[In the interest of full disclosure, I started this post in February of 2021 and never got back to give it a final spit-shine to send it out into the void.] Have you seen the wonderful 2001 film Amelie*? The scene below entered my mind yesterday as I drove to work listing to the “Ten Minutes With” episodes of The Coode Street Podcast. To set up the scene, the main protagonist, Amelie, is on a mission to do good and she comes upon a local man, who is blind, and guides him to the metro while painting a picture with her words of all that is going on around him. It amazes me, even after four deca ..read more

Crenshaw is a young adult novel by author Katherine Applegate that examines food insecurity, financial insecurity, and housing instability through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy named Jackson and his former imaginary friend Crenshaw, an enormous cat who has suddenly returned, much to Jackson’s chagrin. At first glance the idea of reading a book about such serious topics might not appeal. It certainly wouldn’t have appealed to me had I not read and loved her Newbury Medal winning novel The One and Only Ivan just recently. The story was so good that when I was looking for a shorter audio book t ..read more

Welcome fair June! Looking back I did a lot of things in the month of May: read a handful of books, took a day trip to one of my favorite Missouri towns and walked the Katy Trail, started trail running again, celebrated my 32nd wedding anniversary, and went up to Nebraska for the first time since early 2019 and visited my sister and her family. It was an immensely enjoyable and satisfying month, and I expect that to continue for June. In addition to my recently announced plan to do my own Summer Reading Program again this year, #VentureForth2021, which begins today and ends September 22nd, I ..read more

I started the #VentureForth Summer Reading Program last year when I found my love of reading fueled by an increase in pandemic-inspired “free time”. I was reading more often and it led to nostalgic feelings of childhood Summer reading programs hosted by local libraries. I wanted to stoke that nostalgia and so I created this. I have been open in this forum in the past that I often struggle during the Summer months with a heat-induced malaise that spits me out the other end when signs of Autumn return. It is like I am ejected into a world of pumpkin spice and orange hues and wonder what I just ..read more

Elsie Bainbridge knew that life was looking up. She had married a wealthy, eligible bachelor, was pregnant with child, and would soon join her husband at his ancestral home, The Bridge, where he had went to prepare it for her arrival. Now she is a widow, alone but for her younger brother who must remain in London to run their family match factory, and a female relative of her deceased husband, and headed to live in a run-down manor house in a country where the people do not seem inclined to welcome her. Suspicion and gloom abound, which turns to mistrust and fear, as soon after her arrival st ..read more

The Lusitania is sinking, victim of a torpedo attack, and an American woman, Jane Finn, is pressed into service of the when an agent passes her a secret document that could be the undoing of Great Britain, and her allies. Jane promptly disappears, years pass, and two young English people seeking funds in a post-war Great Britain where jobs are scarce, decide to team up and start their own business: The Young Adventurers. Little do they know that their first job, tracking down a missing American girl, will lead to danger, intrigue, and possible death at the hands of the shadowy Mr. Brown. The ..read more

I was familiar with the name “Nero Wolfe” yet had never read a story nor seen an adaptation featuring author Rex Stout’s famous overweight detective. When I came across Tracey’s post Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe Series, I knew I needed to remedy that oversight quickly. I found what appeared to be a solid copy of the book on ebay (which turned out to be an unread copy in excellent form) and put it near the top of my to-be-read pile, where it did not sit long before I succumbed to its whispers of “read me, read me”. First published in October 1934, Fer-De-Lance is the first ..read more

My first foray into the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was with A Study in Scarlet, back in October of 2010. I enjoyed it and planned to read more of Dr.Watson’s recollections of the adventures of the world’s foremost consulting detective, never realizing that a decade would pass before I would again visit the duo on the printed page. Just prior to the pandemic closing stores I made a trip to Barnes and Noble and purchased a number of books in support of what I knew might be a time of decreased income for the store. When they opened up I did the same thing, in celebration of the ability to o ..read more

It all began on August 30th, 2006, when I posted the first ever R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge post. I had–and still have—such a love of reading mysterious, gothic, creepy, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night fiction and I wanted to share that experience with others. Thus R.I.P. was born and it gave me the gift of getting to know so many amazing fellow kindred spirits out there in the blogosphere, and so many wonderful artists who allowed the use of their art for annual R.I.P. banners. I hit a point several years ago when I knew that sustaining blogging was just not working out for ..read more

It has been a while I posted some bookshelf shots and life is every bit as insane now as it was when Judith started this idea, so here we go again. Several weeks of temperatures that felt like an early beginning to Autumn have put me in a particular reading mood, the kind I used to promote in my Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenges back in the day. Despite this week’s return to Summer temperatures, the die had been cast and my reading of late has largely been of the mystery variety. Over the weekend I decided to clean off the top of my bedside table and populate it with books that fit t ..read more