I discovered both of these words (which I have may have encountered before but have forgotten through disuse) in The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton by Elizabeth Speller.

The protagonist, Laurence Bertram, is a scholar of church history, including their architecture.

Ammonite: (from the horn of Ammon – Jupiter – whose statues were represented with ram’s horns): Any of the flat, usually coiled fossil shells of an extinct order of mollusks.

pg 22 She indicated an ornate bench. Two stone ammonites supported the stone seat (. . .)

Pantile: A roofing tile having an S curve, laid with the large curve of one tile overlapping the small curve of the next

Pg135 A handful of nearer [houses], more finished than the rest, had leaded windows and hanging pantiles
.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

My new grandbaby is due to arrive this weekend and I’m having a hard time being patient.

This is the quilt I made for them: machine-quilted, but it’s the first pieced quilt I’ve ever made – and some of the first sewing in 25 years.

I really had no idea how to properly piece a quilt, but last year I saw a quilting frame in my neighbour’s front room when I stopped to buy some fresh eggs. So I did what I never would have had the nerve to do in the city: I phoned her and asked for help.

She and her daughter invited me to their home and spent a morning teaching and helping me with this project. I will be forever grateful for country neighbours!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

In April, I decided to get back to some of the mystery series that I’ve started over the past few years but never followed up on. A number of titles made it in from the library, but my reading time ran out! This month, there’s only two of my “revisitations”; next month, there will be more.

TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery, Botswana)
Book 2 of the Ladies’ Number 1 Detective Agency series.

Several years ago, our local book group read the Kalahari Typing School for Men and I discovered Mma Precious Ramotswe of Gabarone, Botswana. I was charmed and went on to read the titular first book in the series quite some time ago.

In Tears of the Giraffe Mma Ramotswe searches for the fate of a young American man who worked on a co-operative farm in the area a decade earlier. She is also surprised by her fiancé with the addition to their ‘family’ of two orphans.

If you’ve not read McCall Smith before, you’ll probably be surprised at the cadence of these “mystery” novels. They are very gently paced and phrased, and nostalgic for the older, simpler ways of African life.
The series is delightful, and this book was moving as well. 4½ stars
Read this if: you looking for a series that evokes the character of Africa & its people, and don’t mind the absence of high action.

ON THE WRONG TRACK by Steve Hockensmith (Mystery, Western)
Book 2 of the Holmes on the Range series

I read the first in this series featuring cowboy brothers Gustav “Old Red” and Otto “Big Red” Arlingmeyer in 2011. Since then, I’ve wanted to read more about this duo whose older half idolizes Sherlock Holmes and wants to model himself after him. It’s left to Otto to chronicle their adventures. In this instalment, they are hired by the Southern Pacific Railroad as detectives on a Utah to California trip, and run up against notorious train robbers.

The voice in this series is as breezy and refreshing as I remember it, albeit containing profanity of the day, but the villain in this particular piece was a little too obvious, for not being obvious, if you know what I mean. It was still fun to follow Old Red as he trailed the clues and filled in the details. 4 stars
Read this if: you’re looking for a good non-thriller mystery, especially a 19th century western; or you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes (you’ll be tickled how much Old Red tries to imitate him.)

SPEAKING FROM AMONG THE BONES by Alan Bradley (Mystery, Cozy) Book 5 in the Flavia deLuce series

I’m a big fan of Flavia, a spunky 11-year-old with a passion for chemistry, who travels her world of Bishop’s Lacey on her trusty bike Gladys.

In this latest adventure, the body of the village church organist is found in the crypt that contains the bones of the church’s patron, Saint Tancred, and Flavia is in it up to her neck. Along the way to cracking the case, she finds more clues that help her piece together the mystery that is her mother, Harriet.

As usual, it’s almost more about Flavia and her family than about unravelling the mystery which is a little convoluted and not really solvable by the reader. Still, Flavia is so much fun! 4 stars
Read this if: you’d enjoy a series, best read in order, that features a determined and intelligent adolescent protagonist; or you’d enjoy a slightly different take on the mid-twentieth century English village cozy.

DEATH COMES AS EPIPHANY by Sharan Newman (Mystery, Historical, Cozy) Book 1 in the Catherine LeVendeur series

Set in 12th century France, this features Catherine, a young novice and scholar at the Convent of the Paraclete, who is sent by the Abbess Heloise on a perilous mission to find out who is trying to destroy the reputation of the convent and, through it, that of the abbess’s onetime lover and patron, theologian Peter Abelard.
I was uncomfortable with the amount of religious rigmarole, the “right’ of the church, and the solution: madness – or something darker? 3 stars
Read this if: you would enjoy a mystery more because of the religious element, rather than despite it.

KINDLE EDITIONS:
Tears of the Giraffe
Speaking from Among the Bones:
Death Comes As Epiphany

*

The very first month after I declared to the blogosphere my intention to read at least one non-fiction book each month, I didn’t. Read non-fiction, that is.

Otherwise, I had a great reading month, very much liking just about everything I read and rating all but one of the titles at least four stars. Today, I’ll recap my fiction; tomorrow, the mysteries.

ELLA MINNOW PEA: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable (Fiction, Epistolary) by Mark Dunn
This is the book I spent the month telling everybody they should read. It’s a seemingly light-weight epistolary novel set on the fictitious independent island-nation of Nollop, off the coast off South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet, ‘The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.’ In fact, a statue with Nollop’s name and said pangram stands in the town square, and when letters start falling off, the Town Fathers see it as “Nollop’s Will” and ban the use of those letters, both in oral & written communication. As each letter is dropped from used by the islanders, so it is by the author of the book.

But this is more than just a clever lipogram (a written work composed of words selected as to avoid the use of one or more letters of the alphabet.) The effect of losing the use of the letters is startling, and the fabric of island begins to unravel quickly. There is implied comment on religious extremism and on police states. It’s really very well-done.

What’s not to like? (Written) letters. Clever use (or non-use) of (alphabet) letters. Pick up this delightful little book and be prepared to ponder bigger issues than you think you will.
Thank you to Simon at Stuck in a Book who first brought this gem to my attention. 5 stars
Read this if: you love words.

* THE WARS by Timothy Findley (Fiction, WWI, Canadian author)
When I saw The Wars was the April choice for the War & Literature Readalong, I wondered how I had never heard of this early novel by one of Canada’s literary leaders. Since I’ve read it, I wonder all the more.

Set in WWI, the story tells of young officer Robert Ross who enlists after a family tragedy leaves him bereft. Written and published in the mid-1970s when it was still possible to talk to people who remembered that war, and the elderly veterans who marched in the Remembrance Day parade had fought in the French mud, it has an immediacy and power that many other First World War novels that I have read lack.

Findley’s prose is spare. There are no wasted words. It’s very powerful, and with no profanity. 5 stars
Read this if: you care about the animals—chiefly horses and mules—that were caught ’in service’ in the Great War.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green (Fiction, YA)

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what this one is about. If you haven’t read it yet, you’ve read about it scores of times. I came to this book with a slightly cynical attitude but, although I didn’t cry, I did get teary-eyed a couple of times. It’s intelligently told and humanely felt. 4 stars

Read this if: you’d like some insight into how to relate to a young person with a serious illness; or you’re an adolescent thinking about life and death and their meaning.

* THE LAST RAIN by Edeet Ravel (Fiction, Historical, Canadian author)
This novel is set on a kibbutz in Israel, mostly in the years 1949 and 1961.

The story jumps to various points of view and time periods, as well as formats (bits of a play, excerpts of committee meeting minutes, diary entries, and so on) at what is, at first, a dizzying—and sometimes annoying—rate. But piecing it together is all part of the plot, illustrating the complexities of any experiment to create a utopia.
Perhaps the photos of the (fictional) characters were the author’s own, since she grew up on a kibbutz? They were an additional element to keep the reader off-balance throughout.

When I finished the book, I wanted to start at the beginning and read it again now that I had the whole picture. 4 stars
Read this if: you’d like some insight into how the modern country of Israel was settled after its formation in 1949; or you’ve ever wondered about life in a commune-type setting.

* ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN (Fiction, Classic) by Elizabeth von Armin

I’ve been wanting to read von Arnim for some time and decided to start with this title, her 1898 debut, because it is the one that Crawley House’s Mr. Molesley gave to Anna Smith when he tried to court her during Mr. Bates’ first absence in early season 2 of Downton Abbey.

Von Arnim was a young English woman who married an older German Count, and Elizabeth and her German Garden is considered semi-autobiographical. In it, a young wife and mother flees her hated social life in the city to live at one of her husband’s country estates and tend the garden.

It’s sensual, witty, and sweet all at once. 4 stars
Read this if: you love gardens; or, like me, you just want the thrill of that Downton connection!

* LESS THAN ANGELS (Fiction, Vintage, Humour) by Barbara Pym

This 1955 novel is an incisive social satire that opens a window onto the insular world of London’s anthropologic community & its students.

Tongue firmly in check, Pym writes:
Felix had explained so clearly what it was that anthropologists did (. . .) They went out to remote places and studied the customs and languages of the peoples living there. Then they came back and wrote books and articles about what they had observed (. . .) It was as simple as that. And it was a very good thing that these languages and customs should be known, firstly because they were interesting in themselves and in danger of being forgotten, and secondly because it was helpful to missionaries and government officials to know as much as possible about the people they sought to evangelize or govern.

In addition to the observations of those returned from Africa, Pym observes the townies observing their suburbanite brothers, women observing men, students observing graduates . . . all the word’s a foreign culture to someone. 4 stars
Read this if: you want to try one of Pym’s gentle satires that doesn’t concern the Anglican (or any other) church.

*
*
* As mentioned, The Wars was the April pick for the War & Literature Readalong, hosted by Caroline at Beauty is a Sleeping Cat.
* I read The Last Rain as this month’s random pick from my TBR wish list spreadsheet of 2,456 items for the Random Reads Challenge hosted by I’m Loving Books. I first noticed a recommendation for it in MORE magazine. (Find it at MagazineDiscountCenter)
* Garden (Elizabeth’s German) is a qualifying word in the Keyword Reading Challenge at Bookmark to Blog.
* Less Than Angels is the fourth Barbara Pym that I’ve read, as I keep up with the LibrayThing Virago group read-along for Barbara Pym’s centenary.

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I turned to trusty random.org and drew the winner of my contribution to the first Non-Fction Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by Rikki’s Teleidoscope.

Congratulations to

Julie Roddy

who has elected to receive Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff.

A big THANK YOU to all who entered this giveaway.

Welcome to the first Non-Fiction Giveaway Blog Hop, hosted by Rikki at Rikki’s Teleidoscope. The list of bloggers participating is small, but if you’re interested in being in the roll call next time, I’m sure Rikki would be pleased to hear from you.

The best book I read in 2012 was non-fiction but I don’t read as much NF as I’d like to think I do, so I have a goal to read at least one each month in 2013.

My giveaway is any one of the books on the list below, drawn from my non-fiction reading over the past two years. I think that any of these books is worth your time investment.

The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard
A Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick
Winter: Five Windows on the Season by Adam Gopnik
The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston

To enter:
1. Be a subscriber to my blog posts, either by email or RSS. (Orange ‘subscribe’ buttons are at the top right of this page.)

2. Leave me a comment, telling me which book you think you’d like (you can always change your mind if you win), AND the method & name you use to subscribe to my blog.

3. Limit of one entry per person. Contest closes 5 pm Atlantic Daylight Time Monday April 29th. Winner will be chosen from the comments, using random.org

This giveaway is OPEN INTERNATIONALLY, to anywhere in the world that Book Depository delivers.

Now – hop on over Rikki’s where you’ll find a list of the other giveaway participants!

A year or so ago, I ran a series of pictures with the view from my office window every Friday afternoon. I stopped because I thought there wasn’t enough change week to week to bear recording.

What I’ve decided to do now is to post a picture from the last Friday afternoon of each month. Since tomorrow I have a Giveaway Hop post scheduled, I decided to start for April with this Thursday view.

It’s April in Nova Scotia. We’ve had a milder winter than a lot of places but spring is still slow to come. The tree in the right foreground is a pear. No buds. The trees at the end of the driveway are tamaracks. No buds. There’s a birch tree across the driveway. No buds.

But just you wait. May is coming – and May’s the month that summer comes to Nova Scotia. Be sure to check in for the May 31st photo!

The month is nearly over and I almost missed it!

The United States Postal Service has named April to be National Card and Letter-Writing Month. The USPS’s goal is to boost written—and mailed—communications to build relationships through cards and letters. “Touch them with a letter they can feel – and keep,” they say.

Maya Angelou is widely attributed with saying, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

How long has it been since you’ve received a real card or letter in the mail? Snail mail? Probably far too long. But if it’s recent enough to recall, perhaps you can remember that it did indeed ‘touch you’.
Wouldn’t you like to make someone else feel that way? Maya says they’ll never forget it.

I’ve said before: I love mail. While the USPS’s goal of increasing snail mail is admittedly self-serving, I endorse it whole-heartedly. Here’s what I want to say:

1. Stop right now and think of someone in your life who needs to be appreciated. Send him or her a card or letter today.

Say thank-you, say I love you, say I’m thinking of you, I miss you, get well, happy anniversary, I appreciate you, I’m sorry, welcome to the neighbourhood, have a good trip, good work, it was nice to meet you . . .you get the picture. Just say something and get it in the mail!

2. No matter where you are in the world (I want to take mail-sending international), if you’d like to get some snail mail yourself, just send an email (the irony is not lost on me) to debbie at Exurbanis (dot) com and give me your name and snail mail address. I’d love to send you a note to say ‘hi’.

This is my first blogging award: Trish at Desktop Retreat has selected me as one of her Sunshine Award recipients. I can’t count the beautiful pictures on Trish’s blog that I’ve put on my Reading Women Board on Pinterest. Thank you, Trish!

I’m supposed to answer these ten questions and then forward the award on.

1. Who is your favourite philosopher? I’m not a big fan of philosophy but I’ve found many nuggets of wisdom in the art of Mark Twain. If you tell the truth you won’t have to remember anything.

2. What is your favourite number? If I have to choose, then eleven. It’s symmetrical. Besides that, it’s my birth date.

3. What is your favourite animal? I’ve never met an animal I didn’t like. But then, I’ve never met a camel. I’ve heard they spit. Or a hippo. I’ve heard they charge. Or a . . . okay, let’s go with dogs – they’re the animal I know the best.

4. What are your Facebook and Twitter URLs? Like Trish, I keep my Facebook account for family and friends. If you find me and tell me you read my blog, I’ll likely accept your friend request – but you may get bored with my niece’s wedding plans and my husband’s music gigs. My Twitter handle is @DebbieRodgers

5. What is your favourite time of day? The afternoon. Email has been checked, daily chores taken care of, and now I can get to projects or, even, reading! I think Henry James “summer afternoon” quote is one of loveliest thoughts I’ve ever heard. {sigh} All too soon, it’s time to make supper.

6. What was your favourite vacation? Our honeymoon in Vermont. It was a magical week in October: the trees were still gorgeous but it was after the long holiday weekends, both American and Canadian, so it felt like we were the only people there.

7. What is your favourite physical activity? I overheat really easily, so anything that’s in water is for me. I particularly like aqua-fitness classes.

8. What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink? When I’m hot, ice water. When I’m cold, herbal tea. My current favourite is Celestial Seasonings’ Country Peach Passion. mmmm. . .

9. What is your favourite flower? Tulips, ideally pink. But I’ve been blown away by black ones interplanted with fierce orange. Then there’s peach and pale yellow and clear yellow and purples of all descriptions. . .anything but red. I don’t know why, but red tulips irk me.

10. What is your passion? Sending cards. Real cards. In the mail. Snail mail. From my computer. You can too.

TEN MORE WINNERS
I had such a hard time narrowing this list of worthy recipients to ten. I would have included Trish at Desktop Retreat if I hadn’t already mentioned her in this post. Without any set criteria, I’ve tried to include a variety of world location and types of blogs. I hope you’ll find at least one or two that will appeal to you.

1. In So Many Words I especially enjoy Yvette’s Sunday Salon collections of art on a theme. And be sure to scroll to the bottom of her page and visit her Pinterest universe!

2. Fleur Fisher in her World You’ll find Jane’s thoughts on an eclectic mix of books, and the occasional “dog’s blog”.

3. Dwell in Possibility Bonnie comments gently and intelligently on some lesser known works including some that talk about her faith.

4. Heavenali “Book reviews by someone who loves books”. Vintage books. Lovely vintage books.

5. Mary Okeke Reviews Mary will feed your passion for African literature.

6. A Penguin a Week It’s always delightful for me to see what vintage gem in Penguin’s diverse library Karyn will show us.

7. Diary of a Word Nerd As Julia says: “Enriching your mind with tips on words, books, and reading”.

8. Amy Reads “Diverse books for your balanced life” including quite a bit of non-fiction. I appreciate Amy’s decisive ratings and I have a number of books on my TBR wish list because of her reviews.

9. Rebecca Reads Rebecca is a home-schooling mom who reviews “classics, nonfiction, and children’s literature”. I discovered a number of books on Rebecca’s blog for reading to my grandson.

10. Kittling: Books I hesitated to include this link since Cathy has taken a hiatus from blogging – and, as bloggers, we all know that can mean odds are even that she’ll not be coming back. But even without current posts, there is a wealth of history here for anyone who reads mystery or crime novels (and Cathy clearly differentiates which any one book is). I really enjoyed her series Scene of the Crime interviews with authors.

11., 12., 13. . . I’m so sorry to have to left out so many other wonderful bloggers, but this has given me an incentive to get working on my blogroll links over the next month.

I love mail! Cards & letters – and POSTCARDS!

Beth over at The Best Hearts are Crunchy (I just love that name – Beth explains on her blog how she chose it) collects vintage postcards, most from the 1880s on into the 1950s.

Every Friday she shares one in Postcard Friendship Friday. Anyone can join in and link to her post. Each Friday has a theme – but you don’t have to follow it. And “Friday” lasts all week, so you can link-up any time until next Thursday.

This week’s theme is look-alikes since April 20th is Look Alike Day.

These girls might be twins but, if not, they certainly look very much alike.

I found my card in the Send Out Cards catalogue. Want to send one to your sister? Go ahead, no matter where you are in the world – do it on me.

P.S. Search the card catalogue using the term “sisters”.

The forecast isn’t for sunny today, but it’s (way!!) above zero – 15C, 60F – so I’m hanging out at least one load of laundry on the line.

Today is National Hanging Out Day, an initiative of Project Laundry List to promote cheap, low-tech, and easy to install solar clothes dryers – that is, hanging out laundry to dry.

As I’ve discussed on this blog before, in urban & suburban areas, clotheslines can be considered eyesores and are often banned.

In many rural areas, though, hanging clothes is regarded as an art form of sorts. At the very least, it’s just the way things are done: it saves energy (and therefore money) and the clothes smell terrific and last longer.

Clotheslines are definitely part of country living. Whether you participate or not, chances are you’ll be looking at your neighbours’ lines.

Postscript: According to Project Laundry List, the average American uses more energy running a clothes dryer than the average African uses in a year for all her energy needs. Is this fair to the planet?! Yikes, don’t get me started on The Story of Stuff.

On Tuesday, Meredith at Dolce Bellezza posted about the pockets that the children in her class are making for Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18th, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets.

The idea is to select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others throughout the day. You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poems from pockets will be unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores.

Poem in your Pocket Day began in 2002 when the Mayor of NYC, in partnership with NYC Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education initiated it as part of the city’s National Poetry Month celebration. In 2008, The Academy of American Poets took the initiative National across the USA.

Although I really know don’t much about poetry, I’d like to make this celebration international by sharing this scrap of verse by American poet Strickland Gillilan that I actually carry around in my pocket every day. This is just the last stanza; you can see the entire poem here.

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be –
I had a Mother who read to me.

I won’t be out and about today, so I’m sharing with you. Will you participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day? What poem will you be sharing?

This weekend’s weather forecast called for 10 to 15 cm ( 4 to 6 inches) of snow on Nova Scotia’s North Shore. But what started out as fat white flakes on Friday evening turned into heavy sloppy rain all day Saturday. Cold. Damp. Bitter. Chill. You get the idea: ugh.

Fortunately, Beth over at Budget Bytes (“My stomach is full and my wallet is too”) featured a great recipe last month for navy bean soup with sausage & spinach that sounded like just the thing for getting through winter’s last (I hope, I hope) fling with us.

Since I didn’t have smoked sausage on hand, I adapted Beth’s recipe a bit but I still give her full credit. You can get her recipe here, or see my (very slightly) modified version below.

And, by the way, this soup was wonderful: easy to make, beautiful to look at, delicious to eat, filling, and economical. What more could one possibly ask from a recipe? Thank you, Beth!

NAVY BEAN SOUP with SPINACH
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 oz bacon or ham (I used a combination)
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 lb carrots
2 cups dry navy beans
2 whole bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp salt
10 cups water
6 cups fresh spinach
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. The night before, sort through the beans to remove any stones or debris. Place the beans in a bowl and cover them with cool water. Allow the beans to soak in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Chop the meat and add to a large soup pot along with the tablespoon of oil. Sauté over medium heat until nicely browned.

While the meat is browning, dice the onion and carrot into small pieces. Mince the garlic. Add the onions and carrots to the soup pot. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté a minute or two more.

3. Drain the soaked beans and give them a good rinse with fresh water. Add the rinsed beans to the pot along with the bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, pepper, salt, and the water. Stir everything to combine. Cover the pot. Turn the heat up to high and allow the soup to come to a full boil.

4. Once the soup boils, turn the heat down to medium-low to gently boil for 2 to 3 hours. You want the beans to go past the point of tenderness to the point where they are falling apart. Stir the pot occasionally.

5. When beans are of desired consistency, use a large wooden spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the soup. Stir in the fresh spinach until wilted. Lastly, stir in the apple cider vinegar. Serve hot.

(This soup reheats well the next day too.)

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Candace over at Beth Fish Reads. Have a food-related posted this week, why not join the fun?

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Candace over at Beth Fish Reads. Have a food-related posted this week, why not join the fun?

We had a death in our congregation this week. After the memorial Saturday afternoon, we served refreshments, both sweet and savoury. These cheese squares are one of my stand-by items for any get-together.

I don’t know if the original “Julia” of the official title of these squares was that Julia, but I tend to think of these as Julie‘s, after my sister who introduced me to them.

(Recipe from Nifty Nibbles by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli, authors of Muffin Mania

JULIA’S CHEESE THINGS

1 pkg refrigerator crescent rolls
4 tbsp. butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup broken salad olives
1 onion, chopped
4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Dash cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce

Unwrap crescent rolls and pat into a lightly greased 9×15 pan, smoothing out the seams.

Mix all the remaining ingredients and pour over the dough.

Bake 350◦ for 15-2 minutes, until set.

Cool and cut into squares. May be served warm or cold, but taste best at room temperature.

These freeze well: After cutting in squares, put on cookie sheet to freeze. When frozen, put in freezer bags.

I ran across this week’s word while reading Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym.

Jane recalls that a talented member of her husband’s last parish had actually had a household hint published in a homemaking magazine: ‘It was a use for a thermometer case, if you had the misfortune to break your thermometer, of course. A splendid case for keeping bodkins in!’ Jane chortled.

bodkin: a blunt needle with a large eye for drawing tape or ribbon through a loop or hem
From Middle English boydekin (“dagger”), apparently from *boyde, *boide (of unknown origin) +‎ -kin

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

March seemed to be mystery month here. Several new-to-me series debut novels came through my library reserve list so I dipped my figurative toe in several types of mysteries, old and new.

Have you read any of these?

A CAT WAS INVOLVED by Spencer Quinn (Mystery, Short Story, Animals)
This is really a short story, the prequel to Dog On It and the entire Chet & Bernie mystery series, but it fills in a blank for me & it’s important enough for me to record as book. (Count it as a novella: honestly, it’s hard to know how long it was since it was on my Kindle.)
This series is my very favourite. It’s light-hearted enough to be narrated by the dog, which device is a source of much humour. But it’s always a good, serious mystery too.
This short story filled in the blanks of Chet & Bernie’s meeting – and it has a mystery to boot. Loved it!
Read this if: you’re a Chet & Bernie fan (obviously); you like dogs and mysteries and are looking for a new series to read; or you want a small taste of what the series is like – if you like this story, you’ll like the books. 5 stars

THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (Mystery, Short Stories, Classic)
Agatha Christie’s 1929 Partners in Crime is a series of short stories in which Tommy & Tuppence Beresford imitate the detecting styles of the popular detectives of the day. Orczy’s Old Man in the Corner has his place in their playacting.
Published in 1909, this collection of short stories, initially serialized, feature the nameless man in the corner who reveals to intrepid reporter Polly Burton his solution to several unsolved crimes in London and other cities such as Dublin, Liverpool etc. Many of the crimes are elementary but still clever, and given that this genre was still cutting its teeth, Orczy shines. In addition to thinking of unsolved crimes, she must always have ones in which the fact that they are unsolved , or wrongly solved, didn’t mean the false conviction of an innocent person.
Thanks to Jane at Fleur Fisher for her review that prompted me to get the library to dig this out of storage for me.
Read this if: you’re fairly new to mystery stories and want an introduction to the genre; you’re a young teen keen to solve conundrums; or you’re a keen admirer of mysteries and want to explore a classic of the genre. 4½ stars

*HASTY WEDDING by Mignon Eberhart (Mystery, Vintage)
Although this isn’t a first in series, it was my introduction to this vintage-era author, an American contemporary of Christie, Marsh and Ellery Queen.
This story is set in Chicago high-society in the 1930s and is a very matter-of-fact glimpse into that lifestyle, similar to early EQ novels. The puzzle itself is pretty standard, but entertaining. And the reader is thrown off to a slight degree because Eberhart wrote mainly stand-alone novels, so there was no knowing “good guys” from “bad guys” because of continuing characters.
The past progressive verb tense (was taking, were talking) put me in mind of Christie’s Sad Cypress and was slightly irritating. Christie didn’t regularly use that, and perhaps Eberhart didn’t either.
I have a few more Eberhart titles on my shelves so I’ll be reading at least those – and who knows where it will go from there?
Read this if: you’re a fan of the society settings of early Ellery Queen novels; or you’re a Chicago fan and would enjoy a glimpse into the city in 1930s. 4 stars

TOO BIG TO MISS by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)

This first in the series featuring plus size paralegal Odelia Grey delved into the on-line sex trade while still having the feeling of a cozy about it. The mystery is solid, though as with any cozy, there are stretches of suspension of disbelief. But it’s Odelia herself who will take me back to more of this series. She’s fun, she’s sexy, she has a life, she’s plus size, and although she’s aware of the world’s perceptions of her (“Weight was the last acceptable prejudice. It was still politically correct to assault and ridicule fat people.”), she’s not overly bitter about it: what more could you ask for in a novice sleuth?
Read this if: you’re looking for a new “cozy” murder mystery series with a heroine who’s life-size and imperfect.
3½ stars plus ½ for Odelia. 4 stars

MURDER ON THE ROCKS by Karen MacInerney (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)
This first in the Gray Whale Inn series set on an island off the coast off Maine features innkeeper & Texas transplant Natalie Barnes. It’s a charming cozy with a decent mystery, and mouth-watering descriptions of the breakfasts Natalie whips up for her guests.
Read this if: you’re a cozy (murder) mystery fan who has B&B aspirations; or you are taken with the lifestyle and scenery of the NE coast of the USA.
3½ stars

STEALING WITH STYLE by Emyl Jenkins (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)
Another first in the series, this time featuring antiques appraiser Sterling Glass. Although the information about the various antiques is very interesting, Sterling herself borders on being one of those perfect heroines – and as this first book closes, she nabs a job that will have her jet-setting and living on expense accounts.
Read this if: you’re looking for a mystery without a murder (sort of refreshing, don’t you think?); or you love The Antiques Roadshow. 3½ stars

*THE CORONER’S LUNCH by Colin Cotterill (Mystery, Amateur Sleuth)
Yet another first in the series, this one of Dr. Siri Paiboun, state coroner in Communist Laos in 1976. This was promising, although I must admit that after reading The Headmaster’s Wager, the tongue-in-cheek treatment of the communist state was a little jarring at first.
So here’s the thing about Siri: not only do his dead patients appear to him in dreams, he channels a thousand year old native warrior. If that doesn’t bother you – go for it: you’ll find this a refreshing addition to your other mystery reading. As for me, that’s the end of my reading in this series.
Read this if: you want an exotic locale and don’t mind a spiritistic approach to your mysteries. 3 stars

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* Eberhart’s WEDDING completes the ‘title with a celebration’ in Beth Fish Reads’ What’s In a Name 2013 Reading Challenge.
* Coroner Siri’s LUNCH completes the ‘title with something you’d find in the kitchen’ in Beth Fish Reads’ What’s In a Name 2013 Reading Challenge.

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I read a total of 16 books in March – the pages just seemed to fly! Since nearly half of the titles were mysteries, and since mysteries deserve their own ratings without comparison to other literature, I’m dividing up my posts this month. Tomorrow, the mysteries; today, everything else.

I’d love to hear what you think about my choices – and my reactions.

1. DOG BOYby Eva Hornung (Literary Fiction, Award Winner)

Winner of the 2010 Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Dog Boy is a marvel of experience and of emotion. Four-year-old Romochka is abandoned in Moscow at the beginning of winter. Hungry and cold, he follows a feral dog to her lair – and so starts Romochka’s life as a dog. The premise sounds preposterous, but Hornung makes it work. Every time I start thinking that it couldn’t possibly have been as good as I remember, I read my notes – and I believe again.
I can’t understand why this book didn’t win more awards. Hornung has previously published novels as Eva Sallis – she is one author I will be reading more of.

Shannon over at Giraffe Days has written an articulate, passionate review . Sue at Whispering Gums beat us all to it with her review in 2010. All I can add to these two is: READ THIS.
Warnings: a half-dozen uses of that four letter word, and a brief torture scene.
Read this if: you’re breathing. 5+ stars

2. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguro (Literary Fiction, Award winner)
This modern day classic, the 1989 Man Booker Prize winner, follows the aging butler Stevens as he takes his first vacation from Darlington Hall after decades of service. His trip is a drive to the English west country that he has never seen. As he travels, we are given a startling perspective on life, through his recollections. There’s not really a lot of “action”, but so much happens.
Ishiguro brilliantly captures Stevens’ ‘restrained’ emotions in a voice that is perfectly pitched to the time and circumstance. The facts are made all that more powerful by the understatement.
Read this if: you love Downton Abbey (here’s Carson, perhaps, 35 years on); or you enjoy elegant and understated prose and character-driven books. 4½ stars

3. *THE HEADMASTER’S WAGER by Vincent Lam (Fiction, Historical Fiction, Canadian author)
Canadian author Vincent Lam is the son of ex-pats Chinese from Vietnam.
This book, set in an ex-pat Chinese community just outside of what was then Saigon, South Vietnam, in 1968, is beautifully written and engaged me from the first page onward. The author skillfully conveyed the tension and uncertainty of living in a country at war, and invaded by hordes of outsiders (French, American, Communist North Vietnamese.) Even the ending of the book, which at first dismayed me, vividly depicted the uncertainty of the situation for those of non-pure Vietnamese origin after the collapse of the South Vietnamese government.
Warnings: a couple of (really, unnecessary) sex scenes
Read this if: you’ve ever wanted to understand just what made the Vietnamese “boat people” desperate enough to flee into certain danger throughout the late 60s and during the 1970s; or you’d like a better understanding of the Vietnam War, from the point of view of South Vietnamese civilians. 4 stars

4. *THE LUCK OF GINGER COFFEY by Brian Moore (Literary Fiction, Vintage, Award Winner, Canadian author)
Another ‘immigrant’ story, this time of the Irishman James Francis “Ginger” Coffey in 1950s Montreal. Ginger really is a loser – the ne’er-do-well who got by on his charm and connections at “home” but who isn’t willing to take a step down and make his way by working hard here. Winner of the 1960 Governor-General’s Award for Fiction, and a Canadian classic, this gives a different look at Montreal than the author’s contemporary Mordecai Richler portrayed.
Read this if: you’ve read some Richler and want to compare and contrast the Irish and the Jewish immigrant experiences; or you’re interested in the twentieth century Irish experience in Canada. 4 stars

5. *JANE AND PRUDENCE by Barbara Pym (Fiction, Vintage, Humour)

Jane (age 41) and Prudence (age 29) have been friends since their days at Oxford , where Jane tutored Prudence. Jane is now married to a clergyman, recently assigned to a country parish, to the delight of Jane’s Victorian-novel-fueled imagination; Prudence is a career woman in London.
As with the others of Pym’s I’ve read, the plot meanders while poking gentle, often sly, fun at church & society, gender roles, and love affairs in 1950s Britain.
At first , I didn’t like this book as much as Excellent Women, for example, because I didn’t like either of the protagonists. But they grew on me and I ended enjoying Jane & Prudence just as much as Some Tame Gazelle. 4 stars
Read this if: you enjoy Angela Thirkell novels; or you like sly mid-century British humour. 4 stars

6. THE LIGHTNING FIELD by Heather Jessup (Literary fiction, Canadian author)
This started out so promisingly. First, the book itself: a soft cover with a heavy-weight dust jacket – quite different. Then, the location and time period: 1950s Malton (a suburb of Toronto). Then the fact that the male protagonist is designing the Avro Arrow, a controversial piece of Canadian history. PLUS – the writing is clear and engaging. But after the build-up to the Avro’s introduction and the female protagonist being hit by lightning, the plot just seems to disintegrate.
Read this if: you’d enjoy learning about the Avro Arrow “incident” (that some, to this day, label a ‘conspiracy’); or you’re from Malton or the surrounding area. 3½ stars

7. THE WARDEN by Anthony Trollope (Fiction, Classic, Humour)

This is the first in the classic Chronicles of Barsetshire series and features befuddled cleric Septimus Harding and a kafuffle over his income. Trollope set his story in his current day, in this case 1855. There is lots of social satire (including a veiled reference to Charles Dickens), biting humour, and pokes at church & state.
I’ll admit this was humourous, but I’m not really into early Victorian times so began to find Trollope’s references boring. I’m glad I read this (my introduction to Trollope) but I’m not in a hurry to read more by him, even though it’s likely that if I did want Victorian literature, he would be near the top of my list.
Read this if: you’re a fan of Victorian literature. 3½ stars

8. *THE BOOK OF AWESOME by Neil Pasricha (Non-fiction)
Based on, or perhaps the basis of, the website 1000 Awesome Things, this book is a collection of short essays proclaiming the joy of the little things in life (the smell of crayons or freshly-cut grass, or getting something with handwriting in the mail).
When my husband saw the title he told me that I’d be gritting my teeth on every page at the misuse of ‘awesome’ (a pet peeve of mine) but I tried to let that go and just appreciate the sentiment of the book.
I borrowed this from the library so I had to read it straight through and, honestly, taken in that way, the book becomes repetitive and even annoying. I much prefer the web-site. (Sorry, Neil!)
Read this if: someone gives it to you as a gift and you can dip into it a few pages at a time, now & then. But, everyone, DO visit the web-site. 3½ stars

9. CHUNG LEE LOVES LOBSTERS by Hugh MacDonald, illustrated by Glen Craig & Perri Craig (Picture Book, Canadian author)

Written by a past Prince Edward Island poet laureate, Chung Lee Loves Lobsters tells the story of Chung Lee who spent his working life on PEI cooking lobsters for tourists and other customers. Now that he’s retired, Chung Lee spends part of each of his monthly pension cheques to buy a live lobster from the restaurant where he used to work. Then he walks down to the beach and releases the lobster into the ocean.
I’m a little perplexed as to the message children will get from this book. Is it wrong to cook lobsters, or not? The people who own the restaurant now are nice people with two small sons; Chung Lee himself did so for decades. I’m still puzzling this one out.
3 stars

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* I read The Headmaster’s Wager for our local book club, The Loquacious Compendium.
* Luck (of Ginger Coffey) is a qualifying word in the Keyword Reading Challenge at Bookmark to Blog.
* Jane and Prudence is the third Barbara Pym that I’ve read, as I keep up with the LibrayThing Virago group read-along for Barbara Pym’s centenary.
* I read The Book of Awesome as this month’s random pick from my TBR wish list spreadsheet of 2,378 items for the Random Reads Challenge hosted by I’m Loving Books.

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For Canadian readers:
Dog Boy
The Remains of the Day
The Headmaster’s Wager
The Luck of Ginger Coffey
Jane and Prudence
The Lightning Field
The Warden
The Book of Awesome
Chung Lee Loves Lobsters

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Candace over at Beth Fish Reads. Have a food-related posted this week, why not join the fun?

This is the first time I’ve joined this meme.

In the 1980s, I bought or received a copy of a small spiral-bound cookbook called Muffin Mania, written by two sisters from Ontario Canada, Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli.

The book has become somewhat of a cult classic, at least in Canada. Cathy & Joan followed up with the great Nifty Nibbles, as well as Veggie Mania and Sweet Mania, but none attained the commercial or fan success of Muffin Mania.

Somewhere along the way, I’ve lost my copy of this treasure of a book and so had to turn to the Internet to find the recipe for the muffins I made often for my daughter as she was growing up. They’re aptly called:

BEST-EVER BANANA MUFFINS

3 large ripe bananas
3/4 c white sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c melted butter

Mash bananas. Add sugar and slightly beaten egg. Add the melted butter. Add the dry ingredients. Mix until it is thoroughly moistened but not smooth. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes one dozen.

I used to add a cup of chocolate chips to the batter for Jen’s muffins. This weekend, I made half plain and half with that addition.

Does Muffin Mania stir up any memories for you? Have another good muffin cookbook you can recommend?

I have a confession to make: for the past few months, I have had a growing creature on the corner of my desk. It was my INBOX.

In the dark days of winter when I couldn’t face making decisions, everything went into my INBOX – for the “next” time I was at my desk; I would deal with it then.

It started out so innocently (4 years ago) like this:

(It was in better shape then.)

But the pile outgrew the box and reached the point where it couldn’t support itself. So I put it in this:

(See how nicely it fits!)

Alas, even that didn’t last and I had to find another box:

(See all the room around the red box? That’s extra space for “stuff!”

No question about it: my INBOX was threatening to physically take over my office, as well as burdening me with lots and lots of guilt. Mind you, I have a number of other baskets to cull, but they’re project files, not current items that keep me awake at night.

(This is “BEFORE”.)

I don’t know how she did it but my favourite organizing guru, Jen Hofmann at Inspired Home Office, threw me a life-preserver last week, in the form of her monthly newsletter, Juicy Gems. The subject line read: What to do with the baby elephant on your desk.

Jennifer wrote that newsletter especially for me; I know she did. So, I listened to her advice. It was brilliant!

I had my husband carry the box down to the dining room table, and I dumped it out upside down (one of Jen’s tactics). I spent many 5 minutes periods over the next couple of days standing (another two of Jen’s tips) at the table, sorting.

I pushed anything paper that was no longer relevant down to the edge of the table where my husband picked it up each time he walked past to go to the basement to feed the wood furnace. (Yet one more of Jennifer’s hints – not that the paper be burned, but that disposal be easy).

When I got to the bottom of my pile, I had several smaller piles that I knew exactly what to do with: file, return to shelf, put away in drawers, and so on. This was all in my INBOX – and probably half again as much paper but Bill took it away too fast to be photographed.

AND I have new INBOX:

(This is “AFTER”.)

I know it still looks like a lot to do, but it works for me. And I’m so proud that I just had to share it.

SO – what’s the state of your inbox? As bad as mine was? Worse?

I ran across this week’s word while reading Stealing with Style, a cozy mystery story in which the lead character is an antiques appraiser

Putto: a figure of a plump, young male angel or cupid, as in baroque art (from var. of pusus, boy; akin to puer)

“The body [of the soup tureen] was gracefully shaped, and on the lid a playful putto sat astride a cornucopia overflowing with exquisitely painted, hand-modeled flowers.”

(pg 201) Stealing with Style by Emyl Jenkins

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. It’s hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.