My Current Interest

     Just as I did when I wrote about the first two seasons of The Crown , I start this post with a declaration.  As the characters in this show are based on real, living people; I want it clear all comments I make are about the characters, not the people themselves.      Some time has passed since the end of season two.   The characters are changing, which means the cast must change along with it.   Queen Elizabeth II ( Olivia Colman ) is facing new times as her children get older and society changes around her.   What doesn’t change is the family she has been battling from the start. Heavy is the Head... /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) is as cantankerous as ever.   He always has something to complain about, to the point he hardly lets Elizabeth get a word in.   Why Elizabeth doesn’t crack and tell him to shut up, I have no idea.   Philip always thinks he is right, and does ...

     Somehow, I managed to cram through The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill in under twenty-four hours.  The story moved very quickly, and all I wanted to do was keep reading.  Unfortunately, not everything was resolved in the end.  Which means I have to go out and get the second book in the series to see what happens!  I wonder if I will read it as fast as I did this one. At the Ring of a Bell /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      Things are not going well for The Bell in the village of Ivy Hill, an inn that has been in business for generations.   A year ago, its owner, John Bell, died.   As a result, the inn was left in the hands of his wife, Jane, a woman who never wanted to work there.        It was an inheritance that shocked John’s mother, Thora.   She had managed the inn for years.   Then, after John’s funeral, she went to live with her sister, leaving the business in Jane’s care.   Now she is back in ...

     My mom is the reason I read The Jane Austen Society  when I did.  Well, really it was Richard Armitage .  Every month I pick up this free magazine from the library called The Book Page .  I go through and mark which books I think are interesting so I can try them at a later date.  One month, a while back, one of those books was The Jane Austen Society .      It was listed in the audiobook section, and I didn’t pay much attention to who the reader was.  Then my mom asked me about the Richard Armitage book.  I had no idea how I could have missed a book by one of my favorite actors.      Well, it turns out the book my mom was talking about was The Jane Austen Society .  Mr. Armitage did not write the book, but he read for the audiobook.  Still, I knew I had to read this book sooner rather than later.      World War II has ended, and the small English village of Chawton is tr...

A Rose in Bloom /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite animated film.  Maybe it’s the seeing the good under the unpleasant exterior I can relate to (I’ve always loved what many would consider “ugly” dogs).  Or maybe it’s because, like Belle, I love books (if I could have the library in Beast’s castle, I don’t think there would be strong enough words to describe how happy I would be).  There could be so many reasons why this animated film has been my favorite for so long.  But it is this love of it that made me hesitant about the live-action version at first.      When Disney’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast came out on DVD, I was willing to give it a try.   It helped that Luke Evans was in the film, and I also like Emma Watson, so I knew there would be actors I like in it.   So, I watched it.   I thought it was pretty good, but didn’t expect to ever watch it ...

     There are times when my brain refuses to concentrate on anything hard or serious.  No deep analysis of feelings or situations.  All it can handle is something light and fun.  In times like this, all I can do is turn to cozy mysteries.  They are always just what I need.      Darby Piper is surprised when her business partner, Samantha Porter, tells her she is using her 60% ownership power to close their private investigator business and work at a nearby resort.   In fact, the declaration doesn’t even make sense.   Samantha is a dedicated PI.   There is no reason for her to want to close the business.   Especially when it would leave Darby both jobless and homeless.      With the possibility of losing all she has worked for hanging over her head, it is understandable Darby is upset about the position Samantha has put her in.   But the distress is nothing compared to what she feels when she h...