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Wednesday June 30, 2010

Books in June

• The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics Nury Vittachi
  
  This is a "Feng Shui detective novel" - part of a series - a remarkably original gift from my step-daughter. It is a light-hearted humorous book - albeit rather black humour. Personally, I feel sorry for the elephant - yes, I am afraid to tell you that innocent elephants were indeed harmed in the making of this book....


• Sparkling Cyanide Agatha Christie [Read by Robin Bailey]
  I enjoy listening to Robin Bailey reading Agatha Christie novels. His voice is like a comfortable chair - like listening to one of my old uncles reading to me (not that they ever did - this is an imaginary uncle).
  I first read this novel when I was a teenager in a single afternoon - but remember little of the plot, as so often happens when you read a book quickly. Listening to it now, I quickly realised that this is a revamp of the short story "Yellow Iris" (1937) which featured Poirot. This novel (1945) does not feature her famous detective - though it does feature his good friend "Colonel Race". However, it is told from the point of view of an innocent heroine, Iris, (as opposed to Iris being the victim in the short story) and the victim is her sister Rosemary "for remembrance" whose character is somewhat altered and expanded. [The person wot dunnit has also changed!].
  Iris does not see quite everything as we the readers do, and it is a (slightly) psychological thriller similar in feel to Margery Allingham's "Black Plumes". Will she escape the fate of her sister? Is she in love with the murderer?
  I recently watched a very modernised TV adaptation (2003) starring Pauline Collins and Oliver Ford Davies - where they appear to be playing some kind of "Tommy and Tuppence" characters in a pretty unconvincing scenario (to be fair - probably no more unconvincing than those two fictional characters and their plots always were!)


• Taken at the Flood Agatha Christie [Read by Hugh Fraser]
  It was good to listen to the original text - and good to hear Hugh Fraser reading it. I have seen/heard several adaptations including the radio play - which seemed to stick pretty closely to the novel - and the TV adaptation as part of the David Suchet Poirot series - which did not.
  I did not much like the deviations in the TV adaptation - I think they were done mainly to fit with resetting the plot into the 1930s. As a consequence the fundamental foundation of the story line becomes a pre-planned "gas" explosion rather than an unplanned air raid. This not only does not fit half as well with the characters and their occupations (the heroine has been away serving her country and the emphasis is on how the war disrupted all their lives) but it also rather spoils the title reference.
  "There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures."
  It is a quote about grasping an opportunity as it arises - now or never. It is not about anything preplanned.
  I am not universally opposed to plot changes to suit adaptations of AC's work. Some are very original and she herself rewrote her own plots (as above in Yellow Iris for one example). I much enjoy the recent reworking of the Miss Marple stories where she is shoe-horned into other people's adventures in a completely seamless way. After all, Joan Hickson said all there was to say about the original character as written, and these newer stories are exploring ways to add something. But... the Poirot alterations have not been so good; David Suchet has yet to complete his definitive TV adaptations of the canon - so it's not the time to fiddle about with the plots to such a degree. Sadly, "Cards on the Table" was a particularly unworthy of his stated aims for the series - and, now it's done he will have no opportunity to "correct" it.
  

Posted on June 30, 2010 at 8:58 AM | Comments (0) Leave a comment

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Monday May 31, 2010

Books in May

I have been catching up on a lot of podcasts this month - very ancient "Front Row" highlights from Radio 4. However, the copious quantities of knitting have led to the consumption of a couple of "old favourites" - reading to match my vintage knitting I think.

• Over the Gate by Miss Read [read by Gwen Watford]
  While idling through one of Lucy Mangan's regular articles in the Guardian earlier this year, I was caught by her reference to the "Miss Read" stories. I was aware of Miss Read from my teenage years, but spurned her books as cosy and trivial (once I had discovered they were not about crime). However - I find myself drawn to Lucy and her opinions - and she seems very keen on these books - so I figured it must be "OK" to read them...
  As she puts it they tell "the (very small) adventures of fine English folk in a variety of fine English villages" and admittedly she has more of an excuse to read them than I do - in her case being a "palate-cleanser between meatier courses" whereas in my case I suspect they are undoubtedly the main course - in fact the only course.
  They are of course charming (you have to use that word) and I enjoyed this reading by Gwen Watford giving the perfect voice to the school mistress.


• Queen Lucia by E F Benson [read by Geraldine McEwan]
  E F Benson seems to have a cult following akin to that of G&S or the Goons. Despite my enthusiasm for Lucia - I was a bit surprised to discover this (when I visited Rye and found there was an E F Benson tourist walk). I suppose I first came upon the books through a non-purist route of seeing Geradine McEwan capture Lucia on the television - and after listening to the audiobooks, those TV adaptations seem to me to have achieved a perfect depiction.
  I listened to several of the books in the 1980s read by McEwan and Prunella Scales (Miss Mapp on the TV), and I thought they were worth revisiting - and again I was surprised that although the audiobooks are available, the versions read by these two actresses are hard to obtain. Anyway - this was the first - and just as much fun as ever.
  

Posted on May 31, 2010 at 3:03 PM | Comments (0) Leave a comment

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Friday April 30, 2010

Books in April

• The Little Stranger by Sara Waters
  I saw a review of this book along with 5 other Booker Prize nominees in 2009; it did not win the prize but is also nominated for the Orange prize 2010. I loved it from the start as it drew me in to the description of post-war rural Britain and a declining country estate. However, it is a strange and rather sad tale about the "little stranger" which it took me a while to catch on to as I was so enjoying the story of the characters.
  It reminded me of my favourite J B Priestley novel Bright Day which is set somewhat earlier before the war (both wars in fact), and also recounted as a reminiscence. It also has two layers - the first being a wonderful cosy description of the hero's life as he starts out working in what is actually Bradford - somewhat autobiographical I believe - and then the actual nub of the story and moving on to "present day" (1946) with the sting in the tail. Like many of Priestley's stories ( Inspector Calls, Dangerous Corner ) this is a kind of morality play - and this moral I particularly like. It points out how misleading it is to believe someone else's life to be "perfect" and perhaps wishing you were they.
  Little Stranger is a very different story but has the same flavour, poignantly evoking an older culture - and where things are not quite as they seem on the surface. I highly recommend it.


• Third Girl by Agatha Christie [read by John Woodvine]
  Having seen the TV adaptation of this book with David Suchet, I went back to the source. This is from AC's 1960s period where you can feel her own sentiments about the modern age coming through - Poirot is a little perplexed and out of his depth - "modern girls" and their lifestyles are explained to him (and us!) by Mrs Oliver - he is told he is "too old!" ...and he feels it. There is a lot of time spent where we watch the little grey cells at work through the pages. Overall the TV adaptation did it justice - they are generally not able to reproduce the chemistry of the cast, and light-heartedness of the short story adaptations in the 1980s.
  Having said that, I recently watched a TV adaptation of The Pale Horse (1997) - which I remember as a gripping book. Here AC seems totally at home among the new generation of bright young things - I always thought there was a great similarity in culture between the 1930s and the 1960s - both times of great change in art, lifestyles, and outlook. However, seeing the publishing date of 1961, I guess it more reflected the 1950s art world - certainly the TV adaptation was very true to the styling of the late 50s with the hero in leather jacket and black turtle neck (he was an artist...). Third Girl is squarely in 1966 - swinging London, mini-skirts, .... drugs (pretty central to the plot).
  

Posted on April 30, 2010 at 11:15 PM

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Wednesday March 31, 2010

Books in March

• Walking in Pimlico by Ann Featherstone
  I thought this book was absolutely wonderful. It is a psychological thriller - a great story, as well as well written. Another of Robert's choices for me, it also has a connection with arts and entertainment. The author is (or has been) a lecturer in performance history at Manchester University, and a researcher in drama department at Royal Holloway, University of London. She presents her dialogue (or at least some of it) in the argot of the Victorian music hall and - unlike my final book for this month - provides a fantastic depiction of the life, including the police force, of that time. I cannot comment on whether or not it is correct but it is is utterly convincing. She uses her research and knowledge apparently effortlessly within the plot, making for a fascinating read, while skilfully allowing the narrative flow and not be bogged down by extraneous detail.
  To 'walk in Pimlico' is colloquially "to be handsomely dressed".


• The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell [read by Nigel Anthony]
  Inspector Wexford story in which he looks back to his life as a young policeman in order to solve his current case. One could view the outcome as successful or not - given that he is sure of the murderer from the outset but not only fails to prevent a further murder, but actually seems to instigate one. The book explores our attitudes to a multicultural Britain from a few different viewpoints, though I am not sure I felt any conclusion is reached.


• The Railway Viaduct by Edward Marston [read by Sam Dastor]
  This is not the best book I have ever read. A rather strange depiction of policing in general as well as Victorian Britain, and criminal motivation.
  Good enough to amuse me while driving and while spinning (....not at the same time), since the plot is not hard to follow and is delivered at a pedestrian pace.
  

Posted on March 31, 2010 at 1:06 AM

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Sunday February 28, 2010

Books in February

All knitting books this month - not doing well with reading. I did make an attempt at Eat, Pray, Love - lent by my sister, though she was not very smitten by the book but, like me (and, I presume, all women), recognised some of the scenarios. I could not read more than a chapter or two as I was not very interested in the author or what happened to her. Read the Wikipedia entry where it quotes the New York Times critic descibing it as "narcissistic New Age reading" - which about sums it up for me.

• Debbie Bliss magazine (issue 4) by Debbie Bliss
  Another lovely magazine from Debbie Bliss. I have not felt so smitten by the designs in this issue - but maybe I am not so keen on casual summer knitwear in general. However, it is a whole "lifestyle" magazine with knitted soft furnishings, and even recipes - in the true Stitchcraft magazine tradition! I love the insights into Debbie's inspirations, and her book (and other) collections.


• Rowan Magazine 47 edited by Marie Wallin
  As you know I am committed to the Rowan canon and this is another excellent magazine from the brand. Again, I am rushing off to buy the wool - which may, be as above, that I am less smitten by summer styles, or it may be that I already have a lot of outstanding UFOs. I have only recently knitted one of the winter offerings - I find my style influences tend to be a couple of years behind the times - takes a while for me to get used to new trends! Of these designs I did like Brighton (from new designers I think) and Tourquay the theme here being the ice cream colours used assymetrically.



• 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form (500 Series) Lark Books
  
  A weird and wonderful book of art dolls - a sort of Mervyn Peake world in 3-D miniature. Needless to say, this delightful book was found for me by Robert, who has a knack for turning up the unusual.
  

Posted on February 28, 2010 at 10:04 AM

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Sunday January 31, 2010

Books in January

No fiction again this month. I have been listening to podcasts of the BBC series The History of the World in 100 Objects, which in itself is a fascinating project even without the series - and by the way - isn't it curious to choose to "display" objects in this way on the radio? But then - I think that is part of the point - see them on line and at the British Museum.

• Respect the Spindle Abby Franquemont
  All my spinning books start with some elementary spindle information, but I never found it very interesting - it bore little relation to the act of using a spindle I felt. I included this book on my wishlist, as I don't have a book on this topic and I thought - why not?. I have my new (decorative only?) spindle from Woolfest - so I felt I could invest a little more in the knowledge. I certainly had no intention of "going into" spindle spinning in preference to the wheel. But...
  This is really is one of the most interesting books I have read. The author really made me understand - and believe - that the spindle is a better and faster tool for spinning certain types of thread. It is not an accident or lack of technology that prevented ancient peoples developing the wheel, but appropriate choice for the job in hand. She also discusses the physics of spindles - which is fascinating for me - and made me think I might actually start to see the point of angles of momentum, and moments of inertia in a way that I did not when at school - no-one ever discussed spindles at that time, or it might all have been different.
  It also indicates that my apparently random choice of spinning my little bag of alpaca on my fancy spindle might just have been a sound one after all.


• The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook Tarek Malouf
  Tony recommended this American cup cake recipe book from the Hummingbird Bakery. So it became another wishlist item, along with a set of reusable silicon cake cases. Now I simply want to make all the cakes at once, they sound so good, (though I shall be making fairy cakes not cup cakes of course...!).
  I like the recipes as they are not simply plain cakes with inventive decorations but actually different flavoured cakes and toppings. The decorations are relatively restrained - but I am sure you can use your own initiative on that score. The only snag I see now is that I need a food mixer (or jolly strong arms) - Tony acquired mixer and book together I think. Not sure if I am ready for a new gadget... maybe... George and I did get out his juice extractor to make the clementine and cranberry marmalade....
  Anyway - "Yum's the word".


• Rôtis Stéphane Reynaud
  This was a surprise gift, and though I am always pleased with a cookbook, I did think it was odd to have a book all about roast dinners. I imagined each recipe must read: heat up oven, put in large joint of meat, take out joint of meat, carve, eat.
  Well... there we are - I was quite wrong. This is a book of "every day" roasts and includes pot roasts - which are almost stews - and is not restricted to meat and poultry but includes fish - and veg.
  The layout appeals to me as well - each dish wonderfully photographed; this stems from my first and still favourite cookery book today - the Good Housekeeping Picture Cookery Book from the 70s - which has pictures. A trained chef friend of mine always scorned my love of pictures in cookery books - but it really does help if you have never seen the dish before. A German friend once produced some little cakes with a big flourish saying "no need to tell you what these are!" - but I had no idea - I was racking my brains for a well known English cake - they looked like brioche - anyway they turned out to be scones, and they were delicious... just... different. A schoolfriend once entered a competition for "rock cakes" but hers were in little cake cases and looked like fruited queen cakes - she was quite amazed to see everyone else's untidy little piles of cake.
  Back to the roasts - "yum" again.
  

Posted on January 31, 2010 at 12:53 PM

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Thursday December 31, 2009

Books in December

Frantic activity all through December left little room for reading. However, I received some great books as gifts.

• Make Do and Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations (Official WWII Info Reproductions) foreword by Jill Norman
  A wonderful book reflecting my interests in this aspect of history and culture. These are fac similes of the "Make Do and Mend" leaflets issued by the British government during World War II. Clothes rationing was implemented by issuing coupons which allowed minimal purchases of not only clothes but the raw materials to make your own clothes - so recycling of fabrics** and yarns was a necessity. The initial coupon allowances introduced in 1940 were gradually reduced throughout the war, and ironically, when the war was "won", (and America ceased to subsidise the British economy), even stricter rations were imposed.
  There is some suggestion that many of the rules and guidelines could still be applied today - which is true. However, I think it's worth remembering that these makeovers had none of chic associated with the current fad for so-called recycling; everyone loathed it.
  ** I also own an original 1940s sewing pattern telling you how to cut out the two-tone blouse from "two of your husband's old shirts".


• Spin Control: Techniques for Spinning the Yarns You Want by Amy King
  I have been longing to read this book. I think I already "know" (the theory of) some of the fundamental information in it - with respect to woollen and worsted spin, and different methods of drafting - but there is so much more here. It gives excellent photos and explains clearly the actual effect of what what you are doing with respect to a finished knitted result - concepts I had never really considered.
  Now I have already read it from cover to cover, I am not sure it will actually alter my ability to control what I spin. However, I know I will refer to it again and again to remind myself what to expect from the techniques I am using. And who knows? maybe - gradually - the control will come.


• Knitted Socks East and West: 30 Designs Inspired by Japanese Stitch Patterns by Judy Sumner
  An interesting book with some great patterns - lots of complex stitch work though, so not so much for patterned yarns. I think this is a lovely and original collection, though I would take issue with the author's assertion that the actual stitches are unknown, or never before conceived of in the West. It's not that she is "wrong" and I am sure that she did spend many interesting hours interpreting Japanese patterns - and making it so much easier for us. However, there are a lot of old "western" patterns with many interesting techniques and frankly bizarre stitches which do reflect the same "kinds of" (that is not identical) techniques described in this book. As to the complexity of the stitches - my past experience of being taught the "Japanese" way of doing short rows and wrapping stitches gave me the impression that the method seemed unnecessarily complex for very little benefit, and very little observed difference in the result.
  But I do not wish to sound churlish - this is a lovely book and I look forward to knitting a number of the patterns from it in the next 12 months. [Maybe not so many of the type indicated on the cover photo ie those without toes or indeed in some cases no feet at all. Just to reassure you that many of the socks depicted are ..... well..... socks].
  

Posted on December 31, 2009 at 11:29 AM

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Monday November 30, 2009

Books in November

This month I have been doing a lot of machine knitting - none of which worked out very well, and is due to be unraveled. However I worked to the accompaniment of a number of podcasts from the BBC, and a couple of light-weight talking books.

• Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House and the Deadly Dance by M C Beaton
  [Read by Penelope Keith]
  
  Agatha finally opens her own detective agency, and realises that the opportunity for investigating murders on a professional basis is not what it's all about. In fact, it offers more in the line of finding lost cats. Despite this, she is soon embroiled in more "murders and mayhem" - and still trying to fight the signs of ageing whilst pursuing unworthy men.
  Sigh.
  

Posted on November 30, 2009 at 10:31 AM

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Saturday October 31, 2009

Books in October

Almost a repeat of my entry for May - the autumn books from Debbie Bliss and Louisa Harding are now available.

• Debbie Bliss magazine (issue 3) by Debbie Bliss
  A number of interesting articles, and, as usual, a great selection of winter patterns from Debbie. Take a look at them at the Laughing Hens site. I love the cabled slipper socks, the fair-isle hot water bottle cover, the tartan tea cosy... and ... and... It's like POM condensed into one magazine ...well maybe with better looking and more up to date styles! Anyway lots of projects to look forward to this winter - will any of them make it as Christmas Gifts I wonder?
  I have put two cover images here, but it is only one magazine - the image on the left was the "preorder" marketing cover, and the one on the right was the one that was actually chosen when the magazine was published. I really preferred the preorder version (and when Laughing Hens sent me the magazine I thought I had received the wrong one somehow!) - but I can see the final choice may have more marketing impact. Not sure what this says about my fashion/style preferences - certainly not that I don't like red - but I have not rushed into knitting any of the items inside that red cover. Maybe I just have too many other things to finish right now.
  


• Little Cake and Queen of Hearts by Louisa Harding
  Now here, unpredictably, I have already rushed into buying wool to make a couple of these styles. I bought wool at Ally Pally to make a cardigan (Puzzle ), and a dress (Two), both from Queen of Hearts. One item from Little Cake (Featherbed has already "made it" as a Christmas Gift (yes, completed and ready to go).
  I find the styling of the models most beguiling - even though I don't buy into looking like that myself (which is just as well - not just an age thing although that doesn't help!). I don't think I had the sense of style or the imagination to look like this even when I were younger. However, I love the idea of these quirky goth type models, and hope I can look stylish nonetheless. But first I have to knit them - right?
  

Posted on October 31, 2009 at 11:51 AM

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Wednesday September 30, 2009

Books in September

• T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton [Read by Liza Ross
  A frightening tale for all of us who are "getting on a bit" - though I am not in possession of any substantial material wealth in the shape of jewellery or real estate, so maybe I don't warrant the attention of con men (or women). Lets hope.
  I see there is a version read by Lorelei King, who I think is an excellent reader and would very much like to hear her as the voice of Kinsey Millhone. I find Liza Ross a little whiny - partly this is her accent - but it has to be said that the character is a little whiny so I am not overly critical of her style!


• Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
  This is a strange novel in that it starts with the premise that the narrator is dead - in that context I suppose it has some ethereal features in common with the Penelopiad. Even though the plot is fantastic in the true sense of the word, it is utterly gripping in a very much down-to-earth sense; you are right there with the characters, fearing for their every stupid move. Right up to the last few pages I feared for the outcome for the unworthy western heroes, which seemed would inevitably to end in tragedy. And I suppose if I had proper consideration for all the characters rather than just the western ones - it really did end most tragically. As usual, a very poignant (and political) story, even if told with a slightly more fantastical air.


• End Games by Michael Dibdin
  This book is regarded as a return to form - it has a less glum feel about Zen's health and personal life. The plot however does bring us back to the usual deeply depressing view of a corrupt society - and the rather gruesome black humour.
  I think Peter Guttridge's article from 2007 provides an excellent review of both this book, and Dibdin's writings. [The reference to tomatoes in the title of the article refers to Zen's apparent dislike of their constant use in Calabrian cuisine]. I note that the first book, the Sherlock Holmes pastiche, which I found so very remarkable, has been "constantly in print in the UK for 30 years".
  It's hard to adjust to the idea that this really was the end of the game.
  

Posted on September 30, 2009 at 11:43 AM

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Monday August 31, 2009

Books in August

My peaceful August boating holiday gave me plenty of time to catch up with my reading as well as listening to the spoken word.

• The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
  I think it's fair to say that I could not wait to get my hands on this book and enjoyed every minute of reading it. Our hero maintains some of what seems the Connelly tradition of being unable to retain any kind of settled relationships (and I mean that loosely - not with a capital "R") but maybe that's actually how life is, as well as adding drama to the book. He (hero) has been through a lot since we last met him and is having to reshape his life as the books starts out - and we leave him at the end of the book with a stated direction of reshaping his life yet again - but through choice this time.
  His interaction with Bosch is quite interesting. I find it hard to see the character we know and love portrayed as he is in this book - but it's just because it is through anothers eyes. And Bosch has some relevant baggage that he's hefting around.....
  This book is excellent in my opinion but .... although I hate to say it out loud.... not as good as the Lincoln Lawyer. I don't think it was simply due to my high expectation - I just think Lincoln Lawyer plot was so excellent that it's hard to match it - and I am not at all disappointed that Connelly did not quite do so.


• The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
  Helen recommended that I read this book - she felt it was just the sort of thing I would enjoy - and she was right. It was very refreshing and funny. For some reason I conjured the idea of Ray Winston as Odysseus - not necessarily given her physical description of him (in case he finds my comparison offensive!).
  I have enjoyed a number of other Atwood novels - they are a joy to read in the sense of the written word - and they break your heart. I recommend Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, and her short stories.
  Rob lent me Alias Grace, (which I like a lot), and I gave him Surfacing, which he found perplexing... I have yet to read it.


• Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris [Read by Diana Bishop]
  This was the novel I listened to while we were chugging along in our boat - and while I was knitting. It was brilliant and exceeded my expectation. I have seen the film version of Chocolat, and I have also read Blackberry Wine - which was perfect for me as the hero reminisced about his childhood in the same period as my own - and the book was set in two separate time periods with two stories running side by side, with a good dollop of romance thrown into the present day.
  Five Quarters of the Orange was of exactly the same form, but with an elderly heroine looking back to a much earlier period - and still managing an, albeit mature, romance in the present day. She described the struggle during her adolescence in her relationship with her Mother and siblings - and I found it all very resonant despite not having been brought up in poverty on a small holding in occupied France during WW2. Added to this there was almost a murder mystery element - so I was charmed and enthralled.
  The book was helped a lot by being simply beautifully read - totally convincing voice for the mature heroine, sounding both slightly wistful about the past and yet firmly settled in the present, and the inevitable phrases in French were excellently rendered - neither pretentious nor over-emphasised. Just perfectly judged.
  

Posted on August 31, 2009 at 12:45 PM

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Friday July 31, 2009

Books in July

• Jackson's Dilemma by Iris Murdoch [read by Juliet Mills]
  It's a long time since I read any Iris Murdoch novels - probably not since I was a student at which time she was very much in vogue. I am not sure I understood them very well at that time - I was trying to expand my reading matter and everything was new to me. Even now, when I read AS Byatt, or Angela Carter, I find it hard to understand them - so maybe it was just that era.
  This is her last novel and has engendered some harsh criticism which I think is unwarranted. I presume she had probably already begun to feel the effects of her disease, and there seems little point in saying what basically boils down to "it's not as good as her other novels". One critic complains that the people are not believable and date from a pre-war era - I think he is mistaken - the people are not 21st century, maybe not meant to be, but rather more from the 1960s I would say - one forgets how backward society still was at that time .... Literary criticisms when it was first published comment that "the writing is a mess" and sum it up as a "very odd book".
  For myself I did find it hard to see the dilemma of the title. However it seems clear that the tone of the book relayed anxiety, and towards the end, Jackson sits alone and reveals a confused state of thinking which surely must have reflected some of the authors own confusion.
  In addition, I'm afraid this novel was not improved by Juliet Mills as the reader.


• Book Of The Dead by Patricia Cornwell [read by Lorelei King]
  This was an interesting novel, as usual from Patricia Cornwell - gory but interesting. I do find the characters hard to empathise with - all of them actually - not just Scarpetta, who is such a cold fish, for all her Italian genes. They seem to behave in a wholly unbelievable way. A certain amount of irrational behaviour makes a book interesting, and is eminently believable. But all the characters seem constantly embroiled in battling with each other, and all seem victims of such weird hang-ups you can hardly see how they function in society - and that's not even the serial killers...
  At he end of this volume Marino goes missing, and we have to wait for the next book for him to turn up again. Alive or dead I wonder?


• Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs [Read by Barbara Rosenblat ]
  
  I am firmly hooked on the Kathy Reich's forensic detective novels, which have a far more human heroine in Tempe Brennan than the comparable Kay Scarpetta. This is an earlier book in the sequence, than the other novels I have listened to.
  These characters are believable and easier for me to understand - just classic detective novels, not psychological thrillers. Not so gory - more clinical - and not so weird.
  So on that basis, is my approval good or bad for an author?!
  

Posted on July 31, 2009 at 8:25 AM

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Tuesday June 30, 2009

Books in June

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, (translated by Reg Keeland)
  This is yet another much publicised book that passed me by - my friend Helen said "...have you read it yet..." as opposed to "...have you heard of...." - so I immediately went to order it from the library to find it was another 30-copy investment on their part - but still with 12 reservations outstanding. There are two further novels involving the same characters, so I had better get my name into the reservation queue...
  I notice there has been some criticism of the actual writing style, and a suggestion that the characters may no be fully drawn, but it did not spoil my reading of the book. Jonathan Gibbs in the Independent says if it is "a little amateurish, then perhaps that works to its advantage. This never feels like a by-the-numbers thriller."
  The author was a journalist and this is his début novel. Given my devotion to Michael Connelly, I am further confirmed in my view that there is something about journalistic style in crime novels that I find particularly appealing. I say Larsson "was a journalist" since the author presented his publishers with this crime trilogy and promptly died of a heart attack. This sounded so unlikely - and since these are conspiracy-type books involving investigative journalism - I wondered if it were some kind of warped publicity stunt (début novels, died "suddenly" etc). However, all too sadly, it is true and so we also have to enjoy these books as his first and last.


• Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
  This book was featured in BBC's "A Good Read" on Radio 4 in early June. It sounded so intriguing that I had to read it.
  In order to intrigue you as well I have to mention the plot:
  There is a statue dedicated to an island's most famous celebrity, the (supposed) inventor of the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.". However, the sentence, which is inscribed on the statue, begins to crumble, and one by one the letters gradually fall off - so the council decides to bar islanders from using the fallen letters. Read on...
  The island on which the book is set must be modelled on Tangier Island (a little like Sark in the Channel Islands) - proud to embrace an "older" style of life and proud of its isolation. The book is slightly satirical about that in itself. However, mainly it is about the dangers of political power, religious manipulation as a tool of the state, and corruption. One cannot help making the comparison with Orwell, given the linguistic distortions imposed on the islanders by the council, though this is a much more light-hearted, (nonetheless thought provoking) novel. It is a very clever book and has lots of fun as it presents itself in the form of letters, each written to conform to the new and increasingly impossible laws.


• Deep Black by Andy McNab [Read by Clive Mantle]
  I read Remote Control after I found I much enjoyed listening to a couple of other McNab thrillers (read by Colin Buchanan) on OneWord Radio*. Remote Control was his first fiction book in the Nick-Stone-action-hero series and introduced us to his ward Kelly; it was very moving and his relationship with Kelly was charmingly drawn. Hence I was a bit bit disappointed to find she had been despatched somewhere along the line and this book sees Nick in a resulting slough of despond at the start. It soon picks up, of course, and the usual exciting thriller ensues.
  His books are very convincing, and I retain a lot of sympathy with McNab after hearing him describe his childhood "in the system" prior to joining the army. I don't mean I feel sorry for him, just that, again, everything he said rang so true of that era from my own experiences. (I should make it clear that I did not by any means have a deprived childhood, but could see many around me not so fortunate).
  
  * OneWord Radio - the "only radio programme devoted to the spoken word" - specialised in broadcasting famous literary works, read either by the authors themselves or by well known actors; it ceased broadcasting at the beginning of 2008.


• Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis [Read by Tony Britton]
  This and other recent books published under the "Dick Francis" brand have been written with his son Felix, (and in at least one passage I can clearly hear the voice of the jump jockey's son coming through in the voice of the hero). This type of collaboration is not really a departure as he always acknowledged the heavy contributions of his wife to his previous books, even though she was never overtly credited as an author. However, this book lacked something - as much as I can narrow it down, it failed to convey the underlying threat of any real danger to the hero, and there was no sinister-villain-with-a-smile-on-his-face. I don't necessarily attribute this to being to do with the new co-authors - I remember being a little disappointed with Reflex which was written in 1980. Mostly I attribute it to being more of departure from the racing themes. There is no doubt that the racing-based novels are the best ones - and although they all seem to have a link with racing in some way, some seem less contrived than others. The heroes always have some less than average profession, and some of the novel is spent in telling you all about that profession - somehow this works better for Francis when the description is about racing - he knows what to explain and what to assume you know.
  And while we are on the theme of formula writing - his novels are written to a clear formula - explained in Wikipedia - though I beg to differ on their description of the love interests of his heroes. I always found the personal circumstances of the heroes and peripheral characters most interesting, often not revolving around simple nuclear family ideas - nor even conventional "difficult" marriages. They often express people quietly adapting their lives to their own requirements for modern living and making a go of things as best they can.
  His heroes are usually very successful in what they do, and in their prime - aged around 30. And this brings me to my problem with the reader. Tony Britton is an excellent reader and I have heard him read other Francis novels... but... Even in his prime Tony Britton always sounded avuncular and mature. He just does not sound like a 30 year old, and this is accentuated by the books being written in the first person. I note that there is a version of the book read by Martin Jarvis - he is no young slip of a lad but I would be interested to hear if he sounds any more convincing.
  

Posted on June 30, 2009 at 9:50 AM

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Sunday May 31, 2009

Books in May

Good value books and magazines with fresh wearable styles for the summer.

• Debbie Bliss magazine (issue 2) by Debbie Bliss
  This is an excellent value magazine - it has a lot of great patterns and it's about a third of the price of most pattern books. But never mind the width - this magazine has high quality too. It is a magazine in the true sense of the word with many really good knitting articles, not just feature padding, and lots of ideas and information about Debbie's own inspirations over the years. I found it a very interesting read.
  Some of the patterns have appeared before in other collections - or at least I noticed one specifically - but this is a magazine not a "new pattern" book. Added to which, Debbie Bliss creations are so very wearable and if not timeless, certainly time resistant, which is what you want if you have put your heart into a knitting project. It's a shame I did not spot issue 1 of the magazine as it briefly hit the shops and then sold out - but I'm not keen to rectify this oversight by paying £20 for it now on eBay! I noticed that it is pretty clearly aimed at the American as well as the UK market - maybe that's why we sold out so quickly here...


• Deco and Nouveau by Louisa Harding
  These are great books with very fresh and stylish presentation. I looked at them initially because the Debbie Bliss magazine had an article on Louisa and a pattern for one of her bags (which is lots of fun and just what I would knit if only I had the time....). The stitch patterns are nicely complicated and very pretty. It is great to find some designs with pretty patterns which change throughout the design adding to the shape as an inherent part of it.
  The yarns are Louisa's own which basically translate to a double knitting, or an Aran. I have already started knitting the cardigan Anouk from Nouveau - and although Louisa's own yarns are lovely, I am using the ivory colour in Rowan bamboo yarn as I loved knitting it so much for the POM summer cardigan last year; the bamboo is a little finer than the specified yarn so I am having to make a few adjustments in the size. In fact, that would be my only comment - for summer designs I would favour a finer yarn - however, the benefit is they knit up quickly.
  

Posted on May 31, 2009 at 7:16 PM

Comments

Posted by: Alison on June 2, 2009 6:37 AM

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Thursday April 30, 2009

Books in April

• Black Plumes by Margery Allingham [read by Francis Matthews]
  I have fun listening to Margery Allingham's work, but it is very dated. In fact that's probably part of the fun. It is so very dated by the language and manners portrayed - the society it reveals in the more casual asides to the plot, one can hardly believe ever existed... and yet it did, and therein lies some of the interest.
  This book is all about a wealthy upper class family who, when a murder happens in their midst, seem most concerned about being shunned by society, rather than by the shocking conclusion that one of them is going around murdering people. Quote of the book for me was: "....and the terse notes which arrived from him for every member of the family, stating fully, in the most abominable commercial English, that he would be glad if they would give him their attention for half an hour at 3 o'clock...". No need to tell you that "he" is not one of the Family, but merely one of their employees.
  Written in 1940, Albert Campion is not featured, though there is a hero (David) in similar mould playing the romantic lead. However, this book is a little darker than the Campion series. The story is not told through David's eyes, but those of Frances, the youngest girl in the family. It's an interesting viewpoint as she is not solving the crime, she is just the victim of the events going on around her, and does not fully understand them. The plot itself is an interesting mystery.


• A Cure for all Diseases by Reginald Hill
  This is a very enjoyable book if you like Jane Austen as well as Reginald Hill. It is a kind of extension of the unfinished Austen novel "Sanditon" - of which, I confess, I had never heard prior to this book drawing it to my attention. Apparently, Hill often uses "one writer or one oeuvre as a central organizing element of a given novel".
  It is a Dalziel and Pascoe novel, and set firmly on the contemporary Yorkshire coast (rather than 19th century Eastbourne). He has taken some names from the original, and it definitely has that Austen air in the humour and the claustrophobic society he describes - though possibly fewer murders in Austen.
  He uses several characters and methods to tell his story. Alongside the usual narrative of the police investigation led by Pascoe and Wield, we have a convalescing Dalziel dictating his thoughts into a tape (as well as secretly taping others inadvertently and otherwise), and we have a character writing a series of letters to her sister abroad (which would be very Austen but for the fact they are emails).


• Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
  I set out to find this book in my local libraries, as it was reviewed by Cathy, and sounded like the sort of book I would like. [A sheep detective story - neatly combining all my interests in one]. However, it's obviously a very popular book that many have liked as there are about 30 copies of it available in Surrey libraries (and that's a fair number).
  The novel is set in "Glennkill" which is nice wordplay as Kill or Kil is common in Gaelic place names, meaning chapel or church. And chief among the amateur sheepy sleuths is "Miss Maple". However, picking these puns in isolation makes the book sound a bit crass - which it is not. It is full of charm as the sheep loyally think their woolly way through the mystery to its conclusion.
  Its anthropomorphic view of sheep is probably comparable to the rabbits in Watership Down (but less scary). Fun and easy to read.
  

Posted on April 30, 2009 at 3:11 PM

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Wednesday April 1, 2009

Stitch in Time

I have been waiting for some months to feature this book, as I wanted to keep it as a secret gift for Alison's birthday. The waiting has been hard - but is now finally over (Happy Birthday Alison). It is such a wonderful book but as usual my skill with words is not sufficient for me to describe how much I like it. It has obvious appeal to me, of course, but who could fail to be entranced by its beautiful production and styling?

The book was first printed in 1972, but in a very different form. I purchased the original in a 1980s reprinted edition. This did contain the basic same material, but with only a few colour prints showing some of the patterns reknitted in contemporary yarns. Subsequently - and lucky for us - the plates for this edition were lost which has led to the entire book being revamped with all the designs not only being reproduced as per the originals, but with the patterns redrafted to include modern instructions and yarn information. All the designs are knitted up and beautifully photographed. I particularly love that the knitters are also individually credited for their work in the book.

From my original book, I always liked this design for a Sun-Ray jumper from Woman and Home 1936.

As all the original patterns were published with black and white photos the imagination was fired by the descriptions in the text. The yarn colour names were intended to be evocative of actual colours ("Lipstick Red"), rather than the current trend for yarns and colours with names that inspire an emotion ("Rustic", "Tickle", "Calm"). This pattern came with the following Helpful Fashion Advice on colour co-ordination:
"If you'd like it in Blue - choose a pottery blue with yellow buttons. Wear a buttercup-yellow woollen skirt. A yellow belt, Blue and yellow bracelets."
"If you'd like it in Pink - choose a coral with white buttons. Wear a two-piece of heavy natural tussore*. A matching coral-pink hat trimmed with white petersham ribbon. White shoes and handbag. Wear coral-pink gloves of fine suede" (* Tussore is a coarse brownish silk produced from a tussore moth Antheraea paphia).
"If you'd like it in White - choose glass buttons for the yoke. Wear a white linen tweed skirt. A matching linen hat trimmed with dark green ribbon. White court shoes with green leather trimming. Dark green gloves. Carry a green and white handbag."(sic)

Here is an example of the pages from the new edition - restyled with modern instructions, and reknitted in contemporary yarn, with great colour photos - all printed alongside the original black and white pattern, quoting the source and the year.

Please feel free to offer your own fashion advice in the comments, starting "If you'd like it in Red...".

If your interests are anything like my own - do buy this book. Even if you feel you will never knit these designs, it is a lovely book to own, crammed with historical design interest from the period.

I note it is called: "Volume 1 - 1920-1949", so I am hoping the book is a success and we can look forward to a Volume 2. If this kind of book does interest you, then you may like to look at Jane Waller's Knitting Fashions of the 1940s: Styles, Patterns and History which, like Stitch in Time is also available from Amazon. (And "no - I don't have any shares in these publications"!).

Posted on April 1, 2009 at 9:50 AM

Comments

Posted by: Alison on April 2, 2009 7:42 PM

Posted by: yarnstruck on April 4, 2009 5:10 AM

Posted by: Christina on April 4, 2009 9:46 AM

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Tuesday March 31, 2009

Books in March

I seem to be spending less and less time reading - unless it's reading knitting books. So it occurred to me that I could actually write about the knitting books - here are a couple of them.

• A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd
  This is a book all about knitting with handspun yarns; George's Mother gave it to me for my birthday. I had not previously looked at the book when I requested it via my Wish List - which is always risky - but it did not disappoint. It is a very good book - these are the specific points in its favour:
  • The author tells us about her journey through learning to spin, discusses mixing fibres, and reviews a few fleece types that she used for projects in the book. I was interested that she reviewed Suffolk fleeces, (Ava's sheep), as I have not seen much about them elsewhere - she used them for socks, which confirms the view I have gleaned while working with this fleece myself.
  • The book has a lot of patterns in it, (26 apparently), mostly for proper jumpers, not just little gifts. It is very good value on this point - so many books are lovely with maybe lots of ideas but few real patterns.
  • And here's the good bit - every pattern is knitted up not only in a handspun with the fibre content explained, but also in a commercial yarn. This is really an excellent idea. It demonstrates that you can achieve quite different results by changing the yarn type - it's very encouraging.
  I have now finished spinning the llama fleece that my sister gave me and immediately set about making the lacy scarf from the book.


• Rowan 45 Spring/Summer 2009 edited by Marie Wallin
  Despite the amusement that Rowan's styling always seems to cause everyone (including me), I always like their books and look forward to their publication each season. I admire the way they do their marketing and always hope that their innovations will prove successful.
  So I was truly dismayed by their anniversary edition (No 44) as, far from celebrating their history, it seemed a complete departure from anything that had gone before. I was motivated to complain to Rowan that there was not a single pattern for men in the book which I thought (apart from anything else) a real betrayal since the company was set up by men and their signature designers were men. Admittedly when they first started, the sweaters styles were not so gender specific, and often displayed on both men and women in the photo shoots. But now the girly, shaped sweaters are definitely not for men. I was impressed that I got a reply directly from Marie Wallin (whether "from the desk of" or whether a standard response is not important). However what she said was less convincing - that they did not "have space" to include men's patterns - though they seem to have space for patterns for dogs and fabric patterns for decorations. She also missed my point really - I am not actually short of patterns to knit for men and in truth I normally welcome the inclusion of patchwork and novelties in the magazines. I was simply angry that in a special anniversary edition she had made what was, in my opinion, an editorial decision ("mistake") to make it girls (and dogs..) only.
  So back to Book 45 - I loved it as usual - and I was relieved that men had got back into it.... I am planning to make a couple of the things featured in it, including some household items (placemats and peg bag). These are my favourites:
  
  
  

This is the full text of Rowan's reply on the subject of Rowan 44 "anniversary edition". I note that Marie seems to think that the exclusion of men's patterns is a consequence of it being an anniversary edition - how on earth does that work?

Dear Christina,
I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed that the latest magazine doesn't include any men's designs.
The main reason for this is that Mag 44 is a celebration of 30 years of Rowan, and consequently the stories reflect women's wear. As there was so much we wanted to cover within the stories to reflect the type of design that has become synonymous with Rowan over the years, there literally was not enough room to cover menswear as well. I appreciate that you would like to see more men's designs and we are hopefully planning to do a Rowan men's book in the near future, I myself would like to do a men's book! There will be a few men's designs in Mag 45 and there are also some planned for Mag 46.
Best wishes and happy knitting,
Marie Wallin - Head Designer, Rowan.

I do look forward to seeing her men's book. I always like her designs, (despite the simple lines and lack of florals), though many of them are frankly too hip for me to feel I can wear. Narvik (still working on it...) is one of hers.

Posted on March 31, 2009 at 10:34 AM

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Saturday February 28, 2009

Books in February

• Problem at Pollensa Bay and other stories by Agatha Christie [read by Jonathan Cecil]
  This is a collection of stories published in the early 1990s but written in the 1920s and early 30s. They are very well read by Jonathan Cecil - a stalwart supporting actor in the UK - but a surprisingly (to me) versatile star at reading these books. I would say that usually he is rather type-cast as gormless Hooray Henries from an earlier era. There is also an audio book read by Hugh Fraser, who is excellent, and I am sure chosen for this task due to his role as Captain Hastings in the 1980s TV adaptations of Poirot.
  The stories feature Hercule Poirot, but also some other lesser-known but recurring Christie characters.
  • Problem at Pollensa Bay - 1935 (Mr Parker Pyne)
  • The Second Gong - 1932 (Hercule Poirot, and adapted for TV as Dead Man's Mirror)
  • Yellow Iris - 1937 (Hercule Poirot, and and adapted for TV with great knitwear!)
  • The Harlequin Tea Set - 1936 (Mr Satterthwaite and Mr Harley Quin)
  • The Regatta Mystery - 1939 (Mr Parker Pyne - but revamped from the original 1936 version with Poirot)
  • The Love Detectives - 1926 (Mr Satterthwaite and Mr Harley Quin)
  • Next To A Dog - 1929
  • Magnolia Blossom - 1926
  I enjoyed The Harlequin Tea Set as it followed a number of typical Christie themes, though I did think there was a bit of a hole in the plot, but perhaps I did not follow it properly. I was not sure why the victim had to be poisoned using a replacement cup of the wrong colour, (failing to notice due to his colour blindness) - why not simply slip the poison into his cup of the right colour? Still - what do I know? I am not the Queen of Crime.


• Saturday by Ian McEwan[read by James Wilby]
  This is a novel that shows how we live today - how some wealthy people live today, of course. But it is clear that even for this well-off brain surgeon, he started life in a small flat with 2 kids on limited income; and, though he and his wife have become successful (and wealthy) in their careers, they have their lovely central town house only through inheritance. Their children are grown to beautiful and talented young people, and the hero knows how lucky he is.
  And the reader is constantly aware of how very much there is to lose.
  Notable for the fact that the action takes place within 24 hours, some readers seem to think it's a day overly packed with activity. However, to me, it does not seem very out of the ordinary in terms of activities - though I'm not a brain surgeon of course, so that part of it would be extraordinary for me. Basically, he gets up, has breakfast with his son, goes out, sees the anti-war march, has a minor car accident, plays squash, visits his Mother in a care home, collects stuff to eat for dinner, briefly drops in to watch his son rehearse with a band, spends the evening with his family, gets called in to work to do an emergency operation.
  That tells you everything and nothing.
  It is paced quite slowly - especially noticeable as a talking book- the squash game, for example, is described point by point, and made me glad I had a few lessons when I was about 20 so I could better empathise with what was happening. However, throughout, there is a constant feeling of lurking menace, which made me permanently anxious for the plot to move on. I understand it was born out of the authors own sense of anxiety around potential global threats. The hero explores his general unease with moral dilemmas relating to the concept of war and terrorism - but this is suddenly sharply focussed by a very local threat, which leads to a very real moral dilemma.


• Back to Bologna by Michael Dibdin
  I am a real fan of this author and his hero, Italian police inspector Aurelio Zen, even though the books are often suffused with a sense of gloom, despite the humour. I picked up this book by chance, and realised that I have not actually read Dibdin's last couple of books, which is a pleasant surprise for me as there will be no more.
  The book features amusing and topical characters, in the shape of a dead owner of a football team (killed with a Parmesan cheese knife), and a temperamental operatic TV chef. Poignantly, Zen himself is suffering after an operation, and also suffering from hypochondria - and also not doing well in his love life. However, to quote a reviewer, it "delivers both comic and serious insights into the realities of today's Italy".
  

Posted on February 28, 2009 at 8:59 PM

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Saturday January 31, 2009

Books in January

Just one solitary book for this month. I have a pile of books to read but have been so caught up in my work and other hobbies that I have not read many real books. I actually had to make a trip to the library to renew my books this month, as I had had them loan for so long. This was my bedtime talking book all this month, along with a couple of the BBC radio plays.

• The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle [read by Derek Jacobi]
  An old favourite (for me) and an interesting choice of reader. He does well enough in his narration as Watson but is occasionally stretched when giving voice to the ne'er-do-well "Jonathan Small". This story almost follows the Doyle formula for the Holmes novels, being a book within a book, and consequently, Small has a large part of the narrative while telling his life's tale of adventures abroad.


• The Sittaford Mystery BBC Radio Play
  The play stars Stephen Tompkinson, and also John Moffatt - though not in his usual role as Hercule Poirot, who does not appear in this novel. The detective is, instead, an "Inspector Narracott", (who was used again by AC in a 1954 radio play). It was interesting to compare this radio play to the altered version of the novel used in the recent TV adaptation "Marple" - where Miss Marple was simply added into the cast of characters - perfectly suitably I thought...
  

Posted on January 31, 2009 at 10:41 AM

Comments

Posted by: Cathy in Va. on February 13, 2009 2:36 AM

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Wednesday December 31, 2008

Books in December

• The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill
  I love these books - and I used to love the TV series - until they started to deviate so substantially from the novels. I have no purist objection to additional stories written for TV (as in "Morse") but Ellie Pascoe and "Ivor" Novello were two of my favourite characters - played by really strong actresses - and they were just written out. I was sad, as they left the door open in the script at one point to get back on track with Ellie - but then closed it again. Ivor was replaced for a while by "Harris" Tweed - which was a bit daft as they could have simply changed the actress, if that were what drove it, though I don't think a changeling would have worked for Ellie.
  In this book - and increasingly - Ellie and Peter's relationship is really important to the novels, so once they removed her from the picture they have been forced to change the plots more and more. The disconnect happened at around the time of Arms and the Woman - again one of my favourites, being a lot about Ellie - and I can see it would have been very hard to portray this book on screen, at least hard to portray it within the straight police mystery genre into which the TV series falls. It, and this book, Death of Dalziel, have a surrealist or sci-fi element which is both humourous and witty/intellectual, as well as excellent writing - but (unsurprisingly) absent from the TV interpretation.
  I should also say I admire Ellie for representing a class of woman all too often absent in mainstream drama. [Although increasingly common in mainstream "life" I think]. Namely, a strong intelligent middle class woman portrayed in a supporting role. Some might imagine that she appeals to me as a Bolshy feminist lefty - well she might - or she might not - but that's not it. She has her own life, and I do not think the substance of that life matters; it just matters that she has one. And she chooses to live it with Peter Pascoe and their daughter.
  PS - you don't really think he's dead, do you?


• The Secret Hangman by Peter Lovesey
  Peter Lovesey is what I would call a traditional English crime writer - as Agatha Christie probably was, prior to her somewhat surprising rise to megastar status. His settings are ordinary contemporary situations, not 1930s period piece locked-room mysteries, but happily with the expected (unrealistic) high body count. In the books I have read, (The Circle and The House Sitter), he writes about police detectives rather than amateurs, even if the police are not necessarily the main players.
  Having said that, his first books in the 1970s were the "Sergeant Cribb" series, which is set in Victorian London. Cribb is probably his best known character due to the 1980s TV series starring Alan Dobie.


• All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre
  [Read by Cathleen McCarron]
  This book seems to have had mixed reviews. It seems that Brookmyre fans have had expectations stemming from what they subjectively felt he was expressing in his previous books, rather than maybe what he really was expressing. Some readers put off reading this book owing to the apparently negative reviews, and were then pleasantly surprised when they finally read the book.
  It is definitely not a very realistic book - at many levels - it involves a fictional international Bond-style organisation from the outset, and progresses through a middle-aged woman's wish fulfilment. I was a bit neutral after the first chapter, but it swiftly drew me in, and as usual his witty writing and plot digressions were a lot of fun.
  

Posted on December 31, 2008 at 9:01 AM

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Sunday November 30, 2008

Books in November

• Monday Mourning and Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs [Read by Barbara Rosenblat ]
  Two detective-aficionado friends have told me they are keen on these Temperance Brennan novels, while sharing my scorn and derision for the TV series based on the characters - so I thought I should read them. And they were right; the stories are interesting and well written.
  The TV series is "Bones" - and when I say 'based on the characters', I use the term loosely, since the name of the leading character seems to be the only item in common with the books. However, it seems the TV character is intended more to be based on the author herself (who is an academic who writes detective mystery novels...).


• The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters [Read by Stephen Thorne]
  Over the years I have really enjoyed the Brother Cadfael stories. I am not sure why - perhaps the historical context is interesting, but I do like the simplicity of the tales and the certainty of right and wrong that is portrayed in the stories; any inconsistency of what was considered right in the day, compared with what might be right 1000 years later, is overcome by making Brother Cadfael a little more of a liberal thinker than his peers. However, they are tales of human nature, and when it comes down to it, that has not changed very much.
  I really enjoyed the television series with Sir Derek Jacobi, supported by a strong cast of excellent and experienced British actors. [I always thought, though, that Jacobi was miscast in this role. Don't get me wrong - he is excellent and his portrayal is excellent, but he does actually look credibly like an intellectual monk, whereas there is an implication in the text that Cadfael's physical appearance always betrays his background as an aging but tough ex-soldier.**].
  This is one story that I did not know at all, so it was interesting to find it. However, almost from the moment of the "confession" in the first few chapters, I could see the entire plot laid out before me, and simply had to wait to hear it unfold. This did not spoil the pleasure of it, but it was a bit slow in the telling. Of course, in real life, and to the characters, the outcome would not have been expected in this way, but unlike them, I knew they were in a mystery story....
  **Years ago, my friend Helen suggested Don Henderson (now no longer with us) for the role. In 1989 Henderson had a great part as a priest (opposite Leslie Grantham, his fictional brother) in "The Paradise Club" - but he has appeared in many mainstream productions in his career, even including StarWars, and towards the end of his life in Red Dwarf. Here is a lovely picture of him with another of my favourites, Michael Elphick from their cookery series "The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Cookery".
  

Posted on November 30, 2008 at 1:31 PM

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Friday October 31, 2008

Books in October

• The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly [Read by Michael Brandon]
  Having already read this book "on the page", I listened to it as a talking book; it was just as enjoyable second time around - and I could knit at the same time... Now I am suitably prepared for for Connelly's next book which features the same hero - and I must say I am looking forward to this. I feel warmly towards Michael Haller - I wonder if he shares more, or fewer, characteristics with the author than Harry Bosch?**
  
  **Colin Dexter said that you cannot help writing a certain amount of your own views and tastes into your characters: "like me, he, [Morse], is diabetic, an atheist, and a lover of music and art". But also admitted that it was not true of all characteristics and I thought I heard in an interview that Dexter himself does not like beer - though I am sure I have seen film of Dexter (apparently) enjoying a pint.
  It amuses me that, (judging by the publicity photos in the books), when physically describing Bosch, Connelly could be describing himself - and I notice this is also true of MC Beaton describing Agatha Raisin.


• Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came M C Beaton
  Continuing my reading of the series in which Agatha gains a new (dishy) next door neighbour, and her aristocratic friend gains and loses a wife.
  Small exchanges between Agatha and the vicar's wife never fail to amuse me:
  Agatha: "... [middle-aged] men let themselves go."
  Mrs Bloxby: "Not necessarily. Look at my husband. Alf's in good shape."
  Agatha thought of the vicar - grey-haired, glasses, scholarly, slightly stooped - and reflected that love was indeed blind.


• Death Message Mark Billingham [Read by Paul Thornley]
  Here we find Thorne, in the latest novel in the series, settling down to some kind of domestic life - the only sort that 2 working detectives can share; however, there is even talk of fatherhood, so it must be serious.
  As in the previous book, there is, I am relieved to say, much less of a perverted mind at work; you are made to go along with Thorne and have sympathy with the killer, and thus accept Thorne's rather strange choice of rough justice.
  I note that Billingham's next work departs from the Thorne series - maybe getting too bogged down with the threat of all that domesticity on the horizon. Time for a change.
  

Posted on October 31, 2008 at 8:57 AM

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Tuesday September 30, 2008

Books in September

• The Knitting Circle Anne Hood
  I chose this book for its title of course, and I did enjoy it very much, although the nub of the tale is very sad indeed, made all the more so by the knowledge that it is the author's own experiences of grief that we are reading about. However, this is a feelgood novel about female friendships and the path to recovery from loss - mostly bereavement - and very well written, given the grim little histories that each of the characters reveals as we move along. The only thing I was less keen on is the idea that knitting is therapy and that a circle is some kind of support group for the mentally ill - of course, it is therapeutic and so on - I'd just be worried to have it thought that this is all it is - as if, now they are all feeling better, they can stop all this silly knitting stuff.
  Ann Hood has her own website about her books, her biography, and with a blog.


• Buried Mark Billingham [Read by Paul Thornley]
  A disturbing but thrilling tale from Mark Billingham - his 6th book. Perhaps (thankfully) a little less overtly gruesome than previous efforts; I am thankful for this because even though he seems to be able to make the distasteful more palatable, I worry when I find myself interested in books about sick subjects.
  It occurred to me that the hero of this series, Tom Thorne, and the whole setting of the books in London, is the antithesis of Inspector Morse. Thorne is vulgar, drinks lager, and works in the less appealing police premises in North London. Both Thorne and Morse share a general lack of success with women, but I understand that this is a necessary plot device for detective heroes - reference the spin-off Lewis no longer having cosy wife and family. Though perhaps Barnaby and Wexford demonstrate that this is not a universal truth.


• Saturnalia Lindsey Davis [Read by Christian Rodska]
  This is all about "Christmas" - with all the usual problems of lists of presents, co-ordination with relatives, and huge supplies of traditional food. The main difference is that instead of just having to cope with one or two days it lasts from December 17th through to the New Year - heaven forbid....
  "Yo, Saturnalia!" - I'm looking forward to it already...
  

Posted on September 30, 2008 at 9:42 PM

Comments

Posted by: Cathy in Va. on October 3, 2008 1:12 AM

Posted by: Christina on October 3, 2008 10:02 AM

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Sunday August 31, 2008

Books in August

• The Good Husband of Zebra Drive Alexander McCall Smith
  I was introduced to this set of novels by Robert, somewhat before they achieved quite such world-wide acclaim. I would like to say I was immediately charmed, but I did think them childish, as I began to read the first one. By the end of the book though, I was charmed like everyone else. Ordinary people coming to terms with their problems and overcoming difficulties. The characters value the richness of their lives, and although they do not necessarily have the choice to be richer in a material sense, they do not spend their time in longing for some life they don't have. A nice parable for our own lives told in a simple way. However, as I have said before, to regard his straight-forward writing style as simple is to seriously under-rate the skill of the author.
  
• The Jupiter Myth Lindsey Davis [Read by Christian Rodska]
  My friend Diane loaned me the very first Falco book (The Silver Pigs) in the late 1980s and I was hooked. Since then I have read the steady stream of Lindsey Davis' output ever since, usually borrowing the books from Diane, Helen, and the library (!). Lindsey has an excellent website covering her books and lots of other interesting material.
  I read the Jupiter Myth quite a while ago, but to my delight I found the talking book in the library read by none other than the fantastic Christian Rodska** - what a perfect combination! I swear CR could make any book he reads fascinating - he has such an array of voices that he can adopt, and he produces them very subtly, making the books really come to life. However, the Falco books are full of lively characters for him to play with - a complete joy.
  ** Since "discovering" Christian Rodska as a narrator I have taken great delight in watching his (again very subtle) character performances in what seems like every single British TV series ever produced - all the TV detectives through to a recent appearance in Doc Martin I noticed.
  

Posted on August 31, 2008 at 3:31 PM

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Thursday July 31, 2008

Books in July

• Devil Water Anya Seton
  Well - it was in my local library - which says something for the quality of the book, after all this time (please read my previous entry for June). So curiosity has made me read it at last, albeit 30 years too late. And what a riveting and rollicking 18th century tale it is.
  Nicely for the American author, it is interwoven with action in Virginia - and none of this mere invention. Obviously a lot of the story includes the sort of liberties taken by any historical novelist, but this author is known for her research and you can be pretty certain that the factual information included is actually factual and not invented. Even some of the more unlikely intimate thoughts of the characters are found to be taken from their contemporary diaries and writings.
  So all in all, I also would recommend it; a fascinating historical read, as well as a good history lesson. [And with a little more meat than my usual readings, plus the actual length of the book, has meant I have read little else this month.]
• The Cat that went Bananas Lilian Jackson Braun
  I noticed this series of books in the library and was so amused by the concept of cats and detection that I had to read one. These are mysteries featuring journalist James Qwilleran and his "lovable, clue-sensitive cats". I have to say it was pretty terrible, but there are a few mitigating factors: one is that there is a fairly gently humour being poked at small town East Coast life, which I think I don't understand properly; another is that this is the author's 27th "Cat Who..." mystery, and one reviewer implied that she is no longer at her best, [but I shan't be testing any others].
  Strangely - the cat aspect of the book was more appealing than I had expected. They were not altogether twee, or endowed with powers beyond those of a normal cat. I did find it very entertaining that every person in the book had a cat or cats and they did express something of the owner's personalities, but with rather more than a simplistic superficial analysis.
  

Posted on July 31, 2008 at 10:07 AM

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Monday June 30, 2008

Books in June

Kids' stuff...

• Borrower of the Night Elizabeth Peters
  Again I picked this author originally due to a similarity to "Ellis Peters" and was smitten by the concept of Victorian archeologists combined with Thriller/Detection. However, I was not very thrilled with the 'Amelia Peabody' series, and laughed out loud at the book blurbs declaring "an author so popular that copies of her books in the public libraries have to kept under lock and key!" [on which planet I wonder?].
  This book is a 'Vicky Bliss' mystery. The first in the series, written in 1974, and quite interesting for me to read a contemporary view of modern manners - I would say "to remember" but I was not quite adult enough in the 1970s to take anything other than the subjective view of a participant. Vicky Bliss is just as irritating as Amelia. Need I say more? Strangely enough I find this author's more serious writing - which you get to experience in the Amelia series when Amelia's children take over the narrative - quite good; however I don't really enjoy what I imagine to be tongue in cheek humorous stuff which is exhibited through Amelia, and to some extent Vicky.

The view of the 1970s, in combination with the antagonistic relationship of hero and heroine brought back memories - not only Mills and Boon but - of Mary Stewart. I realised I have not given her books a thought for at least 30 years. I read her novels initially as mystery/suspense/thrillers - but in fact I am sure I took to them as much for the romance angle. To quote from Wikipedia she maintains "a full mystery while focusing on the courtship between two people"; I note that they also say that she was "at the height of her popularity in the 1960s and 70s", though I also notice these novels were written more in the 1950s. She writes unashamedly to a very specific formula - and is successful every time I would say. She has an exotic picturesque setting, a 'difficult' man (who turns out to be "the one"), often some protegé, (maternal instincts), and the element of danger and mystery. Perfect fodder for the teenage me.

In this respect, it came to me that there is a strong similarity to Dick Francis - another favourite, and excellent thriller writer. It is really no surpise to relate these similarities to the acknowledged fact that Francis's wife contributed many ideas to his books. He has a hero rather than a heroine, of course, but always very sensitive with a bittersweet emotional intensity. He also chooses a specific setting though usually by means of an unusual job for his hero.

Mary Stewart also wrote fantasy/historical novels (the Merlin series) in which I was not so interested, even though historical novels were a mainstay of my reading materials of that time. This led to more memories of such intensity, I was compelled to go and review my own bookshelves, and then wander through a maze of internet pathways to recall authors that I am ashamed to say I had simply forgotten.

At school we were generally encouraged to read historical novels for children - by 'suitable' authors, naturally. I began with Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth first published in 1954. It is set in Roman Britain in the 130s and follows the story of a boy's search to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in the north of Britain. This was the first in a sequence of novels: The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, and Sword at Sunset. This last one is really an adult book, and is a modern interpretation of the legends of King Arthur. This is the one in residence on my bookshelf. I feel I ought to read it again - though all I remember of it is that it is unbearably sad. I must say that I did not even realise it was related to her other Roman books in any way.
I remember her as an excellent writer, and we all fell in adolescent love with her heroes, (Beowulf, for example...!).

I then remembered Henry Treece . I had somehow managed to totally wipe him from my memory. He was a little more 'serious' for me than the female writers, but I was drawn into his work by the desire for more "Roman" fiction, and then on to his Viking Series. The Eagles Have Flown published in 1954, deals with Britain after the Romans, and and again with the supposed historical figure behind the legends of Arthur.
Much as I am inclined to do today, I think I read a 'set' of books on Arthur - the third of which was T H White's famous Once and Future King - which again was suited to the adolescent reading transition from child to adult.

Even more amusingly, just like moving from Ellis Peters to Elizabeth Peters - Henry Treece led me to Geoffrey Trease (nearby on the library shelf) - another author of children's historical novels. So perhaps my easy substitution of names is not due to old age and loss of marbles, but simply a genetic trait after all...

Finally I need to mention a book which I have not read at all! When I was at school our Deputy Head Mistress, Mrs McCarthy - amazing woman, straight out of he 1940's complete with hair roll - taught us not only about ladylike manners, and what make-up was suitable for young women (ie none), but also history. This included the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745; apart from the rather fundamental difference of which King or Prince was "pretending" at the time, we always got the events and battles muddled. Her advice (more than once) was to read a "very good book" by Anya Seton and "you will never mix them up again". I think this must have been Devil Water as it's about the Earl of Derwentwater and his involvement with the Jacobite rising of 1715, and his brother Charles, beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, the last man to die for the cause.
Sounds great doesn't it? Maybe they have it in the library...

I shall end here - Mrs McCarthy was also our English teacher, and asked my parents what I (aged 12) read, as my writing style was not very good. [And the answer was Agatha Christie - so her inferences were probably correct].

Posted on June 30, 2008 at 11:27 PM

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Saturday May 31, 2008

Books in May

Ha!
There weren't any...
I have been completing a lot of knitting projects, and have thus been listening extensively to my iPOD - however, sadly not to "proper" books. George told me that "there are a lot of MP3s of books out there on the internet" and to prove it downloaded a stack of BBC radio plays - all Miss Marple (portrayed by June Whitfield) and Poirot (played by John Moffat) - I'm afraid I am not keen on the latter - the French accent seems to consist of strangely pronounced "w" - as if there were extraneous "h"s present.
I have a love/hate relationship with these plays but they kept me well amused while concentrating on other things. However, one or two of the downloads are David Suchet reading some of the Poirot short stories, which I am looking forward to listening to in the future.

Posted on May 31, 2008 at 8:19 AM

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Wednesday April 30, 2008

Books in April

• Locked Rooms Laurie R King
  This is the latest in a series of novels which start with The Beekeepers Apprentice, or, "What Sherlock Did Next". It follows the famous sleuth after he retires to Sussex to keep bees. Apart from the excellent (really excellent) work by Michael Dibdin**, I have found modern Holmes pastiches to be truly poor - even comparing them with the later Conan Doyle stories, which were often poorly written. And it is true that a synopsis of the basic premise of the books [young American jewish girl meets older Holmes and marries him..] does sound pretty bad - to us fans.
  However, I'm no purist and Laurie King is easily forgiven. She writes very well, the stories are true adventure stories with the emphasis on the word story, in the very best traditions of Conan Doyle or Rudyard Kipling, and they are not pastiches, being really about Mary Russell, rather than "More Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Probably neither she nor you need my justification, but perhaps I feel I need to justify why I read them!.
  Any changes observed in the Holmes character are easily attributed to his being seen through different eyes, and he is, after all, much older. It is amusing to see that Mary is clearly King herself, even down to physical descriptions, and I think because of this she writes with such sympathy and love for her subject matter, that you can forgive her messing about with such an English institution. She makes her premise entirely plausible - I was not so sure about the idea of Holmes marrying, but for the time about which she writes, and our own reader's sensibilities, it would be hard to create stories about an unmarried couple careering around together in such intimate circumstances. It also occurred to me that she has a good contemporary model for such an idea, in Lord Baden-Powell, who, famous Victorian hero of Mafeking, and a bachelor at 55, in 1912 met and married Olave, aged 23; wikipedia notes "not an uncommon age gap at that time".
  My favourite of these novels to date has been "The Game" - I think because it is set in India, (always interested me due to family connections) and has nice references to Kipling throughout. Now I have got to grips with my iPod, I have been listening to an audio version of it recently (read by Jenny Sterlin), in tandem with reading Locked Rooms.
  Laurie King has a great website with lots of fanzine materials and links, plus a most enjoyable blog which illustrates her charming and fun personality.
  
  ** The last Sherlock Holmes Story is such an excellent book that I was astonished to see it was his first and dates from 1978. It really is perfect, in my opinion, so that even while proposing a heretical view of Holmes character, the portrayal is so very accurate that you wonder how we could have ever have perceived the detective in any other way.
  I remember a similar sensation when I saw the all male version of Swan Lake - how could anyone ever stage it any other way?!


• At Bertrams Hotel Agatha Christie
  Read by Rosemary Leach
  "In which Christina learns a new word."
  I am pleased when my excursions into re-reading Christie novels of dubious literary merit do in fact enrich my intellectual life in some way... The word in question is "simulacrum", and it is the foundation upon which the novel is set. Bertram's Hotel is not simply a nice old-fashioned hotel with all the "old standards", nor is it a commercial Olde Worlde copy for the benefit of tourists - it is a hyper-real stagey version of an old hotel. Not stagnant but actively groomed and polished to produce the required effect.
  Within the elderly class-ridden society that inhabit it, all are agreed how wonderful it all is. Yet, most satisfyingly, it takes Miss Marple - who is not one for mawkish nostalgia - no time at all to shrewdly take it all in and regard it not only with suspicion, but also as somewhat threatening. To my mind, this is most vividly portrayed in the Joan Hickson TV series, where the plot is fairly accurately followed - though it could be said, improved upon. In the book, there is a rather tedious focus on the police investigation, and perhaps more true to life, less focus on Miss Marple - she is after all just a little old lady.
  Here are some snatches of reviews which I think give a good idea of the overall quality of the book:
  "...can hardly be called a major Agatha Christie..."
  "...denouement is really too far-fetched..."
  "...seldom at her best when she goes thrillerish on you..."
  "...a reasonably snug read..."
  "...plot is rather creaky, as in most of the late ones..."
  "...Elvira Blake is one of the best observed of the many young people in late Christie..."
  "...seemingly trashy fiction that nevertheless contributes to a genre of speculative fiction..."
  This last reviewer goes on to draw comparisons with other examples of synthetic worlds that seem at first to be benevolent: The Portrait of Dorian Grey, Blade Runner, Westworld, Jurassic Park, and The Truman Show.
  
  In addition to listening to the book, I watched (again) the Geraldine McEwan version in "Marple". This deviates from the book considerably - as do all the Marple series - but in a Good way. Some episodes of this series were very disappointing (for example Murder at the Vicarage, which promised so much with such a fabulous cast but...); however, generally, they offer some nice variations in themes and characters, which I quite approve of. Joan Hickson provided a definitive version - so why repeat that?
  The side plot with Martine McCutcheon and Stephen Mangan adds very positively to the story, and reinforces the more light-hearted tone of the Marple series. I read that McEwan has abandoned the role and it will be taken up by Julia McKenzie - it seems slightly odd as they must have filmed almost all of them by now (even some that were not actually Marple stories) and it seems odd that they have filmed Nemesis without the prequel Caribbean Mystery.... but I digress.
  More important than any of these considerations - McEwan wears a delightful cardigan throughout - which I fondly imagine having been knitted by someone in the costume department. It seems to me to be a recreation of the pattern from 1936 "My Home" (although this was a jumper not a cardigan) as reprinted in Jane Waller's 30s Family Knitting Book*** published in 1981.
  Note that Miss Marple has her trusty knitting bag over her arm, and much is made of the knitting in the recent portrayals. Julia McKenzie says of her new role "I suppose I shall have to remind myself how to knit". I think originally it was introduced to emphasise her persona as one of harmless old lady; in one story she use the pretence of buying some wool in a local shop in order to pick up information. I can't imagine Christie herself knitting somehow, but I guess it was and is a fairly common pursuit.
  
  This must have been a fun role for McEwan - but I was most delighted by her portrayal of Lucia in the TV series of the E F Benson books. These were surely perfect, and the audio books - some read by McEwan and some by Prunella Scales - are also wonderful to listen to.
  
  *** I notice that Amazon show this as a "rare" book and one seller is asking £121 for a copy. Jane Waller mentioned to me that she thought her books from the 1980s - Stitch in Time, 30s Family Knitting Book, and Mens Book - would be worth reprinting, but the publishers were not interested in doing so.

Posted on April 30, 2008 at 8:14 AM

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Monday March 31, 2008

Books in March

• The Fourth Bear Jasper Fforde
  I think I was probably introduced to Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next novels) by Robert, and swiftly passed them on to Alison. Although I continued with Thursday Next's adventures, I never bothered with the "Nursery Crime" books until I was given (Robert again) two for my birthday. Through an administrative error I took the second one to France with me, so I have read them out of sequence, but I don't think that has impeded my enjoyment.
  Like Terry Pratchett, Fforde's novels are tagged Fantasy Satire, and like Pratchett, they are brilliant. A fantasy world makes you somehow able to look at what is obviously our own world with more objective eyes - and see humbug and hypocrisy for what it really is - and have a good laugh.
  I do not have journalistic skills to write an elegant review - instead try this.
• The Right Attitude to Rain Alexander McCall Smith
  This is third in the series about Isobel Dalhousie; a quick read, and most enjoyable. The main character really reminds me of my friend Diane; that is really "reminds" me of her, rather than being actually the same as her. It is her sense of what is fundamentally Right, perhaps, as well as the the descriptions of the Edinburgh locations. Alison said she was very surprised by the ending of the book, and it provoked a quite interesting few moments of discussion on the characters' motivations.
  This author also has several series of books, but I have followed only the Ladies' No 1 Detective Agency** with any dedication. I am certain I would like them all, as I suspect they would all be flavoured with the authors quiet brand of philosphical ideas, as applied in every day life, albeit possibly by rather extraordinary people. Perhaps that is the key to his popularity: you can see that the people are ordinary enough on the outside, but rather extraordinary on the inside - and isn't that how we all are?

** Over Easter the BBC screened a film version of the Ladies' No 1 Detective Agency, directed by the recently late Anthony Minghella. They made some changes, which are in my opinion all excellent, in order to take it properly from page to screen. They (and I) are clearly delighted that they filmed it on location in Botswana - it was the Right Thing to do. It is my understanding that this is the pilot for a TV series, though I can't see any direct reference for it being so; I hope they manage to sustain the high quality of actors, script, and direction if it continues.

Posted on March 31, 2008 at 5:05 PM

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Friday February 29, 2008

Books in February

There is an interesting and wholly unintentional link in the main 3 books of this month in that they were all written in the 1960s.

• Several Perceptions Angela Carter
  I think I can safely say I really didn't understand this book, and further I am not sure if I enjoyed it or not. It seemed rather removed from my own experience of life. Quite some time ago I read Shadowdance, her first novel, published 2 years before this one, and I seem to remember much the same reaction to that one. Having read the glowing reviews by authors I admire, (like Salman Rushdie and Anthony Burgess), I can only conclude I don't have the intellect to quite "get it".
  I did enjoy the actual time period, as it is a contemporary work (1968) about the flower power generation and revolves around a university town. As a Sunday Times reviewer said: it offers a picture of the Swinging Sixties without the romantic gloss of middle age.
  Rob gave me two books by her for my birthday, and I will ask him to read them too to see if he can explain what I should be seeing! I think I would like to read "Wise Children" - her last book before her untimely death in 1992, (aged 52).
• The Clocks Agatha Christie
  Read by Robin Bailey
  Moving on to a much loved (by me) favourite. I am pretty sure I have in my time read all of Agatha Christie's output - much of it in my teens, which, according to my teachers, for ever ruined my ability to write good prose, [on the up side, I have a pretty good ear for dialogue though!]. I am sure I read this one before, as I had a good grip on the plot pretty well right away and I don't think it's because I'm any better at unravelling mysteries these days. I spent the first few chapters confusing it with the Seven Dials Mystery (and a rather bad TV adaptation) until I researched it on the web.
  Anyway, I can recommend reading it - or revisiting as I did. It contains some really nice classic AC plot devices which I much enjoyed, (people being murdered just as they are about to name the guilty party- as soon as a character says "I can't tell you now - meet me in half an hour in the tea shop", you know it's curtains - and - is it 61? or is it really 19?). Hercule Poirot features though not as a main character. He does not leave his flat in Whitehaven Mansions to solve (or advise on) the mystery, and Miss Lemon is still with him. There is a nice little diversion, while Poirot offers some interesting reflections on other crime authors and fictional detectives - he has been amusing himself in retirement, reading novels and working out the puzzles. There is criticism that the plot fizzles out after an interesting beginning, but I think that is part of the actual design; it is often an AC theme that the crime is quite simple, and you have to strip away the red herrings to leave the basic elements, money, sex, etc which are the usual triggers for murder.
  The book is written in the first person by a young "hero" who ends up with the young "heroine" (in many of ACs crime books there is a strong romantic element, and she did write pure romances under a pen name). The setting is sixties but the heroine is pure 1930s - strong, independent, a good sport - but at the same time quite flawed - a dizzy dame - needs a decent chap to take control when it all gets too much (don't we all...). AC was 73 when she wrote this and the characters have words put into their mouths which are clearly AC trying to come to terms with a modern (Swinging Sixties) world to which she can't quite relate.
  The book was read charmingly and effectively by Robin Bailey, such a familiar British stalwart that I had not registered that, sadly, he passed away in 1999.
  I have read that this novel follows the style of GK Chesterton, who was admired much by AC; I have never read the Father Brown stories but now feel I should.
• Murder in Mind P D James
  This book was also written in 1963, and I would like to say "couldn't be more different" - but hey, it's a detective story... I had recently seen reruns of the TV adaptation of this book - they are fairly faithful to the books, and Roy Marsden is perfect as Commander Adam Dalgliesh, but... they are very dated. I was surprised that this one was 1995 - I thought they were all made in the 1980s. Also these adaptations come from the days when books were adapted into 7 part series, and no-one attempted to squeeze masterpieces like Ian Rankin's Rebus books into a mere hour and a half. I think the problem with PD James books is that there is a lot of psychology in them, which is hard to portray, except by a lot of ponderous pauses - and these are frankly dull on a TV cop show, especially when they go on for so many episodes.
  So - I wondered what the book was like.
  James is 30 years younger than AC so was in her prime when she wrote this. Like the previous novel, it follows the author's typical formula, being set in an "enclosed" environment, (compare: quasi religious orders, convalescent or care homes, retreats, museums, legal chambers, organisations always privately supported by trusts - settings on islands, towers, lighthouses etc etc) and being in this case, a locked room mystery - a defined parameter from the start - so we're all clear about the suspects. Again, in the end, the answer all comes down to money - the simple explanation.
  It may not be apparent from the above, but I really enjoy her books; I think the style is slow (turgid probably too strong). However, while maintaining that nice policeman's pace, solid plodding but relentless, she still manages to have quite a gripping end (will they make it in time or not?) - the policemen end up stuck in a traffic jam, which seems appropriate.
• Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate M C Beaton
  Another pleasing fantasy excursion into the world of the 50 year old single woman.
  Maybe I could open a detective agency...

Posted on February 29, 2008 at 11:41 AM

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Thursday January 31, 2008

Books in January

• Flashman on the March George MacDonald Fraser
  I wanted to read a Flashman novel in commemoration of the author, who died on January 2 at the age of 82. He revived the cowardly bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays in 1969 to continue his caddish ways in the first of about a dozen novels. My tutor at college was very fond of these books and I feel his tastes were not to be dismissed lightly. However, I shall not be rushing to read any more.
  George MacDonald Fraser also wrote the screenplay for Octopussy - again not one of my favourite Bond films, but possibly not the fault of the script.
• Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell M C Beaton
  Agatha moves on. Or perhaps not - her appeal for me is definitely woman in fifties behaving like teenager (mostly at its worst...).
  "I have to go home. My feet are killing me"
  "Such a shame. Those shoes look so glamorous"
  Agatha smiled at Mrs Bloxby, who always managed to say the right thing. A lesser woman would have said: "You should wear sensible shoes.".

Posted on January 31, 2008 at 10:06 PM

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Monday December 31, 2007

Books in December

• At Risk Patricia Cornwell
  Her 2006 novel, but without Dr Kay Scarpetta, although it had a detached professional heroine Scarpetta look-alike. I thought the book read slightly oddly, and I now see that - like the last Michael Connelly I read - it was originally serialised for the New York Times. I have a love-hate relationship with her books - they are exciting and absorbing, but these ice-queen heroines do not evoke any empathy - even with detached professionals....
• Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham M C Beaton
  Finally back in sequence, finding out what led up to the last two Agatha books I read.
  In this book, the author digresses a bit more than usual in talking about Evesham and its history; I feel she must like it very much, and it has certainly caught my interest, as it's an area with which I am not familiar.
  As I have mentioned previously, these books are, at face value, very light weight reading, and don't need to be pondered over to find some inner enlightenment. But really they do describe some very telling experiences which I find all too familiar, and make me laugh twice over; are all professional women in their 50s like this... or is it just me?! Here are a couple of quotes from this book:
  On grey hair: "She had bought one of those colour rinses but it had turned the grey to purple."
  On visiting the museum at the Almonry: "Agatha became uneasy as she saw household items she remembered from her youth."

Posted on December 31, 2007 at 8:34 AM

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Friday November 30, 2007

Books in November

• The Ten Word Game Jonathan Gash
  This is a Lovejoy novel, the main character probably known better to us from his portrayal by Ian McShane in the eponymous TV series. In this story, Lovejoy comes across as a little more in control than in the previous (and only other) Lovejoy novel I read. The joy of this book, however, is not so much in the story, but in the fascinating information and trivia that Lovejoy shares with us along the way - this is presumably an outlet for Gash's own knowledge of interesting historical and antique-trade gossip.
  The title refers to an amusing game where you attempt to condense any description (event, person) into 10 words - try it with Hamlet - or Pride and Prejudice....
• Living on a Prayer Sheila Quigley
  Third in the Grannylit series of thrillers set on the (fictitious) Seahillls Estate. This time a group of kids become involved with a sinister religious cult, and our DI heroine moves slightly closer to a life of bliss with her second in command.
• Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wickhadden and the Fairies of Fryham M C Beaton
  Picked up these Agatha Raisin titles in the library, despite their being slightly out of my chronological reading sequence. I had hoped Alison and I might read them during my holiday - but we were too busy with joint knitting to do any joint reading. So they ended up as the perfect light reading on the flight home. I have reserved the missing title [Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham] for next month's literary delights.

Posted on November 30, 2007 at 12:01 PM

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Wednesday October 31, 2007

Books in October

Halloween already....
As Alison explained, we were both a bit busy to be blogging while I was in Los Gatos, and I have been ill with a bad cold since getting back. [Alison struggled (wo)manfully on with her cold while I was there but I seem unable to recover properly...]. I will be entering some retrospective entries on our activities in due course.
Anyway - it's an ill wind etc - I have been doing a lot of reading this month:

• S is for Silence Sue Grafton
  As usual, an excellent plot and thrilling finish. Following what seems to be a literary trend, Kinsey finds herself investigating a 30 year old disappearance, thus providing delightful period detail from both the 1950s and the 1980s.
  Also amused by the author's foreword. Sue Grafton is a lady of a "certain age" and seems to tolerate fools less gladly than ever before (along with her heroine!). Clearly pacing the writing of her alphabet series to last her through to retirement - by the time she gets to Z I am sure she will have totally lost patience with the general public.
• The House Sitter Peter Lovesey [Read by Steve Hodson]
  Another charming (if murder can be...) police drama set between Bath and Bognor. Like the previous novel I read, the setting provided the interest for me, as I grew up on the south coast, and much of the action seems to take place around Sussex.
• The Overlook Michael Connelly
  I spotted this latest novel in the library at Los Gatos during the weekly meeting of Alison's knitting group.
  It was relatively short but gripping and excellently written as usual. Apparently, this story was originally serialized in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, but the plot has been revamped and expanded to fit into the current Harry Bosch timeline.
  If you're a fan take a look at Michael Connelly's website - it's a lot of fun with added multimedia excerpts for you to enjoy.
• Quietly in their Sleep Donna Leon
  I raided Alison's own bookshelves for this one. I think it's the latest Brunetti novel in paperback at the moment.
• Under Orders Dick Francis
  I pounced on this one when I saw it in the library - as I surmised, this is his first new novel in a number of years - since his wife died in fact. There is some scurrilous suggestion that his wife wrote the books, but he seems happy to freely acknowledge and credit her input. Maybe at the grand age of 87 he simply feels no need to keep the day job. Anyway - happily for us he has written another jolly good novel.
  Appropriately, he returns to his hero Sid Halley, one of my favourites from early on in his writing, and the subject of a TV series in 1978 starring Michael Gwilym. I do remember how odd it was having to visually accept a such a tiny hero (ex-jockey - easy to overlook in a book).

Posted on October 31, 2007 at 1:15 PM

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Sunday September 30, 2007

Books in September

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J K Rowling
  It's official.
  I am the last person to read it.
  Nuff said.
• Clerkenwell Tales Peter Ackroyd [Read by Nigel Graham]
  I'm fond of Peter Ackroyd - his books and his expressed interests in history and London. This book is set in the reign of Richard II. Chaucer is an obvious influence on the work, with short chapters, each focussed on one of the characters borrowed from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It's very educational for me, knowing little about the politics of the period, and full of charming (and disgusting) period details of medieval life.
• White Jazz James Ellroy [Read by L.J. Ganser]
  Set in 1958, this another story of crime and corruption in the LAPD of the time. I have not read an Ellroy novel before, (though I saw and was very impressed by the film LA Confidential), so I was quite taken aback by the writing style; that and the intense slang of the period made it very hard to listen to - but more evocative to listen to with the right accent. It became easier as the CDs and I progressed together through the story, and I think now that perhaps it would have been equally hard for me to read, and that part of my confusion was trying to take in all the character names presented to me in the first few chapters.
  I now find Ellroy is renowned for writing in fragments rather than sentences, and it is certainly a powerful method which he uses very skilfully. Quoting from the publisher's review: "Ellroy's telegraphic style, which reduces masses of plot information to quick-study shorthand, captures the seamy stream-of-consciousness."
  This is the last volume of what is known as Ellroy's "L.A. quartet" of crime novels, which includes his previous L.A. Confidential (1990), The Big Nowhere (1988), and The Black Dahlia (1987). It's disturbing but riveting.
• The Last Detective Robert Crais [Read by William Roberts]
  Having seen a very amusing TV series with Peter Davison and also a 70s film with Bernard Cribbins in the title role, I thought it would be fun to "read" the original book; I should have known better, as I well know that the "Dangerous Davies" books were written by Leslie Thomas, (popular in my teenage years for the "Virgin Soldiers" which was appealing to me and my peers at the time as it contained "adult themes" - we were just lucky it was well written and funny).
  I was alerted to my mistake by the opening chapter which was read by an American, and pretty well unmistakably about bear hunting in Alaska. After a few minutes minutes it began to dawn on me that the venue was not about to change to 1970s North London. Once I had overcome my disappointment, it turned out to be a pretty good detective novel set in LA.
  Yet another case of mistaken identity - I seem to unwittingly extend my literary choices and find new authors in this manner so I try to think of it as a positive thing.
• Bad Moon Rising Sheila Quigley
  Rob bought me two books by this author as a present; they turned out to be her second and third books, so I borrowed and read the first (Run for Home) from the library. The author was first published in her fifties, is a grandmother living on an estate in the North East, and writes about what she knows; there is a Woman's Hour interview with her from 2004. The books are thrillers set on the (fictitious) Seahillls Estate and have a "gritty realism" that also seems quite comfortable and reassuring, if that's possible. Slightly sadly, I think she's writing about how she would like the atmosphere of the estate she lives on to be (minus the evil drug barons etc!) rather than maybe how it is.
  This is the second book of the four she has written to date. (Grannylit apparently).

Posted on September 30, 2007 at 12:02 AM

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Friday August 31, 2007

Books in August

August reading:

• Echo Park Michael Connelly
  After the Lincoln Lawyer, we are back to Harry Bosch. I think I can only agree with the book blurbs and say how Connelly gets better and better. His is somewhat journalistic - which is where his roots are - and this makes for a pleasing economic and evocative style, for those who like a yarn. This story (in common with many in this series over the years now I come to think of it) is an old crime re-investigated, and of course now Harry is in a "cold case" squad this is quite apt! Is it me or are these cold case dramas taking over the crime genre lately? Anyway if they are all as well told as this one I am not complaining.
  [Reinforces to me that Peter Turnbull's style is awful after all... See below].
• A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away Christopher Brookmyre
  I listened to this as a talking book read by Kenny Blyth. The author's style really lends itself to being read aloud and is enhanced for me hearing the vernacular in the proper accent. I also listened to The Sacred Art of Stealing, which I did not like quite so much as some of his other books - far too much characterisation and not enough plot (!) - but it occurred to me then that it sounded slightly like there was a prequel. Turns out this is it - same heroine (Angelique de Xavia) though wholly different situation - same problem with slightly too much back story for me.
• False Knight Peter Turnbull
  I originally selected a Peter Turnbull novel on the grounds of it's being a crime genre talking book, and because I mistook his name for that of a another author (!). The first book was "Reality Checkpoint" and I felt a bit lukewarm about it - mostly as I became increasingly irritated by the slow elderly reading style (Who, pray, pronounces "cassette" in two distinct long syllables, the first to rhyme with cat?). I am obviously ageist here, but the whole style of the book seemed very dated - partly appealing and partly wearyingly slow **. Anyway I now discover that the author is not too far from my own age so I'll shut up. I liked the happy ending....
  This book proved better, mainly I think due to a different reader. The two books I have listened to do seem to dwell rather unpleasantly on the black serial killer aspects, and as this neither adds to the tension (compare Mark Billingham) nor the humour (Christopher Brookmyre) I feel I could do without it. But then the book would be short. I guess that's why I'm not an author.
  ** I have just read an amusing review of one of his books which actually pretty well captures my own negative views but much more coherently (that's why I'm not an author!). "Welcome to Peter Turnbull's world, where things never 'are' they 'reveal themselves to be'.", and, when "...[the hero]'s wife died she didn't just drop dead, she 'was seen to collapse', as if had not some passersby been there to see it, she might not have died after all...".
• Miss Marple's Final Cases Agatha Christie
  This is an unabridged talking book of short stories read by Joan Hickson. It includes: "The man found dying in the church sanctuary", "The puzzle of Uncle Henry's hidden legacy", "The baffling mystery of the stabbing of Mrs Rhodes", "The question of the murderer with the tape-measure", "The case of Mrs Skinner's maid", and "The curious conduct of the caretaker".
  Perfect accompaniment to sock knitting.

Posted on August 31, 2007 at 8:04 AM

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Tuesday July 31, 2007

Books in July

More crime books consumed by me in July:

• The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly
  The more of his books I read, the more impressed I am by his story-telling style and ability to grip the reader. The pace always accelerates towards the end of the books, which means it is always a disaster for bedtime reading. Far from dropping off after a chapter, you find that anywhere after half way through, you keep thinking "just one more chapter" and before you know it you have reached the end and it's 2am.
  This book is not one of the Harry Bosch series, and (unusually I think) does not make any peripheral reference to him either, although it is set in LA, with the hero being a defence lawyer.
• Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death M C Beaton
  About number six in the series featuring Agatha Raisin. Fascinated by the tongue in cheek title "Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death" I borrowed the library book and was instantly captivated by this amateur sleuth (yes, she has to be a "sleuth"). I realised later that my liking for her is probably born of some very noticeable parallels: Agatha is 50, a very successful though semi-retired business woman with no kids, and a complete slave to her hormones. The books are written in a simple style but very skillful and amusing.
• Be My Enemy Christopher Brookmyre
  The usual blend of thoughtful writing and black humour. A party of business people on a team building exercise are left stranded and helpless (apparently) when a mysterious group of para-military lay siege to their remote country hotel in Scotland. Laugh out loud at the amazing self decapitating man.... no really ... it's very funny.
• Friends in High Places Donna Leon
  Alison kept recommending Donna Leon, and finally lent me a few of the early books while I was in the US. It took me a while to warm to Commissario Guido Brunetti - I needed more than one book to become interested in, and grow to like and appreciate all the characters properly. I have read quite a few since, up to the latest offerings. However this was an early book that I had not read, so I broke or bent my rule about talking books, (which is to always listen to the unabridged versions). The book was excellently read by Tim Pigott-Smith, which I am sure added to the enjoyment, but it was sufficiently good that I feel I should try and read the full text in the future (even though I now know who dunnit).

Posted on July 31, 2007 at 11:22 PM

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Saturday June 30, 2007

Books of the Month

I'm not a great bookworm but I thought about adding a "stuff wot I am reading" list in the sidebar. As my sidebars are overly cluttered already, and its not very craft related, I decided it might be a better as a category in my blog. I have pretty mainstream interests in literature - I doubt you will find an eclectic inspirational set of works that you never heard of before but - if you find you like what I like (which you will swiftly discover is twee crime novels) then there may be the odd previously unconsidered title here.

Add to this that I'm a slow reader so there may be months when nothing appears but... here we are for June:

• Blue Shoes and Happiness Alexander McCall Smith
  The usual charming fare about the straight-thinking lady detective and her agency.
• Black Book Ian Rankin
  About number six in the series featuring the Edinburgh detective, John Rebus. I heard Ian Rankin say that Jekyll and Hyde was the inspiration for his first book Knots and Crosses, where he had two characters - one good the other bad versions of the same person sharing the same (SAS) roots - he was surprised to hear that from reviewers that he had written a crime novel. Before I knew about John Rebus and Gordon Reeve, I listened to "Blood Hunt" as a talking book (read by that genius Christian Rodska - "versatile British actor"); it featured a different version of Gordon Reeve who had previously played Hyde to Rebus's Jekyll. Blood Hunt as a talking book was utterly gripping and I can thoroughly recommend it - Ian Rankin wrote it under the pen name Jack Harvey.
• A Tale Etched in Blood and a Thick Black Pencil Christopher Brookmyre
  First brought to my attention by my friend Helen (like much of my diet of crime) with what I think was his first book "Quite Ugly One Morning". I was slightly disappointed with "The Sacred Art of Stealing" but this book is very appealing. The subject focussed a lot on children as they went through school, finally brought together again as adults - a kind of "we are what life makes us" moral tale. However, I found it particularly strange that all these childhood memories were so familiar, when you consider we are talking about kids (a lot about boys) in a Scottish school set in an era about 20 years after my own schooldays.

Posted on June 30, 2007 at 10:54 PM