Monday Mash Up

Monday, November 13, 2023 -- Books & More

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THOUGHTS

DH's niece turned 50 on Sunday! That means that I have known DH for 50 years now. He thought being a new uncle was cool and I still remember him talking about her on our first few phone calls, the ones leading up to our first date. Still, it is not the date we celebrate; for that we have to wait til 2025.

DD1 moves in Thursday night and will be here until the end of the year, her annual visit while she works "A Christmas Carol" at the local theater (and her day job as well!). All the stuff that I rescued from my parents' apartment when they moved in March went into her room. I'm halfway through re-arranging the deck chairs. The bed is clear. I've set up a scanning station outside the upstairs bedroom to start scanning rescued photos and documents; a lot of boxes are now tucked under the table. Other boxes have been stacked higher to clear floor space in the bedroom. A bit more and the room will be ready for her.

Got my Covid booster on Monday. Chills and fever by the time I crawled into bed. Spent Tuesday in bed, mostly asleep and the worst had passed by bedtime. Wednesday pretty much back to normal. Sunday, arm still achy! This has been my reaction to every single Covid vax and booster I've had. It took me two months to figure out when I had three unscheduled days to dedicate to getting boosted. Still, in my book, getting boosted is a lot better than getting Covid.

THE BOOKS

Murder Must Wait by Arthur W. Upfield

I've decided that it's time to clean up my Audible TBR and read all of those books I bought. Upfield is on the list. As I said last week, he just keeps getting better and better. Why must murder wait? Because Boney was sent there to investigate a series of baby-snatchings and while that there is any hope that the infants are still alive, the murders connected to those snatching must wait until the babies are found.
3.75 stars

Maigret's Holiday by George Simenon

Poor Maigret! Finally takes a holiday and his wife ends up in hospital recuperating from an appendicitis. In those days, the nuns ran most of the hospitals in the smaller towns. In those days recuperation was slow; they didn't let you out of bed for a week. Not like today when they get you up and walking as soon as possible. In those days it wards with rows of beds with a few double rooms and even fewer private rooms. Poor Maigret! He was allowed to visit his missus once a day for half an hour. Hell of a way to spend one's holiday. Until one of the nursing sisters gives Maigret a note urging him to start asking questions about the death of one of the patients. Poor Maigret, no more.
3.5 star

The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle

This one has been on hold since August 23. On Monday, it turned up as an Audible Daily Deal. With another few months to wait at the library, I snatched it up dirt cheap.

Unfortunately, it wasn't even half as good as his All the Lonely People, which I had loved and which is why I added this one to my wishlist. Everything here seemed trite, maladroit, pedestrian -- the characters, the plot, the language and most of all, the hokey post-script. The concept had such promise. The final product was disappointing.
3 stars

When We We Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

OMG! What an unlikeable, self-centered, self-important, self-deluded, short-sighted, fuddy-duddy of a main character. One of those early 20th century colonial types who thought that the sun shone out of his own ass but who, in truth, couldn't even see the world beyond the end of his nose. And Ishiguro chose to hang his whole book on this guy?? Well, he did and he had me listening right through to the very last page. Usually I don't have the patience to read about such obnoxious people.
Need an unreliable narrator? Try this one.
4 stars

The Case of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth

Please, Audible, stop lumping Patricia Wentworth in the cozies. Her work is too old to be considered part of the more recently carved out genre of "Cozy Mysteries." Wentworth is pure Golden Age.

This was a good one. The perp was not just a serial killer but a bit of a psychopath and a manipulative one at that.
3.75 stars

Murder Most Fowl by Donna Andrews

I needed something light and dependable. I took a gander at the cover and couldn't pass it up. Don't let the cover fool you; this one is set in summer with no holiday connections at all.

 

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

I decided I need to read some Sir Terry and this one arrived in my "mind like the unexpected limbo dancer under the lavatory door of life." I didn't want to choose one I hadn't read already and I decided that I'm not a huge fan of the newly released recordings. So, I happily settled with what I think may be my favorite of them all.

4.25 stars

Smashing last year's record setting numbers: Hogfather plus 37 to read