Litsy

Teresereading

War and Turpentine: A novel | Stefan Hertmans

In Ghent, Belgium
#whereareyouMonday
@Cupcake12

10 likes

squirrelbrain

A Month in the Country | J.L. Carr

pick

A little while ago Richard Osman chose this as his favourite ever short book / novella. (on The Rest is Entertainment podcast with Marina Hyde). It just appeared as an audiobook on my library app so I thought I‘d give it a go.

WW1 veteran, Tom, arrives in a Yorkshire village to restore a medieval mural in the church and finds restoration himself. It‘s such a beautiful but sad story - reminded me rather of The Remains of the Day.

Tamra I love Carr‘s beautiful prose in this one. Quietly beautiful & poignant. 5d

squirrelbrain It is gorgeous isn‘t it? @Tamra It‘s very local to me as well. Osgodby is a made-up village but Ripon, where they go to buy the church organ, is only 12 miles away. 4d

Ruthiella I absolutely loved this book. ❤️ 4d

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BarbaraBB I loved this one as well, but it‘s a long time ago I read it. 4d

Tamra @squirrelbrain ♥️ 4d

LeahBergen I loved it, too! 4d

Cathythoughts A beautiful book. I loved it too. ❤️ 4d

57 likes2 stack adds7 comments

OutsmartYourShelf

The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret | Catherine Bailey

pick

Why did the 9th Duke of Rutland, owner of the spacious Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, die on a couch in a cramped. cold, suite of rooms in the servants' quarters? In 1940, in poor health & fading fast, the Duke refused to be removed to more comfortable surroundings & insisted on being left alone in the rooms, which were then locked up & left untouched for 60 years after his death. But why?

OutsmartYourShelf Research into the correspondence of the family highlighted missing letters for 3 separate periods of the Duke's life & hinted of secrets being kept, even now, & the author was determined to solve the mystery.

There were actually 3 separate incidents: the first one was tragic, the second was so banal I've forgotten about it already, whilst the last is arguably the worst of the three. It's difficult to say much more without giving any spoilers. 5d

OutsmartYourShelf Safe to say, the Duke's mother was a pill & even the Duke himself ended up disappointing this reader. The book itself was well-researched & written, although the quotations from the letters were sometimes overlong. 3.5🌟

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/731265725
Read 15th-25th June 2025

#ReadYourKindle @CBee
#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES 5d

DieAReader 🎉🎉🎉 4d

27 likes3 comments

CarolynM

Precipice | Robert Harris

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It is an astonishing fact that, in 1914 & 1915, as Europe approached & then began a devastating war, the married, 60+ British Prime Minister was so besotted with a 27 year old society girl that he wrote letters to her during cabinet meetings that contained state secrets along side gushing professions of love & sent her top secret documents. This book is a fictionalised account of the relationship & of the government‘s conduct of the war. ⬇️

CarolynM ⬆️ The pen portraits of the cabinet members, particularly Churchill, were fascinating. I felt quite sorry for Asquith, I don‘t think he was cut out for wartime leadership. But it also made me wonder about the way many political leaders change in office. Maybe it‘s not so much ego as pressure that changes their behaviour. 5th book for #14books14weeks @Liz_M 6d

Centique Wow that IS an astonishing fact! I had no idea! This sounds like a good read too. 6d

sarahbarnes Wow - no idea. 6d

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Tamra Intriguing! 6d

Suet624 I think you have to have an enormous ego to be a political leader. The work done can be for the greater good - a big ego isn‘t always a bad thing - but having worked with several politicians, I can say even the nicest ones have a big ego. It can be an empty and lonely job though so a cute 27 year old would be a delight. (edited) 6d

TrishB Great review 👍🏻 5d

Itchyfeetreader I love Robert Harris and you have made this sound SO SO compelling. But I am on a book acquisition hold so for now all I can do is stack! 5d

CarolynM @Centique I knew nothing about it until the friend who lent this to me told me about it. It blows the mind 🤯 It is a good read and very eye opening about what a different world they were living in. 5d

CarolynM @sarahbarnes It‘s amazing what you can learn from reading novels! 5d

CarolynM @Tamra It‘s good 5d

CarolynM @Suet624 I didn‘t mean to suggest they don‘t have enormous egos - of course they do - and I‘ve always thought that‘s why they behave as recklessly as they sometimes do. But this has made me wonder whether it‘s just as much about releasing the pressure they‘re under. I guess I‘ll never know 🤷🏻‍♀️ 5d

CarolynM @TrishB Thank you 😘 5d

CarolynM @Itchyfeetreader I hadn‘t read him before, but I probably will read more in future. Hope you get a chance to read this one some time 🙂 5d

Suet624 Well look at me pontificate!! 😜 I must have been in a mood yesterday. 5d

Cathythoughts Great review 👍🏻❤️ 5d

53 likes3 stack adds15 comments

Mattsbookaday

In The Absence Of Men | Philippe BESSON

pick

In the Absence of Men, by Philippe Besson (2007, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: In 1916 Paris, a queer teenager experiences love for the first time in very different relationships with a middle-aged writer and a soldier on leave from the War.

Review: Once again, Philippe Besson has demonstrated his knack for exceptional, short, melancholic, queer fiction. Cont.

Mattsbookaday This excels in evoking both a moment—Paris during WWI—and a time in life—the first experience of real adult relationships. I have to say the ending involves a revelation that felt unearned and silly to me, but overall this was a great success.

Bookish Pair: Besson‘s previous book translated into English was Lie with Me (2017, transl. 2019) (edited) 1w

6 likes1 stack add1 comment

LapReader

From Billabong to London | Mary Grant Bruce

After the op shop I visited the book swap.

35 likes

Robotswithpersonality

The Winter Soldier | Daniel Mason

so-so

Oof. It feels a little weird to still be championing Daniel Mason's writing, when in other hands, I'd be explaining that this novel lived up to every expectation of a tragic war-torn novel and its predictable plot beats. Did I see everything coming? No. But did I guess exactly how it would end just over halfway through? Yes. We can have the discussion about an author skillfully leading you towards a conclusion, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? but I can't help but feel that it isn't the mystery writer skill of hinting in such a way that the reader can have a moment of revelation as much as it was me sitting there thinking up the most fraught, tragic ending, and wondering if the author was going to go there, and then he did.
Which doesn't really help to dissuade me from my biased hypothesis around the purpose of many historical novels. 2w

Robotswithpersonality 3/? If you want to get all in your feels, the non-happy-ones, it's a reliable genre for such emotional manipulation.
But having sen it coming, I'm closer to miffed than sad.
So, rant over, back to me again affirming that I absolutely love how Mason writes. I continue to maintain he has gotten better, I prefer his more recent releases to his backlist, but he captivates me on a story and sentence level, 2w

Robotswithpersonality 4/? where very few author's writing in the historical genre do the same.
I have one more book, his first, and I'll be caught up with his body of work. Here's to hoping his debut departs from the bleak/tragic that were his second and third efforts.
The particulars: If you have a problem with the discussion of medical afflictions and early twentieth century treatments I'd recommend skipping this one. There's a fair amount of ick. 2w

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? On a theme level:
War is hell, acknowledged, this book deals in some of the less front line versions of that hell, the soldiers suffering from physical and mental wounds, the callous bureaucracy, the inconceivable hard-heartedness in an impossible position that is those looking for more canon-fodder. 2w

Robotswithpersonality 6/? The main character is trying to find purpose and belonging, but the quality of his character seems ill-suited for everything from ballroom decorum to catch-22 nature of life in a field hospital, even though it's clear he considers medicine his calling. He's a bit selfish, a bit weak, and it feels as much like there are few opportunities for his growth as much as he doesn't act when he could.
Does one mistake define the rest of your life?
2w

Robotswithpersonality 7/7 Compelling stuff, it just makes me a little miserable. 😣😖
Now for a walk, and then picture books.

⚠️animal experimentation, discussion of early medical procedures 2w

12 likes6 comments

Robotswithpersonality

The Winter Soldier | Daniel Mason

Dude. 😏😉😑😐🤔💡😯😮

9 likes

Robotswithpersonality

The Winter Soldier | Daniel Mason

This post contains spoilers

show me

Offering prospective partners that will make materially advantageous matches to banish the ghostly remembrances of the woman he's still in love with? Yeah, exorcism sounds about right.

3 likes

Robotswithpersonality

The Winter Soldier | Daniel Mason

Taking a moment to be grateful for modern medicine. 🫣 If anyone wants to fill me in on the early medical trivia that explains why beef tea is good for skin infections, I'm all ears!

9 likes

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