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Friday, May 25, 2018

Bookish Nostalgia - May 2018



Welcome to Bookish Nostalgia for May 2018.  I've kept records of books I read for over 25 years and I enjoy looking back through my reading journals to see what I was reading 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago.  Let's see what I remember about what I was reading in those years:




May 1998 - The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett - I honestly don't remember a whole lot about this book, but do remember liking it.  It was written long before the author was involved in her Nashville bookstore and a few years before she wrote Bel Canto, which is the only other novel of Patchett's that I've read.  I do recall that this book was about the widow of a magician who had been his assistant for many years.  And she finds that there was a lot about him that she didn't know. 



May 2003 - Practically Seventeen by Rosamond du Jardin - This was the first book in the Tobey and Midge Heydon series that I read as a young teen.  I loved this series, which had 6 books and was originally written in the early 1950's, I believe.  I found that a small press, Image Cascade, had reprinted all this author's works along with several other authors from the same era.  Stories about teens and malt shops and dances and boyfriends - loved them.  They were available again in print and also as e-books.  And I enjoyed rereading the whole series.


 
May 2008 - On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill - This book is the 18th in the award-winning series featuring Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Sergeant Peter Pascoe.  It was one of the first books we read in our Mystery Book Group, which began in 2008.  We paired it with In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson.  Both books featured crimes that came to light when lakes or reservoirs were drained.  It still remains the only book I've read by Hill, but perhaps one day I'll change that.  It was an excellent mystery.



May 2013 - How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny - This is the 9th book in probably my favorite mystery series ever, ever, ever.  And it is a pivotal book.  Whatever you do, if you've not read Louise Penny's books - don't start with this one.  Begin at the beginning.  The title comes from a poem/song written by Leonard Cohen, 'Anthem'.  The verse goes:

Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering,
There's a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.

The book is awesome.  The series is awesome.  The story and writing are awesome.  I love this author and I love her characters, flaws and all. 

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And so we end this month's Bookish Nostalgia.  Have you read any of these books or authors?  Hope you'll join me again next month to see what June books I remember from my journals.

36 comments:

  1. I've read How the Light Gets In-- excellent. I've read Reginald Hill's The Woodcutter and really liked it, so now I have a few Dalziel & Pascoe mysteries on my TBR shelves.

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    1. Good to know about The Woodcutter. I'll keep that on in mind.

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  2. Louise Penny! I have Hill on my list, but I haven't read him, as far as I recall.

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    1. A long running series, but a good one - or at least this book was good.

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  3. I'm a big Ann Patchett fan and enjoyed this book and all of her others.

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    1. I did enjoy Bel Canto, but don't think I've read any others. One day.

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  4. I remember reading The Magician's Assistant around the same time - loved it! Have gone on to read all of Patchett's books.

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    1. Another Patchett fan. I keep thinking it would be fun to see her bookstore in Nashville.

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  5. I so miss Reginald Hill and Fat Andy and Pascoe! Although I've read and enjoyed several of Patchett's books, I seem to have missed The Magician's Assistant. Of course, Louise Penny and Three Pines and all of the familiar characters remain favorites!

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  6. That is amazing, 25 years of books I am in awe of that! It's great reading this You have read some awesome books!!

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    1. Yes, every time I check out those notebooks I wish that I had kept records since I was a teenager. I'd love that.

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  7. I remember Rosamond du Jardin vaguely...always fun to look back. And of course Louise Penny

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    1. I think you and I have talked about reading many of the same books when we were younger. :-)

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  8. I remember In A Dry Season as being very, very good. I've tried a few others in the series, but they just weren't for me. And I've read a few D&P books, and liked them a lot. I looked it up and in May 2003, I read 3 Rex Stout books, 3 DE Stevenson books, and The Duchess of Devonshire's Counting My Chickens.

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    1. Ha! Now that's a title - the chicken one. How long have you kept records?

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  9. Decades ago I kept track of my reads in one of those book list journals they used to make. I wrote all all my reviews manually. What a pain! But my tastes have changed so much. Do you see a huge change in the books you choose now? I used to read a lot of popular, trade fiction and I hardly ever do that now.

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    1. Yes, changes in some ways, Ti, and no, not in others. I still read primarily from the crime/mystery genre. However, I don't read very many of the 'cozy' type mysteries. And, back in the day, it was harder to figure out what to read. I mostly just scanned the library shelves.

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  10. The only one I've read is the Louise Penny book, and I also love that series!

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  11. I love On Beulah Height - probably my favourite crime novel of all. And I'm a huge fan of the whole Dalziel and Pascoe series, so I hope you do read more of them some day. Just to say the very earliest 3 or 4 feel quite dated in terms of attitudes, mainly to women, now but as the series goes on that disappears...

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    1. I think maybe you've said something before about the first ones being dated. Good to know. Maybe I'll just go back and reread On Beulah Height. :-)

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  12. I haven't read any of these, but they all sure sound good.

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    1. You haven't read Louise Penny's books? Or maybe just not that one yet. Hope you'll try them if you haven't sampled them.

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  13. Of these I've only read Louise Penny's books, agree with you 100% that everything about the series is awesome. I haven't read this one yet, my next is book 7, A Trick of the Light. I thought Bury Your Dead was one of the best crime books I've ever read.

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    1. I agree that Bury Your Dead is very, very good. It's one of my favorites. Love the Quebec City location.

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  14. I've only read Louise Penny, and though I want desperately to love her and her series (!), after the first two books I wasn't motivated to pick up any more. I found them to be sl-o-ow.

    Sorry to disagree with you on this. Did you find her books to change up a bit as they proceeded, or are these to be those kind of quiet books you immerse yourself in and take time finishing?

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    1. Rita, I do understand that Louise Penny's series may not be a good match for you. I have other friends who feel the same. That being said, she does have an over-arching storyline that gets more tense and complicated as the series progresses. And her books really set up the good vs. evil dilemma. If she's not your favorite, no worries. You move on and find your favorites. This is the advice that I always share with our mystery book group. Each of us have our own 'perfect' books. :-)

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  15. I've never heard of Reginald Hill, but ON BEULAH HEIGHT sounds intriguing. I like the idea of a mystery set in motion after the drying up of a body of water (like THE CHESS MEN by Peter May), so I'm going to put this one as well as IN A DRY SEASON on my TBR list.

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    1. Both of these books were good and both sit in the middle of very long running series. A bit of a change-up for my reading 'in order'.

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  16. I read several Reginald Hill books back about the same time you did and really enjoyed them. No idea why it's been so long. I've been to Ann Patchett's bookstore in Nashville but somehow have never read nay of her books. I need to fix that.

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    1. You should try Bel Canto. You might like or you might not, but I thought it was good.

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  17. That cover for Practically Seventeen is so cool. I've read a couple of Ann Patchett books but not this one. And, Peter Robinson has always been a favorite although I've fallen behind on his series.

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    1. I know - the cover on those older books - quite, quite vintage.

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  18. I love the idea of Bookish Nostalgia. It makes me feel happy to look back on books I read in the past.

    Incidentally, when I first saw you'd been keeping records of books you've read for twenty-five years, I thought, wow, that's a long time. I wish I'd started then. Oh well, glad I started when I did.

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    1. Thanks, Deb! I just now found this one in my 'moderation' folder. Sorry about that. Anyway, yes, I'm glad I've kept my notebooks though I wish I had kept them since I was a teen. I knew a lady once who had kept track since she was 8 years old. Now that's a list!

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Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy to hear your thoughts and will respond as soon as I can. Happy Reading!