A very good read but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read the prior book (Winter Cottage) but that being said it was easy enough to read as a stand alone. It had a lot that I love, a multi generational story that sprang back and forth in time, house restoration, and the epistolatory style (this time in the form of a stash of old hidden letters). If I remember next winter--Winter Cottage here I come.
The cold depths of Sweden in 1717, blizzards, murders, evil priests, wolves, and a meddling newcomer make for a frigid read best done curled up in a blanket with a cup of something warm by your side. No spoilers but I am glad that the ending is as gray as the subject matter.
Loved this book. A book that switches back and forth in time. September 1911 and September 2011. Ellis Island, The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and the collapse fo the World Trade Center towers. A book that has all the elements that make for well spent reading time.
2022
I am steadily making my way through my stack of aging and crumbly paperback books. A couple of decades ago I really loved this author but I just don't connect with her stories the way I once did which makes me sad.
As the New Year of 2018 approached, I picked up an old used book, "A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy" and I thought wouldn't it be fun to read a book for each season. I promptly went out and found books for spring, summer, and autumn, a particular talent of mine is finding and buying books.
That thought became a habit and I found myself doing category arcs of books with titles themed around birds, body parts, weather conditions...and by that time I was hooked on reading this way...and the seeds for this website were sown.
Here in 2022 I find myself drawn to taking another round of the Seasons...hoping to make this an annual category.
2022
Another romance that I struggled reading but only because I am a woman who lives and loves a solo life--mistress of my own domain--for the most part anyway. It just distresses me to see women protrayed as "needing a man" to complete them and then always falling for the ''bad boy". All that aside I did enjoy reading this book...it was an interesting look into the South.
The only book not set in England. I had trouble locating a book with Spring in the title. It involved sexual abuse, minors, and people taking justice into their own hands. It was an okay read if a little thin and far fetched.
The English theme continues. This book is part of a very popular detective series that follows the casework of Ian Rutledge. I hate reading out of order and this book was deep into the series. I decided to read it anyway as luck would have it the book was out of sequence itself. The other novels follow Ian after he came back shell-shocked and haunted from the first World War, this one however, imagines his life as an inspector before the war. I really liked it and have gone back and started the series at the beginning.
A very English writer, not as concerned with cleanliness, this book was about the lives of four co-workers nearing retirement, it was a little dark, but I liked it. I would like to read more of her books.
I picked up this book because I love Maeve Binchy and hadn’t read any of her books in about 20 years. I have a thing for English writers--I have a thing for all things English. But here's the weird thing-- while Im reading a book like this I fall in love with the idea of scrubbed pine tables and carbolic acid cleaners, gardening in the rain, puttering around in old cars and old clothes the older the better. Cleaning and scrubbing and order. A hard core work ethic.
2022
A book I wanted to like way more than I actually did, because I myself identify totally with the concept of wintering and in these past few years I think a lot of others feel the same. If I am judging this correctly...this book was written while the author was have a dark moment of the soul and I think it shows in the choppiness of the writing. She starts down many pathways and then diverts away never quite giving resolution or a finish to any of the storylines she starts...
