September Reading Wrap-Up 2: Publishing Soon

 In addition to the books I posted about yesterday, I read a few books that will be published very soon. Publishers and publication dates may be different in your neck of the woods.

One Day a Cat Came to Me: Timeless Zen Wisdom from a Cat and His Monk by Bokyeong Sunim with Jinwoo Park (Translator)

to be published on October 15, 2026 by Serpent's Tail/Viper/Profile Books

ISBN 9781806491568

This was a mixed bag for me. The first half of the book was a bit annoying, to be honest. The second half of the book was better and I actually enjoyed it. The author, a Buddhist monk, has returned to a mountain temple after living and working in Seoul for years. Soon after his return, a cat appears and he begins to care for this being, explaining that it's usually not the thing for monks to have pets because personal property isn't allowed (although this monk seems to go shopping fairly frequently). He explains that he decided to write about his experiences with this cat, which he proceeds to do, but is all over the place, sometimes contradicting himself. For example, he says that the only cats he was familiar with growing up in a rural/farming community were cats running around catching mice. When he observes the cat at the temple, he says he knows nothing about cats, even going so far as to carefully explain, as if to a child, that when a cat licks his/her fur, it's called 'grooming.' He also gets angry at the cat for killing mice and bringing these dead creatures to the temple, which, if his story about cats in his childhood was true, shouldn't be an issue, since he would have been aware that this is what cats do. He doesn't like the cat killing anything but he feeds him store-bought cat food which would contain animal products. He gets angry at the cat for shedding. He refers to the cat as 'it' most of the time, but sometimes as 'he.' I don't know anything about Korean grammar, so it could be that this has something to do with the language in which the book was written, but I wasn't keen on the use of 'it.' This part of the book just didn't work for me. Much of it felt jarring. But the second half was more about Buddhist teachings with his relationship with and observations of the cat being illustrative. I settled in and enjoyed this part of the book. So a mixed experience with this one. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy.

Murder Most Proper by Josie Lloyd

to be published on October 8, 2026 by HQ

ISBN 9780008550806

Alice Beeton runs the Household Management Agency, which was, at least in part, inspired by her distant relation Mrs Beeton of Mrs Beeton's Household Management fame. Alice lives with her dog, Agatha, and many mystery novels. Her best friend, Jinx, is also her business partner. Alice and Jinx are very different sorts of people, but they've been friends since they were in school together and have remained close. As this book opens, Jinx is in another relationship that Alice isn't too sure about, since Jinx has a habit of falling in love with men who aren't what they seem. Could this time be different, Alice wonders. Since Jinx has moved in with Guy, she hasn't been around at the agency and others have had to pick up the slack. All of Jinx's attention is taken up with Guy and the planned renovations to the big old house they've just moved into. They're going to turn it into an exclusive club and Jinx wants Alice to help her. Alice goes there for the weekend, meets and befriends Guy's sister, and then gets cajoled into helping with a big treasure hunt/party weekend which is only a few weeks away. Then weird stuff starts happening--are there reasonable explanations for these occurrences or is something more sinister going on? Alice, with the help of Agatha and her friends from London, is going to poke around until she finds out.

Like the first book in the series, this was a delight to read. I quite enjoy Alice and Agatha as characters. You don't need to have read the first book to read this one (although that is also a fun read). The characters--both primary and supporting--are very well done. I like the mix of different ages in both the recurring characters and the book-specific ones. The setting works well--the old country house but updated. In both characters and setting we see the tensions between old ways and new and embracing the present or focusing on nostalgia. There's also an interesting undercurrent for me about the pull between history and imagined history. But the main thing is the mystery, which kept me turning the pages. It was unique, very well constructed, and with a satisfying conclusion. I also enjoyed the seasonal aspect here, with the story unfolding primarily in the autumn, and ending at Christmastime. I do love a good seasonal cozy mystery and this one hit all the right notes for me. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Death on Holly Island by F. L. Everett

to be published on October 8, 2026 by Random House UK

ISBN 9781804959541

A few days after Christmas and podcaster Jenna is on a ferry. Her destination is a Scottish island where the only inhabitants are the people staying at the hotel--the only building on the island. Jenna is nervous for a couple of reasons--she's going to see her old flame for the first time in a decade and she has a chance to further her career at the Twixtmas Crime Writers Festival. She's making plans about interviews and such when she learns that she's on the last sailing of the day. It's a stormy night and the rest of the crossings have been cancelled. It's not clear that all the authors have made it and who knows whether the attendees will even be able to get there. Jenna discovers that 6 authors have made it and hopes to interview them. But everyone is cold and hungry and they settle in to wait out the storm. By the next morning, there's one author less as the obnoxious 'star' author is fund dead with a skewer sticking out of himself. Attached to the skewer is a note advising people that the clue is in chapter 1. What does this mean? Which chapter 1? And since the storm continues, no ferries are sailing, and the causeway to a larger inhabited island is flooded, no one can come or go, so the killer must be one of them. The hunt for a murderer is on, but will the truth be discovered before there's another death?

This is an excellent cozy mystery. I was hooked from the start and I loved it more as I read on. The focus on the various chapter ones was so well done--each one is part of this book in all the different styles and subgenres each of the author characters wrote in. The setting and atmosphere were pitch perfect and I loved that the story takes place during Twixtmas--a nice twist on the holiday mystery. The characters were well drawn and we learn about their back stories in the course of the investigation and questions about how their lives fit into each chapter one. Each character also has to come to grips with some hard truths they've been avoiding and an epilogue gives a brief summary of what happened to each in the year following the murder. The solution was quite satisfying, not in terms of whodunnit, but because of the reasons given and the clues offered in the relevant chapter one. This is definitely a top-tier cozy for me. I think it was skillfully imagined and constructed, with a variety of flawed, interesting, troubled characters, an excellent seasonal setting, and just the right pacing. It's very well written, too. Highly recommend if you're a fan of cozy mysteries--especially cozies set during the festive season.

So this wraps up my thoughts about the books I read in September. I've got a couple of good books on the go to begin October and plenty more that I'm looking forward to getting into--never enough time. Here's to some excellent reading in October!

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September Reading Wrap-Up 1

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, September was a weird reading month for me. I ended up starting and not liking more books than I finished at first. Or I started and decided that it wasn't the right book for the moment. But eventually, I got my mojo back. Here are the books I ended up reading.

Penguin Bloom: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive (borrowed from a friend)

There's a funny story associated with this book. I was sitting with a friend, waiting for Bill to be finished with an appointment so we could all go to breakfast at a local cafe. Friend started talking about how some books just appear in your life and turn out to be meaningful. He went into the glove box, pulled out this book, handed it to me, and said it's a really good book and I should read it. He also said he had no idea where it came from or how he happened to have it. It was just there in his house. I read the blurb on the back and it did sound good so I said I'd give it a go. I also mentioned that Bill might like it. When Bill returned, we showed him the book. It was then that the mystery was solved. Bill said, 'I read it already. I used to have it.' I had no idea it was ever in our home. I do recall him reading a book about a bird, and me saying I didn't want to read it. That was a few years back, so what must've happened was that Bill put it with the books to donate. Friend, who is also friends with a couple who used to be very involved with the Animals in Need organization, would take our things to be donated to them and they would bring them to the charity shop in Donegal town. This book never made it there, apparently.

So what's the book about? Sam Bloom and her husband, Cameron, were quite outdoorsy and liked to travel. Some of the travel was curtailed a bit when they started having kids--three sons--but they started travelling again when the kids were old enough. One one trip, Sam fell from a tower while they were sightseeing. It was a catastrophic fall that almost killed her and did leave her paralyzed. When she returned home, she was depressed and angry. She loved her family deeply but could not get past the pain and anger. And then they rescued an injured magpie and things began to change for the entire family. They named the bird Penguin. They knew he needed to be free if he recovered so they did create space for that, but Penguin seems to have a sense of where his home is. The book tells this story through words and photos and contains an afterword by Sam. She is a straight talker--no platitudes or feel good emotions from her--she's brutally honest about the fact that she's still very angry about what happened and she has not come to terms with it. She has improved and can better handle her situation, but she will always be angry at what she lost. She wants others in similar situations to know that this is OK and she provides advice and information for people. It is a good book that was apparently made into a movie a few years ago.

The Butterfly Season: On Beginnings, Endings, and the Life in Between by Lea Korsgaard, translated by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg (borrowed from the library)

On the first day of the year, the author decides that she will go in search of all the butterfly species that can be found in Denmark. She doesn't really know why she has this sudden need to find these butterflies, but there it is. She never paid much attention to them before. It becomes something of a passion/obsession, much to the amusement, and sometimes annoyance, of her family to participated in her quest occasionally. She read and researched butterflies, especially those in Denmark. She contacted experts. She read about butterflies in folklore, myth, philosophy, and in personal stories. She makes a plan about which butterflies she can see where and when and prepares to travel to various places. The book is about all of these things--butterfly watching culture in the present and in the past, her own experiences, how she learned how to do this, how she felt doing it, and what she learned from this project. I did shake my head at the people who claim to love butterflies, but, when they find what they're looking for, kill it and put it under glass like a trophy. I guess it's not that different from people who have heads of dead animals on their walls. I knew that people did this with butterflies, but it just really stuck out in the context of this book. I should hasten to add that the author did not do this. She took photographs and also included drawings of the butterflies. I enjoyed this book. I'm always interested in stories about people who have great passions in their lives--what they love, why they love it, how they came to realize that they had this passion. There is some of the 'why' in this book, but the author does just roll with it without understanding why at first and doesn't fully understand this even at the end of the butterfly season she writes about. I should say that the US version has a different cover and subtitle.

Wylder's Hand by J. Sheridan le Fanu (personal copy)

In the past few years, I've discovered that I quite like the work of this author. I'd read a few novels before this one and a couple novella and short stories. I hadn't heard of this one until Bill came across it while looking for something else. It sounded good, so we bought it. It was good! It's a classic crime novel, but doesn't really follow the usual formula. In some ways, it was kind of obvious, but in others, not so much. The story revolves around a marriage that neither the prospective bride nor groom really wants to go through with. They're some kind of cousins--there are a lot of cousins running around this book--and the whole point of the marriage is to unite two sides of a feuding family and the fortune that's involved. The wedding day is quickly approaching when the groom disappears. Then letters start to appear with instructions to his lawyer. He keeps postponing the date of his return. The wedding day comes and the wedding day goes. Where is he? And what about the newcomer who takes quite an interest in the bride-to-be? Of course there are other storylines feeding into this one. I was going to say 'secondary storylines' but I don't think that would be accurate. Unlike some Victorian novels, each of these threads is central to the main plot throughout and not running on parallel tracks until they all meet at the end. I had a great time with this book and I'll be reading more le Fanu for sure.

And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems by Brian Bilston (BorrowBox audiobook)

I was in the mood for a little humor so I borrowed this audiobook. I'd listened to it when it first came out a few years ago and loved it, so I figured I'd enjoy listening to it again. I did. I like his approach to poetry and his sense of humor. I also like his approach to the holiday season. He's British, so some of the poems contain specifically British Christmas things, like The King's Speech. No matter. It's a fun collection.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (personal copy)

Sticking with the humor, I picked up this book that I found in a charity shop a couple of months ago. I started off laughing so much tears came to my eyes. First published in 1889, the book opens with three guys sitting in the room of a boarding house where one of them lives. Two are talking about their ailments and the third is looking at a circular about liver pills and what symptoms to look out for. With a creeping sense of horror, he reads on and becomes quite sure that he has serious liver problems. He has some experience with this kind of thing and proceeds to tell the story of how he went to the British Museum reading room once to look something up. As he was closing the book he needed, he happened to glance at an entry for typhoid fever and understood that he had this disease. He then decided to start at the beginning and go through the alphabet. By the time he was done, he knew he was a walking specimen of disease and sickness because the only thing he didn't have was housemaid's knee. He felt a bit put out by the fact that he didn't have housemaid's knee, but it couldn't be helped. I read these pages aloud to Bill who also laughed, but not quite as hard as I did. It just reminded me of today when people google things and quickly become convinced that they are very ill. As it happens, when Bill would listen to the Red Sox games online, one of the ads was for a medication and they'd say to ask your doctor about it. They didn't even say what it's for, just urged people to ask the doctor. From 1889 to today, not much has changed in this regard. There were a few more passages in the book that made me laugh like that and that I read aloud to Bill. There were other parts that were amusing. Anyway, after talking over their ailments, the guys decide to take a boat up the Thames to restore their health and this short novel is an account of that trip and also the memories it invokes. A couple of the guys are based on friends and acquaintances of the author. Needless to say, they're inept and often foolish, which is where the humor lies. This is a light, fun, and sometimes silly book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss, and German Holiday Stories of All Time by various authors and translators (BorrowBox e-book)

I saw this when scrolling through the offerings on BorrowBox. It was available so I borrowed it. I've read Christmas stories from various countries over the past several years and it's always interesting to see what they're like. They're a fun window into the various cultures. The stories in this book range from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s, so there's a good century and a half here. I quite enjoyed this book. The stories were quite varied in tone and there was a good mix of emotions in them. 

Blind Corners By Stefania Lucchetti (NetGalley book)

I wrote about this excelent book in my last post. 

I also read a few books that will be published quite soon, but in order to keep this post to a reasonable length, I'll post those tomorrow.

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Blind Corners by Stefania Lucchetti

 Blind Corners by Stefania Lucchetti
published on September 25, 2026 by Antepost

ISBN 9791282522106

Cover art: Portrait by Italian painter Francesca Draetta (2026

In her introduction to this powerful poetry collection, Stefania Lucchetti writes that she's interested in 'the spaces in between.' This collection shows readers what she means by this. The title is apt because in each poem, I got the sense of a woman turning corners in her life and in so doing, discovering things that were so close and yet unseen until that moment. Of course she had to be ready to go around those blind corners and be open to what she discovered there. So many people prefer to stay where they're comfortable, even if it's painful and this is a part of the poems too. Each one is a journey that explores experiences of love and loss, denial and self-awareness, fear and courage, submission and agency, self-doubt and self-confidence, and more. I got goosebumps several times when reading these poems and I re-read many of them. This is a book that can be read over and over, providing new insights and food for thought on each reading. I loved it.

Also in the introduction, Lucchetti explains that she writes in both Italian and English, but one is not a translation of the other. The words and the poems they create come to her in both languages, almost simultaneously, she writes. I find this fascinating. I have no knowledge of Italian, but I'm sure that for people who are bilingual in that language and English will find even more to engage with when reading this book. This is the first work by this writer that I've read and it won't be the last. I will now seek out more. I highly recommend this poetry collection. Some of these poems will stay with me for a long time and I will be reading it again. 

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Weird Start to the Month

 It's been a weird start to September. I usually post a book report around this time, but even my reading habits have been weird so far. I've been in a strange book mood and I've DNFed more books than I've read. Some of these were from the wee free library, some from charity shops, and some from the library. Then I picked up a lesser known Victorian classic and happily settled in. I have read a few books so far this month, but I think I'll save the reviews until the end of the month and do them all together. We had a slight mishap last week that was nothing serious, but has left me with back pain that is intense at times. Thankfully I can sleep and sit without the intense pain, but standing and completing some tasks take more time than usual.

A friend is stopping at the library for us today when she's in the area (it's in a different town), and she'll return books and pick up the ones waiting there for us, which is very kind. The same friend and neighbor came over to redo the hydrangea mirror frame. She went and found the deeply colored hydrangeas to cut because she knows they're my favorites. She used to live here and she created the frame a couple of years ago. I loved it then so when she was moving out in advance of our moving in, I asked her if the hydrangeas could stay since the mirror was staying. They were dry by then and a bit faded from their original color, but after the room was painted she put them back and said in the autumn she'd replace them. And so she has. I adore it and it makes me happy every time I look at it. I love, love, love those colors, which are deeper, richer, and more jewel toned in real life, as you can see from the close-up below.

Also making me happy is the book mail that came this week.

A few months ago, I found out that this book would be published on September 3. On that date, Bill ordered it--A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher. I expect this will send me looking for more books to read.

I'm eager to get into it, but it's quite a chunky hardback and Finn is coming to stay with us in a few days. This isn't a book that I'd like to be holding in awkward positions while he's sleeping on my lap, especially with my back the way it is, and I don't want to rush through it to finish before he comes, so I will continue being patient and look forward to reading it soon. 

I also got this one--Devils (aka Demons, or The Possessed) by Fyodor Dostoevsky:

I quite like the Wordsworth Classics as their supporting material is usually very informative. This isn't a Dostoevsky book I'd heard of until I read about it somewhere several months ago. Some people consider it his best work. I've read several of his novels, most recently The Idiot at the beginning of this year, and I've liked all of them, so I have high hopes for this one.

Finally, I got this book today--Felix Holt, The Radical by George Eliot. 

I think I'll be starting this one today. It wasn't even on my radar until last week when Bill was about to buy a book for himself from an eBay shop that he's bought from before. He said that he could get free shipping on a second book, so I might as well look through the shop listings to see if there was anything I was interested in. Not one to turn down an invitation like that, I went clicking around and came across this book. I'd heard of it but the title never stuck in my mind. George Eliot has been a mixed experience for me. I've liked some of her short stories and Middlemarch is great. I loathed Mill on the Floss. A few months ago I picked up Daniel Deronda in a funky little used bookshop in a tiny village near where we used to live but it promptly got packed away and I haven't read it yet. Anyway, my classics kick, which started 5 or 6 years ago, shows every sign of hanging around. I am not complaining. 😀

I hope things are good in your world and that whatever you like to read, you've got lots of it!

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Second Half of August Book Report

 Hello September! How happy I am that the -ber months have arrived!😁🎉🎉🎉New month, more books, and it's time to post about the books I read in the second half of August. My thoughts on the books I read in the first half of the month are here. 

Children of the Third Reich: Three Pasts, Three Futures by Catrine Clay (borrowed from the library)

In this book, the author, who formerly worked for the BBC, is focused on three children who were born in Nazi Germany or whose birth circumstances were what they were because of the Third Reich. Their situations were wildly different and each illustrates different impacts of tis terrible time in history. Renate was born in one of Himmler's 'lebensborn' homes, set up to encourage women to have children for the fatherland. In order to keep the births coming, SS officers in particular were encouraged to 'mate' with many women, but only those deemed acceptable. When Renate's mother met a handsome SS officer, who was quite high up in the system (and was later executed for war crimes), she fell head over heels in love with the guy and they started an affair. He was already married so that was never an option, but she loved him until her dying day, she said, even after she knew what he'd done and she never married. Renate never met her father, but her situation was unusual in that after the war her mother came to claim her from the woman who had been caring for her. 

Joe's parents lived in a Warsaw ghetto and were eventually shipped to a concentration camp. It's not a spoiler to say that, miraculously, they survived. If they hadn't, Joe wouldn't have existed. He was born in a displaced persons camp after the war.

Dan's Jewish parents left Germany in 1933-- seeing what was coming they felt it best to get out while they could. They went to what was then Palestine and that's where he was born. Each of these kids had a different relationship to the Third Reich and their family histories impacted them in different ways. Catrine Clay writes about each person's history, how they coped with their family dynamics and dysfunctions as a result of that history, and where they are now. I was particularly interested in this book because my father was the child of an SS officer who experienced the war as a child and continued to carry that trauma with him. Because of the silence about this, his trauma--at least when I knew him--was unexamined and passed on and had a big impact on my own life. This is something I continue to try to understand in ever deeper ways. For me the best thing to do was to remove myself from the relationship with both parents (my mother had her own unhealed trauma to pass on), so I don't know whether he finally came to a place of peace before he died. I hope so. This book doesn't really address the specific sort of situation I am most interested in, but it's an excellent and informative book nonetheless. It's an important topic in many ways and sadly more relevant than ever.

The Nuremberg Women: At the Trail That Brought the Nazis to Justice by Natalie Livingstone (borrowed from the library)

This is another fascinating book, which tells the story of the Nuremberg trials from the perspectives of 8 women who were involved in various ways. Some were journalists from various places--the UK, US, and Germany. One woman was a survivor of concentration camps. One managed a sort of boarding house where various witnesses and others stayed during the trial. One was an artist, another a Russian interpreter. Some of the women are well known (Rebecca West, for example) and some are not.  Each of these women was involved in different ways and interpreted things from their own unique perspectives. It's a fascinating book, which offers insight into both the trial and the lives of women from very different backgrounds. The book comprises two sections. The first one introduces readers to each woman and describes their histories, how they ended up at Nuremberg, and what they experienced there. The second section tells readers what they did after the trial and how it impacted them. Each woman has her own chapter in each section, which makes it highly readable. I was quite interested in the women's stories even beyond their experiences at the trial. Great book! Bill is reading it now and he's liking it too.

In the Kitchen: Essays on Food and Life--various authors (borrowed from the library)

I'm not seeing an editor's name anywhere on this book, which is a collection of essays about various aspects of food. It's an interesting book which, to be honest, I wasn't sure I'd continue reading after the first essay. There was nothing wrong with the first essay, it was simply not my thing. It's a unique structure which is supposed to be memoir-ish, I guess, organized around the author's memories of and history with cookers (ovens). The essay didn't work for me, partly because when she stuck the memoir-ish bits in, they seemed superficial and things jumped forward but without context other than what she thought of the cooker. Once I'd read that I seriously considered putting the book aside but decided to read another essay. They got better as the book went on and I think I liked the final one in the collection most of all. The essays range across various topics and other than that first one, I enjoyed them.

I read a few books that will be published soon. Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and the authors for digital review copies of these titles.

Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson 

to be published on September 10, 2026 by Random House UK

ISBN 9781529937824

It's 1949 and in London, Harry Flynn is sitting on a park bench. A journalist before the war, he's been drifting since he returned. Today we'd say he was suffering from PTSD due to his experience not as a soldier but as a journalist who was taken as a POW in Asia. He tried at first to settle into life again, thinking that marriage and possibly children would help him heal. That didn't work out and he has just sort of meandered through his life ever since. As he sits on the park bench, the guy who encouraged him to go to Asia to cover the war appears and is surprised to see him--since Flynn was considered missing, presumed dead, this is understandable. This guy offers him a job as a poetry judge for the Festival of Britain, to be held in 1951. Flynn takes the job. The story then jumps to 1951 and the ever more frantic preparations for the festival. Harry's jobs have multiplied well beyond being a poetry judge and as more and more ideas are tossed out there, his responsibilities grow. New people appear in the office. He is still puzzled by some things and misses nonverbal cues when communicating with people, but he's a little less aloof now and has even developed some tentative friendships. Soon though, weird things start happening and he finds himself in the middle of a mystery. Plot ensues.

I love Kate Atkinson, so I was thrilled to read this book. It did not disappoint. It's a page turner both for the development of the mystery and for character development. It's actually a funny book--I laughed at various times throughout. In an author's note at the end, Atkinson described how, when doing research for the book, she realized that it was meant to be a humorous book and so she decided not to include a lot of gruesome details of what a POW's experience in Asia was like. It's there, but just enough to help readers understand what makes Flynn who he is. The Festival of Britain is a historical event, but details are fictionalized here. It's a Kate Atkinson book, so of course the writing is excellent, the characters are well developed, and the historical setting is interesting. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

The Agatha Christie Cure: What Reading the Queen of Crime Taught Me About Life by Cathy Rentzenbrink

to be published on September 10, 2026 by Canongate Books

ISBN 9781837262885

The book opens on the night before Christmas Eve, with the author sitting on her couch feeling deeply depressed and anxious--familiar feelings exacerbated by the season, which is not her favorite, and her life circumstances. Her marriage is crumbling but she's not sure if she should try to hold it together or let it go. She's struggling with maternal ambivalence--how does she meet her son's special needs while still meeting her own? How much of herself is she 'supposed' to give up? How has she gotten here? As she sits with these kinds of thoughts running through her mind, her eyes wander across her bookcase and she thinks about her Agatha Christie collection of books, mugs, tote bags, puzzles, etc. This sparks an idea. She'll read all of Christie's novels in publication order. It's just the sort of project she needs. And so, she begins, finding insight and inspiration in Christie's work and her life.

This is a memoir as well as an exploration of Christie's life and work. While there is necessarily some speculation about Christie's thoughts, in an author's note at the end, Rentzenbrink assures readers that when it comes to her own life, what she's written is the truth as she sees it. She also points out that there are stories that are not hers to tell and that truth can sometimes be subjective. There were several aspects of this book that I loved. First of all was simply the ways in which the author engaged with the novels and described her epiphanies about what Christie might have been trying to do in them--and how she sometimes went back to a novel as new thoughts occurred to her. I also enjoyed the conversations Rentzenbrink had with her son about the books and Agatha Christie and how sometimes his observations led to her gaining new insights. This all made me want to go re-read some of the novels, including the Mary Westmacott titles. Another aspect of the book that had me turning pages was the evolution of the author's relationships with others and with herself. She grows and changes throughout the book, learning things about herself in the process. Her increased confidence and self-awareness was good to read about and created a hopeful feeling.

Rentzenbrink is an excellent writer so I was happy to go along for the ride. I do think one should be at least somewhat familiar with Christie's work, even if in a general way, before reading this book. There are spoilers sprinkled throughout and while major spoilers, such as the solutions to the mysteries, are flagged ahead of time, others are not. As I said above, I love reading books about books and reading and one thing I liked about this book was the fact that the books were by one author. The deep interaction between the current author and the previous author was fascinating to read about. I also found the ways in which Rentzenbrink connected the novels to her own life and to the circumstances happening in Christie's life at the time she was writing them quite compelling. There was just so much to love about this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

The Winter Guest by Sarah Moss

to be published on October 1, 2026 by Pan Macmillan

ISBN 9781037412172

It's Christmastime in the west of Ireland. The snow is falling--so much so that there's a status red weather warning. People are staying home. But in a hotel, there are two guests. One is an elderly widow named Janice, there from England, who is luxuriating in long baths with good books. The other guest is Jerry, who is returning to his homeplace to see his mother, who doesn't have long to live. As the snow falls outside, the two have dinner together. No one else is there except Ryan, the server, and Donal, the cook. Early in the evening, the conversation takes a strange turn when one asks the other, 'What's the worst thing you've ever done?' Janice goes first. Things go on from there.

I loved this novella. I'm a big fan of Sarah Moss and this book did not disappoint. The writing is, as always, excellent. Moss is so good at creating atmosphere--there's a scene where Janice is telling her story and eating oysters and other shellfish that is so well done I actually stopped to admire it as I was reading. The pace is just right. It's a short book, but there's a lot in it and now that I've finished it, I think it's a book that's definitely worth a reread. Certain kinds of mysteries set at Christmas are always favorites for me and this one is now among them. Highly recommend.

There you have it--the books I read in the second half of August. I hope you had a great reading month and will have an excellent bookish September!

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Mid-Month Book Report: August

 As we fly through August, I'm happy to say I've had good reading material to accompany me. Here's what I've read so far.

Worlds Apart by Julia Franck translated by Imogen Taylor (borrowed from the library)

I read about this book somewhere and had the impression that it's a memoir. It's autofiction. I must say that while I thought it was a good book, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would, possibly because it's not what I was expecting. It was a good read in spite of that. The novel is based on the author's life, describing her childhood and the beginning of her young adulthood with her eccentric, probably mentally ill, mother. Franck was born in what was East Berlin, but moved to West Berlin with her mother and her many siblings. There were many different fathers of these children but only the father of her oldest sister was involved in any way. They lived in a ramshackle farmhouse and there was very little money. Her mother was an actress in the theater, but didn't seem to have much work. She behaved in bizarre ways and the kids found it difficult to have friends because when other parents found out about the filthy conditions in the house, they wouldn't let their kids go there to play. The author decided she wanted out and was able to go to boarding school, leaving her twin behind. Her life changed, of course, but these changes did not come easily. The book is well-written, but does switch perspective. The text is written in the first person, but with third person episodes scattered throughout. These changes come suddenly, so there is a lot of 'I did' and 'I said' and then things switch to 'the girl did' and 'the girl said.' It wasn't clear to me why these shifts occurred, but maybe I just wasn't reading closely enough. The ending was quite abrupt and felt like it wasn't an ending at all, but perhaps that makes sense given the autofictional nature of the book. I found it unsatisfying. As you can tell, I was ambivalent about this book. I found much of it gripping. Overall I thought it was a good read. But I didn't love it and there were aspects of it I found vaguely annoying.

Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life by Sharon Blackie (borrowed from the library)

I requested this book from the library because of the title. I was reading an article about the author in which this book was mentioned and I immediately went to the library website to see if they had it. Hagitude is a concept that greatly appeals to me 😏 Hag with attitude--I'm there. This isn't the kind of thing I usually read, involving folklore and myth, but I loved this book. Blackie is coming at this from a primarily western perspective because, as she rightly points out, it would be impossible to include every culture and, as a psychologist and mythologist, these are the cultures she's most familiar with and immersed in. She has lived in Scotland, near where we used to live in Co Donegal in Ireland, and now in Wales. She draws heavily on myths and folklore from these areas, although other parts of Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Russia are also included. She looks at these cultural stories about older women and reinterprets them, focusing on overlooked aspects of these stories and what they say about older women. She also draws on her own experience of aging and menopause as well as that of others to show how, in spite of how women are portrayed as hags, witches, dried up old prunes, etc, there is a freedom that comes with age. Many women throw off the cultural shackles that have been keeping them prisoner to the needs, expectations, and demands of others and settle more into who they actually are and what they want. I was fascinated by the stories in this book, both the personal stories and the folklore, which I don't really have much background in. I was interested in the fact that many cultures had a concept not of a male god in the sky as creator, but of an old woman who is known as the Great Mother or Great Grandmother, depending on the culture. She cites Cailleach for the area of Ireland in which we live. This book made me want to learn more about Irish myths and folktales in general and of Cailleach in particular. In addition to the text, the book also contains beautiful artwork by Natalie Eslick of older women, inspired by the various myths. This one was my favorite. It's at the beginning of the book where we learn that herons are associated with older women in the old stories.

Wise Women: Myths and Stories for Midlife and Beyond by Sharon Blackie (borrowed from the library)

When I was searching for Hagitude, I spotted this title in the library's list of Sharon Blackie's books so I requested it too. It was the perfect sequel to Hagitude, because it covered some of the same ground, but in a more in-depth way. This is a collection of myths and folktales with some commentary by the author. I loved this one too and I'm quite glad I read these books back to back. I learned a lot and hope to learn more. 

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan (personal copy)

I have a friend who stops to take a photo of the books in any wee free library he happens to pass, whether it's the one up the hill behind us, at a bus station, or wherever. He sends these photos to me to see if there are any books I want. If there are, he brings them to me. I've gotten some unexpected gems this way. A couple of weeks ago, he sent me a photo and I chose this book. It's always interesting because it's almost always the case that I know nothing about these books and am just going by the title and the font design on the spine. So it was with this book. I saw the title and the font and thought, 'Oh that looks like a nice fluffy book which would be a good read on a day when I'm tired or not feeling great--a good story to fall into.' That day came sooner than I thought. The other day I was tired and feeling a bit of August meh and I decided it'd be a perfect day to pick up that book. It did not disappoint. It was not fluffy, but it was a good story. The book opens in Kent, 1940. There's a notice pinned to the church door saying that, because the men are off fighting the war, the choir will disband after the funeral of the Winthrop boy, who was killed in the fighting. Soon Prim, a professor of music, arrives in the village and starts a women's choir, which has a profound impact on the lives of the women in the village. It's a pretty obvious metaphor, but it helps them find their voices and grow in confidence. It helps them know each other better and care for each other more. This is an epistolary novel, told through letters and diary entries. We see the diary entries of Kitty Winthrop, 13, the youngest child of the well-off, abusive tyrant Brigadier and his long-suffering meek wife. Her brother, the heir, is the guy killed in the war. Other than the fact that there are no other sons to inherit, his loss doesn't seem to be a great heartache for anyone. Kitty's sister, Venetia, writes letters to her good friend, now in London, the vicar's daughter. Mrs. Twilling, a widow, keeps a diary as well. Her son is about to leave for the war. These are the three main characters in the book, but we also get letters from a local midwife and a few diary entries from Silvie, a 10-year-old girl who was gotten out of Czechoslovakia in advance of the Nazis and is staying with the Winthrops. There is humor in this book, as you'd expect from a book about small village life. This book has all the requisite quirky characters and those who are resistant to change (even during wartime!). As you can tell, the perspectives shift around and the story is told from many different points of view. I enjoyed this book enough to read it in one day--and at 450 pages, it's not a particularly short book. It was a fast read and I got into the story. That said, it was quite predictable. There were two surprises in the book, but other than that, everything I assumed would happen, happened. I also thought that although I was supposed to be reading diary entries and letters, it didn't seem like that's what they were. The language was unrealistic for that. I don't think anyone would write in their diary that way. It was much the same with the letters, although they were slightly more believable. I suppose that's nit-picking. It was a good read in spite of all that and I will soon bring it back to the wee free library so someone else can enjoy it too.

Finally, I read one book so far this month that will be published soon.

Daughters of Stone and Tide: Loss and Resilience in a Fisherman's Family by Maria 'Mia' Millefoglie, to be published on September 8, 2026 by University of Massachusetts Press

ISBN 9781625349569

Maria Millefoglie grew up in a Sicilian-American family in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In this powerful memoir, she explores her place in her immediate and extended families, the role of place in her life, and her struggles to walk the line between familial and community expectations and her own needs--and how all of these things shaped her and impacted the choices she made. Beyond the memoir, she digs into her family history, the history of the immigrant community in Gloucester, and the fishing industry that they were a part of. Of course, societal change was occurring and this had profound consequences for small boat fishermen and their families. The author has been a part of the effort to preserve this history. In the present day, when immigrants are all too often attacked and scapegoated, this book beautifully illustrates the immigrant experience in a particular time and place, showing how people do not make the decision to leave everything they know lightly. This path is full of difficulties and for some people, the cost was too high. Families were torn apart. Mental health issues resulted. Generational change is addressed here as well. The author was coming of age at a time when societal expectations about women's lives and choices were expanding, but in this particular family, these changes were not welcomed or even seen as acceptable. Torn between these possibilities, the author struggled to meet her needs while maintaining her relationship with her mother. Although the author is a bit older than me, I could relate to much of what she describes. The book contains photographs and is beautifully written. It never gets bogged down as she weaves together the various strands of her story. Whether you're interested in a specific topic like the history of fishing, women's history, the experiences of immigrants, family dynamics, of just want to become immersed in the story of one woman in one family in a particular place, this is a book I can highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy.

And now onto the second half of August and some more good books!

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Playing Yarn Chicken

 I'm back to making socks. I took a little break while Finn was with us because it's awkward working with double points while there's a dog on my lap. He's gone home now, but comes over to visit when he feels like it. And when I go over to his house, he gives me such an enthusiastic greeting which makes me smile every time.  There's nothing quite like experiencing the greeting of a dog that's happy to see you. 😍He'll be back with us in about 5 weeks, but I'll be done with socks for a while by then. The current pair in progress requires a game of yarn chicken.

The larger ball of royal blue yarn isn't sock yarn, but it's a superwash wool of the same thickness. I had a large cone of this at one time and still have a decent amount left. It comes in handy to stretch the sock yarn because I can use it for the cuffs, switching to sock yarn when I start the heel flap and using that for the rest of the foot. The sock yarn has nylon for better wear which is important for the parts that will be inside shoes and be walked on. The skein on the left is meant to be enough for one sock, from cuff to toe. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get two socks out of it by using the royal blue for the cuff and the variegated sock yarn scrap (the small ball in the photo) for the toes. We'll see how it goes. I've just picked up the gusset stitches and will be starting the decreases shortly. If I don't have enough of the denim-ish blue sock yarn to complete the second sock up to the toe, I will find some scraps of other sock yarn and finish with that. Bill isn't bothered by scrappy socks and they'll be inside his boots anyway. 

The bracket was put on the shower a little over a week ago and it works well--no more wobbling. My friend began speaking to Plumber Guy about this job near the end of April so by the time it was completely done, it was over 3 months later. She still can't believe it's actually finished. She apparently sent numerous 'friendly reminders' to him while she was away.

We've continued to avoid the extreme heat that other places in Europe are getting. Today it's cool and rainy. 

Grass pollen levels are decreasing now--grateful for that. I'm starting to come out of my summer fog a bit. Still quite tired, but that's normal for the time of year. I'm quite enjoying the earlier onset of darkness. I usually drag myself through the days and perk up at night--also normal for me. 

My friend brought me back 6 balls of alpaca/silk yarn which she found at Boston Goodwill. It's so, so soft. I'm thinking about what to make with it and am leaning towards a cowl because it seems like a yarn that would be so cozy against the neck and face. That'll be something to work on after I'm done with the socks. 👣😃

I hope August is treating you well!

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