Taking Out the Trash -- July

 

 

No wonder my trash can is overflowing! I have read thirty books in the past six weeks and not written about a single one of them. Time to remedy that -- and hopefully in a manner that will inflict the least amount of pain on both reader and writer.

A lot of comfort reading in this lot, making it impossible to name best and worst reads of the month. Nothing stood out one way or another. No dents in the plaster but no blue ribbons either.  Am I mellowing with age? Still, a whole lot of reading going on and that's what counts.

I'm starting with the non-fiction reads, since there were only a handful of them. 

The Library Book
Written and read by : Susan Orleans

An enjoyable meander through a topic I find interesting books about libraries. I think this one was touted as "true crime" just to attract an audience -- and because no one really knew where to pigeon-hole it.  The author starts with the story of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire but actually writes a history of the L.A. Country Public Library system. In the process, she also writes about how the idea of the role of the library in the community has changed, particularly over the 40 years. (Found in Murder by Death's stacks)

 

Home Work:  A Memoir of My Hollywood Years
By: Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton
Narrated by: Julie Andrews

Taste: My Life Through Food
Written and read by Stanley Tucci

 

I generally avoid celebrity memoirs but I will read books by actors I respect. Andrews and Tucci meet that criteria -- normal people who happen to work in show business, people who are role models.  Andrews dragged after a bit, interesting but repetitive. On the other hand, as a lover of good home cooked food and local "mom and pop" eateries that feature really good cooking, I enjoyed Tucci's story -- even the sad parts. 

The Great Courses: The Late Middle Ages
Taught by Philip Daileader

One of the best courses I have listened to.  Daileader talks in broad themes, not boring details -- and he is a pleasure to listen to. I wish they had taught this way when I was in school all those many years ago.

I want to call this next section, "Because You Liked It."  These are books or authors I have tried because my reading buddies have waxed poetic.

Two books from Canadian author Roberston Davies, both read by Frederick  Davidson:
The Lyre of Orpheus
Tempest-Tost

I have Wanda to thank for this author. I love Davies and I am taking my good old time getting through his oeuvre. He is a cynic par excellence. His pen is poisoned and no one is spared but it is done ever so gently. I like his story-telling. It is obvious that he is enjoying poking fun at his characters while he spins their tale.  To boot, I very much enjoy Davidson's narration because it is so clear that he gets Davies and never overplays him; he is delightfully subtly whenever he needs to be.

 

Murder by Death got me started on M.L. Longworth's  Verlaques and Bonnet series and I am working my through it as quickly as the library will let me. It isn't perfect but it is for the most part enjoyable. I started in the middle and then went back to the beginning to read it in order.  It is set in Aix-en-Provence, a delightfully snooty old city in the south of Provence. I got a little bit annoyed with her in book four when she decided to add some wholly gratuitous explicit sex. It was so out of place and awkward, and had nothing to do with the story. And, I got super-annoyed in book five when the author started making up facts. Her historical timeline was so far off that her story was entirely implausible. Then she said that one of her characters had to sell her parents entire art collection to pay the inheritance taxes. Really? Were her parents that stupid not to have take precautions to prevent that from happening. The whole collection just to pay the taxes? Really, a tax bill of  100% of the realized value? Yep, the eyeballs are just rolling.  A few more dumb mistakes like these and I may have to ditch the series before the end.

Longworth makes a good transition into the next grouping. I've been slowly pecking away at the various series that I have started. They fill the gaps when I don't know what I want to read -- and I have seemed to be rather ignorant the past few months.

 

I learned that Peter Grainger added another book to his D.C. Smith series, The Truth.  As much as I liked Smith and was sad to see him go, I think that this coda was unnecessary. I don't have a problem with Smith appearing in the new Kings Lake series  as a supporting character but I think that his story has been told and it is time to move on. His new role as mentor and confidante to the newly formed Kings Lake "Murder Squad" works far better than DC Smith private investigator.

I've started buying up Ngaio Marsh books. I have read a bunch already but I want to read more so I decided to start at book one and start filling in the gaps.  I have 10 in my library and there are 32 of them available: I have a ways to go. I enjoy her stories and I find her output to be a lot more even than Christie.  I just hope I get them all bought up before Audible stops selling them.

I'm continuing with other series but have nothing in particular to say about any of them that I haven't already said, probably multiple times.  On this list for this outing are Heathcliff Lennox (Menuhin), Vera Stanhope (Cleeves), Inspector Ian Rutledge (Todd), Mrs. Pollifax (Gilman), and Slough House (Herron). 

New author

Colin Dexter:I have no recollection of how he got on to my TBR pile but there he was.  I never did watch the TV series so I went in knowing nothing about Morse and his Watson. Or should I be saying Morse and his Sherlock? I started with The Jewel That Was Ours and enjoyed it enough to want to read more. I think Morse is a hoot. How he got as far in his career as he did is anyone's guess. He's a bit of lush and would never solve a single crime if it weren't for his sergeant.  Next I read Daughters of Cain and I will read more of them as long as I can find them and get them for free.

And that, my friends, is, as C.J. Craig used to say, a full lid.