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.

My May 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.


"Die Jungens von Burg Schreckenstein" by Oliver Hassencamp, first published in 1959

What a surprise for the pupils of an overcrowded boy school when they are told that they are going to move to a boarding school - in a castle!
After having explored "Burg Schreckenstein" (translated in the book as Horror Rock Castle (as a name for their jazz band)), the boys start calling themselves Knights and decide to follow a knightly code.

When I was a child, we - my guess is my brothers - had the first three volumes of this series which Hassencamp wrote between 1959 and 1988 (when he died in a car accident). The series has 27 volumes and has still been popular in Germany in the 2000s, possibly still now. The other day I noticed I had only inherited volume 2 and 3, therefore I bought volume 1 now and re-read it.

"The Gift of Not Belonging: How Outsiders Thrive in a World of Joiners" by Rami Kaminski, first published in 2025

In this book, psychiatrist Dr. Kaminski introduces a new personality type, no introvert, no extrovert, but the otrovert - "one who faces a different direction" according to his definition.

If my copy weren't missing the jacket, you could see a group of green chameleons on a branch and above them a blue one - the otrovert who can mingle with a group better than an introvert, but still stands outside of it as a kind of observer.
My problem with the book is that while some passages seem to describe me, I found others extremely generalizing, sometimes repetitive, sometimes contradictive in the description of what defines "the" otrovert - which I totally am according to the test in the book which I can believe or not just like a personality test in a magazine in a doctor's waiting room as we get no clue what exactly it's based on.
There are anecdotes about patients, but nothing concrete, studies or references, that would make me feel as if this could be more than someone telling me about having a kind of superpower by being different from people who live a more community-based life which the author (who is of course an otrovert) seems to frown upon. This is only one example: "Tuned in to their rich, multilayered inner worlds, they gain access to a fantastically complex universe of thought, memory, and imagination that the communal person cannot access." Come on now, seriously?
So yeah, to me this seemed just like a new drawer to store people in (tempting superpower included), but I don't believe in such drawers. I got the book used and wonder if the previous owner felt the same about it as I did.

"The Silent Bullet" by Arthur B. Reeve, first published in 1910
(Craig Kennedy, Scientific Detective 1)

Craig Kennedy is a professor at Columbia University and he's convinced there should be a professorship in criminal science.
With the help of his journalist friend Walter James - yes, they are flatmates -, he uses his scientific expertise to help out the police and private clients.

I have the "leaping fish" to thank for discovering the "American Sherlock Holmes" (there wasn't much in German, it seems) as someone commented on the video that Coke Ennyday may be a Sherlock Holmes spoof, but that the name is definitely inspired by Professor Kennedy.
Initially the stories were published in "The Cosmopolitan".
This book has 12 stories in which Kennedy uses hidden microphones, lie detectors, a defibrillator, magnets, and more ("Murdoch Mysteries" anyone?).
I still prefer Sherlock Holmes, but it was a fun read, and as Reeve wrote loads more my vintage crime folder has grown again.

"Last Ditch" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1977
(Roderick Alleyn 29)

Alleyn's son Ricky is on one of the Channel Islands in order to write a book.
The peace is disturbed, however, when a young woman is found dead after a riding accident. Or wasn't it an accident?

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

"The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus" by Emma Knight, first published in 2025

A coming-of-age book about two friends, Pen and Alice from Canada who study in Edinburgh.

The book was mentioned on a blog and I have to admit that the words octopus (spoiler, it's a metaphor) and Edinburgh made me read it. It was okay, but not substantial enough to be sticking with me for long.

"Photo Finish" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1980
(Roderick Alleyn 31)

When his wife Troy is invited to a millionaire's luxury residence on an island in a New Zealand lake to paint the portrait of famous opera singer Isabella Sommita, Alleyn is invited along to look into the affair of a paparazzo following her.
After the performance of an opera written by Sommita's lover, part of the group is stuck on the island due to a heavy storm. Then the singer is found in her room ... murdered ...

This is still part of my vintage crime project and I have now read all 33 Roderick Alleyn books.

"An American Comedy" by Harold Lloyd (in collaboration with Wesley W. Stout), first published in 1928 (this edition was reproduced with minor corrections plus an interview from 1966)

This is the autobiography of Harold Lloyd at the height of his career. Kind of. I found it to be a mix of some life stories without getting too much in details unless they were light enough and stories of how his film career developed and how he developed films. That was actually quite interesting (if a bit dated which is no surprise), but I know there have been things left out (in regards to his accident with a bomb, for example), so I will read a "real" biography when possible.
What I liked was that someone really worked with this copy. There are loads of asterisks, marked paragraphs, and a few marginal notes. To me, it looks like someone tried to research how to do comedy.

I'm having fun with making my way through film-related biographies.

"The Ex Hex" by Erin Sterling, first published in 2021
(Graves Glen 1)

After breaking up with Rhys, the witch Vivienne puts a curse on him. It's not supposed to be serious, but when Rhys comes back to Vivienne's hometown after nine years to charge the town's ley lines, the magic goes crazy because of the curse and both the town and Rhys are in danger.

I found the book on OverDrive by accident and liked the idea of magic going crazy. Unfortunately it was mostly about the love story, but not in a way that captured me. I won't be reading the other books in the series.

"Bury Your Secrets" by Kerry Watts, first published in 2024
(DI Fraser Brodie 1)

A man well liked in the community is murdered in a gruesome way. The next day another body is found. A third man disappears.
DI Brodie and the isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides have to deal with a serial killer - again. Brodie is reminded of the murders his own twin brother has committed decades ago.

The book was recommended on a blog and sounded like one of the police thrillers I like to watch on TV sometimes.
It was a quick read, but "the secret" was mentioned so often that it got boring, and honestly, after not even half of the book I was quite sure I knew who the killer was (I was right). I would probably give the second book in the series a try to see if that improves, but my library doesn't have it, anyway.

"Celia's House" by D. E. Stevenson, first published in 1943 😸

The book spans about 40 years of Dunnian House, a Scottish country estate. There have always lived Dunnes in the house, and the book starts with the unmarried Celia in 1905 and then tells the story of her nephew and his family who move in after Celia's death.

I hadn't known DES before I came across a review of a different book of hers on Liz's blog "Adventures in reading, running, and working from home". I think I marked both books to remind myself that DES wrote a lot, but randomly chose this one first. 
It was gentle, charming, and just what I needed at the moment. Afterwards I found that Liz has a short review of it on her blog, too. It will definitely not be the last book by this author for me.

"A Handful of Time" by Helen Foley, first published in 1961

Frances is asked by the police to travel to Cornwall to identify the body of her friend Fanny who has drowned in a sailing accident.
On the way, she remembers the story of her friendship after meeting as undergraduates in Cambridge in the 30s, of living together and making it through the war - Fanny is Austrian, but has been living in England since she went to school -, of friends and lovers.

I found this book mentioned on "The Neglected Books Page" and thought it sounded interesting - which it was, but eventually it started dragging.

"The Mysterious Mr. Badman : A Yorkshire Bibliomystery" by William Fryer Harvey, first published in 1934

When blanket manufacturer Athelstan Digby offers to mind the bookshop of his hosts while they are out of the house, he doesn't expect three men to ask for the same ominous book within a few hours.
Little does he know about the secret connected with this book, but after a body is found, there's no stopping him from investigating.

This is one of my random finds, a vintage crime with quite a bit of fun mixed in.

"The Cat Who Came in From the Cold" by Deric Longden, first published in 1991 😸

A tiny kitten on a bucket in the neighbor's garden during the rain ... writers Deric and Aileen can't help falling in love.
This is the story of Thermal and his adventures in a Huddersfield neighborhood.

I had an urgent need for a familiar feel good book and this one which started my cat book collection decades ago is always a good choice!

"Robert My Father" by Sheridan Morley, first published in 1993

The biography of British actor Robert Morley written by his eldest son who was a drama and film critic and a writer.

I knew Morley from old movies of course, but I hadn't known about his long career in theater both as actor and playwright. As someone who knows next to nothing about theater, it was sometimes hard for me to wade through lists of unfamiliar names, but the stories made up for it.

"Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths" by Natalie Haynes, first published in 2022

In ten chapters, Haynes features women from classical literature and mythology, for example Pandora, Medea, Medusa, and tells the stories shining a light on them instead on the male point of view.

I had a look at the non-fiction books on OverDrive and picked this one because it sounded interesting. Good choice, I really enjoyed it!


DNF:

"The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon, first published in 2025

Midwife Martha Ballard is called to examine the body of a man found in the ice of the frozen river. He's one of two men having been accused of rape and Martha finds he was hanged before he got thrown into the river. Not everyone wants this murder to be solved, but Martha is determined.

I gave up at about a third. I wanted to like Martha for being strong and fighting for justice, but I didn't and even worse, the book started dragging for me.
It's inspired by real life events and the real Martha sounds very fascinating. I'd rather read the biography about her instead of this book.

Mythology

For me the first myth when I got to meet mythology was why the "Reader's Digest Book of Fairy Tales and Myths" started on page 732 and didn't contain any fairy tales. Well, forgive me, after all I was just a small child. I never found out if my godmother also owned the other volume.

I didn't mind because I loved this book. Prometheus and the Cyclops, Aeneas and Mucius Scaevola, Baldur and Loki, Siegfried und Kriemhild, they were all there. I read it again and again.

So when the poll closed for the Polymer Clay Smooshers' challenge with the result "Mythology", I was really excited. The only problem was it was so hard to decide what to choose.

I stuck with the Greeks for my entries.

One of my favorite stories ever was the one of Philemon and Baucis, the old couple who showed hospitality to the Gods when none of the rich people in their town did. The rich people got a flood and Philemon and Baucis got their home changed to a temple whose custodians they were until their time came. One of their wishes had been that none of them should survive the other, so when it was time, they were transformed into a pair of intertwining trees.

To honor that beautiful end I made a pendant showing the intertwining trees with the plate being from polymer clay and the bezel from wire crochet.

For my second piece I chose another one of my favorite characters - Medusa. The gorgon lady had been a beauty, but after flirting (and more) with the wrong man, Pallas Athene changed her into a hideous creature just like her sisters were. She was the only mortal gorgon, but she had a valuable weapon. One look at her hair made of snakes, her sharp eyeteeth, her long tongue and her glowing eyes turned people into stone.

Perseus finally defeated and beheaded her, being protected by a mirrored shield.

My Medusa is made from a polymer clay face cab which I caught in a wire crochet bezel onto which I added little wire snakes with their tongues sticking out. I attached the head to a barrette blank, something new for me. I can imagine wearing that very well - I might have to make one for myself ;-)

Both pieces are in my ArtFire studio now.
By the way, there is still my sale going on, 20 % off everything!