RANDOM JOTTINGS

I was sorting out my TBR pile the other day and had a sort out of those I was sent and did not particularly want (charity shop beckons) and those I pass on to friends as I think they may like them and I am not going to read them, and then those which I definitely DO want to read but gawd knows when I will get round to them….you know the drill.

Anyway, here is a round up of read, to be read and will be read but I am not sure when….

Two from the British LIbrary series of Women Writers which is "a curated collection" which description makes me want to spit feathers. "curated" and "shop the edit" are marketing expressions which are now totally overused and incredibly irritating.  If I receive something so described I feel like chucking it in the bin straight away.  Which would be a pity as some of the titles are really interesting.  Father by Elizabeth von Arnim has long been out of print and it is good to have it back. I have a battered old copy on my shelves which I am hanging onto so this new copy will be passed on to a friend.

Jennifer has devoted years of her life to looking after her writer father who is selfish and utterly vile.  He arrives home one day with an adoring acolyte who he announces as his new wife.   When they go off on honeymoon Jennifer seizes the opportunity to do a bunk and make a life of her own.   Witty, funny and delightful and written with that wonderful detached humour that EVA does so well, this is a delight only marred by the ending when I wanted to get hold of Jennifer and bash her up against a brick wall….

Another in this series Tea is so Intoxicating by Mary Essex.  A new tea garden is opened in a country village much to the consternation of the lady of the manor who wants to shut it down. It is run by David who is a rather silly man with a high opinion of himself and is thoroughly irritating.   What was also irritating about this book is the author's penchant for totally unneccesary exclamation marks which are littered throughout and I am not quite sure why.   I have to be honest and say that this was not for me though I have read other reviewers who loved it.  Mary Essex is a pen name for Ursula Bloom who, it seems, was once recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most published female author a fact which fills me with astonishment.   This title is being passed on.

Business as Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford. An epistolary novel novel originally published in 1933. Hilary Fane has just left Edinburgh University and is determined to support herself by her own earnings in London for a year despite the resentment of her rather pompous surgeon fiance.  She finds works as a typist in a London department store (clearly based on Selfridges) and her misfortunes and mistakes and trials and tribulations are written about with wit and style.  She rises through the ranks to work in the library where all attempts at improving the service are met with disapproval by entrenched colleagues.

At first Hilary appears as a tad snobbish with a total ignorance of how the proles live and life comes as a bit of a shock but her natural resilience and good nature see her through. Initially unimpressed with this title by the end I had come to love it and it is staying on my shelves.  As I read it I realised it reminded me in style of E M Delafield which I think is A Good Thing.

In my previous post I said I had been watching the TV and film versions of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by le Carre. I decided I would re-read the book and, once more, found it totally gripping and superbly written.   I then turned to Box88 by Charles Cumming which is a brilliant spy story and very much in the le Carre style. Both Cummin and le Carrie show us what the reality of the intelligence sector is like, no James Bond swanning round in glam locations, but unobtrusive secretive men and women going about their business in a very understated way.  (Personally, I have always wondered how Bond could be a spy seeing as how everyone knew who he was…)

It is 1989 and the Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. Lachlan is torn with loyalty to the service that has recruited him and to the friends he is staying with.

It is now 2020: MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88’s existence and investigate Kite only to disover that Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier – or watch his family die.

The Narrative goes backwards and forwards in time, a device which I always find interesting and helps with charactr development. A tight, taut thriller, excellent writing and as good as Cumming's previous spy novels, all of which I have read. There is a cliff hanger ending so more to come and that is also A Good Thing.

Brothers at War – Robert Lacey.   Just published and loving a good gossip I read this with great enjoyment. All about Harry and William and their relationship.   Not all is as it seems as reported by the Press and Lacey seems to have good reliable sources for his facts.  An ongoing saga which will run and run. Various opinions expressed on Ginge and Winge or Cash and Harry as they are sometimes referred to in our fine tabloid press.

OK now onto books awaiting my attention:

Wobble to Death by Peter Lovesey.  It is fifty years since this novel was written and I am delighted that Peter is still with us and still writing superb mysteries featuring Inspector Peter Diamond and set in Bath. This is a special anniversary edition and I am delighted to have it.

The Man who didn't fly by Margot Bennett. British Library Crime classic and I know full well that I am going to enjoy this.

The Artful Dickens by John Mullan "the tricks and ploys of the great novelist". As a Dickens fan and having read Mullan on Jane Austen I know this is going to be good and I am looking forward to reading it.

Dressed for War by Julie Summers. I know nothing about this except it is the story of Vogue editor Audrey WIthers from the Blitz to the Swinging Sixties. Sounds promising,

And I have to mention Miss Carter and the Ifrit by Susan Alice Kerby. Miss Carter by an combination of circumstances comes across an Ifrit "don't call him a genie" who is eager to do her bidding.  He brings her exotic foods and whisks her off through space to visit a nephew in Canada.  I am half way through this title and loving it – it reminds me very much of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day published by Persephone some years ago and has the same Cinderella quality. I will reveiw more fully later.   This little gem is published by Dean Street Press who are rapidly becoming my favourite place to find delightful unknown titles.

Well that is enough to keep me going for a bit methinks.

How are you all doing with your reading? Do let me know of any interesting titles and I hope everyone is keeping well in these trying times.