"Midwinter Murder" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills, this is a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie that are all set in a specific season.

I'd previously read only one story in this, "Christmas Adventure," which stars Hercule Poirot.  He's in several other stories, and there are also some with Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, and some other semi-regular characters of Christie's.

Aside from that one, which I like a lot, my favorite stories were "The Manhood of Edward Robinson," which had a lovely twist, and "The World's End," which delighted me with the way it ended.

The subtitle to this book is "Fireside Mysteries from the Queen of Crime," and these stories are absolutely as cozy as that implies.  I'm really glad I picked up all four of these seasonal Christie collections, and I'm looking forward to the spring and summer editions!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for murder, mild innuendo here and there, and a couple instances of mild cussing.

This is my 35th book read for my fourth Classics Club list.

Interviewed on Almost an Author

Want to read an interview with me that Donna Jo Stone shared today on her blog, Almost an Author?  Here's a link.  We chatted about the unique challenges and strengths of writing fairy tale retellings and writing for a YA audience.  Hope you enjoy it!

Top Ten Tuesday: It's About Time

This week's prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl for Top Ten Tuesday is "Books Set in Another Time."  I'm using that to talk about my ten favorite historical fiction books.

I think of historical fiction as fiction set during a time before the author's adult life.  For instance, an author born in 1930 who writes about the 1950s isn't writing historical fiction... but if they write about the 1850s, or even the 1930s, then it's historical fiction.  (For another example, Jane Austen's books are not historical fiction because she wrote about the early 1800s while she was living in the early 1800s.)

So!  Here are my top ten favorite works of historical fiction, along with links to my reviews and a little info into when and where they are set:

1. Shane by Jack Schaefer (1889, Wyoming)

2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows (post-WWII, Great Britain)

3. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (1915, Great Britain)

4. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss (Medieval England)

5. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1751, Scotland)

6. Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George (1920s, USA)

7. Up from Dust by Heather Kaufman (c. 30 AD, Judea)

8. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (Medieval England)

9. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (1700s Morocco, France, and England)

10. A Flame in the Dark by Sarah Baughman (1500s, Germany)

Have you read any of these?  Any here that surprise you?

Or, did you do a Top Ten Tuesday post this week?  Please share in the comments!

"Hey, Jude Carpenter" by Storm Shultz

This is such a sweet middle-grade retelling of Romeo and Juliet! It's set in a small town that has two Baptist churches. There was a split in the congregation ten years earlier, with Jude's family on one side and Mona's on the other.

Jude Carpenter's family run a dairy farm, and it's in financial trouble.  Not to mention, his older brother just broke up with his girlfriend.  Things are getting pretty stressful.  But there's a bright spot in his life: his new friend, Mona.  But his mom doesn't like Mona's family, so she tells Jude to un-friend Mona.

Mona Montgomery loves to read, sing Beatles songs, and help people.  She was best friends with an older cousin until that cousin goes to college, and now Mona is pretty lonely.  She has fun hanging out with Jude, though, and dearly wants to help his family keep their farm.

This is such a great look at the power of God to heal divisions and lift up heavy hearts.  Martin Luther once said that every Christian is meant to show the face of Jesus to those around them, and that is just what Jude and Mona do -- their friendship and kindness has a powerful influence on their families, even though they're "only" middle-schoolers!

There's a tiny bit of romance in this, with Jude and Mona talking about maybe wanting to date when they are older, and they do hold hands and exchange a cute and awkward little first kiss.  Their relationship was entirely age-appropriate and godly.  But if your kids aren't quite interested in the opposite sex yet, they might not love that part of the book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  It's good and lovely and sweet and wholesome.

"A Run at Love" by Toni Shiloh

Even though this is my first time reading a book by Toni Shiloh, I think I'm going to start a new tradition of reading one of her books the week of Valentine's Day every year.  (But also here and there in between when I feel like reading some really good, romantic Christian fiction.)  I had such a great time with A Run at Love -- due in no small part to the book revolving around horses, but also because Shiloh balanced the character development and the pacing and the plot so well.  

I've mentioned before that I don't care for romance-driven plots, but I do love plot-driven romances.  This was the latter, and I really enjoyed it.  Even though it's the second book in a trilogy, and I have not read the previous book, I never felt lost.  So well done!  I'm looking forward to finding the other two books!

In A Run at Love, Piper McKinney is battling her worries over breaking away from her parents' very successful and high-profile stables to start her own racing stable.  She's also dealing with a lot of stress from always feeling like she's in a spotlight because she's one of the few African-American racing stable owners.  Not to mention, she was adopted from Africa when she was a toddler... by a white couple living in a small Kentucky town that is pretty much entirely populated by white people.  Piper isn't insecure about her race, knowing her true worth comes from being a child of God... but sometimes she worries that people are paying more attention to the color of her skin than to her potential-champion race horse, Dream.

Piper's also battling her attraction to her best friend, Tucker Hale.  What she doesn't know is, Tucker is also expending extreme energy battling his own attraction to her!  And just when I was beginning to think, "Please don't let this author spin this unrequited love thing out any longer!" they admitted their feelings, and spent the rest of the book as a couple.  Whew.  

Piper buys Dream as a colt and hires Tucker to train him hoping they can enter Dream in the Kentucky Derby.  They win some races.  They lose some races.  And then a huge scandal erupts around Piper's parents' racing stables, and not only is Piper's future in horseracing in jeopardy, but her future with Tucker might be too.  Together, they need to rely on God to help them survive and even thrive in the midst of so much chaos.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for lots of swoony kisses and flirting and hand-holding, but nothing more.  Piper and Tucker were both committed to never getting into a situation where they could be tempted to "anticipate their wedding vows," as the Victorians would put it.  No cussing, no violence, but some discussions of sick horses needing to be euthanized that could be problematic for sensitive or young readers.  

"Eragon" by Christopher Paolini

All three of my teens got into the Inheritance Cycle last year, and they really want to read Murtagh, but I said I had to read it first (because hey, I'm the one who bought that new release hardcover copy, after all!), but then I realized I need to reread the series.  Because I finished reading the original series in 2011 when Inheritance was released, and that is a looooooooooooong time ago.  I mean, my youngest kid wasn't even born yet when that book came out, and now she's a teenager.

So, for my #25fo25 challenge of 25 specific books I want to read this year, I picked these four books and Murtagh so I would be sure to read them in a timely fashion. 

My favorite character in this series is Roran Stronghammer.  He's barely in this book.  I did not remember that at all, so yeah... that was kind of a bummer.  I do love Brom too, though.  He's got such acerbic sass and mad skills -- how would I not love Brom?

Anyway, as original stories go, Eragon is an enjoyable one.  A Chosen One who is unaware of their chosen status until Weird Things Start Happening, who first reject and then embrace their specialness -- it's a timeless story.  Which is why we have been using it as a storytelling framework for thousands of years.  

My one quibble with this book is how quickly they make soup.  Repeatedly, characters will throw some foodstuffs in a pot, wait until the water boils, announce, "Soup is ready!" and then eat it.  Um.  Um.  I guess that's soup, but it's not going to be good soup.  Even pasta has to boil for more than 5 minutes to be done.  And you're tossing chunks of meat and root vegetables in that pot and assuming they're done as soon as they have come to a boil?  I worry for Eragon's gut health.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to rereading the rest of the series :-D

Particularly Good Bits:

"Keep in mind that many people have died for their beliefs; it's actually quite common.  The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe" (p. 197).

"Find peace in where and what you are" (p. 429).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence.  Nothing gory, but not stuff for little kids, either.  One or two mild cuss words.  No smut.

"The Ark" by Margot Benary-Isbert

I read The Ark several times as a teen -- our rural North Carolina library had it and the sequel, Rowan Farm.  I still remember they were both bound in that weird orange hardcover binding that library books so often got rebound into when their original covers wore out.

I actually tried to find this book again every now and then as an adult, because I remembered loving it.  But I didn't remember the author's name, or the name of the sequel.  Do you know how hopeless it is to search the internet for a book called The Ark that is NOT about Noah???  Pretty hopeless.

And then one day, a few months ago, a new acquaintance casually mentioned that Purple House Press had released this book.  I went tingly with hope.  Was this the same book called The Ark that I remembered???  I investigated.  It certainly sounded like the same book!  So, I ordered it, and the sequel.  And then, over the past few weeks, I read The Ark aloud to my kids.  And it is definitely the same book I remember from thirtyish years ago!!!

The Ark is about a mother and her four children in postwar Germany of the late 1940s.  They are refugees from Pomerania (a region of Germany next to Poland) living in West Germany and waiting for their father to be released from a Russian prisoner-of-war camp in Siberia.  Matthias and Margret, the oldest siblings, find work at a farm outside the town where they have been relocated.  They gradually fix up an old train car on the farm for the whole family to live in.  Meanwhile, their mother takes in sewing to help support the family, and younger siblings Andrea and Joey attend school and make friends and have adventures.

This is an amazingly heartwarming and hope-filled book, especially considering it is based on the author's own experiences after WWII.  As soon as I finished reading this book aloud, my kids insisted I begin reading the sequel right away instead of reading something else in between.

Particularly Good Bits:

"Well, what about you, Margret?" Mother asked, taking her daughter's hands in hers.  As she did so, she felt how hard and rough those delicate child's hands had become.  But this did not trouble her; she knew that calloused hands are good for getting a firm grip on life" (p. 163).

The human beings, too, withdrew within the house and within the shell of their own selves.  After the intense activity of summer and hares there followed the time of quiet contemplation, of gathering forces, though within it the stirrings of the next spring were already present (p. 210).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for discussions of death (including a sibling who died during the war), war, and imprisonment that might be too intense for young readers.  No cussing, smut, or on-page violence.

This is my 34th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.  It's also the first book finished from my #25for25 list.

So Dawn Goes Down to Day: January 2025 Inklings

My friend Heidi at Along the Brandywine has gotten her wonderful monthly link-up series going again!  She's letting the January edition linger into the first week or so of February, so I am not too late to join.  Whew!  I used to participate in this a few years ago, sometimes on this blog and sometimes on my movie blog, and it was always fun.

Since this is my first time participating in a long time, I'll repost the rules here so you understand how it works.

Rules: 

1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back here in your post. 

2. Make sure to come back and leave a link to your entry in the box on this post. That's it!

The first prompt for 2025 is A scene at sunrise.  I'm choosing a quiet, but powerful moment from one of my absolute favorite books, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.  Two teenage boys from the poor side of Tulsa, Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, are hiding out in the countryside because they think they're wanted for murder, and they wake up one morning to something that amazes them.

One morning I woke up earlier than usual.  Johnny and I slept huddled together for warmth -- Dally had been right when he said it would get cold where we were going.  Being careful not to wake Johnny up, I went to sit on the steps and smoke a cigarette.  The dawn was coming then.  All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds.  The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line.  The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold.  There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose.  It was beautiful.

"Golly" -- Johnny's voice beside me made me jump -- "that sure was pretty."

"Yeah."  I sighed, wishing I had some paint to do a picture with while the sight was still fresh in my mind.

"The mist was what was pretty," Johnny said.  "All gold and silver."

"Uhmmmm," I said, trying to blow a smoke ring.

"Too bad it couldn't stay like that all the time."

"Nothing gold can stay."  I was remembering a poem I'd read once.

(Chapter 5)

And then Ponyboy recites the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."  When I read this book the first time at age 14, I promptly memorized that poem so I could recite it at the drop of a hat, just like Ponyboy.  It's such a quiet scene, but filled with amazing imagery.  All the hope and promise of the future are wrapped up in that sunrise, and here stand these two tough kids who are sure their futures will be anything but hopeful and promising, but they glory in that sunrise anyway.

The 1983 film version of The Outsiders is one of the best book-to-movie adaptations ever, so I'll leave you with this shot of that scene in the movie.

"A Study in Scarlet" (Manga Classics) by Arthur Conan Doyle (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and Julien Choy (art)

FINALLY!  The Manga Classics folks are releasing new titles again, and the fact that their first new release in several years is a Sherlock Holmes novel fills me with absolute glee.  Especially since they are promising more Holmes mangas to come.

Y'all know I am a devoted Sherlockian.  I've loved the canon since I was in my very early teens, and I have read quite a number of pastiches and watched a lot of movies and shows based on the characters and books.  I can be a bit picky about how Holmes and Watson are portrayed -- Watson needs to be intelligent, Holmes needs to have an inner core of kindness and decency, and their friendship needs to feel genuine.  Happily, this manga version of A Study in Scarlet hits all those notes.

One thing I especially liked was how young they portrayed Holmes and Watson.  They should be in their mid-to-late 20s, and I think they hit that range really well.  Watson should be just a trifle older than Holmes, but less world-weary.  Mrs. Hudson is shown to be younger than I usually see her portrayed, but I don't recall anything in the canon talking about how old she is, so it's entirely possible she's not middle-aged or beyond the way she is usually cast in film adaptations.

Doyle's original novel is basically split into two halves, and I think Crystal S. Chan did a great job here of making the story feel more like one whole narrative instead.

Oh, and this manga is in full color!  The previous Manga Classics books have been black and white, so this is a really interesting and fun change.  I wonder if it's only the Sherlock Holmes titles that will be in color, or if their upcoming release of King Lear will be as well?

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a couple of old-fashioned cuss words and for discussing murder, including showing dead bodies and people being killed.  Nothing too gory.  Polygamy gets very briefly mentioned too.