From the Original...

 home of Halloween, have a good one!

original jack o'lantern National Museum of Ireland Country Life, Castlebar, Co Mayo

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I Am Easily Thrilled

 It's Thursday, so that means veg man comes to town! Yay! I love, love, love having a local veg man again! Today we were picking our produce when I glanced ahead of me, stopped, and did a sort of happy gasp as I spotted the bags of cranberries piled up in a nearby crate. Cranberries aren't as much of a thing here as they are in the US and I may or may not be able to get some in December. There's no Thanksgiving here, so we usually don't see them until then, if at all. Then sometimes they come in a large plastic punnet, which we avoid. So to see them in October and without punnets made me very happy indeed! I bought three bags. I stuck one in our wee freezer compartment, saved some to make a loaf of orange cranberry bread, and made jam with the rest.

I dumped the cranberries, so sugar, and a bit of water into a pot.

Stirred for a few minutes (the induction hob is fast) while they popped and cooked down and 5 minutes later, I had my jam. 

I will get more bags as long as he has them. 

The very first day we were in this town, we called in at the small local grocery store and as we walked by the produce, I exclaimed to Bill, 'They have loose parsnips!' There was a guy right behind me and I'm sure he thought I'd gone mad, getting excited about parsnips. 😂 But those usually come wrapped in too much plastic packaging (those punnets again!) so we didn't buy them. Now I can (and do) get them there or at veg man's stall. I am thrilled. 

Yes, it doesn't take much to make me happy. 

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Murder at the Bookstore by Sue Minix

 Murder at the Bookstore

by Sue Minix

ISBN 9780008584634

Avon Books UK, Avon

Jen Dawson always wanted to be a writer. Her first mystery novel, featuring twins Dana and Daniel was a big hit and she got a contract for the sequel. But her long-term boyfriend broke up with her and writer’s block moved in, so she opted for a fresh start back in her small hometown. There she discovers a new bookstore/coffee shop and spends a lot of time there waiting for the ideas to arrive. She befriends the owner, Aletha, and they become close, so Jen is devastated when Aletha is killed in an explosion on her husband’s sailboat. She is shocked when the police, in the form of a high school boyfriend and his police partner, show up at her apartment one Sunday morning, saying she and Tim, Aletha’s husband, are under suspicion. They are working on the assumption that he killed his wife and she helped. Jen decides that it’s in her best interests to do some sleuthing on her own. She doesn’t really believe Tim killed Aletha. When she starts to collect clues, she is pretty much ignored, so she investigates even more.

This was a great read. I could relate to Jen and her struggles to gain confidence in herself and to stop beating herself up. There were times I wanted to shake her and ask why she was making the choices she was making, but then I remembered my 20s. In that context, it was very believable. I found the group of quirky cozy characters delightful. One of the things I love most about cozies is the group of quirky people in them. The mystery was well plotted and kept my interest from beginning to end. The ending was well done and the ‘why’ the culprit did what they did was unexpected and interesting.

This is the first in a new cozy mystery series and I am delighted to have gotten into it from the beginning. I will definitely be looking out for more! 

I downloaded a free copy of this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I thank them, the author, and the publisher.

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Murder in an Irish Castle

 Murder in an Irish Castle (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 12)

by Verity Bright

ISBN 9781803148274

Pub Date 28 Nov 2022 

Bookouture

I had a pile of books I’d planned to read, but when I saw this—a cozy mystery set in the west of Ireland at Christmastime—how could I possibly resist? I couldn’t. I am very pleased with my lack of willpower too, because this is a delightful book.

Lady Eleanor Swift has inherited her uncle’s estate, which includes the wonderful butler, Clifford, and property in Ireland, as well as his property in Britain. She has yet to visit the Irish property, but when she gets an invitation to the Derrydee village Christmas 1923 festivities, she is eager to go. Clifford  accompanies her. They making their way to the big house in lashing down rain when Clifford slams on the brakes. They get out to find a man in the road, just barely alive. They get him into the Rolls and to the nearest place with a telephone, which is the abbey. The nuns are not thrilled at this turn of events, but they take the guy to a distant room and call the Garda (police), doctor, and priest. Alas, he does not make it. But who is he, how did he get there, and who killed him? On Christmas Eve, the caretaker’s cottage burns down. Was it an accident? The locals aren’t talking and seem to be acting in ways Lady Eleanor finds strange, although since it is during the Irish civil war and the fight for independence from British colonization, she assumes some of it can be put down to that. Lady Eleanor and Clifford decide to find answers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved Clifford—his exasperation when Lady Eleanor does not behave according to the sense of what is ‘proper,’ the way he is a stickler for language, his encyclopedic knowledge of history and culture, and his affection for Eleanor, whom he has known since she was a small girl. Clifford was very close to Eleanor’s uncle for years and he sometimes has a sarcastic remark which includes a memory about the uncle or wee Eleanor. Eleanor is equally fond of Clifford and relies on him for support, information, and understanding. They make an excellent team.

As a blow-in to northwest Ireland, I was curious to see how the author would handle that aspect of the story—she did this well and even included a short glossary-ish section at the back, explaining things like hurling matches and their importance in small villages, culture, and history. Even though the book is set a century ago, there are some aspects of culture that remain the same.

Even though this book is the twelfth in the series and I had not heard of it before now, I could still jump right in and feel at home with this pair. I didn’t feel like the fact that I had not read any of the previous books in any way detracted from my enjoyment of the book. I will be looking for more books in this series and hope to spend more time with Lady Eleanor and Clifford in future. 

I received an advance copy of the e-book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I thank them, the author, and Bookouture, the publisher.

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Mossy Mosaic Mushroom and Friday Food

 We were doing an errand this afternoon and on the way home stopped to look at a small area in the back of Market Hall. There we found some cute mosaic sculptures. I was quite taken with this mossy mosaic mushroom.

There was no rain today, although we had plenty of grey sky. Yesterday was summer-like with bright blue sky and warm temperatures. However, we have had plenty of rain and wind recently and so far at least, there has been no further dripping from the living room ceiling. 

I made lemon poppy seed bread today and baked it in the slow cooker. It's yummy! I am still using some strong wholemeal flour I got a while back before the pandemic. I'm on my last bag, though, so will have to see if I can get more.

The other day I made polenta in the slow cooker, which is a great way to cook it. I am thrilled that the small local grocery store here carries coarse ground maizemeal--in the past I've had to get it online. I put black beans and veg with taco seasoning over the polenta and added some cheese, but it's also good with pasta sauce. Today I saw a recipe that the creators said is definitely not pizza, but it looked like a pizza. The polenta was spread out and served as the crust, the toppings were added, and it was baked. Seems like a good idea.

I have some millet I am going to try at some point in the slow cooker. I'll let you know how it goes!

Hope it's a good day in your part of the world today.

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Catching the Light by Joy Harjo

 This is a gem of a book. Joy Harjo, former poet laureate of the US, writes about the power of words and music in her life as a Mvskoke/Creek Nation. There are many strands to this book, which Harjo weaves together beautifully--memoir, cultural history, folklore, music, poems, writing are all here. She writes about her own life and how the discovery of words and poetry saved her during some very dark times. She describes the struggles she endured in her quest to get an education as a Native American woman in a difficult relationship and as a single mother caring for her kids at the same time. She tells us about her experiences in various jobs she had along the way and how she formed a band with some lawyers at one point. They named it Poetic Justice--love that!

Harjo muses on the fact that in 2021 it was the 50th anniversary of her first published poem and states, 'This treatise will be something of a journey. about the why of writing poetry. There will be fifty vignettes, some poem-centered; There are points of illumination or questioning.' (p3)

This fine book can be read through and savored with much food for thought. It can also be dipped into randomly, one or two vignettes at a time. It's definitely well worth a read--or several.

I received a free advance e-copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. I thank the poet, the publisher, and NetGalley.

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One Chunk at a Time

 In one of the Goodreads Victober threads, someone mentioned the (free) Serial Reader app. I'd never heard of it but I was instantly intrigued. A quick search led me to the website, which is here (link will open in new window). 

The app has loads of books in many genres, all in the public domain. There are some well-known authors here, such as Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and more. There are also less-well known authors available. When you subscribe to a book, it is delivered to you in daily chunks. What a great way to revisit old favourites or discover new ones in a few minutes per day (the FAQs mention 20 minutes per day, but the book I selected first is less than that). The listing for each book includes the number of installments. 

Count me in! I downloaded the app and started looking through options. I've chosen one book and have read the first installment. I plan to choose another one or two besides. I might go with both shorter and longer works at the same time. I love this idea! It's how so many books were originally published--serially in periodicals. Only after the run was finished did they get bound into a single volume or multiple volumes, depending on length. I think that reading in small chunks like this will allow for closer reading and time between segments to think about what I've read, which is not always the case when zipping through a book. I don't think every book would be enjoyable to read in this way, but I think many lend themselves well to this, especially since it's how they were meant to be read when written. Others, like those in the philosophy section, will be examining ideas that require some thought. I have my eye on a bunch of books so I'm eager to jump right in! It seems like a great resource.

Update: One unexpected benefit is that this app leads me to other books. As I was scrolling through the list of titles, I came across some titles that intrigued me but that I didn't want to read in installments. I hopped over to Project Gutenberg and got them there. Now if I can find the app that will give me more hours in a day, I'll be all set!

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