The Bog of Lost Scholars

Carrie Bebris, North by Northanger. The third in her Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery series. I read the first two in this series and had fun reading them; this one I found even better than the first two, partially because the supernatural aspects are toned down. (Though, speaking as someone who’s generally in favor of midwives, I found the London doctor vs. local midwife plotline over the top, even if it may have been accurate.) Elizabeth in particular is very believable as she slowly grows into her position as mistress of Pemberley. And I have to admit to wondering if Bebris has read the fanfic in which the late Mrs. Tilney had Catholic sympathies.

Tim Farrington, The Monk Downstairs. This was a very sweet book about a divorced mother who rents her downstairs apartment to an ex-monk and how their relationship develops. The writing is clear and lovely. Many of Rebecca’s concerns and problems resonated with me; if you need an example of a believable female character written by a man, she’s an excellent one. (Except for one thing: I cannot believe that she doesn’t think about birth control at some point.) I’m not particularly moved by the spiritual issues — to me, they came across as thin — but I enjoyed the characters, and I may check out the sequel at some point.

“So, What Are You Going to Do with That?” A career guide for people with advanced degrees who decide not to go into academia. It’s not of immediate practical use to me — I don’t have an advanced degree, and I’m not planning to leave my current job in the near future — but the section on resumes was very helpful.

Deb Stoller, Stitch ‘n Bitch and The Happy Hooker, introductory books on knitting and crochet respectively. As I’ve been knitting and crocheting for almost thirty years, the how-to material usually isn’t of much use to me. This was certainly true of SnB; I skimmed it, and none of the projects jumped out at me. (None of the how-to parts jumped out at me either, but I wasn’t paying a lot of attention, so I can’t say whether it’s a good or bad intro book.) But Happy Hooker was much more interesting to me; two patterns actually jumped out and said “you want to make us.”

Better Homes and Gardens, Real Life Decorating. Not a terribly practical book. A lot of pretty pictures, but the tips were generally vague.