Best of 2022

Already time for the yearly roundup of some of my best reads this year. I always wait until the very last possible moment to post my list; you never know what you'll come across around Christmas! I like to give every book I've read this year a chance to appear on my favourites list, no matter if I read it in the first week of January or the last few days of December. 

I also create a statistical summary each year, mostly for my own geekish pleasure. As I've said before, I don't think of reading as a competition -- I keep track of numbers and various stats for my own interest, not to prove anything or compare myself to anyone. 

Here are my reading stats for 2022:

Total Reading: 132

Authors

Female: 114
Male: 11
Both/Neither: 7

Genre 

Fiction: 87

Non Fiction: 42

Poetry: 3

In Translation: 44

Ukrainian - 20

Russian (Ukrainians writing in) - 4

Italian - 5

Japanese - 4

French - 2

Quebec French - 1

Spanish - 1

Korean - 1

Hebrew - 1

Greek - 1

Danish - 1

Czech - 1

Farsi - 1

Finnish -1

My Own Books: 23
Library Books: 106

Review Copies: 3

Rereads: 4
E-reads: 33

Author who I read the most from: 

Elizabeth von Arnim with 4

2022's Weird Random Stat: 

Books with place names in their titles: 9

I seem to have picked up my reading slightly over last year, which admittedly was a very strange year! The number of audiobooks I read this year dropped quite a lot but I'm still using them more than I did in the past. 

Like always, I read a big majority of women authors, and quite a few more library books than my own this year. Must get to my own shelves again soon. But I am happy with all the great books I found through the library!

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And now for the Best of 2022!

These are titles that were memorable, unusual, or caught me with their great storytelling or rich characters. Just books that hit the right note with me when I picked them up! I read a lot of good books this year, but it was hard to pick out the great ones. 

Starting with some great Ukrainian reading:

1. Daughter / Tamara Duda - my top read of the year. Hard hitting and sometimes tough to read, this was difficult at times but so compelling

2. Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex / Oksana Zabuzhko - a classic of Ukrainian literature, I found it very engaging, and relished her writing style

3. Dog Park / Sofi Oksanen - this Finnish/Estonian writer told a fascinating story, and captures contemporary life in Ukraine and Europe

4. From Heart to Heart / Lesia Ukrainia & Hrytsko Hryhorenko - my favourite volume so far in the Language Lanterns series of collected writings of Ukrainian women from the turn of the last century. So good. 

And then some lighter reading for enjoyment:

5. Killers of a Certain Age / Deanna Raybourn - a delightful read featuring four aging assassins who use the invisibility of older women to their advantage

6. Hester / Laurie Lico Albanese - a deeply woven historical novel featuring a seamstress/embroiderer who leaves Scotland to go to New England at the time of Nathaniel Hawthorne and unwittingly becomes his inspiration for "The Scarlet Letter" (all fictional of course)

7. Clothes-Pegs / Susan Scarlett - a frothy romance from the 30s, enjoyable for its setting in a fashion house and all the fabulous family interactions. The romance is passable.

8. Aggie Morton & the Seaside Corpse / Marthe Jocelyn - the final volume in one of my favourite middle grade series which manages to tie up the series in a touching but not maudlin way. 

And finishing off with two wonderful non-fiction reads: 

9. The Ukrainian Night / Marci Shore - a history of the 2014 Euromaidan revolution through interviews with Ukrainians who were part of it. Shore has a non-intrusive authorial voice, and this story gives a lot of background for those new to Ukrainian history

10. Summer Kitchens / Olia Hercules - this cookbook is more than just recipes (although those are wonderful). It's also full of photos and stories about Ukrainian traditions all across the country. Simply beautiful. I didn't review this one, but I highly recommend it!

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And there it is, my yearly roundup. I didn't read quite as much in numbers this year, but found that the books I was reading took more concentration and focus. Many were by new-to-me writers. I did find some excellent reads, and many of the books not on this final list were very good books that just didn't quite make it to the top ten. I'm hoping for a good reading year ahead and more new discoveries.

Challenges Past and Challenges Ahead

Last year I participated in yearlong reading projects, many of which are long term ongoing ones. I'm still going on with most of them for 2023, but am also adding in another year-long project that I found - one that I've done in the past but forgotten about, the TBR pile challenge! I started out this year trying to read more from my own shelves so this will be a good reminder to keep at it.

I always read along with the Canadian Book Challenge, which runs from July 1 - July 1. I finished my 13 reads for the 15th Challenge, and now we're working along on the 16th Challenge, hosted by Shonna of Canadian Bookworm. I started a bit slowly, but I do have 7 books read so far, so only 6 more to go before July 1, 2023!

I've embarked on a new ACOB Challenge -- A Century of Books was created by Simon at Stuck in a Book some years ago. My first go took 4 years, not one, and my second go looked like it was going to take 4 years too. So I started a new run even though I hadn't quite finished the last one! My new project has changed a little, I am now reading the century from 1920 - 2020. The turn of our century feels a long way away now so I've bumped up the century. My plan is to read women writers and have got a few filled in already!

As always, I enjoyed reading for August's Women in Translation Month, which is more of a readalong than a challenge per se, but it helps me to focus in on my reading and reviews. I'll keep participating as long as it goes on as well. This year I really went all in and posted every day in August. So many great works in translation out there. Founder Meytal Radzinzki of Biblio.com also launched a new WIT website last year, so it's a great resource to check out if you are also intrigued by this readalong project (I recommend it!)

This year I've also decided to join up with a challenge that is a classic in the blog world, now celebrating its 10th year, the TBR Pile Challenge hosted by RoofBeam Reader. Essentially you commit to reading 12 books that have been on your personal shelves for at least one year. My problem was narrowing down my vast book holdings to only 12 choices ;) My list is here, & that's where I'll be tracking my progress on this one.

 

And finally there's my own challenge, of sorts, the Literary Sewing Circle. This is a readalong I host on my sewing blog, Following the Thread, twice a year. We read a book together and then sew something inspired by our reading. We took a break this fall but are planning to return with a new title in Spring 2023! 

I hope that 2023 brings you both new reading adventures and all the literary challenges you could wish for!

Year In Review: 2022 in First Lines!

My yearly Christmas treat

As usual at this time of year, I review and share my reading/blogging year with First Lines.

Simply put, we share the first line of the first post of each month and see what that overview tells us about our year. Often it can be an uncannily accurate summary.

If you haven't tried this before, give it a go this year; it's a fun exercise, and often summarizes the year quite efficiently. If you do, please share a link in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Here is my 2022 Year in First Lines: 

January:

Over Christmas I revisited some stories by an author I really enjoy, Rumer Godden. [from The Fairy Doll]

February:

I'm turning to some older books from my shelves lately. [from The Benefactress]

March:

During this month of International Women's Day, I wanted to get at least one relevant review in. [from Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men]

April:

Now moving back a century to visit the schooldays of Laura Rambotham, in this Australian classic. [from The Getting of Wisdom]

May:

This gorgeous picture book got me excited about sharing my reading again! [from Stars & Poppy Seeds]

June:

This middle grade novel is a companion to Skrypuch's earlier novel, Stolen Child. [from Making Bombs for Hitler]

July:

It's the end of July already & I haven't shared much reading lately. [from Summer Slipping By]

August:

August brings one of my favourite reading celebrations of the year -- Women in Translation Month. [from Women in Translation Month is Here Again!]

September:

I did say that I hadn't quite finished talking about books by women in translation in August; today I have some all in one reviews for a quartet of Italian books that, as it turned out, I didn't fall in love with. [from Italy in September]

October:

Since it's time for some spooky reads, I picked up a couple of books from the young reader section of my library. [from Spooky Youthful Reads]

November:

I picked up this book on the Halloween weekend, as a timely read ;) [from Ukrainian Women's Magic Traditions]

December:

For December I'm going to share some of the lighter reads I've been exploring over the last while - this week it's a few of the fashion/sewing related ones that I've already shared over on my sewing blog, Following The Thread. [from Clothes-Pegs]

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Looking back over the year, I started out reading and sharing some of the older books from my shelves, but then found it hard to read and focus once the invasion of Ukraine began Feb. 24. I started reading and reviewing a lot of Ukrainian work, reviewing a lot of it during August for Women in Translation Month, and beyond. I read spooky books in October and finished up with some fashion oriented fiction from my sewing blog.

I think this reveals the shape of my reading preoccupations over 2022 quite well! Let's hope it's a better 2023 in which war ends and doesn't have to be the overriding concern for anyone in life or reading. 

The TBR Pile Challenge turns 10

 

The Goal

To finally read twelve books that have been sitting on your “TBR Pile” list or shelves for a year or more.

Adam of RoofBeamReader has been running this challenge now for 10 years, and I have participated in the past. I haven't been doing a lot of challenges in the last few years, though, aside from the long-term regular ones. So when I saw this announcement I thought I'd jump in once more! I have so many unread books on my shelves and have been trying to read more of them. This challenge should help with that! 

So without further ado, here is my list of 12 books (and 2 alternates) that I am planning on reading in 2023:

This stack is actually in reverse order -- my two alternates are perched on top! So in order from bottom to top, these are my 2023 picks from the multitude on my bookshelves. I will use this post to keep track of them and link the reviews as they go up.

1. The Door / Magda Szabo 

2. The House of Spirits / Isabel Allende

3. Kiss the Joy As It Flies / Sheree Fitch

4. Father / Elizabeth von Arnim

5. Breakfast with the Nikolides / Rumer Godden

6. The 27th Kingdom / Alice Thomas Ellis

7. A Note in Music / Rosamond Lehmann

8. In a Summer Season / Elizabeth Taylor

9. The Paris-Napoli Express / Janice Kulyk Keefer

10. Mr. Wrong / Elizabeth Jane Howard 

11. Green Water, Green Sky / Mavis Gallant

12. Crusoe's Daughter / Jane Gardam 

Alternates: 

1. Brat Farrar / Josephine Tey

2. He, She & It / Marge Piercy 

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas 

to all my readers who celebrate! 

May your holidays be peaceful and full of the quiet sounds 

of turning pages and crackling fireplaces, and pens scratching

out reading lists for 2023!

 

Happy Christmas Eve!

 

Happy Christmas Eve -- it's a lovely time to be still and reflective. In this excerpt from the story Christmas Eve in Dorothy Richardson's collection Journey to Paradise, a group of disparate girls in a boarding house find some glory in the night despite themselves. They are all asked to go up to the room of a German girl who has bought herself a small Christmas tree, just for a few minutes -- 

The curtains were all thrown up over their rails leaving the room clear. Someone had pushed back the beds so that there was space on the linoleum-covered floor  for all the stand about the little tree. Its many candles glowed sharply in the cold air. Fraulein Braun stood near the tree as we all gathered in a rough circle. 

"What are we to do, Fraulein?" asked Miss Spencer briskly to cover a giggle from little Green.

"Are all here?" asked Fraulein in her deep voice.

"Everyone in the house, Fraulein."

Fraulein drew back into the awkward circle between Edith and the little Hindu who was standing with reverently bent head and her little hands clasped downwards before her. At the end of a moment Fraulein's rich voice rose and filled he large cold room.

'Sh - ti- il - le Nacht  / Hei - li - ge Nacht'

As she sang the room seemed to grow less cold. The sharp separate rays of the little candles changed to one rosy golden blur. 

When Fraulein's voice ceased there was silence. Miss Spencer looked about with a cheerful questioning face. She could be heard urging someone to do something. In a moment she would speak. I was aware of a stirring at my side and felt the flush that made Cook's face uniform with her nose. Her impulse had animated more than one but it was her old unused voice that broke the silence with song in which presently all joined as they could: 

'While shepherds watched their flocks by night

  All seated on the ground

The Angel of the Lord came down, 

  And glory shone around.'

Murder Under the Christmas Tree

Murder Under the Christmas Tree / ed. by Cecily Gayford
London, UK: Profile Books, c2016.
288 p.

 

This collection was a fun and seasonal read. Somehow at Christmas I like to read classic mysteries so this collection of 10 by a variety of authors really hit the spot. It includes the following: 

The Necklace of Pearls by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Name on the Window by Edmund Crispin

A Traditional Christmas by Val McDermid

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Invisible Man by G.K. Chesterton

Cinders by Ian Rankin

Death on the Air by Ngaio March

Persons or Things Unknown by Carter Dixon

The Case is Altered by Margery Allingham

The Price of Light by Ellis Peters

I had already read a couple of these -- the Sherlock Holmes one of course, and the Dorothy Sayers one in an earlier Wimsey collection. But I enjoyed rereading, and discovering some of the others that were new to me. They are not all super Christmassy, but a few stood out. I don't usually read modern crime writers like McDermid, but her story in this collection was an enjoyable read that I found both tricky and fascinating both for the murder and for the characterizations she was able to bring out in just a few pages. 

I found the Allingham pretty weak, even though I have liked her novels in the past, and the Dixon was kind of forgettable for me. The one I was sure I wouldn't love was the Peters - medieval stories aren't generally my favourite. But this Brother Cadfael story was surprisingly apt for our times, and made a great conclusion to the book. 

I'd recommend this one if you are looking for some Christmassy stories to read during the holidays. There's likely something in it for everyone, and it's always nice to revisit some old classics if you've encountered them before. Happy Holiday reading! 

Journey To Paradise

Journey to Paradise / Dorothy Richardson
London: Virago, 1989
192 p.

This is an older Virago book that I've had on my shelves for quite a long time. I've always been interested in Dorothy Richardson, for her 13 volume novel Pilgrimage, and her role in originating the term 'stream of consciousness'. But when you only have one or two volumes in the large work, you put off beginning -- not until they are all handy at least! 

So this was a great way to be introduced to her style and some of her themes, both in fiction and in self-definition. This book is a collection of short stories plus a few bits of autobiographical writing she put together for publishers. And it's a really interesting read. 

Her style is a bit opaque in a way; the long sentences, or the brief fragmentary ones, the changing between subject and object in narrative voice, the abrupt endings to some of the stories - it all makes it a bit of a challenge to read. But I found that if you just relax into it and understand it as real stream of consciousness, it really is like someone thinking and starts to feel natural. Plus I don't mind feeling a bit at sea when I'm reading something, I like the feeling of not quite knowing exactly what's going on at all times. 

I appreciated that these short stories are about women's lives, from women's viewpoints, both young and very old. There are many families explored here and the characters interact in individual ways. I found the characters realistic and intriguing, from an old woman on the point of dying musing on how to live to a very young girl experiencing her first realizations of the world being its own thing outside of her. 

It was a seasonal read as well, to my surprise, as there are two stories set at Christmas. In one, a young woman struggles to find the perfect Christmas card to send to all her friends and relations. It's relatable in that she finds some too sentimental, too garish, too bland etc. but finally settles on a hand-painted style that she has to order. The story is brief but captures that search and desire for perfection perfectly. The other is about another young woman on her own in a boarding house at Christmas. The girls are friendly but nobody is really celebrating, except for a German girl who insists on going out and getting a tree for her room on Christmas Eve. The blasé and modern young women in the rest of the house are surprised by this, and also by the sudden swell of  tradition and peace it brings to them all. It's a lovely story, and I'll share an excerpt here on Christmas Eve. 

I enjoyed this one and think it would definitely be one you could get more out of through rereading. I'm going to make more of an effort to collect the volumes of Pilgrimage so I can start on that journey, too. 

Aggie Morton & the Seaside Corpse

 

The Seaside Corpse / Marthe Jocelyn
Toronto : Tundra, ©2022.
354 p.

I couldn't resist quickly reading the fourth (and sadly last) book in the Aggie Morton series. In this one, Aggie and Hector are going to be "junior scientists" at a fossil dig at Lyme Regis. There is a team of scientists getting ready to remove their discovery of a large ichthyosaur from the sea, and Aggie & Hector, along with two other young boys (Arthur & Oscar) are going to camp there for a week and help out. 

Because of this set-up the story feels more adventurous than straight mystery. Hector has to contend with a camp cot in a shared tent with other boys, not his natural milieu. And Aggie, observant as ever, begins to see how women had their work overrun with men claiming credit, and how they manage it. The dig is run by the husband and wife team of the Blenningham-Crewes, but Mrs. does the work while much older Mr. takes the credit. Aggie also notes that Helen, the camp cook, has her life constrained by her father's wishes, and of course we also see the return of Gus Fibbley, the journalist who isn't really a Gus. 

There is infighting at the camp, as well as the frequent visits of an American millionaire and a sideshow impressario, both interested and competitive potential buyers. Thankfully Grannie Jane also makes a visit to help Aggie and Hector out when they need it. 

The mystery comes a few chapters into the book, when Aggie and Hector stumble across a dead body on the beach -- it is Mr. B-C. But who could have wanted to murder this often angry, bullying, drunk? Well, that's the question -- pretty much everyone. Aggie and Hector work their way through the list of suspects, and eliminate them slowly. It's tough when it could have been anyone! The conclusion is startling and rather sad. 

I enjoyed this one. There is lots of info about fossils and about the most famous fossil hunter of Lyme Regis, Mary Anning. There are great side characters and lots of humour. And there is also a very touching conclusion to the last mystery of this childhood team of sleuths. I thought this series was well done, with many nods to the great Agatha Christie that adult readers will enjoy picking out. But the main characters hold their own, and you get attached to them. It's sad that this is the last one, but it was perfectly concluded. Highly recommend the whole series for the adventurous middle grade reader who loves mystery, strong girls, cleverness and humour. 

Hester

Hester / Laurie Lico Albanese 
New York : St. Martin's Press, 2022.
322 p.

I picked this up because of the beautiful cover, and because the main character was described as a seamstress and embroiderer. I discovered that it tells the story of Scottish born Isobel, who arrives in New England in the early 1800s with her new husband -- and meets Nathaniel Hawthorne, at that time a young moody writer skulking around town.

Isobel feels a connection to him right away, despite being married to an older man. But her husband goes off on an expedition with the ship's captain who brought them to American, and she is left alone in this new and unfamiliar settlement. Her Scottish heritage and her red hair mark her out as 'lesser than' to the Americans already living there. And she finds that her husband has taken her small savings with him, leaving her literally penniless. She has to turn to the needle to survive, and the descriptions of her embroidered gloves, and eventually more clothing for the women of the settlement, are beautifully done. Her needle is enchanted, stitching images with hidden words and a feeling of power. But this isn't something that will be of much benefit in a place that's suspicious of any inkling of enchantment. 

She is helped by her landlady, an old woman known locally, half-seriously, as a witch. And she's also helped by her nearest neighbour, a free Black woman named Mercy. Both of these long-term residents know that the community is not friendly to unusual women, and they reluctantly help Isobel even when she's headstrong and behaves in questionable ways. 

Isobel, lonely and young, is swayed by Nathaniel Hawthorne's gothic moodiness and obvious attraction to her. They begin an affair, which Isobel thinks is serious even when the reader can tell it isn't, not on his side. He comes across as entitled and petulant, weak willed and selfish, which is a problem when you are using real people as characters in your fiction. I've mentioned my distaste for real people as fictional characters before, and this book just squeaks by for me due to its other strengths. And the fact that I'm not a huge Hawthorne fan, I guess! 

The writing is rich here, particularly when describing Isobel's childhood and Scottish life. The toxic relationship between the two main characters goes on a little too long, and the outcome is easily predictable, sadly. I enjoyed the ending, as Isobel ends up in Canada with a decent man. The book is presented as a possible backstory for The Scarlet Letter, but I can see connections to novels like The Witch of Blackbird Pond or the more contemporary The Sea Captain's Wife, as well. I actually thought it was a pretty good read, compelling writing with some dual timeline backstory on Isobel's witchy ancestor, and a strong thread about slavery's evils with complex characters inhabiting that story alongside Isobel's own. 

 

Magic Lessons

 

Magic Lessons / Alice Hoffman
NY: Simon & Schuster, c2020.
396 p.

I loved Practical Magic when I read it years and years ago, so when this came out I thought I'd read it, even though I've missed the last few titles by Hoffman. This one seemed more appealing to me. 

It was a pretty good read, very Hoffman. It follows the life story of Maria , the distant ancestress of the characters in Practical Magic, and founder of their home and life in the US. It begins with Maria as a tiny infant, abandoned outside the home of a wise woman in England in the 1600s. This is not a time you really wanted to be a witch, and Hannah Owens, the woman who takes her in, eventually feels the wrath of the community. 

Maria escapes to the sea and travels first to Indonesia, where she lives for a few years and encounters a merchant from Puritan America -- this is what leads to her arrival in America to found the great Owens legacy. 

But as you can imagine, New England in the 1600s is not a hospitable place for a strange, witchy woman full of passion, magic and colour. The merchant has changed utterly since his sojourn in the warm and bright tropics and Maria must find her own way in this world. 

Because this is by Alice Hoffman, you sort of know what to expect -- lots of dreamy prose, women's power, magical and uncanny events and a line of family curses. I found it a pretty good read; the parts in England were deep and gave the roots to Maria's story -- the middle part was a bit of an interlude -- then American happened and the familiar ground of witch hunts and the persecution of "difficult women" begins. 

If you like Hoffman's writing you will enjoy this. And if you are a fan of the Owens stories of Practical Magic and beyond, you'll especially appreciate it. There were a couple lines in it I liked a lot and copied out into my commonplace book, but I'd say that I still think Practical Magic is a better book. 

Alice Fell

Alice Fell / Emma Tennant
London: Picador, 1982, c1980.
124 p.

I found this odd little book on my shelves with no memory of how it got there. Must have been on one of my second-hand shop browses. But I decided I would read this little book; the cover gives a strong hint of how surreal it is. 

This is a family that does not live in a gentle and comprehendable world. The writing here is very English of the 70s/80s -- experimental, surreal, rushing forward with imagery all mixed up and the meaning slightly obscured. 

Alice is our main character; her prebirth thoughts and her infant impressions take up quite a lot of this short book. Her later, supposedly conscious life, takes up much less and the years are rushed through. There is a throughline of history and time passing, from the family portraits on the walls to memories and the thin membrane between reality and remembrance. It's like a long poem in a way, in which some moments are clear and some are just language playing. 

I sort of liked it. There were lines and images that were striking; there were thoughts of women's roles and potentiality that were also interesting for the reader. However, overall it gave me a muddled impression and at times I wasn't sure what I was reading -- and what's more, I didn't feel the desire to go back and puzzle it out. The characters are vague and dreamy for the most part and I couldn't clearly grasp where one ended and another began (kind of the point, in a way). It was a book full of impression and illusion, and I appreciated some of it, but in the end it didn't catch my interest enough to be all that memorable. I probably won't try another of her books. 

All Adults Here

All Adults Here / Emma Straub
NY: Riverhead, c2020.
356 p.

This is a juicy, multigenerational novel that was told with skill and respect for all the characters, no matter how messed up their lives may be. They aren't too messed up, though; this is set in a smaller town where Astrid Strick witnesses a fatal accident with a school bus. The death of someone of her age, who she's known all her life, throws her into an examination of her own life. 

Astrid's three children each have their own issues; the eldest is struggling with the family business, the middle daughter is a modern hippie but is starting to want a child, and the youngest lives in the city and has just sent his teenage daughter to live with Astrid for a while after some trouble at school.

Each of these characters is explored, so we get a sense of their lives and their own experiences of the same family - which of course are all different. Personality, gender, birth order; these all play a role in the way they feel about their childhoods, roles in the family, and current lives.

It's told very naturally, and I didn't find that the changes in viewpoint were difficult or clunky. Instead, each one is given equal time and the characters are all well drawn, with nobody left out. This is a hard balance to achieve, and I think it worked very well here. The teenage granddaughter was a great character with some really interesting bits in her story, including her new friend from school who comes out as trans. It feels organic and not tacked on, and this friendship is very sweet. 

Astrid herself is questioning her whole life, and finally admits that her friendship with a local woman is really something more. She announces to the family to no big uproar, thankfully.

This book tries to cover a lot of current social issues; however, most of them felt pretty natural to modern life. I didn't think it read as if she was just trying to squish in every hot button possible - the inclusion of most of the events made sense in the story. There were a few loose ends not tied up the (slightly anticlimatic) ending, which I would have preferred to be more closely explained, and some of the elements of the story seem like they would have engendered a bit more of a reaction from the rest of the family. The tone of the book -- somehow utopian and gentle, despite the content -- doesn't really allow for strong upset or permanent alienation among this family. So while they are dysfunctional in a sense, the family remains functional as a family unit and all's well that ends well. 

But I enjoyed the reading of it, and definitely see as a book that a book club might get lots of traction from. The writing is solid and very readable, and the characters' decisions will give you lots to talk (argue?) about. 

In Myrtle Peril

In Myrtle Peril / Elizabeth C. Bunce
New York : Algonquin Young Readers, 2022.
362 p.

Book 4 of the Myrtle Hardcastle series brings more light Victorian murder and mystery to the expectant reader. I'm a big fan of this series and all its charming characters, and this one doesn't disappoint. This time Myrtle is not ranging abroad anywhere at all, in fact it's a rather circumscribed milieu in this volume. 

Mr. Hardcastle is experiencing some medical distress - tonsilitis to be precise. It's so bad that his doctor recommends surgery, never a good thing in those days. Myrtle is very worried, as is Miss Judson, her governess. But his stay in the hospital is made more nervewracking by the fact that he witnesses a murder across the courtyard on his first night. (a la Rear Window). 

His character is more like Myrtle's in this story; a little less controlled and more impulsive, though that's put down to the painkillers he's on. Still, he insists (in a garbled voice due to his throat, which continues throughout the book) that there was a murder, and Myrtle is on the case. 

She & Miss Judson are also on the case in regards to the work that her father, a lawyer, was working on prior to his admittance to the hospital. They're investigating the claims of a young girl from Australia that she is the lost heir to a wealthy family thought lost in a shipwreck. This is based on numerous 'false heir' cases of the time - it was harder to prove or disprove identity in those days, and money was going wanting. Myrtle befriends this young girl, Sally, & they find that all the threads of all the mysteries surrounding both Sally and Mr. Hardcastle and the hospital staff are tangled up in ways that are unexpected but eventually make sense. 

There are hijinks and explosions and Peony appearances; Cook has more of a role here, and there are hints of changes to Myrtle's home life. All in all, a rambunctious plot and lots of intrigue to entertain you. The only thing I wasn't as enamoured by was Mr. Hardcastle's adenoidal mumbling. However, this novel provides a great setup for the next and last book of the series, which I'm both looking forward to and dreading as the end of this delightful series. 
 

The Dead Man in the Garden

The Dead Man in the Garden / Marthe Jocelyn
TO: Tundra, c2021
368 p.

Taking a break from older classics to catch up on the Aggie Morton series! I really enjoyed the first two novels in this series, The Body Under the Piano and Peril at Owl Park, so when this one was available I thought it was the perfect time to take a break with some delightful middle grade mystery. This series features a young girl inspired by Agatha Christie, and for adult readers and Christie fans, there are lots of subtle references to her works to enjoy in each book.

Moving from the Christmas setting of the Owl Park volume, in this adventure, Aggie and her friend Hector are at a resort hotel in Yorkshire so her newly widowed mother can rest. Aggie and Hector, as usual, get up to mischief investigating rumours of a dead body, and then discovering a second corpse themselves. They are assisted in their investigations by Grannie Jane and their new friend George, a resident of the hotel who is in a wheelchair. His situation provides them with some great angles to snoop and explore, and Aggie uses all those opportunities to their fullest. 

This restful interlude at the spa hotel turns less restful and more dangerous and the three young people poke and prod and uncover corruption, conspiracy, and cold-blooded murder. 

The pace and characterizations in this volume are all really well done. George is a clever new addition to the main characters, and adds more complexity to their interactions. The mystery is well developed and makes sense when all is revealed, which I always appreciate in a mystery novel no matter which age it is written for. And the conclusion is quite thrilling and uses the setting to its fullest advantage. 

Another title in this series that I can highly recommend. Very enjoyable, and I have the fourth volume in the series to look forward to shortly.

Miss Buncle's Adventures

 

Miss Buncle's Book / D.E. Stevenson
Naperville, Ill. : Sourcebooks Landmark, 2012, c1934.
299 p.

Miss Buncle Married / D.E. Stevenson
Naperville, Ill. : Sourcebooks Landmark, 2012, c1936.
347 p.

These are two charming reprints from Sourcebooks; I always enjoy D.E. Stevenson, so when my library got these (plus the third title in this series, The Two Mrs. Abbotts) I devoured them all in a row. 

Miss Barbara Buncle is a spinster who is running out of cash. She decides that to make a little to live on, she'll write a novel. But her imagination isn't the most imaginative, and she draws freely from the lives of her neighbours to do so. To her delight, the book is published (under the pseudonym John Smith) and becomes a hit. But her neighbours recognize themselves in it, and begin to try to figure out who wrote this book. Fortunately for Miss Buncle, her publisher sends down one of their employees, the staid Mr. Abbott, to take care of her book deal, and he is able to neatly solve her problems by (spoiler alert, although the second  book gives it away) convincing her to marry him and move to a new town with new neighbours. It's full of light humour, silliness and delight, and if you are looking for a frothy, gentle read this is definitely it.

The second book picks up where the first left off, with the new Mrs. Abbott settling into her new surroundings, and meeting her husband's relations (oh, look, there are young unmarried people in the mix). She is trying to write a second book while at the same time trying not to repeat the neighbourly uproar that comes from her style of copying real life into her fiction. Mr. Abbott is there to guide her this time, and she's also a bit preoccupied with all the matchmaking and real life excitement around her. I enjoyed this one as well, and found the plot and the new characters engaging, even if this volume didn't quite reach the heights of the first book. D.E. Stevenson is usually a fun read, and this series was a strong addition to her oeuvre. If you haven't read her before this set would be a good place to begin! 

Anna

 

Anna: the biography / Amy Odell
NY: Gallery Books, c2022
447 p.

I've always been intrigued by Anna Wintour, and since this new biography arrived in my library I thought I'd grab it -- it's an authorized bio, and very lengthy, but not gossipy like earlier unauthorized attempts at writing about Wintour. 

It's quite thorough, beginning with Anna Wintour as a child; it talks about her family beginnings and her parents, explaining how both their personalities and their family backgrounds and careers affected Anna's direction. Unlike her siblings, she was more interested in fashion and journalism than university, and once she found her direction she went for it with precise aim. 

It covers all her early jobs and how they shaped her career in magazines, both by her successes and by those places and roles that she wasn't so successful at. It was interesting to see that here was somebody with a distinct vision and a particular personality, who wasn't too good at all the things that people are supposed to do to "pay their dues", but was superb at the role she wanted and finally got - editor of Vogue. 

She found early on that she didn't like many of the elements of a fashion job; going out on site as the producer of a shoot wasn't for her, and many of the daily grind kind of things weren't either. It was running the show and shaping the vision for the magazine that she wanted and was really good at. This kind of focus on doing what she wanted to be doing was interesting to me - how did she keep on with everything else in the meantime? I guess thinking about it as a step toward the ultimate goal. 

Anyhow, the book does talk about her personal relationships to a degree, and does point out some of the missteps she made at other magazines as well as the one or two big errors at Vogue. But it was written by a fashion insider (Odell is the editor of Cosmopolitan.com) and depends heavily on interviews with friends and family, as well as being okayed by Wintour, so there isn't too deep of a discussion of the various criticisms she's faced over the years. 

Along with the personal, there's quite a bit about the workings of the fashion world in general, and about Condé Nast in particular. A reader finds out a lot about the bosses and the work culture at this magazine consortium, and my lord, you'd have to have a thick skin to make it there. I've noticed that Anna Wintour was not front and centre at every runway show in the past while, and wondered about it, but here I discovered that she is no longer the editor of Vogue but the overall content manager for Condé Nast as a whole -- so now it makes sense. 

If you're also interested in fashion journalism and the history of Vogue magazine, and have a fascination with Anna Wintour like I do, this is a good read. Lots to think about here even if it isn't an "exposé" of anything, but more of a putting on record of Wintour's career overall. I feel like it did a good job of tracing her personality and how it developed and worked for her (and against her) in her chosen field. And it also pointed out how many of those traits were only criticized or examined because she was a powerful woman - many men in the same roles were far worse but never got a comment on their leadership at all. Fascinating read about a huge figure in the fashion world, I enjoyed it.