Elisabeth Grace Foley

Historical Fiction Author

My Year In Books: 2021

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I was a little more slapdash with my record-keeping this year on both Goodreads and in my physical book diary, so I knew that neither number would be exact. But after counting up both and comparing, I’d have a decently approximate number of books read in the year. And it turned out to be about 70—which astounded me! I’ve been used to being at least above 80 and often over 100. But every year is different. I know that my reading pace definitely slowed down during a very busy autumn; I only read a few chapters of a book per evening instead of devouring a whole book in a day or two. And there were some re-reads that I never counted at all. Anyway, here is my official Goodreads shelf for the year, which I know is a bit shorter than the actual total; and as usual, this annual review post is a retrospective of the highlights.

Notable re-reads that I did catalogue (i.e. revisited deliberately instead of just grabbing a favorite to while away an idle moment!) were The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and Knowing God by J.R. Packer.

Nonfiction was probably my second-most substantial genre for the year, if you lump history, biography, and miscellany together. Three nonfiction reads made my top-ten list: The Diary of a Dude Wrangler by Struthers Burt, Dude Ranching: A Complete History by Lawrence R. Borne, and Over the Hills and Far Away: A Biography of Beatrix Potter by Matthew Dennison. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau was piercingly relevant and contemporary-feeling, something I liked more than I expected to. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff also pleasantly surprised me by being a worthy sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road, and a perfect summer read that was almost as good as a trip to England. I also enjoyed Valcour: The 1776 Campaign That Saved the Cause of Liberty by Jack Kelly, and two volumes of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s nonfiction travel writing, Through Glacier Park and The Out Trail. I’m still working on The Huguenots by Geoffrey Treasure, a comprehensive history of a subject that has interested me for a while.

Also nonfiction, but specifically theology: The Life of Joy by D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew J. Trewhella, and Israel in Bible Prophecy by Brian Godawa. The end of the year found me in the middle of Lloyd-Jones’ The Life of Peace, the second volume in a study of Philippians.

The genre most represented this year? Mystery! Small surprise there, really. I read around two dozen mystery novels and short story collections all told. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers kicked off the year, and went straight to my top-ten list. I started a couple of new series—I took to the Henry Gamadge books by Elizabeth Daly right away, and two of them, Unexpected Night and Arrow Pointing Nowhere (#1 and #7 in the series) also made my top ten. After several years of enjoying Ellis Peters mysteries I finally tried out her most famous series, the 12th-century Brother Cadfael historical mysteries, and liked the series opener A Morbid Taste For Bones moderately; but the second book One Corpse Too Many was brilliant and another addition to my top-ten list. Black Plumes by Margery Allingham, Hunt With the Hounds by Mignon G. Eberhart, The Great Mistake and The Album by Mary Roberts Rinehart were some of the stand-alone mysteries I enjoyed most.

I always enjoy good mystery short stories when I can find them, so when I had Kindle Unlimited for a bit I read through several collections. The Allingham Casebook by Margery Allingham was unsurprisingly the highest quality; Night Call and Other Stories by Charlotte Armstrong was a pretty good collection leaning more toward suspense than mystery; while The Cases of Lieutenant Timothy Trant by Q. Patrick had a couple of decent entries but was pretty flimsy overall. I trudged through The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective by Catherine Louisa Pirkis and The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester more for their historical value than anything else, but the former was at least much less dull than the latter.

Only a few Westerns this year, but one of them, The Land of Strong Men by A.M. Chisholm, was good enough to make my top-ten list. The Broken Gun by Louis L’Amour was a contemporary Western thriller of sorts with an intriguing concept but just moderate execution. And I also enjoyed These War-Torn Hands by Emily Hayse, more than I expected to enjoy a Western with fantasy elements, in fact. I’d like to write a review with more thoughts at some point.

Science fiction made up a bigger share of my year’s reading than usual: both The Icarus Aftermath by Arielle M. Bailey and Operation Lionhearted by Maribeth Barber were top-ten picks; and I also read through all three volumes of the T Spec Fiction ezine (a.k.a. Worlds of Adventure, as the third volume seems to be named) while I had Kindle Unlimited: collections of fun, clean sci-fi and fantasy short stories and serials. (My favorite stories were “The Aim High” and “To a Better Time” from Vol. 2 and “Secrets of the Nether Moor” from Vol. 3.)

Worst book of the year? Probably The Dreaming Suburb by R.F. Delderfield. I was hoping to find a new historical fiction author to enjoy, but there was too much that was distasteful to me in the story’s themes and content. And Murder by an Aristocrat by Mignon G. Eberhart exasperated me with its amateur-level plot holes (I think this may have been one of Eberhart’s first books).

And finally, some standout novels in various genres: The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden, Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson, and A Cigarette-Maker’s Romance by Francis Marion Crawford.

Previous years’ reading roundups: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012.

// photo by myself

Summer Reading 2021

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Like last year, I’m going with a modest-sized summer reading list—to avoid any semblance of pressure, and to leave room for the spur-of-the-moment reading that I always know will happen along the way. My summer reading lists usually don’t follow much of a pattern, but this year there is a general trend: it’s almost entirely made up of authors I haven’t read before (though it also includes a couple of sequels to books I’ve already read). I’ve been feeling kind of in a rut this spring reading-wise (with a couple notable exceptions), so I felt like deliberately branching out and trying some new things this summer. We’ll see how that goes.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
The Swiss Summer by Stella Gibbons
The Huguenots by Geoffrey Treasure
The Land of Strong Men by A.M. Chisholm
Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters
The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden
The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew J. Trewhella
Unexpected Night by Elizabeth Daly
Thunderhead by Mary O’Hara
The Dreaming Suburb by R.F. Delderfield

what’s on your summer reading list?

image: “Afternoon Pastimes” by Edward R. King

What I’ve Been Up To: March and April

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– writing –

For the first couple months of the year I went so hard at my newest project that by the time March rolled around, I was completely burned out and sitting among the wreckage of creative drought and writer’s block. So spring has been a time of taking a breather, occupying myself with things other than writing, and reflecting on what I can do differently when I pick up my pen again. Perfectionism, fear of failure, and pushing oneself to accomplish more in less time is one poisonous blend of self-sabotaging traits—so at least I know what it is I need to learn to avoid.

Anyway, the Ruritanian novel is temporarily shelved but definitely not abandoned; and in brighter news, I have spent the last few weeks brainstorming, outlining, and researching another new project that I am just about ready to begin and that I am definitely not going to say anything more about just yet. I’m taking no chances with this one.

– reading –

My reading this spring has been a bit stop-start, with only a few titles really making an impression, and a good deal of re-reading mixed in. The standout new reads of the last few months were The Icarus Aftermath by Arielle M. Bailey, a space-opera retelling of Greek mythology, and Over the Hills and Far Away: A Biography of Beatrix Potter by Matthew Dennison.

The Icarus Aftermath prompted me to brush up on my classics a bit, and so I’ve been reading the Lattimore translation of the Iliad rather slowly—I find the squabbles and speeches entertaining, but confess to losing interest somewhat during the lengthy battle scenes. Meanwhile, much more in my wheelhouse, I’m reading The Diary of a Dude Wrangler by Struthers Burt, a memoir by a transplanted Easterner who ended up running a Wyoming dude ranch in the early 20th century, and it is positively delightful.

– watching –

We’ve continued to work our way through the 1980s Miss Marple adaptations starring Joan Hickson, and now have just one left—I plan on doing a post ranking them all once we’re finished! I really think the 1980s was the golden decade for Agatha Christie adaptations: you had this series, plus enjoyable versions of The Secret Adversary, The Seven Dials Mystery, and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, the Partners in Crime TV series and even the obscure Agatha Christie Hour, which featured a few fun adaptations of lesser-known short stories. 1980s British TV has a leisurely pace that might be an acquired taste for modern viewers, but they really did a darn good job of adaptation for the most part and a great job with the period flavor—the vintage cars and clothes are delightful.

Aside from Miss Marple, a couple of recent viewing highlights have been Laughter in Paradise (1951), an absolutely hilarious delight of a British comedy, and Sarah, Plain and Tall (1991), a lovely Hallmark adaptation of a children’s book I remember well.

– otherwise –

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By far my favorite occupation over the past month has been working in my vegetable garden. We’ve expanded it a little this year (after making the acquaintance of homemade dill pickles last summer, everyone was unanimous in wanting to grow more cucumbers) and improved the soil in the old beds, and the process of doing that and getting everything planted and transplanted has been wonderful exercise and a fine opportunity to spend the nicest hours of spring mornings out in the fresh air. I’m looking to get a few containers of herbs planted this weekend, and that will just about wrap up the planting.

what have you been up to?

photo by myself