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I read The Lincoln Highway … but it’s winter here 😉

I have the annotated persuasion and pride and prejudice will look for the others - well done

I just finished Someone at a Distance as well. I love Dorothy Whipple’s writing. I think this was my third one and given the description, I didn’t think I would enjoy as much. But she did such a wonderful job with it. I typically don’t like reading about divorce but she handled the story beautifully.

congrats on all your 'big book summer' reads! impressive!!

marcia willett books aren't on kindle :-( I'll check my library late ron - I have sooo many to read LOL! eta: the 3 you mentioned aren't on k indle I meant to say- she has some others!

Wonderful summer reads. I did not participate in big books summer reads, but if it counts, I did read The Shell Seekers. 🙂

I agree about the annotated editions of Jane Austen. I read my first, Northanger Abbey, recently and really enjoyed all of the insights. I read two big books this summer: The Poisonwood Bible and Rebecca.

Good job!!! 🙂 I chose Lonesome Dove- which I am absolutely loving- but it’s going to take me through September to finish!

I can always tell when you love a book because your whole face lights up❤ it’s wonderful! I did search out Marcia Willet at a used bookstore but they didn’t have the Chadwick family ones. They did. , however, have The Golden Cup so I picked that up. You inspired me to revisit Rosamunde Pilcher and I’ve been looking for my favorites at second hand shops. I remember loving The Shell Seekers when I was younger and I will be re reading it soon. I just have to find September and I think I’ve got all my faves back on my shelves… ahhh the regret of letting my copies go in my early 20’s/30’s 😂😂. On the flip side I’ve had fun searching for them again! Great job on your summer reading goals!

P.S. that was the Marcia Willet series

GOOD FOR YOU!! WOO-HOO!! I did participate in "Big Book Summer" by reading The Shell Seekers. Unfortunately I was on pain medication, didn't enjoy it that much, missed all of the best; so intend to re-read w/o pain med 😂😋. Really want to read the Marcia Killer series and it is still on my list as are others from the first time you mentioned them. Very much looking forward to your Autumn list. Already have a number of short cozy mysteries on mine. Also some histories books about Witches. Presently reading Bill O'Reilly's "Killing The Witches. EXCELLENT! Pure history,facts; which is what I wanted. Thanks Jen! Oh, being from Massachusetts, I was in Salem many times. It IS a " dark" city, very strange. The House Of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne is there also.

Though I couldn't participate in Goodreads, I read The Other Bennet Sister!

I read Emma for big book summer and I read Firebird and Shell Seekers for Cozy Book Club. Currently starting fall reads with The Cemetery Book.

“The Annotated Emma” is so big that it should be considered as two books rather than one.🤣The biggest book I read this summer was “Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution” by Cat Bohannon (2023) at 624 pages. The reality of it though is that there were many pages of footnotes, an index, etc., so if you removed all that, it isn’t the chunkster it appears to be at first glance. And it’s fascinating!

❤📚❤️ Great job!!

I really enjoy Susan Branch books so much so that I almost don’t want to finish reading them; almost like I’m savoring each one. The drawings and photos are extra special and such a treat!

I am reading The Swiss Summer by Stella Gibbons.

I love Susan Branch!

Just finished The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant

I'm reading Kate Morton's "Homecoming". It's very good!

Rush by Lisa Patton and Lady Justice by Dinah Miller

That’s a lot of reading but I know you can handle it. I’ve just finished “There Are Rivers in the Sky” by Elif Shafak (2024). It’s a beautifully-written book about one lost poem (The Epic of Gilgamesh,) two great rivers, and three remarkable characters--all connected by a single drop of water.

I'm reading Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin - think you're the one who raved about her and this is my 2nd of hers!

I'm reading "I am Not Your Eve" by Devika Ponnambalam - a really great book!!!!

I loved Near Nieghbours so much! Molly Clavering is a favorite of mine 😊

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Sara Nisha Adams (The Reading List) has a new one out: The Twilight Garden; read10 pgs. returning to library.

I am looking forward to your Spinster September special video. What an interesting theme! See you again soon.

I keep forgetting to ask you if you have ever read The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams? I read it a few yrs. ago and I think you would love it.

Murder Must Advertise is one of my favorite Lord Peter Wimsey books. Dorothy Sayers herself worked in the advertising field. I also love reading essays about personal preferences, so I paused the video to order Personal Pleasures for my Kindle. I generally have at least two books going at a time, a fiction and a Christian non-fiction, but I do occasionally get up to more. I am currently reading three nonfiction and one fiction book, with plans to start another fiction book this afternoon. For poets, have you tried Billy Collins?

I'm a teacher but love to read historical fiction books about nurses. Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough sounds really good. I will have to check that out.

Colleen McCullough’s first book Tim is a beautiful story and was made into a movie starring a very young Mel Gibson. Warning - have the tissues handy if you do. I have so many of her books on my shelf including her huge Roman series - all massive tomes (which I must confess I have never read)

I loved Near Neighbors! I enjoy Molly Clavering’s books as much as those by DES.

Still mourning the loss of A Common Reader catalog. My librarian sister-in-law sent me a copy ages ago, and I quickly placed an order or two so I could continue receiving the catalog. Wish I could remember what those first book choices of mine were! Foolishly thinking that the catalog would be published forever, I cavalierly discarded the old copies - one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done! Oh, the hours and hours spent perusing those pages. I even learned how Sudoku was played by following a small schematic drawn up by the publisher while he was trying to figure out how to play too. 😂

Love book hauls - yours,mine and everyone’s! Stoner was one of my all time favorites. Enjoy your reads.

I ways screenshot at least one or two of your offerings! I’ve got some Mrs. Pollifax lined up and just got the first two Emma M. Lion books as well. I picked up a Marcia Willet called The Golden Cup and I’ve re bought the soem of Rosamunde Pilchers books I used to own. You are definitely influencing my reading and buying these days!! Thank you!!❤❤

I just finished Near Neighbors a couple of days ago. It was lovely. I read Susan Settles Down earlier this year and instantly found a favorite author. I have since read the sequel. I now have all of the furrowed middlebrow Molly Clavering books and am looking forward to savoring them.

Oooh I love your book hauls

Hi Jen I'm in the middle of a lot of books and all of them are 500+. I did put in a effort to finish some of them this year like Clash of Kings and The Name of the Rose.

Believe me, Virginia Woolf is very accessible - very! Try To The Lighthouse. Stoner is wonderful- sad but wonderful.

Oh my I love that Spinster September theme! Near Neighbors looks great! A Chelsea Concerto has been sitting around waiting for me to get to it. I also LOVE The Thornbirds. Lovely book haul Jen!

I loved A Chelsea Concerto, one of the best books I read last year. A Room of One's Own was originally a lecture, so it's a little bit more accessible than Woolf's fiction.

Wow, West from Here sounds so good!! And the Dean Street Press books are so beautiful!

Hi Jen, I have only read the first book from Mrs. Pollifax series. I loved it, and since then I have been buying/collecting the series from my local used bookstore and eventually keep reading the series. I also keep adding books to my bookshelf from Deans Press, great authors and their cover illustrations are just lovely. Near Neighbours being set in postwar souds interesting.

I read The Thorn Birds, excellent!

Spinster September is a darling idea and there are many to choose from in those Deans Press editions! Also, because so many of us like the war and inter-war stories I have found a good one to add to all your great recommendations- Miss Morgans Book Brigade- based on the true story of a group of women who rescued both people and culture in WW1 France. Really good one.

I look forward to learning more about Spinster September books!

Spinster Sept. sounds pretty interesting . Oh, yes MANY sound intriguing! Wrote down 7. Of course West From Home (letters, never heard of it either), Nella's Last War, Near Neighbors, etc. Thanks Jenn!

I have really enjoyed Jennifer Ryan's WW2 novels set on the home front, so I am very interested in Nella's Last War, and The Chelsea Concerto. Near Neighbors also sounds right up my alley. Thanks for sharing all of your haul!

We just read The Thorn Birds this summer at my bookclub. Everyone loved it. Rewatched the mini series too! Great♥️