Marie H

Kindle daily deal today - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke for £1.49.

Had Charlotte potatoes for lunch; home grown, more main-crop (so they were larger with a drier texture) and they were excellent 🙂 With cold beef and carrots.

At last, beautiful rain ☔. The humid heat and lack of breeze was unpleasant for me, but we hadn't had any rain for 3 weeks, so the steady rain now is welcome. And no thunderstorms yet.

Hurrah for Piranesi winning! I loved it, though it is an usual style of stream of consciousness, but I carried on, and it was excellent altogether. Recommend

I'm trying to finish Strings of Murder, and it's so exciting!

Ooh, I love Dean Street Press! Usually the genre I go for is woman living in the WW2, mostly in England. DSP has some really good authors.

My reading mojo has improved, so I’ve read quite a lot during the week. Oscar de Muriel The Strings Of Murders 63% listened. New book to read is Kindle of Mauve: How one man inverted the colour that changes the world by Simon Garfield. The title is a bit too much high drama, but mauve was the first synthetic dyestuff. Very interesting.

Having your own tomatoes is great, they are so much better flavour and sweetness. We have a greenhouse, so we just pick tomatoes when they are ripe. Previously we have picks some when they are still green, and keep them (remove the stalks, as they tend to go mouldy soon in the house) in a plastic container. They can still ripen, without sunshine, in a couple of weeks. Though it is ideally to keep them on the vine in plenty sun. Strangely, our tomatoes haven’t had that much sun in the last few weeks, but they are very sweet tasting - and I have no idea why!

My reading mojo is very slow at the moment. Enjoying Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Light Yeas (Cazelet Chronicles #1) and have just finished the first part. Having some difficult with the Audible version of Oscar de Muriel’s first of the Frey & McGray series, The Strings of Murder. The plot is great, but the narrator is rather too theatrical for me, so it’s hard work. So I’m glad that haven’t bought of the further Audible series, just the Kindle.

Good review 🙂 I watched the Studio Ghibli anime version, but found it chaotic for the storylines. I have the Kindle version of Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones, and hope to read this one.

Starting watching all of The Golden Girls on Disney+. This will take some time, as there are 180 episodes in all! But I think it will be worth the time

The September 10 - 12 weekend is fine by me 🙂

Getting into the Audible version of Oscar de Muriel The Strings of Murder (Frey and McGray #1). Listened 20% so far. Read 27% of Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Light Years (Cazalet Chronicles #1).

Yikes Madeleine, that was a storm! We haven’t any of the thunderstorms & heavy rain yet, though there is a forecast of thunderstorm Tuesday morning to afternoon.

Enjoyable warm and sunny spells today. Those the south east is being pummelled with thunder & rain - I noticed in the BBC news app that London is having flash flooding and The Environment Agency issued two warnings on Sunday, for areas near Beverley Brook in Worcester Park and West Barnes. Yo Bev, what are you doing this time? 😁 (for fans of Rivers of London) Though everyone else will blame Peter Grant for the flash floods! 😉

Looking forward to Richard Osman’s The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club Book 2) in September 🙂

Indoor time, during the heatwave, so far watched The Golden Girls (the pilot episode) - Loved this before, and it very nostalgic now Lokl - 1st episode - Good, though I have never seen any of the Marvin series, so I haven’t a clue any other non human characters, and their party tricks. Moominvalley, Season 1 #1 - Lovely, lovely Moomins!

Really enjoying The Cazalet Chronicles - especially as the characters are in the family’s holidays in the country. Thankfully, the cast of characters is noted in the beginning, as there’s a lots of characters!

Cooler today, only 23C after 30C yesterday! Thunderstorms are possibly in the south this evening. Unlikely to be reaching around Shropshire, though we need some more rain 🌧

I’m enjoying The Cazalet Chronicles. Somehow I hadn’t read or seen TV of the Cazalets before, though I have bought Kindle books (on the cheap versions) over the years. It’s a pity I hadn’t read them more recently. I have Kindle or Audible 1, 3 & 4, so I’ll probably won’t bother no. 5 The Light Years is really delicious to read! I’ve been keeping quotes, as they are very sharp and witty. Especially this one quote “Nostalgia was comforting, but slippery as an old eiderdown”.

Listening to Oscar de Muriel’s The Strings of Murder (Frey & McGray Series #1) Loving it! Reading The Light Years (Cazalet Chronicles #1) by Elizabeth Jane Howard Also loving this one 🙂

Started listening to Audible version of The Strings of Murder (Frey & McGray #1) by Oscar de Muriel.

Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash

Lucky Number - Lene Lovich

Finally finished reading Music in the Hills (Dering Family #2) by D E Stevenson. It’s been a slog - started this book in December 2020, and it was a pleasant, cozy plot about a couple farming in rural Scotland (first published in 1950). It’s just not as good as many of her novels; Mrs Tim of the Regiment series is far better. However, as this had been the 2nd of the trilogy, I will read the 3rd novel, just to find out what will happen of the family. Reading at the mo. is The Light Years (Cazalet Chronicles #1) by Elizabeth Jane Howard. A similar family saga, beginning some years after the end of WW1.