Well, I ended up enjoying this rather more than I thought I would (which is probably due to the quirkiness of Gibbons‘ characters). “Wise woman- ish” Ivy Gover and her menagerie of creatures were just so charming!

I read the introduction after I finished the novel and was fascinated by the links to Stella Gibbons‘ own life. A biographer said the character of Helen Green was the closest thing she had written to a portrait of her young self.

Thank you so much, @Cathythoughts , for this lovely birthday parcel!!

The Jenny Packham memoir sounds fascinating and I‘ve been intrigued by the sound of Our Evenings ever since reading your (and @CarolynM ‘s) reviews. It will be my first from this author.

You are so thoughtful, my dear friend! 😘😘

The Sunday night “perusal pile”. 😆

Oops! I almost forget to post my #AllHallowsReadSwap today. Thank you so much @ShelleyBooksie for these lovely gifts! I actually HAVE read The Broken Girls (and really enjoyed it!) and the tagged book is one I‘ve been longing to read. The bookmark is so great and so are the Smarties!

A big “thank you” to @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting once again. ❤️

#AHRS2025
#AllHallowsRead

Thank you so much, @rubyslippersreads , for these wonderful birthday gifts!! This book sounds AMAZING and I laughed at the candle. I‘ll be setting that out for the husband to see when I‘m reading. 😆😆 It smells so good, too!

Thank you , dear friend! 😘😘

An 18-year-old girl is hired as an assistant secretary at an exclusive Swiss finishing school and finds herself involved in the recent mysterious death of a former student.

This 1969 YA novel, written under one of Mabel Esther Allan‘s pseudonyms (any Drina fans? 😆) is light and fun.

I think my #AllHallowsReadSwap has arrived as I‘ve received two unordered Amazon parcels (the box today and the puff envelope a couple of days ago). Who is the mysterious sender? 😆

#AHRS2025
#AllHallowsRead

Well, my local post office was open yesterday after the Canada Post strike and I could finally get my #AllHallowsReadSwap in the mail. Unfortunately, the tracking shows it‘s probably going to be late. 😭 So sorry, @BookishMadHatter !

#AHRS2025
#AllHallowsRead

This is starting out so well! A middle-aged woman finally buys her dream house (Victorian! A wraparound porch!) and nothing - not her husband nor the numerous ghosts or bleeding walls - will get her to leave it. I‘m really enjoying the satirical tone. 😆

And yet another book I‘ve had on my shelves for YEARS. I‘m loving it so far!

We had a fun night out at the theatre last night.

I‘ve never read the play but now I want to see the Hitchcock film!

It‘s now October so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@quietjenn ‘s pick for us this month is The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

Do you ever find yourself standing in front of your bookshelves, wondering what to read next, and your eyes land on a book that you‘ve had for years? That happened to me with this one and it‘s so good!

Ursula Flight is a young girl in Restoration England, married off to a bit of a gruesome older husband, who wants to write and see the theatre and act and do so much more with her life. Her narrative voice is quirky and absolutely delightful.

I‘ve finally finished our #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub pick. It was a lowish pick for me (is that a real rating? 😆). Like @quietjenn said, I went in with low expectations and it wasn‘t as bad as I thought it would be. And her work definitely doesn‘t have the charm of her neighbour, DE Stevenson … as @CarolynM said! You‘ve all pretty much summed up my thoughts on this book (and that‘s what I get for chiming in late 😆).

Look what I‘m reading, @Centique . You were the last person to post about this book … 8 years ago. 😆

A young girl discovers that she can visit the past while riding her pony, Candy (aka Candlelight). I can‘t resist a vintage time-slip story!

Well, here I go once again, starting my IRL bookclub pick just a few days before our meeting. Oops. 😆

I‘m currently reading my 7th Elizabeth Jane Howard with @shawnmooney and this one is a volume of her short stories. We‘ve been working through her books in publication order (and may even get to the start of The Cazalet Chronicles next year 😆).

I‘m late to review our latest #PersephoneClub read as I‘ve been travelling around the interior of British Columbia (and very close to the setting of this novel).

I loved it! And who was surprised by the “reveal”?? I felt like I could have continued on with Frankie‘s story just a little bit longer.

I‘ve been away travelling in our trailer and not doing much reading AT ALL but I still found time for buying a couple of new books.

(And attending the beautiful wedding of my much-loved niece/goddaughter ❤️).

#JohnnyBergen

It‘s now August so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@LeahBergen ‘s pick (my pick!) for us this month is Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

I took this Georgette Heyer off the shelf today (but then had to check Goodreads to see if I‘d already read it 😆).

Friday night reading (with wine and a thunderstorm).

Spinsterish Penelope Shadow becomes an overnight success as romantic novelist and can now afford her own house. The only problem is that she is deathly afraid of being alone at night and needs a live-in servant. Enter 20-year-old Terry, who seems to be perfect in every way … but is he really?

This is touted as a domestic novel that evolves into a thriller and I‘m here for it (thus the popcorn 😆).

My current read for my IRL book club and it‘s so good! It‘s one of my favourite niche genres: the “reinvented western”.

A novel about the “impoverished semi-gentry of a country village, consisting of cantankerous parents and frustrated adult children… Each family quarrels with itself in the same laconic and polite way”. That quote from an early review sums up the plot perfectly. It seems to have a more wry feel to it than many of our other #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub reads (and one of the best descriptions of an awkward tea party ever 😆).

I enjoyed it!

Currently reading and thoroughly enjoying! Celia Dale is becoming a firm favourite of mine.

This was a fascinating look at post-WWII Austria, a time of which I knew very little about before reading this novel. We follow three exiles on their return to Vienna from America and try to figure out how their lives will intersect to explain the “accidental” death described in the prologue. So good!

#PersephoneClub

I just remembered to pull this off my shelves, @Centique , after I mentioned it on your time travel post. This is the American edition; does it look like it matches the ‘70s TV show at all? 😄

It‘s now April so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@elkeOriginal ‘s pick for us this month is The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

We are out in our camper right now and I forced myself to do my duty and stop at a little independent bookshop. 😉

Here‘s my latest read!

I don‘t know how I missed reading Beverly Cleary‘s teen books as a kid because I read so many of her books aimed at a younger audience. I‘m loving this!

@TheBookHippie , I see from a preview post that you‘re a fan, too. 😊

Up next.

I was feeling the urge for a speedy thriller and this one‘s off to a promising start!

Beautician Ann is the perfect size to fit the ill and absent bridesmaid‘s gown at an aristocratic wedding and reluctantly steps in to fill the role. She meets the dashing best man (a Lord, natch) and sparks fly. This was a lovely little pre-WWII Harlequin Romance/Mills and Boon riff on a Cinderella story and I was down for all of it. 😆

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

New book day!

Taking inspiration from the Bloomsbury group, this novel chronicles “six pivotal days across six decades” after a tragic event occurs on Easter Sunday in 1938.

It sounds like my sort of cup o‘ tea!

Look what I found today, @Centique , and right after your glowing review! I also found another Beryl Bainbridge, @Cathythoughts . 👏

Just doing my best to support my local secondhand bookshop on #IndependentBookstoreDay , of course. 😉

My current read, and one I‘ve been meaning to get to for years, is this 1910 Australian classic about a country girl who is sent to a Melbourne boarding school.

Have any of my Australian friends on Litsy read it? 😀

I did a random grab from my shelves and this is what I landed on. I guess I‘m still feeling like staying in the “gothic” vibe after finishing The Shuttle! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Well, it seems that I agree with my fellow #PersephoneClub readers … this one was a melodramatic gem! Nasty Nigel is one of the vilest villains I‘ve come across in recent reading memory.

And I‘m very glad that a favourite author of my childhood has held up so well!

I loved Lucy Mangan‘s first reading memoir, Bookworm, so I just had to order her new one!

Thanks to @TheBookHippie and #ChildrensClassicRead2025 for reminding me that I had this sweet (tagged) book waiting on my shelves. And, as others have mentioned, the illustrations are gorgeous!

I always pick up these New York Review Children‘s Collection editions when I spot them in used bookshops.

A couple of vintage finds from my recent little road trip! 💚

It‘s now April so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@Cathythoughts ‘ pick for us this month is The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

An idyllic village full of Tudor cottages and cobblestone streets is turned upside down when its residents are hit with a series of poison pen letters. I‘m a mere 50 pages in but it‘s thoroughly compelling!

A springtime read from 1935 and I‘m really enjoying it!

Lady Kilmichael, a renowned artist, leaves her remote husband and adult children to go on a painting trip to the Dalmatian coast without telling any of them her whereabouts. While there she ends up taking under her wing an unhappy young man whose family has forbidden him to pursue his art. Methinks love is in the air!

(I‘m also intrigued by this peek at what would later become Croatia).

How I spent this grey and snowy Sunday afternoon: book, fuzzy blanket and hot chocolate.

This book is getting spooky! 😆

My “currently reading” stack.

I was initially a bit underwhelmed by Birnam Wood (for my IRL book club) but then the plot kicked in and I‘m hooked!

Middle-aged spinster, Miss MacFarren, is reduced to taking in a lodger at the end of WWII. Mrs. Bankes comes highly recommended and seems perfect but problems arise on the very first day. To save her beautiful house filled with antiques, Miss MacFarren must find a way to somehow rid herself of this horrible tenant and a course of “domestic warfare” begins. I loved it and think it‘s now my favourite book by this author!

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

As someone who collects (odd) antiques myself … this book is giving me anxiety.

Miss MacFarren, please get rid of the “bull in a china shop” lodger. I fear for the safety of your Gallé cats! ??

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

Book mail of the day!

I thought I‘d read just a few pages of this book (from my niece) tonight before bed and I‘m finding it totally hard to put down!