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The Housekeepers by Alex Hay “There were a dozen clocks piled up on the mantelpiece, ticking furiously, all out of time.” This was pure entertainment for the holiday period with no real thinking required. It’s essentially a heist novel. Many reviewers have compared it with Ocean’s Eleven or at least Ocean’s Eleven meets Downton Abbey. This is set in Edwardian London in 1905/6. The main protagonists are a group of women of the servant classes. Led by a housekeeper, Mrs King. She and others organise what is a heist on a large house in Park Lane. It is planned for the night of a ball and the idea is simply to remove all of the contents of the house and sell them. It involves a lot of planning and a large number of people. The plot follows the planning and the inception of the idea, through the night itself and its aftermath. I suspect other books will follow. It also feels like it could be made into a movie in the Thursday Murder Club mould. It’s also a debut novel. There’s also clearly a backstory that could be written about. This was ok as entertainment and escapism. 6 out of 10 Starting Babel by R F Kuang

It's an old one but I'm reading The Secret Garden again with my niece. It was a favorite of mine in elementary school, and I thought she'd enjoy it also.

one Bartholomew Grimshaw, dustman

I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) ~ The Four Tops

American Pie - Don McLean

I took Adrian to the Unitarians' meeting this afternoon. He was as good as gold. The old women liked him. I let him run about after the service. I sometimes wonder whether the pastor is studying an Open University course. The topic of the sermon was the Third Disruptor. He told about how a Victorian doctor used the application of logic to track down a source of cholera to a water pump in a London street. Then I wondered, from what he was saying, whether a third disruptor was akin to a third body in a three body system, which is chaotic and unpredictable. Then he mentioned climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion, and said Unitarians should be active in it. Horlicks to that I thought, or something similar. If the Unitarians have no religious doctrine I am not signing up to any political one. I think Heraclitus was mentioned, who established that change was inevitable. I am unfamiliar with Heraclitus, but I will look him up. Edit: Third Attractor, not Disruptor.

House of Silence by Linda Gillard - this was one of my Christmas reads and my final read of 2025, though it did just tip over into the New Year as I finished it on Jan 1st but as it was only about 20 odd pages I'm putting it under 2025 reads, which means I read 25 books in 2025. Gwen works as a wardrobe mistress in film and TV, and starts dating a young actor in her current production, Alfie Donovan. The relationship seems to be going well and then he invites her to spend Christmas with his family - his mother is a famous children's author with a best-selling series of books about a young boy, apparently based on him. Alfie warns Gwen that he's a different person when he's with his mother and 4 sisters who are all very different, but as Gwen has no family of her own and was facing the prospect of Christmas alone as her housemates are both away, is delighted to be asked, and so she finds herself at Creake Hall. Alfie's mother, Rae, has suffered from mental illness for much of her life and rarely ventures out of her room, though when she meets Gwen she seems to like her. Alfie's eldest and youngest sisters still live at the house, and Gwen finds herself drawn to both of them, stoic and sensible Viv, and young Hattie, who loves sewing and working with fabric, which appeals to Gwen who works with fabrics all day long, and this led to some interesting facts about quilts, I never knew there were so many different types! The middle two sisters, Deb and Frances, arrive for Christmas and also liven things up. Throw in an attractive gardener/handyman and Gwen finds herself surrounded by an assortment of characters, but it soon becomes apparent that this isn't exactly a happy family, and Gwen finds herself wondering what exactly the family set-up is. To say anymore would give too much away, but lots of themes are tackled here, such as family, belonging, grief and dealing with the past. An interesting read, with some believable characters, most of whom I liked, although my one quibble is the way in which the book veers between Gwen narrating and then becoming the 3rd person, which I felt jarred slightly and I'm not sure if this worked, for me anyway. Overall a good read. 7.5/10

I love them all!

Yeah, I bought them "for the baby" 😂. I didn't know there was a diary! I'd love to see the blanket when it's done!

Starting The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, companion to Camus’ The Stranger. Thanks to @willoyd for the reference, I’m enjoying it!

garbage taken in by

I have to admit there are lots of nuggets of information in this book. For instance, I just read that Peugeot cars always have a '0' in the middle of their model number, because that was where the hole for the crank lever was on the early models. They were going to name one of their early cars '21', which was something to do with horse power, but they put the 2 and the 1 either side of the crank lever socket.

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden “What was joy, anyway. What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact. What did people who spoke of joy know of what it meant, to sleep and dream only of the whistle of planes and knocks at the door and on windows and to wake with a hand at one's throat— one's own hand, at one's own throat. What did they know of not speaking for days, of not having known the touch of another, never having known, of want and of not having felt the press of skin to one's own, and what did they know of a house that only ever emptied out. Of animals dying and fathers dying and mothers dying and finding bullet holes in the barks of trees right below hearts carved around names of people who weren't there and the bloody lip of a sibling and what did what did she know” This won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2025 and was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. It is set in The Netherlands in 1961. The main protagonist is Isabel. She lives alone in the family home, although the home is tentatively owned by her elder brother. Isabel is lonely, obsessed with tidiness and order and apparently very self-enclosed. Essentially the novel tells the story of a period of time where Louis has to leave the country with his work and requests that his girlfriend, Eva, stay in the house: for about a month/six weeks. It's the story of Isabel and Eva’s relationship and how it develops. As there is a queer element to this, it’s not too difficult to work out what happens. However, the novel is multi-layered and there are plenty of twists and turns. The aftermath of the war is a significant aspect part of the novel and the house itself is an important part of this. Much property belonging to the Jewish community was redistributed and that caused complications in later years. Family guilt and hidden scars are a factor. There is lots of hidden history. There are also themes of identity, power, control, class, the silence of queer desire, the risks and benefits of chaos. This is an exploration of human vulnerability and on the whole it works and the prose is good. “What was joy, anyway? What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact.” 7and a half out of 10 Starting The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

Breakfast in America - Supertramp

Beans for Breakfast - Johnny Cash

Happy New Year, everyone, from me too 😃

smelly gorgonzola and other

So true! 🤭

Happy New Year everyone.

I have to make an effort to remember

Currently re-reading Albert Camus’ The Stranger so that I can follow it with The Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, which I knew nothing about until recently.

I just finished reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. The writing was very good, and I enjoyed the book. my only complaint is that the book really drug on in places and maybe it could have been shorter in text. On the other hand shortening the book may eliminate some of the excellent descriptions.

One more, he's presumably over indulged a bit...actually this was when they were first putting up the sculptures so I guess he wasn't properly installed at that point.

I guess this is the female equivalent of a man buying a train set for his son/grandson/nephew etc so that he can "help" the child play with it, though he ends up using the set himself!