March Books
Mar. 31st, 2011 11:00 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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christianreader09. The Body on the Beach (2000) Simon Brett
Recent retiree Carole Seddon just wishes to live a quiet, sensible life with Gulliver, her Labrador Retriever. But when she discovers a dead body on the beach while walking the dog, her sensible life is suddenly quite complicated.
I just needed something to listen to and this popped up on Radio 7. When I looked it up on goodreads, I was surprised to see how recently it was written; for unknown reasons, I had imagined the whole thing taking place in the '70s. I know this is at least the second time I've "read"/listened to this --probably the third. I remembered it as it went along. By the time it is re-ran again, I will have forgotten it all. In fact, I have started forgetting it already. I like a good cozy mystery, but there isn't anything memorable about this one. (Now that I've written it down I might remember not to bother next time I see it on the radio schedule.)
10. The Popes (2011? and possibly aka Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy) John Julius Norwich
Of the 280-odd holders of the supreme office, some have unquesÂtionably been saints; others have wallowed in unspeakable iniquity.
I listened to the author reading passages from this over a week on the BBC. I think I would call this more of a sampler than an abridgment. Because although, I've never seen the book I just imagine it to be a tome, but the reading was pretty narrowly focused on just a handful of popes. I learned some interesting facts.
11. Mary Poppins (1934) P. L. Travers
It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial?
This Mary is more stringent than Julie Andrews ever was. Definitely different and darker than the Disney musical --a elderly woman feeds her gingerbread fingers to small children, for one-- but still good in its own way. This would have probably freaked me out when I was younger, but I remember also liking being scared just a little bit, sometimes. There were some cute and heartfelt passages as well -like the chapter about the babies knowing the language of the wind blowing through the trees and the birds song.
12. Mathilda (1959) Mary Shelley
From her deathbed in an isolated country cottage, Mathilda, a young gentlewoman with a tragic past, sets out to tell her closest friend and the wider public the secret behind her long depression and self imposed seclusion...
Mary Shelley certainly writes well, but I think I'd call this interesting but not good. Incest is one of the themes, and the heroine spends a good deal of the book depressed, guilt-ridden, and obsessed with death.
Recent retiree Carole Seddon just wishes to live a quiet, sensible life with Gulliver, her Labrador Retriever. But when she discovers a dead body on the beach while walking the dog, her sensible life is suddenly quite complicated.
I just needed something to listen to and this popped up on Radio 7. When I looked it up on goodreads, I was surprised to see how recently it was written; for unknown reasons, I had imagined the whole thing taking place in the '70s. I know this is at least the second time I've "read"/listened to this --probably the third. I remembered it as it went along. By the time it is re-ran again, I will have forgotten it all. In fact, I have started forgetting it already. I like a good cozy mystery, but there isn't anything memorable about this one. (Now that I've written it down I might remember not to bother next time I see it on the radio schedule.)
10. The Popes (2011? and possibly aka Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy) John Julius Norwich
Of the 280-odd holders of the supreme office, some have unquesÂtionably been saints; others have wallowed in unspeakable iniquity.
I listened to the author reading passages from this over a week on the BBC. I think I would call this more of a sampler than an abridgment. Because although, I've never seen the book I just imagine it to be a tome, but the reading was pretty narrowly focused on just a handful of popes. I learned some interesting facts.
11. Mary Poppins (1934) P. L. Travers
It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial?
This Mary is more stringent than Julie Andrews ever was. Definitely different and darker than the Disney musical --a elderly woman feeds her gingerbread fingers to small children, for one-- but still good in its own way. This would have probably freaked me out when I was younger, but I remember also liking being scared just a little bit, sometimes. There were some cute and heartfelt passages as well -like the chapter about the babies knowing the language of the wind blowing through the trees and the birds song.
12. Mathilda (1959) Mary Shelley
From her deathbed in an isolated country cottage, Mathilda, a young gentlewoman with a tragic past, sets out to tell her closest friend and the wider public the secret behind her long depression and self imposed seclusion...
Mary Shelley certainly writes well, but I think I'd call this interesting but not good. Incest is one of the themes, and the heroine spends a good deal of the book depressed, guilt-ridden, and obsessed with death.
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Date: 2011-04-02 01:15 am (UTC)