The Start of the Year
 |
| Watching the first episode of the Vera Stanhope final season starring Brenda Brethyn as Vera. The last-ever episode is due next week for Americans (earlier in the UK). We were amused that a minor character was played by Kevin Whately, the actor who played Inspector Lewis. |
Book I’m Reading Now
 |
| The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler by Phillips Payson O’Brien. A very very long history book. |
Book I Hated
 |
| The Briar Club by Kate Quinn. |
Book I Gave Up in the Middle
 |
| How Animals Understand Death by Susana Monso. A poorly written book. I can’t figure out why I bought it. |
Book I Read on One of Our Many Plane Trips
 |
| Enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees very much. |
Blog post © 2025 mae sander
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI like watching the Vera series, I have also been watching Shetland. I have given up on a few books. Take care, have a great weekend.
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. Don't know these books but I do know Vera, although I didn't know it was coming to a close. Lots of reruns ahead and now the actors can finally rest. :)
ReplyDeleteFrankly, a lot of historical fiction reads like it was written by an early version of AI. I get frustrated with it the first time something in the story---a conversation, food eaten, a piece of furniture in the setting---doesn't jibe with the time. I hate to ring a dissonant bell but it greatly irritates me that many of these books become huge bestsellers.
ReplyDeleteOkay. End of rant.
I will look for Vera. We are not sure where we are going next with tv series and we've stepped away to do research and contemplate.
Happily my library has at least the first ten seasons of Vera.
DeleteI am also watching Vera but here in the Netherlands I have the feeling that we walk a few years behind. Nice al those book comments.
ReplyDeleteI've liked other boos by Kate Quinn but that one sounds awful. I adore Vera. Almost watched yesterday but had to catch up on Shetland, so I binged on that one. I THOUGHT that was Kevin W. in the photo before reading your caption but he's aged a bit and I wasn't sure from the angle. I will SO miss Vera -- I'll have to start again at the beginning!
ReplyDeleteMy wife loves Vera but we don't get it here in Ireland. Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2025.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a great 2025 in books! P.S. You don’t need to leave your link when commenting on my post. It’s attached to your name. 😊
ReplyDeleteI think you just saved me from wasting time on the latest Kate Quinn book. Whew. Close call. I loved The Secret Life of Bees and have often thought of reading reading it. Was this your first time through it? Here is my Sunday Salon since the linky is not set: My Sunday Salon post
ReplyDeleteI usually love Kate Quinn, but I could not get into The Briar Club. Your experience makes me think that I might not give it a second chance.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, wow,so many reading again!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed The Briar Club, I’m sorry you were so disappointed in it.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a better week of reading!
I loved The Secret Life of Bees so much!!!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome home! Hopefully you find some better books to read this year!
ReplyDeleteI thought that the "including recipes to get 'chicks' to read" books were out the door. I think I've read some of her books and enjoyed them but will steer clear of this one.
ReplyDeleteHuh, I'd heard good things about Kate Quinn's books! That's a shame.
ReplyDeleteI've never watched Vera Stanhope, I may look it up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts on these books, I was going to get a copy of the Monso book until I saw your thoughts.
I am sorry you didn't like The Briar Club. I haven't read that one yet, but I've mostly heard good things about it. It's nice to get an opposing opinion. I am glad to hear you liked The Secret Life of Bees. I really liked that one too when I read it. I hope you have a good week and Happy New Year, Mae!
ReplyDeleteGood quick reviews. LOL
ReplyDeleteI just watched the December Vera show. I am hoping that there will be more to this season.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I read The Secret Life Of Bees - so long that I almost forgot what it was about. Maybe it was different book with bees in the title?
Happy New Year, Mae! I like the different book categories and your honesty by choosing those categories.
ReplyDeleteI love that you just easily declared hating a book. Why sugar coat it, right?
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year.
Happy New Year, Mae!
ReplyDeleteI've read The Secret Life of Bees many years ago and enjoyed it very much. I remember that David wrote a post about Playing Possum and it sounded very interesting. I didn't know that after this there won't be any more Vera Stanhopr seasons. I have always enjoyed them, but we haven't watched them for a long time since we don't have TV. We watch a lot of German TV with VPN and also stream. We definitely need to renew our PBS membership.
The Vera show looks good. I think I will pass on the Kate Quinn book per your thoughts. We are listening to a similar WWII book as to the one you picture at top. It's called The Stalin Affair: The Impossible Alliance That Won the War by Giles Milton. We'll see how it goes. Happy reading.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you classified the books... I read The Secret Life of Bees a long time ago and loved it. Funny, I too have a book I often re-read when flying...
ReplyDeleteI read the Secret LIves of Bees many years ago, but I don't really remember it.I think I still have a copy of it that I should pull out and reread. I also read the Briar Club, and I didn't mind it, but I had really hoped it was more a story about the times/history than just about the ladies. Not a fan of chick-lit? I sometimes read it if I find a book that sounds good, but its' not my top type of book to read. hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteWe just watched that Vera episode last night! What a surprise seeing Whatley.
ReplyDelete