I have just started this: Ruth Saberton - Katy Carter Wants a Hero. The author made headlines in some quarters by putting the manuscript through Richard and Judy's door at their holiday home. Fortunately they loved it and the rest, as they say, is history. It is chick lit but with masses of humour. The dinner party and the lobster which causes Katy to lose her home and her fiance is brilliant and laugh out loud funny. I'm about 100pages in and so far it is really good.
I have also started Philip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. It is a simple imaginative retelling of the Gospel story. Jesus and Christ are twins with Jesus being the out going one who preaches and Christ the quiet one who takes down his words. Whether it will annoy or inspire is hard to say. I'm finding it interesting though modern use of language - in my opinion - does not compare with the resonance of the King James Bible.
I've read a few pages of Kal Bonner's Climbing a Ladder Backwards which Anne Brooke did not enjoy. I think it is going to be a little tedious - not because of the Instant Messaging aspect of it but because every joke appears to be somewhat overwritten. I keep wanting to go through it with a red pen crossing out the superfluous words which make it overdone. I will persevere if only because I like the stripy socks on the cover.
Still reading Polly Toynbee's Hard Work - I shall never call myself poor again.
I am nothing if not eclectic in my reading
Monday, 12 April 2010
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Books currently in progress . . .
Someone recommended Polly Toynbee's Hard Work to me a while back and I rummaged through my unread books and found I actually already had a copy of it! She left her comfortable life and took a flat in a run down tower block as an experiment to see what it was really like doing low paid jobs or living on benefit. It is interesting reading and she is honest enough to admit that she hadn't realised what it was really like living below the poverty line. Many people may be put off the book because of her political beliefs but I'm finding it illuminating.
Then there's Gross Misconduct: My Year of Excess in the City by Venetia Thompson which - if you can get past the bad language and the childish behaviour of many of her fellow workers - is an eye opener. It makes you realise why there are so many bullying and sex discrimination claims filed against banks and other financial organisations.
As a little light relief there's also Georgette Heyer's Bath Tangle.
Blood Harvest by S J Bolton was excellent - totally absorbing reading.
I have also just finished Echoes of the Goddess by Simon Brighton and Terry Welbourn about Goddess worship in Britain and the monuments which still exist if you know where to look for them. It also touches on witchcraft, Druids, Celtic Christianity, May Day festivals and pagan imagery in churches. I learned quite a lot from it including the apparent origins of the dance of the seven veils - Inanna's visit to the Underworld to visit her sister Erishkagal - she had to take off a garment at each of the seven gates of the underworld.
Then there's Gross Misconduct: My Year of Excess in the City by Venetia Thompson which - if you can get past the bad language and the childish behaviour of many of her fellow workers - is an eye opener. It makes you realise why there are so many bullying and sex discrimination claims filed against banks and other financial organisations.
As a little light relief there's also Georgette Heyer's Bath Tangle.
Blood Harvest by S J Bolton was excellent - totally absorbing reading.
I have also just finished Echoes of the Goddess by Simon Brighton and Terry Welbourn about Goddess worship in Britain and the monuments which still exist if you know where to look for them. It also touches on witchcraft, Druids, Celtic Christianity, May Day festivals and pagan imagery in churches. I learned quite a lot from it including the apparent origins of the dance of the seven veils - Inanna's visit to the Underworld to visit her sister Erishkagal - she had to take off a garment at each of the seven gates of the underworld.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Blood Harvest
I am currently reading Blood Harvest by S J Bolton and it is very very good. Not the sort of thing you want to read late at night in the house on your own. It features a village from hell where small children disappear and everyone takes part in strange and rather nasty customs. There is a new vicar, a very interesting female psychiatrist and a family who have misguidedly built a new house bang next to a graveyard. I am saying no more at the moment but if you like crime and more than a hint of the supernatural and religious you will love this.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
ABC of me
Inspired by Zen Mischief here is the ABC of me:
Age: 58
Bed: double - to myself - with a King Size quilt
Chore you hate: most of them
Dog's Name: never had one
Essential start your day item: coffee
Favourite colours: black, blue, some shades of pink
Gold or Silver: silver but do like gold as well
Height: 5ft 4 ins
Instruments you wish you could play: classical guitar
Job Title: chief cook and bottle washer
Kids: couldn't eat a whole one
Living Arrangements: house - usually untidy - see answer to C above
Mum's Name: Josephine
Nicknames: none I'm aware of
Overnight hospital stay apart from birth: tonsillectomy and hysterectomy
Pet peeve: those who state opinions as facts
Quote from a movie or book: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.' Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind
Right or left handed: right for most things, left for undoing bottle tops or jars
Siblings: 2 - one brother, one sister
Time you wake up: about 7.00am
Underwear: M&S white cotton up to my waist - can't bear being uncomfortable. Don't wear a bra since I retired
Vegetables you dislike: spinach
Ways you run late: only if buses/trains are late or traffic jams if travelling by car.
X-rays you've had: chest,dental,arms,MRI scan of head
Yummy food you make: anything I make is yummy
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Age: 58
Bed: double - to myself - with a King Size quilt
Chore you hate: most of them
Dog's Name: never had one
Essential start your day item: coffee
Favourite colours: black, blue, some shades of pink
Gold or Silver: silver but do like gold as well
Height: 5ft 4 ins
Instruments you wish you could play: classical guitar
Job Title: chief cook and bottle washer
Kids: couldn't eat a whole one
Living Arrangements: house - usually untidy - see answer to C above
Mum's Name: Josephine
Nicknames: none I'm aware of
Overnight hospital stay apart from birth: tonsillectomy and hysterectomy
Pet peeve: those who state opinions as facts
Quote from a movie or book: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.' Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind
Right or left handed: right for most things, left for undoing bottle tops or jars
Siblings: 2 - one brother, one sister
Time you wake up: about 7.00am
Underwear: M&S white cotton up to my waist - can't bear being uncomfortable. Don't wear a bra since I retired
Vegetables you dislike: spinach
Ways you run late: only if buses/trains are late or traffic jams if travelling by car.
X-rays you've had: chest,dental,arms,MRI scan of head
Yummy food you make: anything I make is yummy
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
The Shadows in the Street
I've spent the last two evenings reading The Shadows in the Street by Susan Hill which is the latest in her Simon Serrailler series. There were many people who criticised the previous book - The Vows of Silence - for concentrating on the less inspiring aspects of Simon's character. To a certain extent I could see the point of the criticisms though it was still a good book. The same criticism cannot be levelled at this latest one.
Simon is recalled from a holiday on a Scottish Island because of the murder of a prostitute. But this is not the end of the problems in Lafferton. The Cathedral Close is in uproar because of a modernising Dean and his interfering wife - shades of Trollope here! When Ruth Webber, the Dean's wife, disappears and the Dean himself appears to have something to hide the stakes suddenly become higher. The reader gets to know some of the prostitutes - Abi and Hayley and their children. I thought their lives were well done showing their struggle against poverty and the authorities while they try to do the best for their children.
The suspects are many and varied and when another prostitute is murdered the investigation becomes more complex. Cat - Simon's sister - becomes involved because she is the GP of many of the people mixed up in the police investigations. The book follows the people affected by the crimes and involved in the police investigation. Simon is calmer and more stable in this book and Cat is gradually coming to terms with being a widow. I found the book gripping reading and read nearly 200 pages of it last night alone. The style is as ever understated and low key, the characters well drawn and believable.
If you were slightly put off this series by the last book - try this one - you will not be disappointed.
Simon is recalled from a holiday on a Scottish Island because of the murder of a prostitute. But this is not the end of the problems in Lafferton. The Cathedral Close is in uproar because of a modernising Dean and his interfering wife - shades of Trollope here! When Ruth Webber, the Dean's wife, disappears and the Dean himself appears to have something to hide the stakes suddenly become higher. The reader gets to know some of the prostitutes - Abi and Hayley and their children. I thought their lives were well done showing their struggle against poverty and the authorities while they try to do the best for their children.
The suspects are many and varied and when another prostitute is murdered the investigation becomes more complex. Cat - Simon's sister - becomes involved because she is the GP of many of the people mixed up in the police investigations. The book follows the people affected by the crimes and involved in the police investigation. Simon is calmer and more stable in this book and Cat is gradually coming to terms with being a widow. I found the book gripping reading and read nearly 200 pages of it last night alone. The style is as ever understated and low key, the characters well drawn and believable.
If you were slightly put off this series by the last book - try this one - you will not be disappointed.
Friday, 2 April 2010
Publisher of crime novels
I have just noticed a publisher I've never heard of - ostara publishing - who are reprinting authors such as V C Clinton-Baddeley, D M Greenwood, Kate Charles and Veronica Heley. Many of Kate Charles' novels featuring mayhem in the Church of England have been out of print for a while, as have D M Greenwood's Theodora Braithwaite novels so this can only be a good thing.
A publisher to watch perhaps.
A publisher to watch perhaps.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Donna Leon
I really enjoy Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti crime novels and the latest - A Question of Belief is excellent. Venice is sweltering in the heat and humidity of August. Brunetti is about to go on holiday with his family when two potential problems come his way. His colleague - Vianello - is worried about his favourite aunt who seems to be spending a lot of money on fortune tellers and charlatans; and he is presented with a list of court cases featuring the same judge and court clerk which appear suspicious.
Brunetti asks Elettra - his boss's secretary - to do some research for him and the results lead him to think there may be something serious going on in both cases. Neither seem urgent so he sets off on holiday by train. He has not reached his destination when he is called back to Venice. The court clerk has been murdered.
What follows is a convoluted and very satisfying story involving influence and privilege and some very mixed motives. Excellent reading as ever and better than a guide book for getting to know Venice.
Brunetti asks Elettra - his boss's secretary - to do some research for him and the results lead him to think there may be something serious going on in both cases. Neither seem urgent so he sets off on holiday by train. He has not reached his destination when he is called back to Venice. The court clerk has been murdered.
What follows is a convoluted and very satisfying story involving influence and privilege and some very mixed motives. Excellent reading as ever and better than a guide book for getting to know Venice.
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