My reading tastes are quite varied, and I have curated my little library so that it contains something to cater to all my whims. Because for the past few months I had mostly read crime and mystery books, I felt the need for something else.

While browsing through my books I stopped at Patricia Scanlan’s ‘The Liberation of Brigid Dunne’, mainly because I felt the need for an Irish writer and an Irish story, plus a bit of a breather from investigating murders. More recently the book was published under the title ‘A Family Reunion’.

I found my copy of the book in a charity shop and I was over the moon to find a signed one. I love signed copies and have amassed quite a few from various writers I like.

At first, when I started the book I was a bit confused about the structure and the characters, but then, the more I read, it all started to make sense and it became very interesting.

I will not give too many details about the story, as I really want you to read it if you think it is for you, but I do have to touch on some points if I am to write my post about it.

The book revolves around four women and it spans over a long time, from the 1950ies to the 2000. It tells us about their experiences over time, what they faced, how they grew and transformed, shaped by the society they lived in and the expectations made on them.

Now, it is well known the impact the church had on the lives of women in Ireland ( and in many other places I am sure) and how women suffered being subjected to the strict rules of the church and society.

While reading the book, I could not help but think about how women in Romania also suffered during communism, particularly because of the regime’s emphasis on large families and population growth.

During the communist period it was illegal to use contraception or stop a pregnancy. In 1966 Nicolae Ceausescu introduced one of the harshest pronatalist policies in the world with Decree 770. The decree banned and made illegal stopping a pregnancy, eliminated access to contraception and framed reproduction as a duty to the state.

The aim was rapid demographic growth, as a larger population meant more workers and more power, women becoming essentially instruments of state policy. It went so far as women being subjected to mandatory gynecological exams at work, surveillance to detect pregnancy and it was illegal for doctors to assist with stopping pregnancies.

This led to a huge increase in unsafe procedures, thousands of maternal deaths were recorded and a rise in the numbers of abandoned children.

The full story and its details are horrible, and it is a generational trauma that is not spoken about. But we know.

I suppose that’s why Patricia Scanlan’s book resonated with me so strongly. The pressure of society and religion on women is not abstract to me, it’s something I recognize from the lives of the women in my own family, who lived under a system that enforced reproduction and denied them real choice. They had to navigate structures that rarely asked for consent, only obedience. If you did not obey the alternatives were jail or death.

I looked it up and sadly I see the book was not translated in Romanian, I think it would be a good seller in Romania, but it might just be me. Anyway, if anyone wants to publish it I would be more than happy to translate it, let me know.

The book is an interesting read even without the societal and religious interpretations, so I do not want to paint it as a dark novel. It is entertaining and it flows very well. You can see the care that went into it and that it is written by an experienced author. It is confident in tone and structure.

I recommend it as, for me, it strikes a great balance between introspective, informative, and entertaining. I really enjoyed it, and it made me reflect on things long buried, which is exactly what a good book should do.

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When going away from home, one of the important decisions, along what clothes, shoes, documents to take, is what books get to join me on the trip.

We had been planning this trip for some time, so in my mind I was already doing a sorting exercise. Initially I had settled on two impressive tomes of omnibus published works. I had selected them, I was quite pleased with myself and was mentally looking forward to the time I will spend reading them.

But then, looking at them I got this image of me going to the beach or to a bench to read and lugging along the large, and most importantly heavy, books. On vacation I usually just carry around a tiny bag to keep my wallet, my keys and my phone, so if I were to carry the book(s) a backpack would be needed. So no, no, change of plans!

Happily Alina’s library contains books of all sizes, so I pulled out a selection of tiny, but punchy, books. These books, old paperbacks most of them, fit easily in my tiny bag and also can be easily spread out in my luggage if needed. So win-win!

I started reading one of them, Ruth Rendell’s The Keys to the Street, but I found it a bit too dark, so searching something a bit lighter I turned my attention to another one in my travel library, Agatha Christie’s Murder After Hours.

I associate Agatha Christie with entertaining, engaging books, readable and easy going, so when Murder After Hours turned out to be this insightful, wonderfully written, psychological analysis of a group of people and the relationships between them, I was in awe and hooked.

I mean, the chapter where Henrietta speaks about her work as a sculptor and destroys her creation. Mind blowing! So, so beautifully written, it just stuns you and you cannot put it down!

The edition I have, found in an Irish Charity shop, is an edition published in the US in 1976, and it is the book above in the image. I found it annoying and endearing that on the cover they have John dead by a water fountain, while in the book he is killed by the side of a swimming pool. I assume this kind of mistake makes the edition special.

I read the book in one fine swoop and loved every word of it finding so many gems in it. Oh, how I wish I had known Agatha Christie … Anyway maybe in the next life!

My favorite character is Miss Marple, but I also like Poirot’s fastidiousness and obsessive compulsive ways, but in this book he appears in a strange way, like he is a visitor in the book not like one of the characters. His existence is tangential and not central in the book.

I found the answer for that while doing my post read research. I sometimes do that for books that I really like. Seems that Agatha (please let me call her Agatha, I love her so much!) had written the book without Mr. Poirot in it, but the publishers strongly suggested that, for commercial reasons, he should be added. So she did, but you can see, you can feel it, when reading the book that he feels like an afterthought.

When Agatha adapted the novel for stage in 1951 she removed Poirot completely.

The book was written in 1946 and it was published in the UK as The Hollow and for the US market the name was changed to Murder After Hours, as the publishers felt the first title was too difficult to relate to by US audiences.

I much prefer The Hollow, as it has this delicious double ententre, it is indeed the name of the English country house where the main action takes place, but it also is a state of feeling of the characters from beginning to end, they are hollow, and this is the tragedy of existence that drives the drama of the book.

Murder After Hours is Meh!

I looked up if it was adapted for tv and I found it was in 2004 for the Poirot series with David Suchet. Series 9, episode 4. Of course I had to watch it! Happily Netflix has recently added both Poirot and Miss Marple so I can watch and rewatch to my heart’s content!

I watched it last night and they are different, so, so different! I love the book, it has such a wealth of feeling and depth of understanding that could not be translated in the tv adaptation, but I liked the episode. Of course I enjoyed David Suchet’s Poirot, I loved the clothes and the wonderful recreation of the atmosphere, bit it does not come close to the complexity of the book, it couldn’t.

If you are stuck for what to read, I totally recommend this book, it is tiny but by God it packs a powerful punch!

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Over the years, I have found that I do actually enjoy reading books in tune with the season happening around me. I have found it is quite pleasant to read Christmas books during Christmas time in particular.

Being able to connect the real and the imaginary so easily adds another dimension to the reading experience for me.

The same as many people, I enjoy re-reading Dickens’ Scrooge story, but it is also nice to discover new favorites. Sometimes though, it is not easy to find the right book at the right time, and this is the time of the anthology. Pam pam!

Yes, I really do love me an anthology, mainly of short stories to be fair, and, to my delight, I have a lot of them. I like how you can dip in and out of them, read something, put them back, and so on, and I am truly astonished sometimes at how many amazingly talented writers are out there that I have never ever heard of.

If I think about it too much it can be depressing, and this feeling is two fold. On the one side there are so many writers I do not know of and my knowledge is so limited, on the other, there are so many brilliant writers that have never become household names, and their work is known to just a few.

Anyway, ‘tis the season to be jolly, so back to our main topic, the seasonal story anthology, which for Christmas for me is the one with stories chosen by Otto Penzler titled The Bog Book Of Christmas Mysteries - The Very Best Yuletide Whodunnits.

I first became acquainted with the Head of Zeus anthologies when I found in a charity shop (to my utter amazement) an anthology of Irish short stories titled The Art Of The Glimpse, stories chosen by Sinead Gleeson. I fell in love with it, and of course, as a true obsessional, I looked up what else was there and to my utter delight there was quite a lot.

Among the other anthologies they have I was delighted to find this Christmas one, oh the joy, Christmas, Mysteries, short stories all in one, what more could I want?!

Of course I whipped out my card and bought it, and I must say it does not disappoint.

I like a lot the fact that the stories themselves are quite different one form the other, from different times and they carry the reader through such a varied landscape but still all for Christmas.

The anthology is organized in sections, to guide the reader to the type of story they feel like reading at that moment, and the sections range from traditional to modern, from funny to uncanny, from pulpy to classic, etc.

What convinced me to buy it was the varied list of authors chosen for it, there are names that I know and drew me to it like Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter, G.K. Chesterton, Isaac Asimov, Ellis Peters, Thomas Hardy, but even more that I do not know and it has been a pleasure to discover.

I love sampling such different writing styles in bite size chunks. It is so enjoyable and at the same time such an education.

I often read other Christmas books at the same time, but having the back up of the anthology is quite comforting, because it is always there, as an option, for me when I am in the mood for something Christmassy.

Through these anthologies I have been introduced to so many wonderful new (to me) writers, that I can only be happy I stumbled upon them.

What do you like to read at Christmas time? Anything special or just the usual suspects?

Happy Christmas!

I hope Santy brings you a lot of joy and happiness!

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I quite like the way Lionel Shriver writes, and because sometimes she can be a bit too heavy I tend to space out the books by her in my reading list. But I do enjoy them.

I picked up The Motion of the Body Through Space sometime back and added it to my library, but I started reading it only recently, when I decided I needed a break from my crime books. Even them can get too much sometimes.

Although I really enjoyed the book sometimes it did get a bit too preachy and heavy for me. I don’t like ti when I need to force myself to push through reading a page, but I did do it for her because I knew (from past experience) that once you get over those difficult passages, some entertaining ones will follow for sure.

So you understand a bit my feedback the setup of the story is around a woman in her 60s, Serenata, who has always been devoted to extreme fitness, but must stop her running and intense exercise due to very bad knee issues.

Remington, the husband, has never been interested in exercise, forced to retire early due to some problems at work, he becomes obsessed with fitness competitions, he begins with a marathon, and after a very demanding race, MettleMan.

For a sedentary person like me to read about the effects on the body of too much exercise it was comforting, although I am not lying to myself I know that sitting on a chair or the couch can have very bad consequences also, just different.

Seems like, once again, balance in everything is key, anyway I digress.

The conflict in the story come from the change in Remington’s life style, and more importantly, beliefs. Serenata is frustrated by this change, her own loss of physical ability and the distancing of her husband.

All of these are described beautifully by Lionel Shriver and sometimes, despite the sadness of the situation, you cannot but smile.

The way their children are described is also interesting and at times interesting.

I enjoyed reading the book and I even recommended it, but by no means I can say that it will be able to keep your attention throughout, or maybe it will and the inability lies with me, some times it is difficult for me to focus when the theoretical stuff just goes wild and the story stalls.

It is a book that makes think about your current choices and what you invest your time in, as there may come and age where you look back and think that maybe you could have used your time, and attention, in a more meaningful manner for yourself.

If you do (did) read it, please let me know what you thought, I am curious to find out your thoughts.

Happy reading all!

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I have seen the name Anthony Horowitz in so many places that, for some reason, I got confused as to what he actually writes, and for that reason he did not really appeal to me.

I would recognize the name, pay attention for one second and then move on.

When the Magpie Murders came into my life it was in the shape of the TV series which I disliked deeply. So, although I have the book in my lovely tiny library, I did not read it.

As a good, nice book hoarder that I am I bought the Moonflower Murders also, this is the second book in the Magpie series, again did not read it. I also bough The House of Silk at some point, this is Anthony Horowitz’s contribution to the Sherlock Holmes legacy, book which now is nicely lost in the vortex of books that is my living room. I did not read it either.

The Word is Murder, I had actually bough in a paperback version, God knows when, but did not read it. I only started to read it, when I found in a charity shop the American imprint, a lovely hardback, with a pretty cover, showing a pencil and a knife.

Who said we should not judge a book by its cover? Not me for sure!

So, I started The Word is Murder on a whim and loved it. The proverbial, could not put down.

Of course, as a true obsessive, I looked up everything there was to look up about the books, the author, etc. Even before I had finished The Word is Murder, I was on the hunt for the rest of the books in the series.

I don’t know if this ever happened to you, when you look for something, and the universe just plops it in front of you?

As it turned out, I had a really good time in the charity shops and found more of the Tony and Mr. Hawthorne books, plus, pluuuus, a Marble Hall Murders (the third book in the Magpie series) signed. Oh, the joy! I love me a signed book!

So, now, I am on the third book in the TnH series. I read The Sentence is Death (second TnH book) and now I am reading A line to Kill. I still have to read The Twist of a Knife before I can get to the last one Close to Death, which, I understand from online reading, is amazing.

The joys of being OCD, I cannot skip the line, I must go through all of them to read that one, but they are really nice and very easy to read. So I do not foresee there will be any problem. I hope …

Now, you might say: But what did you like about them Alina? Well, let me answer.

Not surprisingly, I loved the weaving of the writing craft with the murder investigation. I do not care for Hawthorne that much, but I really like Tony, and all the tidbits he shares about writing and his routines.

Plus, it is quite interesting to read about the inner workings of the TV shows he works/ed on and their world. As I have written in the past, I am a huge fan of Caroline Graham’s books Midsomer Murders and also the TV series with the same name, which Anthony Horowitz took part in creating and for which he wrote significantly.

Though, mostly Foyle’s War appears mentioned in the books, series which I do not like, but it does not really matter as Anthony Horowitz has his hands in so many pies, that it is impossible not to find one you like.

For The Word is Murder I did not guess the murderer, it was very well hidden, for The Sentence is Death I did guess who the killer was, and I was very pleased with myself. For the third one, I am still working at it.

I must say, I have gotten curious about reading the Holmes novels he wrote. It would be interesting to see if the voice of Watson is similar to that of Tony in the TnH series. I did not read them yet so will have to see.

When I was reading the first two books, and I was following the action in London, I could not help think about the Galbraith Strike novels, but I have to say, the lack of romantic tension in Horowitz is something I found refreshing.

Sometimes in the Strike novels all that tension between Strike and Robin, just gets to me, come on let’s get on with it and focus on the murder. Too soapy!

I cannot help but feel a bit of a hypocrite, as in my eternal novel, the one I have been writing for a few years now (deep sigh!) romantic tension rules a lot of the action, but then again, it overtly wants to be more of a romance-existentialist novel, not a crime thriller.

It was really nice being entertained by Anthony Horowitz in the TnH series, while also learning about his writing craft, his habits and his way of working. I find it mad and inspiring, that he writes the first draft by hand. I mean I understand it, but typing is so much easier! Maybe that is the answer right there, easy is not the name of the game, and that has been my downfall often.

I did not write because it was not easy, because I had to break myself in bits and build myself again on paper. I am learning though, and with each day I feel I am more resilient and hard-wearing.

There are people that for one reason or another are late bloomers, and I am one of them, and that is ok.

More than ok, it is a joy.

So yeah, I heartily recommend Anthony Horowitz, whichever of his works you prefer, I am pretty sure he has something for everyone.

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Oliver Twist was the first ‘real’ book I ever read. ‘Real’ as opposed to the children’s books that forged my first ideas and imagination.

Ever since, I loved Dickens. I read his books, I studied him in school, his work became part of my life through its presence over the years.

From time to time I go back to the books and re-read them, or sometimes just fragments, to capture the joy Dickens’ books and his writing bring me.

Not even once during those thirty something years of studying and reading Dickens did I ever wonder about his quality as a human being. It has always been about the work.

This has changed though in our world, and now we do seem to care about somebody’s quality as a person not just about their professional output.

Is that right or wrong?

I honestly don’t think the answer is clear cut and straightforward.

I asked Chatty the above question: Was Charles Dickens a nice person?

And I quite liked the answer so I am pasting it below.

AI generated info:

Charles Dickens was a brilliant writer but a complicated man — both admired and criticized in his personal life.

Here’s the short version:

👍 The Nice Side:

• Empathetic: He deeply cared about the poor and marginalized, especially children. His novels often exposed societal injustices (think Oliver Twist, Hard Times, Bleak House).

• Charitable: He supported hospitals, shelters, and even co-founded a home for "fallen women" (Urania Cottage) with Angela Burdett-Coutts.

• Energetic & Generous: Friends often described him as charming, enthusiastic, and larger-than-life. He performed public readings and gave proceeds to charity.

👎 The Not-So-Nice Side:

• Horrible to His Wife: He had ten children with Catherine Hogarth, but grew cold, blamed her for their large family, and eventually separated from her—publicly and cruelly. He even tried to get her institutionalized.

• Secret Affair: He had a long-term relationship with actress Ellen Ternan (much younger), which he hid to protect his image.

• Control Freak: He could be domineering, demanding, and emotionally manipulative, especially with family and close colleagues.

TL;DR:

Dickens was a social reformer with a golden pen and a flawed ego with a Victorian sense of male entitlement. So… nice to the poor, but a jerk at home.

If he were on Twitter today, he'd be trending for both #HeroOfThePeople and #VictorianGaslighter.

End of AI generated info.

So, what do we do with that?

Would Dickens have been cancelled if he lived in our times?

Maybe. For sure he would be disputed by some, but at the same time the fact that he was a champion for the poor writing extensively against child labor, debtor’s prisons and social inequality, would gain him some support.

Should we care about the world he lived in, his life experiences or should we go with Roland Barthes and declare that ‘the author is dead’ and just care about the work itself not giving a second thought to the man Dickens was?

Each person must make up their own mind.

Me, I am sorry Dickens was not a better human, but I am not in a position to judge or understand him. I did not live in the same world, I did not have his experiences, it is not within my ability to know what really was.

So I am left with his books, his stories and I am grateful he has written them.

Below, one of my most favorite quotes from A Christmas Carol:

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I remember reading when I was little Aesop’s Fables and loving them. I had a pretty, hardcover book with sketch like drawings and thick, yellow pages.

Looking back now I see that I learnt a lot about the world, people, morality from Aesop’s Fables. I did not know this then. As a child I was just enjoying the talking animals, the absurd situations, their whimsical nature.

A few days ago I was looking at some books online and stumbled over an amazingly beautiful edition, this pictured below, and all my memories of reading the fables came flooding in.

Aesop’s Fables, Leo Tolstoy’s stories, Mythology and of course our own Romanian stories, painted my childhood in vibrant colors.

I bought me the book and as soon as I had it in my paws I started to browse through it.

Around 36 years after first reading them, they still enchant me and I am still blown away by the genius of their creator.

To be able to condense in such a small piece of text so much thought and wisdom! Mind boggling!

I think this is where the genius lies, they are so simple, so easy to read but so full of meaning. Reading them now I find the same joy I did when I read them the first time. Maybe now just giving a bit more thought to the author behind them.

I had this thought that Aesop’s fables are basically a manual for humanity. They still speak volumes about who we are, even today.

If you think about it, Aesop is believed to have lived around 620-564 BC(E), so that means he wrote the fables around 2,600 years ago. And yet, his fables are still in print. Still read. Still taught. Talk about a bestseller.

It just goes to show; we evolve, we adapt, we invent all kinds of things... but certain aspects of the human experience are timeless. The fox still tricks. The crow still caws. And we still learn the hard way.

Aesop’s fables are steeped in human archetypes, behind every animal there is a mirror of ourselves. They remind us that art endures not just through time, but as a testament to the essence of who we are.

As a tarot enthusiast I could not help but make a parallel between the two. Both the tarot and the fables offer us condensed wisdom and universal lessons told simply expressed through symbols we intuitively understand and interpret.

I looked through my book to find one of the fables to share with you, very difficult to decide but in the end I found the one below:

Nice, no?

I honestly think that the fables could be used when we need to process things in our lives, to heal ourselves as it were, or to understand ourselves better. The fact that they are short and easy to understand appeals to all ages and also people who are struggling to focus due to burn out or other challenges.

Also they deal with universal themes so it is easy to find the one you need, and using animal proxies makes them easier to use as the animal in the fable is doing something, not you as a human. You are just relating. The moral at the end invites interpretation and prompts discussion.

I hope my trip down fable memory lane brought back some of your early reads memories.

Do you like fables? Do you have a favorite?

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Growing up in Romania literature was a big part of our lives, and in school we studied our great writers.

One of these writers is Ion Luca Caragiale, and one of these days I was chatting with my wonderful, better half about how would we translate into English one of Caragiale’s much loved lines/quotes.

A bit of background.

Ion Luca Caragiale lived between 1852–1912. He is one of Romania’s most well-known and loved playwrights and satirists. He is known for his sharp wit and keen eye for the absurdities of society.

His work captures the spirit of late 19th-century Romania, especially its political hypocrisy, social climbing, and moral posturing themes that remain strikingly relevant today.

A little known fact about Caragiale is that he briefly ran a beer hall in Bucharest, where he would eavesdrop on patrons for inspiration.

Some of his most memorable characters were inspired by the people he overheard while pouring drinks proving that in Caragiale’s world, everyday nonsense was high art in disguise.

Now about that quote. It is very difficult to accurately translate it into English and I am sure that Romanians try to do that in all the languages they learn.

The quote is a line from his play O scrisoare pierdută (A Lost Letter), first performed in 1884. It’s spoken by the character Cetățeanul turmentat (The Inebriated Citizen), who ironically represents both confusion and a distorted sense of civic duty, making the exaggerated declaration both hilarious and biting.

The quote is: “Simt enorm și văd monstruos” and it is famously ambiguous and ironic, so the English translation should ideally capture both the intensity and the ridiculous overstatement.

-Literal Translation:

”I feel enormously and see monstrously.”

This is word-for-word and accurate, but slightly odd in English.

-Idiomatic Translation (preserving tone): 2 options/versions

”My feelings are immense, and what I see is monstrous.”

”I’m overwhelmed with emotion and witness horrors beyond belief.”

-Satirical/Exaggerated Tone (matching Caragiale’s irony): 2 options/versions

”I’m consumed by grand emotion and see nothing but monstrosities!”

”I feel everything deeply — and everything I see is hideous!”

Romanians use this line/quote all the time adapting it to the moment they live through.

For me, throughout my life, through my inner struggles as a writer and as a developing human, I always thought at this line and adapted it to my own way of feeling and seeing the world.

Because I do feel a lot, overwhelmingly so, and I do see a lot, sometimes monsters, sometimes fairies.

This line crystalized in my mind even more, with the meaning I had attached to it, not the satirical one from Caragiale, when I learnt about Baudelaire’s Synaesthetic Correspondences.

When I read/learnt about Baudelaire’s Synesthesia I almost yelled: Yes, that is me, that is my view of the world!

Baudelaire introduced and popularized the idea of ‘correspondences’ as hidden links between the senses, emotions, and the natural or symbolic world.

This concept is especially evident in his 1857 poem:

‘Correspondances’ from Les Fleurs du mal

“Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent...”

“Perfumes, colors, and sounds correspond to one another…”

In other words, sounds can be felt, colors can be heard, scents can evoke visions. It’s a mystical perception of the world (Ahhhh!) where everything is interconnected and symbolic.

I love, love both Caragiale and Baudelaire and I love how their works melted into feeling in my being.

The mark of the masters!

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Lethal White is the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling’s pseudonym for these books.

There are seven published books in the series so far and the 8th one is about to be published this year.

As you can imagine I loved Harry Potter although it took me a very long time to read them, and being able to enjoy JK Rowling’s talent in the Cormoran Strike books is such a great joy.

I have shared before that, I am not the kind of person to rush through a series that I love. I like to read one book, take a break, read others and then get back to the series. I do this because I like to prolong the joy of reading about those worlds, to be able to enjoy the characters and their experiences for a longer time.

I have read the three books before this one and now, when we went traveling, I took Lethal White with me because it is a chunky book, and because (although I was tempted) I could not carry too many books with me, plane luggage is expensive.

So, I thought that, seeing how thick it is, it will take me a long time to read it (I am what I would kindly call, a slow reader).

I took one of my Strike books in the idea that I will read it and leave it here with a friend, not carry it back home.

As a true book hoarder I have all the Strike novels in a few different editions. Why? There is no reasonable answer to that, just that I do, so leaving this one here will not hurt my library.

It happened though that the book got me so good, that I finished it well ahead time. Meaning before my trip finished, and I find myself longing for that world, wishing I had the next one with me to start it asap. No drama, I have it at home, so I can read it then, but I enjoy the feeling of longing for that world.

It must be a well written book, with a wonderfully built world, with greatly constructed characters to make you want to still be there and just see what happens next once you finished the book you are holding. The beauty of the series I think, they give you the chance to enjoy your faves in several books.

Lethal White is well constructed, written in a way that flows through you. It does not feel like you need to take double-takes to grasp the meaning. The pace is quick, but not too fast to hurt the characters or the story.

I liked the grammatical tense of the story and the way the chapters alternate different characters point of view.

Throughout the book appear quotes from Henrik Ibsen’s play Rosmersholm, and, funny enough, I was able to find an old Romanian edition of the play as I want to also read it.

I am a fan of the books, so I stayed well away from the HBO series, because I do not like to have things in my head that are not from the books. Once I have read the books I can give the series a try. Yes, indeed, I am that annoying person that blurts out ‘But that is not how it was in the book!!!’ I am lovable like that!

I must say, that I might make an exception and start on the next book in the series Troubled Blood sooner than I would have normally, just because I miss them so much, and there is a new one coming out this year, so I will still have quite a few to get through.

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Miss Marple made a miraculous appearance in my life recently. Yes, yes, good old Miss Marple, the one who’s creator stopped creating her a long time ago.

Agatha Christie introduced Miss Marple in the short story The Tuesday Night Club in 1927, which was later included in the collection The Thirteen Problems (1932). The last novel featuring Miss Marple, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, though it was written during the 1940s.

If we consider the period from the first published story in 1927 to the last published novel in 1976, Miss Marple’s stories span 49 years. But, in terms of active writing, Christie wrote Miss Marple stories over approximately 20 years, considering Sleeping Murder was written around the same time as The Body in the Library (1942) but held back for posthumous publication.

Isn’t this fascinating!

And it gets even better! 45 years later (this book is published in 2022) since that last story was published, we are regaled with twelve new Miss Marple stories. Whaaat? I know! Mind blown!

I have a confession, I don’t really like it when other writers take over somebody’s creation and they write their own new stories with it, using the name and the love readers have for the initial characters and author.

While I am writing this I am specifically thinking of R.W.Green having taken over M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin character and writing new stories with her, but in a way hiding it. If you look at the cover below, which is a genuine cover:

You have in huge letters the name of the author we all know and love (those of us that do), then the name of the character, then the title in big catching letters and the actual author of the book is written in small, almost hiding in plain sight, print. So small that one can easily be fooled into thinking the book is actually written by M.C. Beaton.

Something like Abibas, Samsing, Subwey or KFG. But I digress. I have never read a book by Mr. Green, but he does have the approval of M.C. Beaton’s estate to continue using her characters, it is just my opinion that he is going about it in a misleading way. Anyway, let’s move on!

Back to our own main character, Miss Marple.

So, this book, is quite fascinating in that you have twelve good writers, proven in their own right, trying their hand at placing Miss Marple in twelve new stories.

I bought the book because I love, love Agatha Christie and her characters, including Miss Marple, because I like some of the writers that have contributed to the book, and because of an academic interest to see how they each went about it and compare their different writing styles while using the same character.

The writers that contributed are:

· Naomi Alderman

· Leigh Bardugo

· Alyssa Cole

· Lucy Foley

· Elly Griffiths

· Natalie Haynes

· Jean Kwok

· Val McDermid

· Karen M. McManus

· Dreda Say Mitchell

· Kate Mosse

· Ruth Ware

Some good names there, no? I think so!

It is truly fascinating to read and to see how each of these authors went about creating their stories. Some are better than others, but I will not say which, readers must make up their own opinion.

Is it worth the read? Yes, it is entertaining and it is so nice to have Miss Marple walk the earth again. It is fascinating to think how a character can have such huge impact that it can live on even after the death of their creator.

Not just live in the already written stories, but in new ones, having new adventures and opportunities.

Unlike the M.C Beaton case above, which seems more like an attempt to continue gaining, this book feels to be created out of passion for the characters and the author. It is honest and not pretending it is anything else but what it is.

For hardcore Miss Marple fans, some details might sound a bit like ticking boxes, maybe that is what they did, but even so, the stories are pleasant to read and it is really nice to run into Miss Marple again.

If you come across it, let me know how you liked it.

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In 2023, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, were two Irish authors and their works. Paul Murray with his work ‘The Bee Sting’ and Paul Lynch with his work ‘Prophet Song’, the latter went on to win the prize.

As a person living in Ireland and entertaining desires of becoming a writer, of course I keep an eye on the world around and what is going on in the field of living writers.

I found it funny that two Irish Pauls were shortlisted for the Booker and promised myself that I will look into their books.

The first to come into my life was the Paul Lynch work. Excited to see what people liked so much that they awarded it a prize I set out to read it.

Sadly the style is incompatible with my short attention span. I did force myself to plough through trying to find that thing that the others saw.

I think I read more than one hundred pages forcing myself to keep at it hoping that at some point it will catch me, sadly it did not. I did think it is a simpler version of Joyce’s stream of consciousness with its word medley lacking spaces and punctuation.

Sadly, I could not finish it.

Disappointed by it I told to myself that if the winner is so hard to read then second place must be worse, so, although I did buy Paul Murray’s ‘The Bee Sting’, I added it to my library without ever opening it.

Recently, while fighting the worst flu I had in years, I was vegetating on my couch after reading yet another murder mystery, telling myself I need to broaden my horizon.

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As I was sitting there looking at my library the yellow cover of Paul Murray’s book drew my attention. I must confess yellow is one of my favorite colors and I love bees. I am known to buy a book just because it is yellow and has bees on it (as is the case with Mad Honey).

Anyway, as I was sitting there I remembered about the two Pauls and their journey, maybe time had come to give the second Paul a chance.

I got up on a step ladder, brought the book down (yes they are stacked to the ceiling - one of my joys, my library-heart eyes) and started reading it.

Worlds apart! I find it utterly fascinating that two books that are so different were shortlisted for the same prize, I assume this goes to prove the variety of works considered for the Booker.

I haven’t finished ‘The Bee Sting’ but I am enjoying it tremendously. The writing, the words, the world building, the descriptions, and it is a book that stays with you when you close it and you look forward to get back to it to see what the characters did next.

It did take a bit to draw me in, but that might also be me, when it did succeed though it got me hooked. So, for me the second place Paul is the first when it comes to these two works.

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I have seen Jilly Cooper’s books in charity shops for years, but I was never tempted to pick one up. I assume that often the covers put me off. Recently though, Disney made a series after Rivals one of the books in the Rutshire Chronicles series.

I saw the promo and it seemed fun, then I saw a conversation about the TV series on a morning show and it piqued my interest even more.

I want to clarify from the beginning that I have not seen all the episodes of Rivals, the Disney + series, just the first episode, and I am only about one hundred something pages into the first book of the series Riders.

I found the series funny more than anything, but the book I quite enjoy, so I started to also read a bit about Jilly Cooper.

In the Acknowledgements for Riders Jilly Cooper mentions that the book was fifteen years in the making. That made me wonder: But whyyy? Of course I found that endearing, as my books have been in the oven for long times also.

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So I asked my research assistant chat GPT and he, yes he is male, told me that at the beginning of the seventies Jilly Cooper had almost finished Riders but she lost the manuscript on a bus in London. Sadly the manuscript was never recovered and only ten years later did Jilly Cooper start writing it again, publishing it at last in 1985.

When she was 48 years old.

Jilly Cooper was already a well known writer by the time she published it, but Riders was her first fiction work and it was immensely successful, leading, together with other writers as Jackie Collins, and Shirley Conran to the creation of the bonkbuster genre.

Again, I had no idea what this means so I asked my Research Assistant and found out that:

A bonkbuster is a term used, primarily in the UK, to describe a genre of popular fiction that typically features racy, romantic, and dramatic story lines, often set within glamorous or high-society worlds. The word combines "bonk" (a British slang term for sex) and "blockbuster," indicating a novel that both deals with sensual themes and is commercially successful.

Every day is a school day, I had no idea this existed.

Jilly Cooper’s writing is catchy and engaging, it has dimension and I like how she creates her characters and shifts perspective from one to the other. I quite enjoy reading her and the story lines seem interesting.

Of course some of the characters are over the top, but I think this is part of their charm as most often they are like no human we would meet in our normal day to day.

I haven’t read more than one book to know if the plots repeat themselves or they are nice and different, but I think I might as they are quite enjoyable.

It is great to discover new authors and books, learn about their experiences and paths, it teaches me so much and in a way builds me up.

If you give a try to one of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbusters or if you are already a fan I would love to know what in her writing makes it enjoyable for you and which is your favorite book.

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During one of our weekend book hunts I happened to find a For Dummies book that seemed interesting. I enjoy learning a lot, and I have been trying to write a book since forever, so this book Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger, seemed to be worth at least a browse.

Though my book is not strictly a romance novel, I felt that the for dummies book might have something to teach me, because I do have relationships and love in my story.

This is my first dummy book and I have to say it is a very pleasant surprise.

At first my plan was to browse through it, see if I find any useful bits and pieces. After starting it though, I have reached the conclusion that I want to read it all, as it is really well structured and very clearly written.

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It reminds me of corporate emails and comms, uses bullet points, sections, sub-sections, quite easy to follow.

The author is straightforward and does not provide irrelevant information which I found quite refreshing and appealing.

The version I have is published in 2004. 20 years ago. I love the little references about going to the library to check for information. How the world has changed in such a short time!

I have always longed for a mentor, somebody to give me the keys to the kingdom, but never found that person, so I had to stumble in the dark in my own mind and in the outside world.

I think I might be starting to see the light though, and this kind of book helps with the technicalities of the craft that escape me.

Although the world has changed and we have access to so much information right now, I still love that feeling, of holding an old musty book, reading under a lamp and rereading the bits I want to remember, making notes with pen and paper. The joy!

I am pleasantly surprised about the format of the book. Not only is it well structured and it allows you to dip in and out easily, depending on the area you want to check, but it also has a great cheat sheet at the beginning that summarizes all the steps in just a few words.

I think it is a great find and if you happen to stumble across it give it a chance, it might prove useful.

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I first learnt about the concept of blind destiny when I was studying Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy at the university. I found it interesting at an intellectual level, like I found Stendhal’s idea of the novel as a mirror being carried along a roadway, but that was about it.

My religious education, and maybe natural inclination to fight it out, never really let me believe that, in this life, we are just subjects to some uncaring game of chance.

The other day this notion popped back into my mind and I was thinking: What would it be like if destiny was indeed blind? Then it would take away any kind of responsibility from our part and we could just throw our hands in the air and say: Out of my power, it is destiny’s business.

Life is not like that though, although I understand it, I totally get the idea that it would be nice to just give up responsibility and let somebody else or something else carry the burden for a while.

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This idea is exemplified beautifully by some people in Romania who have come to believe that it was better when we were under communism. Not sure about better, but it was indeed a lot easier.

The State gave you a place to live, tiny, but you had somewhere to call home, you had a job, there was not too much food but you were not actually starving, you did not have the freedom to do much, so most often you did not do anything, so yeah it was indeed easy.

Life was easier because the responsibility was taken from you and the state infantilized you. But do we want that? Or is it better as the French say Plutôt mourir debout que de vivre à genoux! ? (Side note: I checked on that saying and it seems the first time it was said it was in Spanish.)

I honestly do not know what is best, but back to our blind destiny.

I do not think we are subject to a blind destiny, I agree there are things that happen that are out of our control, but that being said, I think that most often we are the ones that are blind to our own destiny and do not take the paths that are open to us.

Choice which can indeed make us think that we are not in control, but it is a false, maybe easy and comforting, way out.

Being a human is so interesting, we open to so many things, subject to so many things, able of so many things, so fragile but yet so resilient, very interesting. I love it to be fair with all its pros and cons.

While writing this post about the blind destiny a tarot card image popped into my mind, the eight of swords:

A good representation, I think, of this notion, you believe you are stuck, that your hands are tied and your eyes blindfolded, that you are a prisoner in a no exit situation, but if you set yourself free, open your eyes, you would see that you can actually just walk out and find your path.

Isn’t this a beautiful example of how archetypes come together from different sources? Books, tarot, our minds?

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I recommended The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg to somebody recently and they asked me ‘What is it about?’.

I don’t usually do a lot of explanations so my reply was a one liner ‘Women stuff!’

And it truly is a book about women stuff, but it must be defined what women stuff is.

Women stuff in this instance encompasses such wide themes, that I feel I might have made a disservice to the book by labelling it as such. Therefore I want to set the record straight.

The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg is a highly entertaining read and it touches on themes of becoming, relationships, betrayal and revenge.

I really enjoyed it, it has some spicy bits too for those of us more spicy inclined, but the spiciness does not deter from the story, it completes it because it is a natural part of the characters’ relationships.

I have the sequel to this book, but I am not reading it now, I like to drag things on.

Once I have read that I will let you know if I liked it or not.

As a general rule though, Camilla Läckberg is interesting to read and the stories draw you in. I am quite a fan of Scandinavian writers and have been reading them for some time.

Camilla Läckberg has quite a few bestsellers under her belt and has established herself as a solid author.

I have read some of the books in the Fjällbacka series and enjoyed them a lot.

So, if you are a fan of the Nordic Noir genre Camilla Läckberg does it justice with her very unusual and interesting stories.

They are the best kind of women stuff!

I am reading this book. A most interesting book. But, it has to be said, not an entertaining book.

It is a book I am fascinated with. The work that went into it is superhuman, I am in awe of the author and all that they have put in it. I wish I could just read this book and be done with it, but I can’t. If I spend too much time reading it I fall asleep, despite my fascination with it.

That happens because it is an intellectual exercise. I need to focus my mind to read it, it does not just flow through me making me want to see what happens next, or being written in a way that is just so enjoyable that I cannot wait to pick it up.

I am fascinated by this book, and I am sure I will finish it at some point, I just find it amusing, how, to be able to go on reading it I need to combine it with some other more readable books.

This gap in readability became really obvious to me when I finished another book I was reading in parallel to this one, and I was toying with the idea of not starting any other, just forcing myself to focus on this one to finish it once and for all.

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But then … I woke up on Sunday, made my coffee and was thinking about my morning read, and was confronted with the idea of that heavy, demanding book. I told myself no, no, no I need something entertaining.

I have in my library many books, many books by the same authors, and some by authors that I never read and I just pick up because something about them draws me in. The blurb, the descriptions, the cover, can be anything.

So, the book I picked up is by Peter Swanson, Every Vow You Break, I never read anything by him before, but judging by this book I think I most definitely will.

The book captured my attention from the beginning, which was so nice. Often I need to read a bit before the story can draw me in, but this one didn’t and so far I am enjoying it a lot. Feels like a tall glass of cold water on a hot day! Gulp, gulp, gulp!

This made me realize even more the difference between interesting books and entertaining books. An entertaining book you read because it brings you instant joy, an interesting book you read because it brings you the joy of discovery, an intellectual kind of joy that you need to work for.

I think both are hugely important and valuable, and I am so happy and grateful that I can have them all as my companions.

Sometimes I wonder if I am not dragging the interesting book on purpose, so it does not end, because when it ends that will be it, I will not longer be able to immerse myself into its world having to work hard at building it in my imagination.

Who knows, the human mind is such an intricate thing!

Wouldn’t it be great if my book was interesting and entertaining? I would love it if I were able to do that, to make it like that …

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While reading, sometimes, I cannot help but be in awe of the ability and style of the author. Of course I wish I could be that good, write that well, have that amazing vocabulary etc. I assume it is just natural to be jealous when somebody is so great at something that you yourself aspire to do.

The good thing about writing is that the work is available for everybody to read and therefore learn from, because every time we read a great author for sure we learn from them, while also borrowing bits and pieces of their work, style, words.

This reminded me of a funny story from when I was young. Now, I do not know for sure if it is an urban myth or it actually happened, but the story in itself is quite fun, so I decided to share it with you. A window to another world.

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In post-communist Romania most people, or at least people at my family’s level, did not have a lot of money. The money we had went on food, utilities and that was it, no little luxuries.

During that time, there was an author that became extremely popular among the women of the nation. Sandra Brown.

I have no idea how popular she was in the US or other places, but funny enough, in Romania she was widely read. For those that do not know her, Sandra Brown is the author of many, many books (around 70 says Wikipedia), easy reads, with certain explicit scenes, but not trashy I do not think.

I have not read one in more than 25 years, but from what I remember they were not trashy, they were very readable and maybe a bit scandalous for the women in that area and that culture. Maybe that was their appeal.

I was not allowed to read them, but when did that stop anyone? I would read my mother’s books when she was not looking. I was very curious to know what made all those women so entranced with reading them.

As I said money was tight, so they could not afford to buy books. What they did was set up a type of sharing book club. They would borrow the books to one another so more of them could read them, and then they would meet in tiny communist apartment kitchens and discuss them while hiding from their husbands. I am pretty sure the husbands would have been scandalized had they known what they obedient and quiet wives were doing.

I remember that my mom would sometimes even borrow books from the book shop, she had a friend selling there, and then, after reading them she would take them back and on the shelf they went for sale.

So great was the passion of Romanian women for Sandra Brown that, at some point, a local talent took on the alias of Sanda Bran (Smart, no? This could actually be a Romanian name) and started to write short stories for some women magazines.

I never actually read anything by her, I just remember reading her story somewhere, so I do not know much, but I found it so interesting and it got me thinking about imitating the masters.

It is widely accepted that we all go through it until we find our own voice, and it is even encouraged to some extent as it gets you writing and it gets the ball rolling. I found very endearing the fact that somebody would go so far as to try to find a Romanian sounding name to match that of the author they admired.

Unless it is one of those Adibas things when you want to fool people.

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Sometime back, I read the story of a wanna be poet that was working to survive and in his spare time he would write poetry. His poems caught the attention of the right people and he gained a certain degree of fame. He started giving talks and doing all sorts of appearances.

All these, sadly, were not paid engagements. The poet started to neglect his day job and in the end he was fired. Without a job he could not live in the place where he had found his fame, so he had to go back to his old town.

Pam-pam- pam. Cautionary tale alert!

I found this interesting and it made me think about the large numbers of us that just dream Only if I could write all day! and not work- work for a living.

I am thinking that this kind of longing can, after a certain degree, hurt us, as it leads to dissatisfaction with the life we have. And until we build another, this is the only one we can master and enjoy.

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I remember reading about Stephen King, how he wrote while working in the laundry room of a hotel. Or Haruki Murakami writing every night after returning from a demanding bar job. Or, as I was writing the other day about Diane Thomas, who wrote Romancing the Stone while waitressing. And this kind of stories abounds.

Yeah, we also have the stories like that of Harper Lee, who was gifted a year’s salary so she can take time to write, but these are mostly the exception than the rule.

It is difficult to write when you have a full time job and are juggling all the responsibilities of being a human being. It is not hopeless though, and although it might make you slower or it might be more difficult for you, as long as you keep at it, the satisfaction and joy of creating will nevertheless be there.

Maybe we will not all become JK Rowling or Stephen King, but we can all still write in our own, discrete way and enjoy the craft.

I find it that often, when you are too demanding with yourself, you can cause yourself to stress so much that you get blocked and cannot create anymore. I think we should just enjoy the process and the creating and as the song says… Que sera, sera.

Do what you can, with what you have and always take care of yourself in the process.

If you need to work, work and make the most of it. Set time aside for writing, if this is important for you. Make sure to listen to your body when it asks for rest or understanding. Keep it simple!

Be compassionate and good to yourself. If you are ok, the writing will be ok.

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From time to time, my mind goes back to a book I read a long time back. It starts like a small memory spark and then it slowly grows into a full, fledged desire to go back to the book, to read it or just browse through it. I tried to understand why I do this, when I have so many books yet to read.

I think there are various reasons for why we do it, as I am not alone. Of course, it might be a corner stone book in our development, but I think it also has to do with the time in our life when we have read that book. We are trying to capture a feeling, to bring it back and try to recreate it in our today life.

I can remember even now the way I felt when I read The Thompson Travel Agency by Jules Verne (only a lot later I found out it was actually written by Michel Verne, Jules Verne’s son). Or the fascination Michel Zévaco awoke in me for historic novels.

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Now, I am a different person than I was more than 25 years ago when I was reading these books, and when I read them I cannot feel the same as I did then, but it does brighten the memory a bit, it refreshes it and in a strange way, it brings myself back to me.

The dreams and hopes I had then are fresher in my mind. The image of the person I was then is more vivid. It helps me look at myself now and be grateful for what I have accomplished and that I have survived.

A recent book that sprung to mind is a novel written by a Romanian author in 1920. The novel is called Ion and the author is Liviu Rebreanu. I read it when I was in high-school as it is required reading, so around 17 years of age. I read it because I had to, but I remember that I found it quite interesting and some bits of it stuck with me.

The book is the story of Ion (John) and the people populating his world. Ion lives in a small village and comes from a not so well to do family. He is desperate to have more land and sets his sights on Ana, the daughter of a rich man in the village. From here drama and tragedy ensues.

I only remembered bits and pieces of it and when we got to Romania I said I want to find it and read it. Funny enough it was not quite easy to find, but I did manage and now I have started to read it again.

I find it fascinating how much of it I have forgotten. If somebody had asked me if I read it I would have said yes, because I did, but I must confess that I have forgotten a lot of it.

It is much better written than I remember and Rebreanu has a delightful way of turning the phrases. For example: Night rose from its hiding, strangling the last battling rays of light. (Noaptea se inalta din ascunzisuri, sugrumand cele din urma zvarcoliri de lumina.) The translation is mine, so might be a better one is available, but still I think you understand what I mean. Really evocative descriptions.

The book is intense, it is about greed, suicidal ideation, assault and many of the dark aspects of human nature. Reading it I wonder if it is actually appropriate as required reading for budding humans, but maybe it is, maybe it works as an artistic warning about what can happen.

I honestly think I enjoy it much more now, when I have some life experience, than I did when I was told to read it and learn it for school. It might even be more than enjoyment, I think it is understanding. I understand it better now and I am able to actually appreaciate it.

Going back to books from our formative years for sure often has a self-discovery purpose and even of better self-understanding, because they help us asses who we are now compared to who we were then.

What is one of the books that lingers in your memory?

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‘Joyful failure’ is an idea I have found in yet another book by the wonderful David D. Burns, MD. The book is called Feeling Great. Dr. Burns’ books are like lovely, old friends I go back to from time to time, just because I like to keep in touch and it is comforting to know they are there for me, whenever I feel the need to read a few encouraging pages.

I liked this idea that you can find joy in failing, in seeing it as a process of learning, a means to get you to your goal. Although from I ‘like’ to I ‘accept’ and ‘internalize’ is a long, long way.

In a distorted way, I always had this idea that talented writers just sit down to write, and everything they write is wonderful from the first time they put it on paper. Somehow, it never crossed my mind that they work at it and struggle and create draft, after draft, or that they do extensive edits. I thought that, magically, they just create these outstanding works of art from the get go.

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I am finding out that is rarely the case, and I am working to change my mind and make it understand that it is ok to make mistakes, to create a structure and then build on it, to make changes, to strike out and to add things.

To find joy in failure by failing mindfully and learning from each time you fail.

To push through even when you feel like you are walking on quicksand and you could sink at every step.

To enjoy the process and the work in itself (of course I am talking about writing, but it can be anything).

To understand that the work is never done, that it can always be made better, or sometimes even worse.

I have always hoped for a mentor, somebody to guide me, to teach me how to be a writer, but that person never materialized, so I had to navigate all my uncertainties and fears by myself, reading books. Giving up writing more often than I gave up cigarettes, picking it up again when I could not bear not writing, being my most compassionate supporter and my most hurtful critic.

The journey continues, and over time, it has started to transform from mostly struggle to also small wins, and learning that failure is a natural part of the process has played a big part in it.

Sometimes people like to joke that Romanians are the poster children of ‘good enough’, that often we are ok with middle of the road solutions, not really struggling for anything better. I am not sure about that, most Romanians I know are quite strict and aim for things to be done in a very particular sort of way. So that might be just a legend, a bit like Dracula. (Sorry could not help it! Oh well, not that sorry!)

I digress!

Joyful failure. Joy in failing. The joy of failing. The satisfaction of giving it your best shot, learning from the attempt, getting to know the process and becoming better at it with each new attempt.

Yeah, I can see the joy in failing like that!

It is so great to feel old, hurtful ideas shattering in my head and being transformed into kinder, more compassionate ones.

My mind becoming my friend and not my critic.

I suppose this is what it looks like when failure builds you up.

Joyful!

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