WELCOME 2021
2020 was definitely not a year to remember, nor one to forget.
I missed uncovered smiling faces, visits with people, hugs.
I became sad and angry when I watched the news or read the paper…too much political angst, too many obituaries for people I knew.
I am glad that family and friends survived the year and await a vaccine.
I have a new calendar with dates for meetings and travel penciled in—rescheduled family wedding, reunions, community celebrations and trips.
So Happy New Year my friends!
As 2020 was coming to an end, I escaped into three books by favorite authors:
Moonflower Murders: A Novel by Anthony Horowitz
Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married.
One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, on that very crime.
The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.
Readers are given two books in one in this clever English crime. I immediately sent my copy to my sister as a New Year’s read!
London, 1950. The city is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolmarm and spinster, is trying to get through life. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist—the golden beetle of New Caledonia.
When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty in her tight-fitting pink suit and pompom sandals seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British ladies find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.
Many laugh out loud moments good lessons on human nature, as Miss Benson follows her dream.
Precious Ramotswe loves her dependable old van. Yes, sometimes it takes a bit longer to get going now, and it has developed some quirks over the years, but it has always gotten the job done. This time, though, the world—and Charlie—may be asking too much of it, for when he borrows the beloved vehicle he returns it damaged. And, to make matters worse, the interior seems to have acquired an earthy smell that even Precious can’t identify.
Charlie has rescued a baby elephant. A distant relative, Blessing, asks for help with an ailing cousin. And there is no peace at home, either, as the new neighbors are airing their marital grievances rather loudly. As always this series gives insight into characters as Mma Ramotswe confidently finds solutions to all of these difficulties, with kindness, grace, and logic.
As I read “Best Books of 2020” lists, my stack of books grew, some were moved into “To Be Read ASAP”, some were added to “Place a Hold at the Library”. Now I am looking ahead to 2021 and excited to post blog entries as I RESOLVE (To Continue) TO READ.
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