Thursday’s Tale: Death of the Seven Dwarfs

by Carol2 Comments
I'm hoping to see The Huntsman: Winter's War this weekend, which has me thinking about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I found the tale of the "Death of the Seven Dwarfs" at  D. L. Ashliman's website. He credits the story to Ernst Ludwig Rochholz, who included it in Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau, vol. 1. The story comes from Switzerland and as you can tell from the title, does not have a happy ending for the dwarfs. On one of the high plains near the Black Forest, seven dwarfs lived together in a small house. Late one evening an attractive young peasant girl, who was lost and hungry, approached them and requested shelter for the night. The dwarfs only had seven beds, and they argued with each other about who would give up his bed for the girl. Finally the oldest one took the girl into his bed. I'm not sure what "took into his bed" means here. At first it sounds like the dwarfs...
Read More

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol1 Comment
I love Marsh's books. They tend to be decent puzzles and I adore the characters. In Death in a White Tie we have a glimpse of upper society London, with it's gossip and cruelty and caring too. Some of the characters are quite self-important, but other realize how amusing it all can be. Bunchy, the victim, is someone we as the readers actually like, someone who enjoyed the season, but who understood it's underside too. We've gotten to know him before he's killed and are genuinely sad, although not surprised, when he's dead one. Alleyn is determined to find the killer and sure that it's connected to the blackmailing. Alleyn is a little tough on some of the spoiled brats young people he interviews - which is good. The clues all tie together well in the end and the whodunnit was actually a bit surprising. One of the highlights of this particular book is the developing relationship between Alleyn and Agatha Troy. I've been reading these out...
Read More

Readers’ Workouts – 5/24

by Carol5 Comments
Here are my steps for the week. I didn't hit my goal every day, but at least I made the week. I'm thinking once school is out, I should try upping my steps to 10,000 a day. Maybe. If you're on fitbit, you can find me here. My current plan is to do cardio on Tuesday (60 mins), upper body on Wednesday, cardio on Thursday (60 mins), a total body workout on Friday, cardio on Saturday (60+ mins), and a core workout on Monday. I'm also doing a 10 minute-ish Pilates workout each day. Tuesday - Walk with the dog. Wednesday - Walk with the dog. 20 mins arms & shoulders. Thursday - Walk with the dog. 26 mins elliptical. Saturday - Raccoon Creek 5K  - 38:41 (11/51 women - but that included walkers). I shared a couple of photos from the race on my Saturday Snapshot post. My husband as always was nice enough to go with me and hung out in the rain and clapped as people crossed...
Read More

The Pot Thief Who Studied Georgia O’Keeffe by J. Michael Orenduff

by CarolNo Comments
I'm sad. Why did no one tell me about this series before? The Pot Thief Who Studied Georgia O'Keeffe is smart, laugh out loud funny, and a good mystery. It throws in bits of history, literary references, and culture, and word play. It's just fun. Hubie is a criminal. He digs up pots illegally and sells them, but he justifies it well. He says, and I think believes, that the women who made the pots would rather have them in a household that cherishes them than a museum where they are rarely visited, or, even worse, left in the ground unappreciated. He's also a talented potter in his own right, making reproductions. The dead man is one of Hubie's associates, the one who had a buyer for the Tompiro pot. Hubie doesn't seem to broken up over the death, but I'm kind of assuming he was a character we would have met in a previous book or two. We've got his widow, a couple...
Read More

Night Shift by Charlaine Harris

by Carol2 Comments
I had this review all written - and lost it. I hate when that happens. At the beginning of the month, I had finished the audiobook I was listening to, had listened to a couple of short stories, and couldn't decide what to listen to next. Happily, I noticed that Night Shift was out. I was glad I hadn't spent the Audible credit on something else first, since I do love this series. Night Shift is third, and last, of the Midnight, Texas books, and I've listened to the three in order. I do think it's a bit better to start this series at the beginning. The characters are an odd lot, and there are a few things from previous books that impact this one. I guess it also has some cross-overs from Harris' other series. I've read a couple of those books, but it was a while ago and I don't remember much about them. I don't feel like that lack made me...
Read More