Little Pixie`s Bookshelf 2013

[Little Pixie]

And - with the purchase of another 9 Inspector Brunetti ( Donna Leon ) books, bought to fill in the gaps in the series, that takes my TBR up to 709.

 

They`re all second-hand books, bought for a grand total of £16.85 - pretty good really.

 

<< Stresses bargainous nature of books to divert attention from increasing TBR list ) >>

[pontalba]

And - with the purchase of another 9 Inspector Brunetti ( Donna Leon ) books, bought to fill in the gaps in the series, that takes my TBR up to 709.

 

They`re all second-hand books, bought for a grand total of £16.85 - pretty good really.

 

<< Stresses bargainous nature of books to divert attention from increasing TBR list ) >>

 

A well loved, oft used method!  I've only read one of Leon's, but enjoyed it, have more on the shelf.  Must read.

[Little Pixie]

A well loved, oft used method!  I've only read one of Leon's, but enjoyed it, have more on the shelf.  Must read.

 

There`s just something comforting to me about reading series.  

[Karsa Orlong]

Enemy of God - Bernard Cornwell

 

Awesome book!  Have you read The Winter King?

 

 

ETA:  Oh, it's on your TBR list.  I shouldn't be surprised, should I??

Edited August 20, 2013 by Karsa Orlong

[Athena]

Ahh, you sound like me a few years ago. I was adamant that my TBR pile would never go over 1,000. It's now much closer to 2,000.

x

Oh how time flies.. My TBR pile has grown rather quickly, too.

x

Book # 67 Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

x

This is on my wishlist, nice review !

x 

Book # 68  The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown   TBR 697

x

This is on my TBR, nice review!

[Little Pixie]

Awesome book!  Have you read The Winter King?

 

 

ETA:  Oh, it's on your TBR list.  I shouldn't be surprised, should I??

 

 

 

There are a few of his books in my TBR list ; I shall get to them this Century.

[Little Pixie]

x

Oh how time flies.. My TBR pile has grown rather quickly, too.

xx

This is on my wishlist, nice review !

x x

This is on my TBR, nice review!

 

Aw, thank you. In hindsight, I really recommend the Barbara Pym one ; lots of little comical scenes have stuck in my mind now.

[Little Pixie]

Book # 73 Miss Mole by EH Young   TBR 708

 

Synopsis from GoodReads.

When Miss Mole returns to Radstowe, she wins the affection of Ethel and of her nervous sister Ruth and transforms the life of the vicarage. This book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1930.

 

Hannah Mole is a 40-something poor relation who makes a living as a companion/housekeeper. Her sparkling wit and sharp brain/tongue mean she ends up getting fired from her jobs ; she returns to the place she grew up in, to blackmail a rich cousin into getting her a job as housekeeper to a Minister and his family, and this time ends up changing the lives of two girls and herself.

 

The writing - published in 1930 - reminded me a lot of Virginia Woolf, with the run-on sentences and rich internal monologue. Hannah`s a likeable, strong character who sometimes shows how vulnerable she really is, though she tries to hide her true feelings to herself, as a way of getting through her present difficult situation and a Big Something which happened in her past.

 

A Virago book ; I quite fancy reading more from this author.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Little Pixie

[chesilbeach]

So pleased to see this on your bookshelf!  Although I've yet to start it, I've set myself a challenge to read the E. H. Young books as OH and I used to live in Clifton, Bristol where she moved with her husband in the early 20th century, so I'm curious to read more of the place in that period.  I've read a couple of her books about twenty years ago, and we've got a few more on the bookshelves at home, so added the challenge into my reading plan that the beginning of the year.  Some of her books are incredibly rare now - one of them I've only seen a copy in the reference section at Bristol Central Library, and have been thinking I'll have to go and read it over some consecutive Saturday mornings if I get around to it.  OH thinks she's one of those underrated writers who have been almost forgotten, and from the couple of books I've read, I think he might be right.

[Little Pixie]

 

I hadn`t realised she`d written so many books : I`m guessing the preface to my copy of Miss Mole just listed the ones they were publishing, oslt. I wonder if her `shocking at the time` private life meant she fell out of favour.

 

I think Miss Mole must`ve been on my bookshelf for 20 years before I got round to it.

[Little Pixie]

Book # 74 and 75      The Alan Coren Omnibus and Alan Coren`s 69 for 1 - the last one a re-read.
 
Brilliant, well-crafted and erudite - plus very, very funny - collections of Alan Coren essays.
 
Amazon sample here.
 
Book # 76  The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy     TBR 706

 

Amazon Synopsis

THE DUD AVOCADO gained instant cult status on first publication and remains a timeless portrait of a woman hellbent on living. It is, as the GUARDIAN observes, 'one of the best novels about growing up fast'.


Sally Jay Gorce is a woman with a mission. It's the 1950s, she's young, and she's in Paris. Having dyed her hair pink, she wears evening dresses in the daytime and vows to go native in a way not even the natives can manage. Embarking on an educational programme that includes an affair with a married man (which fizzles out when she realises he's single and wants to marry her); nights in cabarets and jazz clubs in the company of assorted "citizens of the world"; an entanglement with a charming psychopath; and a bit part in a film financed by a famous matador. But an education like this doesn't come cheap. Will our heroine be forced back to the States to fulfill her destiny as a librarian, or can she keep up her whirlwind Parisian existence?

 

I have 120 pages left of this and it`s awful. Reviews describe it as sparkling and witty - I`m just finding it a snooze-fest and find the lead character boring and yawnifying. Help....  
 

Edited September 1, 2013 by Little Pixie

[pontalba]

There`s just something comforting to me about reading series.  

 

They are like old friends, come back to visit.

 

Have you ever read any of Mary Stewart's books?  I mean aside from her Merlin trilogy (if in fact you've read them lol).  They may be a bit dated by now, but I loved them back in the day.  She had a way of weaving a wonderful story.

[Little Pixie]

They are like old friends, come back to visit.

 

Have you ever read any of Mary Stewart's books?  I mean aside from her Merlin trilogy (if in fact you've read them lol).  They may be a bit dated by now, but I loved them back in the day.  She had a way of weaving a wonderful story.

 

Aww, what an absolutely lovely description.

 

And, yes ! I read one Mary Stewart book this year - This Rough Magic - and promptly ordered a pack of 10 of them. I haven`t heard of her Merlin books but the one book of hers which I did read was a delight. It was much better written than it needed to be ( which sounds condescending  ) - I think the storyline alone would`ve kept me reading, but the writing was top-notch and it felt knowledgable rather than ` let me dazzle you with my research`.

[pontalba]

Aww, what an absolutely lovely description.

 

And, yes ! I read one Mary Stewart book this year - This Rough Magic - and promptly ordered a pack of 10 of them. I haven`t heard of her Merlin books but the one book of hers which I did read was a delight. It was much better written than it needed to be ( which sounds condescending  ) - I think the storyline alone would`ve kept me reading, but the writing was top-notch and it felt knowledgable rather than ` let me dazzle you with my research`.

Shucks.  

 

I read them all in my 20's and 30's.....be sure to read Touch Not the Cat.  one of my favorites.

Her Merlin Trilogy is fantastic.  She really mixes in a realism without losing the magical effect.  I adored the relationship she built between Arthur and Merlin.  It was truly wonderful.

[Little Pixie]

Shucks.  

 

I read them all in my 20's and 30's.....be sure to read Touch Not the Cat.  one of my favorites.

 

That wasn`t included in my pack of books, but seems to be the one which everyone raves about. I may be forced to look into yet another book purchase...

[vodkafan]

Book # 73 Miss Mole by EH Young   TBR 708

 

Synopsis from GoodReads.

 

When Miss Mole returns to Radstowe, she wins the affection of Ethel and of her nervous sister Ruth and transforms the life of the vicarage. This book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1930.

 

Hannah Mole is a 40-something poor relation who makes a living as a companion/housekeeper. Her sparkling wit and sharp brain/tongue mean she ends up getting fired from her jobs ; she returns to the place she grew up in, to blackmail a rich cousin into getting her a job as housekeeper to a Minister and his family, and this time ends up changing the lives of two girls and herself.

 

The writing - published in 1930 - reminded me a lot of Virginia Woolf, with the run-on sentences and rich internal monologue. Hannah`s a likeable, strong character who sometimes shows how vulnerable she really is, though she tries to hide her true feelings to herself, as a way of getting through her present difficult situation and a Big Something which happened in her past.

 

A Virago book ; I quite fancy reading more from this author.

 

I like the sound of this one Little Pixie! Since getting into Victorian and Edwardian stuff I have always been fascinated by the completely strange concept of the "Lady's Companion"  a woman being paid to be the constant companion of a stranger. 

[Little Pixie]

I like the sound of this one Little Pixie! Since getting into Victorian and Edwardian stuff I have always been fascinated by the completely strange concept of the "Lady's Companion"  a woman being paid to be the constant companion of a stranger. 

 

It must`ve been like being some modern-day actress and having an entourage of `yes people`. Or rather `yes person`.

[Little Pixie]

I managed to finish The Dud Avocado - I didn`t like the lead character any more at the end than I did at the beginning, which is to say, not at all. I can`t bear to leave a book unfinished though.

 

Book # 77 The Cricklewood Diet by Alan Coren   TBR 705

 

Brilliant, especially the Sherlock, Bond and Hemingway parodies. 

[Little Pixie]

Book # 78 The Anonymous Venetian by Donna Leon      TBR 704
 
Book synopsis from Amazon :

Commissario Brunetti's hopes of a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are once again dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera - a body so badly beaten the face is unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice for someone who can identify the dead man. But he is met with a wall of silence. Then he receives a telephone call from a contact who promises some tantalizing information. And before the night is out Brunetti is confronting yet another appalling and apparently senseless death . . .

 

Really liked this one, my third in the series.  As ever, the best bits involve Brunetti and his family, and Brunetti and his interactions with the other members of the Police, especially Patta, the boo-hiss villain. Not to spoil, there are things which happened which changed my view of one of the characters in this, then I changed my view again. Very cleverly done. The whodunnit and whydunnit were fascinating.

[Little Pixie]

Book # 79  A Venetian Reckoning by Donna Leon   TBR 703

Amazon Synopsis :

A lorry crashes on one of the treacherous bends in the Italian Dolomites, spilling a terrible cargo . . . A prominent international layer is found dead in the carriage of an intercity train at Saint Lucia . . . Can the two tragedies possibly be connected? Commissario Guido Brunetti digs deep into the secret lives of the once great and good for the answer. For in a seedy Venetian bar lies the clue to an evil crime network reaching far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before the forces of justice can even begin to proceed . . .

 

I wouldn`t generally read two books from the same series one after another `cos I find the plots tend to bleed into one another, but I needed a handbag sized book `cos I was off to the dentist and acupuncture.

 

Whodunnit and whydunnit is a real shocker ( again ) ; I had no idea what was really behind the murders, but thought eep! and yikes ! at the ending. It`s a decent thriller, but something of a scary downer.

[frankie]

So I guess in your opinion the Brunetti books are still going strong and are as good as if not even better than the first one?

[Little Pixie]

So I guess in your opinion the Brunetti books are still going strong and are as good as if not even better than the first one?

 

I`m enjoying them so much that I was forced to buy even more of them.   I think I have up to Book 17 in my TBR pile. The whodunnit aspect is strong and holds my attention, but I`m really reading them for the likeability of Brunetti and his family, plus the lovely descriptions of Venetian life.

[Little Pixie]

Book # 80    Watson`s Choice by Gladys Mitchell    TBR 702
 

 

Amazon Synopsis :

One of Sir Bohun Chantrey's great passions in life is the stories of Sherlock Holmes. To celebrate the great man's anniversary, he throws a party at which the guests are instructed to come as characters from the detective stories. But several of the guests are more interested in Sir Bohun's money, and when he announces that he is to marry a poor governess, things take a turn for the worse, not least when the Hound of the Baskervilles turns up...

Fortunately the incomparable detective Mrs Bradley and her secretary Laura are amongst the guests and ready to investigate the deepening mystery.

 

Oh dear, I just couldn`t get into this one. There are some fun scenes in it, but the idea of it is far more interesting than its execution. The denouement is tossed away in less than two pages and - for me - made no sense.   Plus,  I couldn`t keep the characters straight in my head, so when someone was bumped off, my immediate thought was `who`s that one again ? `

Edited September 7, 2013 by Little Pixie

[Little Pixie]

Book # 81  Madam, will you talk ? by Mary Stewart  TBR 701

 

Amazon Synopsis :

Charity had been greatly looking forward to her driving holiday through France with her old friend Louise - long, leisurely days under the hot sun, enjoying the beauty of the parched Provencal landscape. But very soon her dreams turn into a nightmare, as Charity becomes enmeshed in the schemes of a gang of murderers, one of them a man with whom she is rapidly falling in love . . .

 

Great fun and very tense and thriller-ish, plus nicely written ( some big wordies  ) and with lovely descriptions of France. Widowed Charity goes on holiday and ends up making friends with a small boy who has a big secret. The boy, David, is endearing but not maudlin and there are some nice scenes with him and his scruffy dog. Charity gets pulled into David`s life and tries to help him, getting herself into - and out of - some scary situations.   

[Ooshie]

I read quite a few Mary Stewart books years ago, and found them really good reads.  I don't think that was one of them, though, so if I come across it I will pick it up I think; it sounds very entertaining.