May 15, 2023

THIS WEEK'S READS

 

Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie
Buddy read from last week carried over into this week. I finished all of the stories and then accidentally returned the book to the library.  One tap in the wrong place and it was gone.😞 I enjoyed the  rest of the stories but not enough to want to pick them apart one at a time.
3.25 stars

Bookish People by Susan Coll
Another one killed, only in part, by the narrator. The narrator on this one was so bad it got a full page review. https://www.secretreadingroom.com/2023/05/10/peregrinations-review-60/
3 stars

The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown and Other Stories by Peter Lovesey
I'm hooked on Peter Lovesey! I like his writing style and I positively loved each and every one of these 18 short stories.  He is a master of dissimulation and legerdemain. Lovesey is one of those authors who does not write beyond the close; thank goodness, he doesn't tell you every little thing that happens after the reveal. The stories in this volume were written very early on in his career and already he has mastered the genre. I am slowly working my way through his works because I want the treats to last for a long time.
4.5 stars

The Defense by Steven Cavanagh
Courtroom thriller. Eddie Flynn is a con-man turned attorney, a very good  defense attorney who is very good in the courtroom. Still,  I have mixed emotions about this one. It is a bit more graphically violent than I enjoy reading. On the other hand, it is a very clever story. One twist, one turn, one blind alley after another right through to a bang-up ending.
3.5 stars.

The Great Tours: England,Scotland and Wales by Patrick N. Allitt
I also started reading a Great Courses lecture series delivered by one of my favorite lecturers. I started it but haven't returned to it. Great Courses has started a travel section in its catalog and I picked up this one because we are traveling to the UK in 2024. I thought it might be interesting to hear Allitt's take on the sites. I will return to it later this year -- unless the freebie is removed from my bookshelf because it is no longer free.
No rating at this time

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
After listening to other people talk about this one that I had already DNFed, I decided to give it another try. Glad I did. It is actually quite funny once you sit back and accept it as "purely to entertain." There are more books in the series and I'm on the fence about reading more of them. Maybe the next time I want some light-handed murder and mayhem.
3 stars

Monday Mash Up

 May, 8 2023

 

THOUGHTS

• I wanted to see the Coronation of King Charles III.  I know that opinions are mixed about the monarchy.  Nonetheless,  I was a toddler last time a monarchy was crowned in the UK and this is a very historic occasion, a red-letter day not just in the history of Great Britain and its monarchy but, in my opinion, for the whole world -- and I might not live to see the next one. What is the coronation ceremony? What does it entail? What does it look like? We recorded it and I finally sat down last night after the kids left to watch it. It was pageantry at its peak, although I really only watched the coronation itself. The ceremony was beautiful, very dignified, long but simple. I felt sorry for most of the guests in the Abbey who saw nothing from where they were seated; at least they could set their DVRs and watch it when they got home. Westminster Abby is really a lousy venue for a show. I'm sorry that it rained on King Charles parade but I truly hope that it was everything he was hoping that it would be.

 

ON STAGE

• Last show of the season at Gamm Theatre and The Children by Lucy Kirkwood was a real disappointment. It was flat, it dragged and I felt like I was being lectured. Even the actors were not at the top of their game. Yes, there were funny bits but when the underpinnings are a nuclear melt down at a power plant plant, you know it is not a comedy. The season ended with a thud!

However, next season has much promise; it's all Tony and/or Pulitzer winners -- except for Twelfth Night. We bought our subscription before the season was even announced and I am really looking forward to it.

 

THIS WEEK'S READS

Buddy Read
Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie

Thirteen short story parodies of other detective character of the early 20th century. The problem is that all the details in the story that refer to the other detective are lost on me and I feel like I'm getting only half of what AC has put out there for me to enjoy. I can't say, "Oh, my isn't she a clever boots" because I don't get the joke. So, I'm ditching the schedule and I'm going to finish the the stories before the book is due back at the library on Thursday.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I have been waiting for this one since mid-February.  It was the title that  hooked me. An author I like, quoting a bit of doggerel that has been rattling around in my head since I memorized it in 5th grade, the only scrap of all the stuff I was forced to memorize that is still there -- and my introduction to existentialism. So, hell yeah, of course I am going to read the book!

I'm glad I did. It is another story about friendships and relationship (aren't they all) full of its share of users, losers and abusers but without being toxic. It's complicated but it is sympathetic. It is also well written. She described a 1980s game show host: "his hair had the color and rigidity of onyx." One sentence and I had this minor character fully formed complete with revolving flashes of some of the more popular game show hosts. If weren't listening. I probably would have underlined a whole lot more.
Fully four stars for this one for not giving us a trite story of love and romance.

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (Christie Centenary Read)

Is it me or has there been a seismic shift in her writing? This was such a different story. It felt much darker and even Poroit wasn't annoying. I wasn't even close to guessing whodunit. I will read this again towards the end of the month.
Four stars

Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore (an Audible Daily Deal)

The book comes with a trigger warning. Moore is definitely not for everyone but I enjoy his Elizabethan sense of humor and his over the top style.  Still he has a way with words and he is laugh out loud funny without being juvenile. There is always a deeper, richer story underneath the bawdy surface.
Not quite 4 stars

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

I've escaped once more to DiscWorld. I'm almost finished with this one so I will include it with this week's roundup. Not as good as Equal Rites but still most enjoyable.  I do miss Celia Imrie as narrator. I am not sure that I like the new narrations. I can live without the fairy-dust music announcing Bill Nighy reading of the footnote.  "We're the kind [of godmothers] that give people  what they know they really need not what they think they ought to want."
3.75 stars