What are you reading now?

[vinteuil]

I enjoyed the Bruno Cremer TV version (with subtitles); haven't watched the Rupert Davies "Murder on Monday" yet.

... I think Cremer is just the best : the Rupert Davies is all right, but the bit-parts are poor rep performers, and the sets wobble (speaking of the entire series : can't recall the specifics of that episode).

It's a nice Maigret ; I wouldn't put it in the very top category of Simenons...

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[AuntDaisy]

... I think Cremer is just the best : the Rupert Davies is all right, but the bit-parts are poor rep performers, and the sets wobble (speaking of the entire series : can't recall the specifics of that episode).

It's a nice Maigret ; I wouldn't put it in the very top category of Simenons...

[vinteuil]

Cyril Connolly : The Unquiet Grave

When I read it as a precocious impressionable teenager I was enthralled. Re-reading it as a septuagenarian I can still enjoy and appreciate it - and at the same time look back forgivingly at the absurdities of youthful enthusiasm

He was forty when he wrote it : irony of ironies, when I was forty I was living on the Île Saint-Louis - but at that time had largely forgotten what a rôle it has to play as one of the blessèd/cursèd locations in this book.

It's an excellent little book to dip into from time to time - not least if it sends you scurrying off to follow up the many authors he quotes...





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[Pulcinella]

Stephanie Austin: Death comes to Dartmoor.

I couldn't resist bringing this back from the library to devour over a rainy weekend, after reading part of the back-cover blurb.

Returning from a brief holiday, Juno Browne is relieved to find that no one has been murdered in the picturesque Dartmoor town of Ashburton while she was away.

Sounds like either a riot or a truly dreadful read.

[smittims]

Chekhov: The Duel .

Described as one of his 'stories', at 100 pages it's more of a novella, fascinating characters and a surprise ending. I was interested to see how much he was allowed to write and publish about sex in 1890. I think Thomas Hardy would have been envious.

[Jonathan]

Nothing to see here by Kevin Wilson - for book group at work. Plus Dungeon Crawler Carl which the science fiction / fantasy geeks I know Keep raving about. Not 100% sold on either book.

[Ian Thumwood]

Stephanie Austin: Death comes to Dartmoor.

I couldn't resist bringing this back from the library to devour over a rainy weekend, after reading part of the back-cover blurb.

Returning from a brief holiday, Juno Browne is relieved to find that no one has been murdered in the picturesque Dartmoor town of Ashburton while she was away.

Sounds like either a riot or a truly dreadful read.

Our sat nav went haywire in Devon last year and finding Dartmoor was a nightmare once we had left Buckfast Abbey. Death would have done very well to find Dartmoor. Never heard of Cozy Crime until earlier this year . Was the book any good ?

Just started The Making of Roman York. Not quite sure who this is aimed out.

[Pulcinella]

Our sat nav went haywire in Devon last year and finding Dartmoor was a nightmare once we had left Buckfast Abbey. Death would have done very well to find Dartmoor. Never heard of Cozy Crime until earlier this year . Was the book any good ?

Just started The Making of Roman York. Not quite sure who this is aimed out.

I've read worse!

Now reading
John Boyne: The heart's invisible furies
which is much better.
He wrote The boy in the striped pyjamas.

[smittims]

Othello. Still topical today - lots of people getting stabbed in the back .

[oddoneout]

Our sat nav went haywire in Devon last year and finding Dartmoor was a nightmare once we had left Buckfast Abbey. Death would have done very well to find Dartmoor. Never heard of Cozy Crime until earlier this year . Was the book any good ?

There's a reason why people still take paper maps when visiting, or needing to access(eg rescue teams), such places...
It used to be possible to borrow OS maps from my local library, but they were an early casualty in cost cutting efforts.

[CallMePaul]

England - a Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel. A well-written series of portraits of places with particular significance to the author, including personal anexcdotes and observations of wildlife across a range of habitats. He also includes literary and musical connections to his chosen locations. The music suggestions range from Pink Floyd and Nick Drake to Elgar and Bax.

[vinteuil]

England - a Natural History by John Lewis-Stemple. .

... quite prolific!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis-Stempel

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[gradus]

... quite prolific!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis-Stempel

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Similarly, still dipping into a Richard Jefferies miscellany. Vivid and finely observed nature writing from Victorian times, some hear Manley Hopkins in his style.

[LMcD]

Yann Martel - The High Mountains of Portugal.

[gradus]

Waterlog shoved (flowed?) to the head of a queue of books so I started reading it again; renewing my enjoyment of Roger Deakin's writing.