Scott, Mary "Tea and Biscuits"

Scott, Mary "Tea and Biscuits" - 1961

The third book in the series by Mary Scott about the farmers' wives Susan and Larry whom we've met in "Breakfast at Six" and "Dinner Doesn't Matter".

The families have more members in the meantime, both had another child, so that there are four children plus the twins from their other friend Anne. Plenty to do for two mothers who also lead a busy farmers' life.

However, if one of their loved ones is in danger, they are prepared to risk anything.

This time, it is Larry's uncle Richard who brought her up and is very dear to hear.

As in the other novels, the humour of this book is just wonderful. A feel-good book that can make me laugh every time I read it again.

This is not the first time I read the book and certainly not the last.

Enjoy!

From the back cover (translated):

"A shocking message for Susan and Larry: Uncle Richard, around sixty, wants to get married again. The trouble is that Gloria, the chosen one, blond, sweet and only half as old, probably just wants the money of her future husband. 

This must generate a new plan for the two friends who are otherwise brave farmers' wives. With a variety of means and female tricks they try to snatch Richard O'Neill from the clutches of the money-hungry blonde ..."

This is the third book in the series. And this is the list of all of them:

"Breakfast at Six" - 1953
"Dinner Doesn’t Matter" - 1957
"Tea and Biscuits"  - 1961
"A Change from Mutton" - 1964
"Turkey at Twelve" - 1968
"Shepherd’s Pie" - 1972
"Strangers for Tea" - 1975
"Board, but no Breakfast" - 1978

Unfortunately, they are out of print and only available second hand or some as an ebook.

Find more of my reviews of books by Mary Scott here.

Book Quotes of the Week

"She reads. She reads. She reads words of splendour to comfort her soul." Leila Hussein

"It's always better to have too much to read than not enough." Ann Patchett

"I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day." Carlos Ruiz Zafón

"The bookshop has a thousand books, all colours, hues, and tinges, and every cover is a door that turns on magic hinges." Nancy Byrd Turner 

"When reading, we don't fall in love with the characters' appearance. We fall in love with their words, their thoughts, and their hearts. We fall in love with their souls." N.N.

Find more book quotes here.

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Midnight Palace"

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Midnight Palace" (Spanish: El Palacio de la Medianoche) - 1994 (Niebla 2)

Another youth book by Carlos Ruiz Zafón that also deserves being read by adults.

After having read quite a few books by this author about his beloved home city Barcelona, I was surprised to find that this story takes place in India. However, once I started reading, I think I understood why he chose this place. A lot of the story would not have been as plausible in Europe. Not that the story itself was plausible but the real life story was more credible in India than in Spain.

Anyway, as usual, Carlos Ruiz Zafón wrote a wonderful story which kept me in suspension for the whole duration of the book. It reminded me more of a fairy tale than fantasy, maybe that's why I like his writing even though I am not a fan of fantasy in itself. He keeps more in line with the South American writers and their magic realism even though this is time he is quite stretching it.

The beauty of this story is not just the tale itself, no it's the characters, eight young people who are the best of friends, each one of them a hero or heroine in itself, some adults who are also very "good". Lots of twists add to the suspension and if you start reading this book, you might not want to put it down before you have finished it.

Don't tell me I haven't warned you.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"1916, Calcutta. A man pauses for breath outside the ruins of Jheeter's Gate station knowing he has only hours to live. Pursued by assassins, he must ensure the safety of two newborn twins, before disappearing into the night to meet his fate. 

1932. Ben and his friends are due to leave the orphanage which has been their home for sixteen years. Tonight will be the final meeting of their secret club, in the old ruin they christened The Midnight Palace. Then Ben discovers he has a sister - and together they learn the tragic story of their past, as a shadowy figures lures them to a terrifying showdown in the ruins of Jheeter's Gate station."

Read about his other books here.

Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair"

Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair, or, A Novel without a Hero" - 1848

Okay, so William Makepeace Thackeray is not a Jane Austen. But I didn't expect him to be. He is also not a Charles Dickens. However, he is a valuable classic British writer, someone who made himself a name and who deservedly belongs among the list of great authors. If I had to compare him to any classic writers, I'd say Oscar Wilde comes pretty close.

Seldom have I seen such a persiflage of aristocratic England and its surroundings. The author tries to answer the old question how important rank and money really is? The protagonist of this novel, Miss Rebecca Sharp, called Becky, is born into not too favourable circumstances in the mid 19th century. The author describes the way she tries to find her footing in society, her successes and her downfalls. But there is not just Rebecca Sharp, even she would not have been able to fill a thousand pages of a book. There is her friend Amelia Sedley who also has her share in the problems of a young lady of the time. And then there are countless guys who surround our two, shall we call her heroines? W.M. Thackeray called his novel "Vanity fair, or, A Novel without a Hero", that does not mean it cannot have a heroine. For me, there are two. At the time, a woman without a man was nothing. And our two girls have a lot of troubles to go through with or without the help of their fellow men.

An interesting story, partly humorous, partly sad, but overall well written.

Quote: "Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? Or, having it, is satisfied?"

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover: 

 

"Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1847–1848, satirizing society in early 19th-century Britain. The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the time of Thackeray's novel. Vanity Fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim's progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things. The novel is now considered a classic, and has inspired several film adaptations."

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Ten Things On My Bookish Bucket List

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at "The Broke and the Bookish". Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.

March 25: Top Ten Things On My Bookish Bucket List (could be blogging related, book related etc. -- meeting authors, reading x many books per year, finishing a daunting book, etc.)

1. Visiting the Jane Austen Festival in Bath.
2. Visiting Jane Austen's birthplace and other locations important in her life.
3. Visiting the Barcelona of Carlos Ruiz Zafón and going on the Shadow of the Wind walk.
4. Visiting New Zealand and seeing some of the places Mary Scott describes.
5. Have a house with in-built bookshelves, maybe like in Beauty and the Beast. And with a ladder that I can roll around.
6. Study English literature.
7. Visit the most beautiful libraries in the world.
8. Visit the most beautiful bookshops in the world. I've already been to number one, several times.
9. Go to the next book fair in Frankfurt or Leipzig.
10. Visit the locations of all the Jane Austen films and TV adaptations.

I know most of them will not come true but one is always allowed to dream, right? 

And I really have to add a number 11 to this list:
Visiting Haye on Wye during their book festival.

Book Quotes of the Week

"A reader doesn't really see the characters in a story; he feels them." Cornelia Funke 

"When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps so much as returning to my books." Michel de Montaigne 

"Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything!" Plato 

"I had never known the pleasure of reading, of exploring the recesses of the soul, of letting myself be carried away by imagination, beauty, and the mystery of fiction and language. For me all those things were born with that novel." Carlos Ruiz Zafón 

"Reading a book is like dreaming. You can't control what's going to happen, but it takes you into a different world." N.N.  

Find more book quotes here.

Karystiani, Ionna "The Jasmine Isle"

Karystiani, Ionna (Ιωάννα Καρυστιάνη) "The Jasmine Isle" (Greek: Μικρά Αγγλία/Mikra Anglia) - 1997 

This is one of the examples where you find several different titles for the same book and you wonder why. The original title "Μικρά Αγγλία" (Mikra Anglia) means "Little England" which is what they call the island in the story, the Spanish have translated that word by word "Pequeña Inglaterra", the German title "Die Frauen von Andros" means "The Women of Andros" which is the name of the island the women live on whereas the Italians and the British call it "The Jasmine Isle" or "L'isola dei gelsomini" respectively. Why? I doubt that even the people responsible for this know the real reason.

I liked the story about the seafaring Greek guys before and during World War II and the women they leave behind on their little island. It is definitely (as mentioned in the German title), the women's story. Ioanna Karystiani describes the protagonists so well, she has an interesting way of introducing both characters as well as incidents. I like her style even though it seems a little confusing at times. But I read somewhere that it is a good recollection of life on the islands at the time. I can imagine since the author herself was born on Crete, larger than Andros but still, a Greek island. When I visited it in the early 2000s, it still seemed stuck in the middle of the past century. Very alluring, very charming but still, life was not as modern as I know it from my part of Europe, so I can imagine that this story is close to reality.

Definitely a Stream of Consciousness novel, worth a read.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"A modern love story with the force of an ancient Greek tragedy. Set on the spectacular Cycladic island of Andros, The Jasmine Isle one of the finest literary achievements in contemporary Greek literature, recounts the story of the beautiful Orsa Saltaferos, sentenced to marry a man she doesn't love and to watch while the man she does love weds another."