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todayiamadaisy) wrote2020-10-03 04:57 pm
todayiamadaisy) wrote2020-10-03 04:57 pm
Entry tags:
Are apish manners desired by a hostess?
I have a month's worth of notes, reminders of what I was going to write about but haven't. So let's just read the notes without further explanation:
- Mince pies and hot cross buns in the supermarket at the same time. They should be like lions and tigers and never meet.
- Uncle G's farm used for cross-border tractor sales.
- Free goldfish sign at the dodgy house across the road.
- 1910 coffee recipe made with eggs in, shell and all.
- Kim Next Door broke her foot mowing the lawn.
- Man named Orpheus Pledger.
- Someone spent $1 at a sari shop on my credit card and now I have to get a new one.
- My mother and her friend got into a ridiculous argument trying to give each other a twenty dollar note.
- My job is apparently being made permanent and dauntingly busy.
And now we're all caught up on September, except for this:
September books read
* Crossed Skis - Carol Carnac (1952) ★ ★ ★
New Year, 1951: a split narrative, with chapters alternating between a party of (mostly) English tourists on a ski holiday in Austria and a group of Scotland Yard detectives trying to solve the mystery of a body found in a burnt house. Obviously one of the tourists is the culprit, but which one?
It's an interesting structure: the detectives' side of the story is fairly standard detective novel fare, although the detectives have a bit more personality than the usual; the tourists' side of the story becomes a sort of logic puzzle of who knows whom and who said what. There are so many tourists they can't all be developed, so it's easy enough to narrow down the suspects, and then the ending is rushed and wrapped up way too quickly. Still, it's a diverting trip to a different time.
* The Spoilt Kill - Mary Kelly (1961) ★ ★ ★
A hard-boiled mystery novel set in an English pottery firm in the early 1960s sounds unlikely, but it works. A private detective is called in to investigate how the firm's new designs are being stolen by competitors; the chief suspect is the firm's relatively new, and recently widowed, designer. It's gritty and evocative, if at times overwrought.
* The Accordionist - Fred Vargas (1997) (trans. Siân Reynolds, 2017) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the third (and apparently final) in a series, but fortunately it's not necessary to have read the previous ones to follow this. There is a series of murders in Paris, and a sort-of private investigator has to prove that the main suspect is innocent. The translated dialogue is occasionally a little clunky, but, that aside, this is a thoughtful, clever read.
* The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley (2020) ★ ★
A lonely old man writes his story and leaves the book in a café for others to find and follow suit, setting off a chain of connections between the writers. It's a feel-good story with some sharp edges, although the conceit of the novel runs out of steam halfway through.
(I dithered about the star rating to give this. In other circumstances it would probably be a three-star read, but I've knocked a star off for the poorly researched Australian character. Nice lad, but he doesn't ring true.)
* Vittoria Cottage - DE Stevenson (1949) ★ ★ ★ ★
A slice of family life in an English village in the post-war years. It reminded me of the later Anne of Green Gables books that feature little vignettes about grown up Anne and her family - in this case, its middle-aged widow Caroline and her three children. It's well-written and well-observed and there are absolutely no surprises in it. It's the very definition of a comfort read.
- Mince pies and hot cross buns in the supermarket at the same time. They should be like lions and tigers and never meet.
- Uncle G's farm used for cross-border tractor sales.
- Free goldfish sign at the dodgy house across the road.
- 1910 coffee recipe made with eggs in, shell and all.
- Kim Next Door broke her foot mowing the lawn.
- Man named Orpheus Pledger.
- Someone spent $1 at a sari shop on my credit card and now I have to get a new one.
- My mother and her friend got into a ridiculous argument trying to give each other a twenty dollar note.
- My job is apparently being made permanent and dauntingly busy.
And now we're all caught up on September, except for this:
September books read
* Crossed Skis - Carol Carnac (1952) ★ ★ ★
New Year, 1951: a split narrative, with chapters alternating between a party of (mostly) English tourists on a ski holiday in Austria and a group of Scotland Yard detectives trying to solve the mystery of a body found in a burnt house. Obviously one of the tourists is the culprit, but which one?
It's an interesting structure: the detectives' side of the story is fairly standard detective novel fare, although the detectives have a bit more personality than the usual; the tourists' side of the story becomes a sort of logic puzzle of who knows whom and who said what. There are so many tourists they can't all be developed, so it's easy enough to narrow down the suspects, and then the ending is rushed and wrapped up way too quickly. Still, it's a diverting trip to a different time.
* The Spoilt Kill - Mary Kelly (1961) ★ ★ ★
A hard-boiled mystery novel set in an English pottery firm in the early 1960s sounds unlikely, but it works. A private detective is called in to investigate how the firm's new designs are being stolen by competitors; the chief suspect is the firm's relatively new, and recently widowed, designer. It's gritty and evocative, if at times overwrought.
* The Accordionist - Fred Vargas (1997) (trans. Siân Reynolds, 2017) ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the third (and apparently final) in a series, but fortunately it's not necessary to have read the previous ones to follow this. There is a series of murders in Paris, and a sort-of private investigator has to prove that the main suspect is innocent. The translated dialogue is occasionally a little clunky, but, that aside, this is a thoughtful, clever read.
* The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley (2020) ★ ★
A lonely old man writes his story and leaves the book in a café for others to find and follow suit, setting off a chain of connections between the writers. It's a feel-good story with some sharp edges, although the conceit of the novel runs out of steam halfway through.
(I dithered about the star rating to give this. In other circumstances it would probably be a three-star read, but I've knocked a star off for the poorly researched Australian character. Nice lad, but he doesn't ring true.)
* Vittoria Cottage - DE Stevenson (1949) ★ ★ ★ ★
A slice of family life in an English village in the post-war years. It reminded me of the later Anne of Green Gables books that feature little vignettes about grown up Anne and her family - in this case, its middle-aged widow Caroline and her three children. It's well-written and well-observed and there are absolutely no surprises in it. It's the very definition of a comfort read.