Recent Book Activity

"Books are engines of change,windows on the world, and (as a poet has said) “lighthouses erected in the sea of time.” They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print." Barbara W. Tuchman

"A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum." Henry Miller


I'm a mother of 3, grandmother of 6, and live with one cute husband - 'LaBarbe' (The Beard), two rescued cats - Albert and Ellie, both 'no-hopers' rescued from the Bergerac SPA shelter, via the Phoenix Association animal rescue group and Elsa the dog, directly from the Phoenix Association (see my home page above), a very loving, but scared dalmation/lab mix, rescued from a horrible home situation. My main passions are books, travel and animals, especially animal rescue.
July 26th, 2010 -RIP Victoria, our little Canadian cat.

We five - LaBarbe, myself, Elsa, Ellie and Bertie (pictured above) - are now enjoying life in SW France. All the books on my shelf do not necessarily reflect my taste. I also register books for LaBarbe and some of the books that come into my house destined for the Phoenix Association's fund-raising book sales or donated to the local OBCZ, that I manage.

Bluenoser: a nickname given to Nova Scotians. The origin of the name, legend has it, came from the fishermen in days gone by, who wore thick, home-made sweaters with the lanolin left in the wool and the wool dyed a traditional dark blue. The damp, fog-bound fishing grounds around the Atlantic Provinces made the fishermen's noses drip. Too busy to fuss around with hankies the fishermen wiped their noses on their cuffs and some of the dye came off the damp wool onto the end of their noses. Hence they had blue noses.

READING NOW:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larrson
Footsteps - Katherine McMahon

ON TOP OF THE TBR PILE:
The Killer of Pilgrims - Susanna Gregory
Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler

BOOKS READ IN 2012: Those marked with SIY#20 are part of the 2012 April to June SIY Challenge.
1) The Bishop Must Die - Michael Jecks
2) Watching Out - Ann Granger
3) Country Vet - Denis Farrier
4) Do Butlers Burgle Banks? - P. G. Wodehouse
5) Wycliffe and the Four Jacks - W. J. Burley
6) Railway to the Grave - Edward Marston
7) Domino - Ross King
8) The Piano Teacher - Janice Y. K. Lee
9) The Warden - Anthony Trollope
10) Blueeyedboy Joanne Harris
11) Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
12) Giotto's Hand - Iain Pears
13) The Mysterium - Paul Doherty
14) Gone, But Not Forgotten - Phillip Margolin
15) Three Men on a Plane - Mavis Cheek
16) Nelson's Daughter - Miranda Hearn
17) Tooth & Nail - Ian Rankin
18) Foreign Correspondence - Geraldine Brooks
19) A Vein of Deceit - Susanna Gregory
20) Secrets of the Heart - Elizabeth Buchan
21) Crow Lake - Mary Lawson
22) The Dante Trap - Arnaud Delalande
23) Deep Waters - Barbara Nadel
24) Remembering the Bones - Frances Itani
25) The Vizard Mask - Diana Norman SIY#20
26) Mozzarella Most Murderous - Nancy Fairbanks SIY#20
27) The Midwife of Venice - Roberta Rich SIY#20
28) The Innocent - Harlan Coben SIY#20
29) A Crowning Mercy - Bernard Cornwell/Susannah Kells SIY#20
30) Hot Money - Dick Francis SIY#20
31) The Other Side of the Bridge - Mary Lawson SIY#20
32) Death Notes - Ruth Rendell SIY#20
33) Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier SIY#20
34) The Brass Dolphin - Caroline Harvey SIY#20
35) Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon SIY#20
36) Sizzling Sixteen - Janet Evanovich SIY#20
37) Darkness and Light - John Harvey SIY#20
38) Back When We Were Grownups - Anne Tyler SIY#20
39) The Stone Carvers - Jane Urquhart SIY#20
40) Paw Tracks in the Moonlight - Denis O'Connor SIY#20
41) The Vacillations of Poppy Carew - Mary Wesley SIY#20