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Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ Hi All

I will be sending a block message out later today, so all our members have a chance to have their say - I hope! I know not everyone receives their GR messages.

I have been thinking about our group & wondering what we want to to do for Christmas & then for next year. I am going to put my next year thoughts in a separate thread.

For Xmas I had a couple of ideas - nothing set in concrete, but see what you think.


Illustrator Seth has put some Christmas Ghost Stories out.

One is Afterward: A Ghost Story for Christmasby Edith Wharton (I have read this one with another group & can recommend it)

Another is How Fear Departed the Long Gallery: A Ghost Story for Christmas by E.F. Benson. Benson is a writer that many of us have loved!

There are other titles but I picked these two out as they are also available for Free on Gutenberg Australia. Tales of Men & Ghosts is available on Faded Pages & includes Afterwards. The Room in the Tower and Other Stories is available on Faded Page & contains the above Benson story.

Here are the styly Seth ones on Amazon




There are more in the Seth collection but some may be out of our time period


So, one story week 1 & one story week 2

For the rest of December I thought we could read a Christmas novel.

As some of you know I'm not a huge Marsh fan but I really like Tied Up In Tinsel

or there is The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum

Does anyone want to nominate another Christmas book (first published between 1900-1980)? If I can't get your title for free, anyone who nominates has to be prepared to lead the read. :

I don't have any nominations. I rarely read Christmas stories at Christmas time, horror stories at Halloween, etc. So I will probably not participate but who knows ;-)

I would enjoy a reread of the Marsh, which I read in 2023, but I checked my usual sources and it’s not available anymore- and $10 on Kindle. Not worth it for a reread. My participation usually comes down to availability for me, like you, Carol!

I checked the two stories, both .99 on Kindle U.S. I’d read anything by Benson! But I’ll be traveling one week in early December, don’t know about internet reliability, so sorry, but I can’t guarantee I’ll take part, so I’ll not nominate anything.

I know this group has not read Georgette Heyer on purpose, but one of the mysteries is a Christmas option: Envious Casca

Ooh, I like the look of both stories! Count me in. Ditto for the Marsh.
I like reading holiday-themed books around Christmas time.

I can highly recommend The Santa Klaus Murder and Murder for Christmas as alternatives to the Marsh. They both fall within our time frame and both have modern editions. I borrowed them from my library. Alas, the kindle version are pricey right now.

Jackie wrote: "I know this group has not read Georgette Heyer on purpose, but one of the mysteries is a Christmas option: Envious Casca"

I'd really be reluctant to do a Group Read of a Heyer over here. Partly because I'm a bit burned out on them & don't want to get sick of them - she is still my favourite author. & partly because there is still an active group dedicated to GH.

Saying that, I'm intending to read April Lady this month. It was a bit of a hard sell to the GH group, 😁 (massive plot hole) but I'm fond of the hero & heroine.

Barb in Maryland wrote: "Ooh, I like the look of both stories! Count me in. Ditto for the Marsh.
I like reading holiday-themed books around Christmas time.

I can highly recommend The Santa Klaus Murder an..."
I've read Santa Klaus Murder - wasn't crazy about it, but my local library still has a copy, so I can lead a read of it. I might like it more the second time around.

The Francis Duncan one sounds really good, but none of my usual freebie sources (Faded Pages, Gutenberg, Gutenberg Australia) carry it & as Barb says - it is quite expensive on Amazon.

Edit; tried Open Library & Murder for Christmas only available as a preview.

I may do a poll - Barb would you be prepared to lead if the Duncan won.

& woo hoo - I've found that I can read the Duncan for free on Spotify! So if Barb doesn't want to lead I can also do that one! 🎇🎉💃

Thanks, Carol, good to know - Everand, my subscription for ebooks and audiobooks, rotates titles so I can’t be sure something I read a few years ago will still be there! The Duncan title is currently $9.99 on Kindle US

Susan in NC wrote: "Thanks, Carol, good to know - Everand, my subscription for ebooks and audiobooks, rotates titles so I can’t be sure something I read a few years ago will still be there! The Duncan title is current..."

That's a point - I know Spotify offering audio books & upping the membership fees was a bit controversial. But out of the four nominated so far, this is the one I would most like to read.

So we have Tied Up In Tinsel
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Santa Klaus Murder
Murder for Christmas

I'll leave for a couple more days to see if anyone has a 5th book they want to nominate.

Shall I do a poll or shall we decide by consensus?

With the short stories, it doesn't look like there is much interest in either. If anyone is interested in them please say! :)

Even with not much interest I will probably still put both up as I know I (& hopefully Susan & Barb!) will read it.

I am at the museum this morning but will set up a poll for the books when I get home.

As far as availability goes.
Tied Up in Tinsel - I can get an ebook from my local library. Price for a kindle showing as $5.77 for me. Available from Open Library. Also available on Spotify.

The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus. Free for kindles, free on other free sources.

The Santa Klaus Murder - I can get from my local library, it is a whopping $14.70 for a kindle on Amazon, I'm now getting a 503 message on Open Library, not available from any of my other free sources.
Edit: managed to get on Open Library & there is a copy on there.

Murder for Christmas $9.79 on Amazon, but it looks like there is a special deal on paperbacks. Preview only on Open Library, on Spotify for me, not on my other free sources

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "I am at the museum this morning but will set up a poll for the books when I get home.

As far as availability goes.
Tied Up in Tinsel - I can get an ebook from my local library. Price for a kindle ..."

Open Library has been down for around 2 hours so far today. I went in to finish reading Island Magic / Elizabeth Goudge with my morning cuppa and found I couldn't get access. Damned nuisance when I've got just two chapters to go.

Oh dear!

open Library was open for me just now if that's any help.

The poll is now up
/poll/show/3...

I'm letting it run for a week. :)

& somehow we have ended up with a duplicate poll.

I don't think it was me - this site is very buggy now. As people have already voted I'll combine the results at the end. 🥴

Oh, bother, sorry! I’ve noticed people are commenting more about buggy behavior in my different groups��

& I did what I should have done last night & deleted the duplicate. It just had three votes for Murder for Christmas. One was me & 🤡I have voted on the other poll as well. Anne voted for Tied up in Tinsel in the other poll - are you happy with that vote Anne? You should be able to change that if not. The third person was Moonkiszt. I'll see if she accepts messages. Otherwise could everyone mentally add one for Music for Christmas when they look at the poll.

& just a reminder about the poll. When you count Moonkiszt's vote it is a tie atm. You have till the 16th (American time) to vote!

& we have a result - kind of!

If we count Moonkiszt's vote Murder for Christmas won.

Is everyone happy with me calling the result this way?

That's a thumbs up from me! :)

Lesley wrote: "That's a thumbs up from me! :)"

Cool!

I’m good with that!