Hi everyone. We still have about 10 days left before Christmas and I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, or your own tradition, I hope it’s great. On Monday, I picked up our tree and we just decorated it, listening to traditional holiday songs, which helped me get into the spirit.
Will you be having a white Christmas or a green one this year? We’ve had pretty good snow so far this winter, and next week it looks like a huge cold front with Arctic temps will be moving in, yikes! There’s nowhere to escape, so I’ll be staying right in front of the fireplace, hopefully with a good book. 🙂
And during this time of year, I just want to thank those who visit this blog and comment on my site. You all are really wonderful and I appreciate it very much. I’ve enjoyed discussing books with you and hearing about where you live and your thoughts on what you’re reading and a host of things. So thank you for being a blog friend and visitor here.
And now I’ll leave you with a few reviews of what I finished lately.
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout / Random House / 304 pages / 2022
Thankfully Lucy Barton is back. This time her previously divorced husband William, a scientist, whisks her away from New York City in the early days of the pandemic to ride out what turns out to be months in the seaside town of Crosby, Maine. Lucy is still mourning her second husband David, a cellist, who died the year before. But soon thoughts of the pandemic and the lockdowns take over their lives and Lucy and William navigate as best as they can staying isolated and watching the news late at night. Lucy walks the beach sometimes with their friend Bob Burgess and talks on the phone with her two grown married daughters Chrissy and Becca — who have problems of their own as the pandemic goes on.
It’s a place we’re all familiar with — those early chaotic days of the pandemic before the vaccines came out, and it seems Strout captures it very well with the character of Lucy. Her wide-eyed disbelief of what is happening and the deaths she hears about. She replays the thoughts to a T. There’s a bond with Lucy, the person she is, and the conversational way the novel is written.
I continue to follow her, and the characters of her family and their problems: William and the two daughters have bigger roles in this story. I won’t say how the story plays out exactly. Though since Lucy and William go to stay in Crosby Maine — I immediately thought of Strout’s other character Olive Kitteridge who’s always lived there and is mentioned in this book. Wow the two heavyweights: Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge spoken about in one book!
Of all the Lucy novels, perhaps this one is my favorite so far. And Kimberly Farr reads the audiobook like no other. She becomes the character. And with the writing and story, we can all feel like we’ve come to know Lucy so well.
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candace Millard / Doubleday / 368 pages / 2022
Ever since seeing the movie Mountains of the Moon in 1990, I have been fascinated by the late British explorer Sir Richard Burton — his talents as a linguist, knowing 25+ languages, and his appreciation for other cultures — as well as his expedition with John Hanning Speke to search for the source of the White Nile. This book includes the epic adventure of Burton’s East African Expedition that took place in 1857, which had much hardship and drama. Not only did they confront continual fevers and diseases, but dealt with desertions, not enough provisions, storms, drought, and each other’s egos and personalties.
Millard does well capturing the two explorers who were vastly different, the African terrain, and how their African guide Sidi Mubarak Bombay and others really helped them along their arduous 650+ mile journey from Zanzibar Island to Lake Tanganyika and beyond. Burton and Speke were the first Europeans to get there, but it took quite a toll on them. I was particularly aghast at how debilitating their afflictions on the journey were: Burton became nearly paralyzed and Speke temporarily blind and also deaf from stabbing a beetle with a penknife that had crawled into his ear.
What happened when they returned to England was quite a falling out. Speke had many pent-up resentments toward Burton, who was the captain of the expedition, and believed Lake Nyanza was the Nile’s source, while Burton said he hadn’t proved it and thought Lake Tanganyika might be. Speke was able to mount another expedition to East Africa without Burton, while Burton married, worked at a couple consulates, fell into despair, and took up translating ancient erotic texts.
It’s quite a tragic story since the two explorers really became adversaries, though were still close from their years together on that epic trek. Millard details what became of each of them: Burton, Speke, Bombay (whose life and travels were amazing), and the quest for the White Nile’s source. I enjoyed finding out what happened to them all.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett / children’s classic / 1911
I haven’t read this 1911 children’s classic since I was very young — when I was enthralled by the garden on the other side of the wall. This time I listened to the audiobook read by actress Helena Bonham Carter and it was lovely to revisit the tale whose details I’d sort of forgotten over many decades.
But you remember: the surly orphan Mary Lennox, age 10, from British India who comes to live on her uncle’s estate on the Yorkshire moors in England. And eventually comes to find an old buried key to a locked away garden. Soon after, she befriends Dickon, a boy in tune with nature, and Colin, the uncle’s neglected son whose mother had died and thinks he’s a hunch back that will die soon too. Ahh but Mary brings them to the secret garden that gives the children such joy and healing. And you know the rest.
I had long imagined this secret garden as a kid. What it looked like and how they cultivated it. I had my own garden growing up where I grew vegetables. It wasn’t exactly secret, but the rest of the family didn’t really care, so it was my own space, which was wonderful. I grew cantaloupe and lettuce and such. Every child could use a secret garden, which makes this classic novel so relatable. But this time around, the novel surprised me a bit in how it sort of turns from Mary’s secret garden story to the sick kid Colin’s. I guess he’s the heir of the estate in a patriarch society of the early 1900s. Still Mary is the cog in the wheel that gets it turning.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these books and what did you think? Have a wonderful holiday and I’ll chat with you later.
It’s so great you’ve reread The Secret Garden, a favorite of mine as well. I think we both grew up with the gardening bug. It’s such a beautiful gift from Mom.
I’m moving Lucy by the Sea up on my list and will do the audio as well after your recommendation. Thanks!
Hi Sarah, thx for stopping in. Yeah I enjoy gardening and I’m glad you like it too. I’ll have to start from scratch at the new place. Much snow on everything at the moment. The cover on the old Secret Garden says it all.
I hope you like Lucy by the Sea … though perhaps it might get a bit long or tiresome in places: she is a particular lady. Still I was pleased to stick with her.
I have yet to read a Strout book but I have a couple of her older books on my TBR shelf. The Secret Garden is an old favorite! We’re slowly decorating. We haven’t put the lights on the tree or decorated it yet, but hopefully this weekend. It feels more like time is running out to get the house ready for company, but there’s work and now my daughter is sick . . . It’ll get there. I hope you have a great week!
Uh-oh LF, I hope your daughter feels better soon. You’ll get there on the decorating this weekend. And then it’ll feel very Christmas-y. Wishing you a very happy holiday. I hope you get time off from work soon!
Hi Susan- I enjoy reading your book reviews and often put recommendations on hold at the library. Like you, I also took a dive into childhood favourites this summer listening to books as I drove back and forth to cottage or Gimli. I re- loved Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster and Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. Well worth a read or listen.
Cheers
Wow thanks Liz, great hearing from you!! So glad you mentioned these titles. I must reread or listen to Daddy Long Legs that was a big favorite as a kid. My mother read it to me when I was getting into chapter books, lol. But Girl of the Limberlost is new to me! So I will check the library for it right now. I could use a book like that. Thanks for the suggestion, keep them coming. & Merry Christmas!
I have read and greatly enjoyed both The Secret Garden and Lucy by the Sea. Like you, I think Lucy by the Sea is my favorite Lucy. Strout is growing and growing as an author, I believe. I am still thinking about River of the Gods. I do like a good travel adventure.
We had one freaky year when we woke up to snow on Christmas, but it’s about as likely that we will have another white Christmas as it is that you will experience a hurricane next summer. lol. I do hope you will share a photo or two for those of us who envy you, Susan.
Ha. thanks Deb. I do enjoy white Christmases a lot — it’s just when a cold front comes in at -15F – that’s when things get tough! I have trouble walking the dogs below 0. So I’m sure your green Christmas will be nice. But I will take photos!
I agree with you about Strout. I like her sensibilities & her characters’ too.
You have a lot great reads lined up … Have a wonderful week.
I hope you are doing well today, Susan. I hear that some of Canada (mostly around Quebec, though) is experiencing power losses. Hopefully, you are staying warm in these very cold temps.
Thanks Deb for thinking of us up here. Luckily Alberta has gotten by without outages – although we had extremely cold temps for a week. Finally the cold front is leaving town! And Christmas should feel balmy comparatively. Hope all is well where you are. Have a great Christmas Day.
Your tree looks beautiful! We’ll definitely have a green Christmas, which is fine with me. We had more than our share of white (and bone-chilling cold) Christmases in Nebraska. It’s been a busy week (celebrated my birthday, hosting a cocktail party tomorrow, book club party today, dinner out, etc.), so I’m looking forward to a peaceful week leading up to the 25th. It feels like ages since I wrote a book review…
Lucy By the Sea sounds like a great read. I think I’ll binge on all of the books in that particular series in early 2023.
River of the Gods sounds like something my husband would enjoy. There’s another book by Millard that caught my eye several years ago when our community selected it for the One Book One Lincoln choice. Have you read Destiny of the Republic? I hear it’s quite good, too.
I read The Secret Garden when I was very young, too. What a fun treat to revisit such a wonderful classic!
Have a lovely week, and if I don’t chat with you before, have a very Merry Christmas! I’m so happy to have connected with you on this platform. xo
Ha Lesley, yes I’m lucky too to have found your blog. Great connection. And Wow Happy Birthday!! A December bday … that’s fun. Much to celebrate. My husband Robert has his bday this month too — right after Christmas. Never a dull moment right? I hope you have a fun parties. 🙂
I need to read more of Millard’s other books. I’ve heard they’re good.
And thanks for your comment about our tree. The lot I went to had pretty small trees this year & I must have looked for 45 mins while freezing. But it seems to look all right. Wishing you a very peaceful & happy Christmas!
We’ll be having a white Christmas here in Salt Lake City; it’s been snowing every single day this week. There’s over a foot of snow in my back yard. And they’re predicting very cold temps for the next week here, too, so I don’t see it melting any time soon. Hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 😀
Wow Lark, that’s a lot of snow. Good for the ski areas right?! We’re getting more snow here too. So I guess we’ll both be toasting a white Christmas. Hope yours is great too! Merry Merry.
I am in England for the holidays and there is currently snow on the ground, but I think it will melt before Christmas day. I’m okay with that if it means slightly warmer temperatures (I am such a wimp!). We’ll be at my brother’s house for the holiday and they have a walled garden and I will now think about The Secret Garden when I go in.
Great Helen! Wonderful to think of the Secret Garden in England. It’s neat that you are there to spend Christmas. We are all envious, LOL. I hope you enjoy your visit and have a really great time while abroad. Enjoy! & Merry Christmas.
I love Lucy and I never tire of reading Strout’s books that feature her. I hope there will be more.
Yeah Dorothy, I feel I could go on with the Lucy and Olive books. Though I liked the pandemic angle of this Lucy book and the other characters – which I think it made me like this one the best (of Lucy’s). Merry Christmas.
There’s an outside chance for a white Christmas here on the CT coast. Today’s storm brought us rain and melted the snow that was here, but there’s a chance for more next week. Either way, it will be much colder than our recent celebrations in Florida!
Wasn’t Lucy by the Sea wonderful?! It will be one of my top two reads of the year… Strout just keeps getting better and better. (Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro is the other.)
Hi JoAnn, great to hear from you. Yes I really liked this Lucy book! The pandemic angle made it quite relevant and I liked how she explored it with the other characters. I hope to get to Signal Fires soon & thx for the tip on that one.
It’s surprising you got rain there in CT. We got dumped on. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas up north this year. I think it seems neat by the water there. Enjoy.
WE’re white at the moment as we just got dumped on with lots of snow, but time will tell if it sticks around. 🙂 I love the look of Lucy By The Sea.
Hi Greg, if this storm we’re having moves east – you might have a white Christmas for sure. Lucy has a pretty good cover I think. Happy Holidays!
I hope you will get a lovely white Christmas! We actually had proper snow in London this week, which is rare. Doubt we will get a white Christmas, though. Elizabeth Strout is an author I still need to try. Would you recommend to start with the Olive or Lucy books? I’ve never read The Secret Garden, but it is on my list.
Hi Stargazer. Olive is a cranky old retired lady so maybe Lucy, who’s a writer. I think it’s okay to start with this Lucy book even though it’s #4. It’s readable as a standalone. Hmm just my own opinion. Lucy’s childhood was pretty bleak so the early ones are a bit tough in that way.
See what you think of The Secret Garden — I’m sure I liked it better as a child. I had more feelings of wonder then.
Snow in London?! Wow nice. And wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
I love your Christmas tree, and this newest Lucy book sounds great. I’ve read a couple of them, but I think I will like this one a lot. It seems to bring our Real Life challenges to the fore, which I always like in a book.
Have a great week!
Yeah Laurel, I think you’ll like this latest Lucy novel – I thought it her best of the series. & Thanks about our Christmas tree … it’s not big but it’s lovable. I like it especially at night. Merry Christmas Laurel!
Enjoy reading by your Christmas tree, keeping warm and cozy this winter!
Thanks Harvee. We are staying indoors now! It’s very cold outside, but cozy inside. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas as well. Enjoy!
Beautiful tree! Happy holidays to you too! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas weekend and that you can cozy up by the fireplace and get some great reading in.
I read the Secret Garden a long time ago when I was a kid. I loved the movie done when I was a kid too. It was creepy and and weird and I was drawn to it as a kid. Even though it’s not really a creepy story! But that PBS version was a bit creepy…
Lucy Barton has been on my list for a long time now but I haven’t read any yet. And that River of the Gods has also been on my list. So fascinating. I didn’t know that’s what it was about.
Hey thanks Heather. Great to hear from you. Yeah we’ve had a week straight of -15F temps but it should finally get to 30 degrees over the weekend and we will go skiing.
I saw the most recent Secret Garden (2020) movie and I couldn’t believe how they changed the story! It was awful. I haven’t seen the PBS version.
Wishing you & your family a very Merry Christmas! Stay warm.
Hi Susan,
For some reason, I thought I’d already commented on this wonderful post. The Secret Garden is also one of my all-time favorite books. I have three copies. The one I love most is probably the one I grew up with, the illustrations by Tasha Tudor. I also have The Annotated Secret Garden, which is fun to browse through. And then one with many nature-filled, colorful illustrations by Inga Moore, an English artist. Published by Candlewick Press. She also illustrated an edition of The Wind in the Willows, which I how I found out that she illustrated The Secret Garden. Actually found out about Inga Moore from Cath (readwarbler).
Oh thanks Judith for this. I just looked up these artists’ editions to see their illustrations. I wonder if I too had the Tudor edition as a child. It looks a bit familiar and says Tudor illustrated it in 1962, though I was a ’65 baby and wouldn’t have read it till sometime circa ’73-’74? So I’m not certain as my kids’ books were given way I think. The Inga Moore illustrations are quite evocative and beautiful with the trees & bushes making it seem quite an enchanted place like I pictured in my young imagination. It appears Inga Moore has also illustrated Anne of Green Gables. Wow she’s good! Great to know. Merry Christmas.
Candice Millard is one of my favorite authors, and her River of Doubt is one of my all-time favorite books. Destiny of the Republic is also excellent, so you know that I’ll be reading River of the Gods— sooner rather than later, I hope. Happy New Year!
Oh thanks Cathy, I’d like to read Millard’s other titles. I’ve heard they’re great. I enjoyed this saga of exploration. Speke & Burton were so different & there’s quite a bit of drama. I hope you enjoy it. Happy New Year.