My October books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.

"Village School" by Miss Read (Dora Jessie Saint), first published in 1955
(Fairacre 1) 

Miss Read tells us about the year of a school mistress in the small English village school of Fairacre in the 50s.

I saw the books mentioned on different blogs and they sounded like something I would enjoy. Of course the book is dated in some regards which I had expected, though. I will look for more books in the series.

"Four Days' Wonder" by A. A. Milne, first published in 1933 

When the 18 year old Jenny accidentally walks into her old home and finds the body of her aunt there whom she hadn't seen in years and then the current tenants come home, she has to flee and come up with an ingenious plan not to get arrested.

As accidentally as Jenny finds her dead aunt, I found this book and I'm so glad about it.
It's a mystery comedy and I loved it so much that I ordered my own copy of it when I hadn't even finished.

"The Reluctant Vampire" by Eric Morecambe, first published in 1982
(The Reluctant Vampire 1) 

The King and Queen of Gotcha are vampires and have two sons, Vernon and Valentine.
Valentine, however, finds out he's not a vampire which changes everything.

Recently, the two children's books by British comedian Eric Morecambe have been turned into a six-part TV series. I can't watch the series, so I read the first book instead.

"Undine" by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, first published in 1811 😸

The knight Huldbrand, sent out on a mission to cross a haunted forest by the beautiful Bertalda, comes to the hut of a poor fisherman and his wife where he meets their foster-child Undine and falls in love with her.
After they have been married by a passing priest, Undine tells Huldbrand that she's a water spirit and that his love has given her a soul. The jealousy of Bertalda and the rage of Undine's uncle Kühleborn, another water spirit, however, endangers their bond.

Since school I hadn't read any German classics and decided to try and read at least one a month now.
The novella which I had never read before is based on old legends.

"Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" by M. R. James, first published in 1904 

A collection of eight Victorian ghost stories, "most of them read to patient friends, usually at the season of Christmas" (see my post about that tradition here).

M. R. James was known for his ghost stories, this is just one collection.

"Good Morning, Miss Dove" by Frances Gray Patton, first published in 1954 

Miss Dove has been the geography teacher at the Cedar Grove School for 35 years. An unexpected hospital stay makes her reminisce about her life and her pupils.

Re-read for a future blog post.

"To Sir With Love" by E. R. Braithwaite, first published in 1959 

After leaving the military at the end of the war, Ricky Braithwaite - born in British Guiana (today Guyana) - expects to easily find work as an engineer. He's shocked to find that his skin color even prevents him from getting interviews and after 18 months of unemployment someone gives him the idea to try it as a teacher in East London where teachers are needed most.

Braithwaite left teaching and became a social worker and then a diplomat after publishing this book.
I read it for a future blog post.

"Der Fuhrmann des Todes" = "Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!" by Selma Lagerlöf, first published in 1912 

A legend goes that the last man dying in the old year has to collect the souls of the dying for one year as the driver of Death.
This time it is David Holm whose family the young slum sister (social worker for the Salvation Army) Edit (Edith in the German and English translation) has been trying to save from his drunkenness, violence, and consumption.

I read the book (included in volume 5 of Lagerlöf's collected works in this case) for a blog post.

"The Sitwells and the Arts of the 1920s and 1930s" : with essays by Sarah Bradford et al., first published in 1996 

Catalog of an exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Oct. 14, 1994 - Jan. 22, 1995.
The Sitwell siblings Osbert, Edith, and Sacheverell were poets and novelists who were known for forming "an identifiable literary and artistic clique around themselves in London in the period roughly 1916 to 1930", admired by some and seen as overrated by others. Interesting - definitely. Complicated - oh yes.

This was a bit of a tough read. I really enjoyed the essays and also the images, but the blurbs with the images were a lot. The Sitwells knew so many people! This was one book I had to do in slow bits or the many names would have overwhelmed me completely.

"Love's Shadow" by Ada Leverson, first published in 1908
(Little Ottleys 1)

This comedy of manners takes us to the Edwardian London, we meet Edith Ottley and her husband Bruce and their friends and acquaintances.

Ada Leverson was friends with the Sitwells, that's how I found her (it seems only the third book of the trilogy got a German translation). She was also a devoted friend to Oscar Wilde who called her the wittiest woman in the world.
This was the perfect book to balance out the heaviness of the Sitwell catalog. It was light and fluffy, but from our modern view also quite sad in regard to women's situations. Bruce, for example, was so annoying that I kept hoping I would be told eventually just one reason why Edith ever thought he was the right man to marry. That didn't happen, so I could only imagine she didn't have much choice and that made me sad for her.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book because of the very amusing dialog and I plan to read the other two books as well (once I have overcome my urge to slap Bruce).

"Die Kinder, die Hexen zaubern konnten" = "The Witch Family" by Eleanor Estes, first published in 1960
(Amy and Clarissa 1)

Amy and Clarissa, almost seven years of age, are best friends - and they know witches!

This was a re-re-re-re-re-re-...-read for a blog post.

"The Last Leaf" by O. Henry, first published in 1905

Pneumonia has hit the Greenwich Village artist colony, among them the young Johnsy. Her friend Sue is very worried because she has lost the will to live and thinks she's going to die when the last ivy leaf in front of the window falls off, but it keeps hanging on and so does Johnsy.
Only afterwards she learns that their old neighbor who always wanted to paint a masterpiece has painted a "last" realistic looking leaf on the window. From being out there in the cold, he contracts pneumonia and dies.

This is just a short story, but I added it because I read it for a future blog post.

"As I Knew Him: My Day, Rod Serling" by Anne Serling, first published in 2013

Anne Serling writes about her father, TV writer Rod Serling who died in 1975 at the age of 50.

When I looked at reviews for Estes's book "The Witch Family", someone mentioned the "Twilight Zone" episode "It's a Good Life" (also about a kid banishing somebody, a very creepy story, no matter if you watch or read it), and I spontaneously looked for books about "Twilight Zone" (which most people probably know Serling for) and found this among them.
If Serling hadn't used so many letters written by her father or quotes from interviews, I'm not sure if I would have read it because it's more of a personal declaration of love to her father and an expression of her grief. Nothing wrong about that, and it does show how Serling was as a family man, but I think I'd also like to read a "real" biography about him eventually for the whole picture.

"The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 1" by Beth Brower, first published in 2019

After working as a companion for Cousin Matilde for three years, the young Emma M. Lion returns to Lapis Lazuli, the house in London that she inherited and that's run by her Cousin Archibald until she's of age. Things don't go as planned, though.

I saw the series mentioned everywhere, so when the first volume turned up on OverDrive, I gave it a try as well. No idea when the other volumes will be following.


DNF:

"At the Bottom of the Garden: A Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Nymphs, and Other Troublesome Things" by Diane Purkiss, first published in 2003

Fairies in history weren't as nice as they are often described today. According to Purkiss they were born from fear, of the dark, of death, birth, loss, etc.
The history as such would have been interesting, but the style just didn't work for me, so I gave up eventually.



If you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I co-host with  Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. You can find out more about it here or directly click through to the current party via the image in the right hand column.

My July books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.

As you can tell, this was a much better reading month for me than the last one. There was such a variety that I even got to the limit of my tags, I hadn't even known there was one!

"Silent Murders" by Mary Miley, first published in 2014
(Roaring Twenties Mystery 2)

Leah, the young vaudeville actress, has become Jessie Beckett and is starting a new life in Hollywood's silent film industry as a script girl for the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios.
When a famous director is shot, Jessie starts investigating.

I read about one of Miley's books on Fritzi Kramer's silent movie blog and started with the first one in the series in February.
I tend to struggle with amateur detectives who are smarter than the police and everyone else, but I enjoyed this book more than the first one thanks to the setting, familiar names, and recognizing which parts were based on historical facts without reading the "historical note" at the end. The first murder, for example, was based on the murder of William Desmond Taylor about which I also read before.

"Carl Sandburg at the Movies: A Poet in the Silent Era 1920 - 1927" by Carl Sandburg, first published in 1985

Carl Sandburg was a poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He was also the cinema expert for the "Daily News". For this book, Dale and Doug Featherling selected some of Sandburg's best movie columns and added a short introduction for each year and footnotes on people mentioned.

You will undoubtedly encounter a quote from this here every, now and then. What I didn't like about the book was that it whetted my appetite for one or the other film which I then sadly found to be a lost one.

"Schloss Gripsholm : eine Sommergeschichte" = "Gripsholm Palace: a summer story" by Kurt Tucholsky, first published in 1931

This is the story of two lovers spending a summer vacation in Sweden, at Gripsholms slott. Not everything is fun and love, though, when they encounter a little girl from the nearby children's home run by a sadistic German matron.

Since school I hadn't read any German classics and decided to try and read one a month now. No idea how this project is going to go.
I love the cover with an illustration by George Barbier from 1925. It reminds me of the wall paintings by Oskar Schlemmer in the "bath house" of the Märklin villa in our town.

"Ballet Shoes" by Noel Streatfeild, first published in 1936 😸
(Shoes 1)

The book tells the story of three girls adopted by paleontologist Grand-Uncle-Matthew, called Gum, on his travels. When Gum goes traveling again, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy stay with his niece Sylvia and her childhood nanny, called Nana.
When they run out of money and Gum isn't home yet after years, they have to take in boarders and the girls join the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training which eventually allows them to work on stage and thus support the household.

I hadn't known about Noel Streatfeild - some of her books have been translated into German only rather recently - before Erin from "Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs" mentioned reading one of her books.
Her "Shoes" series for children is popular and I already got the next one on my list.

"J. M. Barrie & the Lost Boys: The Love Story that Gave Birth to Peter Pan" by Andrew Birkin, first published in 1931

While starting with his childhood, the book really concentrates on the relationship of Barrie with the five Llewelyn Davies sons George, John, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas.

I have seen "Finding Neverland" which was inspired by this book (but is very "Hollywood"), but I actually got more interested in Barrie after watching and reading "Peter Pan".
The book is not a biography you can just breeze through.  There are a lot of names, a lot of photos, a lot of quotes from plays, novels, and letters, and a lot of (sometimes confusing) excerpts from Barrie's notebooks. I still found it very interesting and enjoyed reading it although I - like others - am not sure what it says about Barrie and the boys in the end (there are two camps of "pedophile/asexual"), but will we ever even know for sure?

"Das gelbe Haus" = "Sisters in Yellow" by Mieko Kawakami, first published in 2023

Three young women try to survive in 90s Japan.
The story is told from the point of view of Hana who has left her mother and moves in with a new mother figure, Kimiko, later Ran and Momoko join them. In order to make a living, they feel forced to join criminal circles.
When Hana learns during Covid that Kimiko has been arrested, she remembers the time living with her.

The book was a duplicate gift to a family member who asked me if I wanted a copy (which I'm not going to keep as I doubt I will want to read it again simply because of the genre).

"The Lady Vanishes" by Ethel Lina White, first published as "The Wheel Spins" in 1936

Two Englishwomen meet on a continental train, Iris and Miss Froy. Then Miss Froy suddenly disappears and no one wants to believe Iris she even exists. Was it just a dream or is Miss Froy in danger?

I recently watched Hitchcock's movie for the first time (don't ask why it took me so long), and after a friend mentioned that it was based on a book I had to read it of course.
I actually prefer the movie this time, though.

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker, first published in 1897

I doubt I have to tell anyone what the book is about - the vampire Dracula traveling from his home in Transylvania to London to spread the evil of the undead.

The book had been on my list forever. The narrative is mostly conveyed through letters and diary entries (from several of the protagonists) some of which are quite long-winded and probably not everyone's cup of tea (even I struggled a bit every, now and then). I'm not surprised, however, that the novel sparked people's imagination.

"Dunkles Glas und Fisch in der Lampe" by Ingeborg Engelhardt, first published in 1963

A young glassmaker has to flee from the Greek Aquileia to the Roman colony of Germania inferior.

A re-read for a blog post.

"Death - das Kabinett des Dr. Leng" = "The Cabinet of Dr. Leng" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, first published in 2023
(Pendergast 21)

Agent Pendergast's protegee Constance Greene goes back to 1880 to save her sister from being killed by the serial killer Dr. Enoch Leng.

If you didn't think the Pendergast books could get any crazier - they can.

"Billard um halb zehn" = "Billiards at Half-Past Nine" by Heinrich Böll, first published in 1959

The book takes place on September 6, 1958 and tells the history of the architect family Fähmel between 1907 and that day - in stories, flashbacks, memories.

Since school I hadn't read any German classics and decided to try and read one a month now (maybe even more like this month, but without pressure). No idea how this project is going to go.
I wasn't a fan of the style. Whole pages of dumped thoughts or images in half sentences separated by semicolons were quite exhausting to read.

"Death of a Busybody" by George Bellairs, first published in 1942
(Inspector Littlejohn 3)

After an older lady who's a little too keen on making the sinners of her village repent is found dead in the vicarage's cesspool, Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate.

I had never heard of George Bellairs before, but saw him mentioned as an underrated writer.
The book was a nice little palate cleanser and a quick read. I'll keep the name in mind.

"Stone Blind" by Natalie Haynes, first published in 2023

This is a retelling of the Greek Medusa myth aspiring to give Medusa her voice back.

If you don't mind a lot of different point of views and enjoy ancient myths, this might be a book for you. I did expect more Medusa and less of all the other gods/goddesses (half or full) and mortals who crossed their path and I didn't like it as much as "Pandora's Jar", but enjoyed it nonetheless.

"The Doyle Diary : the last great Conan Doyle mystery; with a Holmesian investigation into the strange and curious case of Charles Altamont Doyle by Michael Baker" by Charles Altamont Doyle, first published in 1978

Charles Altamont Doyle, the father of Arthur Conan Doyle, was an artist - like three of his older brothers, but not as successful - and civil servant.
Doyle suffered from depression and alcoholism. This sketchbook was created between March and July 1889 during his stay at Sunnyside, Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum.

I happened to catch the short-lived show "Houdini and Doyle" on TV and learned about Doyle's father which made me curious.
The book has an introduction to Doyle's life and a transcription of the texts and notes, luckily because I wasn't able to read all of them easily. I really like the illustrations and can only recommend having a look yourself.

"Kitten Caboodle : a collection of feline fiction" edited by Barbara Silverberg, first published in 1969 😸

Silverberg has collected cat stories and poems from all kinds of genres here - humor, ghost stories, legends and fairy tales, even science fiction.

I stumbled upon the book because it is illustrated with cat drawings by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen whose "Le Chat Noir" poster I included among my favorite cats a few weeks ago.

"The Cornish Coast Murder" by John Bude, first published in 1935

If a man gets killed who isn't liked by anyone, you have a lot of suspects. In connection with having only confusing clues this makes for a difficult investigation. How lucky that the local reverend loves mystery books.

I always like discovering a vintage crime author who's new to me. This whodunit was off to a good start, but then it sloooowed down before an ending that didn't so much surprise as annoy me.
This was the author's first book, though, so I think I'm going to give him another chance eventually.

"The Inimitable Jeeves" by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, first published in 1923
(Wooster and Jeeves 1)

Bertie Wooster is an English gentleman, one of the idle rich, and Jeeves is his valet whose intelligence saves Bertie and his friends from one or the other pickle, in this case mostly Bertie's friend Bingo Little who keeps falling in love.

I read some Wodehouse books ages ago, but don't remember if this one was among them.

"Hildur - Das Grab im Eis" = "The Grave in the Ice" by Satu Rämö, first published in 2023
(Hildur 2)

Hildur Rúnarsdóttir is a police officer on the west coast of Iceland. Still haunted by her two sisters disappearing 25 years before, she specializes in missed children cases.
This time a local politician is shot during skiing. Hildur finds out that the murder is connected with the crash of a private plane some time ago.

I read the first book in the series last month and liked this one better.

"Love Insurance" by Earl Derr Biggers, first published in 1914

Lord Harrowby turns to Lloyd's of London with a request. He will get married to an American heiress, Cynthia Meyrick, soon and wants to take out insurance against her changing her mind.
Lloyd's sends assistant Dick Minot to Florida with him to make sure the wedding goes through. On the train ride there, however, Dick happens to meet Cynthia and falls in love with her. Now he's torn between his employers' trust and his love to her ... and that's not the only twist.

I wanted to watch another silent movie with Reginald Denny and when I saw that the book it was based on was written by Earl Derr Biggers of Charlie Chan fame, I was curious.

"Mephisto" by Klaus Mann, first published in 1936

The novel tells the rise of Hendrik Höfgen from a provincial stage actor to the manager of the State Theater in Berlin as he opportunistically arranges himself with the new Nazi regime.
Höfgen is based on Gustaf Gründgens, former friend and brother-in-law of Mann.

Since school I hadn't read any German classics and decided to try and read one a month now (maybe even more like this month, but without pressure). No idea how this project is going to go.
The book started slow, but once the Nazis come into power, it got quite powerful. Needless to say that they are not many likeable or admirable characters in the book. It's amazing that this was written even before the war.

"The Case of the Jumbo Sandwich" by Christopher Bush, first published in 1965
(Ludovic Travers 60)

A friend asks private detective Ludovic Travers for advice after getting swindled out of a substantial sum.
At that point Travers has no idea yet how complicated this fraud case is going to become ...

I started reading Bush after Liz from Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home had reviewed one of his books for a 1952 challenge.



By the way, if you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I co-host with  Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. You can find out more about it here or directly click through to the current party via the image in the right hand column.

From my children's book cabinet (and my DVD shelf) - The Eerie, Indiana series

"My name is Marshall Teller. Not too long ago, I was living in New Jersey, just across the river from New York City. It was crowded, polluted, and full of crime. I loved it. But my parents wanted a better life for my sister and me. So we moved to a place so wholesome, so squeaky clean, so ordinary that you could only find it on TV: Eerie, Indiana."

That's from the prologue of the first book in a series which is based on the 90s TV show for kids "Eerie, Indiana". That means I can't talk about the book series leaving out the show.
As there are 19 episodes, though, and 17 books, I picked just the first one of each for this post.

The book is called "Return to Foreverware", a nod to the first episode of the TV show called "Forever Ware". It's by Mike Ford who wrote nine of the books.

Let's begin with the TV show. How to describe "Eerie, Indiana" ...
"Statistically speaking, it's the most normal place in the entire country. Statistics lie."
Actually, the town is exactly what its name promises. "The King" lives on Marshall's paper route, people move strangely synchronized, a straitjacket hangs on a laundry line, and that's just the intro.
Marshall's mother works as a party planner, but being a busy lady she's not so good with her own groceries. How lucky when her neighbor Betty Wilson and her twins Ernie and Bert turn up with a solution. Mrs. Wilson's late husband has designed a series of vacuum sealed containers called Tu.... erm, Forever Ware.

As a little gift she leaves a bologna sandwich in a container, as fresh as it was when it was made. In 1974!
It's even more suspicious when one of the twins slips Marshall a note saying "Yearbook 1964" as the family leaves.
Marshall and his friend Simon check the yearbooks and find a picture of Ernie and Bert looking the same as now, so they decide to snoop around a bit.
They don't expect to see this, though ...

... Mrs. Wilson tucking the twins in, but these are not beds, they are giant Forever Ware containers!
I'm not going to spoil the ending (spoil, see what I did there?).

The book sees Marshall and Simon looking for a weekend job.
They answer to the ad of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart - James and Martha! - who seem to be stuck in the 70s, not only with their clothes, but also their furniture. They get asked to declutter the attic.
What's weird is that Mrs. Stewart seems to have an extra soft spot for Simon. The boys learn that the Stewarts had a son who died years ago - Rod(ney) - and Marshall can't shake the feeling that they'd like to replace him with Simon. But is he the first? Why do they find pictures from a birthday party that always looks the same, but it's a different boy every time. What happened to Rodney? And what's in the basement?
Then Simon suddenly disappears and the Stewarts deny having seen him although his bike is in their garage.
Will Marshall be able to save him and can someone help him doing it (spoiler: Ernie and Bert will)?

Omri Katz as Marshall (whom you probably know
from Hocus Pocus) and Justin Shenkarow as Simon

"Eerie, Indiana" first aired on NBC. Joe Dante of "Gremlins" fame directed several episodes and was a creative consultant.
From the start, the writers Karl Schaefer and José Rivera intended for the show to be more than merely for kids. I wasn't a kid when I first saw it although I can't remember when and where that was, and the mix of humor, spookiness, horror, science fiction, and innuendos drew me in very quickly.
In reviews it was noted that the show reminded of "Twin Peaks", "Edward Scissorhands", "Twilight Zone" - a seemingly "normal" town where there's a lot more going on underneath the surface than you would expect.

It certainly wasn't all fun and play. The second episode in which a boy finds that his retainer gives him the powers to read the minds of dogs who want to overthrow the humans is downright creepy to me, so much so that I often skip it, but I have also been traumatized by "Lady and the Tramp" (as an adult) or "Bambi".

Anyhow, as it's said in a lot of videos and articles, the show was ahead of its time. It was cancelled after 18 episodes were aired between 1991 and 1992 ending on an episode in which Marshall finds out by way of a script that his reality is in fact a TV show. Only in the re-run in 1993, the last episode was aired as well.
In 1997, the show was bought up and broadcast again and got popular enough again to not only inspire a spin-off produced in Canada (just as short-lived, but not as good), but also the book series. In fact, it gained kind of a cult following as you can also see from the many comments of people who had seen it as kids and still bemoan its short life.

Mike Ford writes on his homepage: "One day my editor called me and said, "We're doing these books based on this TV show, but none of the writers we know have ever heard of it." When she told me what it was, they probably heard me scream in space. I loved the show. And that's how I got the job."
I remember getting the books from the USA (at a time when postage was still affordable) and being called into the customs office. The lady asked me to show her the invoice and to her surprise, the whole stack of books had been so cheap that I didn't even get to the limit for having to pay tax.

"Eerie, Indiana" inspired other shows like it (the "Stranger Things" connection is mentioned a lot and Alex Hirsch said that his "Gravity Falls" (another one I'm a fan of) was "a blatant rip off of Eerie, Indiana") and still has its fans today, that's not a bad legacy.
You may recognize one or the other actor, by the way, for example "Gomez Addams" John Astin as the owner of the "World O' Stuff" store, a soul collecting René Auberjonois or young Tobey Maguire as a ghost.

How many people actually ever knew about the books or still do is difficult for me to say, I can't even say how I learned about them. Unsurprisingly, they are no longer in print, though.


Further reading:

1. Gwen Ihnat: Eerie, Indiana was a few dimensions ahead of its time. On: AV Club, October 30, 2017
2. Justin Young: Eerie, Indiana Paved the Way for Supernatural's Success. On: CBR, February 28, 2026


By the way, if you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I host together with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. You can find out more about it here.

My June books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.

A very weird reading month with several DNF. What was interesting to me was that for a moment I even hesitated to add the third one to the list, almost if I was trying to hide my "failure". Then I noticed myself how ridiculous that was. Reading shouldn't feel guilty, no matter if you liked something or not. So I had the bad luck to pick books that I didn't want to finish. Now what? Will my library throw me out in shame? Well, they didn't, all that happened was that I wish I had used the time for other books instead.
When I had to add a fourth one toward the end of the month, I blamed that on the heat at first, but if it was the heat, why was I happy enough with the two other books I read at the time (albeit slowly)?

"Peter Ustinov: The Gift of Laughter" by John Miller, first published in 2002

Peter Ustinov - theater and film actor, playwright and novelist, director, producer, humanitarian, university chancellor, interviewer, entertainer - was an amazing man.
This is his biography.

When I mentioned Ustinov the other day, I noticed that I had never read his full biography (I read his mother's book ages ago). He had always been wildly popular in Germany, so it was really time I did, and I enjoyed reading it.

"Das Dorf in den roten Wäldern" = "Still Life" by Louise Penny, first published in 2005
(Chief Inspector Armand Gamache 1)

When one of the residents of the small village Three Pines is found dead, Armand Gamache and his team are called in. Has it been a hunting accident or something more sinister?

I had only known the second adaptation of "Three Pines" with Alfred Molina - which didn't include this book - and thought I'd give the books a try. I think I enjoyed the idea of Three Pines and Gamache more than the actual mystery and the end was a bit weak and obvious, but it was a quick read and the series will stay on my list for now.

"The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon" by Nick West (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1970 😸
(The Three Investigators 14)

When the Three Investigators are asked to find the missing dog of Alfred Hitchcock's friend Mr. Allen, they don't expect being confronted with a dragon in a cave!

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it. This book is the thirteenth in the series.

"The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans, first published in 2025

Sybil is 73 and an avid letter writer.
She writes to family, friends, authors, neighbors - and in these letters she's telling us about her life now and then and about her greatest regret.

I had seen the book mentioned on blogs, but didn't read any reviews. When it popped up in the new entries on OverDrive, I placed a hold, and it was worth waiting all those months.
I've noticed before that the letter form appeals to me (that started with "Daddy Long Legs"). This is actually a book I'm going to buy to keep.

"High Wages" by Dorothy Whipple, first published in 1930

Set in the 1910s, this is the story of Jane who starts as a salesgirl at a draper's shop and eventually goes on to open her own shop after World War I.

I happened to catch the title on a blog I don't usually follow and got intrigued by the salesgirl to business owner story.
After reading the non-fiction book "The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker" by Annie Gray, I really enjoyed this book not just for the story itself, though, but also for the descriptions of the shops.

"Peter Pan: The Story of Peter and Wendy" by J. M. Barrie, first published as a novel in 1911 under the title "Peter and Wendy"

Peter Pan, the captain of the Lost Boys, is a mischievous boy living on the island of Neverland. He wants to stay a little boy and have adventures forever.
One night, he's taking the children Wendy, John, and Michael Darling to the island, so Wendy, the eldest and only girl, can become their mother.

From the digitized book I read

I had seen Peter Pan as a play and wanted to read the book as well before watching the first movie adaptation.

"Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" by J. M. Barrie, first published in 1906 (most of it had already been part of the 1902 novel "The Little White Bird")

You might call this Peter Pan's origin story - how he flew out of the nursery window as he heard plans about his adult life being made and went to live in Kensington Gardens with the birds.

I hadn't heard about this at all before I started reading up on Peter Pan for a silent movie review.
The illustrations by Arthur Rackham are beautiful.

"Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter" by Heather Fawcett, first published in 2026

Agnes's cat shelter needs a new home after a duel between magicians destroyed several buildings. Is it coincidence that she ends up in a building where one of those magician's runs his illegal shop from the basement?

Cats! That looked like enough for me to read this book.
I think after this one I'll be giving up on Fawcett's books, though. It reminded me way too much of a movie I have seen (I don't know the book it's based on yet) and love, but I didn't feel the same enthusiasm about this book.

"Miss Buncle's Book" by D. E. Stevenson, first published in 1934

Miss Buncle needs money, so she writes a book, and as she has no imagination, she writes about her own village.
The book becomes a best seller and Miss Buncle's neighbors are not amused to learn about themselves being seen through someone else's eyes.

After reading "Celia's House" last month and liking it a lot, I continued with this book and had a lot of fun with it.

"Hildur - Die Spur im Fjord" = "The Clues in the Fjord" by Satu Rämö, first published in 2022
(Hildur 1)

Hildur Rúnarsdóttir is a police officer on the west coast of Iceland. Still haunted by her two sisters disappearing 25 years before, she specializes in missed children cases.
This time, however, a pedophile is found with his throat cut, and he isn't the last body. Together with her Finnish colleague Jakob, she's trying to connect the dots.

Gail from Is This Mutton recommended the fourth book in the series, so I gave this a try.
I could have done with less repetitions and detailed descriptions of workouts, but the next book is on my list, anyway.

"Cinder House" by Freya Marske, first published in 2025

This is a retelling of Cinderella, but with a interesting twist.

The book was a random OverDrive find.

"Return to Foreverware" by Mike Ford, first published in 1997
(Eerie, Indiana 1)

The friends Marshall and Simon take a weekend job with the Stewarts (James and Martha who used to have a son called Rod(ney)) decluttering their attic. Something is weird about the couple, though, who seems to be stuck in the 70s.

The book is first one of the series based on the TV kids' show "Eerie, Indiana".
I re-read it for a blog post.

"Der Steppenwolf" = "Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1927 😸

Harry Haller sees himself as two souls, the human and the steppe wolf. Torn between both, he tries to make sense of the world and his life.

Since school I hadn't read any German "classics" and decided to try and read one a month now. No idea how this project is going to go.
This probably wasn't the best book to start with.
If I hadn't read it loud, I'm quite sure it would have become a DNF, it's definitely not going to go on the re-read list.

"Classic Movie Comedians" by Neil Sinyard, first published in 1992

This volume introduces us to some of the big comedians of the screen. There's a chapter on Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, W. C. Fields, and the Marx Brothers.

Sinyard is a British film critic and obviously a big fan of Chaplin as he didn't just get a chapter more than ten pages longer than all the others (Lloyd and Langdon even had to share one), but is also constantly mentioned in the other chapters. As a short introduction it was okay and a quick read with a lot of pictures. 

"Coming Up for Air" by George Orwell, first published in 1939

George Bowling is sure there will be war again soon. He begins to remember his life as a child and young man in Lower Binfield before World War I, and having won some money at a race, he decides to go back there for a few days trying to find the idyll of those times. He quickly finds out, however, that you can't go back.

This was one of my ex's favorite books. I stumbled upon it by accident the other day and thought I'd finally give it a go.


DNF:

"Theo of Golden" by Allen Levi, first published in 2025

An old man turns up in the town of Golden and makes friends with the residents there by buying the pencil portraits hanging on the walls of the coffee shop, giving them to the people in the portraits, and listening to their stories.

I kept seeing the book on blogs and thought the idea with the portraits was quite interesting. Then I kept struggling through half the book merely because I thought I must have been missing something. I wish I had listened to my gut earlier. Definitely not for me.

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury, first published in 1962

Two 13 year old friends, Jim and William, have to deal with the nightmares of a traveling carnival and its leader Mr. Dark who holds strange powers.

I managed a little more than a third of the book, but while the idea was interesting, I didn't like the style at all. It felt as if the author enjoyed more playing with language than telling the story and in this case that just didn't work for me.

"The Female Detective" by Andrew Forrester, first published in 1864

The book tells us about several cases of Mrs Gladden, the first professional female detective in British fiction.

That was right up my alley, I thought, but after a third I gave up because I found the writing terribly dry and boring. I couldn't help thinking that a woman would have written this differently (and made it more interesting).

"The Librarianist" by Patrick deWitt, first published in 2023

This is "the story of Bob Comet, a man who has lived his life through and for literature, unaware that his own experience is a poignant and affecting narrative in itself."

I admit that the title and cover drew me in, but there wasn't enough book talk and too much dull flashback. I had really enjoyed the first part when Bob spontaneously volunteers at a senior center, but the longer the flashback, the more the narrative affected me in the wrong way. I made it through half the book and wasn't even interested in the ending.


By the way, if you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I host together with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. You can find out more about it here.