Mary Keenan
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marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Mary Keenan
@marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
72 followers 57 following 170 posts
crime writer and book glutton
classic movie obsessive
knitting person and sandwich fan
🇨🇦 forever
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marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Mansfield Park: ah, the universality of convincing ourselves things are not what they are, but how we wish to see them... #booksky #amreading
A Penguin Classics paperback edition of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park with pastoral country house park scenes on the cover, lying on an ornate cake plate with an apple green border under creamy embossed floral flourishes, set in turn on a strawberry-print tea towel. I don't use the plate enough and I don't reread this book enough either! The story's as absorbing as it is, in parts, painful to read.
June 29, 2025 at 9:31 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Made this year's longlist for the Emerging Authors Dagger competition from the Crime Writers' Association! with a manuscript that evokes all these books in a blender. Wish me luck writing the 40-word summary... #amwriting
Celebrating making the longlist for the 2025 Emerging Authors Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association with a mood board mixture for my entry, featuring face-up and spine-out books including a vintage Pan edition of Agatha Christie’s The Man In the Brown Suit with a prominently displayed heroine in a red trenchcoat, Lee Child’s Running Blind, Dashiell Hammet’s The Thin Man, Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone with the red spine of a Vintage edition, two vintage Penguin black spine editions of Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, and a vintage tweed edition of the classic Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock, the whole laid over both a blueberry-print tea towel to bring out the blues in the various covers, and an aged lace panel because it’s so pretty.
April 16, 2025 at 6:08 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Comfort reading #booksky #janeausten #vintagebooks
Laid over red floral and white lace textiles, an open edition of Frances Parkinson Keyes' The Royal Box showing the interior cover art in blue ink of a man and woman in 1950s fancy dress seated on a bench overlooking London's Thames River, alongside the Annotated Edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion, plus reproduction postcards for both the London Underground (Chelsea Flower Show, showing purple, blue, and red flowers) and the Toronto Transit Commission (a red subway car pulling into a deserted and very clean St. Clair Station
April 11, 2025 at 7:17 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
When I looked from my screen to the window just now I saw sunshine and hints of spring. In case your view is rain or night or otherwise meh, here is a spring-flower mug with matching escapist reads 💗 #amwriting #booksky
A stack of vintage paperback mysteries by Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, Josephine Tey, and Ngaio Marsh, whose pastel spines match the colours in a gold-trimmed white porcelain mug patterned with spring flower, leaves, raspberries and and butterflies, which is in turn brewing some delicious Taylors of Harrogate tea. I know. It should be a proper teapot, right? Because one cup of tea is never enough!
March 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
So ready to get back into the ravine for walks! Another few days' melt, I think. Meanwhile my eyes have this summertime pic pretty near dogeared 😂
The Sunnybrook portion of Toronto's ravine systems showing creek water running over grey-brown rocks, making two small waterfalls, with beaten dirt on one side and lush green plants on the other, with sun filtering through the leaves on the trees growing on both banks. On the far side a path is just visible, currently empty of dog walkers and bike riders.
March 21, 2025 at 7:14 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Tabletop loom plus audiobook: my current screen detox
(and hopefully a moment of calm for you)
#weaving #loom #textile #booksky
An Ashford Knitters Loom set up with a 6” wide scarf in progress, woven from hand-dyed variegated yarn in springtime pinks and lavender against white in a superwash merino / silk blend from Canadian indie dyer Indigodragonfly
March 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
This feels like a good day to share some Pocket Book editions of Agatha Christie titles, since I do not currently have a cat in residence #booksky #agathachristie
Slightly battered 1950s-60s vintage Pocket Book paperback editions of eight Agatha Christie mysteries set in two rows over a tablecloth in cream cotton striped with black. The titles include The Clocks, The Regatta Mystery, A Caribbean Mystery, Double Sin, Evil Under the Sun, Murder in Three Acts, A Pocket Full of Rye, and The Boomerang Clue. The top four covers feature abstract collections of everyday items paired with weapons or terrified eyes; the bottom four focus on fetchingly-dressed women either in peril or discovering the death of a man in a suit.
March 12, 2025 at 6:42 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
It is snowing here again...
(detail from Souvenirs d’enfance by William Kurelek)
Detail of a painting by Canadian painter William Kurelek showing two boys clad in coats, hats, mittens, and boots embracing a snowball almost as large as themselves, as they try to push it through deep snow
March 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Went to see some beautiful Canadian art today. Loved this painting - Life, by William Kurelek, an artist of Ukrainian-Canadian descent who lived from 1927 to 1977. So much colour and detail and this is only the left half! You can read more about him here: www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/wi... #canada
Part of a painting by William Kurelek - 'Life' - in which five people in colourful winter coats and hats and boots, against a snowy backdrop, work together in an assembly line to cut tree trunks into short pieces to use for winter fuel in their houses
March 5, 2025 at 2:34 AM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Rediscovering audiobooks! The perfect escape for anxiously multitasking compulsive readers on News Avoidance Duty. Possibly not a tiny community? I might invite Richard Armitage to read me David Copperfield next 😍 #booksky
Clockwise - a stack of shabby paperback crime novels from authors Patricia Wentworth, Agatha Christie, John Buchan, Josephine Tey, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh; a pair of bright yellow handknit socks with green striped cuffs in a mohair/wool blend, a small blush pink bowl of blueberries, and a tablet showing the audiobook screen for Barbara Pym's Excellent Women with about thirty minutes left to listen; the whole presented on an elderly white lace panel in front of a reproduction 1930s floral linen drape
February 26, 2025 at 5:13 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
It's snowing out and I'm curled up reading the blog by @elizfoxwell.bsky.social about American women in WWI - so many incredible stories! So much bravery and patriotism despite hardship and danger. It's very inspiring. americanwomeninwwi.wordpress.com
February 15, 2025 at 10:06 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read
20/20 books (whew!) that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A 1976 Penguin paperback of Miss Read’s The Christmas Mouse, the cover illustration showing a closeup of a tiny plate of Christmas cake and some red berries on a windowsill against a background of a floral curtain in pastel colours, resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 14, 2025 at 5:20 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
19/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A Modern Library College paperback edition pairing Barchester Towers with The Warden, both by Anthony Trollope, the cover a bland grey-brown with a tall yellow band as the background for the book titles, and narrow white stripes separating the text of author, writer of the introduction, and a line drawing of a Victorian city scape, resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 13, 2025 at 5:08 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
In A Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
18/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A Penguin Modern Classics paperback of Dorothy B. Hughes’ In A Lonely Place, the sans serif typeface in white over a background of a black and white still from the 1950 film, with Humphrey Bogart on the phone in the foreground and Gloria Grahame leaning on a door frame in the background, the book lying on an elderly panel of white lace
February 12, 2025 at 4:26 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
17/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A hardcover copy of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, a celebratory 80th anniversary edition featuring cover art of white embroidered cloth with an elaborate R at the centre bordered in gold, and no other indication of the title, resting on an elderly panel of white lace.
February 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
16/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A paperback edition from Vintage Books of Wilkie Collins’ The Woman In White, the cover a layered collage of silhouettes in shades of grey and white showing a man in Victorian dress in shadows among foliage looking over his shoulder at a woman in white lit by a street lamp, who wears a bonnet and holds up her hand to get his attention, with the buildings of London in the far distance, resting on an elderly panel of white lace.
February 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
15/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A hardcover edition of Emma Healey's Elizabeth is Missing, the cover art featuring blurred watercolour lettering for the title, underlined in red for emphasis, and a pasted-on ink drawing of a black bird in a cage, the book resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 9, 2025 at 7:05 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
14/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A hardcover edition of The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wholleben, the dust jacket a cream-coloured textured paper with a centred illustrated image of three trees, their canopies and root systems both on display, over the subheading What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World, resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
13/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A vintage Penguin triband paperback, in crime category green, with one sticker giving a price of 50 cents and a second, dated 1998, giving a price of 27 cents, resting on an elderly panel of white lace.
February 7, 2025 at 3:50 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
12/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A paperback edition of Wayson Choy’s The Jade Peony, the cover art displaying the title in a sans serif font apart from the word Jade, which is written in calligraphy, the background a weathered cream colour with a portion of a jade-based floral-patterned bowl arcing across the bottom third of the cover, resting on an elderly panel of white lace.
February 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
11/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A battered hardcover MacMillan school edition of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, the cover blue with round white crests creating a wallpaper pattern, the title shown in a white rectangle at the centre of the cover, the book resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 5, 2025 at 8:33 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
10/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A Vintage Classics paperback edition of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, the cover art predominantly a range of dark shades of blue and black with a yellow haze on the horizon, showing a dollhouse version of a house in silhouette behind an ethereal blue moat with two swans in it, the exposed sections of the house backlit with golden yellow revealing the silhouette people inside, the book resting on an elderly panel of white lace.
February 4, 2025 at 4:31 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
9/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A modern Puffin paperback edition of Susan Cooper’s Over Sea, Under Stone, the woodcut cover art dominated by shades of golden yellow showing three children in shorts viewing someone shown only as a shadow, as they stand against jutting white stone, with the sea and a lone sailboat behind them under scudding clouds, the book resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 3, 2025 at 3:04 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
8/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A trade paperback edition of Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, subtitled An American Legend, with red borders at top and bottom framing an image of a horse and jockey pounding the track toward the camera, dirt flying into the air against the horse’s great speed, resting on an elderly panel of white lace
February 2, 2025 at 6:49 PM
marykeenanwrites.bsky.social
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
7/20 books that influenced or stayed with me
#20bookchallenge #bookchallenge #booksky
A slightly battered Penguin English Library paperback edition of William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, showing a cartoonish illustration of a crowd of men and women in fashionable Georgian dress throwing themselves at or onto a carriage in which a couple behaves lewdly, resting on an elderly panel of white lace.
February 1, 2025 at 5:58 PM