France

I'm reading two books at once at the moment because I've been lent The Secret Life of Trees and I'm very very careful with other people's books so I only pick it up when I know I'll keep it clean and the spine unbroken, and the The Witness of the Dead by Katherine Addison is on the Kobo for when I'm in the bath or doing the sort of routine knitting that involves laying a a paper book flat on the table with something weighing down the pages so I can keep two hands on the needles.

I'll admit to enjoying the TV series, ridiculous as it is in places, more than the books as I've never really got on with Camillieri's style.

My problems seemed to be mainly related to book covers too.

That happened to me too. That's when I got really fed up!

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee which is terrific read is in the Kindle Daily Deal today.

Two very different but thoroughly enjoyable books read back to back (this seems to be becoming a habit). The Feast - Margaret Kennedy. First published in 1950 The Feast opens with a priest preparing a eulogy at the funeral service for those who died when a Cornish seaside hotel collapsed into the sea, everyone inside perished. Then he says some of the guests survived. The narrative goes back a week and each chapter is one day leading up to the collapse, going into the lives of the owners, the guests and the people who work there. It's wonderfully written and very evocative and very enjoyable. In the reprint edition there's an introduction which is well worth reading after you've finished, it makes you see how very clever it is but I'm glad that I read the whole book first. The Half Life of Valery K - Natasha Pulley This is a departure for Natasha Pulley whose previous books have all been alternative reality, this is far more closely grounded in real life and has its origins in a true story. It's 1963 and the Cold War, Valery is a physicist who was sent to the gulag and suddenly finds himself seconded to a top secret project studying the effects of radiation on flora and fauna - or so he is told. He soon realises that there's something else going on. While I miss the fantastical elements of her previous books I really enjoyed this, Natasha Pulley tells a very good story and can even make a believably sympathetic KGB officer. The storyline, including the parts she said she made up, also seem disturbingly credible. Sadly The Talk of Pram Town - Joanna Nadin didn't match up to the two above, I absolutely loved her first book The Queen of Bloody Everything which was both very funny and moving, for me this one fell flat on both counts, partially because the main characters, a suddenly orphaned 11 year old and her tightly repressed grandmother just didn't ring true.

I give up! Sometimes it won't recognise the ISBN numbers, others it won't load the cover or the publisher. I've managed to load one book out of about nine!

Some books stay with you, some don't. Here are a few of those that have.

That looks incredible! I know what you mean about holy grails of crafting, mosaic knitting is another of those, it's incredibly simple but looks fiendish.

I've read 211 from the original list and 3 from the most recent update, I have to confess to knowing that I have read some of the books but not being able to remember anything about them. I agree with Raven that it's just a big list of books, almost as if someone was rifling through their bookshelves going, 'This one, this one, this one...'

Watermelon and feta is one of those great salty/sweet combinations that just work. Try it!

Chopped watermelon, chopped cucumber, a little sliced red onion, feta, loads of mint with a dressing made of oil, vinegar and lime juice.

I've just discovered watermelon salads. Can't believe what I've been missing! Fortunately my husband, who can be very fussy, has decided he loves them too.

Nice and cool today, a mere 28°! Going back up again though. We were promised rain, got two bursts of precisely one minute each which won't have done much about dampening the forest fires.

There are The Screwtape Letters too which used to be read to us in assembly at school about an inefficient devil trying to corrupt souls so they got sent to hell. There were definitely amongst the more amusing things we had to listen to.

I was bemused this morning reading a rather hysterical piece in the Daily Fail (nothing like ramping up a drama) quoting someone from the Met office saying that though France, Spain and Portugal are hotter, and coping with forest fires too, 'it's a different sort of heat', in other words much worse somehow even though it's not so extreme. FYI, it's forecast to be about 42° at about 6 this evening and the wind is getting up which is not good news for the fires across the river. We're quite safe here, but the smoke plume is horrendous and the sky is red from flames at night. We have a couple of refugees here who were evacuated, one is a feline who is noisily expressing her disapproval. Our cats are equally cross.

It is very hot in summer. Both times I've been there in May and it was getting pretty warm.

You must go! It's incredibly beautiful, there are Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Moorish, Frankish and 18th century buildings and ruins to see, the mosaics at the Cathedral at Monreale are some of the most stunning things I have ever seen, an impressive volcano and superb (and remarkably cheap) food. Oh, and if you've already read The Leopard wandering around Palermo is like going into the pages of the book.