across its smooth lawns and stone-flagged terraces.

-- from Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse. A deceptively benign beginning for what will be a hilarious novel involving a tell-all memoir, a prize pig, a chorus girl, and general mayhem. You get a better idea of the humor in the book from the beginning of the Preface:

A certain critic — for such men, I regret to say, do exist — made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained “all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.” He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha, but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning.

P.G. Wodehouse is one of my favorite authors and I haphazardly collect his books in several editions. I'd love to have a complete set of one cool edition, but there are so many books and so many cool editions, that I don't think that will ever happen. He published close to 100 novels and books of short stories!

Perhaps my favorite Wodehouse editions are the Penguins from the 1970s and '80s with cover art by "Ionicus."  He drew the cover illustrations for 58 Wodehouse books. I have 17 of them, including Summer Lightning, and am on the lookout for others. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Summer Lightning:

And so far, in his efforts to win the favour and esteem of his Uncle Clarence, he seemed to have made no progress whatsoever. On the occasions when he had found himself in Lord Emsworth’s society, the latter had looked at him sometimes as if he did not know he was there, more often as if he wished he wasn’t.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The Honourable Galahad Threepwood has decided to write his memoir―a tell-all that could destroy polite society. Everyone wants this manuscript gone, particularly Lord Emsworth’s neighbor Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, who would do anything to keep the story of the prawns buried in the past. But the memoir isn’t the only problem. A chorus girl disguised as an heiress, a double-dealing detective, a stolen prize-winning sow, and a crazy ex-secretary are only a few of the complications that must be dealt with before everyone can have their happy ending.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

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

About thirty years ago Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income..

-- from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

Are you doing anything to commemorate the 250th birthday of Jane Austen this year? My plan is to reread Austen’s six main novels, one every other month. Sense and Sensibility was in January and a perfect way to kick things off. I read Pride and Prejudice in March and loved it just as much this fourth time. 

Mansfield Park was the third book in my project and I just finished it. It's not my favorite because I think Fanny Price is a drip. I like the story, but the heroine grated on my nerves. 

I’m particularly looking forward to Emma in July because it’s my favorite. Likewise, Clueless is my favorite adaptation so I plan to rewatch that after Emma. 

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.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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 Mansfield Park:

Fanny’s thoughts were now all engrossed by the two who had left her so long ago, and getting quite impatient, she resolved to go in search of them. She followed their steps along the bottom walk, and had just turned up into another, when the voice and the laugh of Miss Crawford once more caught her ear; the sound approached, and a few more windings brought them before her.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.

"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. 

April 2025 Reading Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

April 2025 Monthly Wrap Up

April was gorgeous here in Portland. We had April showers, but they brought April flowers. The magnolias, cherry trees, camelias, dogwoods, and all the rest seemed particularly stunning this year, maybe because we never got an ice storm or hard freeze. 

As beautiful as the flowers were, they didn’t distract me from reading 14 books last month. Several were fantastic, all were worthwhile. There wasn't a clunker in the mix.

See any here that you’ve read or want to? 

• Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George. This is book 15 of 18 in her Inspector Lynley/Barbara Havers series. I greatly enjoy the books but am determined to finish the series. 

• Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell. My favorite of the month! Harriman was an intriguing person who lived an extraordinary life. She was was married to Winston Churchill's son Randolph during WWII, then Broadway producer Leland Hayward, and finally banker and diplomat Avril Harriman. She had many other love affairs and was quite the jet setter. She was Bill Clinton's Ambassador to France and died in Paris in 1997, just shy of her 77th birthday. My husband gave this to me for Christmas and I included it in my TBR 25 in '25 list. 

• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with [and by] Nigel Slater. This is the first of four "Kitchen Diaries" books by Slater. I started off intending to read it over the course of the year, but couldn't hack that pace. I bolted it. I love his books, this one included. That said, I am not fond of his baking recipes, which feature a lot -- A LOT -- of candied citrus peel and dried fruit. I am not a fan of either. This was another TBR 25 in '25 for me.

• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim. I've been intending to read this classic for a long time and finally found a beautiful Folio edition (without slipcase) at a friends of the library shop. I waited until April to read it, of course. I know I will reread this one. This could count as my Italy book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge, although I'd like to find and read a book by an Italian author. 

• Hidden Libraries: The World’s Most Unusual Book Depositories by D.C. Helmuth. A friend gave me this for Christmas and it is fascinating.

• Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. My book club picked this for our April meeting. It is a sad, sometimes frustrating, story but we all loved the rural gothic vibe.  

• Ripley Underground and Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith, books two and three in her Ripley series. I read The Talented Mr. Ripley a while back, but wasn't moved to read the sequels right away. The first one left me cold. I like the bad guys to get caught in the mystery books I read, not crime fiction about bad guys getting away with murder. But I had these two in the same omnibus edition, and I'm a completist, so I read them. Interesting stories, but not my favorite. I think there are two or three more in the series, but I've had enough. 

• Penmarric by Susan Howatch was thoroughly engrossing. I love a big, shaggy, family saga and those written in the 1970s are the best of the. I didn’t know going into it that it is a retelling King Henry II’s family history. Clever!

• Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating from Classic Fiction by Sean Brand. I wanted to like this one more, but found it a little too fluffy. Still, it was a fun, quick read. It was one of the three little pipsqueak books I read.

• Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today by Christina Hoff Sommers. This was another pipsqueak in size, but it packed a punch in content. It includes the history of an overlooked side of early feminist efforts and argues for a more inclusive definition of feminism today.  

• I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano. This was the third pipsqueak I read last month. It was funnier than I thought it would be.

NOT PICTURED -- AUDIOBOOKS

• The Body in the Castle Well by Martin Walker. This is book 12 of 18 in his Bruno, Chief of Police series of mysteries set in a small French village. This is another series I am focusing on finishing. 

• The People We Keep by Allison Larkin. This is my book club's pick to discuss in May. Found family stories about teen agers are not my favorite cup of tea, but this one was well done and kept my attention.

How was your reading month? Any knockouts? What are you looking forward to reading in May?

49 Penguins -- BOOK THOUGHTS

 BOOK THOUGHTS

49 Penguins

Wowza! Nothing could make this bookworm’s heart pitter patter like the direct message I got last week from the Book Corner, the Beaverton Library's friends shop:

“Hi Gilion! We recently got these in and I know you are a vintage Penguin lover, so wanted to send you this in case you haven’t been in recently ☺️”

Um, yes! 

Here's the picture that accompanied this tantalizing message:

Needless to say, I raced over the very next day. They had kindly boxed them all up for me to go through. Several of the green tribands were duplicates of books I already have. (See here for more on my obsession with collecting green Penguin tribands, the "crime fiction" series.)  There were a few orange ones I either already have or really wasn't interested in, so I also set those aside. There was a nice young kid shopping for books who immediately snapped up Madame Bovary. 

All in all, I found 49 I didn’t have and wanted to add to my collection. Forty-nine! I can't believe it. 

Penguin Random House is now one of the "Big Five" mega-publishers. But Penguin Books started in 1935, in London, as a publisher of cheap, mass market paperbacks. They were usually reprints of earlier-published books. For reasons I don't remember, or never knew, most of the Penguin paperbacks from the 1930s and 1940s were not available in the US. As a result, these now-vintage books are hard to find over here. 

The earlier books had the now-iconic covers with a color band at the top and bottom and a white band in the middle with the title and author's name, no illustration. Contemporary readers may be more familiar with the coffee mugs with these color stripes than the original books. These covers became known as "tribands" for the three bands. Green was for mysteries, thrillers, espionage books, and true crime, collectively referred to as crime fiction. Orange was for general fiction, red for drama, pink for travel and adventure, blue for biographies, purple for essays, grey for current events, and yellow for miscellaneous. The standard triband was supplemented in 1949 by "vertical tribands" with the color strips on the left and right and the title, author's name, and illustration on the middle white strip. These are not as iconic, but are easier to find, so I have many of those. 

I kickstarted my collection of vintage Penguins during the pandemic lockdown when I (like so many others) sought retail therapy. I found a job lot of 425 green tribands for sale, bought them, and had them shipped over from England. I had to build new shelves in my home office to hold them all. I have only barely begun to read them. Since then, I buy the old ones when I find them, which isn't often. I have very few of the original tribands -- a handful of orange ones, a few red, one pink, and one yellow. I have never even seen a purple or grey one. I have quite a few of the orange vertical tribands. I like them because they have illustrations on the covers. Most of the illustrations are black and white line drawings, but some are color drawings. 

As the years went on, Penguin changed its cover designs and added other series. The original Penguin Classics was a big series that has continued, with different covers, until today. I have a few of those, but that's a whole different obsession. There are others, like "Marber Grid" covers originally designed by Polish emigré Romek Marber, which Penguin started using in 1961. Graham Greene books with covers illustrated by Paul Hogarth and P.G. Wodehouse book with covers illustrated by "Iconicus" are examples of smaller rabbit holes Penguin collectors can go down. 

I spend a lot of time playing with my Penguin collection. I should spend as much time reading the books as collecting and reading about them. 

I'll post more about my 49 new-to-me vintage Penguins in the next weeks. Check back! 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

-- from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. 

The opening sentence from Pride and Prejudice is so famous, I could type it in from memory. But it is a good one, no matter how hackneyed it has become. 

Because 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, I am rereading her six main books in publication order. Now up is her most popular book. I am reading it as an audiobook this time around. I plan to start this weekend. My only question is whether to go with a British reader for the traditional experience, or this delightful version read in an American Southern accent. Which would you choose?

The book cover, above, is not the cover on my copy. But it is so pretty that I wanted to share it. 

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.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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 Pride and Prejudice:

Allowing for the common demands of the game, Mr. Wickham was therefore at leisure to talk to Elizabeth, and she was very willing to hear him, though what she chiefly wished to hear she could not hope to be told, the history of his acquaintance with Mr. Darcy. She dared not even mention that gentleman.

 

Anthony Trollope -- FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

 

FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

Anthony Trollope

Thanks to Arches Bookhouse, I’m the happy new owner of a complete set of Anthony Trollope fiction. Plus some.

As you see, this isn’t a fancy set. It’s not even a matching set. These are all reader copies in mismatched paperback editions. I might call this a “collection,” but it’s not a collectible collection. Maybe calling it a "grouping" would be more accurate. Whatever you call it, I love it!

I had to rearrange a several of my paperback book shelves and even cull some books to make room for all of these. The result is a miracle of horizontal and double-deep organization. A common bookworm problem.

Anthony Trollope was a prolific Victorian author who wrote 47 novels, dozens of short stories, travel books, two plays, nonfiction, and several collections of correspondence. He died in 1882. The Trollope Society and the Trollope Society USA are excellent resources for Trollope fans. Both host in-person and online events for members and provide a trove of Trollope information.

The books I got at Arches include all the novels, short stories, and travel writing, plus a book of letters, his autobiography, two “companion” books, and a biography by Victoria Glendinning.

Trollope is best known for his two six-novel series, the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the Palliser Novels. I've read those books, although I'd like to read the Barsetshire novels again. But there are so many others that I haven't read for the first time, so it will be a while before I get to rereads. 

Are you an Anthony Trollope fan? Do you have any favorites or suggestions about which books to prioritize?

Here is Anthony Trollope's bibliography, which are novels unless noted:

The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) TBR SHELF

The Kellys and the O’Kellys (1848) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

La Vendee (1850) TBR SHELF

The Warden (1855) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 1) FINISHED

Barchester Towers (1857) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 2) FINISHED

Doctor Thorne (1858) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 3) FINISHED

The Three Clerks (1858) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

The Bertrams (1859) TBR SHELF

The West Indies and the Spanish Main (1859) (travel) TBR SHELF

Castle Richmond (1860) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Tales of All Countries, 1st Series (1861) (short stories) TBR SHELF

Framley Parsonage (1861) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 4) FINISHED

North America, Volume 1 (1861) (travel) TBR SHELF

Orley Farm (1862) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE/ON SPOTIFY

The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson, by One of the Firm (1862) TBR SHELF

North America, Volume 2 (1862) (travel) TBR SHELF

Rachel Ray (1863) TBR SHELF

Tales of All Countries, 2nd Series (1863) (short stories) TBR SHELF

North America, Volume 3 (1863) (travel) TBR SHELF
 
The Small House at Allington (1864) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 5) FINISHED

Can You Forgive Her? (1865) (Palliser Novels, Book 1) FINISHED

Miss Mackenzie (1865) TBR SHELF

The Belton Estate (1865) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Hunting Sketches (1865) (nonfiction)

Traveling Sketches (1866) (nonfiction)

Clergymen of the Church of England (1866) (nonfiction)

The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 6) FINISHED

The Golden Lion of Granpere (1867) TBR SHELF

The Claverings (1867) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Nina Balatka (1867) TBR SHELF

Lotta Schmidt and Other Stories (1867) (short stories) TBR SHELF

Linda Tressel (1868) TBR SHELF

Phineas Finn (1869) (Palliser Novels, Book 2)

He Knew He Was Right (1869) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE/ON SPOTIFY

Did He Steal It? (1896) (play)

On English Prose Fiction as a Rational Amusement (1869) (lectures)

The Vicar of Bullhampton (1870) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE/ON SPOTIFY

An Editor's Tales (1870) (short stories) TBR SHELF

The Commentaries of Caesar (1870 (nonfiction)

Ralph the Heir (1871) TBR SHELF

Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite (1871) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Eustace Diamonds (1872) (Palliser Novels, Book 3) FINISHED

Australia and New Zealand, Volume 1 (1873) (travel) TBR SHELF

Australia and New Zealand, Volume 2 (1873) (travel) TBR SHELF

Phineas Redux (1874) (Palliser Novels, Book 4) FINISHED

Lady Anna (1874) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Way We Live Now (1875) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Prime Minister (1876) (Palliser Novels, Book 5) FINISHED

The American Senator (1877) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

South Africa, Volume 1 (1877) (travel) TBR SHELF

South Africa, Volume 2 (1877) (travel) TBR SHELF

The Lady of Launay (1878) TBR SHELF

Is He Popenjoy? (1878) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Cousin Henry (1879) TBR SHELF

An Eye for an Eye (1879) TBR SHELF

John Caldigate (1879) TBR SHELF/ON SPOTIFY

Thackeray (1879) (nonfiction)

The Duke’s Children (1880) (Palliser Novels, Book 6) FINISHED

The Life of Cicero, Vol. 1 (1880) (nonfiction)

The Life of Cicero, Vol. 2 (1880) (nonfiction)

Ayala’s Angel (1881) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Dr. Wortle’s School (1881) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

Marion Fay (1882) TBR SHELF

The Fixed Period (1882) TBR SHELF

Kept in the Dark (1882) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Why Frau Frohmann Raised Her Prices and Other Stories (1882) (short stories)

Lord Palmerston (1882) (nonfiction)

Mr. Scarborough’s Family (1883) TBR SHELF

The Landleaguers (1883) TBR SHELF

An Autobiography (1883) (nonfiction) TBR SHELF

An Old Man’s Love (1884) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Noble Jilt (1923) (play)

London Tradesmen (1927) (nonfiction)

The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury (1941) TBR SHELF

The New Zealander (1972) (nonfiction)

The Letters of Anthony Trollope (1983)

NOTES

I cobbled together this list from wikipedia and other sources. It may not be 100% accurate, especially about publication dates. If anything is missing or in error, please let me know.

I linked to bookshop.org when I could, just to provide an easy source of information about the books. (Although I do have an account, so I probably get a few pennies if you order any of them.) If bookshop.org didn't have it, I cited to what I could find. 

Because the books are old and out of copyright, you can find many of the texts on line, in generic paperbacks, and very inexpensive "complete works" ebook editions. These last contain almost everything Anthony Trollope wrote, including the hard-to-find books, like his plays and lectures. I can't vouch for their completeness, especially as to posthumously published works. For instance, I could not find a "complete works" that contained his letters, which were published well after his death.  

Many of Trollope's books are available as audiobooks from the library (Libby), Audible, Spotify, LibreVox, and others. Most of them are available for free from LibreVox, but the quality varies. 

Jane Austen's 250th Birthday -- FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

FAVORITE AUTHOR/BOOK LIST

Jane Austen's 250th Birthday

Did someone say bandwagon? Yes, I’ll jump on!

As we’ve all noticed, 2025 is Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. Or, technically, it is the 250th anniversary of her birth, because she isn't celebrating anymore. But we can! Like others, I plan to reread her six major novels in celebration of this milestone. I may get to some of her other works as well.

I’m going to read them in publication order. I’m too Teutonic in my reading habits to do it any other way. There are readalong groups reading by popularity and other criteria, but chronologically is my preference. Because she stopped and started her writing of some of the books, there is uncertainty about the precise order in which she wrote them, particularly the last two. So I'm going with publication order, not the order in which they were necessarily written. 

Jane Austen is a favorite of mine, ever since I first encountered her as an English Lit major in college. I’ve read the six major novels before, most of them two or three times. This time around, I plan to read them with my ears because I haven’t experienced them as audiobooks. 

My set, shown in the picture above, is a Book of the Month Club special edition issued 25 years ago for the anniversary of her 225th birthday. My then sweetheart, soon to be husband, gave it to me for my birthday that year. 

I read Sense and Sensibility in January. I’m happy to be back in Austenland!

Are you reading any Jane Austen books this year? What’s your favorite?

WRITINGS OF JANE AUSTEN

Austen wrote six major novels, another novel that she never submitted for publication, two unfinished novels, a play, poems, letters, prayers, and a large collection of juvenilia published in three volumes. 

Here is the list of Jane Austen's six main novels, in publication order. These are the books I plan to reread this year: 

• Sense and Sensibility (1811)
• Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• Mansfield Park (1814)
• Emma (1816)
• Northanger Abbey (1818, posthumous)
• Persuasion (1818, posthumous)

Austen's other writings, which I may get to someday, but probably not this year, are:

• Lady Susan (the novel she never submitted for publication; published in 1871)
• The Watsons (novel begun in 1803 and abandoned in 1805; fragment published in 1871)
• Sanditon (novel begun in 1817 and left unfinished at her death in July of that year; fragment published in 1925)
• Sir Charles Grandison (a play adapted around 1800 from a novel by Samuel Richardson; published in 1980)
• Plan of a Novel (satire written in 1815; first published in 1926)
• Poems (written 1796–1817; perhaps published at her death in 1817, but I can't pin that down)
• Prayers (written 1796–1817; same as poems)
• Letters (written 1796–1817; same as poems)
• Juvenilia in Three Volumes (written 1787 to 1793, when she was 11 to 17 years old; organized by Austen into three volumes; perhaps first published in 1954, since updated) 

There is a Kindle omnibus edition of that includes Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon, Plan of a Novel, Sir Charles Grandison, and the three volumes of Juvenilia. This is all the minor works except the poems, prayers, and letters. At the time I wrote this post, the Kindle omnibus was $.99. 

 

Wintery Books -- BOOK THOUGHTS

 BOOK THOUGHTS

Wintery Books

Snow is coming!

It is supposed to snow here in Portland this week, although I've been fooled already this winter. If it does snow, it will be a big deal for us. As cold, wet, and gray as Portland winters are, we can go whole seasons without a snowflake. When we do get snow, three to four inches can shut down the city. Yes, much of the shutdown is because we aren’t equipped to deal with it. But I grew up in the Midwest and the snow we get here is not like Midwest snow. 

Here, the snow usually comes when it has been raining and then the temperature drops. So first the wet streets freeze, then we get an inch or so of snow on top of that ice. That's bad enough. But then it thaws just enough to make the snow wet before it freezes again. That's when we get the ice/snow/ice sandwich. It's incredibly slippery and this is a hilly city. Forget winter tires or four wheel drive. It's just ice and it’s treacherous. 

Personally, I love a good snow day (or even a snow week). I have no place to go and no kids to entertain, so as long as the pantry is stocked (and the liquor cabinet), I’m happy to curl up with a good book and wait for everything to melt.

The forecast will most likely change and we will get more rain, not snow. But just in case, I made a stack of wintery books. See any here you’d read while the snow’s coming down?

• The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

• Ice Palace by Edna Ferber

• The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck

• The Case of the Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake

• There Came Both Mist and Snow by Michael Innes

• Blood Upon the Snow by Hilda Lawrence

• Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates

• Cold Storage, Alaska by John Straley

• If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Colvino

• In Cold Domain by Anne Fine

• The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy

• Snow Angels by James Thompson

• Chilly Scenes of Winter by Ann Beattie

• Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason

• A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore

• Frozen Tracks by Åke Edwardson

• Wintersmoon by Hugh Walpole

• The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

Just seeing these gathered together make be want to put on a wooly sweater, curl up in front of the fireplace with a warm beverage, and get to reading!

What winter mix of books can you find on your shelves?

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 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.