Diary of A Profincial Lady (1930) by E.M. Delafield #20BOS26

 

✍🏼 When life is too much for you, this comical book is a perfect getaway for you. It is set in 1930 and is written as a diary of a housewife from an upper middle-class household in Devon village in England. It is an autobiographical account of Delafield's own view of the English upper-classes' eccentricity. The unknown woman writes about everyday's life concerning her household. It consists of her husband Robert, a land agent and a typical husband of the time with his indifferent manner towards the household; their daughter Vicky (6 years old) who's brought up by a French nanny; the older son Robin, who at the start of the novel was sent to a prep school, and would spend holidays at home, creating havocs to the household. There are also a cook and a parlour maid to complete the household.  

✍🏼 The narrator writes about everything she encounters day in day out. From the (trying) visits of two prominent ladies, the snobbish Lady Boxe, and 'our Vicar's wife' who always talk too long - whom the narrator actually is not glad to welcome, but she complies anyway; to the difficulties of parenting (and facing the nanny's whining); the financial struggles of meeting the expenditure with the income (pawnbroker and letters to bank managers and creditors involved); not mentioning the narrator's effort to grow 'the bulbs' (which is more often dissatisfactory). All these the narrator put in diary entries with witty, often sarcastic, and humorous way, especially in her NBs, Queries, and 'Mems' - which is intended to remind her of something important to do. ✍🏼 Besides recording the eccentricity of her peer, the narrator sometimes jotted down her reflection of getting into middle age. She is about thirty-something, and often feels out of fashion, though she tries hard not to. In a way, though separated by a century, the narrator's struggle does not differ very far from our own. Aren't housewives often juggling between childcare, financial management, and social obligation? Of course, social calls become less and less often, but instant messaging and other digital communication have been replacing it, maybe even double in persistency and frequency. Reading this diary reminded me of the bygone era of the 20th century, when human interaction was still the center of our civilization. It is light, witty, and funny, and the voice of Georgina Sutton who narrates the audiobook is perfectly soothing. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The Little Paris Bookshop (2013) by Nina George #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

📘 This would be my last read for #ParisinJuly2026. It's not my first choice, actually. I have been meaning to read a nonfiction about gardens in Paris, but alas, the book is not currently available. Since The Little Paris Bookshop had been on my radar for some time, I plunged in, and read it instead. And it turned out to be a perfect book to end Paris in July! Plus, it took me to to another journey through the river by a barge. Lovely!

📘 The titular bookshop is owned by Jean Perdu, a lonely man around fifty, who, twenty one years ago bought a barge and restored it into a floating bookshop on the Seine. He named the barge "Literary Apothecary", since Perdu has a rare gift of seeing through his customer's soul, and sensing which books would heal their wounded soul. Ironically, it was his own soul that he failed to heal. Twenty six years ago, he had had a love affair with a Provençal girl called Manon, even when knowing that Manon would marry her fiancée Luc. However, one day Manon left him, without warning or explicable reason. This had hit Perdu very hard, that he didn't even open the letter Manon had left him. He just kept in inside the drawer of a table in the room of his apartment building in Rue Montagnard where they'd been together, and shut that room forever. He had been living as an eccentric recluse ever since. 📘 Until one day, a woman moved in, who has apparently been dumped by her husband with nothing except the clothes she wore. And, since Jean Perdu owns an unused table, he reluctantly gifted it to the newly-widowed woman called Catherine. There in the drawer, she found the unopened letter from Manon, who had told him that she was actually dying of cancer! The truth knocked Jean so hard, that he impulsively decided to raise the anchor of the Literary Apothecary, and set-off to Provence in search of... what exactly? He didn't know either at that moment. Just when the barge is about to unmoor, Max, his emerging-writer-neighbour at Rue Montagnard who's been depressed over his writer-block, asked Jean to take him along. And so, off go the two men, who, along the journey would become like father and son. They are, later on, joined by another broken-hearted Italian man called Cuneo, whose real passion is cooking. These trio's journey was to become a rediscovering-of-one's-soul and the healing process to remove any past wound, and to find new life, and... love! 📘 What I loved most of the book is Perdu and co.'s journey on board the book barge. I loved the glimpses of small harbour town or countryside that dotted the river banks. I loved the freedom of the three men, who, due to their hasty departure, didn't bring enough money to buy food and supplies, and therefore were selling books whenever they moored for the day. That journey is an escapist's or armchair traveler's dream. My least favorite part is Manon's diary. Manon is the woman Jean Perdu had been grieving about. How could I like a woman who was egotistic enough to love two men at the same time; and marry the one, and expected the other - the lover - to never leave her. Couldn't she see that that would break both men? But egotistic persons seldom can see things from others' perspective, always from their own selves. That marred the book for me, but the rest is entertaining enough. The book barge (it's a pity that it was never mentioned again at the end - Literary Apothecary deserves a better ending!); the joie de vivre that you can feel in your bone through the book; the small town or countryside of their transits; the food; the passionate French; and... Provence. What an appropriate book to close my #ParisinJuly2026 - many thanks to our fabulous host: Emma :). Au revoir!

Favorite quotes:

"It was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books. They look after people."

"Memories are like wolves. You can't lock them away and hope they leave you alone."

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

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

Three Bags Full (2005) by Leonie Swann #20BOS26

 

🐑 I have made the second mistake this year, reading wise. I have let myself be tempted by another hyped book which is soon to be a major movie with top actors, just like Remarkably Bright Creatures. And this story was also about, and told from the point of view of, a certain animal. While Remarkably is alternately told from the point of view of human characters and Marcellus the 'remarkably bright' octopus, Three Bags is told mainly from the POV of a flock of sheep's. Both creatures - octopus and sheep - are clever enough to have solved a mystery that the humans failed. However funny or cute the idea was - a flock of sheep turn detective - this story has layers of darkness, and lacks of clarity in the mystery solving. 🐑 The clever sheep belong to a shepherd called George Glenn, who lived in a cozy Irish village of Glennkill. He was a good shepherd - taking a good care and love every one of his sheep, often talks to them, and read stories at night. The books were mainly romances, but one day he read them a detective story, but stopped before finishing it. It was supposed that from these stories reading, and George's continual conversation with the sheep, that they observed much about humans (and detecting). One day, though, the sheep found that their shepherd is dead - pinned to the ground with a spade. The sheep knew that it was a murder, and, led by Miss Maple (the sheep version of Miss Marple?) - "the smartest sheep in Glennkill (and possibly the world)" - they investigate the murder. 🐑 As I mentioned before, the idea is cute and quite promising - how a flock of sheep investigate a murder? They stalk the humans, and listen to every conversation. The humans are none the wiser because, hey, who would imagine that the sheep understand what you said, and if they do, how would they "revealed" it? No, the humans mostly ignore their existence. But Miss Maple - being the smartest sheep in Glenkill; and possibly the world - keeps mulling over the "clues" in her head, until - bingo! she's got it! The revealing to the humans is going to be more difficult, but for this too, she had thought a smart solution. So, what's my problem?-you might wonder. First of all, I didn't know what's happening most of the time, since we only get snippets of truth alternately from sheep and humans. You can imagine that sheep cannot fully understand what humans are talking or doing, and we are only presented with mostly the sheep's perceptions. For instance, the sheep dug the earth and found hidden down there "the thing". It's clear that George had buried 'the thing', but what was it?? - I wanted to scream to my tablet everytime they mentioned "the thing" (I listened to the audiobook). And when much later, it was revealed to be plastic bags containing dry grass, and had caused one of the sheep (Mopple the Whale who's always hungry) fainted and slept for 24 hours, we can only vaguely suspected what the bags had contained. Is-it-what-I-think-it-is? kind of situation. And that changed my mind about George - he's not a lovely character I have thought before. 🐑 Then, 'the darkness' that overshadowed the whole story. You'd get the creepy feeling of a haunted and suicidal soul all through. What with the 'ghost' and death the sheep kept talking about, and a sheep called Zora who's obsessed with 'the abyss'. She loves to perch alone near the cliff in silent, and looks at the abyss for a long time. And I kept thinking, while reading, what this book is really about?! The twisted ending topped it all. This is not a murder mystery, and certainly not a cute "sheep detectives" you'll probably think; this is a bunch of crooked-mind people; and some really cute and smart sheep (Mopple the Whale and Miss Maple) plus some others with dark and suicidal thoughts. The 'actual' murder mystery, however, kept a mystery through the end. And one more thing before I ended this post, why did George promise the sheep a journey to Europe? Isn't Ireland a European country?? What was the point of this book, really? Rating: ⭐⭐1/2

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20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

In the Shadow of Man (1971) by Jane Goodall #Reading1971 #20BOS26

 

🐒 "Previously man had been regarded as the only tool-making animal. Indeed, one of the clauses commonly accepted in the definition of man was that he was a creature who 'made tools to a regular and set pattern". That definition was to be redefined after a young girl called Jane Goodall arrived at Gombe Stream Reserve at Tanzania, Africa, to live with, and learn and observe about chimpanzees. Jane had had no knowledge whatsoever about animals, let alone chimpanzees. She had actually gone to secretary school, but she did have passion about nature and animals from childhood. It's rather funny, that her favorite toy as a child had been a stuffed toy chimpanzee, gifted by her father as substitute to teddy bear. Her mother's friends were horrified that the toy would give little Jane nightmares. Instead, her fondness of the toy had sparked her love for animals. 🐒 One day a connection of her family happened to offer her a life-changing career: to be an observer of chimpanzees. She was chosen particularly because she had no background previously; and that was what Louis Leakey, the palaeontologist who had offered Jane the job, had initially wanted - someone who has passion for animals. Jane arrived at Gombe in 1960, and for many years after, Gombe would be her home, where she would meet her husband, and had a son together. Jane wrote this memoir in 1971, recording all the difficulties she had to endure to begin the task. Jane had first lived in the Gombe with her mother (because the government refused to give permission to Jane unless she was accompanied by a chaperone). I have huge admiration for Jane's mother. Enduring the harshness of living inside a camp in Africa to satisfy one's passion is one thing; but sacrificing one's comfort for the sake of someone's else is entirely different. Jane's mother is indeed an exemplary mother. 🐒 At first the chimpanzees, as expected, were suspicious of her. But with patience (and certainly with tremendous courage), she slowly gained respect and acceptance from them. Jane named each chimpanzee in the group she observed; so that along the memoir we would be entertained with the eccentricity of many different characters like David Greybeard (the first one who accepted Jane, and the first who ever touched her, also the handsomest), Goliath (the alpha male - the highest rank male of the group when Jane first arrived), Flo (an old but coquettish and affectionate female), Fifi (Flo's daughter who inherited her mother's personalities when grew up), Mike (the next alpha male after Goliath - stern but also generous if needed), and many others. Sometimes I felt like reading an animal story book rather than a science-memoir, and it was equally exciting to follow the fate, struggles, and triumph of some of our favorites, just as in fiction. 🐒 To record chimpanzee's behavior, personalities, and social interactions, Jane and her growing team built a banana-feeding station. Every morning the provided bananas, so that the chimpanzees could come, and feed there. Sometimes they come alone, but more often they come in group - either a mother with her children, or adult male with their circle. With this arrangement, they didn't need to go long way to the chimpanzees habitation. Some believe that the feeding stations have altered normal foraging and feeding patterns and social relationships of the chimpanzees. I tend to agree with them. I personally believe that human interference in wild lives usually tend to disrupt the animals' natural behavior, and thus might put the animals in more danger than not. The chimpanzees were slowly accepting human's existence near them. Imagine, when people with malicious intent approached them, their instinct might not warn them properly to protect themselves. 🐒 And, with all due respects to Jane Goodall's tremendous effort in her researches for years, what good comes from for the chimpanzees' own sake in the end? Yes, we humans get to know more about the chimpanzee, and its 'closer than we have ever thought' similarities to human being. That's for our benefits, not to the chimpanzee. I must humbly confess that I might be wrong, but for now, that's my strong believe. Let the wild creatures alone is always the best move. Researches are good, if they were made from proper distance, and for a certain amount of time. Imagine what the chimpanzee's would feel when Jane or her team followed them closely to observe their mating, their sleeping quarter, their grooming - these humans were constantly in close proximity to them day and night. After all, Jane claimed, from her observations, that chimpanzee, similar to human, might have emotion. Don't we better keep respect to and preserve their 'privacy', and wildness? 🐒 All in all, this memoir is mesmerizing account of a wild creature, who is the closest to human being, in similarities of behavior and tool-making and using. The social strata is quite interesting, and just like human mothers, for instance, there are good mothers and bad ones, also, in chimpanzee. These interesting facts made the book very entertaining and mind opening. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

A Secret Garden in Paris (2024) by Sophie Beaumont #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

🌺 Paris and gardens are two of my favorites subjects, so of course I was delighted to win this book from #ParisinJuly2025 - thanks Emma! This book is about three women who have two things in common - they are in struggles, and they love flowers or gardens. First, there's Australian Emma who is grieving over her mother's death. There's a secret of her mother's past which she had had no time to tell Emma before her death - a secret about Emma's biological father's identity. Now, sad and wondering, Emma is staying at her Parisian grandmother's; and to busy herself, she decided to make over the garden, which had been neglected after her grandfather's death. One day, she visited a flower stall at the Marché aux Fleurs, located at île de la cité - a site which is actually in my "go-to" list of Paris (fingers crossed that I would have chance to visit one day, but if not, let me just dream about). 🌺 Arielle Lunel, a young widow with two little children (twins), works as florist at one of the stall, and she's an unusual one. To Arielle, flowers are not just plants, but they are also representing human emotion. That's why many of her customers visits the stall regularly whenever they need a flower arrangement. Just like this young man, David, who visits everyday, either to buy flowers for his mother's grave, or for ehm...other personal reason, who knows? Arielle's problem is related with her controlling parent-in-law who are proposing trying to take away the twins. Last but not least, there's Charlotte Marigny, a successful middle-aged garden designer with a marriage problem. Her husband Tom has been gradually reserved and withdrawn from his wife and children. Distressed, Charlotte fled to Paris; and during one of her wanderings, she visited Arielle's flower stall. 🌺 After presenting each of these three women's cause of troubles, which lead them to fruitful friendship and beautiful journey around flowers and gardens - their mutual passion - the story dwindles a little. The solution to each problem is too easy and too sudden, and felt rushed. I get the idea of using Paris and gardens for a healing point, but still, they are too suddenly resolved. Emma's garden, for instance, despite the fact that she's never been gardening before, and only learns from internet and book, yet the embryo of the garden 'miraculously' emerged just like that. Charlotte's husband also 'miraculously' awaken from his previous reserve - I had even thought it a much more serious case, like the beginning of Parkinson's disease, for example, which often changes the sufferer into a more reserved and withdrawn personality. 🌺 Fortunately, the gardens provided a much better angle for this book. My favorite part is when Emma had to take a friend of a friend (a tourist from Australia) on a garden tour (visiting gardens around Paris, in place of the usual tourist landmarks). It was her grandmother Mattie - my favorite character in this book, by the way - who came up with a nicely-curated tour. Not only that, Mattie - who had worked as illustrator - also produced a specially illustrated map for the tour, with a little scribbled note on the historical background. I would love to pay for such a tour - if only for the illustrated map. The route is as follows: they started apparently from Place des Vosges, and headed for Jardin de l'hotel de Sully, through the door to the secret garden. From there, to Rue des Rosiers, to visit Jardin des Rosiers through the grilled entrance into the hidden garden behind, where they enjoyed quiet times, accompanied by birdsongs. Next, they walked across Pont Marie, over Ile Saint Louis, to have lunch at one of the cafes or bistros, and ice cream at Berthillon at Rue Saint-Louis. Of course, after that they had to visit the Marché aux Fleurs at île de la cité. Their last destination was Jardin de Luxembourg, where the dancing faun statue "reminds us that in letting go, in trusting to the moment, we open ourselves to the gift of joy." [p.153] 🌺 So, you can see, that this book's main charm is in the gardens and flowers, and everything that they represented, either hope, joy, love, or just our connection to the nature. And I loved this book solely for that reason (and a little for the character of Mattie)! Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The Carter of "La Providence" (1931) by Georges Simenon #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26

 

🚤 This would be my starting point of reading the wide-read French detective stories of Georges Simenon. Maybe I should have started from the first book, but somehow this title sounds more interesting. First, I didn't know exactly what a Carter is - is he the driver of a horse cart? Then "La Providence" should be the name of the cart, but somehow I couldn't imagine a horse cart had a name, let alone an elegant one such as "La Providence". So, curiosity drove me to read - or in this case listen to - the (audio) book. I wasn't far wrong, the Carter is indeed a man who managed a horse-drawn-cart, and the lived at the stable, caring for the horses. But the cart isn't conveying passenger, but to tow a canal boat or barge! 

🚤 Since I have read - and enjoyed - The Narrowboat Summer (by Anne Youngson) last month, I was very excited to read a murder mystery set around the canal. A woman with stylish clothes, heavy make-up and jewelry was found strangled to death in a stable near the lock keeper's cottage near Dizy. Quite an incongruous sight it made, as how and why did the woman had come to the (usually) quiet place, at which she was so out of place? That was Inspector Maigret's first thought. He began to ask questions, to the lock keeper, the bargemen; until one Colonel Sir Walter Lampson, the owner of Southern Cross yacht admitted that the dead woman was his wife, Mary Lampson. She's been missing from the yacht for several days. Maigret also investigated a barge who arrived at the Lock the night Mary Lampson dead: La Providence. 🚤 La Providence was owned by the Cannelles, and they had a Carter called Jean, who's handling the horses that tow the barge along the towpath. He's a silent man with mysterious background, almost never opened his mouth, but worked nicely with the horses, and slept with them in the stable. Considering that he was made the title of the book, I started to wonder whether he was the murderer, or the space-goat. Maigret had been focusing his investigation on the yacht, when one of Sir Walter Lampson's crew was also found strangled to death. Some clues began to "emerge" here and there, and it's up to Maigret to put all the piece of puzzles into the correct places. 🚤 After reading my fair share of the Golden Age Detective mysteries, this book felt very different in structure. GAD are usually focusing on the plot - how the murder had been done - and the stages of investigation, and thus, emphasizing on the logical mind. The Carter of "La Providence", on the other hand, seems to be more atmospheric. It seems that Sir Walter Lampson's nonchalant reaction to his wife's death, for instance, or Willy's and Sir Water's mistress' manners during interviews are more important than the finding of the clues. I wouldn't reveal anything, but the ending is also heavy with emotion. Maigret seemed to be performing his duty more as a decent human being than a police officer. Add that with the amusing technicality of canal boats operating business, made this book an unusual read, entertaining and amusing.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel

The Man Who Broke Out of the Bank and Went for A Walk Across France (2014) by Miles Morland #ParisInJuly2026 #20BOS26

 
🎒 The idea of, first, leaving one's job while one loves it; and second, going across France by walking, are two unthinkable things for me. Hence, my instant attraction to this memoir. It was the year 1989, and Miles Morland was forty five years old when he decided to retire from his high position in an investment banking company in Wall Street and London - the work he had grew to love in the last twenty years. So, why retired? Miles slipped a bit about this job - which he portrayed as "shouting down the phone" - and his subsequent decision, sandwiched in between his account of "the Walk". As a transition phase between active and post-retirement life - when Miles had no idea what he would do next - Miles and his wife Guislaine decided on taking a "mission impossible" adventure.   

🎒 Neither Miles nor Guislaine had ever walked long distance, or did trekking, or hiking, let alone a cross-country walk. Yet, they let themselves be challenged by the idea. Here I admired them both for undertaking such monstrosity. The most interesting part of this memoir, for me, is the preparation. For a newbie, you can imagine how many stuffs they must have researched, considered, and shopped for. And the fact that this had happened in the 1990s, when there were no internet or social media, made it doubly interesting. Miles is a 'map connoisseur', thus he armored himself with many maps, atlases, and guide books, before deciding what route they would take. Finally yhey agreed upon starting from Gruissan-Plage on the Mediterranean Sea, and finishing on the Atlantic coast at Capbreton, across France small towns and countrysides. 🎒 I loved the part of Miles' studying the maps, even pulling a thread to mark the route, to see the topography of their future journey; as well as how thoroughly he browsed from several different guides to find a recommended gîte or small hotel to stay the night. Guislaine then would call the establishment to make booking. They did all without at first knowing how the premise looked, nor how good (or bad) the service was. This was before the internet - you can google it nowadays. It reminded me of my own trip to Europe twenty six years ago. How exciting it was to browse for a small hotel - I browsed a guide from the library at the CCF in Surabaya (Centre Culturel Français), where I'd been taking a French course. Then one of the teachers helped me with the booking through facsimile. When I arrived in Paris - tired and hungry - lo and behold, the hotel didn't find any booking under my name! Apparently, a smaller hotel on the same street 'borrowed' my hotel's name for getting guests. The fax number was theirs (the impostor's), but the address wasn't. Needless to say, this hotel was not what I had expected, but I was too tired to complain or move (and the actual hotel was fully-booked anyway), so I stayed the night there anyway. Just like what the Morlands experienced during their Walk; sometimes the actual hotel or gîte was far from what they imagined, or advertised as; but when they were lucky, they'd get exactly what they have bargained for. And that, I think, was more fun and exciting than planning or booking hotels nowadays, when you can see photos and testimonies from fellow travelers - and yet, sometimes it wouldn't meet your expectation either! 🎒 On the whole, I loved this memoir. Sometimes travel memoirs tend to exaggerate things, and to make it less boring, adding dry humour or sarcastic comments. Miles Morland did neither. He didn't try to sound more exciting than his actual feeling, and didn't try to be funny. In fact, reading this memoir felt like listening to your friend, telling you of his adventure, from the beginning right to the end. It's not overly fascinating, yet, it isn't boring either. You just want to know what happens next, and curious of how your friend felt or cope with what he faced from time to time, be it a struggle when he's lost (out of his own fault or the map's), or a blissful rest when it's badly needed. One more thing worth noting, both Miles and Guislaine found that the Mephistos shoes are the perfect one for that kind of Walk (not sport shoes, to my surprise). As you might know, blisters are one of walker's nightmare. The memoir was dotted with, alternately, funny, disappointing, and blissful moments. Their routine might be boring, but for those moments. And Miles also slipped a bit of historical background that I would never have known, i.e. about the Black Prince. And all that makes this memoir an enjoyable read, which will take you through some of the eccentric or picturesque French countryside. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2026 hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2026 hosted by Annabel @ AnnaBookBel