willoyd Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 On 12/25/2022 at 12:27 PM, Madeleine said: Actually most of the Christmas ones haven't been too bad, the new one is OK so far. At least it's quite fast-paced. The last one I read, admittedly a few years ago, was Jefferson J Farjeon's Mystery in White. It was pretty awful, although did manage 2 stars rather than 1. It was the last in a line of books that had, IMO, dated badly. On a happier note, I've managed to finish my challenge tonight, completing the last of the books read in the order below: A book with snow on the cover or in the title: Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. A Christmas children's story: More About Paddington by Michael Bond (the last 3 of the 7 chapters are set at Christmas time) A Christmas mystery: A Maigret Christmas by George Simenon Struggled with the first, a book I also read for my Read Around The World project (for Japan), but cantered through the next two, both rereads of books I really enjoy, and which I welcomed the chance to reread. I haven't read the last for a while now, and had forgotten the plots. The second story, in particular, really racked the tension beautifully. Interesting to not have Maigret as the centre of attention on this one - it just involves colleagues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunababymoonchild Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 9 hours ago, willoyd said: The last one I read, admittedly a few years ago, was Jefferson J Farjeon's Mystery in White. It was pretty awful, although did manage 2 stars rather than 1. It was the last in a line of books that had, IMO, dated badly. On a happier note, I've managed to finish my challenge tonight, completing the last of the books read in the order below: A book with snow on the cover or in the title: Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. A Christmas children's story: More About Paddington by Michael Bond (the last 3 of the 7 chapters are set at Christmas time) A Christmas mystery: A Maigret Christmas by George Simenon Struggled with the first, a book I also read for my Read Around The World project (for Japan), but cantered through the next two, both rereads of books I really enjoy, and which I welcomed the chance to reread. I haven't read the last for a while now, and had forgotten the plots. The second story, in particular, really racked the tension beautifully. Interesting to not have Maigret as the centre of attention on this one - it just involves colleagues. I also enjoyed the fact that the second story was about Maigret's colleagues and not about him. I've never read Paddington! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, lunababymoonchild said: I've never read Paddington! I grew up with him: Paddington and I were 'born' within a week of each other (with the first Blue Peter another 3 days later!), and I read and reread the books all the way through my childhood. He's one of the very few children's books I continue to read, and I have a complete boxed set of his books in hardback on my shelves! Superbly written, very rare among books in that they are capable of making me laugh out loud*, yet have a lovely, gently positive (childlike?!) approach to life. For some a bit dated (the Browns have a housekeeper for instance), but so much to offer still today. Incidentally, the films are fine - I enjoyed them well enough - but they are seriously not a patch on the books, and I do worry that, yet again, children (and adults!) will get their experience of Paddington solely through them - just like more and more children haven't read the Harry Potters but "I've seen the movies". At least they aren't the complete travesty that Disney made of my other great childhood love, Winnie-the-Pooh. I really enjoyed the fact that this challenge let me bring together two of my all-time favourite literary characters: Maigret and Paddington. *The chapter on decorating in More About Paddington had me giggling hopelessly. Corny, and even a bit cliched now, but still wonderful slapstick on paper. The bathroom scene in the original A Bear Called Paddington is another: the books only take an hour or so to read - worth that at least! Edited December 30, 2022 by willoyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunababymoonchild Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 My mother read to me a lot when I was a child and later as a adult I asked her why she hadn't read whatever it was she replied that it wasn't possible to read everything there was. She also mentioned that she tended to read what she enjoyed, which is fair enough. As an adult whose friends had babies I understood this. So some things got passed me. I can always read them now and just as you mentioned I assumed I knew the story from seeing it on TV etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 I read quite a few Paddington books when I was young and enjoyed them, and i still have them - the Armada editions with the red spine. I haven't seen the films yet though. I agree with Willoyd re Mystery in White, I also thought it was terrible! It was one of the British Library's early successes but I can't see why it was so popular, happily some of the few I've read since have been better, I've almost finished my current read and it's fast-paced so I'm whipping through it, it's OK and at least has some decent characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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