Reading in the last week:
Coffin, Scarcely used by Colin Watson - 1950s crime in seaside town in Lincolnshire - paperback
Our Lady of Pain by M C Beaton - Edwardian Crime featuring Lady Rose Summer and Captain Harry Cathcart - private investigator - e-book
Pursued by Love by Georgia Hill - love story set against the filming of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - e-book.
The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh which is a new Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane story set in 1951 and featuring a case which is mentioned in other Peter Wimsey books. It is very good and I could imagine Sayers herself writing this one - paperback.
What's Up Doc? by Hilary Jones - the doctor who appears regularly on TV - good but not as good as some - e-book.
Cranford by Mrs Gaskell - Victorian life from a female perspective, e-book.
A Medal for Murder: a Kate Shackleton Mystery by Frances Brody - Yorkshire crime set in the 1920s - very good it was as well - I can thoroughly recommend this series. Paperback
A predominance of crime set in other eras.
Currently reading:
The Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni - chick lit with bling and shopping but seems pretty well written - paperback
Wives and Daughters by Mrs Gaskell - 19th century literature - e-book
What would Jane Austen do? by Laurie Brown - time travel and ghosts - e-book
59 seconds by Richard Wiseman - sort of self help/popular psychology - e-book - I will be writing a post shortly about this type of book - which I've always enjoyed reading.
Showing posts with label Jill Paton-Walsh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jill Paton-Walsh. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Monday, 31 December 2007
Night Climbers of Cambridge and 2008
No not the title of a book I've read, but one which has recently been re-released in a new edition. You can read a review of it here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YC4U4AB2IN50JQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/arts/2007/12/29/bowhi129.xml
The author goes under the pseudonym of Whipplesnaith. It had been out of print since 1952. The reason why I am writing about it is because it was discussed in Jill Paton-Walsh's 'The Bad Quarto', published in 2007. Students took part in contests to climb the buildings of Cambridge - the taller and more dangerous the better. Part of the plot of 'The Bad Quarto' hinges on a climb which went wrong.
I am wondering whether the re-release of 'Night Climbers' was prompted by Jill Paton-Walsh's book or perhaps by another work of fiction - 'The Night Climbers' by Ivo Stourton which was also published in 2007. Strange coincidence.
2008
How will you be spending New Year?
If it's anything like usual I shall have good intentions of staying up to see the New Year in and then falling asleep well before then - only to woken up by the sound of fireworks. I think these days I prefer not to see the New Year in, even though I do always make some sort of resolution.
It's like a new year at school. You start off a new notebook and vow to keep it neat and it lasts all of a few days - well perhaps longer than that.
However you intend to spend the last hours of 2007 - enjoy! And a very happy and prosperous 2008.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YC4U4AB2IN50JQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/arts/2007/12/29/bowhi129.xml
The author goes under the pseudonym of Whipplesnaith. It had been out of print since 1952. The reason why I am writing about it is because it was discussed in Jill Paton-Walsh's 'The Bad Quarto', published in 2007. Students took part in contests to climb the buildings of Cambridge - the taller and more dangerous the better. Part of the plot of 'The Bad Quarto' hinges on a climb which went wrong.
I am wondering whether the re-release of 'Night Climbers' was prompted by Jill Paton-Walsh's book or perhaps by another work of fiction - 'The Night Climbers' by Ivo Stourton which was also published in 2007. Strange coincidence.
2008
How will you be spending New Year?
If it's anything like usual I shall have good intentions of staying up to see the New Year in and then falling asleep well before then - only to woken up by the sound of fireworks. I think these days I prefer not to see the New Year in, even though I do always make some sort of resolution.
It's like a new year at school. You start off a new notebook and vow to keep it neat and it lasts all of a few days - well perhaps longer than that.
However you intend to spend the last hours of 2007 - enjoy! And a very happy and prosperous 2008.
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
SAD etc
Yes it is definitely what I suffer from in winter! I felt really crotchety yesterday and every minor thing that went wrong seemed a major disaster. I did go out in the morning but obviously didn't get enough daylight. Today I walked to our post office - about 5 minutes walk - and feel a lot better. Also used my alarm with the gradually brightening light on it to wake me up - this definitely helped as well.
I'm still reading Rosy Thornton's 'Hearts and Minds' - if you like Oxbridge novels then this will be right up your street. Reminiscent of the background to Dorothy L Sayers' 'Gaudy Night' though this is not a crime story, and it's set in Cambridge not Oxford. I will write about it in more detail when I've finished it. I would not describe this as chick lit as it deals with some serious moral issues. I do like Oxbridge novels - probably because I didn't go to university myself. I expect I have a very rosy picture of life there. Jill Paton-Walsh's Imogen Quy novels are also good reading - set in Cambridge, but this time with a college nurse as the main protagonist. This is a brilliant scenario for confessions from all and sundry and being able to talk to anyone you want to without arousing suspicions.
Today I have had my Tesco delivery and the cupboards, fridge and freezer are full with enough food to last us until - oh at least next year! Apart from the midnight service on Christmas Eve I have no intention of going anywhere now for at least a week.
I need to start writing again and I think this is causing some of my less than placid mood. It's just that at the moment reading seems to hold more attraction. Writing is starting to look more interesting now I am updating this blog a bit more often.
I'm now off to review some of my favourite Internet sites and then review previous writing efforts.
I'm still reading Rosy Thornton's 'Hearts and Minds' - if you like Oxbridge novels then this will be right up your street. Reminiscent of the background to Dorothy L Sayers' 'Gaudy Night' though this is not a crime story, and it's set in Cambridge not Oxford. I will write about it in more detail when I've finished it. I would not describe this as chick lit as it deals with some serious moral issues. I do like Oxbridge novels - probably because I didn't go to university myself. I expect I have a very rosy picture of life there. Jill Paton-Walsh's Imogen Quy novels are also good reading - set in Cambridge, but this time with a college nurse as the main protagonist. This is a brilliant scenario for confessions from all and sundry and being able to talk to anyone you want to without arousing suspicions.
Today I have had my Tesco delivery and the cupboards, fridge and freezer are full with enough food to last us until - oh at least next year! Apart from the midnight service on Christmas Eve I have no intention of going anywhere now for at least a week.
I need to start writing again and I think this is causing some of my less than placid mood. It's just that at the moment reading seems to hold more attraction. Writing is starting to look more interesting now I am updating this blog a bit more often.
I'm now off to review some of my favourite Internet sites and then review previous writing efforts.
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