Fanda Classiclit

Miss Plum and Miss Penny (1959) by Dorothy Evelyn Smith #SpinsterSeptember

2026-09-30T07:00:00.000+07:00

🟣 This would be my second and last book for the 2026 edition of #SpinsterSeptember. I have wanted to read one more, but just couldn't manage to, due to many things happening concerning my mother's health lately. Anyway, I enjoyed very much the two I have finished (the previous one is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day). Now, the heroine of this one is the titular Miss Penny, a middle-aged spinster who lives quietly and contentedly in an English village with her also-contentedly-living housekeeper: Ada. Miss Alison Penny's life, which is filled with charity works, Women's Institute meetings, or annual bazaars - the usual activities in any English villages at that time - was disrupted when she rescued a young woman from attempting suicide by "drowning" herself in a duck pond. A very hilarious idea, indeed, drowning one self in a duck pond! But Miss Penny didn't see it that way; it was her conscientious duty to save another human being.

🟣 But that was not the only disruption in Miss Penny's life. The annual birthday card she receives from her old flame George, did not arrive for the first time in twenty years. It has been Miss Penny's only romantic touch to her otherwise loveless (yet cheerful) existence. George had been her first (and only) love twenty years ago, but her parents forbid her to marry him. Anyway, receiving Miss Victoria Plum (that was the young woman who's committed suicide) into Miss Penny's hitherto orderly and quite home, soon proved to be a havoc, not only for Miss Penny and Ada, but also for the other villagers too. Miss Plum's weepy and forlorn disposition soon steals everyone's heart, including the vicar and another outstanding middle-aged man called Stanley - both had hitherto been considering marrying Miss Penny for comfort. However, Miss Plum's welcome in Miss Penny's home soon wears thin, although Miss Penny is still in dilemma between getting rid of her soon, and not wanting to ruin her Christmas. Things weren't improved either when out of nowhere, George - the old Miss Penny's flame - arrived at the village, proposing to marry her!

🟣 On the whole, Miss Plum and Miss Penny is a perfect story about spinsters of that era - the 1950-1960s. And Dorothy Evelyn Smith gave the novel a rather dark comedic aspect, although not the crude one like Nancy Mitford's, no... hers is more subtle. It's interesting to watch how the villagers; especially the three main characters: Miss Penny, Hubert the vicar, and Stanley, were all trying to be generous and affectionate towards the needy (Miss Plum - who has neither money, home, nor relatives), although at some point they were also aware of Miss Plum's tendency of manipulating people using her weaknesses. We can see that from the start ("suicide" attempt at a duck pond; staying in bed in appearances, while in fact has been snooping around Miss Penny's house). Only Ada, Miss Penny's housekeeper, who wasn't deceived from the start. While this novel seems to be a light reading, there are many things that left you pondering about human kind. A certainly interesting read!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) by Agatha Christie: A Reread

2026-09-24T07:00:00.000+07:00

'Mrs. McGinty's dead!'
'How did she die?'
'Down on one knee, just like I!'

🔹 Agatha Christie's readers must have been familiar with her delight in old children's rhymes. There are many of her novels were titled or even inspired by these; And Then There Were None is one of the most famous of them. Mrs. McGinty's Dead was inspired by an old children's game - what a terrible game for children, isn't it? Anyway, the real Mrs. McGinty was an old charwoman who 'did' for some houses in a small village of Broadhinny. She was a quiet woman, but, like the type, she also likes to snoop around the houses she 'did'. One day she was found murdered, with a blow at the back of her head; and her meagre savings missing. Her only lodger, a James Bentley was accused, and then convicted, of murdering his landlady.

🔹 Superintendent Spence, however, doubted that Bentley was the murderer; he asked Hercule Poirot's help to investigate. Funny scenes came from Poirot, who was 'forced' to stay at the Summerhayes' guest house, which was a far cry from his ideal level of comfort; and also from the appearance of Mrs. Ariadne Oliver - the famous mystery novelist - who we all know for her untidiness and love of apples. And right enough, Poirot first saw her coming to Broadhinny after being hit by an apple core! LOL!! Anyway, Mrs. Oliver only served as humorous touch in this mystery; she lent almost no hand in the investigation, although she stays at the house of one of the suspects. Poirot soon learns the motive of Mrs. McGinty's murder - it has something to do with a past crime; someone who, either committed murder but not convicted, or was related to the murderer. That someone currently lives in Broadhinny, and is one of Mrs. McGinty's clienteles. 🔹 On the whole, it is one of Christie's mediocre works. It has some plot twists and red-herring; it has a humorous quality, especially whenever we have Poirot and Ariadne Oliver in one scene; it has the usual Poirot's denouement in the end; and Poirot once again acted as a love matchmaker for two young people of the characters. However, the plot and the characters didn't stand out from the rest of her works, and one can easily forget what had happened, and who's who in the end. A very entertaining one, but certainly unmemorable. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Suzanne (2026) by Michael Saxton

2026-09-21T07:00:00.000+07:00

🎨 First of all, many thanks to Michael Saxton, for giving me a free copy of his self-published book: Suzanne. I have first stumbled upon this book on Davida's blog (she reviewed it for #ParisinJuly2026), and I was fascinated by the story - the first French female painter of the of the Impressionism, whose works were admitted at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. I have never heard of her, and yet I was vaguely familiar with the name Utrillo, who was Valadon's son (also a painter). Hence, I was most curious about this Suzanne Valadon, who started her career in Montmartre as model for famous artists such as Berthe Morrisot, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir; but later on became "one of them" - as Edgar Degas had said at that time - the model had become the peer of the artists she had posed for. 🎨 Suzanne Valadon was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon in 1865 from an unmarried mother who was a laundress at Montmartre - her father was unknown. From childhood, Marie loved to draw, but both her mother and the Sister at the school forbade her to pursue this hobby. After being injured following a fall as trapeze acrobat in a circus, Marie began to pose as model and muse for several painters. One of these paintings, and perhaps the most famous, is Dance at Bougival (1883) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

🎨 From those hours of posing for the painters, Marie (or Maria - her chosen "professional" name as model) observed and learned their techniques. She went home often bringing some discarded papers and charcoal, and tried and trained herself to draw. It was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who first "found" her hidden talent, and he brought her to Edgar Degas, who was at that time considered the highest authority in paintings. And the rest, as they say, is history. Marie, or Maria, has become Suzanne - the name she assumed - the painter. However, that was only the beginning. Suzanne had had a long way to go to be well respected among her contemporary (male) artists, and to be considered a professional. One of her biggest obstacle was Maurice Utrillo, her son, born out of wedlock. 🎨 Maurice was conceived when Suzanne was only eighteen years old. She never revealed the father - most probably because she herself was not certain. However, Miquel Utrillo signed a legal document acknowledging paternity, without being sure himself of the truth. Anyhow, Maurice was a restless boy from the beginning, and Suzanne's mother often gave him a small dose of alcohol into his diet to "calm" him. Either from this diet or hereditary alcoholism in his blood, Maurice grew up an alcoholic. And so, Suzanne's personal life was always in between poverty and alcoholism (and perhaps a hint of schizophrenia). Paul Mousis, a banker, was the only non-bohemian man who had ever really loved Suzanne. He provided respectability and establishment to Suzanne's life (they lived in a Paris apartment), staying away from Montmartre and bohemian influences that Suzanne believed was bad for Maurice. 🎨 Unfortunately, once a bohemian, one would always be one. Suzanne began an adulterous affair with a boy of the same age of Maurice - in fact he was Maurice's friend - called André Utter in 1909. He posed for her painting Adam et Eve. I was quite furious with Suzanne at this point. What kind of a mother who would prioritize passion on top of the wellbeing of his sensitive son? She admitted to herself that if she were to chose between her husband (Paul) and her son, she would have picked Maurice. That was quite understandable, considering her relationship with Paul was more of comfort rather than passion. But to "sacrifice" Maurice's feeling to passionate affair with a mere boy was too much for me - bohemian or not. Well, they say that genius artists (and writers) are usually selfish, so maybe that's one quality that Suzanne needed to be what she had later become. 🎨 All in all, this is a nice historical account of a self-made woman painter, at the time when the art world was dominated by men. Suzanne had always been persistent in both her art and her dealings with blood-sucker art dealer, and with people who was on the way between her and her son's happiness. Personally I prefer Maurice Utrillo's art of cityscapes than the bold-lined and crude Suzanne's feminine nudity. Well, I generally dislike feminists, so... But that didn't deter my enjoying this book. The first half is perhaps quite confusing; one chapter, for instance, Maurice was still a toddler, then apparently in the next he's already six. But the rest are more neatly paced. Though I was not quite immersed into the Paris of between the end of Impressionism era to the rising of Expressionism, this would be a perfect choice for #ParisinJuly, or if you are a Francophile like me.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Fortnight in September (1931) by R.C. Sherriff

2026-09-14T07:00:00.000+07:00

🏖️ The Fortnight in September is a tale about holiday. No, it's not a story that takes place in a holiday resort, or about events that happen during a holiday. No, the story is about the holiday itself, like the Holiday is one of the main characters; a central one. The Stevens is a lower middle class family lives in 22 Corunna Road, Dulwich. For the last fifteen years, their annual two-weeks summer holiday was spent regularly in the seaside resort of Bognor. Not only at the same region, they have always stayed at the same boarding house called Seaview, that belongs to a Mrs. Huggett (widowed for several years). The boarding house, the Stevens found, was always satisfactory when Mr. and Mrs. Huggett ran them together. But after Mr. Huggett died, they began to see slight decrease in the service. Nonetheless, the Stevens loyally continued to stay year after year at Seaview. 🏖️ I personally find the idea of staying at the same holiday place for fifteen years is wonderful. I can see the charm of it. Our family had had that kind of place, but for only two or three years. I remember feeling comfortable in our second stay; it felt like we were returning to an old familiar place, where we knew exactly what we could expect; the quality of the room, the food, the weather, and dozens of tiny little details that make or break the enjoyment of our holidays. Doing it for fifteen years, I imagine, felt like one is owning a summer place of one's self. 🏖️ The story unfolds with details of what ordinary family do, feel, view about their annual holiday. Mr. Stevens is always meticulous at his preparation. When to book the room at Seaview (it's just a letter to confirm to Mrs. Huggett know that the Stevens will be there this summer), how many days ahead precisely is needed to start packing or procuring the necessary paraphernalia of holiday on the seaside resort, and what time precisely they should leave home to allow enough time at the station. The family knows exactly what to bring, which shoes most comfortable to wear, the bathing suit, and don't forget the ball and the kite, and so on. They have done it for fifteen years anyway, so they had been perfecting the holiday in all aspects. But just like any other holiday, there would be one, two, or more unexpected 'complication' that would either ruin the holiday, or mark it to make it memorable. 🏖️ This book, I found, made me pondering over the philosophy of a holiday, more than I expected. The most striking aspect of a holiday will be borne into our memory for the whole year. And that's why it's important to make a holiday as perfect as possible; every choices are counted, for instance, whether you should spend more money to have little luxury. If it turns out bad, you would resent the money overspent (thus ruined the whole holiday for the rest of the work year), but if it turns out satisfactory, it would top your memory of that holiday (and cheer you up for the rest of the work year). A lot is at stake for a fortnight of a holiday - something I have never imagined. 🏖️ On the whole, this was a satisfactory reading experience. I felt like spending time with the Stevens on the seaside, and I enjoyed every stages of their holiday, every details of it. And through the reading, I was reminded of what my past holidays had been like. I had expected this a light read - which it was - but somehow it made me quite sentimental and philosophical, instead. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Much Dithering (1938) by Dorothy Lambert

2026-09-09T07:00:00.000+07:00

🔴 Much Dithering is the name of a small, tucked-away, and peaceful village in England, where nothing has ever stirred the existence of its inhabitants. The inhabitants are mostly proud and dignified people, from its landed-gentry to the working classes. Amidst them all, the young widow Jocelyn Renshawe (our heroine) is the most unlikely to have adventure, let alone romance. She had had a loveless marriage, hence does not have any inkling about love. Her existence has been dedicated in her household, the church and charity works, and in obeying her mother-in-law (the Honorable Lady Augusta Renshawe) and her aunt. As far as Jocelyn's concern, she would grow old a penniless spinster, since the inheritance would be passed on to Lady Augusta's long lost nephew.

🔴 As usual, there should be some newcomers who would stir the peaceful existence in such a quaint village. And that roles fall on these personages; Colonel Tidmarsh - a dull retired army man; the rich family (new money) of Murchison-Bellabys whose ambition was to settled down on the village as respectable family; Ermyntrude - Jocelyn's estranged mother - who is on the lookout for a rich husband to be settled down with; and, last but not least, Gervase Blythe - a young man with unknown past, but who'd charmed everyone. Lady Augusta and Jocelyn's aunt had decided that Jocelyn should marry the dull Colonel Tidmarsh, in order to secure their darling's future. The Colonel himself is attracted by Jocelyn, who, being a typical dutiful daughter, never realizes her innocent beauty and charm, and thus, appears more attractive than women who try hard to look beautiful (heavily made-up like Ermyntrude, for instance). 🔴 The Murchison-Bellaby's son Adrian, is the second man who's instantly attracted to Jocelyn. The problem is, he's also the one for whom Ermyntrude had been 'aiming'. Then, there's Gervase Blythe, whose accidental introduction to Jocelyn left a lasting memory to the young widow. So, you see, that the central comedy of this story is how Jocelyn, believed by everyone to be the dullest woman in the village, found herself wooed by, not one, not two, but three men at the same time. And the charming job of the readers is to guest who would win her heart and how she sorted herself out from these entanglements. Oh, you would easily guess the answer, as well as to 'solve' the mystery of some jewelry theft in the hitherto very peaceful village. All in all, it was the kind of a charming, delightful, lighthearted read that I always love!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (1938) by Winifred Watson #SpinsterSeptember

2026-09-03T07:00:00.000+07:00

❤️ It's September again, and as usual I am going to do #SpinsterSeptember. It is an annual event found, and usually hosted, by Nora @pear.jelly. I have checked her Instagram; her last post was in March, and there were no sign that she will be hosting again this year. Well, in that case, I'm going solo. It is such a good idea to read and explore books about spinsters. My first read is Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - and what a "riot" it has been! I listened to the audiobook, and Frances McDormand did a fantastic job to enlivened this charming story, which was, as the title indicated, actually happening on the span of twenty four hours. I have learned too, that Frances McDormand herself plays Miss Pettigrew in the 2008 film.

❤️ The revolve around Guinevere Pettigrew, a spinster of almost forty years old. She was born and grew up in the 1930s of England, in a prudish family of a vicar. Her mother has brought her up as tightly as in a convent that she never had neither youthful fun nor adult love growing up. Currently she's working as governess - and not good at it either. Worst of all, Miss Pettigrew has been sacked from her last job - where she's become more of a nursemaid than governess - and if she doesn't find any new job soon, she will end up in a work house - penniless as she is now. Hence, when a position is opening, she snatched it up immediately, and with much trepidation, arrived at her destination, the home of a Miss LaFosse. ❤️ It turns out that Miss Delysia LaFosse is a glamorous nightclub singer, with apparently no children to be seen. Miss Pettigrew wonders what kind of children would be her charge, but before she has chance to inquire, Miss LaFosse tasked her to 'handle' her undesired beau. Successful at her first task, Miss Pettigrew soon gets herself entangled in the midst of London's glitzy society. Instead of handling unruly children, Miss Pettigrew finds herself being dressed, made-up, and "whirled around" from one dazzling party to another, witness of love affairs and the ensued drama, all in one day - one eventful day that will turn her life completely. ❤️ This book is a perfectly written comedy, and I love it! What I meant with perfect comedy is that it isn't the raw-slapstick one like Wodehouse's. It lays rather in the witty dialogs, particularly in Miss Pettigrew's part, and the good timing of the dialogs that created an opening for Miss Pettigrew's stage. The exhilarating adventures that Miss Pettigrew succeeded in having, out of the series of those mischances, coupled with her humble views of all that, are what I love most about this novel. In a way, there's a little of 'Cinderella touch' in the story - the poverty-crunched maiden getting a glittering moment of her life. The problem is, whether it will end with "happily-ever-after" kind of moment, or will it be a more heartwarming one? Anyhow, this is the kind of book I would cherish for a long time, and that I might want to re-read every now and then. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cider with Rosie (1959) by Laurie Lee

2026-08-31T07:02:00.000+07:00

💛 Published in 1959, Cider with Rosie is Laurie Lee's childhood memoir in the remote Costwold village called Slad, Gloucestershire, in England. In this first book of a trilogy, Laurie told us memories of his childhood to adolescence right after First World War. The memoir opens with Laurie, his mother and the rest of the family (of nine) at a cottage in Slad. Laurie is the penultimate child, ranked from age, of seven. He and three others are the biological children of his mother. The other four are children of his father and his first wife. Laurie's father was a soldier who had lost his first wife, and then married his housekeeper (Laurie's mother, Annie Emily Light). However after the war, during which Mrs. Lee had been taking care of the family for him, he abandoned the family and never came back. 💛 The memoir is divided into several thematic chapters, rather than following chronological order. For example, the chapter titled The Kitchen told us about their domestic life, which Laurie felt centered in the kitchen. He brought us to their day-to-day life; the bigger sisters to their works; Laurie and the younger boys plays around the village after school; and how in the evening the family always gathered around the big kitchen table - the latter is, indeed, a heartwarming glimpse of the bygone era. We also came to know about Laurie's mother's personalities - bright spirit who had never been crushed by hardship, and who has a Bohemian touch. She had had worked at manors, serving the gentry, and adopted some of their views and tastes along the way, which she always carried in her wretched life. She's a gentlewoman who was forced, by poverty and by her selfish husband, to hardship. I loved her instantly, I admired her great courage and resilience. Mrs. Lee was the core of the family, and the only reason why the children lived such a happy life. 💛 Laurie Lee doesn't always talk about the family, there's a chapter, Grannies in the Wainscot, dedicated to their neighbors - the two eccentric elderly women who perpetually despised each other. It's rather a hilarious one, and becomes one of my favorite chapters, together with Mother, which Laurie dedicated to his amazing mother; and Outings and Festivals, which told us the fun of living in the village (at that time) with all the outings and events, usually sponsored by their squire. I can imagine how gloriously fun and memorable those are, which had been imprinted in Laurie Lee's memory ever since. 💛 On the whole, it's a memoir of a bygone era worth reading. It emphasizes on the charming lives the family had had during the era when industrialism's hand hadn't yet touched them. But, without realizing it at that moment, Laurie Lee grew up on the brink of the massive change that was about to come. I am lucky to have read this glorious memoir about that era, and am always grateful of Laurie's eloquent and incisive way of describing the tiny little details that marked his life! Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Mr. Katō Plays Family (2018) by Milena Michiko Flašar #WITMonth2026 #20BOS26

2026-08-26T07:00:00.000+07:00

👴🏼 Milena Michiko Flašar, who wrote of Mr. Katō Plays Family, is a Japanese-Austrian author who currently lives in Vienna. She was born from A Japanese mother and an Austrian father. This book is originally written in Germany, and is translated to English by Caroline Froh. This would be my second and last book for #WITMonth2026. Mr. Katō Plays Family tells the story of a recently retired Japanese man in his sixties, who lives with his wife in a suburban town of Japan. The story opens with our protagonist on the way back from hospital after his routine checkup for his heart - the report is good - but nevertheless, he wished there's something wrong with his heart, so that there's something to talk about with his wife. From then on, we learn how Mr. Kato's marriage has been going sour for sometime. He's been turning a bit curmudgeonly of late; his wife wants him out of the house; and there are Mr. Kato's unfulfilled dreams, like having a dog - a Pomeranian whom he would have called Shiro - which idea disliked and dismissed by his wife. We learn that there are so many regrets on things unsaid and undone, and Mr. Kato is at lost how to repair it or begin anew. 👴🏼 On that fateful morning, when Mr. Kato took a rest at a cemetery, during his walk, he met an extraordinary girl. She is called Mie, and she appreciates Mr. Kato's ingenuity and improvisation skill which he inadvertently shows when he thinks nobody's looking. Mie turns out to be owning a business called Happy Family, which specializing in providing people whom you can hire to act and play roles in real families. Intrigued, Mr. Kato was hired by Mie, and his first assignment is to be a grandfather to a little boy who misses his own who never shows up. Apparently Mr. Kato did very well in his role-playing - a natural, you might say. However fluent he communicates with families who hired him, still, he fails to communicate either important or mundane things he wishes to say to his own family. 👴🏼 The idea to describe the RHS (Retired Husband Syndrome) that affected either the wife or Mr. Kato - the retiree himself - through the contradictory condition between real and acting lives, is a clever idea. Add that with the writing structure of alternating real dialogues with stream of consciousness, makes this story feels more poignant. In the end, although the idea of people wanting 'stand-in' people to act as their relatives is both rather implausible (someone is bound to realize that they were not the real person, isn't it?) and disturbing (are human beings have become that pathetic that we need actors to play our roles?) I really-really wish this phenomenon is just the actor's imagination, and not the real condition. Because if it is, the human race is nearly doomed! As a reading experience, this book is neither wonderful nor bad; it provides, at least, some funny scenes and quite heartwarming in regard of the family-and-love theme. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

#WITMonth2026 hosted by Meytal @ Biblibio

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Murder Takes a Vacation (2025) by Laura Lippman

2026-08-20T07:00:00.000+07:00

💙 Mrs. Muriel Blossom is an American widow of 60-something, with insecurity problem, because she is a natural plump, and therefore has a knack of blending into the background. That, and with her sharp intelligent, Mrs. Blossom had worked as private investigator's assistant in the past. That she is currently involved in a murder and theft case, is pure coincidental. You see, the moment Mrs. Blossom had found a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot, 'her faith has been sealed', so to speak. She immediately booked a luxurious cruise to France on MS Solitaire, for herself and her bestfriend Eleanor. However, she indulged herself a trip to London, alone, before the cruise. On the flight, she was 'upgraded' to business class (her first time experience), and it was then that she met a gallant and charming middle aged man called Allan. It's been a long time that Mrs. Blossoms felt like a woman - attended to, flirted to - even kissed to - by a handsome man, and she was flattered and enamoured with this Allan. However, before anything could follow, she heard the news that Allan was dead - fallen from the balcony of his hotel in Paris (while he said he was on the way to somewhere else).

💙 After that, mysterious incidents keep happening to Mrs. Blossom. Someone has been searching through her belongings at the hotel; then a theft attempted to snatch her purse at a cafe - what is really going on? A stylish called Danny is suddenly so helpful to Mrs. Blossoms, but who later on confesses he's actually an FBI agent and/or insurance agency investigator. He is always around Mrs. Blossom, even when she's on board the MS Solitaire - why is he following her? Then his story about Allan embroiling in stolen antiques - an invaluable statue with sapphire eyes - were any of this true? And if Allan did try to smuggle the statue through customs, and had been using her, Mrs. Blossoms, inadvertently, where is this statue now? Mrs. Blossoms has been searching through her belongings, nothing's there. 💙 I was surprised that a person such as Mrs. Blossom, who has worked as investigator's assistant, could not think or has a tiny suspicion about how Allan had been using her. It was clear as light, and I had been thinking from the beginning that that little 'incident' would prove to be how part of the crime would be commit. But no, Mrs. Blossoms is as oblivion and unsuspecting as any layman can be, even after learning that the man she thought loved her was proved to be a crooked one. Moreover, as a cozy mystery, this one is way much too cozy to be a mystery at all. Mrs. Blossom is NOT an amateur sleuth; she has never intended to investigate. She's just trying to enjoy her holiday - which she doesn't really deserve anyway, as it was paid by sheer luck (finding a winning lottery at a parking lot), despite of mysterious things that's happening around her - though she did sometimes wonder (why? how?) It only gets spiced up a little on the last two or three chapters, and Mrs. Blossom realized the truth only on a whim, not by intelligence. 💙 While the river cruise along the Seine is pretty promising, I didn't feel like being on a cruise at all. What I liked most is perhaps the character development in Muriel Blossom. The rest is just okay, though Kimberly Farr as the narrator of the audiobook did a nice job here, it's quite enjoyable as a light read. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Read for: Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

Dear Mrs. Bird (2018) by A.J. Pearce #20BOS26

2026-08-14T07:00:00.000+07:00

🖨️ In Dear Mrs. Bird, A.J. Pearce brought us right in the center of the war - that is, the Word War II. It was the 1941 in London, when bombing and air raid were everyday life for the citizens. Our heroine is Emmeline "Emmy" Lake, a young woman who's dreaming of becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent; always longed to 'do something' rather than being at the side of the court witnessing the men struggling to defend their nation from "the madman" (Hitler). So, when she found an advertisement in the newspaper for a job vacancy at a publishing company, she applied instantly. Not only that, she accepted the job without fully realizing the job description. When she imagined her job would be a war journalist, it's actually only typing questions and responses for an advice column at Woman's Friend magazine, under the formidable editress of Mrs. Henrietta Bird.

🖨️ But Emmy was undefeated, she just do the job; one day she might be promoted to the real journalism works. For now, well, it's just opening and sorting letters from women who are at their wits end with their everyday life's problems - which are stretching from domestic issues to romance or marital issues, and even dealing with grief. It would have been a good opportunity for Emmy to help these women coping up with the war and enhancing their spirits, but unfortunately, Mrs. Bird has a long list of 'Unpleasantness' - topics that she rejects to response. Emmy is frustrated that she couldn't help these women just because Mrs. Bird thinks their problems are unworthy, so she secretly writes back to them (to those who included return address and stamps) with Mrs. Bird's signature. Not stopping herself at that, she is boldly including her own response to be printed in the magazine! I know where these would result, but it's still fun to keep reading on. 🖨️ And it's not all about funny things that happened around Woman's Friend. Just when I thought this book is just about a typist defrauding women readers of an advice column, the story plunged right into the war. Emmy is volunteering three days a week at the fire station, where it would be very busy during the air raids. And Emmy's best friend and roommate's boyfriend also works at the same station as a firefighter. From them, we get a glimpse of what the raging war was like, almost as if we lived through the events ourselves. The first half part of the book goes on like this, half cheery and lighthearted atmosphere during the day, and half fiery excitement mixed with panic and patriotic touch during the night. However, entering the second half, we were plunging into the heart of the blasted war. Our heroine and friends are no longer spectators on the sidelines, they 'got' it first-handed. 🖨️ But don't worry, if sometimes it became rather gory, Dear Mrs. Bird has a perfect balance between dark and light; desperation and hope. I loved that Emmy bravely (or cowardly, depends on how you see it) keeps writing and sharing positive thinking letters to Woman's Friend readers, against her boss' wishes. These notes no doubt exude a hopeful tone in the midst of the destruction around the nation (or world) - just what the people needed at those difficult times. In the end, this is a story about resilience, courage, forgiveness, and hope - that there's always light at the end of the tunnel, if we patiently keep on our works in the hopeful tone. It is both touching and inspiring, and I have a feeling this book would make it to be one of the finalists for my most favorite book of this year!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

When the Cranes Fly South (2024) by Lisa Ridzén #WITMonth #20BOS26

2026-08-11T07:00:00.000+07:00

Admittedly, it was "the cranes" that had first attracted me to this book. As you might know, I have become a nature enthusiast lately - I even managed a nature journaling blog besides this book blog. Birds is one of my favorite subjects for nature journaling, and so I was keen to know whether this is a book about cranes. It's not, but nonetheless, it is a wonderful book, and I am glad I have picked this as one of two books I've intended to read for #WITMonth2026. It's penned by Lisa Ridzén, a Swedish author, and translated by Alice Menzies.

This turned out to be a heartrending - beautiful yet bittersweet - story about an elderly man of 89, who is nearing the end of his life. After his wife, Frederika, was brought to a care home for dementia, Bo has been living alone in his house in Swedish countryside, only accompanied by his beloved dog, Sixten. While the story progresses, we get to know Bo's past and present life through Bo's dreams - you might realize that elderly people of nearly 90s sleep a lot - and the entries of the care-taker's log book. Everyday there are care takers who work on shifts to take care of Bo - preparing food, helping him washing, cleaning, and in general making him comfortable. Through these mediums, we learn about Bo's difficult childhood - especially his bullying father. The anger and injustice he felt throughout his adolescence had hardened him to adulthood, and made it difficult for him to be easygoing in his own relationship with Hans - Bo and Frederika's only son.

Now Hans is insisting to take Sixten away from Bo, as with his own condition, Bo would be unable to take proper care of a dog. While to Bo, apart from his pal Ture, Sixten is the only company he has in his near nonexistence. I was so mad at Hans' stubbornness in taking Sixten away. Can't he see that his father is extremely lonely - the loneliness that only elderly people and those who directly care for them understand? That Sixten provides company, comfort, and the last 'pillar' Bo could cling to? So what if it's not ideal for Sixten; the dog is happy living with Bo anyway. I always believe that, in regards of elderly people after 80, it is best to just let them have what they feel are most important. It won't change anything anymore, but it would at least make them happy, comfortable, and peaceful when their days are numbered. That's what I am doing for my 86-years-old mother. And that's what I would want others do to me when I have myself reached the same age.

I loved how Bo talks to his wife all the time in his mind: "You won't believe what our son is doing today"... It's the only way to lessen the painful fact of things (that Frederika is 'no longer there' due to dementia), so that we can better accept the reality. I think it's not a wrong way to put our loved ones always on our mind - to make them always alive, in spirit, if not in flesh. I talk to my late Father in my mind every now and then, letting him know what had happened to my Mother, news of our acquaintances, and general news of myself. He is no longer with me, but it's just temporarily. One day we will meet again; and in the meantime, I will put him up to date with my life. Anyway, my favorite Bo's caretaker is Ingrid - she knows how to treat elderly people as a human, not merely a subject. She put what Bo wants into consideration, not just insisting on what she thinks best, or what the doctors ordered.

On the whole, this book is not for lighthearted readers. It talks about the painful, uncomfortable business of getting older and/or dying; about the importance of saying what you need to say to your loved ones before it is too late; and about love, family, friendship, and forgiveness. Most importantly, it inspires us on how to treat elderly people; that is compromising between doing the best (we think we can) for them and letting them have what they want most - if the two are contradictory. But also, not less importantly, about what elderly people's feeling and desires - that they can't communicate better and just do what we tell them, doesn't mean they are happy with our arrangement; it's that they are too tired to argue or complain. Elderly people needs peace and comfort, but also to be treated as human being, not as accessories, workload, or a burden. We just need to listen when they talk (though sometimes repeatedly or incoherently or boring), and spare them their (last) dignity. We need to be with them more often. Stocking their favorite food in the refrigerator doesn't help (well, it helps a little), but what they want most is to be with their family, to feel they are still important and to be loved by the family. I wish I could do all for my Mother before her end. In the end, what an inspirational and touching this book is!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

#WITMonth2026
hosted by Meytal @ Biblibio

20 Books of Summer 2026

hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Then Again, Maybe I Won't (1971) by Judy Blume #Reading1971 #20BOS26

2026-08-07T07:00:00.000+07:00

This would be a short post, partly because Judy Blume's Then Again, Maybe I Won't is a light reading; there's not much to talk about, partly because, on the other hand, I have a lot to talk about at my new blog. Oh, I have not mentioned that I have a new blog, have I? It's on nature journaling, and it's called A Sprinkle of Nature [click the link if you'd like to pass by - you'd be welcomed to visit if you want to ;)]. I also put the link on the side bar under "My Other Blog".

Anyway, this is about a teenage boy (thirteen years) called Tony Miglione, who narrates the novel. He comes from a middle class family in Jersey City, his dad works as electrician, his mother a housewife. His dad "struck gold" when one of his personal inventions was bought by a big business owner. The family became suddenly rich, and they moved to an upper-class district in Long Island. Here Tony begins observing some "unpleasantness" that often make his stomach aches of anxiety. The neighbor's boy Joel, whom Tony befriended, turns out to be a shoplifter, and a telephone-prankster. Then his mother becomes a terrible social-climber, that got his grandmother angry (and Tony disgusted).

This short novel talks about the unpleasant business of puberty, especially here from male teenager's perspective; social climbing; and cultural status. The Migliones are Italian Americans, but they tried hard to blend in with the upper class American (Tony's mother's name is Carmella, but she let the snobbish neighbor calls her Carol). One thing that disturbed me most is Tony's voyeurism. He often spies on Joel's pretty elder sister Lisa through binoculars (which he received for Christmas gift, reasoning that he's going to birdwatching), when she's dressing or undressing. That's disgusting, and I wonder why the therapist he's seeing didn't say anything about it. Anyway, like I say, it's a light reading, it's not very fun, but not very bad either. I was just happy enough to feel the 1970s vibes (when teenagers riding bikes everywhere, and make plans to meet at a place only through telephone one week before - and both parties remember and show up!)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026

hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Murder on Wheels (1932) by Stuart Palmer #20BOS26

2026-08-05T07:00:00.000+07:00

🚘 The second book in a series always make me apprehensive; will it be better from, or at least the same as, the first? Will the writer improve their writing or will it be a flop? I am glad that Stuart Palmer did the first with the Hildegarde Withers series. Like the first one, The Penguin Pool Murder, this book also has an unusual kind of murder for Hildegarde and Inspector Piper to investigate. Hildegarde, still with her sharp notice of small details, and her invaluable umbrella, chose to run her own investigation separated from Piper's. This cute pair of detective-amateur-sleuth decided to make it a competition!

🚘 One winter afternoon, the traffic officer near Fifth Avenue found, first a driverless Chrysler roadster on the street, then a body of a man flopped down the same street, apparently from the sky, with a noose around his neck. Piper and Hildegarde took to investigate the case, as soon as they learned that it was most certainly not a suicide. The victim is identified as Lawrence "Laurie" Stait, who came from a highly respectable family (an old money of New York), and who has lived in a big house with his identical twin brother Lewis, his domineering eccentric grandmother, his dotty aunt, a nerdy cousin Hubert, and half a dozen servants. Perfectly identical as Laurie was to Lew in appearance, they were completely different in character. Laurie was always acknowledged as the space goat of the family - always befriend dubious characters - while Lew is the dependable and sweet one. Hence, it's not a surprise to anyone, that someone has murdered him.

🚘 The almost impossible murder was the first striking point of this book for me. An eyewitness - a taxi driver - told Piper and Hildegarde an astonishing story of the way the body "appeared" on the street. It was first "rise right up out of the seat (of the car)," into the air, then fly down the street, backwards! Had the taxi driver been drunk and hallucinating? Or was it the true account of Laurie's tragic demise? How was it possibly done, then? And most importantly who had motive and who had no alibi when the murder happened? Was it the "cowboy" Keeley, whose sister had had an affair with Laurie last summer? The noose (or what they called lariat) was almost identical with the one he always use for his shows. Or was it one of the family? The aunt and cousin Hubert had a strong alibi - two tickets of the opera - but Lew's alibi was from the flirty maid Gretchen. And what about the torn opera ticket that Hildegarde and Piper found outside the house in the snow? Did it mean that someone else has gone to the theatre when they were supposed to be at home? 🚘 I loved this book for its perfect balance between: a). the murder plot - yes, it's rather complicated and I doubted if it is plausible in real life - but it's fantastic as a mystery novel; I also loved the plot twist, though not unsuspected (by me at least); b). the often hilarious encounters of Hildegarde and Piper, not mentioning the appearance of Mrs. Stait's (the grandmother) parrot; the ending scene between the dog and the parrot is the perfect one to end this kind of murder mystery!; and lastly c). Hildegarde and Piper's dynamic relationship, halfway between partner-in-crime and affectionate/romantic-interest. You'd wonder all the time: would they, or would they not...? And I half suspect Palmer would keep it that way for the rest of the series, because if the scale tipped a little more to one side, the balance would be ruined, and the series would not be as perfect as it is.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

Diary of A Profincial Lady (1930) by E.M. Delafield #20BOS26

2026-07-31T07:00:00.000+07:00

✍🏼 When life is too much for you, this comical book is a perfect getaway for you. It is set in 1930 and is written as a diary of a housewife from an upper middle-class household in Devon village in England. It is an autobiographical account of Delafield's own view of the English upper-classes' eccentricity. The unknown woman writes about everyday's life concerning her household. It consists of her husband Robert, a land agent and a typical husband of the time with his indifferent manner towards the household; their daughter Vicky (6 years old) who's brought up by a French nanny; the older son Robin, who at the start of the novel was sent to a prep school, and would spend holidays at home, creating havocs to the household. There are also a cook and a parlour maid to complete the household.

✍🏼 The narrator writes about everything she encounters day in day out. From the (trying) visits of two prominent ladies, the snobbish Lady Boxe, and 'our Vicar's wife' who always talk too long - whom the narrator actually is not glad to welcome, but she complies anyway; to the difficulties of parenting (and facing the nanny's whining); the financial struggles of meeting the expenditure with the income (pawnbroker and letters to bank managers and creditors involved); not mentioning the narrator's effort to grow 'the bulbs' (which is more often dissatisfactory). All these the narrator put in diary entries with witty, often sarcastic, and humorous way, especially in her NBs, Queries, and 'Mems' - which is intended to remind her of something important to do. ✍🏼 Besides recording the eccentricity of her peer, the narrator sometimes jotted down her reflection of getting into middle age. She is about thirty-something, and often feels out of fashion, though she tries hard not to. In a way, though separated by a century, the narrator's struggle does not differ very far from our own. Aren't housewives often juggling between childcare, financial management, and social obligation? Of course, social calls become less and less often, but instant messaging and other digital communication have been replacing it, maybe even double in persistency and frequency. Reading this diary reminded me of the bygone era of the 20th century, when human interaction was still the center of our civilization. It is light, witty, and funny, and the voice of Georgina Sutton who narrates the audiobook is perfectly soothing. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The Little Paris Bookshop (2013) by Nina George #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

2026-07-28T07:00:00.000+07:00

📘 This would be my last read for #ParisinJuly2026. It's not my first choice, actually. I have been meaning to read a nonfiction about gardens in Paris, but alas, the book is not currently available. Since The Little Paris Bookshop had been on my radar for some time, I plunged in, and read it instead. And it turned out to be a perfect book to end Paris in July! Plus, it took me to to another journey through the river by a barge. Lovely!

📘 The titular bookshop is owned by Jean Perdu, a lonely man around fifty, who, twenty one years ago bought a barge and restored it into a floating bookshop on the Seine. He named the barge "Literary Apothecary", since Perdu has a rare gift of seeing through his customer's soul, and sensing which books would heal their wounded soul. Ironically, it was his own soul that he failed to heal. Twenty six years ago, he had had a love affair with a Provençal girl called Manon, even when knowing that Manon would marry her fiancée Luc. However, one day Manon left him, without warning or explicable reason. This had hit Perdu very hard, that he didn't even open the letter Manon had left him. He just kept in inside the drawer of a table in the room of his apartment building in Rue Montagnard where they'd been together, and shut that room forever. He had been living as an eccentric recluse ever since. 📘 Until one day, a woman moved in, who has apparently been dumped by her husband with nothing except the clothes she wore. And, since Jean Perdu owns an unused table, he reluctantly gifted it to the newly-widowed woman called Catherine. There in the drawer, she found the unopened letter from Manon, who had told him that she was actually dying of cancer! The truth knocked Jean so hard, that he impulsively decided to raise the anchor of the Literary Apothecary, and set-off to Provence in search of... what exactly? He didn't know either at that moment. Just when the barge is about to unmoor, Max, his emerging-writer-neighbour at Rue Montagnard who's been depressed over his writer-block, asked Jean to take him along. And so, off go the two men, who, along the journey would become like father and son. They are, later on, joined by another broken-hearted Italian man called Cuneo, whose real passion is cooking. These trio's journey was to become a rediscovering-of-one's-soul and the healing process to remove any past wound, and to find new life, and... love! 📘 What I loved most of the book is Perdu and co.'s journey on board the book barge. I loved the glimpses of small harbour town or countryside that dotted the river banks. I loved the freedom of the three men, who, due to their hasty departure, didn't bring enough money to buy food and supplies, and therefore were selling books whenever they moored for the day. That journey is an escapist's or armchair traveler's dream. My least favorite part is Manon's diary. Manon is the woman Jean Perdu had been grieving about. How could I like a woman who was egotistic enough to love two men at the same time; and marry the one, and expected the other - the lover - to never leave her. Couldn't she see that that would break both men? But egotistic persons seldom can see things from others' perspective, always from their own selves. That marred the book for me, but the rest is entertaining enough. The book barge (it's a pity that it was never mentioned again at the end - Literary Apothecary deserves a better ending!); the joie de vivre that you can feel in your bone through the book; the small town or countryside of their transits; the food; the passionate French; and... Provence. What an appropriate book to close my #ParisinJuly2026 - many thanks to our fabulous host: Emma :). Au revoir!

Favorite quotes:

"It was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books. They look after people."

"Memories are like wolves. You can't lock them away and hope they leave you alone."

Read for: Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Three Bags Full (2005) by Leonie Swann #20BOS26

2026-07-23T07:00:00.000+07:00

🐑 I have made the second mistake this year, reading wise. I have let myself be tempted by another hyped book which is soon to be a major movie with top actors, just like Remarkably Bright Creatures. And this story was also about, and told from the point of view of, a certain animal. While Remarkably is alternately told from the point of view of human characters and Marcellus the 'remarkably bright' octopus, Three Bags is told mainly from the POV of a flock of sheep's. Both creatures - octopus and sheep - are clever enough to have solved a mystery that the humans failed. However funny or cute the idea was - a flock of sheep turn detective - this story has layers of darkness, and lacks of clarity in the mystery solving. 🐑 The clever sheep belong to a shepherd called George Glenn, who lived in a cozy Irish village of Glennkill. He was a good shepherd - taking a good care and love every one of his sheep, often talks to them, and read stories at night. The books were mainly romances, but one day he read them a detective story, but stopped before finishing it. It was supposed that from these stories reading, and George's continual conversation with the sheep, that they observed much about humans (and detecting). One day, though, the sheep found that their shepherd is dead - pinned to the ground with a spade. The sheep knew that it was a murder, and, led by Miss Maple (the sheep version of Miss Marple?) - "the smartest sheep in Glennkill (and possibly the world)" - they investigate the murder. 🐑 As I mentioned before, the idea is cute and quite promising - how a flock of sheep investigate a murder? They stalk the humans, and listen to every conversation. The humans are none the wiser because, hey, who would imagine that the sheep understand what you said, and if they do, how would they "revealed" it? No, the humans mostly ignore their existence. But Miss Maple - being the smartest sheep in Glenkill; and possibly the world - keeps mulling over the "clues" in her head, until - bingo! she's got it! The revealing to the humans is going to be more difficult, but for this too, she had thought a smart solution. So, what's my problem?-you might wonder. First of all, I didn't know what's happening most of the time, since we only get snippets of truth alternately from sheep and humans. You can imagine that sheep cannot fully understand what humans are talking or doing, and we are only presented with mostly the sheep's perceptions. For instance, the sheep dug the earth and found hidden down there "the thing". It's clear that George had buried 'the thing', but what was it?? - I wanted to scream to my tablet everytime they mentioned "the thing" (I listened to the audiobook). And when much later, it was revealed to be plastic bags containing dry grass, and had caused one of the sheep (Mopple the Whale who's always hungry) fainted and slept for 24 hours, we can only vaguely suspected what the bags had contained. Is-it-what-I-think-it-is? kind of situation. And that changed my mind about George - he's not a lovely character I have thought before. 🐑 Then, 'the darkness' that overshadowed the whole story. You'd get the creepy feeling of a haunted and suicidal soul all through. What with the 'ghost' and death the sheep kept talking about, and a sheep called Zora who's obsessed with 'the abyss'. She loves to perch alone near the cliff in silent, and looks at the abyss for a long time. And I kept thinking, while reading, what this book is really about?! The twisted ending topped it all. This is not a murder mystery, and certainly not a cute "sheep detectives" you'll probably think; this is a bunch of crooked-mind people; and some really cute and smart sheep (Mopple the Whale and Miss Maple) plus some others with dark and suicidal thoughts. The 'actual' murder mystery, however, kept a mystery through the end. And one more thing before I ended this post, why did George promise the sheep a journey to Europe? Isn't Ireland a European country?? What was the point of this book, really? Rating: ⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

In the Shadow of Man (1971) by Jane Goodall #Reading1971 #20BOS26

2026-07-20T07:00:00.000+07:00

🐒 "Previously man had been regarded as the only tool-making animal. Indeed, one of the clauses commonly accepted in the definition of man was that he was a creature who 'made tools to a regular and set pattern". That definition was to be redefined after a young girl called Jane Goodall arrived at Gombe Stream Reserve at Tanzania, Africa, to live with, and learn and observe about chimpanzees. Jane had had no knowledge whatsoever about animals, let alone chimpanzees. She had actually gone to secretary school, but she did have passion about nature and animals from childhood. It's rather funny, that her favorite toy as a child had been a stuffed toy chimpanzee, gifted by her father as substitute to teddy bear. Her mother's friends were horrified that the toy would give little Jane nightmares. Instead, her fondness of the toy had sparked her love for animals. 🐒 One day a connection of her family happened to offer her a life-changing career: to be an observer of chimpanzees. She was chosen particularly because she had no background previously; and that was what Louis Leakey, the palaeontologist who had offered Jane the job, had initially wanted - someone who has passion for animals. Jane arrived at Gombe in 1960, and for many years after, Gombe would be her home, where she would meet her husband, and had a son together. Jane wrote this memoir in 1971, recording all the difficulties she had to endure to begin the task. Jane had first lived in the Gombe with her mother (because the government refused to give permission to Jane unless she was accompanied by a chaperone). I have huge admiration for Jane's mother. Enduring the harshness of living inside a camp in Africa to satisfy one's passion is one thing; but sacrificing one's comfort for the sake of someone's else is entirely different. Jane's mother is indeed an exemplary mother. 🐒 At first the chimpanzees, as expected, were suspicious of her. But with patience (and certainly with tremendous courage), she slowly gained respect and acceptance from them. Jane named each chimpanzee in the group she observed; so that along the memoir we would be entertained with the eccentricity of many different characters like David Greybeard (the first one who accepted Jane, and the first who ever touched her, also the handsomest), Goliath (the alpha male - the highest rank male of the group when Jane first arrived), Flo (an old but coquettish and affectionate female), Fifi (Flo's daughter who inherited her mother's personalities when grew up), Mike (the next alpha male after Goliath - stern but also generous if needed), and many others. Sometimes I felt like reading an animal story book rather than a science-memoir, and it was equally exciting to follow the fate, struggles, and triumph of some of our favorites, just as in fiction. 🐒 To record chimpanzee's behavior, personalities, and social interactions, Jane and her growing team built a banana-feeding station. Every morning the provided bananas, so that the chimpanzees could come, and feed there. Sometimes they come alone, but more often they come in group - either a mother with her children, or adult male with their circle. With this arrangement, they didn't need to go long way to the chimpanzees habitation. Some believe that the feeding stations have altered normal foraging and feeding patterns and social relationships of the chimpanzees. I tend to agree with them. I personally believe that human interference in wild lives usually tend to disrupt the animals' natural behavior, and thus might put the animals in more danger than not. The chimpanzees were slowly accepting human's existence near them. Imagine, when people with malicious intent approached them, their instinct might not warn them properly to protect themselves. 🐒 And, with all due respects to Jane Goodall's tremendous effort in her researches for years, what good comes from for the chimpanzees' own sake in the end? Yes, we humans get to know more about the chimpanzee, and its 'closer than we have ever thought' similarities to human being. That's for our benefits, not to the chimpanzee. I must humbly confess that I might be wrong, but for now, that's my strong believe. Let the wild creatures alone is always the best move. Researches are good, if they were made from proper distance, and for a certain amount of time. Imagine what the chimpanzee's would feel when Jane or her team followed them closely to observe their mating, their sleeping quarter, their grooming - these humans were constantly in close proximity to them day and night. After all, Jane claimed, from her observations, that chimpanzee, similar to human, might have emotion. Don't we better keep respect to and preserve their 'privacy', and wildness? 🐒 All in all, this memoir is mesmerizing account of a wild creature, who is the closest to human being, in similarities of behavior and tool-making and using. The social strata is quite interesting, and just like human mothers, for instance, there are good mothers and bad ones, also, in chimpanzee. These interesting facts made the book very entertaining and mind opening. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

A Secret Garden in Paris (2024) by Sophie Beaumont #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

2026-07-14T07:00:00.000+07:00

🌺 Paris and gardens are two of my favorites subjects, so of course I was delighted to win this book from #ParisinJuly2025 - thanks Emma! This book is about three women who have two things in common - they are in struggles, and they love flowers or gardens. First, there's Australian Emma who is grieving over her mother's death. There's a secret of her mother's past which she had had no time to tell Emma before her death - a secret about Emma's biological father's identity. Now, sad and wondering, Emma is staying at her Parisian grandmother's; and to busy herself, she decided to make over the garden, which had been neglected after her grandfather's death. One day, she visited a flower stall at the Marché aux Fleurs, located at île de la cité - a site which is actually in my "go-to" list of Paris (fingers crossed that I would have chance to visit one day, but if not, let me just dream about). 🌺 Arielle Lunel, a young widow with two little children (twins), works as florist at one of the stall, and she's an unusual one. To Arielle, flowers are not just plants, but they are also representing human emotion. That's why many of her customers visits the stall regularly whenever they need a flower arrangement. Just like this young man, David, who visits everyday, either to buy flowers for his mother's grave, or for ehm...other personal reason, who knows? Arielle's problem is related with her controlling parent-in-law who are ~~proposing~~ trying to take away the twins. Last but not least, there's Charlotte Marigny, a successful middle-aged garden designer with a marriage problem. Her husband Tom has been gradually reserved and withdrawn from his wife and children. Distressed, Charlotte fled to Paris; and during one of her wanderings, she visited Arielle's flower stall. 🌺 After presenting each of these three women's cause of troubles, which lead them to fruitful friendship and beautiful journey around flowers and gardens - their mutual passion - the story dwindles a little. The solution to each problem is too easy and too sudden, and felt rushed. I get the idea of using Paris and gardens for a healing point, but still, they are too suddenly resolved. Emma's garden, for instance, despite the fact that she's never been gardening before, and only learns from internet and book, yet the embryo of the garden 'miraculously' emerged just like that. Charlotte's husband also 'miraculously' awaken from his previous reserve - I had even thought it a much more serious case, like the beginning of Parkinson's disease, for example, which often changes the sufferer into a more reserved and withdrawn personality. 🌺 Fortunately, the gardens provided a much better angle for this book. My favorite part is when Emma had to take a friend of a friend (a tourist from Australia) on a garden tour (visiting gardens around Paris, in place of the usual tourist landmarks). It was her grandmother Mattie - my favorite character in this book, by the way - who came up with a nicely-curated tour. Not only that, Mattie - who had worked as illustrator - also produced a specially illustrated map for the tour, with a little scribbled note on the historical background. I would love to pay for such a tour - if only for the illustrated map. The route is as follows: they started apparently from Place des Vosges, and headed for Jardin de l'hotel de Sully, through the door to the secret garden. From there, to Rue des Rosiers, to visit Jardin des Rosiers through the grilled entrance into the hidden garden behind, where they enjoyed quiet times, accompanied by birdsongs. Next, they walked across Pont Marie, over Ile Saint Louis, to have lunch at one of the cafes or bistros, and ice cream at Berthillon at Rue Saint-Louis. Of course, after that they had to visit the Marché aux Fleurs at île de la cité. Their last destination was Jardin de Luxembourg, where the dancing faun statue "reminds us that in letting go, in trusting to the moment, we open ourselves to the gift of joy." [p.153] 🌺 So, you can see, that this book's main charm is in the gardens and flowers, and everything that they represented, either hope, joy, love, or just our connection to the nature. And I loved this book solely for that reason (and a little for the character of Mattie)! Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The Carter of "La Providence" (1931) by Georges Simenon #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

2026-07-10T07:00:00.000+07:00

🚤 This would be my starting point of reading the wide-read French detective stories of Georges Simenon. Maybe I should have started from the first book, but somehow this title sounds more interesting. First, I didn't know exactly what a Carter is - is he the driver of a horse cart? Then "La Providence" should be the name of the cart, but somehow I couldn't imagine a horse cart had a name, let alone an elegant one such as "La Providence". So, curiosity drove me to read - or in this case listen to - the (audio) book. I wasn't far wrong, the Carter is indeed a man who managed a horse-drawn-cart, and the lived at the stable, caring for the horses. But the cart isn't conveying passenger, but to tow a canal boat or barge!

🚤 Since I have read - and enjoyed - The Narrowboat Summer (by Anne Youngson) last month, I was very excited to read a murder mystery set around the canal. A woman with stylish clothes, heavy make-up and jewelry was found strangled to death in a stable near the lock keeper's cottage near Dizy. Quite an incongruous sight it made, as how and why did the woman had come to the (usually) quiet place, at which she was so out of place? That was Inspector Maigret's first thought. He began to ask questions, to the lock keeper, the bargemen; until one Colonel Sir Walter Lampson, the owner of Southern Cross yacht admitted that the dead woman was his wife, Mary Lampson. She's been missing from the yacht for several days. Maigret also investigated a barge who arrived at the Lock the night Mary Lampson dead: La Providence. 🚤 La Providence was owned by the Cannelles, and they had a Carter called Jean, who's handling the horses that tow the barge along the towpath. He's a silent man with mysterious background, almost never opened his mouth, but worked nicely with the horses, and slept with them in the stable. Considering that he was made the title of the book, I started to wonder whether he was the murderer, or the space-goat. Maigret had been focusing his investigation on the yacht, when one of Sir Walter Lampson's crew was also found strangled to death. Some clues began to "emerge" here and there, and it's up to Maigret to put all the piece of puzzles into the correct places. 🚤 After reading my fair share of the Golden Age Detective mysteries, this book felt very different in structure. GAD are usually focusing on the plot - how the murder had been done - and the stages of investigation, and thus, emphasizing on the logical mind. The Carter of "La Providence", on the other hand, seems to be more atmospheric. It seems that Sir Walter Lampson's nonchalant reaction to his wife's death, for instance, or Willy's and Sir Water's mistress' manners during interviews are more important than the finding of the clues. I wouldn't reveal anything, but the ending is also heavy with emotion. Maigret seemed to be performing his duty more as a decent human being than a police officer. Add that with the amusing technicality of canal boats operating business, made this book an unusual read, entertaining and amusing.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

The Man Who Broke Out of the Bank and Went for A Walk Across France (2014) by Miles Morland #ParisInJuly2026 #20BOS26

2026-07-08T07:00:00.000+07:00

🎒 The idea of, first, leaving one's job while one loves it; and second, going across France by walking, are two unthinkable things for me. Hence, my instant attraction to this memoir. It was the year 1989, and Miles Morland was forty five years old when he decided to retire from his high position in an investment banking company in Wall Street and London - the work he had grew to love in the last twenty years. So, why retired? Miles slipped a bit about this job - which he portrayed as "shouting down the phone" - and his subsequent decision, sandwiched in between his account of "the Walk". As a transition phase between active and post-retirement life - when Miles had no idea what he would do next - Miles and his wife Guislaine decided on taking a "mission impossible" adventure.

🎒 Neither Miles nor Guislaine had ever walked long distance, or did trekking, or hiking, let alone a cross-country walk. Yet, they let themselves be challenged by the idea. Here I admired them both for undertaking such monstrosity. The most interesting part of this memoir, for me, is the preparation. For a newbie, you can imagine how many stuffs they must have researched, considered, and shopped for. And the fact that this had happened in the 1990s, when there were no internet or social media, made it doubly interesting. Miles is a 'map connoisseur', thus he armored himself with many maps, atlases, and guide books, before deciding what route they would take. Finally yhey agreed upon starting from Gruissan-Plage on the Mediterranean Sea, and finishing on the Atlantic coast at Capbreton, across France small towns and countrysides. 🎒 I loved the part of Miles' studying the maps, even pulling a thread to mark the route, to see the topography of their future journey; as well as how thoroughly he browsed from several different guides to find a recommended gîte or small hotel to stay the night. Guislaine then would call the establishment to make booking. They did all without at first knowing how the premise looked, nor how good (or bad) the service was. This was before the internet - you can google it nowadays. It reminded me of my own trip to Europe twenty six years ago. How exciting it was to browse for a small hotel - I browsed a guide from the library at the CCF in Surabaya (Centre Culturel Français), where I'd been taking a French course. Then one of the teachers helped me with the booking through facsimile. When I arrived in Paris - tired and hungry - lo and behold, the hotel didn't find any booking under my name! Apparently, a smaller hotel on the same street 'borrowed' my hotel's name for getting guests. The fax number was theirs (the impostor's), but the address wasn't. Needless to say, this hotel was not what I had expected, but I was too tired to complain or move (and the actual hotel was fully-booked anyway), so I stayed the night there anyway. Just like what the Morlands experienced during their Walk; sometimes the actual hotel or gîte was far from what they imagined, or advertised as; but when they were lucky, they'd get exactly what they have bargained for. And that, I think, was more fun and exciting than planning or booking hotels nowadays, when you can see photos and testimonies from fellow travelers - and yet, sometimes it wouldn't meet your expectation either! 🎒 On the whole, I loved this memoir. Sometimes travel memoirs tend to exaggerate things, and to make it less boring, adding dry humour or sarcastic comments. Miles Morland did neither. He didn't try to sound more exciting than his actual feeling, and didn't try to be funny. In fact, reading this memoir felt like listening to your friend, telling you of his adventure, from the beginning right to the end. It's not overly fascinating, yet, it isn't boring either. You just want to know what happens next, and curious of how your friend felt or cope with what he faced from time to time, be it a struggle when he's lost (out of his own fault or the map's), or a blissful rest when it's badly needed. One more thing worth noting, both Miles and Guislaine found that the Mephistos shoes are the perfect one for that kind of Walk (not sport shoes, to my surprise). As you might know, blisters are one of walker's nightmare. The memoir was dotted with, alternately, funny, disappointing, and blissful moments. Their routine might be boring, but for those moments. And Miles also slipped a bit of historical background that I would never have known, i.e. about the Black Prince. And all that makes this memoir an enjoyable read, which will take you through some of the eccentric or picturesque French countryside. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Six Degrees of Separation: from Time Travel to Jazz Age Murder Mystery

2026-07-04T07:00:00.000+07:00

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme, currently hosted by Kate @ books are my favorite and best. On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book. This month, we start from a thriller which I have not read:

0. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel. One morning Natalie wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
I have not read many time-travelling novels, but this one is probably my favorite of all:

1. Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain

Excerpt from my review: "The year 1954, wine and UFO. These are three elements that Antoine Laurain had woven into a fantastic time-travelling story set in Paris. [...] This is a wholesome read, very entertaining, fast-paced, and memorable. The atmospheric of 1954 Paris is the main highlight for me." If you love time-travelling story and/or the 1950s Paris of Edith Piaf, jean Gabin, and Salvador Dali, you would adore this one! You can check on more about this book in this post.

For the next degree, I picked a book that was first published in the year 1954:

2. Because of Sam by Molly Clavering

Excerpt from my review: "Upon his death, Millie Maitland's husband left her almost nothing besides their house, Fernieknowe, and their only daughter Amabel. So bleak their condition were, that Millie's lawyer, Mr. Ramsay, proposed Millie to marry him. She wisely rejected it, and made a living as a dog boarder, or in modern day, household dog care facility - a rare occupation, let alone of women, at that time. [...] On the whole, it's a charming, comforting, heartwarming story - the quality you expect from Molly Clavering." And here is the full review.

Speaking about women's profession as dog boarder, one book came instantly to mind, where two of the characters are dog breeder women.

3. Bramton Wick by Elizabeth Fair

Excerpt from my review: "Bramton Wick is an English rural country side, the setting of this cheerful slice-of-life story in the aftermath of WWII, where ration coupons were still in use, and fuel is a luxury. [...] As usual, there is a healthy mix of eccentricity and pompousness to spice up the plot. [...] There are the other spinsters who're more interesting: Miss Selbourne and Miss Garret, who had first met when they drove ambulances during the war, and now live together as dog breeder." You can find my full review here.

Trust it to Elizabeth Fair to write a slice-of-life kind of story of English countryside that is both exciting but calming at the same time. I can't believe that this was Fair's debut novel! Another slice-of-life novel I have read this year that is also a debut novel is...

4. Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar

Excerpt from my review: "Grand Life Apartments is located in the beautiful coastal city of Chennai, India, and is owned by Mr. Mani, who had changed his ancestor's home to be a modern and comfortable middle-class apartment building. [...] In the midst of (the residents') personal struggles, though, there looming another problem that will have had bigger impact on all of them. A big construction company has been pestering Mani to sell the apartment building, as they wanted to build more modern ones." Here's the full review of this slice-of-life story.

Since I also live in an apartment building, I am always fascinated by books that are set in apartment building, such as this one...

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Excerpt from my review: "The story takes place in an elegant apartment building in central Paris, where two of our heroines live. One is a genius teenage girl from a bourgeois family, the other is the concierge. Paloma, the little girl, is planning to end her life by committing suicide, because she feels she'd never fit in the world. Nobody understands her - neither her family, her schoolfriends, nor her teachers." Here's my full review.
For the last degree of separation, I picked a murder mystery with similar intelligent-teenager-misunderstood-by-the-family as the main character:

6. Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown

Excerpt from my review: "Murder at the Spring Ball is Benedict Brown's first book of Lord Edgington cozy mystery series, set in the 1925 England. It's charm is thanks to the combination of the Golden Age Detective vibes - complete with red herrings, incompetent police officer, Poirot-ish style of rather dramatic denouement - and an unlikely sleuth of a former detective and his fourteen years old grandson. There's a little jazz, a little dancing, a little Downton Abbey-ish atmosphere, and a good murder mystery. What else would one need to enjoy one self thoroughly?" - and here is the link to the full review. And so, another #6Degrees which I have managed to end - again - with a murder mystery, LOL! Have you read any of the books? And how did your #6Degrees turn out?

Hidden in Paris (2011) by Corine Gantz #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

2026-07-02T07:00:00.000+07:00

🎀 It was on the summer solstice in Paris, that this story had begun. The French has their own celebration on that day, La Fête de la Musique. Annie, an American housewife, has been living in a big house in the 16e arrondissement de Paris, with her husband Johnny and three little boys. Theirs are a happy marriage - or so thought Annie - until, on the way to some dinner and dancing, Johnny grimly told Annie that he "have something I have to tell you". You can only imagine what it was, because in the next chapter, Annie (already at home) got news that Johnny had been killed in a car accident - a combination of booze and speed. 🎀 Fast forward to two and a half year later, Annie still lives in the same house. The boys apparently have accepted their father's death - they never even said anything about their dad, at least that I remember. But Annie, well, she's doing it rather badly. Annie becomes anti-social, neglecting her appearance, and her home - especially her kitchen - and her boys have been her only solace and protection. Them, and an old friend called Lucas, a blue blooded handsome Frenchman, who had been a loyal friend of Annie and Johnny. Nowadays, he comes visiting almost everyday, and the only friend Annie has. It was he who's get Annie realizes of her financial problem, and advised her to sell the house. But Annie loves her house so much, and finally came out with a solution: tenants! 🎀 Two American women and a young man are the three tenants that ends up living with Annie - three persons bringing three personal problems to Paris. Lola with her (verbally) abusive husband and unhappy marriage; Althea with her anorexia, rooted from abusive mother. Last but not least, there's Jared, who is drained after caring for his dying mother and grieved over her death. Annie thinks the womanizer Lucas is attracted to Lola, with her Hollywood celebrity appearance, but she's completely wrong. Lucas had been in love with her for ages. And when nobody would think the emaciated Althea is anyway attractive, Jared is instantly in love with her on first sight. Lola, on the other hand, is always haunted by the thought that she's done a crime by bringing the children to France without Mark's knowledge. 🎀 Along the book, all these characters are struggling and evolving amidst the charm of Parisian "joie de vivre" mannerism, its people and culture, and its culinary (brought in perfection at Annie's kitchen most of the time). Annie's home is the catalyst of the changes in every character, especially in Lola and Althea. That, and the charm of Paris, of course. I could not relate to any of the characters, but I felt pity for Althea. Her mother was a true bit*h, and she should have not raise any children! I was a little surprised with Annie - she befriended Lola easily and took to herself to help Lola with her problem, but ignored Althea completely. Why hasn't she tried to reach for her? If not befriend her - which was impossible as Althea closed the door for social interaction - at least tried to sympathize and more understanding, instead of ignoring her completely. Luckily, there's Jared. All in all, this wasn't a bad book, at least it entertains you with the Parisian vibes. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for: Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Six in Six: What I've Been Reading for the Last Six Months

2026-06-30T07:00:00.000+07:00

I used to do this meme a few years ago, so I was very pleased when Emma @ Words and Peace decided to host for this year. It's a fun way to do some wrap up for the first semester, reading and blogging wise.

What is 6 in 6?

The idea is to look back at the books you have read so far in the six months of this year. You can post any time in July, or as early as 6/6, June 6th.

What do you post?

Choose 6 books in 6 categories. Check here for the choice of categories

Without further ado, here's my Six in Six, with links to my reviews in the titles (five from the given choices, one - the last - is my own):

I. Six new authors to me

1. Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar
2. Call Mr. Fortune by H.C. Bailey
3. The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson
4. Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson
5. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
6. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes

II. Six books I have enjoyed the most:

1. Murder in Regent's Park by Christina Koning
2. The Case of the Perjured Parrot by Erle Stanley Gardner
3. Evening Class by Maeve Binchy
4. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
5. The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp
6. To Fetch A Thief by Spencer Quinn

III. Six mysteries, thrillers or crime novels NOT by Agatha Christie

1. Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown
2. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3. Murder at the Homecoming by Merryn Allingham
4. Death Around the Bend by T.E. Kinsey
5. The Ten Teacups by Carter Dickson
6. Fell Murder by E.C.R. Lorac

IV. Six books that didn’t live up to expectations

1. Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien
2. The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley
3. Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong
4. Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
6. The Body in the Dumb River by George Bellairs

V. Six authors I am looking forward to reading more of

1. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun
2. The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
3. The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell
4. Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
5. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
6. The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

VI. Six Book that Exceeded My Expectation:

1. Paw Prints in the Moonlight by Denis O'Connor
2. The Golden Collar by Elizabeth Cadell
3. An Afternoon Walk by Dorothy Eden
4. Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge
5. The Splendor of Ordinary Days by Jeff High
6. Bramton Wick by Elizabeth Fair

That's my Six in Six, 36 books in total.
Yet, I have read 48 books, meaning that 12 books are still left behind.
Not that they are not worth mentioning, but because they don't quite fit with the categories - or just run out of space.

Here are the other twelve books worth mentioning, with no particular order:

1. If Life is A Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? by Erma Bombeck
2. Keeping A Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie
3. The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase
4. Night on the Milky Way Railway by Kenji Miyazawa
5. The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida
6. The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
7. A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
8. Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth
9. They Do It with Mirrors by Agatha Christie (a reread)
10. A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (a reread)
11. The Lost Horizon by James Hilton
12. They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie (a reread)

This year has been a bit of surprise for me. As one who don't usually keen on reading nonfiction, I have read three so far, and am even reading the fourth as I'm typing this. Moreover, I have read 48 books in half year, meaning that, if I keep the pace, I could even end the year by reading 100? Well... fingers crossed, and let's just see!

How have your reading year been?

One Fine Day (1947) by Mollie Panter-Downes #20BOS26

2026-06-26T07:00:00.000+07:00

🧡 One Fine Day reminded me of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Besides the fact that the whole story covers only one single day, it was also written in the semi-stream-of-consciousness style, of which Woolf was famous for. And both are incidentally set in the post World War - one the first, and the other the second. It was 1946, just several months after the war. Stephen Marshal has returned, unscathed, from the war; and now he and his wife Linda were expecting to be back to their normal life again. But of course, things could never be back to the time before the war, it would become a new normal. And that is the main theme of this book: adapting to the significant changes upon the middle-class' lives, and their struggles for it.

🧡 The Marshals came from middle class families, who were used to have servants to take care of the household. When they were hungry, there's food on the table ready. The garden were always neat and fresh when they looked at it. The floor and furniture were always immaculately clean and shining, and so were the laundry, and dozens of other convenience they used to take for granted. They never thought about the cook, the gardener, or the maids. The war changed all that; nowadays servants are difficult to get, and so they must work on almost everything by themselves. Classes was beginning to dissolve; the cleaning woman who comes in the morning doesn't even call Laura 'Madam' any longer. On that fateful day, after Stephen left for work, and Victoria, their only child, to the gymnastic class, Laura is left alone in the house to clean the breakfast and several other chores awaiting for her.
🧡 And it is during these chores, that Laura is contemplating their circumstances. She is a dreamy and imaginary kind of woman, who's often lost to her thoughts and observations. So, while tidying the house, for instance, she would contemplate about the wisdom of maintaining this big house, which others, including the cleaning woman, thought foolish and extravagant. But despite of the house' perpetual demands, she and Stephen love it. By the way, I love Panter-Downes' personification of the inanimate objects like the house, as having emotion like human beings. While queuing for bread and cakes - they still have food rationing, with the coupons to do shopping with - Laura would contemplates about how tiresome and never-ending household works are - is it worth it? However, it is when she must look for their dog Stuffy, who are missing somewhere, and meet a gypsy man, that Laura would have her 'revelation', and answer to all her questions. 🧡 I love this book. The middle classes' struggle is quite relevant to what my family (especially my mother) had had to face. My mother, born in 1941, was brought up in a big house with several servants, probably three or four. She often tells me about her childhood; how my grandmother forbade Mama to even enter the kitchen; and how everything was always provided for 'the little miss' by the servants. Even when my mother needed a drink, she just asked a servant to procure it for her. It's just how it was at that time. Naturally, when Mama married and moved to our tiny house, she's incapable to do all the houseworks by herself. She had learn how to cook, but that's all. A maid was being lent from Grandmother's house for a few hours to help Mama cleaning. And that keeps happening even until now. Although little by little, Mama and me take over most of the household chores, we still need a cleaning lady to do the hardest chores. Therefore, I can relate very much with Stephen and Laura's struggles. It's not vanity, but it's just how they hade been brought up.

🧡 Needless to say, this has been a memorable read for me. It's not overly fantastic, but it feels like a warm and cozy old blanket to curling up under.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026

hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

To Fetch A Thief (2010) by Spencer Quinn #20BOS26

2026-06-24T07:00:00.000+07:00

🎪 When I stumbled upon this new-to-me mystery series, which is narrated by a dog (who can resist such a thing? not I), I knew instantly I have to read it some day. I decided to start not from the beginning, but on the third book, which has a circus element; I always love circus element in a book. It turns out to be: a great FUN! It has everything I expected it to have, and perhaps more...

🎪 Bernie Little is a Private Investigator, the owner of Little Detective Agency. And Chet, his partner, is a dog. He (Chet, not Bernie) was the best leaper of his class at K-9 police school. However, he failed the last leap due to something or other. But it didn't matter, because that was when he first met Bernie Little. And the rest was history, so the humans always say. Little Detective Agency isn't a big one, Bernie has always been in need of money. But that isn't any problem for them both. Their deep bond and partnership, makes them always happy; what do you need more? The story begins when they are on a divorce case, and the client gives Bernie tickets to a circus. So they went to the circus, Bernie, Chet, and Bernie's son, who currently lives with Bernie's ex wife. To their disappointment, the main attraction, an elephant show, was cancelled because Peanut, the elephant, and its trainer have been missing. 🎪 Popo the clown hired Bernie and Chet to investigate the case, since the police (the officer is Bernie's friend) seem to be disinterested. They (the police), along with the circus owner, believe that the trainer, who is the most humane trainer in treating animals, must have been crossed to the animal-justice-organization side. But Popo knew better, or did he? And how do you think can an elephant gone missing just like that without any witness? Well, thanks to Chet's wonderful smelling skill, he found Peanut's trace, and that leads to another, and another, that in no time, Chet and Bernie must deal with bigger dangers than they have ever expected. 🎪 On the whole, this is a combination of crime mystery (there are the theft and a murder - or is it?), and adventure. On those two aspects themselves, this is fun to read. But the biggest attraction, that makes this series a success, is how Quinn portrays Chet, the dog narrator, he is as genuine as he is plausible. It feels like you are really viewing the world, and the humans, from a dog's perspective. Chet understands English; he's capable of following what Bernie and other humans are saying. Well, at least, common English conversation; he has difficulties, though, to follow many slangs and sayings, which to him is confusing. And these are the few funniest parts of the book, which would often throw you with uncontrollable laughter. Here's an example, which takes place after Chet, unknowing to Bernie, has saved his beloved human friend: "I've got a strong suspicion you saved my bacon last night." [Bernie to Chet] Bacon? There'd been bacon last night? Cheetos, yes, but that was it. Had I somehow missed out on bacon?
🎪 And that kind of thing happens a lot. It's even funnier when there's food mentioned, like in that instance, bacon. Because food, Bernie, and their adventure together fighting the crime, were uppermost in Chet's thoughts. Those, and many confusing human's manner. Another funny thing is Chet's memory. He could remember some of what Bernie said to him, or the thugs they have caught in the past, but he is always lost somewhere in the middle of a long thought. And he would always be like "...what was that again? It's not important, the important thing is...." Chet is soo adorable! I loved how Quinn let Chet be just a dog. He might understand what humans are saying, but other than that, Chet behaves and thinks as a normal animal. I suspect, that is one factor that make people love Chet, and this series, so much. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026
hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook