Janet's Log - Stardate 2016

[bobblybear]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I read it a few years ago and I remember liking it a lot. I think there's a recent movie out as well, but I don't know how closely it matches the book or anything about it really.

[Janet]

Thanks, Bobs. We sometimes watch films of books we've read at book club and then discuss both. I'm sure we'd have done so with this if it was out on DVD already. I'll probably take a look when it's shown on television.

[frankie]

I had heard of the book but I have to say I probably wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for Book Club. I don't even know if the author has written much else - I'd better go and Google!

 

Oddly enough I know she's written loads of other books and even though people have loved Room, I don't think I know anyone who's read another book by her  

[Nollaig]

Oh, thats bizzare! I've read Room, and I've heard of The Sealed Letter, which I actually thought came out after Room but apparently didn't? And she has written loads of other books, which I knew nothing about! Bizzare!

[Athena]

I feel Room is the one that's most famous (maybe also because of the movie?), I also had no idea she'd written other books.

[bobblybear]

There's another one her books at my local library, but I can't remember the name of it. I've picked it up and read the back of it, but put it back on the shelf because it didn't appeal to me.

[frankie]

There's another one her books at my local library, but I can't remember the name of it. I've picked it up and read the back of it, but put it back on the shelf because it didn't appeal to me.

 

That's happened to me, too: I've seen a few of her other novels at the library but wasn't keen on the blurbs. According to wiki, her novels are:

• Stir Fry (1994)
• Hood (1995)
• Slammerkin (2000)
• Life Mask (2004)
• Landing (2007)
• The Sealed Letter (2008)
• Room (2010)
• Frog Music (2014)

 

So you see, she's written most of her books well before Room!

Edited June 26, 2016 by frankie

[Janet]

Thanks, Sari. Gosh, she has written loads! I have seen The Sealed Letter before, now I come to think of it.

[Janet]

I met Claire for coffee in Bristol today.  Not only did we have a lovely time chatting (2½ hours of chatting and browsing in Waterstone's - the time just whizzed by), but she made me this for my Kindle...

 

 

 

 

Isn't it wonderful!    Isn't she clever!    Thanks, Claire. 

[Janet]

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

The ‘blurb’
When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly-named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; and crazed old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for the last twenty years. But Flora loves nothing better than to organise other people. Armed with common sense and a strong will, she resolves to take each of the family in hand. A hilarious and ruthless parody of rural melodramas and purple prose, Cold Comfort Farm is one of the best-loved comic novels of all time.

Flora Poste becomes an orphan at nineteen and decides that she must go and live with one of her relatives. She writes to various family members and is offered several alternatives of accommodation including an Aunt in Worthing who tells Flora she will “never have time to be lonely” and that someone called Peggy would love to share her bedroom with Flora, her father’s Scottish cousin who was not only elderly and with some medical problems but also lives in the middle of nowhere and her mother’s cousin who also isn’t a very tempting proposition. She therefore choses the final option – The Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm in West Sussex. There she discovers a whole plethora of relatives, each with their own problems, and she decides to sort them out, one by one…

This was a reread for book club. I wasn’t going to bother reading it again – I decided to gen up on the storyline by watching the BBC adaptation on DVD, which despite a few changes was enjoyable and whet my appetite so much that I decided to read it again! I liked it the first time round and if anything I enjoyed it even more second time around. On the evening of Book Club I found that everyone else had read both so made for a great evening of discussion. Jane Austen with wellies! Top stuff.

The paperback edition is 256 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1932. The ISBN is 9780141441597.

4/5 (I really enjoyed it)

(Finished 20 April 2016)
 

[Athena]

The Kindle cover is very pretty! Claire is talented . How nice of her to make it for you.

 

Great review . I really like the cover of Cold Comfort Farm. It's nice you ended up re-reading it and enjoying it even more.

[ian]

Hmm. Now I know I've read Cold Comfort Farm, but I'm jiggered if I can remember anything about it! Your review makes me want read it again anyway.

[Inver]

Love your cover...Claire is so lovely to bring you pressies when you meet up...wish I could meet the pair of you  

[Janet]

The Kindle cover is very pretty! Claire is talented . How nice of her to make it for you.

 

Great review . I really like the cover of Cold Comfort Farm. It's nice you ended up re-reading it and enjoying it even more.

It's amazing, isn't it.    And thanks. 

 

Hmm. Now I know I've read Cold Comfort Farm, but I'm jiggered if I can remember anything about it! Your review makes me want read it again anyway.

I hope you enjoy it if you do.  And if you get a chance to watch the DVD (I borrowed it from the library) I thought it was a pretty decent adaptation - it might not have been entirely accurate but the characterisation was good. 

 

Love your cover...Claire is so lovely to bring you pressies when you meet up...wish I could meet the pair of you  

It's very lovely.  It's a shame you're so far North, Diane.

 

Claire - my Kindle cover has been on a holiday - it went to Swansea for a few days and then to Kent! 

[Janet]

 

Lord Edgeware Dies by Agatha Christie

The ‘blurb’
Poirot had been present when Jane bragged of her plan to ‘get rid of’ her estranged husband. Now the monstrous man was dead. And yet the great Belgian detective couldn’t help feeling that he was being taken for a ride.

After all, how could Jane have stabbed Lord Edgware to death in his library at exactly the same time she was seen dining with friends? And what could be her motive now that the aristocrat had finally granted her a divorce?

Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce from Lord Edgware and is overheard to threaten to go round in a taxi and kill him if he refuses. She wants to remarry, but obviously she can’t whilst she is still married to him and so she approaches Poirot to see if he can persuade her husband to agree to a divorce. A reluctant Poirot discovers that the Lord actually wrote to Lady Edgware to agree but the letter didn’t arrive, but before Poirot can inform Jane of his findings, Lord Edgeware is murdered whilst Jane is attending a dinner party, thus putting her out of the frame. Poirot must use all his little grey cells to help Chief Inspector Japp solve this, and a subsequent, murder…

I think this is possibly my Least enjoyable Poirot so far and I find that some months after finishing it (I’m behind with my reviews again) the details have faded. Despite this, I still enjoyed listening to it and will continue to listen to this series on audio book.

The paperback edition is 288 pages long and is published by Harper Collins. It was first published in 1933. The ISBN is 9780008164850.

3½/5 (I enjoyed it)

(Finished 23 April 2016)

 

[Alexi]

I'm so far behind that one of my reviews has become irrelevant - a book detailing the UK in the EU 

 

I haven't read (or listened to) this particular Christie, but like you I shall get to them all eventually. I'm taking a slight break because my least favourite was my last - although that was simply because of a lack of a sidelined Poirot rather than fatigue I think. 

[Janet]

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

The ‘blurb’
Set in the mid-19th century, and written from the author's first-hand experience, North and South follows the story of the heroine's movement from the tranquil but moribund ways of southern England to the vital but turbulent north. Elizabeth Gaskell's skilful narrative uses an unusual love story to show how personal and public lives were woven together in a newly industrial society.

This is a tale of hard-won triumphs - of rational thought over prejudice and of humane care over blind deference to the market. Readers in the twenty-first century will find themselves absorbed as this Victorian novel traces the origins of problems and possibilities which are still challenging a hundred and fifty years later: the complex relationships, public and private, between men and women of different classes.

This book represents Greater Manchester in the Counties Challenge - in this novel, Greater Manchester becomes Darkshire and Manchester itself is known as Milton.

I am struggling to get any coherent thoughts down about this book – I really can’t think what to write to do the book justice – not helped by the fact that I read this back in April and am so behind with my reviews, but here goes!

Margaret Hale has been living in London for some 10 years with her cousin, but when her cousin gets married she moves back to the New Forest where her father - who is a vicar - and her mother live. Margaret enjoys spending time with the locals and even receives a proposal from her cousin’s brother-in-law, Captain Lennox, but she turns this down. Life is pretty idyllic until her father has a crisis of faith and the family suddenly find themselves heading North where her father intends to earn money by becoming a private tutor. Margaret’s mother, who is something of a snob objects but has no choice to accept the move seeing as they lose their house which came with the living.

To begin with, Margaret does not like living in Milton, but eventually she settles in and takes an interest in a young girl called Bessy who is the daughter of a man called Nicholas Higgins – a Workers’ Union representative at a factory owned by a man called John Thornton. Bessy has consumption as a result of working in the cotton industry and inhaling the dust. She knows she is likely to die, but suffers her illness with strength and dignity – qualities which Margaret admires. Thornton is one of Mr Hale’s first pupils and Margaret initially clashes with him because they very much disagree on social and economic matters. Margaret thinks she is better than him because he comes from a working-class background, despite him now being an important mill-owner, but she soon thaws and starts to enjoy his company. However, Thornton’s mother takes a dislike to Margaret and thinks that it is Margaret who isn’t good enough for her son!

These are just a few of the rather large cast of characters that appear in this book and I loved the way they were portrayed in the book. Not everyone is likeable (particularly Margaret’s mother) but they are all important to the storyline and they are all so very well drawn. Society and class play a huge part in this book. Margaret looks down on Thornton even though he is quite wealthy because he came from humble beginnings. In a complete contrast, Margaret is now quite poor although she is well educated. The pair of them clash over such issues as workers’ rights but eventually John’s attitude to his workers improves and Margaret becomes less uppity. It is very obvious that they are destined to be together, but there are, of course, many ups and downs along the way. I really loved the ending of the book – it made me smile.

I listened to this on audio book and it was so brilliantly narrated by Juliet Stevenson – she simply made the book come alive. I doubt I’d have read this if it wasn’t for the challenge but I’m so glad I did – I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The paperback edition is 448 pages long and is published by Wordsworth editions. It was first published in 1855. The ISBN is 9781853260933.

5/5 (I loved it)

(Finished 28 April 2016)

 

[Janet]

I'm so far behind that one of my reviews has become irrelevant - a book detailing the UK in the EU

 

I've still got books from April to review!

 

I haven't read (or listened to) this particular Christie, but like you I shall get to them all eventually. I'm taking a slight break because my least favourite was my last - although that was simply because of a lack of a sidelined Poirot rather than fatigue I think.

Some are definitely better than others.  My first Christie (I think... could have been my second) was Cat Among the Pigeons and I didn't even realise it was a Poirot for most of the book because he didn't turn up for so long! 

 

I don't think we have a significant car journey for a couple of months now, so we'll have an enforced break. 

[Janet]

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers

The ‘blurb’
When his sexton finds a corpse in the wrong grave, the rector of Fenchurch St Paul asks Lord Peter Wimsey to find out who the dead man was and how he came to be there.
The lore of bell-ringing and a brilliantly-evoked village in the remote fens of East Anglia are the unforgettable background to a story of an old unsolved crime and its violent unravelling twenty years later.

I have never read any Dorothy L Sayers books before.  This one is the 11th Lord Peter Wimsey mystery – the story centres around bell-ringing.  Back in the day (circa 1984 to 1988) I did a spot of campanology myself, although I certainly never got to the standards in the book! I think I could still ring a bell up and back down after all this time, but as for Bob Doubles… but anyway, I digress!

Wimsey has a minor car accident in bad weather and, with his ‘man’, stays in the village of Fenchurch St. Paul with local vicar and his wife on New Year’s Eve whilst waiting for his car to be repaired. People in the village are dropping like flies due to influenza so Wimsey, who is a bell ringer, gets roped in (pun intended!) to ring a nine hour peel on New Year’s Eve. In the tower he hears a tale of a burglary some years earlier where some emeralds were stolen and two local men were implicated in theft. The case is long unsolved as no evidence was found and neither were the stolen gems… but as the ‘flu claims more victims a body is discovered in an unlikely place and Wimsey finds himself back in the village trying to solve the crime - which is tied up with the bell ringing…

I enjoyed this book which is obviously rather dated to today’s reader, but is still a good yarn. Clearly the investigation would be much easier these days with the internet and the ease of international communication, but of course Wimsey didn’t have such luxuries. The investigation takes Wimsey to France (he says he’ll go himself to save the Police Force some money – that did make me chuckle! Imagine that happening now!). I loved the way the mystery unfolded… and the conclusion was something I definitely didn’t see coming. In terms of the challenge it really gave a feel for Cambridgeshire.

 

Peter and I have been listening to Agatha Christie’s Poirot books in the car – but I’m going to see if I can find the first one on this series on Audio Book in the library for us to try on our next weekend away.

The paperback edition is 384 pages long and is published by Hodder. It was first published in 1934. The ISBN is 9780450001000.  I read it on Kindle

4/5 (I really enjoyed it)

(Finished 30 April 2016)

 

[Little Pixie]

I've been listening to traitors purse - Margery Willingham, via Radio4ex. It's read by Roger Allam, and is excellent so far. I think it was written around the same time as dorothy l Sayers' work, my favourite of which is gaudy night.

[Janet]

Oh I haven't heard of Margery Willingham. I will go and check her out. Thank you for the recommendation.

 

Edit: I think you mean Allingham. I think there was a TV series here with (maybe?) Peter Davidson in the lead role. I like vintage crime so will try one of these at some stage.

[Little Pixie]

Oh I haven't heard of Margery Willingham. I will go and check her out. Thank you for the recommendation.

 

Edit: I think you mean Allingham. I think there was a TV series here with (maybe?) Peter Davidson in the lead role. I like vintage crime so will try one of these at some stage.

 

Curs`ed Autocorrect !!!     Yes, it`s Allingham. 

 

 I have those Peter Davidson DVDs, and love the books.  

[Janet]

 

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

The ‘blurb’
On a French golf course, a millionaire is found stabbed in the back…

An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course.

But why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse…

I always enjoy a Poirot tale, and this one was no exception. Hugh Fraser, as narrator, is always good, but this one, being set in France, had a tendency to become a bit ‘Allo ‘ Allo!

Poirot receives letter urging from Monsieur Paul Renauld him to come quickly – Renauld fears for his life. By the time Poirot and Hastings arrive he’s dead, his body having been discovered in a shallow grave on a golf links after two intruders gained entry to the house and tied his wife up, taking him away with them. Soon a second body is discovered and Poirot, with the help of trusty sidekick Hastings, investigates alongside the official detective Monsieur Giraud and the pair quickly become rivals.

There are lots of suspects in the book and the narrative twists and turns –I gave it a 4/5 on my spreadsheet, completed as soon as I’d finished the book. However, I find that now I come to write my thoughts down I can’t remember the ending of this book at all! I had to read up on Google to see whodunit! Therefore the 4/5 seems a bit high now so on reflection it’s probably a 3 as I know I enjoyed it – I just can’t remember why!

The paperback edition is 320 pages long and is published by HarperCollins. It was first published in 1923. The ISBN is 9780007119288.

3/5 (I enjoyed it)

(Finished 4 May 2016)
 

[Athena]

I'm glad you enjoyed this Agatha Christie book . How odd you couldn't remember the whodunit. That happens to me too sometimes.

[Janet]

It's my own fault for being so behind with my reviews.  I might have to do a few short ones to try to catch up.  Every time I catch up I swear I shan't get so far behind again, but I always do!