Death Comes to Pemberley

   The Bennets are back!  Elizabeth is living at Pemberley with her husband Mr. Darcy and two children.  The night before the yearly Lady Anne's Ball, there is a murder in the woodland on the Pemberley estate. Lydia's husband, Lieutenant George Wickham, is involved.

   Such fun to visit the Bennets again.  And the language is so appropriate!  I am not  a fan of murder mysteries and will not likely read another one, but this author fascinates me.

                                                                       Phyllis Dorothy James was born in 1920.

   She has written 20 novels, but has also done many other things in her life.  She spent 40 years working in the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal law Department.  She also served as a magistrate and director of the BBC.  She is a Life Peer in the House of Lords.  What a lady!

   James was married in 1941 to an army doctor, who returned from W.W.ll suffering from mental illness. He spent the rest of his life in a psychiatric hospital, while their daughters were raised by grandparents.

   James was then able to pursue many interests and collect ideas for future books.

She wrote about the Bennets when she was 91 years old!  Amazing!

The Secret River

About "The Secret River" and other Kate Grenville books.....

                   
                                                                   The Secret River, The Lieutenant, Sarah Thornhill

"Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver

                          Barbara Kingsolver's latest book is very clearly about the environment.

                                               

I really love Barbara Kingsolver's writing ability.  Her characters are so fascinating.  And this book is no exception.

 Dellarobia is fascinating as an unhappy, frustrated, isolated farm wife: "Her life in this little house had felt to her like confinement in a sinking vehicle after driving off a bridge.  To open a hatch and swim away felt miraculous".  And swim away she did!

But...couldn't Barbara make her environmental message a little more discreet,

 with less complex science involved? 

 And please..a better cover!  This one is deadly boring!

A Library Visit

A great trip to the library ......

Kindred / Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore / The Old Man and The Sea / Flight Behaviour / The Leisure Seeker

Bookwomen: Arizona

Bookwomen
Terri and I were interested in combining our interest in travel with our love of reading.
 Terri went on the web and found Bookwomen.
 Our first trip was to Amado, Arizona- south of Tucson, just above the Mexican border.
These are the ladies who shared our book experience for four days.
These are the books that we discussed:
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
The Telling by Ursula LeGuin
Evidence of Things Unseen by MarianneWiggins
The Archivist by Martha Cooley
High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver

While we were in Arizona, we spent a few days in Tucson
 and took a bus trip to The Grand Canyon and Sedona.

Sedona

Grand Canyon

"The Cat's Table" by Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka in 1943.  

He has written 15 books.  I have read three of them. 

 "The Cat's Table" is my favourite of those three.

I have also read "In The Skin of a Lion" and "Anil's Ghost".

"Anil's Ghost" was the first winner of Canada Reads in 2002.

"Indian Horse" by Richard Wagamese

Indian Horse and more Indian Horse..........

Canada Reads 2013

                                                             

Canada Reads 2013

     I love Canada Reads.  I have been following it since it began in 2002. 

 I am thrilled that Canada has a nation-wide discussion about books. 

 I am not always thrilled with the choice of books or the panel. 

 However, I always enjoy the discussions.

   For a few years, Christina and I both read the five books nominated and we discussed them, attempting to decide which book should be the winner.  Sometimes we were together listening to the radio for the discussions.  Then we began to watch the podcasts.  One year, we went to Toronto for the launch.  That was very exciting!  We bought all five books and had them autographed. 
    Last year, we both lost interest in the choice of biographies.  But this year, I became interested again and followed closely.  It was very entertaining!

"The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss

This is my first bumbling attempt at my new video book blog.

 I am experimenting with glasses on, glasses off.
  Not quite sure how this works. 
 The background certainly isn't good, so I'll try other options.

  In April, 2012, a new book club was started at Preston Public Library. John and I became involved immediately and we love reading the same book
 and discussing it at home before the book club meeting.

  We had discussed "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett and "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan. 

 There was a good response to the book club with great discussions.  

"Cool Water" by Dianne Warren was the last book before the summer break.  Then we read the O.B.O.C. book in September- "Lakeland" by Allan Casey, followed by "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls.

  "The History of Love" was very complex- moving back and forth in time, with many storylines.  At times, it seemed like a puzzle.  I wasn't sure I had all the pieces so I discussed it with John at home as well as over coffee with Dale to figure out the puzzle.

Books! Books! Books!

  Books!  Books!  Books!  Can't get enough of them!  But a book is never fully appreciated until it is discussed- with one person, many people, or on a blog.   Since I retired, I have always belonged to book clubs - one, two, three, or even four at a time.

I have also been fortunate to have a great friend to share
'book travel'.  

Terri and I have been to book discussions in Arizona, North Carolina, and England.  We enjoyed Banff Book Weekend twice and our latest excursion was to Nelson, British Columbia.

   I also do a lot of videotaping- family and travel.  So I decided to join my interests on this blog.  I always have an opinion about the book I am reading.  It isn't always the popular opinion, but it is mine. This is what will be on my blog.