Daily Archives: August 11, 2013

by

A to Z Bookish Survey

This is a meme hosted by Perpetualpageturner found here.  I thought it looked fun and wanted to participate.  Here are my entries:

Author you’ve read the most books from:

M.C. Beaton aka Marion Chesney must be it for most books from a single author.

 

Best Sequel Ever:

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Currently Reading:

Killer in Crinoline by Duffy Brown

 

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Tea – I have blend I make from Teavana:  2 ounces Dragonwell Green & 2 ounces Monkey Picked Oolong & 4 ounces of English Breakfast.  Love it.  I also drink lots of Williamson Teas – their English Breakfast & their Afternoon teas are both excellent!

E-reader or Physical Book?

I borrow a lot from the library so I will have to say Physical book.  I do have a Kindle and a Nook that I like for travel.

 

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Sorry – high school is just a dim blur in the recesses of my mind.  Today I would date Hamish Macbeth in a heartbeat!

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

Hidden Gem Book:

True Grit by Charles Portis…. A western, who knew?

 

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

Discovering the on-line community of book bloggers/readers.  I don’t know many readers in real life; it is awesome to connect with others who love to read.

 

Just Finished:

Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam by M.C. Beaton

 

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:

I am not really into Urban Fantasy or most YA (not really my demographic for more years than I have fingers and toes)

 

Longest Book You’ve Read:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – I think or maybe it was Under the Dome by Stephen King

 

Major book hangover because of:

Probably one of Rowan Coleman’s books or Elizabeth Buchan

Number of Bookcases You Own:

5 – 2 are tall and 3 are short + piles in my bedroom

 

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

 

Preferred Place To Read:

In bed! (a close second is the recliner in my living room)

 

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” 
― Julia Child

“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.” 
— A.A. Milne

Reading Regret:

I regret not marrying someone who loved to read or at least valued the written word!

 

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):

Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters – She died at age 85 just this week.

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Watership Down

Wind in the Willows

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

Ben H. Winters

 

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

Book 3 in The Last Policeman series by Ben H. Winters

 

Worst Bookish Habit:

Over “booking” myself – buying too many, checking too many out of the library at once

 

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Laced with Poison by Meg London

 

Your latest book purchase:

Sue Ann Jaffarian’s  Hide and Snoop

 

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

The Blackhouse by Peter May

by

Weekend Cooking

19389-wkendcookingThis is a meme hosted by BethFishReads to be found here.   I don’t regularly participate but often look at the posts that do.

This weekend is my oldest daughter’s last weekend at home before going back to college and so we are having some of her favorites.

– Ham glazed in ginger jam with some Coleman’s mustard powder mixed in and then  cooked on the grill in ginger ale.

– Mashed potatoes with country gravy

– Saveur cookbooks Green Bean casserole – I know, I know – green bean casserole.  However Saveur’s is made with all fresh ingredients (no cream of mystery ingredient soup surprise) and it is actually very good.  Both of my kids love it.   The recipe can be found on Saveur’s site here.

– Buttermilk biscuits  for mopping up gravy

– Couple bottles Jersey White wine to wash it all down

So, what is everyone else having for dinner?

 

by

M.C. Beaton: Death of a Kingfisher & Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam

I am working on getting up-to-date on two of my favorite mystery series, Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth, coincidentally or not by the same author, M.C. Beaton.  I picked these two up from the library and read them last night.    What I found interesting is that somehow both of them had strong references to fairies, just seems funny that I am in two different places in the series and happened to read books from both of them that had to do with fairies, in some respect back to back.

Agatha Raisin is one of my very favorite sleuths.  I love that you can’t keep her down.  She is always trying to solve her problems, even though sometimes in very ill advised ways.  In this book, she is trying to get over James, still, yet again and so decides to move away from her little cottage and move to a village, Fryfam, in Norfolk.  Of course, being Agatha once she arrives there is a murder in the sleepy little village which she has to solve.  Her loyal sidekick, Sir Charles Fraith assists again in the investigation.  Mrs. Bloxby is also regularly consulted about the  “James” situation and village goings on in Carsely.  The mystery is neatly resolved, although the good folks of Fryfam are not so happy with the resolution.  There is also another twist in the Agatha and James romance but you’ll have to read it to see.  In my opinion, you do need to read this series in order to appreciate the references to past events and the relationshp between Agatha and the other recurring characters, Mrs. Bloxby, Charles and James.

Death of a Kingfisher seems to me to be a darker outing in the Hamish Macbeth series.  There is still humor particularly in the relationship between Hamish and his constable, Dick, an incomparable game show contestant and trivia buff.  There is more than one crime occurring and many twists and turns on the way to the end.  Some truly disturbing, darker  characters are part of the cast.  Par for the course, Hamish is unlucky in love, or as Patty, the Millionaire Matchmaker, would say – “his picker is broken”.  This was not my favorite in the series but still a good read, that being perhaps Death of a Poison Pen or Death of a Cad, i can’t really choose, I really liked so many of this series.