The Treehouse

Great Transworld Crime Caper

I thought this looked exciting and decided to join in - I can't resist a whodunnit! All you have to do is live in the EU, visit the blog and say which books you would like to review. Once you've received, read and reviewed your first book - the second one arrives and then the third.

I have chosen these three books...

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler

Past Caring by Robert Goddard

January Reading

Bit of a poor effort for January as I did such a lot of sewing however, I did read some good books. I just looked back and noticed that I didn't do a books read in December post :o 

 

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis - I had a little splurge before Christmas. I like reading stories about the Amish and I bought a couple of books by Cindy Woodsmall and this one and 3 others by Beverly Lewis who is a new author to me. The Thorn is the first of a new trilogy and I thoroughly enjoyed it and am eagerly awaiting the next two books in the series.

Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall - another novel about the Amish and the second in the Ada's House series. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait for the third book to come out. 

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King - another new author to me, I did a review of this book in January for the Historical Fiction challenge. I'll be buying more in this series of books.

The Paper Bag Christmas by Kevin Alan Milne - I stumbled across this in the library one day and I'm glad I did. Packet of tissues required but such a sweet story. Highly recommended.

Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn - the continuing adventures of Lady Julia. Not sure that I enjoyed this as much as the first three if I'm honest. I need to do a review of this one for the Historical Reading challenge so I'll leave it at that for now.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - this is one of John's books. He had got it out for Catherine to read and when she was finished I decided to read it myself. I enjoyed it - excellent storyline, I would have liked more of it though.

What a terribly short list :o perhaps I need to divide my time a bit more evenly this month!

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

I came across this book quite by chance while wandering around a new to me bookshop one day. I was initially drawn in by the cover - I can't resist a good book cover and the artwork on this one is particularly appealing to me. When I turned to the back to read the blurb I was sufficiently intrigued to go and buy the book - an adventure with Sherlock Holmes and a young lady being the subject of the story.

"1915. The great detective Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honey bees when a young woman literally stumbles into him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes - and match him wit for wit. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern twentieth-century woman proves a deft protegee and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective. In their first case together, they must track down a kidnapped American senator's daughter and confront a truly cunning adversary - a bomber who has set trip-wires for the sleuths and who will stop at nothing to end their partnership."

The book starts out with an 'explanation' by the author of how she came to write the book and immediately there is a mystery at hand before the main story has even begun. Following this, Mary Russell is introduced and she immediately stumbles across Sherlock Holmes lying on grass observing the comings and going of bees. They develop relationship/friendship and over the years spend a large amount of time together before Mary goes up to Oxford. Their adventures proper begin with the affair of the kidnapped senator's daughter, although they do solve a couple of small local mysteries before this, and lead on to dealing with a nasty, criminal mastermind. 

Many of the regular characters are also in the story - Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson, Mycroft Holmes and even an Inspector Lestrade although this is the son of the original. The story travels from Eastbourne to London, Oxford and the Holy Land and back again to London, Oxford and Eastbourne. There was a strong whiff of who the evil genius might be but no way of landing on the right person exactly until Mary herself worked it out. Although the 'action' was a little slow to get going initially with plenty of scene setting and character building on the parts of Mary and Holmes, once it did I didn't want to put the book down. I thought Mary a wonderful character - almost a female version of Holmes. It is a brave thing to take on such a well loved, strong character as Holmes and tinker around with his personality/character but I think the job was well done here and will certainly be seeking out more of the series to read.

This is my first review for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Book Challenges 2011

I enjoyed taking part in the Everything Austen Challenge this year and have this week happened upon a couple more challenges that I can't resist.

The first one is the Historical Fiction reading challenge hosted on the Historical Tapestry blog - what a great blog this is for anybody like myself who is a lover of historical fiction. I haven't visited before this week but will be spending some quality time reading the entries over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to aim for Severe Bookaholism for this challenge...20 books, I think that won't be at all difficult for me.

The second challenge is 'Being a Jane Austen Mystery Challenge' and involves reading a number of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mystery books. I haven't read any of these before so I'm going to sign myself up as a neophyte with the proviso that I may promote myself to an afficionado if I find that I like the books very much (strong possibility of this happening as historical + Jane Austen + detective is the sort of book right at the top of my list of likes). I'll be starting with the first 4 books...I always like to read in order.

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (1996)

Jane and the Man of the Cloth (1997)

Jane and the Wandering Eye (1998)

Jane and the Genius of the Place (1999)

Two good challenges there I think, I'm looking forward to both of them.

 

October Books

Heartstone by CJ Sansom - It's a few years now since I started reading these books. I remember buying the first two books from Amazon and not very far into the first book I was well and truly hooked. I love 'detective' stories and when they're set in the past they're twice as appealing to me. The historical detail in these books is superb - CJ Sansom has a PhD in History and it shows! Matthew Shardlake is such an unlikely hero - a bent, hunchback lawyer whose faith has been eroded away by the excesses and injustices of the court of Henry VIII. There was a point in this book when I feared that Mr. Sansom had decided that Matthew has pursued his final investigation but thank goodness that wasn't the case. This story is set around the time of the 1544-6 war with France and Matthew's investigations while not related to the war, do result in his 'involvement' in the war.  I can't recommend these books enough and wish I had the time to go back and re-read the first 4 books. (library)

Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas - Having read The End of Mr Y and PopCo I was anticipating a good read when I picked up this book. Unfortunately I can find little that is good to say about it. As always, the cover was fabulous and inviting and the blurb on the back describes it as 'smart, entrancing and buzzing with big ideas.' I'm sorry to say that I was so entranced that on more than one occasion I fell asleep while reading it. I only persisted because I wanted Meg to ditch the terrible boyfriend and get on with her life - thank goodness she did do that or I would consider the hours that it took me to read this book completely and utterly wasted. (library)

The Infernal Game : Ghost Dance by Rebecca Levine - this was the second in a series of books and although not quite as 'different' as the first book it was an enjoyable read. (library)

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris - there's nothing quite like a Sookie and this book had quite a few. I'm not a keen short story reader to be honest and I had already read two of these before in other compilations but...I did enjoy this little treat even though it didn't last very long. I think my favourite is the Christmas story. (library)

Fool's Puzzle by Earlene Fowler - an new series of cozy mysteries with a quilting twist added to them, what a treat! Benni Harper is the (very unofficial) investigator in these books, her full time job being curator of a small town museum. I really enjoyed this and no need to be put off by the quiltyness of it if you're not a fan of quilting as the actual murder doesn't revolve around quilting really. (TBR)

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis - I spotted this on Carol's list and ordered it from the library and I was not disappointed in the slightest. If I hadn't had a need to sleep I would have read it from cover to cover without pause. An unusual story but most enjoyable...not very long either really. (library)

Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs - the second in the series of Brenda and Effie adventures and several threads came together in this one and there was a glimpse of some of Brenda's past life. Good fun! (library)

Jump by Jilly Cooper - in the past I have enjoyed Jilly Cooper's stories until the book previous to this one which I thought was much too long. I decided to give this one a go to see if matters had improved but they had not. So many characters introduced into the story at the beginning that I felt quite dizzy trying to work out who they all were and to top that most of them were given ridiculous nicknames which made it even more confusing and irritating. Topped off by a few extremely unpleasant 'adult' scenes the 800 pages of this book have put me off bothering with anymore of this lady's writing. (library)

Irish Chain by Earlene Fowler - murder in the old folks home this time and Benni is on the case...much to the annoyance of the angst ridden Chief of Police! (TBR)

 

Having bought some new bookshelves this month in which to house my ever expanding book collection I've realised that I really need to address the size of my Mt TBR and stop ordering books up from the library for a while. Not sure how that idea is going to go but I'll give it a go!

September Reading

I thought it was time I did a recap of my months' reading (similar to Carole's posts) instead of mentioning the occasional book here and there. Turns out that I read a couple of excellent books this month so it's been a good month to start!

1. Unraveled Sleeve by Monica Ferris - I started this month off with a bookspiral passed on to me by Carole. This is what's referred to as a cozy mystery and they do make you feel like snuggling up by a roaring fire while you read the afternoon away. This is the 3rd of this series that I've read, I think there are 3 more to come and they are a pleasant interlude in between other things. (bookspiral)

2. Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz - a new author to me and one that I spotted on Nat's blog, she was reading The Burning Lamp - it sounded good so I ordered it up from the library and discovered that it was book 2 of the trilogy. I can't begin in the middle so I had to order up book no.1 which was this one. This book is set in the modern day with the series being about psychic power and a mysterious group called the Arcane Society. An interesting twist on the idea of psychic powers with people having different psychic talents and a lot of emphasis on the power of 'dreamlight' - an invisible residue left over from dreaming that people leave all over the place. I enjoyed this book...in fact I started and finished it in the same evening and will be ordering up more of this author's books from the library. (library)

3. The Burning Lamp by Jayne Ann Krentz (writing as Amanda Quick) - book 2 of the series is set in Victorian London. Similar type of plot to the first book but with enough variation in it so as not to make the story just a repeat of the first book. The characters were most enjoyable. I'll have to wait for book no. 3 as the library hasn't acquired it just yet  -  I think it's set in the future though. Interesting and refreshing order of doing things - present, past, future. There are plenty more Arcane series books for me to get stuck into with characters appearing from this particular book I notice. (library)

4. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry - oh this was so good I wish I could start it all over again. It's sad and upsetting but gripping reading, I couldn't put it down. (bookring) It's set in Salem and is about a family of women with 'powers' however the story isn't really about the powers but is instead a psychological thriller.

5. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane - how have I not come across this book before? I read a review on Stephanie's Written Word of both film and book and decided to order it up from the library. I did watch the film clip and thought it looked like a bit of a horror story. I was stepping out of my comfort zone...or trying to! It's not a horror story, I was mistaken. It is however an excellent read, highly recommended...I couldn't put it down. Strange that I should read it straight after The Lace Reader, must have been some cosmic force at work there! This book had me being curious, horrified, scared and very, very sad. (library book)

6. Never the Bride by Paul Magrs - Carole put me onto this author with tales of vampires in Whitby...well, how could I resist! I was so gripped after the first chapter that I immediately ordered up book no. 2 - I did get a little less gripped as the book went on however - it ends in spectacular fashion and if I hadn't had bookrings to read I would have gone straight on to read book 2. (library)

7. P is for Peril by Sue Grafton - this was excellent, I think in my review I called it the best yet. I really like Kinsey Millhone as a character and most of the stories are good but there has seemed to me to be a little bit of a method in the writing...until this one. (bookspiral)

8. Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton - another good one, this book has Kinsey working in partnership with two much older law enforcement officers - the banter and chatter was good and it made for less of the descriptive paragraphs of the surrounding areas that I usually skim over.

9. Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich - this wasn't on my scheduled list of reading but when I called into the library on Wednesday with Catherine it was sitting on a display waiting for me! It was brand new in that day, untouched by other reading eyes. I brought it home and devoured it instantly! I enjoyed it. I did chuckle several times but I never cried with laughter as I have done at almost all of the Stephanie Plum (I think the latest one is the only one not to have required a box of tissues at the ready). I enjoyed the characters and I can see that we're set up for at least another 6 books of Diesel and Lizzy adventures. The supporting characters are good - in particular Glo the 'would-be-witch' who causes catastrophe with her book of spells! It's enjoyable and worth reading but don't expect to almost expire from lack of breath due to laughter (but then maybe that's a good thing!).

 

Not so many books for me this month - I've been fitting in a lot of sewing until this week when the need to read has overpowered all else! I have a couple of bookrings lined up (and already started) for October and a huge stack of library books. Mt TBR is growing very dusty, I should really pay it some attention this month. 

A Visit to Chawton

While driving home from our holiday on the Isle of Wight...we called in here and spent a lovely while wandering around and had a most amusing encounter with a very realistic and funny apothecary in the kitchen! There were some lovely examples of ceramic work on display from Bristol University - one set in particular caught my eye and I wish I could have photographed it, it was a very delicate set of chinaware made to resemble crumpled up pages, the edges of the plates/dishes were gold and there was gold writing on too...such a clever idea and beautiful to look at. I also went and had a very good look at the Jane Austen quilt/coverlet which is upstairs and displayed on a tent bed. Considering the age of this quilt, the colours are really very vivid, it's in remarkable condition...and I hadn't realised that the sashing had little polka dots on it - again, no photo I'm afraid, I don't think it's allowed really - the quilt is displayed in a room without light and as you walk into the room the electric light comes on so that you can see the quilt on the bed which is behind a protective screen.

 

While driving down to the IofW I read another book for the Everything Austen challenge - Writing Jane Austen by Elizabeth Aston.

Here's some blurb from the back of the book...

"Critically acclaimed and award winning - but hardly bestselling - author Georgina Jackson can't get past the first chapter of her second book. When she receives and urgent email from her agent, Georgina is certain it's bad news. Shockingly, she's offered a commission to complete a newly discovered unfinished manuscript by a major nineteenth century author. Skeptical at first about her ability to complete the manuscript, Georgina is horrified to learn that the author in question is Jane Austen."

As in Jane Austen stories, there are some truly ghastly characters in this story - the editor, the publisher and his sister! Poor Georgina, she runs from pillar to post trying to escape these dreadful people and trying to escape writing the book...unfortunately, she needs to do it because she needs the money. I loved gentle Henry and his sister Maud and wonderful Anna and the quiet little romance going on in the background. I was getting a little frustrated with Georgina and wishing she would at least sit down and try to write the book instead of running around all the time, lol! I enjoyed this book - in fact, when Catherine  had run out of holiday reading she took it away and read it herself and pronounced it to be 'good' and 'ok'.

 

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

 I couldn't resist this book when I was hunting around for things to do for the challenge - I love Sense and Sensibility and the picture on the book of is irresistable! As I've not yet read P&P and Zombies I wasn't sure what to expect from a Quirk Classic when I started to read this so it was quite a new experience. Here is the blurb from the back of the book...

"Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen's biting social commentary with ultraviolet depcitions of sea monsters biting. It's survival of the fittest - and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

I think you could read this without actually having read S&S but I found it enjoyable to be able to compare, to know what was coming in the original story and see how it had been altered/changed for this crustaceous version! There is a great deal of death and blood and gore and the monsters are very monstrous indeed - there are all of the things that one would expect the be associated with the sea and a mystery runs all the way through the book. I tried to read it slowly and spin it out because I was enjoying it but I gave up on that idea fairly soon! I thoroughly enjoyed it - the addition of the pictures was a nice touch. The original story remains mostly intact and my only criticism is that on a few occasions the language wasn't quite right - it neither fit with a Regency fashion of speaking nor with an English fashion of speaking. If I say much more I'm in danger of dropping spoilers so I'll leave it that it's a thoroughly good hoot of a read and highly recommended. 

I hope P&P and Zombies is as good!

Austenland by Shannon Hale

This is another review for the Everything Austen challenge  - I'm a little behind with the reviewing! This book wasn't on my original list, it's an add-on and I was quite excited about it. Here's the blurb from the back of the book first of all... 

"Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man - perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths to her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly becomes more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for goof, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own? 

I'm not sure what I was expecting the actual Austenland place to be like but it certainly wasn't anything like I imagined! There are plenty of amusing bits in the story, the place itself is horribly cringeworthy as is the woman who owns/runs it and the heroine has in the past been a bit of a Marianne Dashwood - ready to fall in love at a moment's notice and planning the wedding and number of children 5 minutes after she's met somebody. It was an amusing light read, ideal for summer holiday reading.

 

Finishes and New Arrivals

  The postman has been pretty busy delivering to the Treehouse over the last week. As well as the kit for Lynette Anderson's Scandinavian Christmas (I forgot to photograph this), he also brought the next My Garden pattern/button and Electric Quilt 7. I am stitching along on Scandinavian Christmas with Simone  and we are just waiting for her first delivery to arrive so that we can set a date for completing the first block - they are quite large blocks but I'm looking forward to stitching them. 

As for the Electric Quilt - I am itching to start playing with that - I've not owned a copy other than the Dear Jane software before so I'm sure that there will be a learning curve involved...I'm just waiting for the 'technical department' to fix me up with an appropriate version of Windows so that I can get going - I only have an old version on my Mac which I use for Inklingo cds and cross stitch software and it won't do for EQ!

I've been in a finishing off mood this last week or so and have finally finished stitching Geranium House by CCN. It's such a pretty design and I'm pleased with how it turned out...just wish that the fabric had been a little lighter. Its destiny is to become a cushion. I also finished off the little scissor fob from the LHN Needle and Thread pattern - that is super cute, I really like it - I'm not sure that I will bother to make many more scissor fobs although it does look very sweet dangling from the halloween scissors

   

I've made a start on my list for the Everything Austen II challenge in fact, I keep on finding things that I want to add to the list. I've ordered up a 'few' more books from the library and I had a little party over at Amazon and The Book Depository last night. I can see that this is going to be an Austentatious summer! It is certainly the weather for staying indoors and reading and sewing - we have had steady downpours of rain, thunder and lightening and some flooding for just over a week now. Most bizarre weather indeed. 

I'm hoping and hoping that it's going to brighten up and at least remain dry for a while as this has been a very soggy beginning to the school summer holidays. We had planned to get in some bowling practice today which I certainly need as my defeat last night was almost total - I blame it on the wet conditions! I did manage to score 2 points before the end of the match so I wasn't completely embarrassed. Also, we've now booked a week's holiday. We were going to go to France with the tent again but given the precarious situation of my back we thought that would be unwise. We're now going to the Isle of Wight and have booked a lovely little thatched cottage to stay in...I'm really excited about that, I think we're taking the bicycles along as well so plenty of exercise to balance out the time sat reading and sewing :)

I know I've not posted about my Flower Garden for a few weeks - I have fallen behind with it somewhat but I do intend to make some flowers before the end of the month and post about them at the same time I post about my clamshell progress. A new Inklingo collection of 1/2 clamshells and edges has just been released and I will certainly be adding this to my Inklingo library very soon along with the 1" diamond collection which I need for my Flower Garden.

Hoping to have the stitching completed on a couple more Christmas story blocks this week...just a few more roses and leaves to go :)