September's Books

    Hi everyone. Today I'm sharing my monthly reading post. For those of you who like to read about books, I hope you enjoy this post. 

    September was not a big reading month for me, and I seemed to stall out when it came to books. Some of that was due to being away for awhile, and some of that was due to reading this very large book, which I am very much enjoying but still haven't finished.😞

   Last month I mentioned this book I had started. Sarum  by Edward Rutherford was published in 1987, and I had hoped to be done with it by the end of this month. My paperback version is over 1,000 pages long with VERY small print.  If I listened to it, it would be a 54 hour listen. It's a great book, but I don't recommend you read it unless you're up for the long haul. 😏 

    I did make a lot of headway into this book last month, and even though I had hoped to finish it, I didn't. For one thing, I wish I listened to it because I felt like I was stuck when I reached around page 500. At that point I was antsy to read some of the other books I wanted to read. I guess I wasn't really in the mood for such a long book. 😓  So.....I decided that when I went away on my trip to Nova Scotia I'd take my Kindle with me instead of this book. I made that decision mainly because of the size of this book (and its print size) versus the size of a Kindle. Plus with the Kindle being back lighted, I didn't need to bring along a reading light to read in bed. Even though I picked Sarum back up when I returned home, I'm still not done with it yet.  I am enjoying it, and even though I may not finish it right off the bat, I am going to keep reading it (probably around some other books) until I do. 

   My first listen for September was this novel called Glamorous Notions by Megan Chance. When I read the blip for this book, it  said this: "A costume designer’s past casts a long shadow over her well-constructed lies in this intriguing story about stolen identities, friendship, and betrayal..."

    The main character is Elsie from Ohio. She goes to Italy to study fashion design and gets involved with some underground characters, even though she only suspects those underground connections. While in Italy, she gets a new name Lena. Then there is a murder, and  Elsie is put on a plane back to Los Angeles and told she can no longer visit Italy. Back in LA, this character formally changes her name to Lena Taylor and becomes the head studio costume designer for Lux Motion Pictures.  There's also another murder. All this happens during the 1950's.

    This story was often suspenseful and had several twists along the way. It also moved quickly. After  about 7 hours of listening a lot of the pieces started to come together. (It was an 11+ hour listen).  The story also did a great job of portraying life in 1950's Hollywood (or at least what I suspect it was like) when people were afraid of homosexuals and communists. Not only was this story about Hollywood, but there were also Russian spies, a connection to jazz music, and a bone record containing info about the WW2 Hiroshima bombing. In an afterward the author explained the connections between those topics and why she included them in the story.   I didn't know about Bone Music, which ended up being an important part of this story. Overall this was light listening, and even though it wasn't the best book I ever read, I quite enjoyed it and really wanted to see how it wrapped up.

   While I was away and taking a break from Sarum,  I read the following 2 books on my Kindle.

     I've read this book, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey before, but it's been a long long time. Originally this book was published in 1951, and if you aren't familiar with this mystery, Inspector  Alan Grant (he is Tey's Scotland Yard  character) is laid up in the hospital after falling through a  trap door and breaking his leg. He's bored, and even though lots of friends have brought him books, none of them interest him. Then his actress friend Marta Hallard brings him some postcards with historical faces on them, and when she suggests he try to solve a historical mystery, Grant thinks that's not a bad idea.  He is especially taken by the one of King Richard III in red. 

    Because Grant is bedridden, he asks people to bring him books about Richard III and the historical mystery associated with him. This mystery is about the disappearance and possible murder of Richard's 2 nephews he put into the Tower of London. Some of those books are helpful; some not so much. He reads them and uses his detective mind to gather clues and make sense of them regarding  this particular historical mystery. He also asks various people what they think about the face in the picture of Richard. One doctor thinks he looks like he has polio. His co-worker thinks he looks like a judge. And of course, someone has to think he looks like the devil.  When the books don't completely help,  Grant meets someone who needs something to fill their time and he does  some research for him.  

   Every time I read this book I think it's better than the last time I read it.  I liked  Grant's interaction with the hospital staff as well as the conversations about Richard III and the Princes in the Tower.  History for so long had written Richard as a deranged murderer who killed his 2 nephews in the Tower ( of London) so he could usurp them and become king. It's fascinating how Tey comes to the conclusion that Richard did not kill his  nephews in the Tower (of London). And how he wasn't this deranged maniac.  I'm guessing that was unusual in 1951, and she uses Grant's detective mind to follow the historical evidence and come to that conclusion. 

   I've seen several shows on TV and read a few other books about Richard III and the Princes in the Tower, and Tey’s view seems to be a modern take on this historical story.   Tey writes fairly clearly and makes an interesting and enjoyable mystery that’s rather unique . 

   

    I always enjoy Lucy Worsley’s work, whether it's one of her TV shows or her books. This book, The Art of the English Murder, is an interesting history about actual murders and how those murders in the 1800’s brought about modern murder fiction and modern methods of policing. 

    The author talks about how the people of Great Britain were fascinated by murder. Worsley starts in the early 1800's with an actual murder. She then  goes on to talk about how newspapers wrote about this killing and how Thomas De Quincy wrote a  fictional story based on that murder which  became very popular too.  She  describes how people liked more than just reading about murders too. Worsley describes how hangings were big public parties and how people often visited the actual scenes of crimes because in the early 1800's there were yet to be official police forces.

 

    I enjoyed how Worsley mentioned authors and how their writings either paralleled police work and murders of their times, or how, in a few cases, they actually brought about changes to solving murders. She writes about Charles Dickens and his novel Bleak House, Wilkie Collins and The Moonstone, as well as Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series. She also mentions several other authors and their works such as how Stevenson's Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde appeared as both a book and stage play at the same time as Jack the Ripper was terrorizing and fascinating the population of London. She  mentions women solving crimes and many female authors also.

    It was interesting to read about the development of mystery fiction in England. She did not go into Edgar Allen Poe and many US or other country mystery authors.

   From the 1800's she moves into the Golden Age detective novels that were written between the 2 World Wars, and then she goes on to the hard-boiled detective and thrillers.   I could go on, because this book is filled with fascinating information. I very much enjoyed reading it. However I found one major mistake. In a chapter about Agatha Christie she mentions how Christie had 2 children, a boy and girl. In fact Christie only had one daughter. I wonder how this big of a mistake actually made it into the final copy. Plus since Worsley wrote a biography of Agatha Christie a few years back and  that book did not contain this mistake, I'm guessing it was an editing issue. I'm assuming there are no other major mistakes in this book, but not being an expert of crime literature (just a reader who really enjoys it), I don't know.  Even with the mistake, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. 

  

   My final book for the month was also my other listen. My husband and I needed a book to listen to on some long stretches of driving while we were away. I suspected that the newest Dan Brown book would be one we'd both enjoy. Even though we didn't finish it on the trip, when I came home I finished it up on my own (and my husband is working his way through it on his own too).

   Robert Langdon is back. Dan Brown's main character in this novel (as well as in The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons and a couple of other of his books) is a Harvard Professor who this time gets involved in a mystery in Prague. One thing I love about all of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon novels is how the author takes the reader to some really interesting places. The author definitely does his research too, and I like how his action takes place in historical spots. Not only did I enjoy the action, but I liked learning a bit about Prague from this book.

   This time the author's overall theme is what makes each one of us who we are  or our consciousness. This book even straddles the "what happens when we die" idea. It's an interesting concept, and it all begins with Langdon's girlfriend's manuscript which is causing all kinds of people to want it to disappear. As always, there's a few deaths, some bad guys, and  even a bit of  beyond-this-world-magic as Brown has added a golem  character. I'm not sure his books are anything more than pure entertainment, even though he fills them with interesting information, but I always enjoy the entertainment they offer. 

   Dan Brown is a relatively local author as he lives in seacoast New Hampshire. I have seen him speak a couple of times, and I recently saw a local news show interview him. On that show he said teachers are his heroes because they introduce you to new ideas and help you to make sense of them. Seeing I am a retired teacher and seeing right now much of the US is not very teacher friendly,  I think the man deserves high kudos for that statement. Plus, he wrote another fast paced and interesting novel.

  That's it for me this month. I'm hoping during October I can finish up Sarum and read a few other things. But we shall see. And if you're a book lover and have read anything outstanding, I'd love it if you'd let me know.