Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted i...

Iris Murdoch (1919 - 1999) was an Irish-born author best known for her complex but entertaining philosophical novels.  Dame Iris, as she...

It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. --...

Alvaro de Padilla was overcome by dread as his visions dissipated and focus returned to his tired eyes. -- The Devil's Elixir by Ray...

  I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job. -- People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, about the myst...

The Republic of Venice existed from the late 7th century until 1797 and was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice, or La Se...

Alfred Edelman, with your eyes I see anew my own native place. A side-swept entrance opens into a tunnel leading towards light, towa...

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted i...

Lenhardt Stevens is the author of The Hapless Valet , an offbeat mystery featuring Draper Burns, valet and general troubleshooter for a gl...

Thomas Cahill takes some grief for his Hinges of History books being "pop history" and giving only entertaining overviews. But...

Alfred Edelman: Urban Compositions is the second in a series of books that feature the photographic work of Alfred Edelman. -- from the In...

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) is the first novel in John  le Carré's "Karla Trilogy" featuring MI6 agent George Smil...

Master was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return gree...

While I answered her, though, I was wondering if I would still love Marie if she owned a car.  I wanted to think so, but I wasn't sure...

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted i...

  Blood Sport is one of Dick Francis 's earlier novels, first published in 1967. It is edgier than most of his mysteries, and, in so...

This morning, when I put on my pants, I went ahead and just rolled them up right away. -- A Simple Machine, Like the Lever by Evan P. Sch...

The way we live now, jetting from palmy LaLa Land to gray and frenzied New York City, to azure Venice, the Serenissima of all Serenisseme ...

In Living , Henry Green accurately captures life in an English factory town in the 1920s. Unfortunately, that is all that is good about t...

Spinning the Law: Trying Cases in the Court of Public Opinion by Kendall Coffey  All lawyers love to tell war stories about their courtr...

My journey started at dawn, when thankfully it was still cool.  I had joined the poda-poda queue forming under the lone palm tree that offe...

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted i...

FINISHED Laura at the Library of Clean Reads is hosting an I Love Italy Reading Challenge .  Because of the irresistible overlap wit...

INCOMPLETE Black Sheep Dances is hosting an Eastern European Reading Challenge that dovetails so nicely with my own European Reading...

" . . .and the Golden Rule, Dr. Joy?" -- Green Oranges on Lion Mountain by Emily Joy (ellipses in original).  This is a British...

(Following a quote from The Canterbury Tales .)  So does Geoffrey Chaucer describe the convening -- at the Tabard Inn in Southwark on the...

  The Rubber Band (1936) is Rex Stout's third mystery featuring the corpulent Nero Wolfe.   As always, Archie Goodwin narrates and ha...

Two teasers this week from what I lovingly refer to as "random memoirs" -- interesting books about real people living unusual live...