On Pins and Needles for the Reading Round Up

I've been getting quite a bit of reading done so far this month. I've already lapsed into the area of "light" reading, but between that and knitting, it's how I relax. I haven't been quite as able to knit as I'd like either. I apparently have a pinched nerve and/or some carpal tunnel issues, along with a chronic shoulder impingement that's acting up, and knitting is exacerbating the symptoms. I'm in the "diagnostic" stages of determining what's going on. I have constant pins and needles and numbness in my right hand, a severely aching shoulder, and some issues with a ring finger joint locking up. All of this started just before Christmas, and I am slowly making my way from my PCP to a specialist to physical therapy and so on.

So the first book this week is on my Middle School books Read:

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
As I was reading this novel at school, one of my 6th grade girls stopped by my chair and gushed, "Oh I LOVED this book! It was SO good!" She is an avid reader, and is truly gifted in the areas of reading and language arts. I was still at the beginning of the book so I just said, I'd let her know how I liked it when I was done.



I'd like to say I loved it too. I can't say that. It was only okay as far as I was concerned. But I can see the appeal for some of my readers. The author bills it as a melodrama, and that is certainly what it is. It's 1908-1909 and Maudy is an orphan in the cliched bleak orphanage. She's the girl who's always in trouble, not pretty in the classic sense, and a bit of a rebel. She is adopted by 3 spinster sisters who turn out to be spiritualists and are looking for a young girl to assist them in the "family business." Maudy is glad to be away from the orphanage, and is enjoying a somewhat luxurious life, but is puzzled about why she has to be a "secret daughter" and is concerned a bit about what she's eventually asked to do. This novel has all the ingredients of a melodrama, and the author does a nice job of using them all. I think that this book will appeal to those stronger adolescent readers with a leaning towards books like "The Secret Garden" and "The Little Princess". I think that if I had read this book as a 12 year old, I would have gushed over it too.


View all my reviews.


Next on my list is another China Bayles installment:

Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a lighter-hearted installment. McQuaid is recuperating and starting to join back into everyday life by judging an annual chili fest. There's a death, an investigation, and romance is back on track. A quick, easy read.


View all my reviews.


This next book is also part of a series == I bought it last year when I was reading the series, and apparently never read it. I found it under a stack of books I was moving. So I read it "out of order" which I hate to do. I still enjoyed it!

Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was fun! The twins are 4 months old, Lori is overwhelmed by new motherhood, and Finch is in an uproar! The vicar has promised the schoolhouse to an archeologist so he can use it as his base, but has forgotten Peggy Kitchener's need for it for the Annual Harvest Festival. All of the villagers are taking sides in the ensuing battle royale that is developing, and a mysterious document is stolen from the vicar's home. But never fear, here comes Francesca, a gorgeous nanny, and of course Dimity to bring order to the chaos Lori is embroiled in.


View all my reviews.