I hesitate to review this book only because there‘s so many complicated,unusual characters,whose characterization is imbued by the beauty of this VT farming country.It‘s 1969 & Dec.Warren moves to Bethany VT when offered a position with the state police Almost immediately an irascible farmer is found burned to death in his barn. Was suicide? Murder? An accident? As Warren delves into the investigation,assisted by his elderly enigmatic neighbor🔽

#bookreport Feb16-22
I did not read all of these in one week!!!! Some I was just finishing up. I was home from work sick- in between sleeping, I read.
#sundaybuddyread #adventuresinphilosophy #auldlangspine #storygraphchallenges

Saturday morning read & coffee. #booksandcoffee

Starting this library book. 1969. Bethany, VT. (fictional village)
#libraryfind #VT

I am totally immersed in this daily read.

1) our car was frozen solid to the driveway- so grateful for my mechanic who got us towed out- took forever! Now it is parked in a neighboring church lot until thaw. #gratitude
2) Empath Poe by side, lap, bed while I have been home sick
3) Mornings with Madeleine L‘Engle
4) sunsets have been spectacular
5) family & friends

An example of Arendt‘s philosophy in action:

https://youtu.be/i4QVr4Ip6TU

#adventuresinphilosophy #resistance

“I started this research in a very unfocused way, looking at it from every possible angle…Really my method was I had no method. (113)
The author‘s great grandfather was a Parisian fine art collector whose apartment was seized by the Nazis in 1942.She pursues her family‘s legacy starting with just a small list of paintings.Her journey send her across Europe to museums,archives,& institutions in an attempt to establish provenance & reclaim 🔽

“Leon‘s novels have opened a window into the private Venice of her citizens,a world of incomparable beauty,high culture,family intimacy,and delicious food. But …it is also beset by shocking crime,intractable social and environmental problems,and far-reaching,insidious corruption.”
Too overwhelming for me to review, so let this quote from book‘s inside cover suffice.#serieslove2025

Poe is taking care of me-home with bronchitis. He is an empath cat. #catsoflitsy

In the midst of a decade of rejections from publishers for her books, L‘Engle turned to her china laughing Buddha that graced her writing desk.” I was very much aware that if I lost my ability to laugh,I wouldn‘t be able to write, either. Perhaps what was most helpful–… is a white China laughing Buddha which sits on my desk…he laughs at me, never with ridicule,but lovingly, tolerantly:you are taking yourself seriously aren‘t you Madeleine?What 🔽

Quiet, before sunrise reading. And coffee, always coffee.

#auldlangspine #2025
Enjoying this book so much! A great way to pass the time while i was waiting at the doctor‘s office.Unfortunately I do have bacterial pneumonia but I am in all the right meds & will be home healing fir the foreseeable future.

#octopus #OtherMinds #adventuresinphilosopy
I am captivated when one book I am reading connects to another! #sundaybuddyread

I have been way behind in reading this book- catching up for the end of the month. So far it feels breezy & easy. Coffee warmed stroopwafel -hum!

Back to work today after a week home. What better way to ease myself into my day than to drink coffee and read Madeleine L‘Engle? ☕️📚

“The real survivor is indeed a cephalopd, but nautilus rather than octopus.Still living in the Pacific, present-day nautiluses are little changed from 200 million years ago. Living in coiled shells,they‘re now scavengers.They have simple eyes and a cluster of tentacles,and they move up and down, from the deep sea to shallower water in a rhythm that‘s still being studied.They seem to stay higher in the water at night, deeper in the day.”

1932.An atmosphere of menace pervades this novel.The mutilated body of a young girl is found in the woods near ex-Inspector John Madden‘s home.More young girls bodies are discovered.
The specter of Nazism in Germany is rearing its head, & spreading.Is there a connection?
The author skillfully weaves psychological elements into the multilayered characters‘ portrayals.Compelling. Riveting.Gripping.Intense.Taut.Nail-biting.Menacing…
#serieslove2025

Watching this sunset right now- such a peaceful way to say good bye to the day. #resist #peace

I love when books are mentioned or discussed in a book I am reading- in this case, these books were clues to one character‘s thoughts & actions, & pointed to the bookish depth of the connections between Brunetti & his wife Paola, both avid readers. #serieslove2025
I have more reading in my future!

This book. 💕💕

I love it when vestiges of past owners appear when reading used books.(B & N bookmark, previous owner‘s inscribed name)The tagged book is from The Barn, a huge sprawling used bookstore recommended by @Amiable , the other was a Thrift book purchase. #usedbooks

It‘s a paczki & coffee morning!

Bedtime reading. Venice to fall asleep too. Heaven.💤💤

Poe & I are in the UK with Inspector Jon Madden. Escaping again. #WhereareyouMonday

Total escapism.Laugh out loud funny,hilarious,sexy.Upon discovering her surgeon husband in a sexually compromising position with a nurse in the OR, RN Maddie Winlaw leaves her husband & accepts a job as an assistant coroner from her friend Izzy.They embark on solving a complicated case of multiple murders in which her husband is a primary suspect.in the investigative process,stars combust between Maddie & the dishy,tantalizing Dec.Hurley.

Watched the first SNL anniversary special, so tonight watching the second during #hyggehour with hubby & our cats.

After dinner reading. Pulled off an old pile #TBR & it‘s pure fun. Just what I need!

This book was so dense and meaty that I pulled quotes for my review. I can say that I am inclined to read more of Ardent‘s books but feel it would take more than a year & I would certainly need buddy reads,because although I am fascinated the philosophy thanks to the exposure from classes my son took in college,I struggle with processing philosophical thinking. Any takers? #adventuresinphilosophy

Rich, inexhaustible,copious in historical details, the minutia of life in the streets: wet steps, slippery with seaweed;rich in the brilliant analysis of literary luminaries‘ books;rich in dialogue; rich in social & political history; rich in current events,corruption.

A Roma child, found dead in the waters of the Quay, haunts Brunetti. Just know this: the resolution emulates real life.#serieslove2025 #17

“Had a man ever been married to a woman whose moral code was based on a British novel?”

I so adore this series! #serieslove2025

Breakfast: coffee, cranberry Irish soda bread, & a book.Nirvana.

Poe ( that fur blob) & I are in Venice tonight. #catsoflitsy

For the most part, this meditative book of essays provoked reflective responses in me as evidenced by all the sticky notes that adorn the book‘s pages.I especially enjoyed all her musings on poetry& language,her role as a poet & the poetics in Benedictine chants,songs,prayers, & in the Bible.But for about the last 90 pages, I confessed I skimmed. I‘m not sure if it was just because became the book became repetitive or that I lost interest.#nunlit

#LaneWinslowMystery #serieslove2025 This book is a song to British Columbia, CA: it‘s mountains bathed in rainbows of light at sunrise & sunset,the lush greenery of its woods,its fields of colorful wildflowers,it‘s streams, & swampy humid riverbanks.It offers what war weary,Ex M16 WWII operative Lane Winslow needs,to be tucked away in a sleepy village across the ocean & a continent away.But her seclusion is abruptly interrupted when a man is 🔽

Only on page 10 of this quiet, thought-provoking journal. Each small section is a deep dive as she writes of the need for a personal “ circle of quiet” to go to replenish oneself, balanced with a natural /created community. Totally relevant.
L‘Engle lived in Goshen, CT for 55 years until her death in 2007. Most of her published writing, & creating family was based here. The house remains in the family, but I am hoping to drive by it this summer.🔽

#5JoysFriday

1) view of church across my side street in the snow.⛪️❄️
2) up to see sunrise❤️🌅
3) family- my caretakers while sick this week forever grateful! 🩷💖
4) Always COFFEE ❤️☕️
5) my books, reading getting me through my bronchitis! ❤️📚
Deb, I am so grateful for you for starting this - Looking back on my week & finding joy is a wonderful life-giving practice. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Very early morning start- been home due to a bout of bronchitis.In between rest & sleep, I am reading, reading. What do others do when sick at home if not a reader? School is closed this coming Monday & Tuesday for Presidents‘ day,which is a healing bonus. Enjoying this non demanding cozy read. #readyourkindle

Really really hard to choose 3 from the 40 I read-such classics!

My garden last summer gone to the wild- weeds as tall as the railings. My “ratty little garden.” I could not give it attention because of shoulder surgery. Life forced me to let go, let the garden reclaim itself.
“The garden I‘ve grown into…seems more a kind of Purgatory, but I love it. It‘s a rattly little garden, not much at all. But I can call it mine”(271).
#nunlit

Culmination of the evolution talk in this chapter. #adventuresinphilosopy

#readyourkindle #VictorianHistoricalMyrderMystery #SeriesLove 2025 #1 This book kept me engrossed & fascinated,not only for its intricate plot, but also for its historical details about Victorian life & the mythology surrounding ravens at the Tower of London.Centuries-old superstitions insisted that if the ravens at the tower are lost or fly away,the crown will fall along Britain.The vicious murder of one of the Yeoman Warblers,tasked with the🔽

Another library find. Started this tonight & some unidentified propulsion keeps me reading, despite my total exhaustion. 🥱
#coverlove

This has been in my TBR for ages. Maria Popova writes about one of Zadie Smith‘s essays, among other writers,in an archived post Maria sent in this week‘s email. It has spurred me on to open the pages of this book of Smith‘s essays.

https://mailchi.mp/themarginalian/optimism-despair?e=f0bd056ccf

“We have reached the birth of social behavior.”
I feel like a kid- this is so cool! I never imagined learning about cells would be so much fun! #adventuresinphiosophy

It‘s here! #bookmailisthebestmail

#ReverendMotherMystery
1925 heavily Catholic Cork,Ireland.
Eileen has reneged her previous allegiance to the IRA cause when she perceived that its Machiavelli leaders‘ violence increasingly escalated as they enthusiastically embraced the idea that “the end justifies the means.” But she has not left behind Rev.Mother,nor her childhood friend Inspector Patrick.When a novice is found dead in a convent shed,both join in to help Rev. Mother solve 🔽

Timely.

The author‘s advice to those you visit the MET as he ends his years long journey as a museum guard. His voice inspires me to visit again & again, to peruse those works he so lovingly engages with & writes about.
#monthlynonfiction2025 #February #StoryGraph #700to799

Started this tonight. This book totally engaged me- all new learning. I am keeping to the schedule @GingerAntics set, so I can take it slow, digest & process what I am absorbing. #adventuresinphilosophy