Anne of the Island

Recently while shelving books in the library I discovered that the books in the Anne of Green Gables series by L M Montgomery have been published as large print books. I have fond memories of reading these books as a young teenager with Anne of the Island being a favourite. With some trepidation I decided to borrow a copy hoping that rereading the book many years later would not be a disappointment. Fortunately I thoroughly enjoyed being reacquainted with this book and its characters.

Anne, Gilbert and Charlie leave the Island to study at Redmond College on the mainland. Anne with her friends Priscella, Philippa and Stella share a house as they navigate their studies and friendship plus the challenges of love and life.

The book is about people, including Anne's adopted family at Avonlea, and about relationships,  particularly discovering the true meaning of love.

Reading some of reviews in Good Reads I am obviously not the only person who loves this book and its characters.

The book can also be read online:
Project Gutenberg edition
Page by Page books

A Distant View of Everything

The latest Isabel Dalhousie novel by Alexander McCall Smith allows us to renew our acquaintance with Isabel, Jamie and their growing family, now consisting of two small boys, Charlie and Magnus. The housekeeper, Grace, is only too willing to look after the boys allowing Isabel to occasionally escape to assist her niece, Cat, in the delicatessen. Isabel continues to edit the Review of Applied Ethics though she is finding it hard to concentrate on this task after the birth of Magnus.

A former school-mate provides Isabel with a philosophical challenge when she is told about a man who appears to be developing relationships with rich women in order to gain access to their wealth. Isabel decides to investigate and the book looks at the ethics of such an investigation as well as questioning the extent to which opinion can be taken at face value.

The descriptions of Edinburgh remain a feature of these books as Isabel endeavours to discover the truth not hearsay.

Gone Gull

Once again Donna Andrews has written a crime book with a bird related theme. Meg is assisting her grandmother, Cordelia, run the Biscuit Mountain Craft Centre where a range of craft courses are offered including Meg's blacksmithing class. However, after a while, acts of vandalism occur at the centre and a rival craft centre is suspected of trying to sabotage the Biscuit Mountain venture. Then the first murder is discovered. The police, aided by members of Meg's family, work to discover the identity of the vandal and the murderer.

Meg's grandfather manages to antagonise a number of people as he endeavours to discover the existence of a variety of gull in the area that was believed to be extinct. Meg's work is cut out as she tries to protect her family, locate the gull colony and save her grandmother's craft centre as well as locate the murderer. As usual, this crime story also describes the exploits of Meg's unusual extended family.

Another entertaining read, Gone Gull is number 21 in the Meg Langslow Mystery series.

Reviews of Gone Gull in Goodreads