Mid-Week Mash-Up

 

Wednesday, January 24, 2024 -- Books & More

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BOOKISH FOOD FOR THOUGHT

 

Cycling back to last week's post, I've been thinking about my favorite characters.  I realized that I can't name a favorite  let alone give a list.  Don Quixote is low hanging fruit and I've taken him out of the competition. I do have a number of characters that I am happy to spend time with, but I wouldn't call them favorites or necessarily well-written characters, just frequent and welcome visitors. I don't think any of them are candidates for a TIME 100 list of all-time greats. Wait forget that thought;  neither TIME nor its list makers are competent to compile such a list with any credibility.

 

A small part of me (and getting smaller as I mature) thinks that favorite characters maybe should be taken from some sort of canon or should be analyzed as to how well the author has done their job in creating the character, which honestly is a rather ivory tower approach, which is a synonym for narrow-minded and not high-minded. But then again likability is limiting in its own way, eliminating in one fell swoop all the Moriarity's , the Othellos, the Draculas, the MacBeths and all the other deeply dark and twisted creations of some of the most talented authors in the literary canon because favorites should be likeable and how can deep, dark and twisted be likeable. So adios to those two possible criteria for choosing a favorite character. 

 

That leaves me back where I started, with frequent and welcome visitors.  And, this is where I will pick-up next week, because I still have not revealed THE LIST.

 

 

READING MY "HORDE"

 

Running total=19 books finished

 

THE BOOKS

 

¨ The Barrakee Mystery by Arthur Upfield

 

I circled back to read the first book of the  series.  A very nice start.

3.25

 

¨ A Crime in Holland by Georges Simenon

 

Maigret is a Frenchman to the core  and he couldn't wait to get out of Holland and back to civilization. Vive Le France!

3 stars

 

¨ The Catherine Wheel by Patricia Wentworth

 

Another delightful sojourn with Miss Silver as she and her knitting needles making everything all better and solve the crime. 

3.5 stars

 

¨ Tender is the Bite by Spencer Quinn

 

Not the best in the series but it is still Chet and Bernie and that's what counts.

 

¨ Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse

 

I don't read Wodehouse for the plot. I read Wodehouse for the antics and the put-downs and his poison pen.

3.25 stars

 

¨ The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon (with forward by Martin Edwards)

 

Oh my stars and garters! Just my level of creepy.  Loved it. Sadly this is the last Farjeon that I can get my hands on, everything that Audible has to offer.

3.75 stars

 

¨ Great Courses: Creation Stories of the Ancient World taught by Joseph Lam

 

I had such high hopes. I was so bored after the first few lectures, which were fascinating. The rest of the lectures were boring, vacuous and didn't seem to say anything.

3 stars