Two reviews

 

Reading P G Wodehouse - for me - is like having the best kind of afternoon tea. 

China teapots and tiny fancy fluffy cakes on a tiered cake stand. All style, no substance, and pure escapism.

At the start of this one, Bertie Wooster has grown a moustache, much to the chagrin of his gentleman's personal gentleman, Jeeves. 

However, the moustache soon takes a back seat as Bertie's Aunt Dahlia (not to be confused with Aunt Agatha) puts out an SOS, and Bertie and Jeeves decamp to the countryside for shenanigans.

Throw in an ex-fiancee of Bertie's who thinks he's still in love with her, a pearl necklace that may or may not be real and the gastronomical delights of Aunt Dahlia's personal chef, and Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit is a classic entry in the Jeeves and Wooster series of novels.

If your brain needs a holiday, this is absolutely perfect. You can send your brain to go fishing, or something.

Lucy Muchelney is battling heartbreak, and an uncertain future. The woman she loves has just married a man, and Lucy's brother is talking about selling their father's telescope now that he's passed on.

Lucy is an amateur astronomer, who spent years assisting her father and doing mathematical calculations herself as his health failed. The last thing she wants for herself is to be stifled in a loveless marriage, so she decides to take matters into her own hands.

She travels from her home in Lyme to London, where she meets Catherine - Lady Moth. Catherine is the widow of an explorer, and a great supporter of science and scientists. She backs Lucy to translate the work of a great French astronomer into English, and also takes Lucy under her wing.

It's not long before the bond between the two women develops into something deeper, even as they battle against 19th century mores and sexism.

Helping Lucy forge her path makes Catherine realise that maybe there's more to life for her than just being a supporting player.

I enjoyed this very much of a lot, but one of the things I enjoyed most was the centring of Catherine's embroidery. Traditionally in books, embroidery is used as a short-cut for female characters who are Not Like Other Girls. And when that DOESN'T happen - when it's treated as a genuine interest/hobby/skill/talent - it's truly great to see.

Sunday Post 14; It's Monday! What are you reading? 14

 
The Sunday Post - a chance for bloggers to have a chat and a catch-up - is hosted by Kimberley, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Let's see ... I always end up repeating myself because my weeks tend to be very similar. No bad thing, though.

We came second at quiz on Wednesday night - a respectable showing.

My friend loved the llama cross-stitch, and immediately put it on her desk. 

I try to watch a movie on Friday nights, and it had been a LONG week, so I bought some pizza pockets and spawn and I watched The Emperor's New Groove. It was the perfect end to a less than perfect week.

Yesterday I parked up in the living room for a bit to work on a dragon cross-stitch which is entirely shades of green, so I try to only work on it in natural daylight. 

I went to my friend's last night - and spent an hour trying to fix a mistake in a different project, which was frustrating, and I was glad to finally figure it out.

Today Spawn and I went to Spotlight as I needed some cottons, and to the library, just because. I've spent most of the rest of the afternoon today reading, stitching and listening to a podcast called You Must Remember This, which is about the first century of Hollywood history. 

I am also eating potato chips, but we don't need to talk about that.

Anyway. I finished The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, which I enjoyed a lot.

I'm still reading The Outsider by Stephen King, and last night started The Return of the King. 

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?

Sunday Post 13; It's Monday! What are you reading? 13

 
The Sunday Post - a chance for bloggers to have a chat and catch-up - is hosted by Kimba, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

I turned 52 on Monday, and got some fancy chocolates and the book Recipes from the World of Tolkien by Robert Tuesley Anderson, which is very pretty and - as the title states - full of recipes inspired by Tolkien's works.

I had Tuesday off, which was nice. I had lunch with a friend and didn't do much of anything else.

The rest of my week was much the same. I didn't do much yesterday, but went to my friend's house last night as usual.

I also finished the festive llama cross-stitch for my friend's birthday. Her birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and it's definitely a Christmas llama, but she'll appreciate it.

I'm still reading The Outsider, and The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics. Once I've finished  the latter, I'll move on to The Return of the King.

I'm still working on my 52 things in 52 weeks list. I now have ... six, I believe. I'm trying not to make too many of them food-related. I'm open to ideas. :)

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva - review

 

When a Rembrandt painting is stolen and the restorer murdered, former Israeli secret agent Gabriel Allon is called in to try and figure out why the painting was stolen and the restorer left dead.

Allon soon finds himself mired in a world of secrets, Nazi treasure thieves, conspiracy and murder.

This is the second Gabriel Allon novel I've read, and honestly I find them very entertaining.

I have specific requirements for reading thriller/action/crime-type novels which are:

No romance between two "leads"

No "oi guv" - in other words, no butting heads with The System to Get the Job Done.

I read the first page of a book recently in which the main character had a fight with her husband and griped that she had to deal with a rookie. I stopped immediately.

But the Gabriel Allon novels - so far - fit into my criteria. He's already married for one thing, and the cases are highly readable and entertaining.

The Sunday Post 12; It's Monday! What are you reading? 12

 

The Sunday Post - a chance for bloggers to have a chat and a catch-up - is hosted by Kimba. here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Is it just me, or does Sunday seem to come around faster and faster? 

We had a long weekend last weekend, so I had Monday off, which was nice. I don't think I did anything outside of reading and stitching ... wait. I baked. I had a couple of bananas that I needed to use up, so I made some muffins. They came out not too badly, considering I don't bake very often. 

Work was much the same as always, which is no bad thing, and we came second at quiz on Wednesday night. 

Spawn went to a friend's for a sleepover on Friday night so I caught up on some TV shows and worked a bit on the llama cross-stitch which is destined as a gift for a friend. 

Saturday I played mum's taxi for spawn and friend for a bit, and went to my friend's for our usual Saturday night stitching and reality TV session. 

Today spawn is hanging out with another friend, and J is sleeping as he works nights, so I've pretty much had the house to myself. I watched a movie (Plane, which wasn't too bad) and worked on my Sunday projects. 

And now here we are. :)

I finally finished both The Two Towers and The Rembrandt Affair. I'm now reading Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P G Wodehouse, and The Outsider by Stephen King. I also have The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite on the go, but that's on Libby and I keep forgetting I'm reading it.

It's my birthday tomorrow, and I have Tuesday off, so I'm looking forward to that.

I'm still making a list of 52 things to do during my birthday year. I have ... five so far. 

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?

 

Sunday Post 11; It's Monday! What are you reading? 11

 

The Sunday Post - a chance for bloggers to have a chat and a catch-up - is hosted by Kimba, here: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and It's Monday! What are you reading? Is hosted by Kathryn, here: https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/

Let's see ... my week was fairly standard. Spawn had a few days off school at the start of the week as he developed a cold over the weekend. He was coming right by Wednesday though.

On Thursday night we went to his school's production as he had friends in the show. It was fun, but made for a LONG night.

Friday night I did as little as possible. 

Yesterday I went to the annual Rotary book sale, and managed to restrain myself. I bought a few novels, and a couple of cross-stitch books. 

Today I haven't done much besides watching a movie with spawn and some stitching.

It's a long weekend here, so I anticipate much the same tomorrow.

I'm still reading The Two Towers and The Rembrandt Affair but should hopefully finish both of them this week.

How about you? How's your week? What are you reading?