Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford; The Biography by Laura Thompson -- BOOK REVIEW -- and Mitford Book List

BOOK REVIEW & BOOK LIST

Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford; The Biography by Laura Thompson (2019, Pegasus Books)


In Life in a Cold Climate, biographer Laura Thompson returns to the world of the Mitfords she wrote about so brilliantly in The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters. This time, her focus is on Nancy Mitford, oldest of the six Mitford sisters, author of the novels Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love, as well as other novels, biographies, and works of journalism.

The Mitford sisters, and Nancy in particular, have fascinated onlookers since they first Nancy and Pamela first came on the scene in the 1920s and the sisters as a group captured the public’s imagination in the 1930s. Thompson draws from Nancy’s writing, including correspondence with friends like Evelyn Waugh; conversations with her two (then) surviving sisters, Diana and Deborah, acquaintances, and colleagues; and historic resources to paint a fully realized portrait of one of the most intriguing women of the 20th Century.

Thompson’s writing style befits the story of Nancy Mitford. She has a light, often irreverent touch, and brings charm and wit to her subject. Reading Life in a Cold Climate is like drinks with a friend while she gives you the backstory on a mutual acquaintance you always wanted to know more about.

LIST OF MITFORD BOOKS

I am nursing a case of Mitford Mania and have started a collection of Mitford books. Here is the list of those I’ve collected so far. These are book by and about the Mitford sisters. If you have suggestions for books to add, please pass them on to me!

All in One Basket by Deborah Mitford, Dutchess of Devonshire

In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Mitford and Patrick Leigh Fermor

Wait for Me! by Deborah Mitford, Dutchess of Devonshire

Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford

Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking by Jessica Mitford

The Blessing by Nancy Mitford

Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford

Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

A Talent to Annoy: Essays, Articles and Reviews, 1929-68 by Nancy Mitford

Nancy Mitford: A Memoir by Harold Acton

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell

The Mitfords: Letters Between the Sisters, edited by Charlotte Mosley

Life in a Cold Climate by Laura Thompson

The Six: Lives of the Mitford Sisters by Laura Thompson

Happy Halloween!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Have a fun and safe Halloween! It is a beautiful day here in Portland. My neighborhood is geared up and ready to celebrate. It looks like most houses have some kind of decorations up, more than usual. I think last year was so grim, people want to make up for it. We expect we will have a lot of trick-or-treaters!

BUtterfield 8 by John O'Hara -- Book Beginnings

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Boo! It is almost Halloween! Are you ready for the trick-or-treaters? Are you reading anything particular for this Halloween week?

It's time for Book beginnings on Fridays! Whether you have a Halloween book or not, please share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading -- or just a book you want to highlight. 

My book has nothing to do with Halloween and is not a scary book. It isn't even a mystery. BUtterfield 8 is just one of those books that has been sitting on my TBR shelf for decades and I finally decided to read it. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

On this Sunday morning in May, this girl who later was to be the cause of a sensation in New York, awoke much too early for her night before. 

-- BUtterfield 8 by John O'Hara. Yes, it is spelled with a capital B and U because BUtterfield 8 is an old fashioned telephone number. 

BUtterfield 8 was a bestseller when it was published in 1935. I can see why! It is till racy close to 90 years later. It's all sex and day drinking so far. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

Another fun Friday event is The Friday 56. Share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through your e-book or audiobook, on this weekly event hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From BUtterfield 8:

It was useless to try to think of the names of speakeasies. His personal experience with speakeasies was slight, as he never drank; but he knew from going to them with Gloria that a place would be known familiarly as Jack’s or Giuseppe’s – and then when the proprietor gave you a card to the place (which you threw away the moment you were safe outside), it would be called Club Aristocrat or something of the sort.

Gloria is the girl who caused a sensation and who woke up to early after her late night. She is a firecracker!

The Dead Bell by Reid Winslow - BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

The Dead Bell by Reid Winslow (2021, Quid Mirum Press)

The Dead Bell drew me completely in from the get go. It has all the makings of an excellent murder mystery. Tom Edison is a cop in Lake County, Illinois, north of Chicago, called in to solve the murder of a society matron found dead in her back yard in the ritzy lakefront community of Lake Forest. Tom has the necessary accoutrements for hard boiled detective: an ex-wife, an estranged son, his own unresolved trauma, an alcoholic wild man for a sidekick, and an eye for the wrong woman.

With those ingredients, it’s just up to the author to bring them together correctly, and Reid Winslow does a masterful job. The Dead Bell is the best sort of mystery book, the kind that makes you forget you are reading a book and simply takes you along for the ride. Which is not to say that the book is all fast action and dialog. There is a lot of literary heft to it – backstory, descriptions, character development, an introspective protagonist, digression, side stories, and a complicated plot. But Reid Winslow’s writing flows so naturally you absorb all this without stumbling at transitions or having the writing itself get in the way of first-rate storytelling.

All in all, I am so impressed! The Dead Bell is so polished and the plot keeps the reader guessing all the way through. I’ve read plenty of mysteries published by big-name authors and publishers that aren’t nearly as good as this – not even close! Congratulations to Winslow on his accomplished debut and here’s to more books in the Tom Edison series.

NOTES

Less in the nature of "full disclosure" and more because I am excited about it, I'll mention that I've known Reid Winslow for a long time because we are both lawyers in Portland and worked together, briefly, many years ago. Many lawyers have a fantasy to write mystery novels, so I am excited for and proud of my friend for making it happen! 

I read an advanced copy of The Dead Bell and part of my review is blurbed on the back cover. If you order a copy (and I think you should -- it's a terrific read) you will also get a little souvenir of your being a Rose City Reader reader. 😃

 

Flavours of Greece by Rosemary Barron -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It's raining and raining all week here in Portland! This sunny cookbook of Greek recipes is exactly what I need to lift the grey clouds.

What is your week looking like?

Please join us here on Book Beginnings on Fridays to share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. Or share a book you want to highlight. Leave the link to your Book Beginnings post in the linky box below. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It is impossible for me to think of Greece without thinking of the colours, sites, aromas, and, above all, the flavours of Greek cooking.

-- from the Foreword to Flavours of Greece by Rosemary Barron (2021, Grub Street).

Those who know Greece, even if only from a brief acquaintance, are aware that there is a vigorous culinary tradition in the country, with a distinct identity and character.

-- from the Introduction.

For modern Greeks olives and bread are the basic necessities of life, as they have been for centuries. The olive groves of modern Greece -- still, mysterious, and peaceful places -- date back to around 450 BC when olive oil was first recognized as a valuable export commodity and the land was given over to olive cultivation.

-- from part one, The Greek Kitchen, chapter one, Ingredients.

Rosemary Barron started a cooking school in Greece in the 1980s and has been championing Greek food ever since. This redo of her best selling cookbook, The Flavours of Greece, is a must-have for any lover of Greek food who wants to cook at home. 

The book is as lush and gorgeous as the dishes it promises. Barron starts with an inventory of a Greek pantry, including instructions on how to make such staples as yogurt and preserved lemons. She then moves through recipes from mezzes (appetizers) to desserts and miscellany. The recipes are as simple as a mezze of aromatic figs made by layering dried figs with bay leaves and cracked black pepper tightly in a jar for several days (intriguing!) to the more complicated, like Duckling Thessalia-Style, which involves roasting a duckling with lemons and pine nuts and things. None of the recipes are difficult and all look delicious! 

With over 250 national and regional recipes, dozens of color photos, fresh green and orange accent colors, and easy-to-follow instructions, Flavours of Greece will be your go-to Greek cookbook. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

Another fun Friday event is The Friday 56. Share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through your e-book or audiobook, on this weekly event hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Flavours of Greece:

These little pastries, filled with a creamy nutmeg-spiced spinach mixture, are perfect picnic food. You can make them with either pastry dough or with filo and they freeze beautifully (freeze before cooking). 

The recipe for spanakopita seems like a classic Greek recipe, and one a home cook can handle.