Hidden in Paris (2011) by Corine Gantz #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

 

🎀 It was on the summer solstice in Paris, that this story had begun. The French has their own celebration on that day, La Fête de la Musique. Annie, an American housewife, has been living in a big house in the 16e arrondissement de Paris, with her husband Johnny and three little boys. Theirs are a happy marriage - or so thought Annie - until, on the way to some dinner and dancing, Johnny grimly told Annie that he "have something I have to tell you". You can only imagine what it was, because in the next chapter, Annie (already at home) got news that Johnny had been killed in a car accident - a combination of booze and speed. 🎀 Fast forward to two and a half year later, Annie still lives in the same house. The boys apparently have accepted their father's death - they never even said anything about their dad, at least that I remember. But Annie, well, she's doing it rather badly. Annie becomes anti-social, neglecting her appearance, and her home - especially her kitchen - and her boys have been her only solace and protection. Them, and an old friend called Lucas, a blue blooded handsome Frenchman, who had been a loyal friend of Annie and Johnny. Nowadays, he comes visiting almost everyday, and the only friend Annie has. It was he who's get Annie realizes of her financial problem, and advised her to sell the house. But Annie loves her house so much, and finally came out with a solution: tenants! 🎀 Two American women and a young man are the three tenants that ends up living with Annie - three persons bringing three personal problems to Paris. Lola with her (verbally) abusive husband and unhappy marriage; Althea with her anorexia, rooted from abusive mother. Last but not least, there's Jared, who is drained after caring for his dying mother and grieved over her death. Annie thinks the womanizer Lucas is attracted to Lola, with her Hollywood celebrity appearance, but she's completely wrong. Lucas had been in love with her for ages. And when nobody would think the emaciated Althea is anyway attractive, Jared is instantly in love with her on first sight. Lola, on the other hand, is always haunted by the thought that she's done a crime by bringing the children to France without Mark's knowledge. 🎀 Along the book, all these characters are struggling and evolving amidst the charm of Parisian "joie de vivre" mannerism, its people and culture, and its culinary (brought in perfection at Annie's kitchen most of the time). Annie's home is the catalyst of the changes in every character, especially in Lola and Althea. That, and the charm of Paris, of course. I could not relate to any of the characters, but I felt pity for Althea. Her mother was a true bit*h, and she should have not raise any children! I was a little surprised with Annie - she befriended Lola easily and took to herself to help Lola with her problem, but ignored Althea completely. Why hasn't she tried to reach for her? If not befriend her - which was impossible as Althea closed the door for social interaction - at least tried to sympathize and more understanding, instead of ignoring her completely. Luckily, there's Jared. All in all, this wasn't a bad book, at least it entertains you with the Parisian vibes. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for: Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Six in Six: What I've Been Reading for the Last Six Months

 

I used to do this meme a few years ago, so I was very pleased when Emma @ Words and Peace decided to host for this year. It's a fun way to do some wrap up for the first semester, reading and blogging wise. 

What is 6 in 6?

The idea is to look back at the books you have read so far in the six months of this year. You can post any time in July, or as early as 6/6, June 6th.

What do you post?

Choose 6 books in 6 categories. Check here for the choice of categories

Without further ado, here's my Six in Six, with links to my reviews in the titles (five from the given choices, one - the last - is my own):

I. Six new authors to me

1. Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar
2. Call Mr. Fortune by H.C. Bailey
3. The Narrowboat Summer by Anne Youngson
4. Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson
5. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
6. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes 

II. Six books I have enjoyed the most:

1. Murder in Regent's Park by Christina Koning
2. The Case of the Perjured Parrot by Erle Stanley Gardner
3. Evening Class by Maeve Binchy
4. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
5. The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp
6. To Fetch A Thief by Spencer Quinn

III. Six mysteries, thrillers or crime novels NOT by Agatha Christie

1. Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown
2. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3. Murder at the Homecoming by Merryn Allingham
4. Death Around the Bend by T.E. Kinsey
5. The Ten Teacups by Carter Dickson
6. Fell Murder by E.C.R. Lorac

IV. Six books that didn’t live up to expectations

1. Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien
2. The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley
3. Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong
4. Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
6. The Body in the Dumb River by George Bellairs

V. Six authors I am looking forward to reading more of

1. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun
2. The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
3. The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell
4. Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
5. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
6. The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

VI. Six Book that Exceeded My Expectation:

1. Paw Prints in the Moonlight by Denis O'Connor
2. The Golden Collar by Elizabeth Cadell
3. An Afternoon Walk by Dorothy Eden
4. Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge
5. The Splendor of Ordinary Days by Jeff High
6. Bramton Wick by Elizabeth Fair

That's my Six in Six, 36 books in total.
Yet, I have read 48 books, meaning that 12 books are still left behind.
Not that they are not worth mentioning, but because they don't quite fit with the categories - or just run out of space.


Here are the other twelve books worth mentioning, with no particular order:

1. If Life is A Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? by Erma Bombeck
2. Keeping A Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie
3. The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase
4. Night on the Milky Way Railway by Kenji Miyazawa
5. The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida
6. The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
7. A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
8. Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth
9. They Do It with Mirrors by Agatha Christie (a reread)
10. A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (a reread)
11. The Lost Horizon by James Hilton
12. They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie (a reread)

This year has been a bit of surprise for me. As one who don't usually keen on reading nonfiction, I have read three so far, and am even reading the fourth as I'm typing this. Moreover, I have read 48 books in half year, meaning that, if I keep the pace, I could even end the year by reading 100? Well... fingers crossed, and let's just see!

How have your reading year been?

One Fine Day (1947) by Mollie Panter-Downes #20BOS26

 

🧡 One Fine Day reminded me of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Besides the fact that the whole story covers only one single day, it was also written in the semi-stream-of-consciousness style, of which Woolf was famous for. And both are incidentally set in the post World War - one the first, and the other the second. It was 1946, just several months after the war. Stephen Marshal has returned, unscathed, from the war; and now he and his wife Linda were expecting to be back to their normal life again. But of course, things could never be back to the time before the war, it would become a new normal. And that is the main theme of this book: adapting to the significant changes upon the middle-class' lives, and their struggles for it.

🧡 The Marshals came from middle class families, who were used to have servants to take care of the household. When they were hungry, there's food on the table ready. The garden were always neat and fresh when they looked at it. The floor and furniture were always immaculately clean and shining, and so were the laundry, and dozens of other convenience they used to take for granted. They never thought about the cook, the gardener, or the maids. The war changed all that; nowadays servants are difficult to get, and so they must work on almost everything by themselves. Classes was beginning to dissolve; the cleaning woman who comes in the morning doesn't even call Laura 'Madam' any longer. On that fateful day, after Stephen left for work, and Victoria, their only child, to the gymnastic class, Laura is left alone in the house to clean the breakfast and several other chores awaiting for her.
🧡 And it is during these chores, that Laura is contemplating their circumstances. She is a dreamy and imaginary kind of woman, who's often lost to her thoughts and observations. So, while tidying the house, for instance, she would contemplate about the wisdom of maintaining this big house, which others, including the cleaning woman, thought foolish and extravagant. But despite of the house' perpetual demands, she and Stephen love it. By the way, I love Panter-Downes' personification of the inanimate objects like the house, as having emotion like human beings. While queuing for bread and cakes - they still have food rationing, with the coupons to do shopping with - Laura would contemplates about how tiresome and never-ending household works are - is it worth it? However, it is when she must look for their dog Stuffy, who are missing somewhere, and meet a gypsy man, that Laura would have her 'revelation', and answer to all her questions. 🧡 I love this book. The middle classes' struggle is quite relevant to what my family (especially my mother) had had to face. My mother, born in 1941, was brought up in a big house with several servants, probably three or four. She often tells me about her childhood; how my grandmother forbade Mama to even enter the kitchen; and how everything was always provided for 'the little miss' by the servants. Even when my mother needed a drink, she just asked a servant to procure it for her. It's just how it was at that time. Naturally, when Mama married and moved to our tiny house, she's incapable to do all the houseworks by herself. She had learn how to cook, but that's all. A maid was being lent from Grandmother's house for a few hours to help Mama cleaning. And that keeps happening even until now. Although little by little, Mama and me take over most of the household chores, we still need a cleaning lady to do the hardest chores. Therefore, I can relate very much with Stephen and Laura's struggles. It's not vanity, but it's just how they hade been brought up.

🧡 Needless to say, this has been a memorable read for me. It's not overly fantastic, but it feels like a warm and cozy old blanket to curling up under.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2026

hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

 

To Fetch A Thief (2010) by Spencer Quinn #20BOS26

 

🎪 When I stumbled upon this new-to-me mystery series, which is narrated by a dog (who can resist such a thing? not I), I knew instantly I have to read it some day. I decided to start not from the beginning, but on the third book, which has a circus element; I always love circus element in a book. It turns out to be: a great FUN! It has everything I expected it to have, and perhaps more...

🎪 Bernie Little is a Private Investigator, the owner of Little Detective Agency. And Chet, his partner, is a dog. He (Chet, not Bernie) was the best leaper of his class at K-9 police school. However, he failed the last leap due to something or other. But it didn't matter, because that was when he first met Bernie Little. And the rest was history, so the humans always say. Little Detective Agency isn't a big one, Bernie has always been in need of money. But that isn't any problem for them both. Their deep bond and partnership, makes them always happy; what do you need more? The story begins when they are on a divorce case, and the client gives Bernie tickets to a circus. So they went to the circus, Bernie, Chet, and Bernie's son, who currently lives with Bernie's ex wife. To their disappointment, the main attraction, an elephant show, was cancelled because Peanut, the elephant, and its trainer have been missing. 🎪 Popo the clown hired Bernie and Chet to investigate the case, since the police (the officer is Bernie's friend) seem to be disinterested. They (the police), along with the circus owner, believe that the trainer, who is the most humane trainer in treating animals, must have been crossed to the animal-justice-organization side. But Popo knew better, or did he? And how do you think can an elephant gone missing just like that without any witness? Well, thanks to Chet's wonderful smelling skill, he found Peanut's trace, and that leads to another, and another, that in no time, Chet and Bernie must deal with bigger dangers than they have ever expected. 🎪 On the whole, this is a combination of crime mystery (there are the theft and a murder - or is it?), and adventure. On those two aspects themselves, this is fun to read. But the biggest attraction, that makes this series a success, is how Quinn portrays Chet, the dog narrator, he is as genuine as he is plausible. It feels like you are really viewing the world, and the humans, from a dog's perspective. Chet understands English; he's capable of following what Bernie and other humans are saying. Well, at least, common English conversation; he has difficulties, though, to follow many slangs and sayings, which to him is confusing. And these are the few funniest parts of the book, which would often throw you with uncontrollable laughter. Here's an example, which takes place after Chet, unknowing to Bernie, has saved his beloved human friend:

"I've got a strong suspicion you saved my bacon last night." [Bernie to Chet] Bacon? There'd been bacon last night? Cheetos, yes, but that was it. Had I somehow missed out on bacon?

🎪 And that kind of thing happens a lot. It's even funnier when there's food mentioned, like in that instance, bacon. Because food, Bernie, and their adventure together fighting the crime, were uppermost in Chet's thoughts. Those, and many confusing human's manner. Another funny thing is Chet's memory. He could remember some of what Bernie said to him, or the thugs they have caught in the past, but he is always lost somewhere in the middle of a long thought. And he would always be like "...what was that again? It's not important, the important thing is...." Chet is soo adorable! I loved how Quinn let Chet be just a dog. He might understand what humans are saying, but other than that, Chet behaves and thinks as a normal animal. I suspect, that is one factor that make people love Chet, and this series, so much. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for: 20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026 hosted by Carol @ Carol's Notebook

They Do It with Mirrors (1952) by Agatha Christie: A Re-read

 

🔫 This is the fifth Miss Marple mystery novel from the series that I have re-read for my Agatha Christie Perpetual Challenge. The main idea is to perpetually reading Agatha Christie's sixty eight novels. If I can read about three or four novels per year (my current "speed"), I would be rereading each title in every seventeen years - how about that, eh? Anyway, what I don't quite like from Miss Marple mysteries, is that she is usually too "fluffy" and insignificant, despite the fact that she is the main character - the amateur sleuth. This book, though, I happily announce, is an exception. 

🔫 The story begins when Miss Marple was visiting her school friend Ruth, who asked her to check on their mutual friend, Carrie Louise Serrocold, who lives in a mansion house called Stonygates, with her third husband Lewis, her widowed daughter Mildred, and her companion/housekeeper Juliette. Part of the house had been turned into an institution for juvenile delinquent boys. The institution was originally founded by Carrie Louise's second husband - deceased - and is now managed by the current husband Lewis. Ruth had been feeling something was "wrong" when she visited Carrie Louise, and Miss Marple is about to find out the truth behind it. At first things seem normal, but there has been a bit awkward incident with one of the institution boys, a seemingly "not right in the head" young man who believes he's the son of some famous men (when he's actually an illegitimate one). His name is Edgar Lawson. 🔫 Among the visiting guests are Carrie-Louise step granddaughter, her American husband, Carrie Louise' step son (from her second husband), and two nephews (or step sons? I lost counting of whos' who). Then one night, two things happened at the same time. Edgar Lawson took it into his head that Lewis Serrocold is his real father. They quarreled in heated debate in the library; Edward making ruckus by shooting a revolver (but not at Lewis Serrocold, fortunately). All the while, the others were in the living room, listening with apprehension to almost everything happening inside. Everyone, excepting Christian, Carrie Louise's step son. How they were surprised then, to find out later that Christian had been shot when the ruckus in the library was happening. Why Christian, though? Is it because he had found out that someone has been poisoning Carrie Louise? In the end, it is up to Miss Marple to find out what had really occurred. It has something to do with the theatrical system, the murderer is like a conjurer, who do it with mirrors... 🔫 Like I said before, I liked it that Miss Marple is more actively involved in this case. This time, she acted as Carrie Louise's protector because she loves her friend. Her deceiving 'fluffiness' makes her a confidant to some of the suspects, they could pour out their heart honestly to her - an outsider. The plot itself is not one of Christie's bests - I guessed the murderer right away. Whether it's because I have read Christie for so long to suspect little discrepancies, or because the "hole" is too obvious to be missed, I don't really know. While I love murder in close-knitted family house, the premise is rather quirky. Top it off with rather lose plot, this one is not among my favorites.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Guest Cat (2001) by Takashi Hiraide #ReadingtheMeow2026 #20BOS26

 

🐈 My second (and last) read for #ReadingtheMeow2026 hosted by Mallika, is a Japanese semi-autobiographical novel by an acclaimed Japanese poet Takashi Hiraide. It was based on Hiraide's own part of life, where, as freelancers, he and his wife had lived in a small rented cottage in the quiet part of Tokyo, and their attachment to a certain cat. Hiraide wrote this as a novella, with his poetical style of writing, combining a beautiful narrative with a touching story of relationship between human and animal, spiced up with a little mystery at the end.

🐈 The narrator, like Hiraide himself, is a freelance writer, who rents a small cottage which had been a kind of pavilion to a big house, where the landlady lives. The cottage is uniquely placed, tucked into a corner down a kind of zigzagging alley. I love how Hiraide describes the cottage and the alley, which he calls Lightning Alley - due to its zigzag shape, similar to lightning (I suddenly thought of Harry Potter's scar!) Anyway, a cat invites herself to their kitchen one day. This cat, which is called Chibi, does not seem to belong to anyone around the neighborhood. Sure, the boy next door is kind of the formal owner, but in reality, Chibi just let herself being fed and played with for only a certain time by the boy. At night she sleeps at the narrator's cottage, inside a box in the cupboard. The cat let itself in from a tiny gap at the window (Chibi is a small cat). At a particular time every morning, she would leave, just in time to see the neighbor boy go to school.

🐈 Despite Chibi's seemingly 'aloofness' (she never allows anyone touch her, and she never lets out even a single meow), the narrator and his wife are soon attached to her. The guest cat brings bright shine to their existence, and slowly but surely, Chibi seems to be part of their family. Just like how Chibi had first appeared at their cottage, one day she just stopped coming. This distressed the young couple not a little - just as if their child is suddenly missing. They wait and wait in vain, then one day the author heard from his neighbor (mother of the boy who 'owns' Chibi), that the cat had been found lifeless in a nearby street corner, presumably having been hit by a passing vehicle. You can imagine how grief-stricken the couple had become.
🐈 The depth of the narrator and his wife's attachment to Chibi could be seen from how they were distressed when the landlady decided to sell the house, which meant that they have to move out. The thought that they would be far away from where Chibi had been buried (under her favorite tree), forced them to find a house nearby from where they could still take a look at the tree. It is clear that they did not have a proper closure to Chibi's tragic demise. And that's understandable, because of the little mystery that surrounds the beloved cat's death. I won't reveal anything here; it is sufficed to say that human's relationship with animals and dealing with grief are two most important aspects of this novella. The ending is ambiguous, highlighting the fact that we could never know everything we want to, and some tragedy could remain mystery forever. One just needs to try to cope with it, and move on.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Reading the Meow 2026

hosted by Mallika @ Literary Potpourri

20 Books of Summer 2026
hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Paw Prints in the Moonlight (2004) by Denis O'Connor #ReadingtheMeow2026 #20BOS26

🐱 My first read for Reading the Meow 2026, hosted by Mallika, is a heartwarming memoir of a man who once rescued a cat, which would totally change his life forever. Denis O'Connor is a trained psychologist and a teacher. It was in the 1990s that this episode with the rescued cat begins. He was a bachelor then, just bought an eighteen century cottage with a garden called Owl Cottage, in the rural part of Northumberland, England. One biting cold January night, just after a snow storm, Denis found a she-cat in painful agony, trapped in an animal snare usually left by hunters. He saved it, but the cat ran away. The morning after, Denis found the cat in an abandoned farm, dying, but still nursing her three kittens. He brought them all to the vet, but the mother was beyond help, and the vet put her to sleep. The kittens would find the same fate, as they would not survive without their mother. However, Denis, finding one of the three poor kittens responded to his touch, decided on impulse, to bring it home.

🐱 Denis tried hard to nurse the kitten back to life against all odds, realizing that it might die the next day. But days become weeks, and the kitten survived. He called it Toby Jug. And from then on, Denis and Toby Jug are inseparable for the next twelve years. This memoir tells in perfect details of Denis' grim rescue of Toby Jug's mother and siblings, his relentless efforts to save Toby Jug from death, despite his limited resources and knowledge, and then, his happiest adventures with Toby Jug.
🐱 It was later on when Denis brought Toby Jug to a vet, that he first learned that his beloved cat is actually a Maine Coon. From Wikipedia: The Maine Coon is a large and social cat, commonly referred to as "the gentle giant". The Maine Coon is often cited as having "dog-like" characteristics. Toby Jug remains little in size for the rest of her life, but she is a social cat. I loved her way of curling on Denis' shoulder - which caused his jackets of coats to have marks on one shoulder due to Toby Jug's repeatedly claws-digging. She always do that whenever she needs comfort, or when she's scarred. There are few occasions of these, the most terrifying episodes were perhaps during a hunting season, and when some bullying kids throwing fireworks at poor little Toby Jug - damned that kind of kids!
🐱 All her life, Toby Jug is depended on Denis. It is no wonder, because Denis is everything for her - he might have thought him her mother, as he had nursed him from the beginning, and has been living only with her human friend. She only knows humans' way of living, and she would have never been fitted to a wilder life, other than catching a rat every now and then. The most memorable scene for me is when Denis first brought Toby Jug out to the garden. The way she looked, for the first time, at the nature; savouring first one object and then another, and another - all bursting with spring lights and colors and scents - it must have been an overwhelming bliss for her. Afraid that Toby Jug might harm herself, Denis put her inside a large glass jar, and put the jar on the grass. He even moved or shifted the jar a little from time to time so that the kitten might have slightly different views each time.

🐱 Over all, this is a truly heartwarming memoir - more of the cat then the human. I enjoyed every bit of it; in fact I read it very slowly that I ended up reading only this one and one other book (instead of intended three) for #ReadingtheMeow2026 - I just wanted it to last forever... The bonding of Denis and Toby Jug is amazing and very touching. I'm glad that Toby Jug had had a wholesome, albeit short, life - always beloved by her favorite human. At the same time, Toby Jug had, not only changed, but wrought a deep influence in Denis' life. The ending might be rather strange for some people, but I liked it. A deep thanks to Denis O'Connor for ever sharing this part of his life with Toby Jug with us. His writing is so beautiful and gentle, and allows us to be included in every sweet, terrifying, and funny moments with Toby Jug, the little Maine Coon. In the end, I felt as if I have known Toby Jug personally myself. What a sweet and meaningful friendship between a cat and a human!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Reading the Meow 2026

hosted by Mallika @ Literary Potpourri

20 Books of Summer 2026
hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel