A Return to Provence and Venice in Books

While I love hard copies of books as demonstrated by my stash from the Centenary College Book Bazaar described here, I've enjoyed my Kindle far more than I thought I would, and BookBub has made it easy to view titles and download them free or inexpensively.  I try to focus on my personal challenge to read the books from my library shelves, but I often succumb to temptation and download e-books.  I've read two e-books this week.


The Promise of Provence

Patricia Sands
Kindle e-book



Katherine Price’s husband leaves her for another woman in the most cowardly way possible—he leaves her a note in the roses he traditionally gives her each year on their anniversary.  Katherine is devastated even as she admits their marriage hasn’t been satisfactory for her either.  Phillip was controlling and had monopolized her time.  Her best friend, her cousin and her widowed mother help her pick up the pieces and move forward. 

 

As other life changing transitions occur in her life, Katherine needs to make a dramatic change, so she participates in a “home exchange” program.  A couple wants to spend a couple of weeks in Toronto, Katherine’s place of residence, and Katherine can live in their house in Provence, France.

And it is the descriptions of her accommodations and the places she visits that were my reason for downloading this book from BookBub.  My husband and I traveled to many of the same places in Provence. Patricia Sands has photos on her website here that show places that inspired her book.  I included a few pictures of Provence below from our trip a years ago.

"Hipstamatic" view from the garden of our friend who lives in Cadenet

 

Ricky and I at Lourmarin Market

 

 Bread and tapenades at the Lourmarin Market

I don’t read a lot of women’s fiction, but this was an enjoyable evening’s visit to France.  I learned new facts about Provence while reading this novel and discovered places to add to my “To See List” for our next trip.  I also appreciate Sands’ recurring themes of women, aging and travel.  Patricia Sands has an attractive and comprehensive website, which is worth a visit.

In the epilogue to The Promise of Provence, Sands informs readers that Katherine’s journey isn’t over at the end of this novel.  There will be a sequel.  While I enjoyed this book for its setting, I’m not sure I need to know the rest of the story, but you never know.



Elusive
Sara Rosett
Kindle e-book

Zoe Hunter and Jack Andrews are divorced but the collapse of the housing market has forced them to continue to share a residence.  For convenience they have divided the house into his and her areas and see each other only if they meet on the stairs or in the front hall.  Zoe works from home editing travel guides.  Jack has a start-up eco-waste disposal business.  Their unorthodox living arrangement seems to work until the police come to Zoe with the news that Jack has disappeared and is presumed to have drowned.  When Zoe goes to Jack’s office to tell his business partner the distressing news, she finds the partner dead.

The police and FBI descend on the scene and seem to think Zoe is working with Jack to fake his death in order to cover up fraudulent business practices.  They suspect Jack killed his partner, then faked his own drowning.  Zoe doesn’t know what to think.  The more she learns about her ex-husband, the more he is a stranger to her.

Someone in a brown car starts tailing Zoe, which is both annoying and alarming.  Zoe wants to solve the mystery so she will no longer be a person of interest. She follows clues to Las Vegas where she finds she is in more danger than she realized.  The key to the puzzle seems to lie in Venice so Zoe soon finds herself overseas, but there is no safety there either.

Elusive was another BookBub e-book selection, and with part of the mystery set in Venice, I was interested in reading the book.  I enjoy books with overseas settings, especially places I’ve visited.  It’s a way to return briefly to that locale.  Because the action picks up in Venice, Zoe doesn’t do much sightseeing, but the backdrop of Venice and the canals are an essential component of the story's climax.

 

So I decided to include some photos of Venetian canals taken when my mother and I visited Venice.  (You may click on photos to enlarge them for better viewing.)

 

Gondolas ready to take people on tour of Venice waterways. 

Water taxis take guests to the islands.
 

A police boat patrols the canals.



 

Venetian canal with Bridge of Sighs

 

Back alley waterway in Venice

Weathered walls of buildings on canal side



Once you accept the premise of Rosett’s series, it’s enjoyable escapist fare, but don’t analyze it too closely. I liked the characters and kept reading to see what happens to them.  Elusive is the first in the “On the Run International Mystery” series written by Rosett.  Other books in the series are Secretive, Deceptive and Suspicious.  This isn’t the most nuanced mystery you will read, but Elusive held my attention.  If you grew up watching “The Fugitive” on TV, you will probably like this series.

Click here to visit Rosett's website.  She writes another popular cozy mystery series featuring Ellie Queen, but Elusive is the only book I've read by this author. 

Worthy Brown's Daughter




Worthy Brown's Daughter

Phillip Margolin

(HarperCollins, 2014)

Former attorney and author, Phillip Margolin, was compelled to write Worthy Brown’s Daughter when he read of a court case that took place in the Oregon Territory in 1850’s. A slave family named Holmes was brought to the Oregon Territory by their owner, Colonel Nathaniel Ford, with the understanding that they would work as indentured servants for Ford for a number of years, after which they would be freed.  The Holmes family upheld their part of the bargain but when the time came for Ford to free them, Ford freed the parents and one young child, but kept the family’s other children.  The family found a white lawyer who agreed to represent them and sued Ford for the return of their children.  In 1853 the Oregon Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable George Williams, ruled in the family’s favor but one child had already died in Ford’s care.  Margolin was so moved by this story that he decided to write a historical novel based on this sad situation.

 

The result is Worthy Brown’s Daughter set in Portland, Oregon in 1860 when Oregon was a new state (having achieved statehood in 1858), and the legal system still had a Wild West quality to it.  Worthy Brown, a freed slave, is faced with a problem similar to the Holmes family.  His former owner, Caleb Barbour, a scoundrel and an unscrupulous lawyer, reneged on his agreement to free both Brown and his young daughter Roxanne if Brown worked as an indentured servant for Barbour. 

 

Worthy Brown meets a young lawyer Matthew Penny, newly arrived in Oregon and still grieving the death of his young wife on the Oregon Trail crossing, and asks Penny to help him free Roxanne from Barbour.  Penny takes the case but complications arise, people die, others fall in love.  Meanwhile, Penny is faced with a moral dilemma that threatens to destroy both himself and Worthy Brown. 

 

Margolin uses compelling characters to tell his story.  Some are lawyers, others are wealthy movers and shakers in the state of Oregon, while some are unsavory individuals drawn to the opportunities in the West.  Occasionally the characters sound a bit “wooden” but it doesn’t detract from the story.  Margolin's experience as a criminal defense attorney adds realism to the legal strategizing and court scenes.

Picture of author Phillip Margolin
(Photo courtesy of Portland Tribune, Jaime Valdez)

 

The plot moves quickly, demonstrating Margolin’s background in suspense.  His prose is terse and to the point, befitting one in the legal profession.  The reader also gets a historical perspective of Portland during this time period.  In the author’s notes, he indicates when he has taken liberties with dates of actual events. 

 

My niece gave me this book, and it turned out to be enjoyable summertime reading.  Thanks, Carrie!

Once Again, The Once Upon a Time Challenge

 

 

I was new to blogging when I first participated in the Once Upon a Time Challenge, sponsored by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.  Now this reading challenge is in its eighth year, and I think I'll try it again.  From March 21 until June 21, readers who are on The Journey, my proposed level of participation, agree to read one book from four broad categories: Fairy Tale, Folklore, Fantasy and Mythology.  There are many more ambitious options in this challenge, so go to Carl's popular blog to view all the choices, as well as the current participants.

 

The added challenge for me is I want to read books selected from my own library--books I own but have never read.  This was one of the most enjoyable parts the last time I took the challenge--taking time to read books that have languished on my library shelves, for years in some instances.  It's the "so many books, so little time" excuse.  Plus, the "I have a problem when it comes to buying books" excuse. 

 

My messy library

I'm still putting together my modest book list, but I plan to start with a book I discovered on my library shelves earlier this evening (before I ever thought about participating in the challenge)--Madeleine L'Engle's An Acceptable Time (fantasy). 

Comfort Books

People are always talking about the comfort foods that they desire when they need a bit of pampering.  I feel the same way about books.  There are mystery series that soothe and calm me when I need a break from real life.  In 2013 I've gone back to some of the cozy series or authors I used to read, and I've enjoyed the experience. 

Hmmm, I wonder what books are in these stacks

I have books tucked into nooks and crannies throughout the house and cottage.  Sometimes I just happen upon a book someone gave me, or that I acquired in a used book sale or bought off the remainder rack that I didn't know I had.  It's always a pleasant surprise.


Sometimes years will go by when I don't read any books by a particular author but when I open up one of these books after my hiatus, it's like reuniting with an old friend. We pick right up where we left off.  Here are some mysteries from favorite series that I've recently read.

The Singing of the Dead, by Dana Stabenow (St. Martin's Books, 2001)

Taking a vicarious trip to Alaska to see how Kate Shugak is doing after the death of her lover, Jack Morgan.  Kate is now responsible for Jack's son, Johnny, and still dealing with Jack's difficult ex-wife, making for family drama in Kate' usually solitary life in the Park.  This mystery combines a death from Alaska's Gold Rush Days with murders on a present day political campaign trail, and switches back and forth in time.  It took me a couple of tries before I got into this book, which is why it's been languishing on my shelves for awhile.  However, ultimately I was delighted to reconnect with Kate, trooper Jim Chopin, and Kate's friends, Bobby and Dinah.

 

Uneasy Relations, by Aaron Elkins (Berkley Prime Crime, 2008)

It's been a long time since I encountered Physical Anthropology Professor Gideon Oliver, and we reconnected at the International Paleoanthropological Society in Gibraltar as Gideon and his associates gather  at the ancient burial site of a mother and young child.  But all is not as it seems in academia, and people associated with the dig are dying.  Gideon himself is in peril, but manages to survive and uncover the culprit in a manner of old-style detectives, where every suspect is gathered in a room for the unmasking.

Sand Sharks, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing, 2009)

Judge Deborah Knott is heading to Wrightsville Beach for a well-deserved working vacation as she attends a summer conference for North Carolina district court judges.  An unpopular judge is murdered and Deborah soon is knee deep in murder suspects before exposing the guilty party.  I enjoy Maron's Deborah Knott series partially for the setting, close to my native Virginia, so I'm usually familiar with all the locales.

 

The Lottery Winner, by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster, 1994)

Subtitled Alvirah and Willy Stories, this collection of short stories passed along to me by an older friend brought a smile to my face.  Who wouldn't love the irrepressible former cleaning lady and now lottery winner Alvirah and her husband Willy.  These light-hearted mystery stories are just what the doctor ordered.

 

Mourning Glories, by Susan Wittig Albert (Berkley Prime Crime, 2011)

It is always fun to reconnect with China Bayles, her friend and business partner Ruby, their families and all the folks in Pecan Springs.  I wish I could browse in her fictional store, Thyme and Seasons, and I appreciate my few pots of herbs more after I read a China Bayles mystery.  Drugs come to the local college campus in this mystery and murder  follows, but China and the police track down the perpetrator before more young women die.  I found another China Bayles' mystery on the shelf after I finished this one; Albert's books are making me want to hop in the car and head to the Texas Hill Country for spring.

 

I can't complete this post before I mention Sparkle Hayter and the Robin Hudson books again--you may recall I recently reviewed Chelsea Girl Murders on this blog.  I have now ordered and completed The Last Manly Man (1998), the Robin Hudson book that I hadn't yet read.  It is a strange and satirical mystery about aromatherapy and stolen primates and underground activists who save the day.  Hayter and her character Robin Hudson are like those friends from your past who were always wilder and crazier than you but you love hanging out with them anyway.

 

A bin of books tucked under a table in the small bedroom
awaiting the right reading moment!

Scene of the Blog with My Bargain Basket of Books

I'm excited to have Views From My Highland Cottage highlighted on the award winning Kittling: Books blog, feature Scene of the Blog.  For several years Cathy at Kittling:Books has posted photos and descriptions of the spaces where fellow bloggers read and blog.  It has been fun to share with her and her readers some of the spaces where I can be found reading and writing, two of my passions since grade school!

 Click HERE to see the blog post.

  Welcome, visitors, from Kittling: Books!

Thanks for stopping by.

Those readers who read my last post know that I recently visited a huge book sale and came away with a laundry basket of books.  Nan at Letters From a Hill Farm suggested I take a photo of my bargains that temporarily sit on my library floor until I find time and space to shelve them.  Nan may have actually wanted me to take the books out of the basket for the photo op, but ...... 

 

There is presently an ebb and flow to the books.  I bought several with friends in mind so I've passed them on, and my mystery reading friends added four books to the stack when we got together for lunch last weekend.  I guess I'll shelve my books when I need the basket for laundry!

There are several spaces where I read or write that didn't make the Scene of the Blog post, and here are a few of them. 

I read a lot while I ride my exercise bike because I can read with absolutely no guilt, no matter how long my "To Do" list is.  After all, I'm exercising!

 

Right outside the exercise room (which also doubles as potting shed) is the patio where a few plants make it through our scorching summer.  When the weather is cooler and the West Nile mosquitoes don't pose a threat, I love to sit here and read or journal.

When days turn cooler, I like to find a patch of sunshine and curl up on the sun porch and read.

Reading in bed was a favorite pastime when I was growing up, and I still like to snuggle under a quilt and read on a cold evening. (It gets cold and damp in the Louisiana winters--really!)  Here is one more shot of the guest bedroom where I love to hang out.  

  

Featured below is my childhood bedroom in Virginia where my love of reading was nurtured as I lay on my bed and read whenever I could. The furniture may have changed since then, but not the cozy feeling of reading under the eaves hidden away from the world.

My childhood bedroom

Views of the Cottage Patio

There are many spots in our house, and even in our outdoor spaces, where I can curl up with a good book.  My environment conspires against my productivity if productivity is measured by chores completed, tasks accomplished.  It is too easy to find oneself sitting down with a book, Kindle, magazine, newspaper--fill in the blank--and wile away more than a few minutes. 

I read while I ride the exercise bike early in the mornings, feeling quite virtuous about exercising, and experiencing no guilt about reading for pleasure before breakfast.  So far, so good.  However, when I exit my tiny exercise room, I am on the patio.  It is cool (relatively speaking, we are in Louisiana after all).  The fountains are merrily splashing, the wind chimes are tinkling softly, the Blue Jays are calling out noisily and the patio flowers are looking more lush and inviting as they become established.  The cats lounge around in companionable silence and various lethargic poses.

A table and a chair occupy center stage on the patio, inviting me to sit down with my coffee and continue reading until the sun hits the patio and the heat of the day begins in earnest.  Thus, the problem. . . . .




The fountain area of the patio is starting to look more lush.




The plants on the cottage patio make it attractive place to relax



Door to my workout/potting shed area




Shady bed beside the exercise room

...you might as well grab a cup of coffee, too, and join us for a few decadent minutes....

Elegy for Eddie, by Jacqueline Winspear

I have been so busy preparing for today's Highland BLOOMS garden tour that there has been no writing time.  Today our neighborhood association gave over 500 people the opportunity to enjoy some outdoor living spaces in our funky, historic neighborhood, but also to experience other  benefits that our neighborhood has to offer--taste treats from area restaurants, cool jazz from two local bands, an old-fashioned lemonade and cookie stand, a red tag sale of vintage garden-related items, free passalong plants, plus a sampling of arts and crafts from local vendors.  The committee worked so hard on this project and it has paid off with a lot of positive buzz about our unique neighborhood. 

Things remain in a bit of an upheaval at my paying job--not to be confused with the hours spent on neighborhood issues.  I'm finding it has been hard to stay grounded (despite all the focus on gardens!)  So, when I inadvertently became the owner of a copy of Jacqueline Winspear's latest Maisie Dobbs' mystery, Elegy for Eddie, I was delighted.  A great excuse for some escapist reading. 

I read the book last weekend, but have been unable to post about it.  The book focuses on the death of a gentle soul named Eddie who was born in a stable and grew up around horses while his mother worked cleaning the stalls.  Although Eddie was slow in his cognitive development, he has a natural rapport with horses.  One day he is killed in an "accident" in a paper mill and Maisie is asked to discover who killed him--his friends refuse to believe his death is accidental. 

This mystery is in many ways a gentler story than Winspear's earlier novels, which often focus more on the damaged soldiers who returned from WW I.  It is understandable that Winspear has taken up the cause of the European soldiers returning from World War I and the horrors of that war.  Her grandfather’s lungs were badly damaged by gas at the Battle of the Somme and even in his latter years, he was still picking shrapnel out of his legs.  There isn't as much suspense in this novel, but there's more introspection.

When I read on Winspear's website (http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/newsletter-2-12.html)   that this book is based on a true story that her father told her, I found it even more poignant.  The back drop of this mystery is another pending World War, and Winspear weaves this scenario into the plot in a manner not totally satisfactory to me, but I still enjoyed reading the book.

I love the fact that Winspear's horse served as the model for the cover of Elegy for Eddie.  Winspear, a keen horsewoman born in Kent, England, is pictured below riding her horse.

I find it interesting that Winspear also writes on the topic of international education.  As a former academic myself, I was fascinated by anthropology of education in graduate school before I drifted into the study of reading and literacy and then moved into early childhood special education and finally into early childhood education for at-risk children.  Unfortunately, life is just too short to pursue all the areas of study that interest me.

Tomorrow I plan to post some of the great photos my husband took of our Highland BLOOMS garden tour so everyone can see some of the awesome outdoor spaces featured. 

Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve

Sometimes I think it is easier to write every day rather than skip a week and try to pick up where I left off.  Last week was busy, but I've had weeks that were just as busy and  I continued to write.  I think the difference is I've been feeling overwhelmed, and instead of tackling the tasks one at a time, the dreaded inertia struck.  And I did nothing but fret.  No more, this blog is the first step out of my rut.

One thing that helped is Ricky and I took a "head-clearing" day trip this past Saturday to Saline, Louisiana, location of Briarwood, the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve.  Caroline Dormon, 1888-1971, was a botanist, horticulturist, ornithologist, historian, archeologist, preservationist, naturalist, conservationist, author and a distant cousin of my husband, Ricky.   Briarwood was the country home of Dormon's family, and Caroline grew up loving nature and the out-of-doors.  As an adult, she re-established her home at Briarwood in 1918 and began to preserve the native plants growing there and to introduce more examples of native plants on her property.

She initially taught school after graduation from college, but in 1921 she went to work for the Louisiana Forestry Division, the first woman in Louisiana to be hired in forestry and also believed to be the first woman in the United States to be employed in the field of forestry.  Dormon was instrumental in getting the U.S. Forest Service to establish the Kisatchie National Forest, the only national forest in Louisiana.  She later worked as a beautification consultant for the Louisiana Highway Department.

However, her real love was Briarwood and working with flora and fauna there.  When she died, she willed Briarwood to the public.  There is now a Foundation for the Preservation of the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve. The nature preserve has two full-time curators, Richard and Jessie Johnson, and additional buildings have been added over the years that allow the public to experience the beauty of Briarwood, including a writer's cabin that I intend to utilize some day! 

The preserve is open during certain months for tours and has an annual picnic for supporters and other interested persons.  There are always members of Ricky's family at the picnic so we try to attend each year.  Last year's drought necessitated the Johnson's cutting back all the native azaleas that usually put on a showy display during the annual picnic.  This year the woods weren't filled with color, rather a palette of peaceful green was the theme of the day.

Walking through the woods

Caroline Dormon's Cabin

Longleaf pine called Grandpappy: oldest tree at Briarwood

Lichen on tree stump

Toadstool

At the pond

Oakleaf hydrangea blossom

Writer's Cabin

The photographer of most of the day's pictures!



I'm thankful that Caroline Dormon decided to share her home with others after her death.  A biography of Dormon's life is available--The Gift of the Wild Things, by Fran Holman, who also has collected Dorman's essays in a volume, Adventures in Wild Flowers.  In addition, Dormon herself  wrote Flowers Native to the Deep South.

Caroline Dormon noted in 1942: "I was born with something--I call it 'the gift of the wild things'--and because I am simple myself, and have a sympathetic heart, I can understand animals and simple people to an unusual degree. I see, too, so much that others miss. When I know so many lovely things, I feel greedy in keeping them all to myself." 

Coloring Outside the Lines

Humans are blessed with a singular creativity to see what might be, in addition to what is. Joy and imagination are often paired.  Mystery author, Carolyn Hart described an artist's work:

"....The brightly colored animal figures--pink giraffes, spotted rhinos, lemon tigers--spoke of a world of unleashed imagination, the artist's ebullient recognition that the pulse of life is more than is ever seen by the eye alone, that the spirit of joy colors every reality." (p. 21)

--from Death on the River Walk, by Carolyn Hart

Remember the simple creations of our childhood when purple chickens, red dogs, and animals with the Biblical coat of many colors reigned supreme.

I remember a story told to me by a student when I was teaching at Sinte Gleska College (now University) in Rosebud, South Dakota.  The woman was in one of my education methods classes and she shared this story about her sons.  She said she had one boy who always colored so neatly within the lines, so she bought him a coloring book whenever she went to the grocery store.  Frequently, however, it was her other son who picked up the books and scribbled all over the pages.  Finally the child who colored neatly told his mother, "I hate to color, please stop buying me those coloring books."  The other son, hearing this, said to his mother, "Give them to me, I love them," and proceeded to joyfully scribble outside the lines throughout the book.

It's hard for some of us to color outside the lines with joyful abandon, but we can try, if just for a day.

"...the spirit of joy colors every reality"

These brightly colored dish towels hanging on the clothes line of our friend, Anne Marie, in Provence illustrate to me that beauty is to be found in the everyday pulse of life.

Open to Wonder

Elizabeth Peters, describes a character in her 1980 suspense novel, The Love Talker:
"Lizzie had a restless, imaginative mind; it was childish in the same sense that children's minds are unconfined by convention, open to wonder." (p. 15)

To live like a child, amazed by the world, living in the moment, exploring and seeking without preconceived expectations--these are worthy aspirations.

Above photos taken at Briarwood, Saline, LA

Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve

Words of Wisdom: Mysteries Revealed

When I read mysteries, I like to examine the author's words--to see how the author of the mystery sees and describes the world, the insights and words they give their characters.  This is separate from the plot of the mystery.  I look for the author's words that speak to me on another level.  If you can gain insight and draw life lessons from all kinds of pop culture, why not mysteries?

There is one mystery in my library that isn't well-known to most mystery fans, but I have read it more than once--on purpose at that.  While the book is by Elizabeth Peters who is well-known for her Egyptologist Amelia Peabody mysteries, this book is a "stand-alone" mystery.  The title is Naked No More, published by Warner Books back in 1989. 

Naked No More is a mystery about a former librarian and best selling author, Jacqueline Kirby, who has been hired to write a sequel to a well-known author's bestseller.  The original author is missing and presumed dead.  Jacqueline is dispatched to the author's home to research and complete an outline for the new book that will take up where the original author left off.  But, as often happens in a murder mystery, someone is trying to dispatch Jacqueline herself, permanently.  It all works out in the end, of course, and frankly I don't even remember how. 

What I do remember is how Peters has Jacqueline describe the writing process:
"On the morning of the third day her burst of energy vanished, leaving her in a state of utter depression known in full agony only to writers."  (p. 167)

Jacqueline later describes the writing process to a Friends of the Library group:
"...you didn't get ideas.  You smelled them out, tracked them down, wrestled them into submission; you pursued them with forks and hope, and if you were lucky enough to catch one, you impaled it with the forks before the sneaky little devil could get away." 

Elizabeth Peters is the pseudonym of author Barbara Mertz who has a Ph.D. in Egyptology, earned when she was only 23. She is well educated and intelligent and it shows in her books, especially her mysteries focusing on ancient Egypt. 

I like the way Peters describes the writing process.  My doctoral dissertation is the longest piece I've ever written, and I remember feeling like the character, Jacqueline--one chapter just wouldn't come together.  So you do what you have to do--proceed on faith and keep your fork handy, hoping you spear enough of those pesky, ephemeral ideas to keep you moving forward.