Here is Blaze for our Friday October 13th Lucky Black Cat picture!

I have never had a problem with Friday 13th’s and I even liked the horror movies but I do know of some people who hide away on the day because of all the superstitions.  Anyway onto Book Club for today and as it is also getting towards the Witching Season I thought I would show you some of the spooky books I have on my TBR shelf.

There are a series of these books, I have the Spring and Winter ones, and this one for Autumn.  A collection of Agatha Christie’s short stories not all have ghosts in them but there is plenty of murder to go around.

This has been on my shelf for a while now as I do like short stories but if I can read a whole book I tend to choose that.  Although because they are short stories you can dip in and out which is how I may read this.  I am not a big fan of poems and there are quite a lot in here so I may skip those but the stories I have heard about written by Poe I am sure I will love.  I will let you know when I get to it.

Who doesn’t love a country weekend gathering especially when someone is murdered and then the rest have to discover who did it when they all assemble in the Library towards the end of the book.  It is a tried and tested formula over the years and this one begins with a New Year’s Eve Murder Mystery Party with a 1920’s twist.  The evening has only just begun when one of the guests is found murdered and so someone at the party has their own agenda and old rivalries will come to the for.  Again this is on my shelf and I will get around to it eventually! 

The weather in the UK has turned cold over the last two days and we have had the heating on but over the weekend it is back to being warm and sunny which is good as we have garden jobs to get done.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to and I will see you back here on Monday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Coco snuggling as it is cold.  She has been on our bed both nights as it has been a lot colder than previous nights. 

National Read A Book Day – September 6th

I know we Book Lovers do not need an excuse to read a book during the day but today is National Read A Book Day! I actually missed the last Book Day which was on August 9th (whilst we were away) National Book Lovers Day.  Of course I was busy reading as we were away on holiday! Next week is my Friday Book Club but I thought I would show you the book I am reading at the moment, in fact I have just started it.  This has been on my TBR shelf for a while and I have picked it up a couple of times to read and then put it back.  I have to be in the mood to read books and this one, up to now, had not talked to me. 

A party is being thrown by Evelyn’s parents, Lord Peter & Lady Helena Hardcastle, where she will be killed again!  She has been murdered before and in fact murdered hundreds of times, think Groundhog Day!  Aiden Bishop wants to save her but is too late each day, the only way to break the cycle is identify the killer.  Aiden begins each new day in the body of a different guest and he hopes that this will lead him to the Killer but someone is desperate to stop him from ever doing that and escaping Blackheath House (The Hardcastle seat),

It looks good and I am hoping that it will keep my attention.  I have been finding that with books and authors I have never read before if it does not grab my attention immediately my mind starts to wander!

One of the things I have always wanted in our home is a book nook. When we first did our bedroom I had a large comfy chair which I used to read in but had to get rid of it.  I now have a chair in the sewing room which I can use to do hand sewing in or reading of course.

I have seen these Book Nooks on Pinterest and have saved about hundred of them just in case we ever re-do any parts of our home where I could fit one of these into!

I hope you have a wonderful Friday and great weekend to come and get chance to do some reading, or quilting. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

I don’t know about you but I have my favourite Authors and read their books as they are published but then I miss a couple of their new releases and then end up reading them to catch up.  David Baldacci is one of these. I have loved all his other books and series especially “The Camel Club” series.  The above book is his new series with Travis Devine as his hero who has recently retired from the Army’s Special Ops dvision but joins the elite undercover team in Homeland Security.  Travis is asked to investigate the death of a young woman but suddenly realises that the case is more personal to him than they and he realised.  He heads to Maine where her body was found but he comes up against a wall of silence and a town hiding many secrets.

I am half way through this but it is another great book by Baldacci.  If you have not read any of his books before and want to start with a stand alone book I can highly recommend “The Christmas Train” by him.  The hero of the story, Tom Langdon, has to get from Washington to LA in time for Christmas and because of a disagreement at the airport with security he has to go by train.  On his train journey there will be mishaps, mayhem and self realisation and by the end of the book you will love him, it and Christmas!

Happy Reading, Hugs & Love, Susie xx

As you know I have quite a few books on my TBR shelf at the moment and am slowly getting through them.  I love fiction books but also like non-fiction too depending upon what it is.  One book I was given for my Birthday was this one:

If you are one of my regular readers you know I love Christmas and in particular Christmas food and I got this book for my Birthday.  So far I have not made anything from it but it looks promising.  I have a lot of Good Housekeeping Books, incluidng my Grandmother’s from before the war.  and I use the recipes a lot so I can’t wait to get stuck in to this one.  I found this book in Waterstones.  An historial novel about Georgina Landemare who started her working life as a Nursemaid but ended up cooking for Winston Churchill in Wartime London and his Country Home.  Not only does it tell of her life but also contains her recipes from the different eras.

This also caught my eye when I was in the bookshop one day; a book about slowing down!  It wants you to embrace countryside comfort even in this frantic World we live in.  There are recipes to try, embroidery, sewing and quilt patterns along with tips for your home and garden.  I find with these books that I pick them up when I have the odd five minutes here and there and read a chapter or two when I get chance. 

Over the next few weeks I will be planning my Christmas food and will be looking through my new Book to see if there are some new recipes to try.  I will let you know how I get on with the other two books when I have read them.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and make some time to read. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

One thing about having a virus and not being well is that I got a lot of reading done!  I normally read a lot during the holidays anyway but I did get through quite a few books.

This was my June Book Club pick and being busy I did not get it finished until I was away.  It was as good as all the other Oregon Files books are.

Another favourite author of mine is Jeffery Deaver and I have actually been to one of his Author Readings in Nottingham.  I first came across him when I saw the film “The Bone Collector” and then read the book.  I like all of his books but especially the Lincoln Rhyme ones and so this was on my TBR shelf.   It was really good and carried on the story of Lincoln and his now wife, Amelia. 

I have read a few of Karin Slaughter’s books now and enjoyed them.  This is the Will Trent series which has now been made into a series on Disney+ which I watched the first series and I was okay with.  I started to watch the second series and it really annoyed me!!!  The book didn’t though.  It was a Mother’s Day gift from Youngest.

James Rollins is another Author I have read all of the books and they are a mix of style of Indiana Jones and The Oregon Crew from Clive Cussler.  The books sort of follow on from each other and this was the latest one I had not read. 

Edward Marston is an Author I discovered a couple of years ago and his most popular books are The Railway Detective Series set at the height of the arrival of Trains as a means of transport but also death on the railways.  This book is based in the 1930’s when a young Welsh architect is in Chicago to oversee the building of a mansion but a body is found hanging from the rafters which the autorities put down to a suicide but how can that be?  He has to find the answers before he can finish the mansion and save his own life!  I have only just started this but I am sure it will be as good as his other books. 

This has been on my TBR shelf for a while and it is one of those books that I keep thinking I will read and then put it back.  I may read it next not sure.  I have seen it on quite a few Bookstagram posts and some like it and some don’t so we will have to see.

Another book that has been on the TBR shelf for a while and in fact is Book 3 in the series.  It was a Christmas present last year.  Now do I go back and read Books 1 and 2 first and then this or read this and then go back and read the first two?  Who would not like a book that is about a Bookshop and set in the war and about a much slower time of life?  I think I will go and buy Books 1 and 2 and then I have a choice!!!! 

What happens when you get a book which you think is going to be good and you like the write up about it, but when you start reading it you really don’t like it?  Do you carry on anyway or do you give up and move on to something else?  I am afraid I give up and move on, as life is too short to read bad books.

The above books is the one I am talking about.  I started reading this and by the time I got to page 50 I could not stand it any longer and gave up.  I did not like the main character, Ben Hope, he was just very annoying and the writing, in my opinion, was appalling.  Far to much description and not enough movement.  This has gone on my donation pile!

This is my current read and I have only just read the first page.  Again a present from Eldest for my Birthday.  This is an historical book based in 1588.  Giordano Bruno is sent by Queen Elizabeth I to Prague to spy on the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II but when he arrives one of the Alchemists has been murdered and Rudolf orders Giordano to find out who did it and why.  I love these historical mysteries, very much in the style of the late C J Sansom and his hero Shardlake, who has also been made into a series on Amazon.

I hope you like the books I did get to read and those that I am going to read next.  Tomorrow I will show you July’s and August’s Book Club picks before I need to show you September’s.  Happy Thursday everyone. 

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

For those of you who follow my Book Club you will know that Clive Cussler is probably my most favourite Author.  The first book of his I found was at a Charity Christmas Book Stall called “Treasure” and this introduced me to the world of Dirk Pitt.  It was a rolling page after page adventure with Dirk and his friends and I loved every minute of it.  Having discovered his books I then had the pleasure of going back and reading all the books Mr Cussler had written to that point.  I have then bought his books since then. 

He then, a few years ago, started to write his books with Co-Authors.  Now I have read some books from famous authors with co-writers and they have been dreadful.  One author, who I will not name, co-wrote a book and you could tell that they had written alternate chapters and it was awful.  So much so I have never bought another book of his since!  However the co-authors that Mr Cussler used have really stuck to his format and I have still enjoyed them.

Mr Cussler passed away in 2020 but his books have still been publised in his style since then and one of the series that I love are the “The Oregon Files” and the above book in the set  was published in May 2024.

Juan Cabrillo and his brilliant team are hired to extract an important person from Kenya but in the midst of the rescue they find themselves in the middle of what may be a possible Middle Eastern war.  They also have to find two hypersonic missiles as well as fighting violent mercenaries moving through different countries whilst stopping the Arabian sea turning red!

I have only just started to read this but in the first two chapters I am already engrossed in it.

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Speaking of books I got some lovely ones from DH and The Boys for my Birthday, both fiction and non-fiction.  As you can see there are a few Christmas books in there, mainly murder mysteries.

DH bought me this and you all know I love anything Christmas!  Good Housekeeping has been producing cook books since before the second World War and I have my Grandmother’s version which was printed in 1948.  DH bought me an up to date version when we were first together which I still have and use a lot.  I also have a further updated version which has a picture for each dish.  I saw this and wanted to add it to the collection.  Can’t wait to check out some of the recipes.

This gardening book is by Monty Don who is the Presenter of BBC “Gardener’s World” a programme which is on on Friday evenings every week and which my Grandfather used to watch.   Monty began presenting the show in 2003.  Whatever garden you are trying to achieve this book gives you the help you need with plants, how to grow them, trim them and propagate them too.  We have a tricky garden in that is it on a slope, does not drain well and the soil is not good for all plants, so we really have to be careful with what we plant like the Spring bulbs, they only last about a year and then they just rot as it is so wet.

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Anyway whatever you are up to this weekend, gardening or reading, have a great one and I hope the weather is summer like. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Sorry I know this is a week late (!) I honestly don’t know where the days go to!

When I am reading I tend to swap around genres depending upon what I am feeling at that moment of picking a new book to read.

Now if you have followed me and in particular Book Club for a while you will know that I am a huge fan of Clive Cussler.  Most of his books are modern adventures but with this set, The Isaac Bell Adventures, he put him in the early 1900 of New York, and he works as a Private Investigator for the Von Dorn Agency (styled on the Pinkertons).

The above is the ninth book in the series and as with all of Cussler’s books takes you on a great ride through the story.  Isaac is called in to help catch a group of Italian Gangsters known as The Black Hand who are using kidnapping, arson and extortion on the citzens of New York.  However bodies soon start to appear in the alleyways of New York attributed to the Gang and then a prominent figure is killed, followed by another and then they get word that they are out to get The President too.  Can Isaac and his team of Detectives find the leader before any more bodies appear?  As soon as they arrest one of the Gang Members two more seem to appear, who is in charge?

It is a great read and I am really enjoying it.

As an aside have you ever seen the British “Carry On” Films?  They starred some very well know comedy actors of the 1960’s, 70’s and into the 80’s.  They were pure slapstick comedies but oh so fun.  One of them was called “Carry on – Don’t Lose Your Head” about the French Revolution and one of the characters, played by Sid James, was Sir Rodney Ffing who was helping to save the aristocrats from France and his nom de plume was “The Black Fingernail”.  Reading the above book and The Black Hand Gang reminded me of it.  If you get a chance to watch any of the Carry On films do, they brighten up any day!

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As you know I don’t listen to the news and certainly do not watch it on TV.  I do read the Daily Telegraph on line but skip a lot of the articles and read book reviews and the occasional article about homes etc.  However one caught my eye this week and I have also found on Instagram Reels that there are a lot of the younger Generation (I don’t know who belongs to which now as the dates all seem to change but I assume the Twenty somethings!) complaining about how hard it is for them financially at the moment with the costs of everything being so high and they have no money for going out and if they do it costs them so much! 

Like with a lot of things the young think they invent everything!  Do they think that they are the only ones who have gone through hard times?  Did they ever do history at school?  The financial situation we are in at the moment has happened many times over the years, here in the UK in the 1970’s it was the three day week, electricity strikes, rampant inflation, cost of living one of the highest since WWII etc.  The late 1980’s and into the 1990’s was the same.  The only difference being there was no social media to go on to and moan about things!  We just got on with it and made the best of what we had.  I hate to say it but stop moaning and get on with it!!!!

Rant over!!!!

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Busy weekend with DH at a swimming event both days and we are also at another swimming event on Saturday evening and I am babysitting Little Man tomorrow during the day for a little while 🙂    Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

I was doing so well with posts and then I had to try and catch up with work and other jobs I had not got done whilst painting!!  The painting of the kitchen, laundry, downstairs bathroom and den are now done and I have also decluttered the den as well.  Just now need to spring clean them and put the pictures back up and I will be able to show you photographs!!!

Today Is Book Club day and I wanted to show you the next book I am reading.

Now you know that I re-read a lot of my books again and again, which I always say says a lot about my brain!  I do remember the story but not all the ins and outs of it which is why I can re-read them.  DH however cannot as he has a photographic memory and remembers everything!!  Anywho I have read this book before, a long time ago though, but wanted to read it again.  You know I love Agatha Christie so reading her books are like visiting old friends.

Roger Ackroyd is in love but he knows that she is harbouring a secret which is weighing heavily upon her, she killed her husband.  Sadly she cannot stand the pressure any longer and kills herself but Roger thinks she was being blackmailed, can he sort it out.  A letter arrives for him with a clue but before he finishes the letter he is killed.  Can Hercule Poirot sort the mess out and reveal the killer and blackmailer, are they one and the same person or two people acting together or separately? 

I love Agatha Christie’s books because of the time period they are set in, which harks back to simpler times especially a slower time, rather than the frenetic pace we all seem to ive at now.  If you love detective fiction then this is one for you.

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DH has a swimming competition tomorrow all day and then Sunday he is setting up the business exhibition which is on all next week at the NEC.  I have planned to get home jobs done on Sunday and tomorrow I will be seeing Eldest, Suzie and Little Man for a bit and then getting some more decluttering jobs done.  Next week for me will be work, of course, but also doing the Spring Cleaning.  I will be doing a room a day.  Tuesday Jayne and I are out for lunch and can’t wait. 

Don’t say it too loudly but our weather has been a bit nicer over the last two days!  Warmer and no rain and that has got to be a bonus.  The weekend after this DH has no swimming on (!) so we are going to do some painting again, the main bathroom, and also if the weather holds get out into the garden!  Again I will try and show you pictures.

Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xxxx

Here is March’s Book.  Now if you have followed me and our Book Club for a while you know that James Rollins is a favourite Author of mine.  He has written the series Sigma Force novels which now number 17 books.  The team is led by Painter Crowe having taken over from Sean McKnight and the Members of the team are not only highly trained in weapons and defence but also have many skills in investigations. 

The leader of an expedition to Egypt goes missing and is found coming out of the sands very ill but dies before telling his story. They do an autopsy on him and find that someone had started the mummification process on him, now the team which carried out the autopsy have all died.  Sigma Force think that something came out of the sands with the good Doctor and it could spread, is it an ancient plague as mentioned in The Bible or something more modern?

Sigma Force led my Gray Pierce set off to try and find the cause before it spreads too far but there are links to historical figures and their research like Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain.  Can they stop it in time with modern weapons?

This is going to be my next book, I am just finishing February’s, as I have been a little busy and so reading had to take a bit of a back seat!!!

Busy weekend as always, DH has a swimming meeting tomorrow morning and then setting up a swimming event in the evening.  Sunday he is out all day at that event and the organisers are in trouble as it is Mother’s Day here in the UK on Sunday!  I always think we should move our Mother’s Day to May like in the US as the weather is generally better, it is grey and cold here again!  I have jobs to do tomorrow and then I will spend a bit of time with Eldest, Suzie & Tobey on Sunday. 

I hope you lovely lot have a wonderful weekend and Happy Reading. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx