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Wednesday August 31, 2016
Books in August
- Dandy Gilver and A Bothersome Number of Corpses, A Deadly Measure
of Brimstone, The Reek of Red Herrings, by Catriona McPherson
I have to come to terms with the fact that they are not going to produce any more audio versions of these books - so I caught up with the next 3 as holiday reading.
As wonderful (to me anyway) as ever, I particularly enjoyed Brimstone; the author writing in what I believe to be her best mode, brilliantly evoking not only time but also quite wonderfully exploring a (now) lost place.
- A Gladiator Dies Only Once by Steven Saylor
The second anthology of Gordianus short stories (2005).
- The Consul's Wife - 77 BC
- If a Cyclops Could Vanish in the Blink of an Eye -77 BC
- The White Fawn - 76 BC
- Something Fishy in Pompeii - 75 BC
- Archimedes' Tomb - 75 BC
- Death by Eros - 75 BC
- A Gladiator Dies Only Once - 73 BC
- Poppy and the Poisoned Cake - 70 BC
- The Cherries of Lucullus - 64 BC
- Watching the Dark by Peter Robinson [read by Simon
Slater]
As I mentioned last month - I took this as one of two books to occupy
me while driving to Cambridge for my weaving course, but in fact the
journey was not long enough for both and I listened to this on my return.
It was excellent - quite a long way further into the series from my last reading and as I suspected Banks has moved on in his personal life so not miles away from TV-Banks now - although as conincidentally discussed with our weaving tutor - Stephen Tompkinson is a great actor but definitely not book-Banks. [In my normal way of recasting impossibly - I would choose a very young Martin Shaw for this role.] 
Gideon Fell - To Wake the Dead
A 1997 two-part dramatisation of John Dickson Carr's 1938 thriller by Peter Ling: The Riddle of the Stone, and The Secret of the Stone. Charmingly dated, of course.
Stars Donald Sinden as Doctor Gideon Fell, John Hartley as Supt. Hadley, Richard Johnson as Sir Giles Gray, Wendy Craig as Melita Reaper, John Rowe as Dan Reaper and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Francine Forbes. Directed by Enyd Williams.
Craven
By contrast - not at all charming and dated.
An excellent piece of radio drama - which I should not but do rather take for granted with Maxine Peake.
Produced by Justine Potter -a Red Production Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Posted by Christina at 6:43 AM. Category: Books of the Month
