« Christmas | Main | England and St George »
Wednesday December 31, 2014
Books in December
- Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh [read by James Saxon]
I don't know how long I've been listening to this on and off - add to which I have a suspicion I listened to it before, some long time ago. The reason it took me so long to complete it was that I was listening to it on a timer before going to sleep - and all that happened was I lasted about 2 minutes, so had to keep rerunning the same chapter over and over...!
That's not a judgement on the book though - it's quite a good plot; the characters are dated and brittle but I find that attractive.
- Dust by Patricia Cornwell [read by Lorelei King]
This by contrast was quite difficult to read. In fact I cannot really remember who actually dunnit. There seems to be a lot of conspiracy and paranoia coming out - and I look at reader comments (they can write better than I!) here and find the are all expressing exactly what I feel.
I really don't like to be unpleasant to an author but like all these folk I have read the whole series and - like them - I "want to like them" but:
...really gotten obsessive...full of internal monologues...needs an editor and a plot...like wading through mud...could have been a lot shorter if she took out all the psychology of how everyone else felt... lost it's freshness and I find I don't care for the characters any more...just plain not very good...
Which all leads me to this comment:
"excellent book if she had left out all the self indulgent waffle about food and restaurants and dogs and places she has been to in the past. I have also grown to really dislike her characters"
...and makes me think that maybe Cornwell needs to find some new characters to inspire her - there really is nothing left to explore with these ones.
[Like I find writing my blog - I do the same stuff every year (!) - but I am not a world reknowned author - that's my excuse.]
- A Christmas Crumble by M C Beaton
Well I could say the same kind of stuff as above about this short story - however they are written to a formula but still excellent fun. I guess Agatha Raisin seems very real - I can relate to her childish emotions in late middle-age - so unlike the grown-up Kay Scarpetta.
I think I can align Agatha to Enid Blyton's Noddy (I expect MC Beaton would be appalled) - Noddy is aimed at 3 year olds - it explores the world in a safe environment with Noddy doing "the wrong thing" and getting into trouble. Agatha is just the same - but aimed at the over 50s.
Posted by Christina at 1:10 AM. Category: Books of the Month
