July books
Mrs Frensham Describes A Circle - Richmal Crompton I very much enjoyed this book but it was slightly odd and felt a little darker in parts than most of her novels. Lots of the usual RC features - multi generational cast, lots of likeable and not so likeable characters, village setting etc. with the bonus (for me) of a wartime Home Front background but there was a slightly bizarre almost supernatural element. Generally she sends up middle aged women who commune with the dead but not in this case.
Peter Robinson - Gallows View; Playing With Fire; Children of the Revolution The rest of this month I have been sticking with DCI Alan Banks and his colleagues at Eastvale nick. I continue to find the writing slightly second rate and I have a sense of Peter Robinson being a wannabe rockstar or at the very least music pundit (indeed Spotify playlists are available for some of his books which is a first for me). However I am getting to like the characters and to get to grips with Alan Banks' back story. These three span his career with an early novel; a mid period one which I have also seen as a TV adaptation; and a more recent one. I particularly enjoyed Gallows View (the first in the series) where he is still married and his children are still at home.
Cultural life - nil. I did rather enjoy the Gothic nastiness of Crimson Peak on Sky Cinema last week. My new TV addiction is Nurse Jackie which, as is so often the case, I have discovered several years after everyone else. I am hoping my love for this series will not impact negatively on my professional practice.
Peter Robinson - Gallows View; Playing With Fire; Children of the Revolution The rest of this month I have been sticking with DCI Alan Banks and his colleagues at Eastvale nick. I continue to find the writing slightly second rate and I have a sense of Peter Robinson being a wannabe rockstar or at the very least music pundit (indeed Spotify playlists are available for some of his books which is a first for me). However I am getting to like the characters and to get to grips with Alan Banks' back story. These three span his career with an early novel; a mid period one which I have also seen as a TV adaptation; and a more recent one. I particularly enjoyed Gallows View (the first in the series) where he is still married and his children are still at home.
Cultural life - nil. I did rather enjoy the Gothic nastiness of Crimson Peak on Sky Cinema last week. My new TV addiction is Nurse Jackie which, as is so often the case, I have discovered several years after everyone else. I am hoping my love for this series will not impact negatively on my professional practice.