Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Not that we celebrate Guy Fawkes Day here in the US, but right now it's mizzling outside, reminding me of the UK [
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I'm on the last, summing-up chapters of The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry by Andrew Bridgeford. It's been an enjoyable and informative ride, although I must admit that while I breezed through the early chapters, his detailed descriptions and interpretations of the individual scenes in the tapestry, I bogged down a bit in the historical minutiae of the later chapters. Still, a fascinating read.
Also on paper I read The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey. This is less a mystery novel than a story of women's empowerment in 1921 Bombay. The contrast and comparison between all the different sexist traditions---Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, British---make for an interesting background and do play into the actual mystery part of the story.
Also on paper, I read a book titled There is a Wideness, by Mark McAllister. McAllister is the cousin of a friend, who gave me his 2004 book to read. I was a bit dubious at first, since it was published by a "inspirational" Christian press, but while it is indeed an inspirational story with religious themes, none of the above are heavy-handed.
McAllister's novel is a fictionalized version of the horrendous school explosion in East Texas in 1937, which cost almost 300 lives, mostly children. His mother missed being in the school at the time of the explosion by only seconds. The story concerns a man who lost his sister in the disaster and an elderly man who finds him in the cemetery ten years later. It's well-written, with strong voices and memorable characters. And I will add that the small press publisher did a better job editing and copy-editing than some large publishers do!
I also listened to the audiobook of Jeeves in the Morning, another P.G Wodehouse Jeeves and Bertie novel. I think I've heard/read one too many of these, because it was a good third of the way into the book before I decided I hadn't read it before, it's just that Wodehouse returned again and again to the same situations and characters. But his writing is still highly amusing, despite a couple of jarring racist remarks sadly typical of the time.
Whew! What have you been reading?
]I'm on the last, summing-up chapters of The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry by Andrew Bridgeford. It's been an enjoyable and informative ride, although I must admit that while I breezed through the early chapters, his detailed descriptions and interpretations of the individual scenes in the tapestry, I bogged down a bit in the historical minutiae of the later chapters. Still, a fascinating read.
Also on paper I read The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey. This is less a mystery novel than a story of women's empowerment in 1921 Bombay. The contrast and comparison between all the different sexist traditions---Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, British---make for an interesting background and do play into the actual mystery part of the story.
Also on paper, I read a book titled There is a Wideness, by Mark McAllister. McAllister is the cousin of a friend, who gave me his 2004 book to read. I was a bit dubious at first, since it was published by a "inspirational" Christian press, but while it is indeed an inspirational story with religious themes, none of the above are heavy-handed.
McAllister's novel is a fictionalized version of the horrendous school explosion in East Texas in 1937, which cost almost 300 lives, mostly children. His mother missed being in the school at the time of the explosion by only seconds. The story concerns a man who lost his sister in the disaster and an elderly man who finds him in the cemetery ten years later. It's well-written, with strong voices and memorable characters. And I will add that the small press publisher did a better job editing and copy-editing than some large publishers do!
I also listened to the audiobook of Jeeves in the Morning, another P.G Wodehouse Jeeves and Bertie novel. I think I've heard/read one too many of these, because it was a good third of the way into the book before I decided I hadn't read it before, it's just that Wodehouse returned again and again to the same situations and characters. But his writing is still highly amusing, despite a couple of jarring racist remarks sadly typical of the time.
Whew! What have you been reading?
