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This is a Good Book Thursday, November 28, 2024

This week I finished my reread of PD James. Terrific writer, kind of depressing books. I had to keep going back to Pratchett to survive.

What did you read this week? (And for the Americans out there, Happy Thanksgiving!)

177 Responses

  1. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends here! I am truly grateful for you and for this community and this blog and Jenny’s generosity in putting up with us all, nay – enabling us all.

    I read Call it Home, Catherine Cloud’s latest MM hockey romance. A guy trying to fit in with the new team he’s been abruptly traded to (all trades are abrupt in hockey) and his roommate who’s been called up again from the farm team and is dealing with an overbearing/critical father which is a familiar theme in this genre. All done with great sweetness.

    I listened to another of the fabulous Rivers of London series, The Hanging Tree. The suspense continues.

    And I read Alexis Hall’s Confounding Oaths, the second in the Mortal Series. Hmmm, not sure what to say here. It’s witty without being funny. A lot of crazy magical hijinks that kind of went on too long, producing a saggy middle. A barely there relationship between a soldier and a gentleman that became intellectually interesting but was neither sexy nor funny. And yet – it’s Alexis Hall. It had some talent. I’ll stop there.

    1. Disappointing to hear about the Hall. I feel like his historicals have that saggy middle problem more often than not… If course, I didn’t like CM Nascosta’s historical either and she is usually a win for me. So maybe it is me. Although KJ Charles remains delightful.

      1. KJ Charles can Do No Wrong as far as I’m concerned. Even the books I don’t reread were totally worth the original read. And the ones like Spires which I reread recently, are worth their weight in gold. Alexis Hall is sometimes brilliant…but erratic.

        1. I agree he has some odd ones. ‘The Affair of the Mysterious Letter’ had similar issues to the ones you mention which has made me a little more cautious about picking his stuff.

    2. The Mortal series is not for me, and ‘witty without being funny’ is a really excellent description of why not. Thanks Tammy. I usually love Alexis Hall, and appreciate how widely he ranges. But these left me cold.

  2. I’ve had a good reading week:
    listened to the first audiobooks in the Black and Blue series by Lily Morton and am now on book 3, Something Wicked. I find it easier to deal with ghosts than with a serial killer on the hunt, but I grew to love Lily’s style. It helps that in every interview, newsletter etc. she comes across as a lovely person, too. Much like most of her MCs.

    Others read and liked Hanna Henry’s newest In Every Universe in last week’s GBT.

    So I was optimistic going into it and I LOVED it. A very calm, kind, understated story. With an amnesia trope where one MC (Zacky) wakes up from a severe concussion and is convinced to have spent the last three years living a completely different live (giving up hockey for his best friend and later husband who sustained a career-ending injury; both only got as far as the AHL).
    Cameron, the husband in his lost universe, is now his linemate in the NHL and platonic best friend.
    Zacky has to deal with a lot, grieving the life and loving relationship he was ripped away from. Also having to come to grips with having made it to the NHL (and not remembering winning the Cup) – picking up the slack of (seemingly) three years not having played at pro level.
    And Cameron has to deal with nearly losing his extremely close friend. Him realizing why he never got a girlfriend = so as not to have someone come between Zacky and him – is done really well.
    The best-friends-to-lovers might not be a new trope but I loved the execution.

    I’m a sucker for the small details of life, so this book hit the bulls eye for me. Also them NOT being hockey superstars was a big bonus. Far more relatable.
    Loved it.

    I followed this up with Catherine Cloud’s newest Call it Home. Also a colleagues-roommates-then best friends-to-lovers trope, my favourite.

    It’s my first of her’s and I liked it a lot. Though not as much as the HH book.
    Why? I couldn’t manage to come up with a clear image for her MCs.
    One, Ryan, is a d-man who was traded for a mishap so coming to his new team is “the worst day of his life”. Louie, the a forward, is called up from the farm team to the same team as Ryan – “the best day of his life”. It doesn’t feel like it though, as the threat to being sent down is palpable. Louie is the stoic one and under a lot of parental pressure to finally make it.
    We are not given much of a description for them, so I misinterpreted based on how they act and think: For me, Ryan the tall, probably burly d-man came across more as a twiggy and Louie as somehow the more solid one. Maybe because he was so stoic?

    I coulnd’t keep most of the team mates straight which was a pity. There was a hint that some of them might have an intersting backstory (Santa, Waldo, Nick?) so maybe we get their stories in the future. Or maybe I just need to read up CC’s backlist?

    Well, the things bothering me were tiny, but kept the book from being a full 5 star story.
    Maybe the direct comparison to Henry’s book didn’t help as it made me notice the details more: e.g. the side characters/team mates in “In Every Univers” are similarly lightly sketched, yet I had a much clearer image of them.
    Same with the MCs: Cameron is the one with the dimples and a buzz cut, Zacky misses a tooth that he got replaced in the other universe. The story is told from their POVs and it’s easy to distinguish their voices.

    In short: both were really enjoyable reads. Never mind my rants, I’ll certainly look out for CC’s other backlist.

    1. Dodo, Call It Home is not her strongest book although I feel disloyal for saying that because she is honestly a top tier hockey romance writer. You could try Caught Off Guard. One of my faves. Hella hockey. Has a German MC! My total fave is Love and Other Inconveniences which I’ve read over and over. And Nick is an MC in her A03 series so freely available. I totally agree with you in the Hannah Henry book – a complete and unexpected delight.

      1. Thanks for the thumbs up, Tammy!
        If Call it Home is not her strongest and I liked it a lot anyway, I’m in for a treat.

        Caught Off Guard is on my wish list for some time now. I’ve read the snippet and her German MC rings very true (there actually even exists a hockey player with this name lol).

        I’ve searched AO3 for Nick: found it thanks to a review on Goodreads, have downloaded it and hope to be able to read it soon. AO3 is difficult to navigate for a newbie.
        Nick’s story really made me curious and the hints felt like an Easter Egg hunt – it bugs me when I don’t know if the eggs in question can or cannot be found, but fortunately it seems I did 🙂

      3. Tammy, could you give a link to Nick’s story on AO3 or send it to me. I am rubbish at finding stuff on there.

        I thought he was intriguing when reading Call it home and I knew he wasn’t a protagonist in the published books since I have read them all and enjoyed them! All thanks to you of course 🙂

  3. I used to really like PD James but I agree they are pretty depressing. I haven’t read her books for many years. I liked the female sergeant who dabbled in abstract art.

    I have started my xmas comfort reading this week. I feel the need as the term is slowly winding down.
    I am reading Trisha Ashley’s The Magic of Christmas. Great fun and somehow I enjoy reading about all the stodgy puddings more than I would like to actually eat them 🙂

    1. I’m with you and Jenny about PD James. Tapped out back in the day after two or three books. Way too down. Almost as bad as reading Henning Mankell’s mysteries which are so Swedishishly depressing that they made me laugh. Kind of along the lines of: “He looked at the lipstick on the glass and wondered if it was a clue, and thought about the ephemerality of life.” 🙄

    2. Never tried PD James and if her stories are depressing, I’ll steer clear. Life is too depressing to spend time with depressing stories no matter how well they are told.

      I used to gulp down Elizabeth George’s books. Realized that her very dark views sucked my downwards. I particularly didn’t like her very negative view of everything sexual (imo). So I consciously decided NOT to let me suck down any further.
      Also, her books grew into huge bricks. Longer is rarely better, yet I’m sure no editor would stand a chance steering a bestselling author into keeping her stories tighter (same with e.g. JK Rowling whose books I see rather differently by now, too).

      1. I also used to gobble down Elizabeth George. And then when she killed her hero’s wife off, I had a hard time forgiving her. I tried another couple of books and the detective just seemed to be going down a very dark path indeed and I couldn’t follow him.

        1. Yeah, PD James: Side story of disabled wife neglected by her gay husband and left to rot in a nursing home.

          Same with Ann Cleeves. I read the Shetland quartet and have regretted it ever since. Terrible women intermixed with women doing terrible things.

          2. I haven’t read any of them, but I still have horrified thoughts about one of the Shetland TV shows.

            I did like the Vera shows, though. Again, haven’t read the books.

        2. Ha! I quit Elizabeth George when she killed off Helen too. And then to write that follow-on re why the murderer did it… Absolutely unforgivable. Never picked up another one and won’t.

          1. Spoiler alert for anyone who is reading Elizabeth George….

            Well, then she put Thomas into an affair with his alcoholic boss and I just completely gave up. She said that he needed some more pathology to be interesting, but I think that’s a bit too much pathology.

          2. Tammy, is the alcoholic boss male or female?
            And how old?
            Did she put Havers into the ringer, too? Well, she was constantly in the meatpress in the books I read.

          3. Female boss. Havers was still around, still with the world’s longest u required crush. I have no idea how any of it all turned out, but I am not optimistic.

          4. I read lots of Elizabeth George too but I always had trouble suspending my disbelief with the idea of having an earl in the British police.

            I am very sorry to hear she killed Helen.

            I remember really hating reading about that boy who was killed at boarding school.

            I think I prefer it when the victim is thoroughly detestable.

        3. When she killed off the wife, that was awful. And her next book, ‘What Came Before He Shot Her’ may have been a realistic depiction of a kid falling in with bad people, but my god it was miserable and depressing, and I’ve never read any of her books since.

    3. I suppose I’m into Christmas reading already myself, although not fully intentionally. As mentioned last week, I read thus year’s Donna Andrews seasonal book when I got to the head of the library hold queue. I’m currently working on the latest Beware of Chicken installment, which, as it happens, revolves largely around a winter solstice celebration on its world. I bailed out of a Mrs. Claus humorous mystery that someone here had recommended, not because it was actively bad, but just not hugely interesting and I needed its KU slot. But I have to get through Thanksgiving before the season really starts for me.

  4. I’ve been reading How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis. I got it from Libby but I’m going to buy it because I’m enjoying it.

    I’m also deep into another comfort re read Jane Castle’s Ghost Hunter series. Those books always make me relax and smile.

    Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. For years I was antagonistic about this holiday because of the genocide of Native American people. Now that I can celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day i can make this day about gratitude.

    I echo Tammy’s gratitude to Jenny for her wonderful books and this fun, supportive community. And thanks to all who participate here.

    And thanks to Bob who not only collaborates with Jenny on more good books but also is a source of amusement in the bickering comments that come out in the snippets posted from their collaboration!

    Thanks Jenny, Bob & archers. Have a happy day!

        1. Judy/Clever Cherry: I see Thanksgiving differently from the way you do for three reasons. (1) The local native Americans came to the first Thanksgiving. (They brought shellfish for themselves while the whites ate meat.) My point is that this event was not part of the genocide. (2) The Thanksgiving holiday was created by Abraham Lincoln. And (3) Thanksgiving is the least commercialized of the fall holidays.

          1. Heather Cox Richardson has a really great piece today on the actual origins of Thanksgiving in the US.

          3. I loved the Heather Cox Richardson post on Thanksgiving. But then I read her every day. She puts what’s happening now into his historical perspective.
            If anybody wants to try it, it’s called letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson. She also puts out an audio version of it later in the day.

  5. I did a Farrier course for a year, and a fellow student was deaf and so had an Interpreter. The Interpreter had a lot of downtime while we were busy trimming hooves and making shoes, so she read a lot. I introduced her to Jennifer Crusie. She said, “These books are dangerous,” because she didn’t want to do anything else while reading them.

    Um, true.

    Deborah Blake has joined my List of Authors Who Are Very Dangerous to Read When I Need to Get Stuff Done.

    I read Wickedly Powerful on the weekend, and I kept delaying when I’d start baking a birthday cake because One More Chapter. Dishes? One more chapter.

    I also read Very Nice Funerals. Need a nap? Feed the party guests? One more chapter.

    It was a great weekend for reading!

    I picked up the latest Jack Reacher at Costco, but it will be a Christmas present. Which is probably a good thing because I want to do some holiday baking.

    1. Nathasha, did you come across Sam Wolfenden, a farrier from Yorkshire? He’s quite well known on Instagram and has a relatively new youtube channel. His accent is quite strong, so I can hardly understand anything, but watching his clips even as someone hardly ever coming across horses is addictive. A fascinating craft and profession.
      See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7-mLYvDgAs

      1. Oh, thank you for that link! I’ll have to watch more later.
        Mr. “I like to train in the morning because it sets you up for the day.” And then SHOES HORSES ALL DAY.
        I like to train in the morning as well, but then I need a nap at lunch.

        1. I honestly don’t know how his/your back manages the work. Mine is aching all over if I do as much as bend for some minutes…

          1. I don’t do it anymore, alas. Moved into bookkeeping, which has its own back issues.

            When I took the course the instructor made us do yoga every morning, which was good. And the OLD Timer that popped in once in a while used to do go to the gym, and at 70 he could walk better than most 50yo farriers, so exercise is key.

          2. Yoga is so helpful – I’ve been doing yin yoga and my back, legs, everything are so much better!

        2. Absolutely, like trimming nails. Nailing goes through a space between the wall of the hoof and the inner hoof (the White Line), which acts as an expansion plate between the two spaces. The wall flexes quite a bit.

        3. For wild horses their hooves wear down naturally due to rough surface. The idea is that domestic horses need trimming to prevent hooves becoming overgrown, cracked, or chipped leading to problems with gait and joint pain, but I’ve heard some horse owners advocating “self-maintaining” hooves – it seems to be a very mixed experience.

          I have friends with horses, so just repeating overheard conversations – no actual expertise 🙁

          1. Sam the farrier also cares for unshoed horses, unless the horses need shoes for work, “au naturel” is his favourite he said.

  6. I looked through my Keepers collection on my Kindle in reverse order by title. Which threw up a couple of good rereads I’d forgotten: Unfit to Print by K. J. Charles, which I followed with A Queer Trade and Rag & Bone; and Total Creative Control by Joanna Chambers & Sally Malcolm. The Charles stories are all Victorian Gothic, so rather dark, especially the two magical ones – which will be why I hadn’t reread them. But the Chambers/Malcolm title is an m/m romcom, fun & warm. Turns out there are two linked stories, which I’m going to try.

      1. Yes: it was time to mix it up. Alas, reversing ‘recent’ doesn’t work – it’s not reliable once I go beyond the past few months, especially since I swapped my Kindle.

  7. I am listening to A Christmas Invitation by Trisha Ashley. Before that I listened to A Cinderella Deal by JC and and before that Juniper’s Christmas by Eoin Colfer. It was a fun middle grade Christmas adventure with his slightly ribald humor.

    I am reading reading VNF still, at the 70 percent mark. I really appreciate Poppy’s plan to make the shop an experience, because that is what I appreciate when I am exploring somewhere new. I want to do it to my little consignment booth because I expect it won’t make much money for the next four years or so and I am not ready to give it up yet. So I have been scribbling plans off and on.

    I feel a little fuzzy to be honest. I’m tired of comfort rereading/listening but don’t have the mental juice to try something new. Ah well. This too shall pass.

  8. I’m reading Grace by Beverly Watts because I saw it mentioned as seriously fun on a Facebook post. I need to laugh, and so far, it’s good. Next is my umpteenth read of Fast Women, one of my favorites.

  9. I am thankful for Deborah Blake’s mention of The Call of the Penguins. I have more trouble saying that word since watching Benedict Cumberbatch struggle. But I ordered the first two Penguin books by Hazel Priof as potential Xmas gifts for my dad and I read them this week. Very enjoyable.

  10. Rereading Sprig Muslin by Heyer. Reread Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh. Read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins – was okay. Barbara Taylor Bradford died a few days ago. My mom loved her and passed her books, (very thick paperbacks) down to me when I was pre-teen. I tried her biography (Went way back in family tree with tons of history which sounds good but I didn’t like it) Yes some scandals mirror her fictional sagas of rags to riches. Not sure why I thought such juicy gossip seemed dry.

    1. Your mention of author biographies reminded me that I pulled out Isaac Asimov’s 2-volume autobiography (In Memory Still Green and In Joy Still Felt) to check a fact for a friend, and ended up getting sucked into it in various places again.

  11. I gave up on Happiness for Beginners and set it aside. But I did watch the Netflix movie, which I could tell was different from the book, and it was okay.

    Very Nice Funerals broke me out of the reading slump!!! Wish I had reread Rocky Start first but will reread both just before Honey Pot Plot comes out. Now deciding which Jenny book to reread next.

    I remember reading some PD James ages ago but not enough to keep or reread except I did like Death Comes To Pemberley. But haven’t reread it but I have watched the BBC series of it several times.

    Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! I am thankful for this group. Several of my neighbors have formed a book club but so far we’ve only met once and weren’t allowed to discuss the end of the book because the one member who begged us to form the club didn’t have time to finish the book. And we were supposed to meet again in Oct but it keeps getting delayed and is now scheduled for next month. The woman who insisted on a murder mystery pick still hasn’t finished and confided to me that she doesn’t like murder mysteries. I had to loan her my copy of the book because she refuses to buy books and there was a waiting list at the library. I honestly don’t see this club surviving.

    1. What a contrary person! That’s hilarious, and your understatement at the end of the last paragraph gave me a laugh!

    3. I generally think that book clubs seem more painful than fun. Reading is the closest thing that I have to a religion and I am not willing to read books that I don’t like.

      1. I’m much more likely to propose a movie club – “come on over, let’s snack & drink while we watch something based on a book, then gossip about it.”

        1. I’d be over in a heartbeat.
          Book club – not so much.
          I don’t know anyone apart here (i.e. in present) that would like to read the books I love. Apart from dd, but she has never been one to discuss or even rave about what she likes. I compensate by monologuing towards dh who’s often enough proved his sainthood
          during our marriage.

  12. I read The Blonde Identity, by Ally Carter, recommended here by Carrie and Helen. When I first heard of it, I read the sample and was drawn in. A woman wakes up lying on a city street, with amnesia, not knowing her own name, where she is, or what she does. A “spy” rescues her from the snowy street and drags her to various safer places. This is the theme of the book, trying to find safer places. The woman is inventive, quirky, and funny along the way. The man begins to lose the dour crust that makes him unreadable, and becomes more human. I liked that it had a HEA.

    Then I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss, because the groomer said my dog had Grinch feet- with little pointy fur tips. It’s a short movie, but long enough to make the point that gratitude is what makes life worthwhile. That poor dog!!!

    I have been reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, by Margaret Magnusson. It’s a sweet, conversational meander through her history of cleaning up after the death of family members, with hints and suggestions thrown in. It’s not at all what I expected, as I am half way through, and just realized there was not going to be an outline, and list of things to do. So, I am going back to write notes to myself on each topic. I have already gotten rid of some large furniture, which she says is the way to start. It’s fun to read, and very affirming, for a book with that title.

    The woman who owns Freedom Flowers, the place where I get my Flower Essences, sent a wonderful email listing all the benefits that being grateful has for the mind and body today. I’m going to print it off and look at it when I’m feeling upset about life.

    1. I must try The Blonde Identity since I seem to be reading the amnesia trope at the moment. I know it’s been recommended here before but I never got around to checking it out.

    2. Blonde Identity is awesome in audio, too. You have his and her narrators who are wonderful. I read the book a while ago, and then got the audio to listen to while on the treadmill, and my husband really got into it too.

    3. And I just pre-ordered her twin’s story, The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold, on Audible. Scheduled for release 8/5/25. The first book was so fun!

    5. San Diego’s Old Globe presents an annual Grinch musical. For me, that sweet dog always steals the show, not those “adorable” kids.

  13. I read The Amber House by Mabel Esther Allan, first published in 1956. It’s set in Rye on the Sussex coast. I visited Rye several years ago and now I want to go back again to explore some more.

    This edition is newly published by Girls Gone By Publishers and includes a comprehensive article on Mabel and her other (many) books. I had no idea she was the author of the Drina series, under the pen name Jean Estoril. I loved those books as a child and used to borrow them from the library all the time.

  14. I’m posting a “Be Careful When You Start” post on a book I finished last night. Coincidentally, I started it last night as well. Thus, an Unputdownable book.

    The book is “Rooftoppers” but Katherine Rundell. Her later book, “Impossible Creatures” recently won some Young Adult book award, and has hundreds of people on the reserve lists at my library, so I couldn’t follow this up with that book, which is probably a good thing.

    It’s about a little baby who is found floating in the ocean in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel. She is (luckily) adopted by an older single man, who has to fight to keep her. But it’s a lucky thing because he is a quirky, kind man with an imagination who recognizes the same thing in this little child and both tolerates it and nurtures it.

    This is a really well-written book that just gallops away with the plot by the second or third page, and it really is a highly readable one. If you are the sort who can’t put down a book when you plan to, congratulations! And this might be one for you to try.

      1. I had never read anything by her, but the crazy level of national support her “Impossible Creatures” have gotten made me aware of that book, so I searched for more by Rundell.

        Which titles are your favorites, Lian?

        Oh, and also, did you make the mistake of starting “Rooftoppers” very late one night? Somebody should put a warning label on that book. 🙂

  15. Since it’s the US Thanksgiving with Black Friday following… I’ve got a question for the arghers who use a kindle. I’m sorely tempted to get one as I want to get an e-reader sans blue light and reduce the temptation of switching to instagram, e-mail or whatever.

    So far I’ve used my mobile for reading ebooks – it’s small, the font size is adaptable, I can listen to audiobooks/whispersync.

    I’ve got an KU subscription and purchase e-books mainly via amazon since this big brother usually has the best prices.
    In the past, I’ve used a Tolino as well (specific for the German market I fear), but the case didn’t stand the test of time and I really hate sticky plastic that I dare not touch anymore.

    I love to listen to audiobooks (audible but these days mainly the whispersync version of audible), a function which even the simple, smallest kindle (which I’m eyeing) seems to be able to provide?

    A friend of mine warned me that listening via bluetooth will drastically shorten the life of the kindle’s battery, but that is certainly true for my mobile phone’s battery? So a Scylla vs Charybdis situation…

    Does anyone have recommendations? Suggestions? Help?

    1. I don’t do audio books, so I have no answers there, but I am on my second or third Paperwhite Kindle and I like it a lot. I can’t read on my phone because it is too small, and I use the Kindle at night when my eyes are too tired to read a regular print book. I like the black and white, and that I can adjust the font size.

      2. Me, too re Paperwhite. I love the dark mode, because I’m often awake and reading in the middle of the night. It’s easy on the eyes and doesn’t add much light to the room.

          1. The new ones – I have the 2021 version – are very compact and incredibly light. They are real pleasure to use for reading.

            I love having my 1000+ books a quick download away.

          2. Also, it’s just for books so unlike a phone or a tablet, there is no temptation to surf the net.

            The new ones are also waterproof so you can read on them in the bath.

            I liked an earlier version in the bath a few years ago.

          3. Oops I am tired tonight. I meant I « killed » an earlier kindle in the bath 🙂

            I have had most of the models and the new ones are really great.

          4. I’ve had two Paperwhites. The first lasted 10 years and was still working when I traded it in a year ago, though it was getting hinky. I wanted the water resistance of the new version, and the resolution was greater which is always a good thing. It’s definitely a lot easier on my eyes than my phone or iPad. (Can’t help re audiobooks since I don’t like them: sorry.)

          5. PS I don’t use a case, but the Kindle feels pleasant to hold. (I use an old padded envelope if I take it out of the house; but I read on my phone, since it syncs to the Kindle, if I’m just out and about.)

          6. I could be wrong, but I think the advantage is that it has a built-in light if you choose to use it. The original Kindle doesn’t, and thus you’d need an external source of light if you wanted to read in the dark

      3. Good grief! I still use the original Kindle, the one with actual buttons instead of touchscreen. And (my second) Kindle Fire. But mostly I use the Kindle for PC Ap on a 23″ screen.

        1. I killed a Paperwhite (spilled coffee) and wore out one with buttons. I’m now using the Kindle app on a Samsung tablet.

    2. My kindle is ancient (2011!) so I may not be the best placed to give advice especially as Bluetooth hadn’t been invented (I don’t think) when my kindle came out.

      I listen to audiobooks on my phone and read on the kindle (mostly, sometimes on my phone but it’s harder work). Anyway, the two sync easily enough, I just have to turn on my wireless on the kindle. I usually keep it off to save battery, but battery life on the kindle is pretty good so even if it was on you should get plenty of time between charges.

      1. It’s a good sign that the material holds up without getting sticky or disintegrating ! My other e-reader is anbout zhe same age, but yuk, awfully sticky (I kept it in a nice textile/cotton pouch, so no contact with anything sticky).

    3. I use an iPad mini to read and to listen to audiobooks. The audio quality is much better. I have the Libby, Kindle, and Audible apps downloaded. My iPad is 10-12 years old. I bought a cover that closes and that holds papers. I’ve been through several covers and finally just bought a leather cover. Hoping it will last.

    4. My one beef with the kindle, is that, if I happen to touch the screen in the wrong place, it redirects me to a page far from where I am reading. Otherwise, it’s great.

      1. Ditto (Jan). That happens to mine too—a lot. That’s why I use my iPhone. Is there a Kindle version that isn’t that sensitive?

    5. I read on my iPads with a free Kindle app. I already had the iPad and didn’t want to learn a new system, so I never tried the Kindle.

    6. I have whatever the cheapest bare-bones Kindle is, and it’s fine, although I was annoyed to have to get a sound bar to go with it (a $40 Anker soundcore, although I see it’s marked down to $30 for Black Friday). The Kindle I had before this one had built-in speakers, but when I bought the replacement (2-3 years ago), they’d stopped including the speakers. It’s a little annoying when I listen to audio before going to sleep, because instead of just turning off the kindle (one button click), I have to stop the audio (on the kindle), turn off the bluetooth (to save battery), turn off the kindle itself, and then turn off the sound bar. And I have to watch that both the Kindle and the sound bar are charged, because audio does drain the battery faster than digital reading. On the plus side, the audio is clearer with the separate speakers, so all in all, it’s not that big a deal. But if it will annoy you to need a second device (the sound bar) to play audio, and you’re willing to splurge a little, look into one of the pricier models that are closer to a laptop, with built-in speakers. Although I believe they’re heavier, and I wanted something as light as possible because of arthritic hands. Lots of trade-offs to consider.

      As for specific questions — yes, the battery gets drained quickly, but I’m usually listening in a location where I can have the kindle and the soundbar both plugged in. And “quickly” is relative. If you’re reading with your eyes, I think they say the battery lasts two weeks. For audio, you can certainly get a good chunk of time on a full charge. Like 8 hours maybe? Could be more. Just not two weeks’ worth at an hour or two a day. As noted, I’ve usually got it plugged in so I don’t know how fast it drains, but before I found out the hard way how fast the battery drains, I listened for several days before the kindle crashed for lack of juice. Don’t know how many hours though.

      As to whispersync, yes, my Kindle, which is the bare-bones model of 2-3 years ago, can do that.

        1. I think most phones and tablets now have blue filters or equivalent features that can change their spectrums to reduce blue, or if you want to be drastic, shift to a black and white display, after a certain time of day. This is enough for some people, although probably not everyone.

  16. Not a great reading week for me, lots of samples and DNFs.

    I read most of Hudson’s Luck (Lucy Lennox), which I started as I wanted to see how well the Irish setting worked (she did a good job, especially in capturing the way people speak), but apart from that it was probably too straightforward a romance for me (MM) and I just got bored. They are only in Ireland for the first bit, then it is Texas.

    I also read Addicted to Ellis D, SE Harmon, which was fine, not her best but entertaining and well written enough. Starts with a sex worker and client, so there are angsty elements, but nothing too grim (check warnings !)

    Best read of the week was “Depending how you feel about baseball” by Theundiagnosable on AO3. Thanks for that Tammy!
    Really enjoyed it and the amnesia was well done, and lots of hockey stuff too. I didn’t get put off by the fact that it was based on real people, although it is kind of weird. Not sure I could read something about Connor McDavid though…but you never know.

    I was going to save Catherine Cloud’s ‘Call it home’ (also MM hockey) which is just out but after some disappointments I wanted something reliably good so I started that yesterday. Great so far.

    On audio I have started ‘Stranger Times’ by Caimh McDonnell, it seems slow to get into, though I will stick with it for a while as it was recommended to me.
    The chat yesterday on Working Wednesday about Murderbot reminded me that I still haven’t read it, so I tracked it down in Spotify and will start that too.

      1. Yes, I did, it was nice. Best to read it after the main one I think, so thanks for that advice too. Also reading their latest which is has only 2 installments so far but will be every other day till Christmas.

  17. In my commitment to reading new-to-me authors, I listened to about half of (the very long) Neal Stephenson’s Rise and Fall of DODO, and it wasn’t my cuppa’. The story itself didn’t appeal to me, but what I found interesting is that I was initially reluctant to listen to the audiobook, because there’s a long list of narrators, and I prefer single narrators. I didn’t mind it in practice though, since it wasn’t done like a play, with multiple narrators per scene, and at least in the chunk I listened to, most of it was just one narrator, with occasional switches to just one or two other narrators.

    I also listened to The Lost Bookshop, but I’m only about halfway through the more normal-sized novel, and I’d probably have DNF’d by now as not my cuppa’, but there are elements that I am interested in. I’m enjoying the bookshop elements, but not the women’s-fic/romance elements (just because I was looking for a bookshop story, not so much a romance/relationship story; others might well enjoy those elements). The one drawback to audiobooks is that I can’t just skip ahead whenever there’s a scene I don’t care about.

    And for anyone looking for a Thanksgiving-set cozy mystery, my Deadly Thanksgiving Sampler is free at Amazon (just today and tomorrow, but you could always download it now and save it for next year!): https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Thanksgiving-Sampler-Quilting-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07GX64QCQ/

    1. I used to love Neal Stephenson (although Anathem nearly finished me off). This is a good reminder to check out some of his newer stuff.
      Haven’t read any of his since Seven Eves which I liked. The Baroque Cycle was fun, the MCs managed to be at every key historical even in Europe during the period of the book setting. I learned a lot of history though I did feel I would scream if Newton and Leibniz went up and down the Thames any more.

    3. Gin, I find Neal Stevenson very uneven. I couldn’t finish DODO either, but unlike FrozenPond, I also bailed out of Seven Eves, which was far, far, too negative for me to stomach. I think I finished Reamde, but didn’t much like it. But I really liked Anathem. I’ve both read it and listened to the audiobook book (multiple,times, I think), which was pretty well done.

      I’m partly through the Sampler novel, but won’t finish by this year’s Thanksgiving (i.e., today), since I’m juggling multiple novels as the whim takes me.

  18. I finished Very Nice Funerals, started to read the teaser for the next book, and stopped immediately. I don’t need any more excitement right now!!

    I’m still in the middle of Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez — really lovely writing but a lot of emotion, some of it very angsty, so I’m taking it slowly. I would rather not read too much angst right now. My daughter told me it has a HEA, but I skipped ahead and read a bit of the end anyway.

    So anyway, I went back to the second Kate and Cecilia, which is long and slow-paced and easygoing so far.

    Also, forgot to say last week that I started The Ravenkeeper’s Daughter by Lana Williams on my phone when we were out somewhere. I’d bought it because Lana Williams is one of the other authors in the anthology I’m in this year (Snowflakes and Scandals), and I had never read anything by her. Very well written Victorian era murder mystery. A bit dark, but I can’t recall reading much Victorian that wasn’t dark — except maybe the time travel by Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog. (If there was something dark in that, I’ve forgotten.)

    Also I dabble in London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew for research purposes. Perfect for finding ideas for scenes in historicals.

    Time to go assemble the asparagus casserole. Happy Thanksgiving!

  19. I’m reading Furever After by Sofie Kelly, one of my favorite cozy mystery series (with slightly magical cats and a librarian). My brain isn’t up to anything more complicated. Also re-re-reading Faking It, by that woman who drives Bob crazy. And remembering why it is one of my favorites.

    I was supposed to go to my friend John’s house for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon, but we have a winter storm that is supposed to drop up to 9 inches of show by evening (ah, upstate NY, home of the crapshoot holiday plans), so we’re going to do it tomorrow. It is beautiful, and very very quiet. https://www.instagram.com/p/DC6zvKRuJtn/

    1. Oh, I love the quiet that comes with really deep snow. I live on a busy road, and if there’s a significant storm, there’s practically no traffic, making my house blissfully quiet. And even when the traffic resumes, if the snow was a foot or more deep, and then the plows make push it into even higher piles along the side of the road, the pile absorb all the engine noise or possibly they bounce the sound waves back into the road. It’s wonderful!

      1. We didn’t get as much as they’d predicted, but what we did get was heavy and messy. There was virtually no traffic on my road all day. It was quiet until the guys on the snowmobiles started riding up and down the meadow next to my house. Le sigh.

    2. The Matriarch has died, so we no longer spend three hours up, three hours back on dangerous slow-moving, crowded freeways. We stay home for the best holiday gift: the quiet. Few passers-by, few cars on the road. All-day nibbling. Blissful peace, appreciated. And here I am reading this blog right now with its family of commentors, all much appreciated too. Thank you, Jennifer Crusie.

  20. I am very thankful for this blog and this community and to Jenny for making it all possible!
    After a whole series of disappointing (bordering-on-unreadable) samples and a few DNF’s I finally gave up and went back to Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English series and reread it for the umpteenth time from start to finish.
    I also started re-listening to Lauren Layne’s Stiletto series – M/F romances set in a glittering NYC in a the milieu of journalists writing for Cosmo/GQ type magazines. Fun and soothing.
    My one “new” read was “Depending how you feel about baseball” by theundiagnosable on Ao3. I loved it! Hockey M/M – player and team GM. I don’t usually like the amnesia trope but it was well done and I really liked this story. The only unsettling thing was the real person aspect. Since I follow the Leafs quite closely, it was hard not to picture the MCs in their real guise but in this case it worked. Thank you Tammy for the recommendation!

    1. I should probably download it and change the names and then it would be fine. It’s just such a good read.

      1. I wonder if the players ever read all this stuff about them on Ao3. Must be very disconcerting! 🙂

  21. I don’t seem to have read anything new this week, or finished anything I am rereading. (Still in my Tiny Habits reread, for instance.) I DNFd a book that I intend to finish, but wanted to make room for a new hold that I’m more interested in. I’m still slowly making my way through The Widows of Malabar Hill, after renewing it once. It doesn’t seem to engage me as much as I expected.
    But I have been quite busy in the outside world, getting errands done and computer upgrades done and experimented with, and setting up my new smart plugs, which mean I have a timer free for the holiday lights this year, and can now turn the bedroom heater on and off with voice commands instead of physically plugging and unplugging it. (“Lo” is not at all the same as off.) I have hung all those lights, and a few other decorations.
    One of my errands involved buying myself a waffle iron (at a pre-Black Friday sale), which has led to several time-consuming and delicious breakfasts.
    I have been reading the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice (although I’m not a Quaker) as an antidote to chacha1’s deconstruction of Project 2025.

  22. I’m at 87% on Very Nice Funerals. Great stuff! Looking forward to the Honey Pot Plot. We’ll be listening to Agnes and the Hitman for our next audiobook. Having a quiet Thanksgiving.

  23. Read Very Nice Funerals and loved it 🙂

    Also read about 60% of Sylvia’s Second Act: A Novel—should not have tried to overlook the “a novel” part of the title. Those books basically never work for me. Unlikeable people doing unkind things to each other.

    Read the latest in a cozy series that I’ve enjoyed pretty well up until the last couple of books. This one was awful. There wasn’t even a murder until over halfway through the book. Tedious conversations about how the characters were going to staff an event and who was going to make dinner reservations. The character who was murdered was so unlikeable that the author actual acknowledged that nobody cared and killed off a more sympathetic character a minute later so we could slog on to the end. Sheesh.

    Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! Happy Thursday to everyone else!

  24. I am finishing the third book in the Rosalind Thorne series by Darcie Wilde. It is a nice listen to through a tough week .
    The MC has sn interesting situation in/out of the Ton and one of the male characters is a Bow street officer which I often have mixed feelings about.

    Also rereading Eloisa James’ A Duke of her Own. It has my favorite Duke of hers in it, Villiers, rake lowered by love.

  25. I may finish reading a novel by day’s end, too late to cover this week, and everything else that I checked I had already commented on. Just as well, considering the US holiday. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans, and Happy GBTh to the rest here!

    My circadian cycle is getting pushed later than I’d like, but I was not about to yawn through today to correct it. The rain this morning made for good sleeping weather. Then I read in bed and wrote a couple of comments here before arising for real. I’ll have to start on dinner preparations soon, since I’m about done with a makeshift brunch.

  26. About the only book I finished this week was Flint, Huff, and Goodlett’s 1636: KREMLIN GAMES. Bernie Zeppi gets hired by Prince Vlad to go to Russia and be the live-in interpreter of 20th century English to 17th century Russian… and English. He falls for Princess Natalia (Natasha to family and friends). She falls for him. Meanwhile, back in Grantville, Prince Vlad falls for Brandy Bates, ex-bargirl and current researcher at the “national library.” (Formerly the high school library.)

    The usual obligatory mention of the continuing serial word opera, VARIATION ON A THEME Book 5. This week’s chapters were Chapters 107 & 108. Just 6 more chapters for 1984-1985. Steve and his not-a-harem have finished enjoying a Carnaval Cruise and legal gambling. After the cruise, Steve flew to Hollywood to escort Jessica Lively to the opening of BACK TO THE FUTURE (Jessica got a bit part). In another universe, Jess became an enormous award-winning actress. (In Steve’s original universe, she married a jock and became a housewife.)

    Not much reading to share. OTOH, I finally watched six episodes of Season 5 (the final season) of STAR TREK LOWER DECKS and the first ten episodes of STAR TREK PRODIGY. I also re-watched the musical episode of Strange New Worlds

  27. Mary Lancaster’s The Secret Heart was #6 in the series. It was this author’s version of Pygmalion. Some stories follow strange twists and turns in their long literary lives. Pygmalion is one of them: from the original Greek myth, through Bernard Shaw’s popular play (1912) and its many adaptations and retelling over the years, including the famous musical My Fair Lady – both stage and movie – towards, finally, this charming historical romance. Lovely, if totally unrealistic.
    Then I read Stella Riley’s Masque of Deceptions, also a historical romance, and I’m not sure what to say about it. In the first part of the story, the hero was so repulsive, I hated him. He treated the heroine abominably, and I contemplated abandoning the book. I did stop reading it for a time, while I read other books and other genres. A couple months later, when I didn’t have anything new to read, I returned to this story, and it did get better. The hero definitely improved his attitude and his behavior, and the romance part of the story finally got on track. Perhaps his transformation was the point of this novel, but why did he have to be so obnoxious at the start? It poisoned the entire reading experience for me.
    Currently, I’m continuing with my re-read project of Linzi Day’s Gretna Green series. I’m finally on the ‘Yellow’ book. When I finish it, I can start the new one, Market Forces in Gretna Green. I’m enjoying the series even more the second time around.

    1. I have read several by Stella Riley and enjoyed them all (although I don’t recall reading Masque of Deceptions). My favorite, I think, is the one where the hero plays harpsichord. I found it so interesting that I looked up Jean Rondeau, her inspiration, and watched him playing.

  28. I am extraordinarily grateful for this community and reading all these recommendations. After I finished a reread of faking it, I went to the utterly uninterest and unadventurous life of Fred the vampire accountant. I loved it so much and I will be getting death and taxes next. Then I went back to Jen. Read welcome to temptation and I’m almost through Bet Me.
    There was a Terry Pratchett on sale on bookbub. so I bought that to read. But I really want to do more Jen first.
    If you’re looking for a fun movie, I recommend Thelma, which stars June squib as a 95-year-old grandmother who is the victim of a phone scam and is determined to get her money back. The writer based it on his own grandmother and in the credits, there are some wonderful shots of his grandmother talking about trees. She’s now 107 this was also Richard Roundtree‘s last movie. It’s available on Hulu or Amazon prime. I went to a screening of it and it was so good.

    1. Thanks for that link, Susan. It certainly puts things happening today into perspective. I hope the outcome is similarly triumphant.

  30. WRT DankeFest, I hope that all Arghers have something or someone to be thankful for, whether they observe the American Holiday or not.

    Personally, I did all of my cooking (and most of my eating) last night. One Cornish hen, two kinds of stuffing, two kinds of rice, and two vegetables. There are leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow. Today, instead of bird, I ate a New York Strip with tater tots on the side. Later, I think I’ll have a personal pan pizza with extra cheese and bacon. Have merci!

  31. I have accidentally stumbled into a reread of the entire Vorkosigan series and picking up all sorts of things I didn’t notice the first couple of times around – partly because the most recent books weren’t written then. Currently reading Cetaganda, and appreciating the relationship between Miles and Ivan in the light of Ivan’s book. When I read The Vor Game, the character of Jole – described as young and immensely good looking – sprang out at me.

    In between, I read Mr Scarletti’s Ghost, a very enjoyable crime novel with an interesting protagonist.

    1. I presume you saw (unless you were the poster!) the earlier post about the Vorkosigan discussion at the Plot Trysts podcast? (Google Vorkosigan at their episode list to get to that subseries.) I’m only a couple of episodes into it so far, but it’s interesting, coming at the series from a viewpoint other than mine. There was also a good Vorkosigan reread in print discussion at tor dot com some years ago, now hopefully still available at the reactormag.com site.

      1. Well, you could google it, but I meant to suggest just a Find on Page fro, the episode list.

    2. I’m having trouble getting into Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Has anyone here read it and if so, what are your impressions?

      Also just started Orbital (Samantha Harvey). Excellent so far.

      1. I enjoyed it a lot and was recently recommending it to someone. But it is slow in the beginning with a lot of scene setting and it’s hard to work out what’s going on, but it comes together really well, I think.

        I’ll probably read it again sometime.

      2. I found her earlier Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to be completely unconvincing despite all its praise. Among other things, I thought she got the master-servant relationship all wrong, particularly for upper servants and employees who were not servants. I crossed her off my list. But she has published several books since, including Piranesi, so mine seems to be a minority opinion and your taste may well differ.

      3. I got nowhere with Piranesi, i.e. 3 pages, which is not as far as I got with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which was two chapters, so I think she’s not for me.

        1. Well I’m glad to hear of other people who had the same reaction to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as I did. I just have been able to understand all the effusive praise it got.

      4. I haven’t read Piranesi, but I do remember watching a Totally Hip Book Review about it by Ron Charles (Washington Post book reviewer) and his wife, Dawn, a high school English teacher. Even if the review doesn’t help you decide whether the book is worth your time, it can provide an entertaining 4 minutes or so on the subject.

          1. Piranesi is much different from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell both in style and tone, and while many readers struggle at first (not me – I like being dropped in cold and having to figure out as I go along) I believe it well repays the effort. Many members of my book group ended up liking it even if they don’t usually read fantasy, and I found it genuinely moving by the end.

          2. I would suggest not reading or listening to reviews beforehand though, even non-spoilerish ones.

      5. When I started with it I struggled a bit and the only thing that kept me going was knowing my friend loved the book. But I’m glad I did keep going because I ended up really enjoying it! If you can keep pushing through, it does pick up soon and starts to introduce the inklings of a mystery your brain itches to solve

  32. I started off the week with another partial read.

    1. ‘Aqua Follies’ by Liv Rancourt. Skipped from the 40% point to the last chapter and it seems all I missed was 2x the insta-love and bad choices and depressing 1950s social realities. Had such a great premise though – former Olympic swimmer, now coaching a swim theater group alongside his controlling aunt, falls for one of the musicians hired for their shows in Seattle. Didn’t much like either MC, unfortunately, though they are more appealing at the end than the beginning.

    2. ‘Karaoke Queen’ by Dominic Lim. I didn’t like this quite as much as his debut novel last year – the college ex awkwardness went on a bit too long, as did the ‘must hide my drag’ hangup – but did enjoy it overall. San Francisco setting with two Filipino American MCs.

    3. ‘An Uncommon Alignment’ by Ellie Thomas, novella providing a satisfying conclusion to her M/M/M Regency trilogy.

    4. ‘Life Lessons’ by Kaje Harper. M/M romantic suspense series starter that is long on suspense, short on romance, because one MC is an out high school teacher and the other is a closeted cop. Set in Minneapolis. It seems the next in series addresses the in/out problem, but it’s got a serial killer, which I usually hate, so … leery.

    4.5 ‘Corruption’ by Kim Fielding. Novella-length series starter (The Bureau, magical species law enforcement) in which a half-angel Bureau agent is sent to deal with a captive demon being brutally pimped out by a carny. This is not a warm fuzzy story. The conclusion is lovely but I’m leery again … if the rest in this series are similarly violent they would form a subset of Fielding’s stories that I wouldn’t happily re-read.

    5. ‘A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599’ by James Shapiro. Great book! That said, I was really grateful to get to The End and find the last 26% of the file was bibliographic essay and notes that I could skip. Added his book about the Year of Lear to my wishlist.

    6. ‘Cafe Neandertal’ by Beebe Bahrami. Really enjoyed this one too, and it’s exactly the right length. Bahrami is a cultural anthropologist and journalist who spent 5 summers working a dig in the Dordogne. Well paced, philosophical, entertaining, informative, definitely makes a person 1) hungry, 2) want to spent a summer in southwest France. Bahrami is fluent in 4 languages and her writing reflects that, I think; it’s clear many conversations presented in English were actually conducted in French, Occitan, Farsi, or other. Will likely pick up one of her other books sometime.

    7. [re-read] my own novel ‘The Ghost of Carlos Gardel,’ the one about making a low-budget independent film about the 1930s tango star.

    1. Chachal, I liked both Jim Shapiro’s books that focus on single years of Shakespeare’s output: 1599 and 1606 (the year of Lear). His writing is especially fun for me because we were in grad school together.

    2. Not to mention, Chacha1, your very cogent analysis of Project 2025 that you are breaking down into digestible chunks in an ongoing series of posts on your blog. I noticed several of us Arghers are following it.

  34. I’m very thankful for this blog, for Jenny for starting it and all the members for posting. I’ve discovered so many wonderful books and seen so many beautiful crafts.
    As for GBT, I’m on Elle Cosimano’s third Finlay Donovan. Still a lot of fun, though I do wish she’d tie up the overarching plot. LOL

  35. Also read Pratchett this week – “I Shall Wear Midnight”, one of the Tiffany Aching books. He is really good, although was a little disappointed in Roland.

    Read “Damaged Goods” by Lauren Gallagher – what if you fell in love with your sex-worker, except the client is a divorced mother and the sex-worker is a well adjusted educated man from a nice family. Interesting premise, done well, liked it.

    Most fun thing this week was the fourth installment of “Fun Times w Chapel & Spock”, a SNW fic by Milky_Whys on A03 https://archiveofourown.org/series/3007845 . Funny and angsty and I really enjoyed the series (I advise stopping here, #5 has good parts but I think this is the better ending).

    1. Somewhere Iread that if you buy the kindle for kids, you don’t get the ads and it’s cheaper. Is this true?

  37. I am reading the Purveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey, which was recommended here. The first book The Widows of Malabar Hill had a few flashbacks in the first third. I loath flashbacks so I skimmed those but they really were necessary to the story. Once I was over my snit about the flashbacks, the story hummed along and I really enjoyed it. I am now on the second book and love it. Thanks to those who recommended it.

    1. I am not usually bothered by flashbacks but these are part of why I’m so slow getting through it. Happy to hear the next book is not full of them. I will persevere.

  38. Just popped in to spread the happy news that there is a new Ben Aaronovitch, Stone and Sky, coming out July 8, 2025. Wheeeeee!

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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