Slow down!

 Slow down! The street outside my window, so quiet for the past 14 months, hums with passing cars and clonks with trucks as they hit the uneven patch of macadam. I asked Hub if he missed the quiet streets of the pandemic. I sure do!

Our families and friends are all catching up with the celebrations they postponed, the visits they longed to make. They dragged their luggage - cases, backpacks, totes and duffel bags - out of storage. They are On The Road Again!

Meanwhile, daily life does not slow down. Workers are back in the office or the stores or the factories. Some of those workers never stopped working. Now, they welcome their far-flung families into their homes. Their joy knows no bounds. Then, the guests go home and the workers can't afford to take time off to recuperate.

I spoke to one person who will play host to a niece and her brood this weekend. She already has her three grown children at home, as well as her retired husband.  She sounded sooooo tired. I bet she visits her luggage longingly.

I know I miss quarantine. I AM grateful that I can go to the stores. Delivery services saved us for the past year. BUT I have an overflowing box of items that I could not return - because I wasn't going into stores - but that were NOT what I requested.

I miss the quiet nights of quarantine. I resent the pressure to DO things. During quarantine we could stay home alone with little or no guilt. I LOVE spending times with my family and friends but...

Could we do it slowly? Please?

Quick! A book trailer!

I have been reading up a storm - wentworth, Ngaio Marsh, Nancy Atherton - all my faves from the past. But I have added a few middle grade books to my list of READ books.

 Scrolling through all my favorite book newsletters, I ran across this little sweetie on Shelf Awareness. It's a picture book trailer and the artwork makes bats love soft and cuddly. Enjoy!

The Love Affair Continues

I read this one, too

 

 My love for Patricia Wentworth titles continues. Her plots are convoluted. Her solutions are sometimes way too simplistic. But I don't care. I love her characters, whether they are independent young women navigating life in a changing Britain between the wars, or frightened wives trapped in confusing relationships. The fashion updates are awesome. The dialogue borders on Noel Coward-esque.  You MUST enjoy the time period between 1920 and 1955, and the cinema of that period, to fully appreciate these books.

When I shared my need to read these older mysteries with a friend, SHE shared Gutenberg.org. Almost any book in the public domain is available to borrow from Gutenberg.org.  Only a handful of Wentworth's titles have slipped into public domain. I read The Astounding Adventure of Jane Smith, downloaded from Gutenberg, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh, the plot was totally off the wall. It included hidden underground chambers, nefarious international organizations, grief-stricken beauties and way too many secret passageways. The main character sparkled with gutsy independence. Her "suitor" stayed well out of the way until the very end. All sympathetic characters had their reputations restored. The book was the stuff of black and white mysteries of the 1940s.

Check out Gutenberg.org for all kinds of impossible to find older titles.

My friend also shared Open Library. This site attempts to offer as many books as possible to just as many readers. They have a dozen or more Wentworth titles available for loan. There are limitations and if you look at the FAQs or Help & Support pages these limitations are explained. For instance, I borrowed a book - BUT - because it was the only book of that title in the library at the time, I could only read it for one hour.  You can borrow audio books, as well.  Some titles are marked Not in Library. You can request those books and will be alerted if the book is added. OR you can search for the book in a nearby library through Library.Link. (You have to share your location.) Or look on WorldCat which simply lists all the libraries in their database that hold that title.

FREE BOOKS! Talk about endless love!

My local library offers all kinds of books to love and I have cheated on Patricia by reading a few Aunt Dimity books. Written by Nancy Atherton, this series of cozy mysteries offers a delightful rags-to-riches heroine, Lori Shepherd, who now shares her adventures with Aunt Dimity - long deceased - through a blue notebook. I KNOW!!! Totally insane but so comfy! 

These mysteries are rarely, if ever, fatal so when I read the jacket flap for Aunt Dimity and the Widow's Curse, I was flabbergasted. A new resident of the village of Finch confesses to murdering her first husband. No worries about spoilers here - the publishers put in on the jacket flap! I snapped that book up and, as an Aunt Dimity title, it is perfect. Think Hallmark mysteries minus gore and overacting.

I haven't forgotten books for young readers. I have a couple of THOSE to tell you about in my next post. Let's hope I get to it soon.

Keep reading!