Wednesday reading and watching
The Mrs Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman
I love these SO MUCH! Mrs Pollifax is the best, I love everything about her. I love her eye for people and her determination and her kindness and friendliness and I love watching Carstairs and Bishop point her at people and then spend ages panicking over what she's done next. She's not a bit like Miles except in the way she gets twenty times more results than anyone asked for. I love Robin and Farrell, I like her romance with Cyrus even though IMO she had way more chemistry with Tsanko (my favourite of the secondary characters, I think). I haven't finished the series yet, and I'm buying them in dribs and drabs because I don't really want it to end. But I think they will easily stand up to going back to the beginning and starting again, so that's a comfort.
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
I devoured this one sleep-deprived day and thoroughly enjoyed it. JKR really does have an eye for character, every single person she conjures up in this is utterly believable in the best way. I've heard people say it's underedited, but not, I think, in a bad way. It's meandering and slow-burn and has tons of side plots and diversions (is there any need for the nephew hospitalisation plot? not really) but it works like that, it feels spacious and luxurious rather than bloated and overdone. And Robin and Strike are as delightful as ever, and, well, this book does advance the will-they-won't-they, but not all that much really. I do enjoy these books very much. My only quibble is that I detest the thing in detective stories where someone spots a vital clue or understands something, and the narration teases you with it, exchanges that go I've just had an idea that explains everything/what is it?/he told her, but nobody tells the reader. Fortunately in this book it doesn't last long, it's not like the thing in Five Red Herrings right at the start. But I still don't like it, it's like finding a complicated quiz embedded in the book and you're not allowed to proceed until you've answered it. I don't read detective novels to try to solve the plot on my own. I mean, I like guessing and forming theories and looking at the clues, but I'm not seriously trying to solve the mystery, I'm watching the detectives solve the mystery and that's where the fun of it goes. I like seeing their thought processes laid out for me; I don't want to have to do all the thinking myself, if I want a complicated problem to solve I can try and figure out how to get Philomythulus to reliably use the toilet. But that was my only real complaint with this. It's great. I especially love how the title makes sense at the end, that's the kind of thing I adore in detective stories.
Bodyguard (no spoilers)
I enjoyed all of this, though my interest flagged a little after the thing that happened halfway through. But the plot was compelling enough to carry it, though I did admit to finding all the suspense a bit overdone in the last episode. The final twist was great, though I wouldn't have minded seeing a bit more clue about the motivation behind it. And the ending was good.
Singin' in the Rain
They don't make them like that any more! I'd never seen this, and it was wonderful and delightful and happy-making. Very nice dancing, too.
The Third Man
Continuing to expand my cinematic education, another classic I'd never seen. It reminds me of the quip about Hamlet, that it was all quotations - I could see so many places where I thought 'oh, that's what they were riffing off' in so many other films. I have to admit I got a bit tangled up in the plot, though I suspect this was probably because I was trying to mend some jeans at the same time and was looking down at critical moments. But definitely worth watching.
Crossposted at https://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/155202.html. There are
comments there.
I love these SO MUCH! Mrs Pollifax is the best, I love everything about her. I love her eye for people and her determination and her kindness and friendliness and I love watching Carstairs and Bishop point her at people and then spend ages panicking over what she's done next. She's not a bit like Miles except in the way she gets twenty times more results than anyone asked for. I love Robin and Farrell, I like her romance with Cyrus even though IMO she had way more chemistry with Tsanko (my favourite of the secondary characters, I think). I haven't finished the series yet, and I'm buying them in dribs and drabs because I don't really want it to end. But I think they will easily stand up to going back to the beginning and starting again, so that's a comfort.
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
I devoured this one sleep-deprived day and thoroughly enjoyed it. JKR really does have an eye for character, every single person she conjures up in this is utterly believable in the best way. I've heard people say it's underedited, but not, I think, in a bad way. It's meandering and slow-burn and has tons of side plots and diversions (is there any need for the nephew hospitalisation plot? not really) but it works like that, it feels spacious and luxurious rather than bloated and overdone. And Robin and Strike are as delightful as ever, and, well, this book does advance the will-they-won't-they, but not all that much really. I do enjoy these books very much. My only quibble is that I detest the thing in detective stories where someone spots a vital clue or understands something, and the narration teases you with it, exchanges that go I've just had an idea that explains everything/what is it?/he told her, but nobody tells the reader. Fortunately in this book it doesn't last long, it's not like the thing in Five Red Herrings right at the start. But I still don't like it, it's like finding a complicated quiz embedded in the book and you're not allowed to proceed until you've answered it. I don't read detective novels to try to solve the plot on my own. I mean, I like guessing and forming theories and looking at the clues, but I'm not seriously trying to solve the mystery, I'm watching the detectives solve the mystery and that's where the fun of it goes. I like seeing their thought processes laid out for me; I don't want to have to do all the thinking myself, if I want a complicated problem to solve I can try and figure out how to get Philomythulus to reliably use the toilet. But that was my only real complaint with this. It's great. I especially love how the title makes sense at the end, that's the kind of thing I adore in detective stories.
Bodyguard (no spoilers)
I enjoyed all of this, though my interest flagged a little after the thing that happened halfway through. But the plot was compelling enough to carry it, though I did admit to finding all the suspense a bit overdone in the last episode. The final twist was great, though I wouldn't have minded seeing a bit more clue about the motivation behind it. And the ending was good.
Singin' in the Rain
They don't make them like that any more! I'd never seen this, and it was wonderful and delightful and happy-making. Very nice dancing, too.
The Third Man
Continuing to expand my cinematic education, another classic I'd never seen. It reminds me of the quip about Hamlet, that it was all quotations - I could see so many places where I thought 'oh, that's what they were riffing off' in so many other films. I have to admit I got a bit tangled up in the plot, though I suspect this was probably because I was trying to mend some jeans at the same time and was looking down at critical moments. But definitely worth watching.
Crossposted at https://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/155202.html. There are
comments there.