Read More Stuff: Flavia de Luce

Thanks to the wonder that is Edelweiss, I recently had a chance to read an advanced copy of the newest installment of Alan Bradley's excellent Flavia de Luce series, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches. I've been on the edge of my seat since the previous volume ended with a most unexpected, thrilling, series-changing cliffhanger.

You know the feeling. It's been, literarily, agonizing. Flavia's one of the most unique and intoxicating narrators I've encountered and in the past few years a new Flavia installment has been one of the highlights of every year... and with such a cliffhanger?  Agony!

As the series title would suggest, these slightly cozy mysteries introduce the reader to the positively marvelous Flavia de Luce. Flavia is a clever, curious young girl with a passion for chemistry (specifically, poisons) and a knack for observation. She lives in a stately-but-quietly-decaying country house in 1950s England along with her eccentric, emotionally distant family. Since she's the heroine of a mystery series, she manages to get herself into all kinds of trouble when strangers and happenings wander into her life -- bodies in the cucumber patch, for example. She's constantly a little too clever for her own good, one sharp comment away from trouble, and one step ahead of the police. Or so she'd like to think; it's possible she's not the most impartial of narrators.

No real series spoilers here, but the new book swiftly deals with that cliffhanger and broadens Flavia's world and family history in nigh-unbelievable, serious ways. She grows up a little, learns a lot, but remains Flavia de Luce through and through. The things revealed in the new book left my mind reeling, wondering how certain revelations would color my view of the previous volumes... and so I've decided to kick off 2014 with the Great Flavia Re-Read! Despite having a stack of things to get to, here is a picture of my immediate reading future:

Did I mention the design of the books is just gorgeous?  

The first in the series is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie -- if you haven't read a Flavia yet, definitely start there! I've read that there's going to be a television adaptation of these at some point, and that Bradley is going to be writing more adventures for Flavia beyond this first "arc," so I'm currently filled with an abundance of fannish glee. 

Have you read the Flavia series? Do you have a favorite "cozy" mystery series that you can't help but recommend when the discussion turns to books? 

Agatha Christie Challenge

Believe it or not, I've never read an Agatha Christie novel.

Gasp!  For shame! What kind of reader are you?

The "Queen of Mystery" and I have, of course, encountered each other. She's almost impossible to miss! At least one of her novels sat, unread, on my shelf for years when I was a kid mostly uninterested in mysteries that weren't aimed directly at my age group. My friend picked the Agatha Christie episode of Doctor Who as the episode that would serve as my introduction to the show, and it left me hooked on the Doctor. My Netflix queue is littered with Marples and Poirots -- I've devoured the movies and the shows over and over with great relish and know their plots and characters by heart -- Agatha Christie's Marple with Geraldine McEwan is my favorite right now. Her books are in almost constant motion at the library -- right now we have a beautiful collection of the newish edition trade paperbacks from William Morrow. Patrons often check them out and excitedly recommend them. They're "classics," right? 

So, I'm starting here:

Since Marple is my favorite to watch, I've decided to start with the slightly less familiar Poirot and Tommy & Tuppence, with The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Secret Adversary respectively.

Why now? I'm in a YA slump right now and nothing is appealing to me, no matter how much it had excited me in previews. I'm a few books away from finishing the Phryne Fisher mysteries and just can't bring myself to come up to date -- then I'll have to wait longingly for the next one!  And, one day, while catching up on my book blogs, reading Stuck in a Book's report on her power as a slump-buster left me feeling like maybe Agatha might do the same for me, despite our different levels of familiarity with her work.

So we'll see!  I hope to report back with good results.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Long Weekend Love

Happy Labor Day, and happy Monday! This long weekend was a bit of a whirlwind -- it's nice to have a chance to get my head together every once in a while. I'm starting in a new position soon and am very excited about it.  But any new position means new stresses; change itself is stressful, sometimes, even good, awesome change.

The first stop of the weekend was Barnes & Noble for a few hours, where I indulged my magazine-lovin' side with the new Vogue and Games magazine.  I love doing puzzles, it's such a good way to de-stress and take some time to myself to think.  I've also been reading Jillian Larkin's third flapper novel, Diva, which I picked up at the library late last week. This series is so much glamorous YA 1920s fun -- I hope that this one brings things to a fabulous conclusion! 

Yesterday my friends and I took a day trip to Green Lane Park to go hiking.  It was damp and a little rainy, and we found a ton of really interesting mushrooms and fungi -- really productive, and I got a lot of satisfying photos!  Going on mushrooming photo walks is such a good way to find inspiration. I'm really terrible at identifying, but love the huge diversity of shapes and colors that can be found in even just a small area of the woods. 

Share a Book -- Elsa Beskow's Children of the Forest

Happy Thursday! Today I managed to get some writing done, which felt really awesome. I thought I would celebrate by drinking a cup of coffee, taking some photos, and sharing a book here on the blog.

Children of the Forest, by Elsa Beskow, seems like it should already be on my bookshelves. My coworker over at Darling Petunia found this at the library the other day and was kind enough to share it!



The story is a peek inside the life of a family of forest people, specifically the adventures of four mushroom-hatted children, Tom, Harriet, Sam, and Daisy. We learn about their animal friends, meet their forest-dwelling neighbors, and follow them throughout the year to see what fun they have during the winter, spring, summer, and autumn. It has mushrooms, hedgehogs, and wonderful, detailed nature illustrations -- just about everything I love.

The illustrations in the book are delightful, and I wanted to include a few here!

"Wild strawberries and mushrooms grew by their door and they had all the pots, pans, chairs, beds, tables, knives, forks and spoons they could possibly need. Sheltered under the pine tree branches, they hardly felt the autumn gales and if it rained, the children crept underneath a giant toadstool to keep dry."

"Soon they were in the middle of harvest time and everyone had to do their share. The little brown cupboards in the roots of the pine had to be filled with bottles of berry jam, dried seeds, 

nuts and fruit to last through the winter."

Hedgehog parade!

According to her biography, she is often called the Beatrix Potter of Sweden -- I can certainly see why! Her life story seems very interesting and inspiring, particularly her involvement with the Swedish women's movement and education. I would love to read a biography, and hope to have a chance to pick up and enjoy more of her picture books sometime.

Are you a fan of Elsa Beskow? Do you have a favorite classic picture book?
Be sure to share with me below!

Moomin Bakery & Cafe

There are so many places to want to visit in the world, and silly as it might be for me one of them is this little Moomin Bakery & Cafe in Tokyo, Japan. Pictures from my lovely friend Nikki:


Snufkin noren leading to interesting travels, no doubt.

A glance at the menu, featuring a honey toast and Moominmama's homemade pancakes! (Moomin likes them very much, it seems.)

Automats and vending machines

One of the essays that I enjoyed from "The Food of a Younger Land," the newest Mark Kurlansky-edited food adventure collecting some of the material from the Federal Writers’ Project of the 1930's, came early in the book and described in worshipful detail that New York City self-service institution of old, the Automat. I've read about Automats in other things, about people going into Automats, meeting at Automats, and so on, but none so persuasive and glorious as this gem. Maybe it appeals to my love of ridiculous efficiency?

Here's the first paragraph and some glamorous photos from the google search I immediately did after reading the essay :)



"A sight to the out-of-towner, and an honored institution among the city's millions, is the mechanical lunchroom known to fame as the Automat. This type of self-service eating place is the result of deep probing into the needs to the five-minute metropolitan center. Here, the man-in-a-hurry is worried by no middle-men; his relationship with his fodder, over which he may gloat, ruminate, or despair, is strictly private. He selects, pays, conveys, eats, and departs, leaving no tip, uttering no sound."



Paying for things with nickels is looking pretty good right about now since the vending machine at work is strange and only accepts certain combinations of coins for certain products, leaving me with a purseful of useless nickels and never the dimes necessary for what I want to buy. I'm such a sucker for vending machines and often get ACTUALLY nostalgic for the convenience and efficiency and variety of vending machines in Osaka.

The whole book is of varying interest to me as a reader -- it's not really something I can say I sat down and read cover to cover -- but it's an oddly inspiring collection of food this and that, worth looking at for the introduction alone. It's crazy to imagine that these essays were just sitting around somewhere unpublished and uncelebrated.

Bloggers for Moomin Awareness

This week sees the release of the fourth volume in Drawn & Quarterly's five book series of Tove Jannson's Moomin comic strips! I couldn't possibly describe the Moomin world with more loveliness than Christy over at A Shelf of One's Own, so please read her post and then go to your local bookstore or library and read something Moominy!

Promote Moomin Awareness! Celebrate, be easy-going, have an adventurous adventure, throw a party, spend time with friends, live with whimsy -- let's all do our part!