Book report: Murder on the Poet's Walk

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Book report: Murder on the Poet’s Walk by Ellery Adams 5

Secret passageways, a deadly mystery, and more secrets than ever make this another thrilling installment in the Book Retreat Mystery Series.

Jane Steward- Guardian, mother, and resort owner, once again finds herself struggling to protect the most precious things in her care. She has opened her resort to a writer’s competition- the winner will receive a coveted writing contract for an up-and-coming greeting card company. The competition turns deadly when guests being dying; bodies posed in ways reminiscent of poets past, and everyone at the competition is suspect.

Jane and her friends must solve the mystery, keep the remaining guests alive, and prepare for a wedding.

I often say that returning to the grounds of Storyton Hall is like visiting with an old friend and reading Murder on the Poet’s Walk is no exception. I am not generally a fan of poetry but Ellery Adams inspires me to check out some of her favourite poets, which she very helpfully lists in the back of this book.

To my talented writer friends: do you enjoy poetry? Why or why not? To readers: who are your favourite poets?

Thank you to Kensington Cozies and Ms. Ellery Adams for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication in exchange for a review.

2020 Reading Wrap up

Here is what my year in books looked like:

130 total books - 46,734 pages
112 of those were audio
15 were physical books
2 were a combination physical + audio
1 was electronic that I read on my phone

11 of those books were written by people of colour; 1 by an LGTBQ+ author; 33 were written by women.

I had several 4 and 5 star reads this year - it was hard to choose 10 top faves.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

My 2021 reading goal will include fairy tales - Grimms Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson; I am reading a couple epic series- Song of Ice and Fire (re-read) and Outlander- I'd like to dive into the next books of both these sets; and finally - more non-fiction.

Happy 2021, and happy reading!

Book report: July

I read or listened to nine books in July. 

Favourites:

Book: The New Jim Crow

Author: Michelle Alexander

Dates read: June 24-July 3

Rating: 5 stars

Review/synopsis: This is a non-fiction work about systemic racism in America as it relates to mass incarceration of African Americans. Ms. Alexander presents information about how political rhetoric shapes society's mindset and allows us to create and reinforce laws that are administered un-equally between Black and White Americans.

Book: On the Come Up

Author: Angie Thomas

Dates read: July 3-4

Rating: 5 stars

Review/synopsis: This is a work of fiction about a young Black trying to make her way - in life, in music, and as a Black American in a world that wants to push her toward its own expectations.

Book: An Unkindness of Magicians

Author: Kat Howard

Dates read: July17-19

Rating: 4 stars

Review/synopsis: Magicians are real, and their world is run quite differently from ours. As various families vie for power and control we learn of a dark history upon which their society is built.

All three of these books gave me a bit of a 'book hangover' and left me wanting more.

Reader friends: share your favourites! I've been doing read-a-longs with friends and I'm *always* on the hunt for my next favourite book.

Book review: Let Love Have the Last Word

Book: Let Love Have the Last Word
Author: Common, narrated by Common
Dates read: December 22-23, 2019

This was a powerful book about, of course, love; also the mistakes we make along the way, redemption, and shutting up when others need to speak. Common’s narration of his own story felt like peeking right into his head as he shared his struggles, his failures, and his successes as he explores what it means to really, truly let love have the last word.

I have struggled with love; loving others fully, and allowing myself to be loved. Love feels vulnerable. It feels unreliable. It feels unsafe. 

It has taken me a lot of years and a lot of work to get to a place where love is healing; where it feels reliable and safe. Common’s words reflected everything that is true and perfect about love. 

Book review: The Book of Candlelight

Book: The Book of Candlelight
Author: Ellery Adams
Dates read: January 20-29, 2020


The Book of Candlelight starts off with catastrophic events: heavy rains that blankets the town and dampens spirits, and the unexplained death of a local artist, Danny. Nora's reaction to this death is palpable - she didn't know Danny well but she feels his loss deeply. Emboldened by empathy and a desire to offer comfort, she befriends Danny's widow, Marie, and attempts to help her through the grieving process - something Nora herself is well-acquainted with.

Two newcomers to Miracle Springs, best friends Lou and Patty, are renovating a local inn. During renovation, startling facts come to light: secret passageways hidden within the walls; the damaged diary of the original proprietress, Rose Lattimer, which hints at long-past scandal. As Nora gets to know the newest residents of the community, a picture begins to emerge of a deep connection between the inn, Danny's death, and secrets the inn has held for many years.

The Secret, Book, and Scone Society friends dig into these secrets and as they do they uncover another murder, and lies among the Lattimer family - lies and pain that follow the descendants of the Lattimer family today.

As each member of the group deals with their individual pains that are surfacing around them, there is also deepening friendship among some new members of the town. Sheldon, a strange and delightful man who joins Nora at Miracle Books and brings a sense of whimsy with him; Lou and Patty, who have deeper ties to the Lattimer inn than they first realized. Marie, who needs the sort of friendship the community of Miracle Springs can offer.

While things started out seemingly bleak for the residents of Miracle Springs, there is also hope. I am reminded our deepest pains can be offset by helping others; Nora and her friends all experience sadness in their individual circumstances but they are uplifted when they work together. And together they stop a serious crime, bring justice to victims, and continue to support each other through their talents.

I was offered an advance copy of this novel for an honest review. This series continues to delight me- I enjoy the trials and the friendship demonstrated among the characters and the writing evokes feelings of visiting with old friends.

Books

A few weeks ago my mom gave me some book store gift cards; cards my dad had been given that he didn't spend. So I took myself off to the book store for some free books, courtesy of Dad.

I love book shopping. It's one of the few things I truly enjoy shopping for. It was something Dad and I did together every year at Christmas - except last year, he was too sick to go shopping. I've been to the book store without him, of course, but it was sort of our thing. He would get a coffee and I'd get hot chocolate and we would browse together, talking about our favourite authors or books we really hated. He would always buy me a book - a secret pre-Christmas gift. Not that we had anyone to keep it secret from.

I had a little cry and I missed him terribly but I got some cool books. And in the category building weird memories that don't entirely make sense, whenever I make soap I'll think of Bill and the book he bought me.

Book review: The Glass Castle

Book: The Glass Castle

Author: Jeannette Walls

Genre: Memoir

Dates read: April 3-7, 2018

It’s not often that a book will have me crying and laughing, from one sentence to the next. Jeannette Walls takes us through a life sketch that is beautifully horrifying, written in the way that people who live with dysfunction normalize those experiences.

From catching herself on fire during unsupervised cooking at age three to facing hunger, poverty, and abuse as a young woman, we are taken through her lifetime of being dragged from one place to the next by parents who refuse to put down roots.

The Walls family is nomadic at best. They suffer a father who drinks what he earns and has grandiose plans that are never realized; their mother sees herself as an artist and writer but remains direction-less and seemingly out of touch with reality. It is easy to despise the parents; while reading this I was at times enraged by their irresponsibility, their lack of planning, their disregard for social norms and basic necessities.

Rex Walls is an alcoholic; he gambles and lies, and he doesn’t take responsibility for his actions. Mary seems sweet at times, but expects her children to be grateful for what they have, when in reality they have nothing. Often living in ramshackle conditions in homes that are falling down around them, Mary refuses to work for much of the time, claiming that she can be a successful artist if she just had the time to devote to her paintings. They rarely have money for food or shoes without holes, but Dad always has cigarettes and booze and Mom always has art supplies.

As we read more about the family and Jeanette’s experiences, I am struck by her perseverance. And despite the deep flaws in her parents, I am reminded again and again that people aren’t just one thing.