Helenliz gets quaternally crafty

I'm Helen and I'm head of quality in a small firm that makes inhaler devices for delivery of drugs to the lung. It's a small team and I love my job. (Usually)

I'm expecting 2024 to be rather busy, so I've cut back on some of the categories. The bellringing organisation I am secretary of celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2024, and we've got events every month to celebrate. 2024 could get a bit hectic. It has been, but the end is in sight.

I was feeling rather uninspired for categories, so I'm just using images of things I have sewn (with one notable exception). Maybe I will find time for sewing and crafting again - it;s a good indicator of my mood. I can't sew to relax, I have to be relaxed to sew. Let's hope I have some new finishes to share with you this year.

Seeing I had an empty evening, it's new thread time

The List
January
1. Death on Gokumon Island, Seishi Yokomizo, ***
2. Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor, **.5
3. Coraline, Neil Gaiman, ****
4. Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef, ***
5. The Night Hawks, Elly Griffiths, ***
6. A History of Treason, The National Archives, ****
7. The Seabird's Cry, Adam Nicholson, ***
8. Supporting Cast, Kit De Waal, ****

February
9. Offshore, Penelope FitzGerald, ***
10. Sylvester, Georgette Heyer, ****
11. The Fairytale Hairdresser, Abie Longstaff, ***
12. Happiness, a Mystery. Sophie Hannah, **
13. The Weird Sisters, Eleanor Brown, **
14. A Three Dog Problem, SJ Bennett, ***
15. Pearls before Swine, Margery Allingham, ***
16. Farewell Fountain Street, Selçuk Altun, ***
17. Ragnarok, AS Byatt, ***
18. We are Displaced Malala Yousafzai, ***

March
19. Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney, ***
20. Antarctica, Claire Keegan, ****
21. English Animals, Laura Kaye, ***
22. Plain Murder, CF Forester, ****
23. Get in Trouble Kelly Link, ***
24. Misjustice, Helena Kennedy, ****
25. After the Mourning, Barbara Nadel, ***

April
26. Before the Queen Falls Asleep, Huzama Habayeb, *****
27. The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks, ***
28. More work for the Undertaker, Margery Allingham, ***
29. The Lies we Sing to the Sea, Sarah Underwood, **
30. Thunder Bay, Douglas Skelton, ***

May
31. Venetia, Georgette Heyer, *****
32. Murder most Royal - SJ Bennett, ***
33. Sidesplitter, Phil Wang, ***
34. Steeple Chasing, Peter Ross, ***
35. The Pursued, CS Forester, ****
36. Pearl, Simon Armitage, ***
37. The Tidal Zone, Sarah Moss *****
38. Stick Man Julia Donaldson, ***
39. Superworm, Julia Donaldson, ***

June
40. The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec, **** and a half
41. Ithaca, Claire North, ****
42. Skelton's Guide to Domestic Poisons, David Stafford, ****
43. We, Yevgeny Zamyatin, ***
44. Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuściński, ****

July
45. The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer, *****
46. The Cat who Caught a Killer, LT Shearer, ***
47. The Rover, Aphra Behn, **
48. Green Frog, Gina Chung, ****
49. The Bells of Little Woodford, Catherine Jones, ***
50. The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham, ****
51. Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich, ***
52. Payment Deferred, CS Forester, *****
53. Julian of Norwich: a very brief history, Janina Ramirez, ***

August
54. 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster, Mirinae Lee, ***
55. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q Sutanto, ***
56. The Oresteian Trilogy, Aeschylus, ***
57. Unruly, David Mitchell, ***
58. The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, J. R. R. Tolkien, ***
59. Portable Magic, Emma Smith, ****

September
60. 1984, George Orwell, ****
61. The Bookseller of Inverness, SC MacLean, ***
62. A Rage in Harlem, Chester Himes, ***
63. Shakespeare: The Man who pays the Rent, Judi Dench & Brendan O'Hea, ****
64. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti , ***
65. Skelton's Guide to Suitcase Murders, David Stafford, ****

October
66. Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry, ****
67. Pistols for two, Georgette Heyer, ****
68. So Late in the day, Claire Keegan, ****
69. Diary of a Nobody, George & Weedon Grossmith, ***
70. Selected Poems, WB Yeats, ***
71. Treacle Walker Alan Garner, ****
72. The Locked Room, Elly Griffiths, ***
73. Queen Macbeth, Val McDermid, ****
74. Glorious Exploits, Ferdia Lennon, *****
75. Galatea, Madeline Miller, ****
76. The Ghost Cat, Alex Howard *.5
77. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion, ****
78. My Scotland, Val McDermid, ****
79. Various Guidebooks of Scotland.

November
80. Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis, ***
81. Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford, ****
82. Skelton's Guide to Blazing Corpses, David Stafford, ****
83. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary, ****
84. A Civil Contract Georgette Heyer, ***
85. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad, ***
86. The Dark Tourist, Dom Joly, ***
87. Blood on the Tracks Various, Ed Martin Edwards, ***

December
88. The Beckoning Lady, Margery Allingham, ***
89. Dance by the Canal, Kerstin Hensel, ***
90. Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley, ****
91. The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal, ****1/2
92. The Djinn waits a Hundred Years, Shubnum Khan, ***
93. The Nine Tailors, Dorothy L Sayers, ****
94. In Cold Blood, Adam Croft, ***
95. The Emperor's Babe, Bernadine Evaristo, ***
96. Poyums, Len Pennie, ****
97. A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas, ****
98. Last NIght at the Lobster, Stewart O'Nan, *****
99. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan, *****
100. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Robert L May, ****

Category 1: Women Authors
Wisteria Fairy, an elegant lady for my books by ladies of all descriptions.



1. Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor
2. Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef
3. The Night Hawks, Elly Griffiths
4. Offshore, Penelope FitzGerald
5. Sylvester, Georgette Heyer
6. The Fairytale Hairdresser, Abie Longstaff
7. Happiness, a Mystery. Sophie Hannah,
8. The Weird Sisters, Eleanor Brown,
9. A Three Dog Problem, SJ Bennett
10. Pearls before Swine, Margery Allingham
11. Ragnarok, AS Byatt,
12. We are Displaced Malala Yousafzai
13. Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney
14. Antarctica, Claire Keegan
15. English Animals, Laura Kaye
16. Get in Trouble Kelly Link
17. Misjustice, Helena Kennedy
18. After the Mourning, Barbara Nadel,
19. Before the Queen Falls Asleep, Huzama Habayeb
20. More work for the Undertaker, Margery Allingham,
21. The Lies we Sing to the Sea, Sarah Underwood,
22. Venetia, Georgette Heyer,
23. Murder most Royal - SJ Bennett,
24. The Tidal Zone, Sarah Moss
25. Stick Man Julia Donaldson,
26. Superworm, Julia Donaldson,
27. The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec
28. Ithaca, Claire North
29. The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer
30. The Rover, Aphra Behn
31. Green Frog, Gina Chung,
32. The Bells of Little Woodford, Catherine Jones
33. The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham,
34. Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich,
35. Julian of Norwich: a very brief history, Janina Ramirez
36. 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster, Mirinae Lee
37. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q Sutanto,
38. Portable Magic, Emma Smith
39. The Bookseller of Inverness, SC MacLean
40. Shakespeare: The Man who pays the Rent, Judi Dench & Brendan O'Hea
41. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
42. Pistols for two, Georgette Heyer,
43. So Late in the day, Claire Keegan,
44. The Locked Room, Elly Griffiths,
45. Queen Macbeth, Val McDermid,
46. Galatea, Madeline Miller,
47. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
48. My Scotland, Val McDermid,
49. Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis
50. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary,
51. A Civil Contract Georgette Heyer,
52. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad,
53. The Beckoning Lady, Margery Allingham
54. Dance by the Canal, Kerstin Hensel
55. Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley
56. The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal
57. The Djinn waits a Hundred Years, Shubnum Khan
58. The Nine Tailors, Dorothy L Sayers
59. The Emperor's Babe, Bernadine Evaristo,
60. Poyums, Len Pennie,
61. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan,

Challenge 2: New Authors
My oldest piece of stitching. Sarah Ann Skelton is an ancestor. So it makes sense (in a twisted way) to use this for my new authors.


1. Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor
2. Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef
3. A History of Treason, The National Archives
4. Supporting Cast, Kit De Waal
5. The Fairytale Hairdresser, Abie Longstaff
6. Happiness, a Mystery. Sophie Hannah
7. The Weird Sisters, Eleanor Brown
8. Farewell Fountain Street, Selçuk Altun,
9. English Animals, Laura Kaye
10. Plain Murder, CF Forester,
11. Get in Trouble Kelly Link
12. Misjustice, Helena Kennedy
13. Before the Queen Falls Asleep, Huzama Habayeb
14. The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
15. The Lies we Sing to the Sea, Sarah Underwood,
16. Thunder Bay, Douglas Skelton
17. Sidesplitter, Phil Wang,
18. Steeple Chasing, Peter Ross,
19. The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec
20. Ithaca, Claire North
21. Skelton's Guide to Domestic Poisons, David Stafford
22. We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
23. Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuściński
24. The Cat who Caught a Killer, LT Shearer,
25. The Rover, Aphra Behn
26. Green Frog, Gina Chung,
27. The Bells of Little Woodford, Catherine Jones
28. Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich,
29. 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster, Mirinae Lee
30. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q Sutanto,
31. The Oresteian Trilogy, Aeschylus
32. Unruly, David Mitchell
33. Portable Magic, Emma Smith
34. The Bookseller of Inverness, SC MacLean
35. A Rage in Harlem, Chester Himes,
36. Shakespeare: The Man who pays the Rent, Judi Dench & Brendan O'Hea
37. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
38. Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry
39. Diary of a Nobody, George & Weedon Grossmith,
40. Selected Poems, WB Yeats,
41. Treacle Walker Alan Garner,
42. Queen Macbeth, Val McDermid,
43. Glorious Exploits, Ferdia Lennon,
44. The Ghost Cat, Alex Howard
45. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
46. Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford,
47. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary,
48. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad,
49. The Dark Tourist, Dom Joly,
50. Dance by the Canal, Kerstin Hensel,
51. Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley,
52. The Djinn waits a Hundred Years, Shubnum Khan,
53. Poyums, Len Pennie,
54. A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas,

Challenge 3: Translations
Pooh bear has been translated into many languages - I have a copy in Latin (that I can't read). I'll use this for my books that have been read in translation


1. Death on Gokumon Island, Seishi Yokomizo
2. Farewell Fountain Street, Selçuk Altun,
3. Before the Queen Falls Asleep, Huzama Habayeb,
4. Pearl, Simon Armitage,
5. We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
6. Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuściński
7. Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich,
8. The Oresteian Trilogy, Aeschylus
9. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
10. Dance by the Canal, Kerstin Hensel
11. Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley

Challenge 4: Heyer Series Read
The 12 days of Christmas might be viewed as a string of related items, so it fits my Heyer series read.


Finished
✔️ The Black Moth (g) 1921 Finished 01Jan18, ****1/2
✔️ Powder and Patch (g) 1923 Finished 05Feb18, ***
✔️ The Great Roxhythe (h) 1923 Finished 30Apr18, ***
✔️ Simon the Coldheart (h) 1925 Finished 7May18, ***
✔️ These Old Shades (g) 1926 Finished 31May18, ***
✔️ The Masqueraders (g) 1928 Finished 17Jul18, ****
✔️ Beauvallet (h) 1929 Finished 08Sep2018, ****
✔️ The Conqueror (h) 1931 Finished 25Dec2018, ****
✔️ Devil's Cub (g) 1932 Finished 31Jan2019, ****
✔️ The Convenient Marriage (g) 1934 Finished 12Mar2019, ****1/2
✔️ Regency Buck (r) 1935 Finished 08May2019, ****1/2
✔️ The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer Finished 10Aug2019, ***
✔️ An Infamous Army, Georgette Heyer Finished 13Oct2019, ***
✔️ Royal Escape, Georgette Heyer Finished 14Feb2020, ***
✔️ The Spanish Bride, Georgette Heyer Finished 28Mar2020, ***
✔️ The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer Finished 17Jun2020, ****
✔️ Faro's Daughter, Georgette Heyer Finished 25Aug2020, ****
✔️ Friday's Child, Georgette Heyer Finished 10Oct2020, ****
✔️ The Reluctant Widow, (r) Finished 24Jan2021, ****
✔️ The Foundling (r) 1948 Finished 21Apr2021, ****
✔️ Arabella, (r) 1949 ****1/2 Finished 19Jun2021
✔️ The Grand Sophy, (r) 1950, **** Finished 25Jul2021
✔️ The Quiet Gentleman (r) 1951, ****1/2 Finished 24Sep2021
✔️ Cotillion (r) 1953, **** Finished 15Apr2023
✔️ The Toll Gate (r) 1954, **** Finished 31May2023
✔️ Bath Tangle (r) 1955, Georgette Heyer, **** Finished 10Sep2023
✔️ Sprig Muslin (r) 1956, ****, Finished 23Sep2023
✔️ April Lady (r) 1957, *** Finished 17Nov2023
✔️ Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle (r) 1957, *** Finished 02Feb2024
✔️ Venetia (r) 1958, ***** Finished 03May2024
✔️ The Unknown Ajax (r) 1959 ***** Finished 02Jul2024
✔️ Pistols for Two (short stories) 1960, **** 05Oct2024
✔️A Civil Contract (r) 1961, *** 22Nov2024

To be Read
The Nonesuch (r) 1962
False Colours (r) 1963
Frederica (r) 1965
Black Sheep (r) 1966
Cousin Kate (r) 1968
Charity Girl (r) 1970
Lady of Quality (r) 1972
My Lord John (h) 1975

Challenge 6: Audio
These five ballet dancing bears clearly have music in their ears. This is where I will put my audio books.


1. Death on Gokumon Island, Seishi Yokomizo
2. Coraline, Neil Gaiman
3. A History of Treason, The National Archives
4. Supporting Cast, Kit De Waal
5. Offshore, Penelope FitzGerald
6. The Fairytale Hairdresser, Abie Longstaff
7. Happiness, a Mystery. Sophie Hannah
8. A Three Dog Problem, SJ Bennett
9. Ragnarok, AS Byatt,
10. Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney
11. Plain Murder, CF Forester,
12. Misjustice, Helena Kennedy
13. The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
14. The Lies we Sing to the Sea, Sarah Underwood,
15. Murder most Royal - SJ Bennett,
16. The Pursued, CS Forester,
17. The Tidal Zone, Sarah Moss
18. The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec
19. We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
20. The Cat who Caught a Killer, LT Shearer,
21. Green Frog, Gina Chung,
22. Payment Deferred, CS Forester,
23. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q Sutanto,
24. Unruly, David Mitchell
25. The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, J. R. R. Tolkien,
26. 1984, George Orwell
27. A Rage in Harlem, Chester Himes,
28. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
29. Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry
30. Diary of a Nobody, George & Weedon Grossmith
31. Treacle Walker Alan Garner,
32. The Ghost Cat, Alex Howard
33. My Scotland, Val McDermid,
34. Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis
35. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary,
36. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad,
37. The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal,
38. The Emperor's Babe, Bernadine Evaristo,
39. Poyums, Len Pennie,

Challenge 5: Non-Fiction
A rainbow heart, nothing fictional about rainbows. Keats complained that Newton had destroyed the magic of the rainbow by explaining it. I disagree. Knowing how something works just gives you another level of appreciation. And, unlike Keats, I'm all for learning new things. So I'll put my non-Fiction here.


1. Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef
2. A History of Treason, The National Archives
3. The Seabird's Cry, Adam Nicholson
4. We are Displaced Malala Yousafzai
5. Misjustice, Helena Kennedy
6. The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
7. Sidesplitter, Phil Wang,
8. Steeple Chasing, Peter Ross,
9. Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuściński
10. Julian of Norwich: a very brief history, Janina Ramirez
11. Unruly, David Mitchell
12. Portable Magic, Emma Smith
13. Shakespeare: The Man who pays the Rent, Judi Dench & Brendan O'Hea
14. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
15. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
16. My Scotland, Val McDermid,
17. The Dark Tourist, Dom Joly

Challenge 7: CATs
If this year is anything to go on, me sticking to CATs is about as likely as finding a unicorn, so these merry monocerous will house the CATs I do manage to participate in.


January
AlphaKit - A & Y - Death on Gokumon Island, Seishi Yokomizo, The Seabird's Cry, Adam Nicholson,
RandomKit - Birds - The Night Hawks, Elly Griffiths, The Seabird's Cry, Adam Nicholson, ***
February
AlphaKit - E & F - Offshore, Penelope FitzGerald, The Wierd Sisters, Eleanor Brown
RandomKit - escape - We are Displaced Malala Yousafzai
March
AlphaKit - R & H - Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney, Misjustice, Helena Kennedy
RandonKit - Wildlife - English Animals, Laura Kaye
April
AlphaKit - O & U - The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks, The Lies we Sing to the Sea, Sarah Underwood,
RandomKit - Garden Visitors
May
Alphakit - N & P - Sidesplitter, Phil Wang,
RandomKit - Art & Architecture Steeple Chasing, Peter Ross,
June
Alphakit - J & B
Randomkit - initials
July
Alphakit - I & S The Cat who Caught a Killer, LT Shearer, Payment Deferred, CS Forester,
Randomkit - favourite The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer
August
Alphakit - M & G 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster, Mirinae Lee, Unruly, David Mitchell
Randomkit - Intrigung title Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q Sutanto,
September
AlphaKit - C & V Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
RandomKit - Weather
October
AlphaKit - D & T The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
RandomKit - Something Seasonal The Ghost Cat, Alex Howard
November
Alphakit - L & W Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis
Randomkit - first person Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis, The Dark Tourist, Dom Joly,
December
AlphaKit - K & Q Dance by the Canal, The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal, The Djinn waits a Hundred Years, Shubnum Khan,
RandomKit - roll the dice The Nine Tailors, Dorothy L Sayers

Challenge 8: BingoDogCOW
well it's an animal and its square, but that's probably all I can find to link BingoDog and my image of a cow cushion!


✔️1. Food or cooking Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q Sutanto,
✔️2. An ugly cover Plain Murder, CF Forester,
✔️3. Only title and author on the cover Get in Trouble Kelly Link
✔️4. Features twins Sylvester, Georgette Heyer
✔️5. A topic about which you have specific knowledge Portable Magic, Emma Smith,
✔️6. Publication year ending in -24 We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
✔️7. Epistolary or diary Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti
✔️8. Big or Little in the title The Bells of Little Woodford, Catherine Jones
✔️9. Book from an LT Similar library The Night Hawks, Elly Griffiths
✔️10. About friendship Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney
✔️11. 3 word title Pearls before Swine, Margery Allingham
✔️12. Paper based item in the plot Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuściński
✔️13. Read a CAT The Ghost Cat, Alex Howard
✔️14. Short story collection The Fairytale Hairdresser, Abie Longstaff,
✔️15. Person's name in the title Coraline, Neil Gaiman
✔️16. set in a city Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef
✔️17. less than 100 copies on LT A History of Treason, The National Archives
✔️18. POC author Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor
✔️19. Author 65 or older Ragnarok, AS Byatt,
✔️20. featuring water The Seabird's Cry, Adam Nicholson, ***
✔️21. warriors or mercenaries The Oresteian Trilogy, Aeschylus
✔️22. Re-read a favourite book Venetia, Georgette Heyer,
✔️23. Written in another cultural tradition Before the Queen Falls Asleep, Huzama Habayeb,
✔️24. set in multiple countries Supporting Cast, Kit De Waal,
✔️25. current or recent bestseller Stick Man Julia Donaldson, Superworm, Julia Donaldson,

September's round up

Read: 6 (65)
F/M: 3/3 (41/21)

Audio: 3 (28)
Paper: 3 (37)

Owned: 0 (15)
Library: 6 (46)

New authors: 4 (37)
New books: 5 (61)
Re-reads: 1 (4)

September's reads
60. 1984, George Orwell, ****
61. The Bookseller of Inverness, SC MacLean, ***
62. A Rage in Harlem, Chester Himes, ***
63. Shakespeare: The Man who pays the Rent, Judi Dench & Brendan O'Hea, ****
64. Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti , ***
65. Skelton's Guide to Suitcase Murders, David Stafford, ****

Not too many books, but a couple of goodies in there.

Happy new one, Helen!

Happy new thread -yeah for the return of BingoCOW. I just adore this picture.

Congrats--I like quaternally---is there such a word?????

>12 katiekrug: thanks. Last one for the year.

>13 lowelibrary: Thanks. I like how that one seems to attract the attention. >:-)

>14 Tess_W: It's a fun word. I didn't make it up but it's not in common usage. Rarely used scientific term for certain arrangements of groups around a carbon atom (usually quaternary, but I liked the sound of quarternally). Having cornered myself with once, twice & thrice, I was a bit stuck for four, there being no equivalent word for 4 times.

Happy new thread, Helen!

Happy New Thread! The heart picture for your non-fiction category really appeals to me. I have a couple of cross-stitch patterns with that kind of color progression that I haven't started yet but hope to get to at least one of them next year.

>16 susanj67: Thanks >:-)

>17 dudes22: I'm still very pleased with it. I can send you the pattern if you like, I created it myself. It has no colours marked on it, so it really is open to interpretation.

Happy New Thread! Hard to imagine we are heading into the last part of 2024.

>18 Helenliz: - Thanks for the offer, Helen, but I think I'll pass. MickyFine did one of the ones that I have and posted this picture on the Needlarts thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356489#8601509

>19 LadyoftheLodge: thanks. I know,. I am not ready for 2025!
>20 dudes22: that's lovely. Looks like a lot of work.

Book: 66
Title: Night Boat to Tangier
Author: Kevin Barry
Published: 2019
Rating: ****
Why: Saw a review recently and the library had it.
Challenge: new author, audio
TIOLI Challenge #13. Read a book that is Booker related

I listened to this, as read by the author and he has a most delicious voice to read some lovely phrasing. However it is also quite brutal at times. Maurice & Charlie are at a port in southern Spain, looking for Maurice's daughter Dilly. They believe that she is a Rastafarian and would be making the crossing to or from Tangier on the 23rd. In between their searching, we hear of their past life, their relationship with money, with Dilly, with DIlly's mother and with each other. It is quite brutal, which is at odds with the voice reading it. Initially you feel for them and what them to find Dilly, but gradually you come to realise that she may have her reasons for not wanting to be found.

I also listened to that one and don't think I would have liked it as much in print. The narration was so good!

Book: 67
Title: Pistols for Two
Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: 1960
Rating: ****
Why: Next up in series read
Challenge: Woman author, Heyer series read
TIOLI Challenge #1. Read a book of short stories by a female author

This is a fun set of short stories. You get the essence of a Heyer story in a bit sized chunk. These usually play out through just a few scenes and you can see the way that they for the key element of the novels. The downside is that they are fairly much of a muchness and reading them in this format brings that home.

Book: 68
Title: So late in the day
Author: Claire Keegan
Published: 2023
Rating: ****
Why: Because she writes like a dream.
Challenge: Woman author
TIOLI Challenge #1. Read a book of short stories by a female author

Exquisite prose, as ever, compacted into a small, but beautifully formed package. The story revolves around Cathal and Sabine and one day in summer we follow Cathal from work to home. In between there are flashes of their past. Keegan does a remarkable ting in making us both blame him and feel for him in is current distress. And while we don't meet Sabine, we feel for her too.

Belated new thread #4 greetings.

>25 Helenliz: You are kinder than me in your reaction to the narrator. Despite loving the writing I was glad to see the back of him.

I am planning to read Pistols for Two this month as well and since I am in the need for a "happy" book, I will place it at the top of the TBR.

>23 katiekrug: I agree, the narration made it something more than I think it would have been. So good when that happens.

>26 charl08: thanks. I read it tucked up in bed, all warm & cosy, maybe I was in forgiving mood...

>27 DeltaQueen50: I saw you'd listed it in TIOLI, that was my trigger to get to it. Hope it hits the happy spot.

>22 Helenliz: I read Kevin Barry's book a couple of years ago but wasn't as happy with it as you were. I've put it back on the TBR pile for a second try.

I thought of you as I watched episode 2 of GBBO last night - one of the bakers is a bell-ringer :)

>29 VivienneR: Like Katie, I think listening to it added to the experience. I'm not sure I will return to it though.

>30 katiekrug: It's been the subject of some discussion in the ringing groups. I'm still not watching it, I'll rely on Richard's essays on the topic >:-)

Book: 69
Title: Diary of a Nobody
Author: George Grossmith
Published: 1892
Rating: ***
Why: To fill a Bingo square - that I've already filled it was because I wasn't sure which reservation would come in first.
Challenge: New author, audio
TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book that includes a formal event where a character has to give a speech or propose a toast

I'm slightly uncertain what to make of this. Charles Pooter writes a diary for about a year and a half, detailing his life as a small clerk in a small banking firm in the city. He is not really going anywhere, has little ambition and a slightly wacky sense of humour which, fortunately, his wife Carrie seems to share. Pooter makes social slips and seems mostly oblivious. He is also at a loss when dealing with his son, Lupin.
I found myself feeling quite sorry for Pooter, he tries so hard and yet seems to just not understand the world he lives in. I wonder if nowadays we'd diagnose a touch of autism or similar.
He tries to act the master of the house, but it never comes off well, there always being some return or misunderstanding. He's such a good natured soul that it's difficult not to like him and yet feel yourself wincing at his blunders. It doesn't so much come to an end as it finishes, but it does so on a moment of triumph for Pooter that warms the cockles of your heart.

Reporting in after the dinner last night. All went well, although I did get a bit stressy. Friday I had someone ask could they come and we navigated that OK. Then on Saturday night someone turned up that I wasn't expecting! The hotel person who was running the event was very very calm when I found her saying in a slightly hysterical tone "I have a stray bishop".
Speeches all went OK. I found using the microphone a bit difficult, felt rather conscious about not moving my head. I'm second left. No, I didn't spill my dinner down my dress!

Glad the event went well, and congrats on keeping the dress dinner-free! I am nowhere near enough of an adult to wear white clothes at a fancy dinner (or anywhere, really).

Book: 70
Title: Selected Poems
Author: WB Yeats
Published: 1991
Rating: ***
Why: To read Easter 1916
Challenge: New author
TIOLI Challenge #16. Read a book whose title includes something "written"

I borrowed this to read Easter 1916, but then felt obliged to read the other 200 odd pages.
There were a mixture of lengths and complexity. Some were in series. I liked the imagery in some of them and appreciated some of the notes. It was a nice to find the source of the line "Tread lightly as you tread on my dreams".

>33 Helenliz: What a lovely photo.

People turning up without booking. Big Sigh. Sounds like you dealt with it really well though.

>34 rabbitprincess: It certainly wasn't the colour I went out to buy! I did tuck my napkin in my neck and selected the menu choices I thought least likely to make a mess!

>36 charl08: Thank you. It was really mad. We'd had one lady unable to attend due to illness, so he basically got her meal. Still trying to work out why I didn't know he was coming. He's the suffragan bishop, so one of our patrons. He said he'd put the date in the diary when I sent them out last year. Might have a chat with his PA. Fortunately the hotel coped with ease.

>35 Helenliz: I've found through the years that those hotel people are very reliable at times of crises. It sounds like it went great and I hope you enjoyed it once it got underway.

Glad you got over the hiccups Helen. You all look happy (I could never have worn white - messy eater icon). Is the lady to your left a sister?

>33 Helenliz: What a lovely photo! From your first glimpse on an earlier thread to you all dolled up for your event, you look wonderful. And adding in my congratulations for not wearing your dinner on your formal evening wear.

I've planned events before and am so glad I am out of that line of work. My hat is off to you and to the hotel concierges who were able to accommodate people who show up without a word to the wise.

Much of a muchness - great phrase!

Thanks all! I must admit that spilling dinner down a white dress was a major concern! To the point that I made my menu choices with half an eye to spilling it. And drank white wine for the same reason And tucked my napkin in my front.
But, in a bit of a win, just looked at the label and its hand washable! Hurrah!!

Hotel were excellent. I need to write thank you cards and drop them something to say thanks.

>39 Caroline_McElwee: no, but I can see where you might get that from.

Congratulations on a successful event Helen, spare bishop and all. You look stunning in that dress and I'll join the chorus of admiration for not wearing your dinner as well.

I'm so glad the event went well. I hope you enjoy your new-found free time now that it's over :)

Adding to the admiration - that is a lovely picture and a beautiful dress!

Adding my voice to the chorus of compliments on your dress! You look great and really stand out among the dark-clad ladies.

Your dress, the way you handled unexpected guests, all worthy of compliments and congratulations.

Congratulations on such a successful event!

Thanks all.

>43 katiekrug:, hmm, free time. Not sure about that one. Started organising December's event, a Carol Service with a bell theme. But maybe then I'll have some time...

>45 christina_reads: When I went to buy the dress, I went into the shop and talked to the assistant about what I wanted, she asked about a colour choice and I said not black because I'd be in a room of suits. She then brought me a load of dresses to try on. I hadn't considered white, but she brought it for me to try on and it just seemed to work.
And, as one of our friends said, I can always wear it again if I decided to marry again, a white dress suitable for an older bride. I wore red first time, so it would be a change!

Book: 71
Title: Treacle Walker
Author: Alan Garner
Published: 2021
Rating: ****
Why: Read about him recently, so looked up something by him
Challenge: New author, audio
TIOLI Challenge #13. Read a book that is Booker related

This is bizarre, but in a good way. Joe Coppock wakes when Noony, the train at noon, goes past to hear the call of a rag and bone man in the yard. So begins his acquaintance with Treacle Walker and the start of a very strange episode. In exchange for an old pair of pyjamas and a lamb's shoulder blade, he selects a pot from the trunk and receives a grey stone carved with a horse. The pot contains a magic potion that causes Joe to be able to see things that are not there. He meets a man in an endless bog that's actually a small copse, reads Latin at the opticians with one eye and not the other, and dives into a mirror chasing a cartoon wizard. It's a flight of fancy that is curiously rooted in the landscape. The Chimney as the axis on which the sky turns was just one of the turns of phrase that caught my ear. I listened to this, as read by the very nice voice of Robert Powell.

>49 Helenliz: I have this on my to-read list, so I’m glad to see “bizarre, but in a good way”!

>50 Charon07: I really struggled with how to describe this, is it folklore or myth (feels a lot like it) or fantasy (but feels far to rooted in the landscape for that). It's rather uncategorisable, but enjoyable. Hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

Great pic and dress!

Book: 72
Title: The Locked Room
Author: Elly Griffiths
Published: 2022
Rating: ***
Why: So nearly finished a series
Challenge: Woman author
TIOLI Challenge #6: Inspired by Anita – Read a book that has an LT rating of 3.5 or more at the time of posting

Set in Spring to Summer of 2020, this captures the start of lockdown. Ruth finds herself at home with Kate, Michelle is at her mother's Laura comes home and a couple of students cause concern. Amongst this, the team are looking at a series of suicides that seemed slightly unlikely. They share a link of a diet group. which completely justifies my prejudice against such groups -in this case they are clearly not good for your health
There's a lot going on and it still ends with a cliff hanger, Michelle wanting to talk to Nelson. OK, one more book to go and we're done.

Book: 73
Title: Queen Macbeth
Author: Val McDermid
Published: 2024
Rating: ****
Why: Got caught with a bullet & I'm a sucker for a retelling.
Challenge: New author, woman author
TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book whose title makes a complete sentence when preceded by "I don't want to be...."

This is a short piece, but full of incident and passion. Told in a present which finds Grouach in hiding after Macbeth has been defeated in battle and in a past where she and Macbeth meet. Their passion take fire and results, ultimately, in the current situation. The escape is vividly described, while the ending feels slightly unlikely. It's a far more human take on the marriage on two powerful people than that in Macbeth.

Book: 74
Title: Galatea
Author: Madeline Miller
Published: 2013
Rating: ****
Why: Bought because she's brilliant, read because I needed a bath book (turns out that was rather apt)
Challenge: Woman author
TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book that is, is written by, or includes a favourite

This is only a short story but it works beautifully. Based on Ovid's tale of the sculptor who create a statue of a woman so beautiful he falls in love with it and prays to the goddess to bring the statue to life. This takes the stpry on 10 or so years, when they have a daughter and he's started carving a second statue. She decides that she is going to protect her child and so takes matters into her own hands. I liked the way that, in contrast to Ovid's story, where the statue/woman has no name, in this, the sculptor is not named. It feels a fitting reversal of a story based on male gaze and male views of what a woman should be. In this the woman seems helpless, but has the agency she needs to take action.

Book: 75
Title: Glorious Exploits
Author: Ferdia Lennon
Published: 20
Rating: *****
Why: someone caught me with a bullet and I'd read both of the plays featured.
Challenge: New author
TIOLI Challenge #4. Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Libra): Read a book with an object on the cover from the symbol list (Urn)

This is quite exceptional. The city of Syracuse defeated the invading Athenian army and has put the prisoners in the quarries around the town, for want of a better idea of what to do with them. Some of the town folk go to visit the quarries, with different objectives in mind. Gelon goes to hear the prisoners recite Euripides, specifically Medea and his newest play, The Trojan Women. From here comes the idea to perform a play with the Athenians as the cast. Gelon and his friend Lampo (who narrates this) bring food, water and wine and start casting.
The play itself happens and there is tragedy on and off the stage.
There's a lot in here, what makes us human, what is the nature of love and hate, the nature of art, what makes someone else's creation change your life. But it is set in a book filled with curses from two out of work potters. they are the working poor and their life concerns are writ large amidst the artistic endevours. I can imagine some people objecting to the language, but I grew up in and out of garages and around mechanics, the same type of working poor that constitute our narrators and their language could be pretty ripe at times. It rang true to me. I also liked the ending, it wasn't necessarily all tied up in neat bows, there were missed opportunities and regrets and that also felt real. It's massively inventive, well constructed and I certain;y got swept along with the play within a play. This wont be for everyone, but it certainly worked for me.

That's a nice streak of good reads for you, Helen!

>55 Helenliz: I caught part of this on e-audio and then got sidetracked by other new books and of course it expired. You remind me I should request it again. The reciting worked really well on audio. Maybe I should make it my walking book.

>55 Helenliz: This book was on my radar, but your review inspired me to add it to my TBR.

>53 Helenliz: Queen Macbeth sounds interesting. I hadn't heard of it before.

>54 Helenliz: I'm glad you liked Galatea! And that is such an interesting point about the naming reversal. I don't think I noticed that.

Book: 76
Title: The Ghost Cat
Author: ALex Howard
Published: 2024
Rating: *1/2
Why: It fit a cat. (It's not worth reading otherwise)
Challenge: New author, audio, CAT, Bingo
TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book with an automobile model name in its title

This has a fun surmise, but is just rather poorly executed. Grimalkin the cat lives in an Edinburgh tenement. In 1902 he dies, but due to a mixup, is offered the chance to haunt through his remaining 8 lives. So he exists for a short period in a variety of decades. Always landing on a momentous day, it's a bit of a whistle-stop tour of the 20th century. All very superficial, all very judgemental, all rather tedious. Save yourself the effort and give this a miss

So we're home. Been in Scotland for the week, with very intermittent wifi, which actually was quite nice to go a bit off grid.
I managed to post a few reviews, but that was about it.
Visited Barter Books on our way up, where I was very restrained and only bought 5 books.
It was quite nice to have read Queen Macbeth which starts in a priory on an island in Loch Leven. In the week I visited the loch twice and walked round it one day then visit another of the islands which has a castle that housed Mary Queen of Scots.
We also visited Edinburgh, where The Ghost Cat was set, but I didn't go in search of Marchmont Terrace.
Started listening to My Scotland by Val McDermid.
Looking forward to a night in my own bed.

I'll report the guidebook reading when I've finished, just 2 to finish.

Congratulations on passing 75 Helen.

Sounds like a lovely holiday too.

Glad you had a good time in Scotland, sorry to miss you! I am appreciating being back home after my holiday too.

Quite tempted by My Scotland.

>63 Jackie_K: Scotland did a good job. Stirling Castle was excellent, but we went on Monday when the Smith was closed, unfortunately. Weather wasn't too bad, just the one wet day. Dundee entertained for a day, Discovery & a Jute mill doing the entertaining there. Dunfermline Abbey & Palace was worth an explore. Dunblane on a damp Sunday probably the least exciting day.
I will report back on My Scotland. I started it, but fell asleep, so am going to have to go back to where I know I remember listening!

>62 Caroline_McElwee: It was a good week. Now back to work...

>59 MissBrangwen: This seems to be in a series of retellings of Scottish stories. It was worth a read. It did contain a lot of dialect words, but it also had a glossary. I didn;t find that bothered me, some people might.

>57 charl08:, >58 Charon07: I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd read both of the plays, so I think that helped pique my interest. For a first novel it's certainly impressive. As I said, I suspect it won't work for everyone.

>56 katiekrug: It was generally a good reading week. >:-)

Book: 77
Title: The Year of Magical Thinking
Author: Joan Didion
Published: 2005
Rating: ****
Why: Someone caught me with a review.
Challenge: New author, woman author, non-Fiction
TIOLI Challenge #3. Read a book about a measure of time

This is a valuable piece of writing on grief. In December 2003, her husband has a massive heart attack at the dinner table and dies. At the same time, their daughter is in ICU with pneumonia. Over the course of the next year, she goes through an emotional wringer, dealing with the grief and the health issues of her daughter. She tries to make sens of the emotions and thinking she is experiencing, by reference to her peer group, her parents' generation and reading. I was particularly struck by the book on grief etiquette and how that has changed. Some of what she reported I recognised from the loss of my father (the shock, the bliss of forgetting and the pain of remembering, being side swiped). There is little writing on the nature of grief in the modern age, when faith is not the support it once may have been and when death is kept out of sight; this feels to be a valuable contribution to the subject.

>65 Helenliz: I thought this was a very good book. But I loaned it to a friend whose husband had died a few years before, and she didn’t like it at all. I suppose we all experience grief differently, and it’s not helpful to read about a very different experience when your own grief is still fresh.

>65 Helenliz: - I rated that one 4.5 stars and remember being very affected by it.

Book: 78
Title: My Scotland
Author: Val McDermid
Published: 2019
Rating: ****
Why: I was in Scotland and needed an audio book.
Challenge: Woman author, non-Fiction
TIOLI Challenge #6: Inspired by Anita – Read a book that has an LT rating of 3.5 or more at the time of posting

I listened to this, as read by the author, and started it having been in Fife and Edinburgh, both of which feature. It was well worth a listen. Val McDermid's books are often set in Scotland and in this she takes us through some of the landscapes of her life and her work. It includes extracts from some of her work for each of the locations. She describes the place and her interaction with it as well as the use she made of it in the specific novel. It finishes with a short story set on Jura. I've not read her fiction, although have been aware of her for some time. I can se myself seeking out more of her books after this.

>67 katiekrug: I can see that. I found certain elements did resonate strongly. I can see myself coming back to it.

>66 Charon07: I can see that too. I think grief is very personal and not everyone will experience it the same way, nor the description of it.

I don't remember much about the Didion,.but like a lot of books about grief I read last year,.glad they were there. I did find it helped to know people did it in different ways, as much as the details of the way the particular writer experienced it.

I am envious of your Scottish travels, I feel like I should have seen more of the place than I have. Stirling castle is definitely worth the money, I think. As a kid I was often quote disappointed by the ones that were nearly completely ruined- less imagination required in Stirling. Although I am not sure about the colour, historically accurate or not!

Book: 79
Title: Various Guidebooks
Author: Various
Published: Various
Rating: ***
Why: Love me a good guidebook.
Challenge: Non-Fiction
TIOLI Challenge: N/A

A variety of Guidebooks, which I have now finished reading. I do like a good Guidebook. Mixture of tour around the places and history of them. Gets a bit Mary Queen of Scots heavy, she got about a bit... Claiming it as one book.

>70 charl08: I Liked Stirling Castle, lots to see although I agree about the colour scheme, it's a little vivid!
I don't seem to have any guidebooks of Dundee, where we saw Discovery (Scott's first polar ship) and the Jute works.

>72 Helenliz: Oh, I liked Dundee. I stayed in a hotel with marmalade jars pictured on the tiles.

>73 charl08: We stayed in Perth and took the train to Dundee. I also took the train into Edinburgh, going over The Forth Bridge. Then went in & out by bus, taking the 2 Forth road bridges.

October's round up. Not going to finish either of my current books any time soon.

Read: 14 (79)
F/M: 7/6 (48/27)

Audio: 5 (33)
Paper: 9 (46)

Owned: 5 (20)
Library: 9 (55)

New authors: 8 (45)
New books: 14 (75)
Re-reads: 0 (4)

October's reads
66. Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry, ****
67. Pistols for two, Georgette Heyer, ****
68. So Late in the day, Claire Keegan, ****
69. Diary of a Nobody, George & Weedon Grossmith, ***
70. Selected Poems, WB Yeats, ***
71. Treacle Walker Alan Garner, ****
72. The Locked Room, Elly Griffiths, ***
73. Queen Macbeth, Val McDermid, ****
74. Glorious Exploits, Ferdia Lennon, *****
75. Galatea, Madeline Miller, ****
76. The Ghost Cat, Alex Howard *.5
77. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion, ****
78. My Scotland, Val McDermid, ****
79. Various Guidebooks of Scotland.

That's more than usual! 6 of them while on holiday. hmm, see what happens when I don't have to work, I can read more. hmmm. I also walked twice as much on holiday as in a usual week. Like I say, maybe there's something in this not working lark!
Mostly good or very good. Glorious Exploits was a 5 star read.
The Ghost Cat should be knocked off the shelf by a paw and left to languish on the floor. Give that one a miss.

>68 Helenliz: I'm definitely taking a BB for that. This would be a perfect present for my husband and I'd buy it right now if I hadn't already bought all the Christmas presents for him. But I'll keep it in mind!

>71 Helenliz: Oh, I do love the guidebooks in the UK! They are such good quality, both the pictures and the info.

>76 MissBrangwen: While I listened to it, it sounds like the paper book is rather lavishly illustrated.

I love a good guidebook too. I have quite a lot collected over the years.

Book: 80
Title: Venus in Copper
Author: Lindsey Davis
Published: 1991
Rating: ***
Why: It's a series, this one is next
Challenge: Woman author, audio, CATs
TIOLI Challenge: #6: Read a book with a connection to chivalry

This series leaves me with mixed feelings every time. In theory I should like it, it's set in an interesting period, it has an engaging narrator from the wrong side of the tracks and with republican ideals. I'm not a huge fan of the first person, although I accept that it makes it rather immediate. Unfortunately, I sometimes feel he is selectively dense. Often about women and most usually about his girlfriend, Helena, the senator's daughter. In this one he is engaged by a found family of freed persons to find out about the woman their leader has got engaged to. They;re not keen, she seems to be on the lookout for husband number 4 with the previous 3 having passed in dubious circumstances. The resolution takes some time to come out and is all wrapped up very neatly. I felt there were a few gaps that maybe weren't explained.

A trip to the London office saw a lot of progress made on one paper book (having deciced that my current hardback was rather too big & heavy when I also had to get the laptop in my handbag.

Weekend was also busy, but involved a quiz which we won. In a high spot, we got 10/10 on the literature round. Not all my work, but I did score a few.

This week sees our audit, so I expect to be very fleeting until that's done.

>79 Helenliz: Hope the audit goes / went smoothly, Helen.

I enjoyed the BBC radio "full cast dramatisation" of the Falco series (I think I listened to 6, I'm not sure how many there are) but didn't get on so well with the books. What do you make of the Medicus series? I suspect the narrator there is also similarly dim, but at least you do get to hear Tilla's perspective too.

>80 charl08: in an unusual move, audit been cancelled, auditor called in sick! Rescheduled for first week in december.

Not read any of that series. The library doesn't have very many of them.

Book: 81
Title: Cahokia Jazz
Author: Francis Spufford
Published: 2023
Rating: ****
Why: Seen this praised and he write a very different and very inventive book each time.
Challenge: hmmm.
TIOLI Challenge: #8. Read a book where the title contains a musical term

This is quite remarkable. Set in 1922 an alternate past, Cahokia is a city in a native American land that has become a state of the Union. In it, red, black & white live in reasonable harmony. There are some oddities of this state, in that there is a hereditary lord, with no actual power but significant sway over the people. The land is owned in common by the state, making it a different situation to the norm. The depiction of the city and its relationships between the sources of power is extremely well done.
Into this drops a corpse, being investigated by Phinn Drummond & Joe Barrow. Joe's mixed race, an orphan, not necessarily the smartest tool in the box, but during this, he comes out of his own shadow and develops into someone that you feel for and are egging on. The murder of Fred Hopper, a poor white clerk, is ritualistic; he appears to have been scarified in a style reminiscent of the Aztecs on top of the pyramidical top of the Land building, in which he worked. The rest of the book is divided into days and the events of the days that follow are narrated. We come to know Joe, his life story, how he has been the brute force for the brainy pal since childhood, how doesn't fit into this city, how he plays piano and jazz piano specifically like a magician and how he is torn between being a cop and being a musician. His story is set against that of riot and unrest in the city, instigated by external forces and the efforts of the ruling house to bring the situation under control. You feel that they are the underdogs in an ongoing war and so you hope that they persist in the face of the overwhelming odds. Their small patch of America has more spirit than the real one. Joe sits as the pivot between the big picture and the story of the individual, he gets swept into events that are not of his devising and takes actions that resonate across the city.
This started quite slowly for me, took several periods of concentrated reading to really get into it. The world building slows the detective story, but is essential to the whole and that is what makes it work, the murder and its cause without the world it is set it would be meaningless.

Book: 82
Title: Skelton's Guide to Blazing Corpses
Author: David Stafford
Published: 2022
Rating: ****
Why: the 3rd in the series featuring Skelton.
Challenge: hmmm.
TIOLI Challenge: #7. Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Scorpio)

I really enjoy this series, the characters are a a mixed bunch, not of the establishment and there's a lot of social commentary to give this more depth than it might have. In this the body is found burning in a car of fireworks night. The Police pick up a likely local with a history of violence and Skelton gets called in to be his barrister. There is a odd mixture here in that Skelton's aim is not necessarily to find who did do it, just to fined enough to show in court that his client did not. There are a number of cases in parallel in here, reflecting the way a barrister's day is arranged. The supporting characters are a joy. Rose and Vernon, in particular, are a real delight.

Book: 83
Title: The Flatshare
Author: Beth O'Leary
Published: 2020
Rating: ****
Why: Katie & Amber ganged up on me!
Challenge: New author, woman author, audio
TIOLI Challenge: #4: Inspired by Anita. Read a book by a female author that has a female main character

I read this after it was rated well by 2 people whose taste I trust. I don't usually read a lot of romances, but this has enough about it to be worth investing the time.
Tiffy is looking for a cheap flat as part of her need to move out of her ex's flat. Leon needs money to fund his brother's legal appeal against a conviction for armed robbery. He works nights as a palliative care nurse, so only needs the flat during the day, meaning that the Tiffy could have it the rest of the time. The only downside is that the flat is a single bedroom and they'd be sharing a bed (albeit not at the same time). It sounds a bit weird (and I spent far too long working out how this might or might not work). They don't meet for some time, so communicate via notes lest all over the apartment. We hear from them alternately, in a similar epistolary style. We find out about their lives and their personalities come through in the way they communicate.
This could be predictable, but there's more depth to this than just the romance. Leon has his patients, a brother in prison and a search for a wartime romance. Tiffy has a book to launch and an ex to escape. These sub plots serve to give this significantly more substance than the surmise might lead you to suppose. There is enough light and shade to make this engaging and it rattles along to a suitably satisfactory conclusion.

Glad you liked it!

>84 Helenliz: A BB for me!

>86 Tess_W: You can blame Katie & Amber for that one. I could resist either one of them, but both of them endorsing it was too much. I like that it has depth and isn't as frivolous as the synopsis might make you think. But it's also quite fun.

Book: 84
Title: A Civil Contract
Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: 1961
Rating: ***
Why: Heyer series
Challenge: Woman author, Heyer series
TIOLI Challenge: #5: Read a book with something fragile, liquid, or perishable in the title

Re read. It's that rare thing, a bad Heyer. Not badly written and I should imagine the setup representative of many a society marriage. But Adam's too insufferable to be worth it all.

>84 Helenliz: I really enjoyed The Flatshare too although my reading was extended by spending time trying to figure out how I could cope. No, I don't think I could. It was a fun story.

>89 VivienneR: I also spent rather too long working out the mechanics of it.

Hullo Helen and wow! Catching up on your thread has been quite a treat. I'm so glad you had a great visit in Scotland and I really loved the way you displayed all your guidebooks. Something that a laptop or handheld can't really capture is holding that place/story/person in your hands as you flip the pages back and forth.

Congrats on all your reading, and the re-tellings of the Greek plays and MacBeth sound especially intriguing.

>91 threadnsong: >:-) Welcome along, glad you found my general witterings enjoyable.

>84 Helenliz: >89 VivienneR: I'm another big fan of The Flatshare! And just wanted to plug the Amazon miniseries as well -- I think it's a pretty good adaptation.

When I read it, I wanted to tell the characters to "just get on with it!" I did like the subplots and the conclusion.

Sadly the Flatshare miniseries is on Paramount Plus here - there are too many streaming companies. There are several things I want to watch on Paramount but I think I should cut back on something else first. Or maybe I'll see if I can get the 7 days free trial over Christmas if the kids have things they want to watch too (possibly not The Flatshare though) and then cancel it. But I still haven't cancelled my other "free trials".

>95 elkiedee: Hmm, yes, I think it's moved to something else in the US now...very frustrating, the way things keep jumping around to different streaming services!

Book: 85
Title: Enter Ghost
Author: Isabella Hammad
Published: 2023
Rating: ***
Why: Uses Hamlet and I have a bit of a thing for Hamlet.
Challenge: Woman author, New Author, audio
TIOLI Challenge: #4: Inspired by Anita. Read a book by a female author that has a female main character

This is a book that has many layers and parallel stories. Sonia and her sister Haneen are of Palestinian extraction, they spent their summers in Haifa with their father's family. As adults, Sonia has spent the last 11 years in England, while Haneen has been living in Israel and is currently a lecturer at Tel Aviv university. The book looks at their memories of their childhood holidays as well as their relationship now, with each other and their family. There is a conflict between the memory and ideal of family and the reality. There is a fall out between their father and his siblings, and the friction over the sale of their grandparent's house. In each case each sister has a different knowledge and memory of the family lore, based on their age difference and later conversations. It becomes a question of what is memory and what is absorbed story.
Sonia arrives in Israel to visit Haneen in the aftermath of a messy affair. She swiftly gets swept into playing Gertrude in a production of Hamlet. The twist is that this is in classical Arabic and will be performed in Bethlehem, in the shadow of the partition wall. Shakespeare can cope with any number of interpretations and the text is open to representation - is the rotten state of Denmark representing a rotten state of Israel/Palestine? The translation of the play into Arabic and rendered back into English gives some of the phrases you think you know a different spin, a different rhythm. It makes you see it anew. This play has any number of hurdles to overcome, the cast changes, the set has to change and the location is last minute. The presence of the threat from the authorities is palpable. For putting on a play? It all feels very oppressive, It feels that Sonia, who is new to this, recognises it more than her sister and Miriam, the play's director. This plays out against the background of the trouble in the region, in the course of the book the mosque in Jerusalem is closed, there is a shooting in Jordan and protests across the region. At times there are terms or descriptions that are probably well known to those involved, but new to me and it felt they were used without sufficient explanation.
I listened to this and at times in dialogue between female characters it was difficult to know who was speaking. At others the author used a device akin to a play with the name of the person speaking before their words, and with stage directions describing their gestures. It was sparingly used as it could get rather wearing in large doses, but I thought it worked where used here.
It's a timely read, with the current trouble in the area. It doesn't attempt to describe the history, more to take the situation the characters find themselves in and move forward from there.

>97 Helenliz: I liked this a lot, and have found myself thinking about it since. Partly, as you say, due to the area being in the news so much, but also a tribute to the author.

The "play" sections worked quite well in the text version, but I can't imagine listening to it though!

>98 charl08: It seemed to work better than some of the dialogue sections.

>93 christina_reads:, >95 elkiedee:, >96 christina_reads:. On The Flatshare - I don't think we have either of those, so I'll give that a miss. I don't watch a lot of fiction on TV.

>94 LadyoftheLodge: Yeah, I could get that. I think I quite enjoyed the slow burn.

>97 Helenliz: I think if Enter Ghost was written by anyone else I would be very tempted to read it, but I was disappointed with Isabella Hammond’s earlier book The Parisian, although that had good reviews.

>100 SandDune: I'm not going to tell you it's excellent and you should read it either. I gave it 3 stars, it was good but nothing more than that.

Quite pleased to have finished this, it was large print (and heavy) - which strikes me as a fraction odd, didn't know the more elderly were so keen on traveling to the more obscure corners of the globe.

Book: 86
Title: The Dark Tourist
Author: Dom Joly
Published: 2010
Rating: ***
Why: Bullet from someone here
Challenge: New Author, Non-fiction
TIOLI Challenge: #7: Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Scorpio)

This is an interesting ideas for a book. Dom Joly goes to 6 different countries across the world that have "dark" connotations. In some it is to go to a place where something terrible happened (assassination in the US, Chernobyl, the Killing Fields in Cambodia). In others it is to travel to a country that is under an oppressive regime (Iran & North Korea fit here) in order to explore a country that is closed or restricted in some way. All of which is to take a trip off the package holiday tour destinations.
I'm aware of Dom Joly, but have not watched any of his work and so came into this with no expectations of a style that this would be presented in. There are some wry asides and comic moments, but it is not a comedic book, and I feel that is intentional. At times he gets himself into a mess of his own making. The dual passport intrigued me, but taking the "wrong one" and then having to explain to US immigration why he had an Iranian stamp was a lack of care. That they didn't believe he had been there to go skiing doesn't really surprise me - it does sound rather outlandish.
At times he irritated me, spending only 10 minutes in a monastery before becoming bored. He writes of himself as a current affairs junkie, but I think there is something in you can only understand the present with an understanding of the past. And it seemed to be a superficial and selective boredom, Roman remains in Lebanon - great, It felt a little immature and self contradictory.
I have no desire to go to North Korea, but I can see the draw of the Cambodia trip. It leaves me with the same mixed feeling you get when walking a battlefield. Looking at the ground and the plans of the location of the forces is all very interesting, and the way the battle played out. But at some point it stops being in the abstract and you are looking at where someone was killed. Stalin's line "the death of one is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic" makes an appearance and it is true. At times we struggle to comprehend the large numbers of deaths, it is more overwhelming to focus on the individuals. In the Cambodian example, it needs to be kept in memory as the country needs to move on from that period. But it is more difficult while the perpetrators are still alive. He meets one and then can;t understand how that man is not incarcerated - and the outrage and bewilderment are perfectly understandable. Will it be easier once it is beyond living memory? Difficult to know. It will be different. He references Auschwitz as a similar site to the Killing Fields. It feels like an odd place to go "on holiday" but at the same time it needs to be preserved to maintain the memory.
The last chapter describes his visit to Lebanon. This is where he grew up and so it is the most personal and where he is the most engaged with the situation. Several chapters would have benefited from a map, this one most of all. It is a complicated country, at the cross roads of history and he visits ancient sites as well as the modern city and countryside. He visits family (also complicated) in the area as well as his memories of his parents & growing up. The reaction of a boarding school friend who visited to a battle going on in the valley below illustrate quite neatly how you get used to a situation, he didn't think growing up in a war zone was particularly odd until you realise that not everyone else did grow up in a war zone. He expresses hope that the country can move from the dark and put the war-torn past behind it - current events would suggest that a step back has been taken in that regard.
For a whistlestop tour of a number of places I doubt I would ever go, this is certainly entertaining. He makes for an engaging tour guide if one with a slightly odd selectivity. It raises some intriguing questions about the value of memory and commemoration, what we do and how we do it and how that remains valid for the future.

>102 Helenliz: Thanks for your observations! This sounded like an intriguing book, but I guess I can wait for another author to cover it.

Having a bit of a catch up. Long weekend in the Netherlands then a few days away at work sees me mostly off LT, I don;t like posting from my phone.

Anyway:
Book: 87
Title: Blood on the Tracks
Author: Various
Published: 2018
Rating: ***
Why: I like to read something related to where I'm going and nothing really jumped out at me. I read this as we went by Eurostar. No blood on any tracks that I saw.
Challenge: ...
TIOLI Challenge: #5. Read a book with something fragile, liquid, or perishable in the title

A series of short detective or mystery stories set in or on trains. Some require timetables as alibis or solutions, others require you to know that trains used to not have corridors but that carriages comprised a series of adjacent compartments. Several require someone to have left a moving train, again, something that's not as easy now in the era of electronic locking doors but would have been perfectly possible in the period of slam door carriages. As in any collection, there are some that are stronger than others. It actually starts out quite weakly, the Conan Doyle contribution is not a Holmes mystery, and involves solution by confession, making it an unsatisfactory means of arriving at a solution.
The contents were:

1. The Man with the Watches by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring an un-named sleuth and solution by confession. The Not an example of playing fair, the reader only discovers some information about the people involved in the confession.
2. The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by L T Meade and Robert Eustace. A singnal man is found dead near a tunnel entrance having apparently tried to scale a sheer embankment. There then follows a second death in the same place and people begin to talk about a curse. The solution is surprising as well as entirely practical.
3. How He Cut His Stick by Matthias McDonnell Bodkin. Detective Dora Myrl investigates the theft of £5,000 in gold from a locked railway carriage. She's quite an unexpected delight.
4. he Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway (1901) by Baroness Orczy, feature the armchair detective, a man in the corner of the teashop telling journalist Polly Burton the solution to the murder of a young woman on the Underground. Told by her, it is his solution.
5. The Affair of the Corridor Express by Victor L Whitechurch featuring the railway detective Thorpe Hazell. He investigates the kidnapping of the son of a millionaire from a school. Again, one where leaving a moving train proves to be important.
6. The Case of Oscar Brodski by R Austin Freeman, an ‘inverted’ detective story, in which the reader knows of the crime while the detective does the investigating. Lots of small details that add up to a solution in this one.
7. The Eighth Lamp by Roy Vickers – an underground mystery about switching off the station lamps after the last train had gone down the line. Potentially a supernatural element, or is it just guilt.
8. The Knight’s Cross Signal Problem by Ernest Bramah, when a steam train ploughs into a light passenger train, killing a significant number of people, who is right, the engine driver or the signalman when they each say the signal was set in different ways. Solved by the blind detective, Max Carrados this is a bit convoluted but turns out to have been no accident.
9. The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face (1928) by Dorothy L Sayers, with a Lord Peter Wimsey investigating. A body of a man is found on a lonely beach, his face slashed, and with no means of identification. Wimsey gets involved when he is in a carriage listening to his fellow passengers, one of whom happens to be the detective on the case. One of those when Wimsey doesn't want to have solved it as he doesn't like the solution.
10. The Railway Carriage by F Tennyson Jesse (1931). Not sure about this one. Solange Fontaine is a woman with a "feeling for evil" when she meets 2 travelers on a train. The solutions is triggered by a tran crash. Not a fan of the supernatural, so this was a bit of a dud for me.
11. Mystery of the Slip-Coach by Sapper (1933), the creator of ‘Bulldog’ Drummond. An apparently impossible crime, a man is shot in a seal compartment, with the broken egg providing the clue to the culprit. This relies on being able to trow an egg from one train into another and a bump at an inauspicious moment. .
12. The Level Crossing by Freeman Crofts Willis (1933) is a story in which the reader follows the action through to the death of a man on an unmanned level crossing, and the investigation happens off stage.
13. The Adventure of the First-class Carriage by Ronald Knox (1947) another locked carriage mystery
14. Murder on the 7.16 by Michael Innes. The train in question happens to be on a film set and not an actual train. Seems to be a misplaced joke that goes awry.
15. The Coulman Handicap by Michael Gilbert (1950s). A case of mistaken identity as Mrs Coulman heads off to collect stolen goods and leads the police a merry dance across the underground. The solution was inventive and includes disguise and changes of costume. It's quite the chase, in an understated way.
If mysteries or railways are your thing, this will right hit the spot.

Book: 88
Title: The Beckoning Lady
Author: Margery Allingham
Published: 1955
Rating: ***
Why: Next up in the series.
Challenge: Woman author
TIOLI Challenge: #3: Inspired by Anita: 3 letters from the word “December” are in the title

In this Campion mystery we go to Pontisbright, Amanda's homeland, for the midsummer feast. This is hosted by Tonker and Minnie Cassands at their house, The Beckoning Lady. They enlist any number of friends to help out with the arrangements for this massive event that the entire village turns out for. However there's a shadow over the sunny picture. William Faraday "Uncle William" to all and sundry has recently died in his sleep. And there's been a second murder that's not discovered immediately, being under a bridge. Charlie Luke has been down recuperating, but is now prey to affairs of the heart which the Campions fear will turn out badly. The party is very nearly derailed several times, with a final death threatening to put a real damper on the celebrations. It gets rather complicated, with Tonker's temper and Minnie's dealings with an old acquaintance complicating the investigation. It gets rather involved with a profit for on of Tonker's inventions, a gift from Uncle William that did not get past the 5 years gift threshold and Minnie's tax affairs. There's then a side hustle in horse racing and the potential for a new race circuit, for which Tonker & Minnie house is most certainly in the way. This is one of those times where I wonder if the solution is the real one or just the convenient one. Even Amanda casts doubt on the solution, leaving this as a slightly unsatisfactory solution. Feels a bit like cheating, somehow.

Book: 89
Title: Dance by the Canal
Author: Kerstin Hensel
Published: 1994
Rating: ***
Why: Lots of canals in the Netherlands...
Challenge: Woman author, new author, in translation
TIOLI Challenge: #3: Inspired by Anita: 3 letters from the word “December” are in the title

Gabriella is the focus of this story. She is writing the tale of her past while her present is played out. In the present, she is homeless and living under a bridge by a canal that is mostly used for industrial waste. She is scavenging for paper to continue her story while visiting the shelter for food and warm clothes. Her past appears, at first glance, more comfortable,with her father being a chief medical officer in the local hospital. However he is very strict and she is forced to learn the violin for his prestige rather than her enjoyment, As her parents' marriage breaks down, she is left more to her own devices and not cared for except by the home help. As she grows older, her options diminish and she finds herself in a job that doesn't suit her. She takes refuge in an unexpected talent for poetry, but she is again subject to the expectations of some other people who exploit her for their own ends without being really clear what they expect from her and she fails to then deliver. In the present she suffers from the attitudes of the other homeless that live under other bridges in the city. Even the ending seems to offer less in the way of hope than of more exploitation, which she seems powerless to resist. Not poorly written but thoroughly depressing.

Book: 90
Title: Beowulf: A New Translation
Author: Maria Dahvana Headley
Published: 2020
Rating: ****
Why: I liked her piece on The Art that Made us and I have a soft spot for Beowulf, having discovered it through the Heaney translation.
Challenge: Woman author, new author, in translation
TIOLI Challenge: #13: Read a book about something magic

I always enjoy the translator's notes in these, what makes you go and be the umpteenth person to translate a classic, what makes you think you can bring something new to the party? I think this works and the translator does bring something different to this work.
I didn't get Beowulf forced on me at school - I didn't go to that sort of school. I came to Beowulf as an adult, by choice and through the Seamus Heaney translation. I loved it from the first word, as I, too, have a habit of starting a conversation with "So". More at work than at home, but I recognised something in it. It opened up the world of alliterative poetry, which I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring with the likes of Simon Armitage. In this, the translator starts with "Bro". I get what she is trying to do, this is a bar room and the story teller is trying to quieten the room, to take the floor, to grab the attention. I reckon someone, somewhere could write an essay on the choice of translation for "Hwaet".
This feels to be a more robust translation than the Heaney (which I am going to have to read again very soon). It uses modern language, there's a couple of gimme and gonna in here as well as shit and fuck used more than I would, but I'm not the subject of this. This is all about a male environment and the men in it. And they almost certainly would use that language. That's not to say that it is dumbed down, or simplified, there are plenty of allusions and illusions at work in here. The whale road being the Old English equivalent of the wine dark sea. It feels immediate and earthy, it doesn't feel distant and ethereal in the way that the tranbslation of an ancient classic could do. There is relevance in here and the language used is of its time. That may mean it will date, but that doesn;t make it any less good in the here and now.
I liked the way that the voice changed as the different people take up the tale, there is a change in language and word usage here that is sophisticated without feeling to be artificial.
The story hasn't changed, it remains the same 3 act play with 50 years vanishing in the middle. And yet it isn't tired and predictable, I still felt the tears pricking as Wiglaf berates his fellow warriors for not coming to Beowulf's aid. If there's any lesson in here that the modern world need to hear it is that doing the right thing is always worth it, no matter how hard or painful. He's the hero for the modern age.
This is well worth adding to your reading list, regardless of if you're familiar with the work or not.

Thanks for the summaries of the railway mysteries. I own that book but have not read it, so your comments tell me which stories to read first!

>104 Helenliz: I have the Heaney translation sitting on my shelf, which I have yet to finish, but I was intrigued about this new translation. I was happy to hear your thoughts on it. I guess 2025 will be the year I finally read Beowulf, twice!

>106 Charon07: I'm now itching to read the Heaney again. So I may well join you.

>105 LadyoftheLodge: Happy to help. I read them in order they are in the book which is approximately chronological.

>104 Helenliz: Oh darn! No blood on the tracks? I hope the rest of the trip went better and there was a mystery that needed solving!

I'm a bit relieved the tracks were blood free, Helen! I do love reading on trains, a perfect trip.

>108 clue: no actual blood although when Eurostar cancelled part of our return trip, the air did turn a little blue...

>109 charl08: It is a perfect reading opportunity.

A bit late, here's November's round up.

Read: 8 (87)
F/M: 4/3 (52/30)

Audio: 3 (36)
Paper: 5 (51)

Owned: 2 (22)
Library: 6 (61)

New authors: 3 (48)
New books: 7 (82)
Re-reads: 1 (5)

November's reads
80. Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis, ***
81. Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford, ****
82. Skelton's Guide to Blazing Corpses, David Stafford, ****
83. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary, ****
84. A Civil Contract Georgette Heyer, ***
85. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad, ***
86. The Dark Tourist, Dom Joly, ***
87. Blood on the Tracks Various, Ed Martin Edwards, ***

A bit of a mixed bag. The stand out was Cahokia Jazz, which I am still telling everyone to read. Go, read it.

I'm not sure I'm ready for 2025, but my thread is ready. You can find me here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/366348

>112 Helenliz: Yikes. I haven't even started thinking about this yet.

>107 Helenliz: I visited Cambodia seven years ago, but I did not visit the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh because I couldn't stomach such a place and know that it would give me nightmares for a long time. I visited other places where people were killed, though, because I came across them while hiking (Killing Caves, where boxes of bones are on display), and the atmosphere was so dark and strange. I only spent two weeks in Cambodia, but I often entered scenes where suddenly the atmosphere shifted and felt cold and dark, like something strange was in the air. Completely different to its neighboring countries. It feels as if the trauma is still present.

Book: 91
Title: The Trick to Time
Author: Kit de Waal
Published: 2018
Rating: ****1/2
Why: I liked a work I read by her previously.
Challenge: Woman author, audio
TIOLI Challenge: #4: Read a book for the Zodiac Challenge (Sagittarius: Rolling Half and Half (A-M first name/N-Z last name)

Mona is a dollmaker, Irish, living in England (took me quite a while to grasp that, the narrator being Irish made me think it was set in Ireland, rather than simply reflecting Mona's Irish origins.) and about to turn 60. We find out about her life, her business, her assistant, Joley, and Joley's plans to go and be a teaching assistant. We also find ourselves willing Mona on when an elegant looking man salutes her with his mug in the wee small hours during mutual bouts of insomnia. They meet, they have coffee and cake, might this be going somewhere?
Along side this, we hear of Mona's past, from her childhood and the loss of her mother, growing up with just her father & visits to Bridie O'Connor. She then travels to Birmingham, where she meets and very soon falls for William. So far, so much smooth sailing. However there is clearly a deep sorrow in Mona's life. In the present, of the activity she undertakes with those who have suffered a still birth or an early loss of a baby. We hear one session where the woman tells of her hopes and dreams for the lost little one and this acts as a form of therapy. By now, we are, therefore, expecting that Mona & William lose their baby. What we don't expect is for that to happen the night of the Birmingham pub bombings, and for this to have a dramatic effect on their lives.

In the present we hear of the life Mona has created for herself. It's not been very exciting, it's not involved great adventure, it's been a quietly satisfactory life carried out under a great sadness. We wonder what she is doing in an English sea side town and why she has remained resolutely single. Actually, I had less problem with this aspect of a widow staying single, it's been my experience that's what widowed women do. My mother, grandmother & great grandmothers were all widowed and remains so for 11, 20 & over 50 years.

The things that left me doubting slightly were timing. If Beatrice was born and lost in 1974, when Mona was 20 and as she's now 60 this is set in about 2014. Reading that now, the timings felt off, but they're probably right. In 2014, at no point does anyone use a mobile phone. OK, they weren't smart phone levels of ubiquity, but they were fairly common even them. Mona does run her business partly over the internet, but that's mostly Joley by the descriptions given. Based on her being 60 in about 2014, she was of an age with my mother, who was pretty tech savvy and learnt most of that in her late 40s/50s. Mona only learns how to do it when she has to, which felt a bit awry in some way. I listened to this and a couple of times it was not clear to me where we were in time until we were a couple of sentences in. Personally I could have done with a date or an indicator of timeframe at the start of each chapter, as that would have helped anchor me more securely in the narrative era. I don't understand the homing instinct, I don't have that, but I appreciate it may be part of someone else's mental makeup.

This is a life lived under a shadow. Loss comes to Mona in many ways, her mother while a child, her father while away, her child and husband. These different losses play on her in different ways and their echoes are felt in her present in different ways. That makes this books oppressively sad and it isn't, it just sits under a shadow. There is light and shade, but it is not a life in technicolor, it remains coloured in sepia. In several places we hear about time and the relationship between than and love. The trick to time is to speed it up and slow it down according to the state of relationship and love. It doesn't work, of course, time is what it is. But there are moments that seem to last for ever, or the memory of them lasts for ever.

>113 charl08: I wanted to get started planning colour cat, so had to invent something quickly.
>114 MissBrangwen: thanks for those comments. I think I'm with you, I'd not want to go there myself.

>116 Helenliz: I'm thinking I might use the medieval women exhibit for the categories. But I haven't got any further than that yet.

>115 Helenliz: - That sounds like one I might like. Will check the library for it...

I've resurrected my blog, to try and write more in long form.
So lots of wittering about my recent culture vulture day and a bit. https://helenruns.wordpress.com/2024/12/13/from-six-to-the-great-escape/

>118 katiekrug: I think it would suit you.

Book: 92
Title: The Djinn waits a Hundred Years
Author: SHubnum Khan
Published: 2024
Rating: ***
Why: Shelterbox book
Challenge: Woman author, new author, Shelterbox book
TIOLI Challenge: #7. Read a book that links to the PDG's Centenary

Cards on the table time, I'm not a fan of the supernatural sneaking into books and so this was never going to be top of my list of favourite books. Which is a shame as there's a good story in here and it's well written, but every time it took off, the supernatural brought it crashing to the floor. I felt it unnecessary to the story that is being told. For once it was a story in two timeframes that actually worked well and didn't annoy the hell out of me, as that's a story telling mechanism that is usually dreadful. So there's a negative/positive thing going on for me here.
The story is based in a house on the coast of South Africa, near Durban. Akbar Manzil was built by Akbar Ali Kahn. He is an immigrant from India, who takes a ship voyage with his young wife and then stays in South Africa. They are not well matched from the start, he starts a factory processing sugar cane, she want to play cards and wear London fashions with her white friends. The social tensions are well portrayed with the Indian incomers to South Africa, especially the lighter skinned Jahanara Begum, occupying a position between the black and the white in the social structure. The tension in the marriage of 2 people who fail to understand each other is clear, they seem to pull further apart as they age. Then Akbar takes a second wife. Meena Begum is also an immigrant from India, but of a very different class, she has been sweeping floors in his factory. The strains this puts in the family are played out as the story proceeds and is told by Sana having discovered Meena Begum's diaries.
In the present, the house is occupied by a rag tag collection of people. The Doctor who seems to take responsibility for the house, Pinky who is a cleaner and does no cleaning, Zuleikha, Fancy and Razia Bibi who have their own past lives and losses and disagreements. Into this comes Sana and her father Bilal Malik. The mother is dead and Bilal brings his daughter to a new house in a way of a fresh start. They have a lot to run away from, the relationship between Sana and her mother was complicated, as was the fact that Sana was a conjoined twin, who died after the operation to separate them. Sana can see her dead sister's ghost, presence (not sure of the right word) and she is not a positive presence. Sana herself seems to be trying to understand people and love, she asks everyone about their life and loves and by this means we get to know the inhabitants of the house. Their past lives show love in all its guises and they each carry a burden of a lost love.
Interestingly, the house itself is almost a character in its own right. It is described as being unsettled by Sana's exploration, by things being moved or cleaned. That worked well as the location is such a key part in the story that it presenting as a character, with its own feelings and responses to Sana and change felt apt.
I thought the presence of the Djinn was not well explained. I understand that it has become obsessed with Meena Begum, but where it came from, or how it came to the house is not clear at all. Also, quibbling, if the house was built after 1919 and the final tragedy took place in 1932 and the present timeframe is set in 2014 then the Djinn has not, by any calculation whatsoever waited 100 years. That sort of thing annoys me. Quite a lot. Which is a shame, because there's a good story in here, it just had a battle to get past my preferences.

>119 Helenliz: - I enjoyed your blog post! 'Six' is very popular here, and I've considered going to see it, but given how short it is, it's been hard to justify paying the Broadway price :)

>121 katiekrug: Thank you. It's worth seeing, but I'm glad I saw it on tour at a local theatre, rather than having to pay for a trip to London as well as expensive theatre tickets. Not to say that provincial theatre tickets are cheap, but you get my drift.

Book: 93
Title: The Nine Tailors
Author: Dorothy L Sayers
Published: 1934
Rating: ****
Why: I wanted to copy an extract from it, so figured I may as well re-read it again.
Challenge: Woman author
TIOLI Challenge: #7. Read a book that links to the PDG's Centenary

Re-read.
I needed to find this out to get an extract from it for a bell themed carol service we're having at the end of the month. And having got it off the shelf, I figured I may as well read it again. As a bellringer, there are inaccuracies. Fenchurch St Peter has a ring of 8 bells, with the tenor weighting 41 cwt (a smidge over 2 tons) which would make it just about the heaviest ring of 8 bells there is. At the top of a tall tower they're going to be a handful. An equivalent ring of bells of that weight takes nearer 4 hours to ring a peal, making the New Year Day peal take nearer 11.5 to 12 hours than the 9 or so that it is reported. But I can live with all of that for the intellectual exercise that solving the problem presents. As a re-read, none of this is about who did what to whom and how, this is about following the intricacies of the solution as it is laid out.
There are 2 interlinked problems here, who stole the Wilbraham Emeralds before the war and where have they been since and set alongside this is who is the corpse that was found in Lady Mary's grave, how did it get there, who put it there and how did it die. They are linked, the resolution to one being tied with the other. It is set over several visits to the village, Lord Peter arriving at first unwillingly, having biffed the car running off the road near Frog's Bridge. "The church lies to the windward of us, I fancy. It would," He then gets involved in ringing a peal for New Year and stays around while the car is fixed, by which time the corpse is deposited in the churchyard. We don;t find out about this until later, when Sir Henry Thorpe does and it put into the same grave as his wife, when the extra body turns up. Who it is and what killed him remains a longstanding question. Lord Peter is invited back to get involved in the solution, which he cheerily does. His enthusiasm wanes when the personal impact on some of the villagers becomes more evident as the tale unfolds. I like this about him, it;s not just an intellectual exercise, he does acknowledge the personal in the problem.
The solution is nicely complicated, but is played out for us in clear steps. The final act takes place in a flooded village when the water rises to reclaim the fens on a temporary basis.
I thoroughly enjoy this every time, despite knowing the ins and outs of the solution.

Book: 94
Title: In Cold Blood
Author: Adam Croft
Published: 2021
Rating: ***
Why: Fits a TIOLI challenge
Challenge: hmm.
TIOLI Challenge: #7. Read a book that links to the PDG's Centenary

The best thing about this, for me, is the setting. I don't live too far from Rutland and know Harringworth Viaduct (under which our corpse is found) well enough. So when Caroline & Dex are heading out on the roads, I have a feel for where they are and where they're going. Fineshade woods, which features, was one of the protected nesting sites for the Red kites when they were reintroduced. In this we have a corpse found under the viaduct, it's pretty clear who it is fairly quickly, as a missing person report has been phoned in. Martin seems to have no enemies, at first glance, but he turns out to be no great loss to the world, although who and how takes longer to come out. It gets complicated with a suspicious accidental death 15 years ago and a potential cover up is mooted.
The crime itself is complimented by the lives of the team. Caroline's health and resulting head bending are present but not overpowering. This time we have Aiden and Sara and their respective love lives (or lack thereof).
My reviews of the first two in the series complained about the balance between the professional and personal, either I was in a better mood or this was a better balance. I feel I enjoyed this more.

>124 Helenliz: I love reading mysteries set in places I know.

Book: 95
Title: The Emperor's Babe
Author: Bernadine Evaristo
Published: 2002
Rating: ***
Why: Started it previously, wanted to get back to it.
Challenge: woman author, audio
TIOLI Challenge: #10: Read a 'leftover' book that you've been planning/intending to read since Jan 1, 2024

I listened to this. The text is presented as verse, which wasn't immediately apparent in the listening to it, there are clear sections of poetry in here, but the verse nature of the entire piece was not clear. I think that is a good thing.
Zuleika, known as Zeeks, is a London girl, this London being 3rd Century Roman London. The child of Nubian immigrants she grows up with a father making sweets and making his way to owning a shop and putting a roof over the family's head. Zeeks and her bestie, Alba, roam the streets getting into all sorts of scrapes. Until Zeeks is married off to Felix, an overly large man with an equally large ego and at least 3 times her age. Which makes him middle aged rather than actually old, but when you're 11 mid 30s is ancient. She Finds herself schooled in how to behave in her new position, when her exoticism is clearly part of the attraction.
We view her life from the inside of what turns into a gilded cage, she has 2 Scottish slave girls as attendants and she treats them, according to the morals of the day, well. The London she views is written using modern street names and boroughs, and using contemporary designer names. There would, no doubt, have been similar in Roman times, the mash up of old and new being an interesting treatment of the past. If you want you historical fiction to be historically accurate, maybe give this a miss, but if what you want is a feeling and spirit, this captures the mood in a very relatable way. In her last summer, aged just 18, she meets and has an affair with the Emperor, as he passes through London on his way to defeat the Scottish barbarians. Her life falls apart when he fails in this endeavour. It's troubling in some ways, marriage and sex at 11 is particularly uncomfortable reading, the slaves holding and orgies are just so different from modern experience that it's hard to know what to make of them. Zeeks comes across as a girl trying to navigate her way through a jungle without a map, doing what seems right at the time and then dealing with the consequences of her own and pother people's decisions, She never seems to be in control of her own fate until the very end, when she is out of choices.
It's inventive and has loads of fun elements, but the whole is somewhat unsettling. There are clear parallels with a modern experience of someone female and not necessarily of the majority. She's saucy, spicy and fun to spend time with, it's quite a ride.

Book: 96
Title: Poyums
Author: Len Pennie
Published: 2024
Rating: ****
Why: Wanted something short to fit into my last commute for the year
Challenge: new author woman author, audio
TIOLI Challenge: #4: Read a book for the Zodiac Challenge (Sagittarius: Rolling Half and Half (A-M first name/N-Z last name)

Well this is not cheery and light, be prepared to be shocked, saddened, upset, heart sore and very very angry. With just a few chinks of light and hope to leaven the darkness.
Len Pennie writes poetry about her life experience in her Scots dialect and reads her work herself. Sometimes I didn't understand every word of the more heavy dialect poems, but I caught the sense if not the meaning. She has a fine command of words, there are some quite audacious lines in here, anyone who can rhyme collegiate with idiot (eejit) and make it work convincingly (which she does) deserves bouquets of flowers thrown at their feet. There were a few that particularly caught my ear. The one casting her not as some of Shakespeare's heroines was particularly convincing. The two where life was compared to a book or to a library were most ear catching and I'd like to read those again myself, the analogy worked particularly well and I think they would both stand up to more intense study. In a few there is a sense that love is out there, they are the lighter spots that throw the darker experiences into greater contrast. This could be upsetting to some. I ended up both angry and glad that I've escaped from life more lightly.
I hope that the author continues to write about her life and experiences, as they are searing in their honestly, I just hope beyond hope that life provides lighter subjects for her to turn her exquisite wordplay upon.

>126 Helenliz: I'm adding poyums to my wish list. I think I have seen the author on instagram and was impressed.

Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!

>127 MissBrangwen: Enjoy is the wrong word. I hope you find them interesting.

>128 SandDune: Thanks Rhian! The same to you and all the family SandDune.

A couple of seasonal reads.
Book: 97
Title: A Child's Christmas in Wales
Author: Dylan Thomas
Published: 1954
Rating: ****
Why: Amber reads it each year. I can see why
Challenge: new author
TIOLI Challenge: #5: Read a book in honor of my recently deceased father, Edward (Ed

The first of my Christmas reads. This is a short read where the narrator is remembering childhood Christmases. The sense that this is not a specific individual Christmas is in the first paragraph, where he can't remember if it snowed for 6 days when he was 12 or 12 days when he was 6. It's that amalgam of many Christmases, where the events are all along the same lines, but the details may spring from different years. There's snow, Carols jolly Uncles and Auntie Hannah on the booze - kids always remember things that their elders might rather they did not. It's full or potentially over elaborate adjective use, but it works.
The illustrations in this edition are delicately done.

Book: 98
Title: Last Night at the Lobster
Author: Stewart O'Nan
Published: 2007
Rating: *****
Why: Seasonal re-read
Challenge: hmmm.
TIOLI Challenge: #3: Inspired by Anita: 3 letters from the word “December” are in the title

This is well nigh perfect. It tells of the last shift at the Red Lobster, a chain restaurant that is shutting down on the 20th December. Manny, as the manager, has to deal with a short & disgruntled staff, a snow storm and his own personal life, which is a bit of a mess. In love with a waitress, Jacquie, his girlfriends, Deena is pregnant and he has no idea what to get her for Christmas. If you want a plot driven book, then this is probably not for you, there isn't a lot of plot. What it is instead is a character study, what makes people tick, why the continue to care (or not) when they are on the verge of losing their job.
It put me in mind of the writing by Claire Keegan, that same lack of action, the same focus on the small details of a life. Slightly less sparse and pared down, this is by no means a bloated book in need of an editor. It makes for a very good read.
Re-read. This is just as engaging on a second reading as it was the first.

Book: 99
Title: Small Things Like These
Author: Claire Keegan
Published: 2021
Rating: *****
Why: Seasonal re-read
Challenge: woman author
TIOLI Challenge: #6: Read a book whose title completes the sentence "All I want for Christmas is...

This is a short novella, at just over 100 pages, but it packs a punch.
Bill Furlong is living in Ireland in the mid 80s and times are hard. He's the local coal merchant and so has a reliable, steady income and is doing OK for his wife and 5 girls. But he is also a good man, he puts aside a bag of logs for the young woman opposite his yard because she provided him a kettle of water to unfreeze the padlock on morning in the run up to Christmas. Well that's the reason, but not why he did it - he's a good man. He had an odd start in life, being the child of a single mother who was working as a servant at the time. Mrs Wilson did not turn his mother off and so the young Bill grew up in a secure environment, supported by Mrs Wilson, but subject to the sticks & stones of childhood taunts, nonetheless.
This is set in the few days in the run up to Christmas and it's a hard winter. The story revolves around a visit to deliver coal to the convent and what he discovers when he arrives earlier than expected. To say more would be too revealing and this is one you need to find for yourself. The final action is startling because it is the action of a good man, but it is also a very brave move. And it is not going to be without repercussions - and yet how could he not do it?
There isn't a spare word in here, it is all very restrained and in keeping with Bill, nothing is brash or showy about him and yet he makes a positive difference to those around him. He is never actually described, but he doesn't need to be. This is genuinely excellent, The first time, I read it in one sitting and was just not going to put it down. This time I took some time over it and it still rates a 6 out of 5 star rating.

Book: 100
Title: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Author: Robert L May
Published: 1939
Rating: ****
Why: Because.
Challenge: hmm.
TIOLI Challenge: #13: Read a book about something magic

What Can I say. Because traditions matter.

Happy Christmas all. If you celebrate, I hope you have a bundle of fun. If you need some space, I hope you find that too.

Happy Christmas, Helen!

Yes, I do know that the year still has 4 days left to go, but I have no chance of finishing David Copperfield in that tome, so I'm going to finish up the year now.

Read: 13 (100)
F/M: 9/4 (61/34)

Audio: 3 (39)
Paper: 10 (61)

Owned: 10 (32)
Library: 3 (64)

New authors: 5 (54)
New books: 9 (91)
Re-reads: 4 (9)

December's reads
88. The Beckoning Lady, Margery Allingham, ***
89. Dance by the Canal, Kerstin Hensel, ***
90. Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley, ****
91. The Trick to Time, Kit de Waal, ****1/2
92. The Djinn waits a Hundred Years, Shubnum Khan, ***
93. The Nine Tailors, Dorothy L Sayers, ****
94. In Cold Blood, Adam Croft, ***
95. The Emperor's Babe, Bernadine Evaristo, ***
96. Poyums, Len Pennie, ****
97. A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas, ****
98. Last NIght at the Lobster, Stewart O'Nan, *****
99. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan, *****
100. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Robert L May, ****

Well I wasn't expecting 100 in the year. That was rather bumped up by a few short books in December, but I'll take it.
61 books by women keeps me up around the 2/3rds that I've manged in past years.
54 books by new authors is quite impressive.
In terms of the books in translation, that's just under one a month. Interesting that 3 were from middle English. Could do better here.
Non-fiction at 17 is more than anticipated. I like non-fiction, one to keep up with.
Finished my Bingocard in good time.
Only 5 ticked off the Heyer read, leaving 8 to do. hmm, should be doable.
In terms of CATs 21 out of 24 isn't a bad ratio. This may change next year, with ColourCAT coming back.

Next year:
Well I seem to have signed myself up for a year long read of Anthony Powell's series A Dance to the Music of Time, which might be over committing myself. I'm also starting the year with David Copperfield, in the basis that 2 weeks off means I should at least have to break the back of it and not be reading it until March! We will see on both of those.
I want to try and finish the Ruth Galloway books and Albert Campion series. they have 1 and 5 left, so should be doable. Heyer with 8 may trickle into 2026 if I don't get my skates on.
I'm also going to track my reading by non-white authors. In the same way that tracking my reading by women authors has increased and then maintained that level, I'm hoping to diversify my reading, or at least find out how diverse it already is by tracking that as a category.
So, on to 2025. If you've not found me, I am here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/366348

Congratulations on 100 in 2024. Those short books really bump up the numbers nicely.

It's been fun sharing your reading and I'm looking forward to sharing in 2025 too! Happy New Year!