A Gnome Place Like Home Weekly Link Round-Up

 

This has been a time of emotional ups and downs, and I'm expecting it to continue as my birthday/anniversary approaches. I know. Baby steps. 

For those of you who may be wondering, I won the Bee War, and my hummingbirds can safely guzzle nectar at all the feeders. (I did name one of the males "Gus" because he really likes to try to drain a feeder dry at one go.)

Hopefully, this weekend I will be able to get all my Christmas decorations put away and my "new look" for the kitchen/family room in place. One thing in particular will be a struggle: getting the Christmas rug up, folded, and put away, and the new one in place. It's not the easiest thing in the world doing this seated on a mobility scooter, but I am stubborn! It took me an hour of fussing and faffing to get the Christmas one in place. Now that I have some experience with the task, it shouldn't take so long.

Phoenix has been getting more rain. The spring wildflowers should be out-of-this-world. It's been so wet (for here in the desert) that I have a small patch of something that looks suspiciously like moss growing on the driveway. I don't think that's ever happened before!

I decided to share the card I received recently. How the giver knew that I love gnomes, I'll never know!

Virtual hugs to you all. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Rafqa Touma found herself in a binge-slump reading cycle from following recommendations on social media. Could booksellers in actual bookshops help?
• 100 years of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
• A debate has risen over interactive AI features in eBooks and audiobooks.
• Trump books aren't selling anymore. (Could it possibly be that we now know all we want to know?)
• Last call for mass market paperbacks.
• What's causing the non-fiction slump?
• The Oxford Word of the Year is rage bait.
• See the "Mona Lisa of Illuminated Manuscripts," a 600-year-old Bible covered in intricate illustrations.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A centuries-old "trophy head" from Peru reveals the individual survived to adulthood despite a disabling birth defect. 
• Archaeologists discovered a mysterious 7,000-year-old stone wall beneath the waves off the coast of France.
• When the Bayeaux Tapestry makes its historic return to England, the British government will insure it for more than $1 billion.
• 1,100-year-old burials of elite warriors and their ornate weapons have been discovered in Hungary.
• Hundreds of mysterious Victorian-Era shoes are washing up on a beach in Wales. Nobody knows where they came from.
• Egypt has revealed the restored colossal statues of a pharaoh in Luxor.
• A mysterious Viking Age woman was found buried with scallop shells covering her mouth.
• The discovery of microscopic parasites has found that diarrhea and stomachaches plagued Roman soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• National Geographic's best wildlife photos of 2025.
• Why alpha females reign supreme in the meerkat world.
• When male deer mark trees, those spots may glow like neon lights at dusk and dawn, though humans usually can't see them.
• How Los Angeles and Chicago came to appreciate their coyote neighbors.
• After living alongside humans for millennia, these Italian brown bears have evolved to become less aggressive.
• Honey-making stingless bees in the Peruvian Amazon become the first insects to gain legal rights.
• Did lyrebirds steal these songs from humans? (Articles like this always remind me of the mockingbird we had here that could sing "La Cucaracha" because of the ice cream truck that frequented the neighborhood.)
• Drone images suggest that bird flu has wiped out nearly half of the females in the world's largest elephant seal population.

►The Wanderer◄

• Claude Monet painted this palace overlooking Venice's Grand Canal. Now, the legendary mansion is officially for sale.
• How a sudden winter storm in 1617 sparked the deadliest witchcraft trials in Norwegian history.
• The Louvre has installed metal security bars on the window used during the $102 million jewel heist.
• Trees in Panama's tropical forests are growing longer roots in the face of drought.
• Finding Australia's most beautiful bookstore.
• The oldest restaurant in the world just turned 300 years old.
• Denmark's postal service is about to stop delivering physical letters after 400 years.
• Bermuda: the long and the shorts of it.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Leonardo da Vinci's DNA may be embedded in his art, and scientists think they've managed to extract some.
• What five objects can tell us about the life of Filipino Americans in the early 20th century.
• Barbara Rose Johns protested school segregation as a teenager. Now she's being honored with a statue at the U.S. Capitol.
• Mary, Queen of Scots, wrote this letter hours before she was executed. Her words are going on display for the first time in years.
• Hans Koenigsmann spent twenty years at SpaceX. Now he's making history with its biggest competitor.
• Artist Anish Kapoor is the only person banned from using the world's pinkest pink.
• Carolyn Mazloomi: making quilts and preserving Black history.
• Did Shakespeare write Hamlet while he was stoned?

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 11 unusual Victorian New Year's traditions.
• BookBub's most anticipated books of 2026.
• The best classic mysteries of all time.
• CrimeReads' best psychological thrillers of 2025.
• CrimeReads' best legal thrillers of 2025.
• CrimeReads' best espionage fiction of 2025.
• CrimeReads' best debut crime novels of 2025.
• CrimeReads' best historical fiction of 2025.
• CrimeReads' best international crime novels of 2025.
• CrimeReads' best traditional mysteries of 2025.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

Three Reviews for the Price of One Post!

 

First Line from Prologue: Île de la Cité, Paris 2019. The fire peels Notre Dame like an illuminated manuscript soaked in water, its layers separating, releasing their secrets.

Skylark is a dual-timeline story about underground Paris. The timelines take place in 1664 and 1939, and concern the daughter of a master dyer at the Gobelin Tapestry Works who tries to save her father when he is unjustly accused of a crime, and a psychiatrist faced with the Nazi persecution of Jews.

The prologue concerning the burning of Notre Dame led me to expect more from the present day; however, it was used just to show readers how certain events can uncover stories and secrets. 

Seventeenth-century dye-making techniques and the three hundred plus kilometers of tunnels and catacombs under Paris made for some very interesting reading, but the story ultimately never engaged me as much as I thought it might. 

Skylark by Paula McLain

eISBN: 9781668028179

Atria Books © 2026

eBook, 464 pages

Historical Fiction, Standalone

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

First Lines: I never meant to see what was in his drawer. I was never a mother who snooped.

In this thriller, two teenage girls have been found dead in a wealthy Chicago suburb, and high school counselor Abby Rosso begins to suspect that her son might be their killer.

Occasionally, I forget that I have to be careful with the psychological thrillers that I choose to read. In the case of What Boys Learn, I found whodunit to be much too easy to deduce and the neurotic Abby Rosso extremely annoying. The pace of the book was very slow, and more editing would not only have sped the story along but also not given me the time to realize how little I cared for any of the characters.

What Boys Learn by Andromeda Romano-Lax

eISBN: 9781641296922

Soho Press © 2026

eBook, 464 pages

Standalone Psychological Thriller

Rating: D

Source: Net Galley

First Line from Prologue: Cambridge, 1935. The banks of the River Cam were a bustle of activity on the first day of the Lent Bumps.

When Iris Sparks' friend from her Cambridge days is suspected of being a Soviet operative, British Intelligence coerces her to find out the truth. First, she and business partner/friend Gwen Bainbridge must find a way for the suspect to hire their marriage service.

I have enjoyed this series from the very first book, and having the opportunity to see the irrepressible Iris Sparks in her university days was a treat. Fire Must Burn also gives readers a chance to watch a spy-in-training while navigating the murky dealings of the intelligence service. 

While reading this eighth book in the series, I suddenly realized that one of the reasons I like it so much is the repartee between Sparks and Bainbridge, and that repartee is reminiscent of T. E. Kinsey's Lady Hardcastle series, another favorite of mine.  

Bring on the next adventure for Iris and Gwen! These books are definitely "more-ish."

Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair

eISBN: 9781448315949

Severn House © 2026

eBook, 256 pages

Historical Mystery, #8 Sparks & Bainbridge

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

The Red Shore by William Shaw

 

First Lines: The boy wakes, scared. Something is wrong. It is all his fault.

Metropolitan police detective Eden Driscoll is quite satisfied with his single and childless life, but then the phone call comes. His estranged sister has vanished from her boat, leaving him the responsibility of Finn, a nephew he didn't know he had.

Resettled in the seaside town of Teignmouth, Eden finds adjusting to parenthood to be difficult, but he soldiers on. Problems mount when his sister's body is finally found. Her death is ruled an accident by the local police, but Eden isn't convinced.

Now the only thing he can do is search his sister's life for answers and continue to forge a relationship with a very recalcitrant little boy.

~

Being an unabashed cheerleader for William Shaw's standalone thrillers and his Alexandra Cupidi series, I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Red Shore, the start to a brand new Devon-set crime series. Wow! When my copy arrived from the UK, I jumped right in and was immediately hooked when I met Finn, a scared little boy alone on a boat at sea.

The Red Shore has an atmospheric setting (par for the course for Shaw) and a 

fantastic mystery that kept me turning the pages-- and even thinking about it when I was forced to stop reading, but the characters bring this book to an entirely different level. Eden, seemingly satisfied with his life in London, yet unable to escape his unconventional childhood. Finn, a little boy who's scared to death by his mother's disappearance and wants nothing to do with this uncle he didn't know anything about.

While I was trying to figure out the mystery, I was constantly intrigued by the dynamics between Eden and Finn. I have to admit that I found Finn to be very mouthy and abrasive at first, but his circumstances made his behavior make sense, and I did gradually warm up to the little boy. (Hey, I'm childless, just like Eden.)

The Red Shore is probably the best book I've read in 2025, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Write faster, Mr. Shaw! 

The Red Shore by William Shaw

ISBN: 9780008720407

Hemlock Press © 2025

Hardcover, 384 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Eden Driscoll

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon UK.

A Determined Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Why is this round-up determined? Because I've been waging war against bees that insist on trying to commandeer the hummingbird feeders. It's not really war because I don't want to hurt the bees, but I don't want them chasing away the hummingbirds. Bee stings can kill hummingbirds, and I definitely don't want that!

Found Image

I've switched the type of feeders to one that bees can't get to the sugar water, but they are persistent little beggars and keep trying to find a way to get at it. And they're also jealous because-- since they can't get at the sugar water, they've been chasing away the hummers. I've got a spray that's supposed to be a deterrent yet safe for all. I took a look at the feeder awhile ago, and there were no bees on it. If they have finally given up when I've finished this post, I won't have to use the spray. Come on, guys, go someplace else!

Virtual holiday hugs to you all-- especially to those, like me, who may need a bit more cheer.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2025 is "slop," the AI-generated junk that fills our social media feeds.
• What to know about Australia's social media ban for kids under 16.
• Are influencers harming the book industry? (I don't know about you, but even the term "influencer" makes me turn away.)
• An entire library board in North Carolina was dissolved over one picture book about a trans kid.
• AI is supercharging the war on libraries, education, and human knowledge.
• How a near-shipwreck on a luxury ocean liner inspired The Poseidon Adventure and a decade of disaster movies.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An ancient Egyptian valley temple is being excavated, and it's connected to a massive upper temple dedicated to the sun god, Ra.
• This painting of a doomed duke just became the priciest Elizabethan portrait ever auctioned, selling for $4.2 million.
• Archaeologists are unraveling the mysteries behind deep pits found near Stonehenge.
• New discoveries at Hadrian's Wall are changing the picture of what life was like on the border of the Roman Empire.
• The Ash Pendant: The only known depiction of a pregnant Viking woman.
• Scientists are pulling up the first riches from the "Holy Grail of Shipwrecks" that sank off Colombia in 1708.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• A newly discovered mantis species dances like a snake to avoid death after sex.
• These owls took a free vacation on a cruise ship, but they'll soon be heading home.
• Beavers are dam good for biodiversity, bringing bats, butterflies, and other critters to their neighborhoods.
• Wild horses return to the Golden Steppe.
• More than 2,000 golden retrievers gather in an Argentina park in an attempt to break a world record.
• Inspired by bird feathers, this new "ultrablack" fabric absorbs nearly all the light that hits it.

►The Wanderer◄

• This landscape inspired some of Georgia O'Keeffe's best-known works. Now, it's receiving new protections.
• This one-of-a-kind Christmas tree is made of 2,000 handmade glass ornament.
• 17 can't-miss Christmas places to visit. (One of them is a few miles from me.)
• Notre-Dame Cathedral's controversial new stained-glass window designs go on display.
• What happens when a country loses most of its lakes?
• China's Great Green Wall: The giant artificial forest designed to slow the expansion of two deserts.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• British artist Es Devlin put 2,500 of her favorite books in a massive rotating library on Miami Beach.
• Three brothers found a 1939 copy of "Superman No. 1" in their mother's attic. It just became the most expensive comic book ever sold.
• In the 1930s, grocer Sylvan Goldman wanted to make it easier for his customers to buy more. They just needed a push.
• Ziegfeld's Folly: The actress, the showman, and the mystery of the missing jewels.
• Andrew and Lee Child on Jack Reacher, past and present.
• Hector Guimard, the architect who designed the iconic entrances to the Paris Métro, is finally getting the attention he deserves.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The ten best photography books of 2025.
• The 173 best book covers of 2025.
• 19 books about real women as fascinating as any novel.
• Dig into these seven addictive Egyptian mysteries.
• You'll want to check out these new mysteries ASAP.
• 15 new cookbooks by your favorite chefs.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

A Casa Kittling Christmas

Why is it that time never flies when you want it to and does when you don't? Typical! I'd better stop complaining and start sharing the Christmas decorations I put up this year. 

In large part, my ability to decorate this year is due to all the hard work my English nieces put in. Nothing like being out in the blazing heat of Arizona in June, going through the contents of two sheds and ensuring that all the Christmas decorations are in the shed that their mobility-challenged aunt can get into! Bless 'em all-- Karen, Daisy, and Suzanne. They are treasures, each and every one.

Let's get to the decorations!

At the front door. Denis's jacket and Royal Navy submariner cap are hanging on a hook.

The craft room. I could've cropped out the light, but it reminds me of Denis. Denis couldn't deal with low light, and every light fixture he installed was bright enough to bring in planes for a landing. 😄

Mom's carolers that she made in 1965.

Santas and mistletoe

Snowpeople and friends

The second caroler set my mother made in the 60s.

This snow couple dates from the 1960s.

This little guy plays my favorite Christmas song. I had to replace the battery because his singing was getting a bit s-l-o-w.

A cozy place to relax with a good book.

Denis's recliner with the Santa pillow. The fiber optic tree was 40 years old and died a few days ago. I had to dive into my coffers and find something to replace it.

I replaced it with teapots and a nutcracker.

My acachirpa choir and the "proper robin" table runner.

Snowmen decorating the knitting tree.

The kitchen

I think this was Denis's favorite ornament-- and one of mine, too. It always makes me smile.

Virtual holiday hugs to you all!  To those who feel that they haven't really accomplished anything in the past year, remember-- sometimes the very best accomplishment is that you survived. 

A Busy, Busy, Busy Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I've been buzzing around here like a blue-arsed fly, as Denis would say-- and yes, that's a common phrase in the UK (at least in the north). I unloaded Christmas decorations from the shed and dragged them into the house, then spent the weekend decorating and hauling the empty containers back into the shed. One thing I learned from this is that I need to do another purge of my Christmas decorations, but that's going to wait until Daisy and Suzanne come to visit in the spring.

There's something about having the house decorated for the holidays that never fails to lift my spirits, so it's a good thing I had them up when there was a six-hour power outage one day. I snuggled up in my Christmas afghan, read my Kindle, and didn't mind all that much that I was in a cold, gloomy house. Special people "just peeking in" to see how I'm doing have brightened my spirits, too. I am so fortunate to have them in my life.

This will be another busy week with all the usual chores as well as my mammogram and my visit to the wound care clinic. Which reminds me... I'd better get out my Christmas sweater to wear for my appointments. And my jingle bell earrings! 

Holiday cheer from a messy desk

As I get out and about for my appointments, it will be front and center in my mind that not everyone is going to be experiencing a happy holiday season. I will not only be wearing my Christmas sweater and jingle bell earrings, I will also be wearing a smile and-- more importantly-- being kind to all those I meet.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The French government is considering an AI bill "to protect copyright and reward creators."
• How "cozy lit" became the latest and most shameless form of digital escapism.
• Tess McGeer: Books That Made Me Gay: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
• The last video rental store is your public library.
• In November's school board elections, voters stood with librarians.
• The sweeping Supreme Court decision that led to widespread high school censorship.
• AI is coming for your toddler's bedtime story.
• The Kindle Store is getting wrecked by SEO-stuffed book titles, and readers are fed up. (Count me as one of the fed-up ones.)

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• 1,800-year-old "piggy banks" full of Roman-era coins have been unearthed in a French village.
• Roman sun hat: a "very rare" 1,600-year-old brimmed cap that may have protected a Roman soldier from Egyptian sandstorms.
• Researchers have discovered the shocking age of the mysterious Pecos River rock art.
• The Fabergé egg gifted by Russia's last czar broke a world record, selling for $30.2 million at auction.
• A volcanic eruption triggered the "butterfly effect" that led to the Black Death.
• Archaeologists have unearthed a treasure-filled tomb belonging to the first known ruler of a Maya city in Belize.
• Why did the ancient Indus Valley civilization collapse?
• Hundreds of funerary figurines suggest that an ancient Egyptian pharaoh moved another ruler's body and stole his tomb.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Claude, San Francisco's beloved albino alligator and "unofficial mascot," has died at the age of 30.
• Two macaque monkeys learned to tap to the beat of the Backstreet Boys. Can they teach researchers about the origin of human musicality?
• This "feisty" Asian elephant at the National Zoo is pregnant. She may birth the first calf born there in nearly 25 years.
• Birds are beeping and booping like R2-D2. Their mimicked sounds are helping unlock the secrets of avian communication.
• A decade-long chimp war ended in a baby boom for the victors.
• More than 1,200 marine animal species eat plastic. Ingesting even a tiny amount can kill them.
• This might be the first recorded tool use by a wild wolf.
• For some male pheasants, love really is blind.

►The Wanderer◄

• Austin, Texas, the city that prides itself on staying weird.
• UNESCO's Cities of Gastronomy-- the most delicious cities on Earth.
• 18,000 dinosaur tracks were discovered along an ancient Bolivian coastline-- and they set a new record.
• China has planted so many trees it's changed the entire country's water distribution.
• Crime and the City: Palm Beach, Florida.
• At the Newark (New Jersey) Public Library, shopping bags carry local history.
• Go behind the scenes at Trinity College Dublin's Old Library as the staff move 700,000 historical treasures into storage.
• 7 scenic drives in America that feel like a movie set.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Meet four women astronauts from across NASA's history.
• Sydney-based baker Macey Nemer creates edible flower bouquets made entirely of hand-piped buttercream cupcakes (and they are gorgeous).
• College students Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça are building a robot to replant burned forests.
• Just as the Italian art of glassblowing was on the verge of shattering, craftsman Antonio Salviati in Murano emerged to revive it.
• The hidden history of women game designers.
• Famed street photographer Lee Friedlander chronicled what Christmas looks like across America over the course of decades.
• With his sculptures full of natural splendor, artist Truman Lowe could make wood look like water.
• Althea Gibson: Rising above bias to become the first African American Grand Slam champion.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 9 holiday mysteries to unwrap this season.
• The best historical fiction coming this winter.
• 100 notable small press books of 2025.
• This season's must-read mysteries and thrillers.
• The best audiobooks of 2025.
• Modern mysteries to read based on your favorite classic sleuth.
• Bizarre inventions found in 1940s science magazines.
• 11 everyday words that were coined in sci-fi stories.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!