Ann, I think there will be nothing for it but pick up a copy of something by Clark to see what I make of her writing. The trouble with me is that I tend to shy away from those books that sell millions of copies . . . thinking of Dan Brown, Jackie Collins et al. I often find I can't get further than the first page without wanting to throw the book against the wall.

Vee...I was in my local library today and asked the librarian how she would describe M.H.Clark. She thought for a moment then pronounced that she wasn't the type of writer who would win the Booker!
She decided that she was "main stream".
As you said, best to try a couple of her books and decide for yourself.
I also can have problems getting past the first page when trying a new author. Sometimes the writing puts fur on your teeth!

"Fur on your teeth" -- I had just finished eating far too much ice cream this evening at the very moment I read that line and almost burst out laughing! Too apt.

Based on reading one or two of her early novels some years ago, I would say that Mary Higgins Clark is both lightweight and a famous writer of massively popular thrillers. In my opinion she is a good storyteller rather than a great writer, but then, much of what I read could fit that description. I just don't much care for thrillers, and so don't read her books myself.

Along with the overly-generous serving of ice cream, I also just finished the book PAM described, The Year 1000. It fully lived up to her description and my expectation, and I suggest it to anyone with an interest in the life in that era. It was not always what we thought it was.

Rosefolly

I am trying to get OOP books for re-reading and I see that some of Elizabeth Cadell's books are available on ABE at enormous prices. I wonder if anyone would pay that much? I won't!
The copy of "Mixed Marriage" that I own could be worth quite a lot even though it has no dust jacket and is not in the best condition but why the variation in price for the same type of thing through different book sellers? There seem to be a number of copies listed so I wonder if there are buyers out there?

Ann, I had never heard of Elizabeth Cadell so did a quick check on Amazon. As you say the OOP books seem ridiculously expensive, especially as most of them are paperbacks. I did notice one or two for a penny (ie an English penny!) plus postage and some printed in German. Almost no 'reviews' for any of them. She must have become a niche market.
Fur on your teeth . . .there's a expression to ponder. ;-). The writer that puts iron filings on my teeth is the NE English writer Catherine Cookson; I cannot get past the first page of anything she has written although she is/was very popular over here.

Vee, Cadell was a popular writer for many years. I recall that Noel Coward mentioned somewhere that he read her books when abroad as they reminded him of England.
I liked the way she wrote conversations in such a natural and normal way with the characters interrupting and following on as people who are close to each other tend to do rather than the "One speaks and then another" style of written conversations.

I'm reading 1700: Scenes from London Life by Maureen Waller. It covers some of the same territory as Peter Ackroyd's London, the Biography, but is written with a much lighter hand.

Speaking of Ackroyd: Have any of you read Thames: Sacred River and/or London Under ? I'd like to read both, but only if they aren't as heavy going as the latter half of London, the Biography, which began well and then turned overly wordy.

I'm finishing up a remarkable book by Kristin Kimball: "The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love". I am loving the author's style because it is so honest. Kimball, a city girl, moves to upstate New York with her partner to rent a run down farm in order to grow organic produce and provide meat and milk as a community endeavor. Their struggles with horses, cattle, chickens, and the weather make for an amazing depiction of brutally hard work. Later the couple marries, produces a daughter, and the small community rallies around them with support. Kimball does not sugar-coat the harshness of farm life nor the unpleasant realities. Still, by the end, the tide has turned for the better and they have a working, organic farm with many clients.

Vee, you might like this one.

Mary, thanks for the recommendation. I checked on line and have ordered a new copy for the heady sum of 1 penny + postage. It has good write-ups from UK readers.

Netla, you ask about Ackroyd's 'London' books. I have watched part of a TV series by Ackroyd, on the London theme, and he certainly knows his stuff eg he can tell you why a tree grows outside a particular office building in the City (of London) or how narrow alleyways have been used for several hundred years and cannot be built over . . . but
for some reason . . and I can't quite put my finger on it . . . I find much of his fictional work disturbing. Just hearing his name sends a shiver down my spine and not in a good way. ;-(

Here is a link that might be useful: London

I"m reading THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE and loving it.

But I'm eagerly looking forward to the next one that is really calling to me now:

THE PAYING GUESTS

Finished The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. It is a strange book, about supernaturally endowed members of a family, that do not discuss things openly. It is depressing for most of it. Somehow though I enjoyed the last part, when I picked it up after months of lying around. Maybe I was less invested with the characters. Or things improved once one of the characters disappeared. But I'm glad I'm done with it. I do not feel inclined to read anything else by this author.

Lemonhead,

Did you ever read A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier ? If so, what do you think of it?

I am reading and enjoying Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." I read it probably 40 years ago, so I can't remember whodunit, which makes it fun. I watched a PBS special about Christie, which told me things I'd never heard, and I've been watching Miss Marple on Masterpiece Mystery. So this seemed like a natural follow up.

Reader-intransit, you asked Lemonhead if she had read "A Brief History of the Dead." I read it several years ago. I can't say I enjoyed it exactly, but it intrigued me and has stayed with me. I would probably recommend. It gives you food for thought.

I also just reread "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman, a YA novel about an interesting topic. At some time in the future in the U.S., a civil war has been fought over abortion. I don't want to give too much away, but to settle the war, they come up with a unique but horrifying compromise. It's another in the dystopian genre that seems to be a YA favorite theses days.

I finished 1700 and recommend it as an appetite-whetter for anyone interested in delving into London social history.

I'm now reading The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story by Janet Gleeson. It's about the discovery, by a German chemist, of how to make fine porcelain that was good enough to compete with porcelain imported from China, where the formula for it had been kept a closely guarded secret for centuries.

I've signed up for a reading contest along with a group of my friends. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.

Sarah Canary,
I agree with you about A Brief History of the Dead. I did not like the whole book, but I liked very much some parts of it, especially the chapters set in the City of the Dead. All in all, the book is quite original and, as you say, it stays with you.

And, if you are in the middle of a heat wave, which was the case with Lemonhead, it may trick the brain into feeling colder, with all those chapters that take place in the Antarctic.

I finally am reading Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (thanks sarahcanary!!!) and loving it. I also have My World and Welcome to It by James Thurber on my nightstand and am dipping in and out of it. Some of the stories are really dated and I don't think they hold up. But others are spot on.

reader_intransit, I read The Brief History of the Dead several years ago and I agree with sarahcanary. Not sure if I would say that I enjoyed it either, but I remember the plot vividly (which I have to admit I don't often do). I still think of it often.

I'm just back from my trip to Britain and took my e-reader with me which contains some of the books Susan Hill said in Howard's End is on the Landing were her all-time, keep-forever favorites. So there I was dutifully reading Middlemarch when to my delight I discovered Ms. Hill's newest Simon Serrailler book, The Soul of Discretion, in an Edinburgh bookshop. It isn't out here yet so, of course, I bought and devoured it.

Also read Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' The Phoenix, supposed to be the last of her Morland Dynasty books. I really, really hope her publishers will reconsider ending this series. I just love them, and she only got to the end of WWI.

Sorry to say I only got through about half of Middlemarch and am now reading library books that were waiting for me to pick up. Started with The Lazarus Curse by Tessa Harris. It is the latest Dr. Thomas Silkstone and is about the black population in England in the 1700s.

The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk.

Mary, Dirty Life, a new copy, arrived this morning, not bad going as I only ordered it on Thursday. They even sent me a book-mark. Not bad for a penny :-)

Carolyn, hope you enjoyed your Edinburgh trip. Brave of you to try Middlemarch while away!
Susan Hill was on TV last night talking about her latest book and saying she is better at 'grim' tales rather than love and romance!

Am now really enjoying Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. I think Kath recommended it.
Has no-one here read anything since last Friday? Where is everybody?

.

Have you ever started a book and visualised a character only to find you were absolutely wrong?
I picked up a book at the library and started it thinking I was reading about a woman soaking in a bath and playing with her cat only to realise on page three that this was a male!
Later I found the book was the third in a series so if I had read the first one, I might have known!
The other books are OOP and not in the library except in audio format so I have ordered them from World Wide Books. I haven't used this company directly before but they had all the series at a reasonable price and free postage.
The books are the Perkins and Tate series by Marian Babson.

Hi Carolyn, I hope you enjoyed Edinburgh as much as Tom and I did this past summer. One of our highlights was a literary walking tour. We came home with a new mystery author for Tom to read, Ian Rankin. Tom is now working his way through the entire series with great satisfaction.

I just finished this month's book club book, Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. It is a novel about a young woman drifting through a small life until she becomes the caregiver of a quadriplegic. In some ways reminded me of one of those tearjerker disease-of-the-month made-for-TV movies popular back in the 1970's, only better written. I normally don't like this kind of book very much, but it did make me think. I'm still thinking.

Rosefolly

We did enjoy Edinburgh but didn't get to do the literary walking tour. It was cancelled because of heavy rain the day we had free to do it, but we did see the Writer's Musuem, a crooked old building with three floors, one each dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Burns.

My daughter and I are Ian Rankin fans from long ago. We met him once signing books at a London Waterstone's, and then she left her signed book on a plane. She was so annoyed. He was very chatty and nice, particularly after he found out we are from bourbon country.

Vee, I find Susan Hill's "romantic" books pretty grim! I've quit reading her books other than the Serrailler ones. She did leave just a glimmer of light at the end of this new one. Middlemarch was picking up a bit when I abandoned it, but the beginning was a bit off-putting. I'll finish it, but not until after I read the good ones waiting for me; e.g., new ones by Rennie Airth, Deborah Crombie, Felix Francis, et. al., that are much more exciting.

Today I started Murder 101 by Faye Kellerman. I like the Decker-Lazarus books mostly for the insight into a Jewish household.

I am enjoying "Jeeves and the Wedding Bells" by Sebastian Faulks. Described as a homage to P.G. Wodehouse and very well done.

Carolyn, did you get to walk thru the "city under the city" while in Edinburgh? Years ago, I discovered it quite by accident. I also found the tearooms there delicious.

You will recall I am addicted to the Serailleur series. When does the new one come out in the States? I rather enjoy her dark, melancholic style in these mysteries.

Mary, we toured Mary King's Close if that is the underground exploring that you mean--and some of the tearooms! I have a couple of snapshots of my sister enjoying her tea service. We had tea at Richoux in London, Betty's in York, Patisserie Valerie in Salisbury and Edinburgh, and a shop whose name I've forgotten in St. Ives. That's in addition to a couple of servings of Sticky Toffee Pudding along the way, but we must have walked a hundred miles (no joke) so the calories didn't really count!

The Stop You're Killing Me site says The Soul of Discretion is due out on December 4. Sorry you have to wait; I get really impatient, too, and don't really understand why the publication dates are different in different countries. Aren't we meant to be a global community these days?

Carolyn, I haven't been to Scotland for many years now but will always remember the excellent and calorie-filled High Teas (not to be confused with your Afternoon Tea) which used to be part of every hotel menu. Served between about 5 - 6.30 and 'instead' of dinner, which was provided from about 7.30, there was always a choice of a cooked 'main course' followed by many types of bread/scones/bannocks etc and then various cakes which sat invitingly on one of those old-fashioned tiered cake-stands. This was all washed down with several gallons of tea.
As children we could munch through plates of this grub with no waist-line-worries. Today these meals are considered heart attacks waiting to happen, but back then in the '50's one needed the calories to provide warmth against those chill breezes blowing up the kilt.

Carolyn, thanks for the info.
I remember those scrumptious teas, too! Delicious fruit-filled cakes and wonderful breads. I was in Scotland in March and it was bitterly cold, but sunny. I used to eat to keep warm as where I was staying had no central heat. I remember all the walking I did and the climbing high hills to take in the views of Edinburgh (an unforgettable city).

You are making me hungry and jealous with this talk of high teas, walking tours and Scotland! I've been wanting to go there (and all of GB for that matter) for as long as I can remember.

I picked up one of my library holds and have started reading The Year 1000. So far I am finding it very interesting, especially since I have read and loved all the Brother Cadfael books which are set in the 1130's, not too much of a time frame for things to change much.

For Hallowe'en, I read Marghanita Laski's famous short novel The Victorian Chaise Longue, published way back in 1953. It was excellent, and very creepy in a way which is hard to define.

Veer, The Green Man was an intriguing book, and certainly one of the most unusual ghost stories I will likely ever read. The main character is assumed to based on the author (Kingsley Amis) himself. Readers will not find it a very flattering portrait, as this character is a lecherous drunk. But he is not without some charm and other redeeming qualities.

I've never read Elizabeth Jane Howard. Yet this year, my reading seems to have put me right in the middle of her rather messy love life. I read Dark Entries, the first volume of "strange stories" by Robert Aickman, one of her lovers. The Green Man was my first Kingsley Amis book. I recently read a rather sad article online about the disastrous collapse of Howard's marriage to Amis. Apparently, the latter's drinking became unbearable for Howard. She apparently tried to remain on civil terms with her former husband, but he never forgave her. So sad.

Rosefolly my mother recently underwent a cornea transplant. Unable to read, she has been listening to the audio books of some Mary Higgins Clark titles. Though my mother is a bit of a reading snob, but she has enjoyed these books more than she expected.

I have enjoyed some Peter Ackroyd books. He seems to be drawn to the darker aspects of history, so I can understand how many readers would be put off. I especially enjoyed his biography of Shakespeare.

I read The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons today and enjoyed it as I always do her books. The themes are pretty similar, but I like her writing style. This one is three old friends who had got together for a week for twenty years, along with a fourth who died. The husband has remarried a young girl, and this is the first time for her to be included. Not only is she young, beautiful, and firmly fleshed, she is ADD--not exactly what the 40-somethings are looking for.

I'm reading Robert Hellenga's novel: "The Confessions of Frances Godwin." He is one of my favorite authors and this book is a real page-turner, keeping me up in the wee hours of the morning.

I must be the only person in America who does not admire the work of Anne Rivers Siddons. I've read most of her novels and find them all so similar in style and theme, thus so predictable. I did think "Downtown" and "Peachtree Road" were OK (maybe because they are about the Atlanta I knew and grew up in).

Tim, my best wishes to your mother for her recovery, and I'm glad she found something enjoyable to amuse her during her recovery time.

Some years ago I read and enjoyed a book by Elizabeth Jane Howard, Something in Disguise. I liked it well enough that I tried reading one or two others, but could not get into them. Either the one I liked was different from her usual books and normally her writing is not to my taste, or I picked them up when I was not in the right mood.

We saw the movie Gone Girl with friends this evening. I had not read the book so I did not know what to expect. I did wonder what those of you who have read the book and seen the movie thought of it. Notice that I am carefully avoiding any spoilers here!

Rosefolly

Tim, thanks for the info' on the Green Man. I don't suppose many men read Elizabeth Jane Howard's stuff. People here (UK) have complained that her books all cover much the same subject-matter. Comfortably-off middle class young women working at 'interesting' jobs to fill in time before marriage. But, I suppose that was the world with which she was familiar and, don't they always say "Write about what you know."
She certainly seemed to have been ruled by her heart rather than her head, starting off very badly by marrying far too young the son of the national hero 'Captain Scott' of Antarctic fame and inheriting the M-in-L from Hell who saw a D-in-L as a brood mare.
Turn away at this point if you are of a delicate disposition as the M-in-L, with whom they lived, would spy on the couple in bed at night and then give EJH tips on better 'positions' to achieve conception.

Vee, it was lucky that I had just swallowed a mouthful of Irish Cream before I read the last part or there would have been a screen-splatter!
How likely was that anyway? Who reported it? Most of the canoodling in the UK has to be done under covers because of the weather, I would have thought!

Ann, never take nourishment while working at the computer!
EJH mentions it in her autobiography and had seen the M-in-L peering round the bedroom door. She was determined that the 'Scott' line should be carried on and worried that son, Peter, serving in the Royal Navy at the time might not return from WWII.
EJH did go on to have a daughter but was a terrible Mother and within a few years abandoned the child . . . just walked out of the house leaving her with the servants.

My goodness! Maybe I should be glad I've missed Ms. Howard.

I'm reading The Heist by Daniel Silva. I'm almost half way through, and nothing grisly has happened on stage yet. Must be a record, but I do like his books.

Would never have suspected EJH had such an unhappy family life from reading her books, of which I have read at least 3 and have a few more not read yet.

Vee, your advise of not taking while at the computer is very wise.

Got from the library Well-read Women, Portraits of Fiction's Most Beloved Heroines, an illustrated book by Samantha Hahn. She chose female characters mostly from "classics" and did a watercolor portrait of each of them, as she saw them in her mind, on one page. On the adjacent page there is quote by that character, such as

"Don't ask me to explain anything until I've had a drink"--Auntie Mame

"isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes on it yet?"--Anne Shirley

and of course:
"After all, tomorrow is another day"--Scarlett O'Hara

The watercolors are eye candy. My only mild disappointment is that all the women look young--even Mrs. Dalloway who is in her early 50's--, all are beautiful, and most of them are Caucasians, but then such are most of Western classical literature heroines.

Veer: EJH's M-in-L sounds like a horrible person. At the very least, she had some serious "boundary issues".

It sounds as if EJH was not a great mother, though many writers (male and female) don't seem to be very good parent material. I might actually read one of Howard's titles just to get a taste of her writing. I had assumed her books were like slightly more modern D. E. Stevenson's novels.

I enjoyed The Green Man enough that I will read more Kingsley Amis.

Really struggling to find a good Hallowe'en book. I have Neil Spring's The Ghost Hunters on my bedstand.

Vee, I know I shouldn't drink while reading from my laptop but I usually do! I have my first morning cuppa while checking out the stories and posts from the Northern Hemisphere and the Eastern States of Australia which are all behind or ahead of me time wise! Then I check up in the evening for the day time postings, usually sipping a night cap!
I will request "Well Read Women" which sounds interesting and there are some copies available to be borrowed in the State Library here.
I read a light as air Regency romance over the weekend. No one is as good as Heyer though.
Vee, did you ever read the later books about mature women like Venetia and Frederica? They are more serious than the ones I think you might have read when you commented on her work.

Rosefolly, I have read Gone Girl and seen the film, and I thought the screen version was quite good.
When I read the book, I liked the story but thought the main characters were both repulsive. I thought Ben Affleck was somewhat more likeable in the film but still pretty full of himself.
The book went into Amy's past more, and we knew more of her ability to manipulate (trying not to give too many spoilers here). But mostly it was a faithful rendition - certainly there were no major changes.

Ann I haven't read anything by Heyer since I was about 15! Not so long ago I was at a church sale and picked up a copy of something by GH and casually remarked to a woman next to me "We used to read her stuff when young perhaps as a lead-in to Jane Austen". The woman, a rather serious do-gooder, looked at me as though I told her I still read Enid Blyton. I returned the book to the counter and slunk away.

Tim, EJH certainly had 'boundary issues' as you well-describe them. When first married and very young and naive with her husband away at Sea, and living with his family she and his equally young half-brother had a 'crush' on each other; probably nothing serious but they made the fatal mistake of telling both the husband and the M-in-L.
Her whole life seems to have been a series of similar moral blunders. She wrote about them quite candidly in her autobiography Slipstream; well worth reading.

Vee, My friend and I also used GH to help us study JA as we had to do Northanger Abbey for GCE "O" level. Later I studied 17thC play-writers to understand Shakespeare's plays for drama school.

Didn't EJH also write the Cazelet series we discussed some years ago? If so, then I have read several of her books, because I did read those.

I passed The Year 1000 along to my husband Tom, who is enjoying it as much as I did. I have begun to read Dog Sense by John Bradshaw in honor of our new puppy Archie. Apparently there has been quite a change in our understanding of dog behavior and development in the past 20 or so years. It is theory, not a dog training book. I heard the author being interviewed on public radio and the book sounded intriguing.

The author also wrote a book on cats, for those of you who prefer the other popular pet.

Rosefolly

Yes, Rosefolly, EJH wrote 'The Cazalet Chronicle'. I don't remember the discussion.

Just discovered today that she wrote Book #5 of the Cazalet Chronicle: All Change. It was published in 2013, the last book she wrote before her death in January 2014. Has anyone read it?

The Cazalet Chronicles were dramatised recently on BBC Radio4 and some years ago by BBC TV. As I hadn't read the books the radio series took some concentration as there were several young female characters who sounded similar. EJH based much of the story on her own family background even to the extent of portraying her father as 'Edward' who behaved in what might be called an 'inappropriate' way towards her. It may explain her many problems.

Here is a link that might be useful: From the BBC series 'The Cazalets'

I've started The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards, second in a series set in the Lakes District. I found the first one in a bookcase for borrowing or trading at our Cornwall B&B and read it there. I was delighted to find that my library has them; that isn't always the case with British writers.

An excellent read, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson; probably the most unusual of her books I have read so far. Starting in 1910 when Ursula is born and survives . . . or not . . . and following various 'strands' of her possible life. Some of the paths taken are fulfilling and happy, others horribly dark.
I felt the strongest and most graphically described segment of the book were the chapters dealing with WWII where Ursula has the night-time job of 'Air Raid Warden' in London.
Unsurprisingly Ursula suffers from deja vu, something I expect we have all been familiar with from time-to-time.

Re-reading Tryst, a romantic ghost story by Elswyth Thane that enthralled me when I was in my teens. Her other books have not held up well to my changing tastes over the years, but this is still an enjoyable read. And this gentle ghost story suits the holiday.

Rosefolly

I have read Tryst and one other the name of which I've forgotten in addition to the Williamsburg novels that I've read and reread and still like very much, especially the first two.

I read the new Jeanne M. Dams over the past couple of days and have started The Devil's Breath by Tessa Harris.

I put the Mitford book away for now and am reading Fern Michaels Classified another in the Godmothers Series. I love her books about senior women.