Lines on Life and Love
Dec. 31st, 2017 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyIn April 2012 I started using Barbara Cartland titles as my subject headers, and here we are, in December 2017, with the very last one: a book of poetry. Well done and thank you, Dame Barbara, for amusing me for the last five-and-a-half years.
I won't finish my current book tonight, so I can finish the year with this month's books. I made it past fifty (by one).
December books read
* I Found You - Lisa Jewell (2016) ★ ★ ★
A man known as Frank turns up in a small town with no memory of his past. At the same time, a man called Carl doesn't come home from work in London. Are they the same man? And how do they relate to the third strand of this story, set twenty years earlier, when a family on holiday met a young man staying with his aunt?
If I did half stars, this would be three and a half. It's better than average, but requires considerable suspension of belief. It's a page-turner, though, and I galloped through it.
* Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore - Matthew J. Sullivan (2017) ★ ★ ★
A young man called Joey kills himself, leaving everything he owns to his sort-of friend, Lydia, who works in his favourite bookshop. As a child, Lydia was the sole survivor of an In Cold Blood-style massacre, and she has tried to keep a low profile ever since, but as she tries to find out more about Joey, she finds herself re-investigating what happened that night too.
One of my personal peeves is when the detective in a story is personally involved, so I was all prepared to hate this, and it's to the book's credit that Lydia's personal connection ended up making sense. There are some irritating formatting quirks (dialogue is formatted differently depending on whether the section is in the present day or a flashback), and the story relies on a couple of massive coincidences. Overall, though, it's a decent read.
* The Rosemary Tree - Elizabeth Goudge (1956) ★ ★ ★
I love Goudge's children's books, but this is the first of her books for adults that I've read. It's recognisably by the same hand: lyrical prose about birds and gardens, characters called Henrietta and Maria, people finding their place to recover from the trials of the world. It's a simple story, more a series of wonderfully observed character studies as events slowly unfurl around them. Beautiful as it is, I did feel there was rather a lot of it, and when characters say things such as "I have ceased to think of death as irretrievable destruction" to each other, it felt heavier than the story could hold.
* The Merchant's House - Kate Ellis (1998) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is an extremely competent example of the police procedural genre. DS Wesley Peterson moves from London to a seaside town. As well as his current cases (a murdered woman and a missing child), he finds time to help an archaeologist friend solve a four-hundred-year-old murder too. It has interesting characters, is well-plotted, and is first in a series. I'll be happy to read more when I need something undemanding and diverting.
* An Unhallowed Grave - Kate Ellis (1999) ★ ★ ★
An easy read for a busy week. This is the third in the Wesley Peterson series, and the patten is becoming clear: Wesley will have to solve a murder, while his archaeologist friend digs up something from the past that mirrors Wesley's case. I think that might get tired after a while, but this early in the series it's still an interesting novelty.
* The Bone Garden - Kate Ellis (2001) ★ ★ ★
And I think it's here that the novelty wears off. This time round the archaeological find echoed the murder case just a little too neatly, for what was an improbable set of events to happen once, let alone twice, even it was several hundred years apart. Also, the murder methods veered into Midsomer Murders territory, with one being buried alive and the other bowled to death by a cricket ball. It was all just the teensiest bit unlikely, and it might be time for me to have a rest from these now.
* Once on a Time - AA Milne (2017) ★ ★ ★ ★
The author's note at the start says this is an odd little book that defies genre, and he's not wrong. This is a sort of fairy tale about two kings who go to war because of a pair of seven-league boots, and the princess who is left at home to run her father's kingdom with the help of a villainous countess. It's a simple story, but also quite meta, as when the countess, who knows she is the villain, walks in the forest and thinks, "Am I alone? Dare I soliloquise?" I liked it a lot, but I suspect this might be a love it or hate it sort of book depending on your tolerance for twee.
* Doll Junk: Collectible and Crazy Fashions from the '70s and '80s - Carmen Varricchio (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a photographic history of knock-off Barbies and their clothes, mostly collectibles still in their packaging. I'd have liked a little more information — how widely available were they, what do they cost now, what the clothes look like on the doll — but overall it is a delightful romp through some of the most extraordinarily patterned fabrics ever created. Would you like some examples?
My favourite: Germany's knock-off Ken doll, Fred. Check out his skinny legs and bold use of pattern! Is it a safari suit? Is it bathers? Is it a romper? Whatever it is, you don't see it every day.
This is one of Fred's separate outfits for when he tires of his safari/bathers/romper. It's a see-through lace shirt paired with differently patterned tie and pants. Of course it is.
This is the only doll I've ever seen with hips like mine, and they're on a bearded man called Super Mike.
This is Fred Star (not to be confused with Fred), Super Hans and Richie, just hanging out. Richie is wearing an outfit called Double Dynamite.
Let's not leave out the ladies. This is an outfit for a Barbie knock-off called Maddie Mod. The dress is called Kool & Kicky. Imagine Kool & Kicky Maddie Mod hanging out with Double Dynamite Richie. The world is not big enough for that much groovy.
This is a one-armed leg-of-mutton sleeve on a flared jumpsuit in glitter purple. That is a lot of look and very few could pull it off. I know I couldn't.
And my year-end book meme:
Year end book meme using titles of books I've read this year
Describe yourself: An Excellent Mystery - Ellis Peters
How do you feel: Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Describe where you currently live: Printers Devil Court - Susan Hill
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: The Merchant's House - Kate Ellis
Your favourite form of transportation: The Winged Histories - Sofia Samatar
Your best friend is: Lolly Willowes - Sylvia Townsend Warner
You and your friends are: The Wrong Set - Angus Wilson
What’s the weather like: Death in the Rainy Season - Anna Jacquiery
You fear: The Secret of Wishtide - Kate Saunders
What is the best advice you have to give: Ways to Disappear - Idra Novey
Thought for the day: A is for Arsenic - Kathryn Harkup
My soul’s present condition: Something Fresh - PG Wodehouse
Happy New Year, f-list.
I won't finish my current book tonight, so I can finish the year with this month's books. I made it past fifty (by one).
December books read
* I Found You - Lisa Jewell (2016) ★ ★ ★
A man known as Frank turns up in a small town with no memory of his past. At the same time, a man called Carl doesn't come home from work in London. Are they the same man? And how do they relate to the third strand of this story, set twenty years earlier, when a family on holiday met a young man staying with his aunt?
If I did half stars, this would be three and a half. It's better than average, but requires considerable suspension of belief. It's a page-turner, though, and I galloped through it.
* Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore - Matthew J. Sullivan (2017) ★ ★ ★
A young man called Joey kills himself, leaving everything he owns to his sort-of friend, Lydia, who works in his favourite bookshop. As a child, Lydia was the sole survivor of an In Cold Blood-style massacre, and she has tried to keep a low profile ever since, but as she tries to find out more about Joey, she finds herself re-investigating what happened that night too.
One of my personal peeves is when the detective in a story is personally involved, so I was all prepared to hate this, and it's to the book's credit that Lydia's personal connection ended up making sense. There are some irritating formatting quirks (dialogue is formatted differently depending on whether the section is in the present day or a flashback), and the story relies on a couple of massive coincidences. Overall, though, it's a decent read.
* The Rosemary Tree - Elizabeth Goudge (1956) ★ ★ ★
I love Goudge's children's books, but this is the first of her books for adults that I've read. It's recognisably by the same hand: lyrical prose about birds and gardens, characters called Henrietta and Maria, people finding their place to recover from the trials of the world. It's a simple story, more a series of wonderfully observed character studies as events slowly unfurl around them. Beautiful as it is, I did feel there was rather a lot of it, and when characters say things such as "I have ceased to think of death as irretrievable destruction" to each other, it felt heavier than the story could hold.
* The Merchant's House - Kate Ellis (1998) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is an extremely competent example of the police procedural genre. DS Wesley Peterson moves from London to a seaside town. As well as his current cases (a murdered woman and a missing child), he finds time to help an archaeologist friend solve a four-hundred-year-old murder too. It has interesting characters, is well-plotted, and is first in a series. I'll be happy to read more when I need something undemanding and diverting.
* An Unhallowed Grave - Kate Ellis (1999) ★ ★ ★
An easy read for a busy week. This is the third in the Wesley Peterson series, and the patten is becoming clear: Wesley will have to solve a murder, while his archaeologist friend digs up something from the past that mirrors Wesley's case. I think that might get tired after a while, but this early in the series it's still an interesting novelty.
* The Bone Garden - Kate Ellis (2001) ★ ★ ★
And I think it's here that the novelty wears off. This time round the archaeological find echoed the murder case just a little too neatly, for what was an improbable set of events to happen once, let alone twice, even it was several hundred years apart. Also, the murder methods veered into Midsomer Murders territory, with one being buried alive and the other bowled to death by a cricket ball. It was all just the teensiest bit unlikely, and it might be time for me to have a rest from these now.
* Once on a Time - AA Milne (2017) ★ ★ ★ ★
The author's note at the start says this is an odd little book that defies genre, and he's not wrong. This is a sort of fairy tale about two kings who go to war because of a pair of seven-league boots, and the princess who is left at home to run her father's kingdom with the help of a villainous countess. It's a simple story, but also quite meta, as when the countess, who knows she is the villain, walks in the forest and thinks, "Am I alone? Dare I soliloquise?" I liked it a lot, but I suspect this might be a love it or hate it sort of book depending on your tolerance for twee.
* Doll Junk: Collectible and Crazy Fashions from the '70s and '80s - Carmen Varricchio (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a photographic history of knock-off Barbies and their clothes, mostly collectibles still in their packaging. I'd have liked a little more information — how widely available were they, what do they cost now, what the clothes look like on the doll — but overall it is a delightful romp through some of the most extraordinarily patterned fabrics ever created. Would you like some examples?
My favourite: Germany's knock-off Ken doll, Fred. Check out his skinny legs and bold use of pattern! Is it a safari suit? Is it bathers? Is it a romper? Whatever it is, you don't see it every day.
This is one of Fred's separate outfits for when he tires of his safari/bathers/romper. It's a see-through lace shirt paired with differently patterned tie and pants. Of course it is.
This is the only doll I've ever seen with hips like mine, and they're on a bearded man called Super Mike.
This is Fred Star (not to be confused with Fred), Super Hans and Richie, just hanging out. Richie is wearing an outfit called Double Dynamite.
Let's not leave out the ladies. This is an outfit for a Barbie knock-off called Maddie Mod. The dress is called Kool & Kicky. Imagine Kool & Kicky Maddie Mod hanging out with Double Dynamite Richie. The world is not big enough for that much groovy.
This is a one-armed leg-of-mutton sleeve on a flared jumpsuit in glitter purple. That is a lot of look and very few could pull it off. I know I couldn't.
And my year-end book meme:
Year end book meme using titles of books I've read this year
Describe yourself: An Excellent Mystery - Ellis Peters
How do you feel: Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Describe where you currently live: Printers Devil Court - Susan Hill
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: The Merchant's House - Kate Ellis
Your favourite form of transportation: The Winged Histories - Sofia Samatar
Your best friend is: Lolly Willowes - Sylvia Townsend Warner
You and your friends are: The Wrong Set - Angus Wilson
What’s the weather like: Death in the Rainy Season - Anna Jacquiery
You fear: The Secret of Wishtide - Kate Saunders
What is the best advice you have to give: Ways to Disappear - Idra Novey
Thought for the day: A is for Arsenic - Kathryn Harkup
My soul’s present condition: Something Fresh - PG Wodehouse
Happy New Year, f-list.