@jo, Fresh from the Country is a good one to start with, it is a standalone novel and a delightful sample of her writing. I haven't read the Fairacre series yet but my sister and I have been reading the Thrush Green series for the past several years and really love them, we only have a few left and while we have enjoyed some books more than others in the series we have not disliked any of them. You really need to read her series in order since the books build on each other (she does provide a little bit of a recap occasionally but I think it would be hard to not be confused if one started in the middle of a series).
I finished Early Days on Monday and loved it, am also really enjoying Letters to Malcolm, I got my mom to start reading it as well and she also likes it.
Facing the Mountain sounds very interesting, I am going to add it to my TBR. Thanks for drawing my attention to it, @jo.
"I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia." ~ Puddleglum, The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
It's fun to have a mix of new reads and rereads, @SnowAngel! How is your yearly book goal looking?
Love love loving my reading list, but I am way off my goal of 120 books, just finished book number 93 on Saturday. However I am forty-six pages from completing my 12th nonfiction read of 2024. It's not the Stonewall Jackson biography, I got two more nonfiction books from the library and I'm currently reading Return of the Strong Gods by R.R. Reno. But I am planning to finished the Stonewall bio this year even if I have to read all day on December 31st.
I finished The Marquis' Secret by George MacDonald, I love Malcolm's story arc, it's one of my all-time favorites. Right now I have bookmarks in two fiction books, one is a western by Ernest Haycox and the other is the first Dana Girls mystery...but I'm thinking about starting another George MacDonald book instead. It just seems like the right kind of reading for November with the weather being warm and sunny one day and cool and cloudy the next. It's either that or I'm going to raid my sister's Perry Mason collection, hard decision to make.
SnowAngel
Christ is King.
@Jo, well, I made it through about 140 pages, realised roughly how much of what was left was going to cover being on a raft and a Japanese POW, and have not picked it up since. Not having a desire to keep reading is not a good sign, but I'll give it a few more days; otherwise, someone else is on hold for it at the library, so maybe I'll try it again at some point in the future.
Unfortunately, given that I can't even remember which I've read, I don't have any recommendations on where to start with the Miss Read books.
Does Facing the Mountain have the same writing style as The Boys in the Boat? I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on the Mistborn series once you finish, and I hope you have a great time with the read-along of A Christmas Carol!
Glad to hear your most recent reads have been/are a success, @Narnian-in-the-North!
Hey now, that's not so bad, @SnowAngel - only 27 books to read in a little less than two months! Joking aside, it sounds like you've been enjoying quite a lot of your reads, though, which is probably better than being able to just check another book off on your tally. And congrats on another non-fiction read!
Ha, I would vote for the mystery but I hope you enjoy the next read, whatever you decide on.
Some days you battle yourself and other monsters. Some days you just make soup.
Hey now, that's not so bad, @SnowAngel - only 27 books to read in a little less than two months! Joking aside, it sounds like you've been enjoying quite a lot of your reads, though, which is probably better than being able to just check another book off on your tally. And congrats on another non-fiction read!
Ha, I would vote for the mystery but I hope you enjoy the next read, whatever you decide on.
I might have to raid the short kids book shelves to complete the book count, might even have done that once or twice in the past to finish the year.
I finished Return of the Strong Gods, it was very interesting. And I moved my nonfiction bookmark to The Age of Entitlement by Christopher Caldwell. I picked "easy" reads to finish the year out.
On the fiction front, I decided to finish the books I had already started. The western was the shorter book, so I finished it first and wasn't impressed with it, so off the shelves it goes. I'm now reading By The Light Of The Study Lamp (the Dana Girls #1), it's a lot like the Nancy Drew Mysteries. One of my sisters found the first eight books in the series at a thrift shop last year, so I think I might read more than one of them over the next couple weeks before starting another George MacDonald book.
SnowAngel
Christ is King.
Hey, children's books can be a lot of fun (and quick to get through), @SnowAngel. I'm trying to remember - did you have a separate nonfiction goal for this year and, if so, how are you doing with that?
Nice work on getting rid of another book (always a struggle)! How are you liking the Dana Girls mysteries? I've read a few and haven't been terribly impressed, though the last one I tried was the one I really felt frustrated by.
Reading has been slow over the past couple of weeks, but I've gotten through a few children's/juvenile books from the library and am currently also working on a collection of summaries of about 70 operas. The latter is requiring slower work and it's nice to balance it with the mostly lighter children's books, but I'm enjoying learning about an art form that I have only hodgepodge knowledge of otherwise.
Some days you battle yourself and other monsters. Some days you just make soup.