Tuesdays Tomes: A Vintage Romance: To Have and To Hold by Mary Johnston

Tuesdays Tomes: weekly book reviews. Read a good book lately? Blog about it and add your book review post in the Linky below. The Linky will now stay open for a week so join in anytime.

Set in Jamestown, Virginia in 1621 this best selling novel of 1900 tells a rollicking good story- the tale of Mistress Jocelyn Leigh and Captain Ralph Percy. They meet on the day that a ship has brought –for the purpose of marriage -a load of women to Jamestown. Here’s how they meet:

“As I neared…there came to my ears the sound of a man’s voice, and then a woman’s angry “Begone, sir!’

‘Kiss and be friends,’ said the man.

…I was not surprised on parting the bushes, to find the man nursing his cheek and the maid her hand.

‘You shall pay well for that, you sweet vixen!’ he cried, and caught her by both wrists.

She struggled fiercely, bending her head this way and that, but his hot lips had touched her face before I could come between.

When I knocked him down he lay where he fell, dazed by the blow…I knew him to be one Edward Sharpless and I knew no good of him…

Her dark eyes, glancing here and there like those of a hunted creature, met my own.

‘Madam,’ I said, ‘will you marry me?’

Upon arriving at his homestead, she quickly informs him that she has no intention of actually acting like a wife…she expects to be treated as an honored guest! But don’t think that this is a rehash of Taming of the Shrew-it isn’t. It’s a ripping good adventure story with one exciting adventure after another. And it is a lovely romance!

This contemporary review sums it up well: from the March 3, 1900 New York Times’ Notes and News; Books and their Makers, “Things happen, important things, stirring things and many of them in rapid succession.”

There are several historical characters thrown into the story, including John Rolfe (husband of Pocahontas), and Opechancaoungh (Powhatan chief after Pocahontas’ father).

Fascinated by Jamestown since childhood, I thoroughly enjoyed this historical romance. I got so into the story that I didn’t just listen to it while sewing or working out…I listened just to listen. I don’t think that if I had picked this book up to read, I would have ever given it a chance. I think that I would have been put off by the faux archaic language and the multiple descriptions of tall pine forests , but it was exceedingly pleasant to listen to. (The same thing happened to me with Bleak House-I could never read Bleak House but I did enjoy listening to it.)

Tom Weiss is a delightful reader. He has a very pleasant voice and he has his own website -http://www.tomsaudiobooks.com/ - with several audio books for free download. Best of all, you can also listen to one of his audiobooks straight from his website without downloading. It’s the perfect way to try out a book or listen to a short story. All of the books are also available through Librivox.

You can download this free audiobook here or you can download this free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

Tuesday's Tomes: Vintage Book Review: The Mystery of the Hansom Cab plus photos of historic Melbourne

My love of vintage goes beyond collecting (and DH!) and includes reading and/or actually listening to vintage books. At Librivox.org I have an unlimited supply of audiobooks to feed my habit…and they’re all free.(All Librivox books are in the public domain.)

I thought I’d start a new regular feature on my blog. I’ll report on my latest vintage read on Tuesdays and call it Tuesday’s Tomes.

I’d love it if you’d like to join in and tell about a vintage or new book that you’ve enjoyed so I’m thinking of adding a Linky at the bottom. How does that sound? Think it a good idea? I think the best book recommendations come from friends.

The first book I would like to tell you about is The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume.

Written in 1886 this self-published first novel by Fergus Hume went on to become an international best seller and he a best selling author…and it is easy to understand why. A compelling mystery, sympathetic characters and just enough hints to keep you guessing about what hasn’t been revealed yet make for a fun read. There’s a wonderful additional bonus: an introduction to 19^th century Melbourne with lots of place and street names.

The book opens, “The following report appeared in the Argus newspaper of Saturday, the 28^th July, 18- Truth is said to be stranger than fiction, and certainly the extraordinary murder which took place in Melbourne on Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, goes a long way towards verifying this saying.”

And we’re off…

The facts of the murder are told through reports in the Argus, and by the testimony at the inquest (beautifully written-you really feel that you’re sitting in court!). We soon meet Mr. Gorby, the detective and Mrs. Hableton, the murdered man’s (“all men are brutes”)landlady and while its not until the 7^th chapter that we are introduced to our hero and heroine, Brian Fitzgerald and Madge Fettlby, we have already been immersed in the real hero of this book: Melbourne: from Russell and Collins to St. Kilda and off to Powlett Street we tour old Melbourne.

I totally loved this book and highly recommend it. (Spoiler alert! don’t read the author’s preface). This librivox audiobook was entertainingly read by Sibella Denton.

And to get you in the mood, here are some pictures of historic Melbourne.

The Argus Building: from where our first news of the murder emanates...

The Burke and Wills Monument: where the hansom cab picked up its passenger...
Fitzroy Gardens: where an important clue is found.

You can download this free audiobook here or download the free e-book in pdf. or Kindle format here.

Book Review: Exit Music by Ian Rankin

This is the last in the Inspector Rebus novels and the first that I have ever read. I know this is coming at this a bit backward but I’m not upset at all…I don’t think I really would like to read another.

I know these books are very popular…the book told me so: on the cover: Number One Bestseller and at the end of the book, well, 16 pages of Reading Group Notes including a bio of the author (he’s an OBE and his books have been translated in 30 languages), a list of discussion of points about all of the Rebus books and then a plot summary and discussion points on this specific book!.

So why am I bucking the trend…well, I’m not sure I am. Maybe if I had read the earlier books I would have enjoyed this more. It is very well written and it moves quickly (it was great reading it on the treadmill-the time just flew by). Maybe DI Rebus just needed to grow on me.

As it is, the 418 pages of complicated possibilities as to who murdered the poet and why, and other mayhem related to that murder (or not), was very interesting and then the whole was cleared up, rather prosaically too, in less than 30 pages-with nothing related to the previous complicated possibilities! (That’s a spoiler but what can I do!) That is what turned me off.

This is my twelfth and last book review for the 2009 Support Your Public Library Challenge. Happy New Year!

Book Review: The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

In this clever literary mystery, a wonderful first novel by Matthew Pearl, a Dante scholar and Harvard professor, 19th century Boston is brought to life. Soon after the end of the Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translated Dante’s work into English with the help of some of his friends and fellow poets. They met regularly to discuss and review Longfellow’s translation and dubbed themselves the Dante Club. Mr. Pearl uses this as the jumping off point for his story of how someone is killing people based on the punishments from Dante’s Inferno.

Mr. Pearl has written a wonderful cast of characters, including of course, Mr. Longfellow and fellow poets, James Russell Lowell and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (the father not the Chief Justice!) taken from history but also Mr. Rey, as the first Black police officer in Boston, Mr. Bachi as an Italian immigrant and Mr. Camp as a Pinkerton detective-using them to discuss issues of race, immigration and corruption in the 19th century.

This beautifully written novel gets off to a ripping start with a scary “Caution to the Reader” preface by C. Lewis Watkins in wonderful mocumentary style!

I enjoyed this book very much and I’m looking forward to reading Mr. Pearl’s second novel, “The Poe Shadow”.

This is my 11th book review for the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge.

2009 Support Your Local Library Book Review 2: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult


This book centers on the shooting in a high school by a disaffected student and explores the idea of what drives a student to do such a horrible deed. She explores the relationships amongst the teenagers-including their past. This is a small town and most of the high schoolers have always been in school together.

From Jodi Picoult’s website:
“In Sterling, New Hampshire, 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of Sterling’s residents. “

The main problem is that Picoult is clearly much more comfortable portraying adults than teenagers and so while the portraits of the parents of the students have depth and are believable, the students themselves are not fully developed and you can’t really understand anyone’s actions-certainly not to the point of murder.

Here’s an odd little thing: the blurb on the back of the book was very misleading…”fault lines between the high school and adult community begin to show…” Having read the whole book, I have no idea what they’re talking about! That was one of the ideas that attracted me to read the book but it simply is not in this book!

If anyone else has read this book, I would love to read your comments-I’m really still bothered by it.

This is the second book by Jodi Picoult that I have read: the first being My Sister’s Keeper. I don’t think I’ll read another-I’m actually bothered by realizing that she seems to take the central ideas of her books from the news.

2009 Support your Local Library Challenge Book Review #1: Snow Falling on Cedars

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

This book truly moved me into another time and place: a small island, San Piedro in Puget Sound in 1954. The story centers around the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto for the murder of a fellow islander fisherman but this is really mainly a device to explore the personalities and interconnected lives of the islanders-it is not your usual mystery book.

You get to know the islanders relationships in the past, including the friendships that were broken apart by the forced movement of the Japanese-American islanders inland during WWII and the current state of relationships, about salmon fishing and fishermen and even strawberry farmers!

This book won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award in 1995.

I really enjoyed this book: it is a thoughtful book and I will continue to think about the ideas raised here.

This is my first book review for the 2009 Support your Local Library Challenge .