Random Jottings

Snowy Ramblings

The UK is in danger of grinding to a halt again because of snow.  Now I know there are many visitors out there who live in places where our kind of snow is a mere snowflake in comparison to that which you receive on a regular basis, but the difference is you know what it is like, you know it will arrive and you are prepared for it.  Over here everyone, including the weather men, react with total astonishment when it starts and then panic sets in and the local authorities run out of salt and grit, schools are closed and the Health and Safety people have a field day stopping children throwing snowballs ('dangerous'), getting their sledges out ('dangerous') and even sliding in the school playground ('dangerous').  

I have already posted about how much I like being indoors in the warm and cosy and nice and gemutlich and today is one of those days.  The curtains are drawn, when I glance outside the street lamps down my street are casting a glow on the snow, a fresh fall came about an hour ago and is not yet slush or marred by foot prints and all is gleaming and beautiful.  I am sitting here at my laptop, Mozart playing (concertante for woodwind), my supper is ready to pop in the over later and ooh I feel so contented to be here.  Earlier on I nipped out to put my rubbish bag out for collection tomorrow and there is something rather delightful at turning round and seeing my living room glowing in the dark and seeing all the books and the warm light and thinking Oh that is my home and I am going back indoors.   I know I crack on all the time about loving being retired and I do apologise for being a bore on the subject, but having no pressures, no clocks to watch, having control over what I do and just pottering about the kitchen as I did yesterday, cooking for the freezer and making flapjacks and Christmas puddings.   Total bliss.

And I have rediscovered the joys of radio.   When I was commuting the radio was on in the morning for half an hour and that was it.  I never listened to much and missed a lot. Yes I know I can listen again via the computer but somehow never got round to it.   Now I can tune in when I want to and I do.  I have always dipped in and out of Classic FM, a station for which I have a high regard as it has certainly broadened classical music listening, but now that I can hear it a lot, I find the constant adverts tiresome and repetitive, as is the music.   Some of the presenters, John Suchet and David Mellor are the two that spring to mind, play interesting music but most of the time they stick to The Most Wanted List which is not wanted at all, a selection of music is put on the website daily and you choose from that; they also used the Top 300 list as their basis for their choices so much though I love the Hebrides Overture or the finale of Bruch's Violin concerto, there does come a time when you tire of them.   Classic FM also has its favourites, by favourites those artistes whose agent has got in touch and is pushing their product, so we will have a six month blitz on Pavarotti (not any more of course); Roberto Alagna (not so much now that he is no longer with the fragrant Angela); Andrea Boccelli (he seems to have dropped off the playing list thank heavens); then the two Jenkins - Katherine and Karl both of whom I dislike intensely.  Rolando Villazon has been done to death recently also Anna Netbrenko (know that is spelled wrong) along with Andre Riu and the singing priests (the singing priests are not performing with Andre Riu you understand, it just reads like that.  Shut up Elaine...).   So now I tend to dip in only now and then, usually the evening concert where they play the Full Works and I can listen to an entire symphony or concerto.

My main listening nowadays is Radio 3 which really is a miracle of a station with an eclectic and amazing output.   In the mornings when I wake up there is the Breakfast Show, at the moment with Rob Cowan, which is always full of wonderful music.  At ten we have the Classic Collection with Sarah Walker at the helm (though this changes) playing recordings which are classics for one reason or another. In the last week the theme has been French and we have also had some marvellous recordings of Pierre Monteux who was still conducting when he was in his 90's.

Then composer of the week which I can choose to listen to or not depending on who it is, and then the afternoon concert which is a marvel.  Yesterday we had Beethoven Symphony No 1; Land of the Mountain and the Flood by Maccunn; Sibelius violin concerto and then ended up with a concert performance of Die Walkure Act 1 which was simply terrific with great singing.  This afternoon I sat writing my Christmas cards with Dvorak's 8th symphony in the background and a stunning performance of one of my all time favourite symphonies, Sibelius's second.

On Radio 4 we have a nightly episode of Mrs Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, Woman's Hour always provocative and interesting, next week Friday Night is Music Night on Radio 2 which I used to listen to when I was a little girl, has Bryn Terfel singing Christmas songs and so it goes on.

I am very choosy at the TV I watch, don't mistake me, I watch rubbish as much as the next person but my main entertainment these days comes from the radio.  BBC 4 always has interesting progs and I check those out, I watch Mastermind and University Challenge and that is about it really now that Downton Abbey has finished.  BUT I must not forget - I tune into Miranda on a Monday which I simply love.  Touching, witty, wise and amusing it is perfect.  And not a fart or a swear word in sight. 

And there are my snowy ramblings for today - have read two Reginald HIll titles today, one of which was unknown to me and the other I had forgotten, so thoroughly enjoyed them, had three publisher catalogues sent to me so am choosing which I would like to receive for review, and most delightful of all, a copy of the Winter edition of Slightly Foxed and a request that perhaps I would like to write about them?

Will be delighted to do so.

Watch this space.

The Burning - Jane Casey

Last year I read Jane Casey's first book, The Missing and was not totally overwhelmed by the ending which I thought rather spoiled the rest of the story.  I said so and then received an email from the author thanking me for my review but saying it had made her 'wince a bit'.  Of course, I was immediately stricken with guilt but this is what reviewing is about and I have to be honest.   Problem is I don't like dissing books in any way as I know full well I am totally incapable of writing a novel and, as a blogger, am very aware that as a critic I am an amateur.  However, I had to tell the truth and after such a promising start I felt really disappointed by the denouement revealing the culprit which I had already guessed as well.

So it was with trepidation that I found myself reading The Burning by the same author and I am going to say straight away, with enormous relief, that I thought it was a terrific read and streets ahead of her first, much better plotted and with more believable characters.

Maeve Kerrigan is an ambitious detective constable and is keen to make her mark.  As a woman in a male environment she has to work twice as hard to prove her worth and also learn to deal with the sexism that is part of her daily routine.  She is involved in the investigation to track down The Burning Man, a brutal serial killer who has beaten four young women to death before burning their bodies.  A fifth body has been found but there are differences in the manner of her death which make Maeve think that this is a separate murder.  She investigates and the more she learns about the victim, Rebecca Haworth from her friends and family, the more she is sure that there are two murderers abroad.  She meets Rebecca's ex-boyfriend Gil Maddick, darkly handsome, brooding and dangerous, her best friend Louise North, cold and self possessed and very jealous of others involved with Rebecca.  It appears that the golden lifestyle enjoyed by Rebecca has been falling apart, a drug habit, broke and now out of a job and all is not as it seems on the surface.

Once started I read right through until the end.   Narrative pacy and strong and I found myself liking Maeve Kerrigan very much and hope that we meet her again in another detective novel.  

I am so pleased that I liked this book and Jane, if you are still reading Random Jottings after last year, then I hope you see this review!

Back Home

Gosh it's cold and I am glad to be back in my little flat with curtains drawn and all nice and cosy.  Had a very pleasant few days with a friend of mine who lives not far from Brighton so I was able to nip down to that town and see my Aunt Kit, who is now the longest living relative I possess (96) after the death of my lovely mum.  She is housebound but lives in a lovely block of warden controlled flats and has carers come in and she is as bright as a button and quite content with her books and her radio.  I have always got on well with Auntie Kit, she was always such a fun person, well still is, and we used to spend all our time together giggling and the other day was no different.

I had taken down about 40 books for my friend Daphne, saved up over the last six months, and was really pleased to get some space back in my living room.   But Daphne gave me four carrier bags full in return and then after coffee one morning we went on a charity shop trawl and I picked up even more: two by Reginald HIll, another Peter James (have just finished his latest and it is brilliant), one by Charles Cumming, an author I have recently discovered who writes spy thrillers, the Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day in the Persephone Classic edition (I already have this and will pass it on to a friend, was not going to leave it languishing there) and, finally, a gorgeous hard backed and beautifully illustrated copy of French country Cooking by Elizabeth David which I pounced upon with cries of glee.

On arriving home, I found another five books had arrived for review, plus two from the Amazon Vine Programme so as far as space is concerned I am back to square one.

Read a terrific detective story while away which I will review in the next day or so, but am looking forward to staying indoors nice and warm and getting ready to watch Strictly Come Dancing.  Surely, surely THAT Woman will go this week?   Pretty please....

Blog Break

Just taking a break for a few days - will be back to posting at weekend.   Have a good rest of the week everyone

Au reservoir!

Strictly Come Dancing 2010 - Blackpool!

Every year Strictly Come Dancing takes its caravanserai up to Blackpool the so called 'Home of Ballroom'.  This seems to induce mass hysteria in the presenters of the programme, Bruce, Claudia and Tess who rabbit on about it for weeks.  You would think they were hoping for Nirvana and the question 'Just what does it mean to you to get to Blackpool?' is asked of every dancer, celebrity or professional.  Of course 'it means the world' to all of them and if one of them turned round and said they couldn't care less it would not be shown on TV that is for sure.

So last Saturday was the big night and Blackpool or, as Tess was determined to keep calling it, the 'Vegas of the North' was en fete with a pretty tacky opening routine with the girls dressed up like show girls with feathers on their heads and the men in white suits a la Elvis circa 1970.   Then on comes Bruce and Tess who get the show off with a bang by making feeble jokes about chips and gravy and Oop North and if I had been in the audience I would have clocked them.   I am a huge fan of Bruce Forsyth, think he is a consummate professional and quite brilliant, but I really really think it is time for him to retire from this show.  His fluffed lines, bad jokes and mistakes are now getting more noticeable as each week goes by.

I must say that the ballroom is totally over the top, massive amount of floor space for the dancers to use, sprung floor, masses of chandeliers, lots of gilt and bling and gold and red, audience raucous and loud and out to have a good time and the atmosphere was really humming.

Out of the seven remaining couples in the competition, it is a source of distress to many that Ann Widdicombe is still there.   We have lost an excellent dancer in Jimmy Mistry and there was quite visible shock when he went. Out of those that are left there are clear front runners:  Tanya and Artem, Matt and Aliona, Scott and Natalie and Pamela and James. Next are Patsy Kensit who has an endearing personality, is obviously enjoying every single moment of it and the viewers and audiences know this and love it, Gavin Hanson and Katya.  Gavin seems to be totally unable to let go of his self consciousness and when he does there is the glimmer of a good dancer but he is a bag of nerves most of the time.   Felicity and Vincent are lovely but she is not getting any better and think she has reached her standard.

They all did routines of varying success. Gavin went to pieces and their dance was poor; Matt and Aliona quite brilliant but Len didn't like the back flips Matt threw in at the end (Len was very grouchy on Saturday); Tany and Artem did a sensational American Smooth but Len threw a wobbly because he said it wasn't a foxtrot and they were not in hold and then threw a hissy fit and was booed by the audience (this makes a change as it is usually Craig who gets it in the neck); Patsy and Robin - fun but mediocre; Felicity and Vincent - elegant and graceful but lacked any sort of verve; Scott and Natalie - he is normally the blue-eyed boy but did not quite pull it off this week; James and Pamela did a wonderful American Smooth and I am beginning to think they are my favourite couple.  She is quite fearless and dances wonderfully and James has never got this far in the competition before and has never received a mark of 10 - well tonight he got two and was absolutely thrilled.

I have left Ann and Anton to last and really am not quite sure where to start.  They were doing a samba, but as Miss W refuses to do any 'suggestive' movements at all, will not wear anything remotely resembling a samba dress and cannot dance, the whole thing was car crash TV.  She goes on about her modesty and now has her dresses slightly shorter but underneath she has matching leggings so nobody can glimpse anything which is probably just as well.  Not quite sure who came up with the idea of dressing her in canary yellow but it was not a good one.  She looked like Big Bird from Sesame Street and was even more ungainly.  Anton came on dressed in what looked like gold foil and did a superb job of dancing round her,  while she stomped around the floor making no attempt to do anything at all, and then at the end did his usual trick of picking her up by one arm and one leg and swinging her round.   Unfortunately, he lost his grip and she ended up in a heap on the floor with a very revealing view of canary yellow bottom.  All too much to bear.

This joke, if it was ever funny, is now distasteful, embarrassing  and demeaning.  This is a woman who, as a fervent Catholic, was recently offered a job as liaison with the Vatican.  I am sure if the Pope could  see the exhibition she made of herself on Saturday he would wonder what on earth was going on.   She does not seem to see that she is making a complete prat of herself and these moments will be on You tube for ever under the heading Most Embarrassing Moments.  What is more when Miss W comes to the judges table to hear their comments she is rude and arrogant and thinks she is being witty and humorous and has no idea what she sounds like.  The audience are rocking with laughter and it is AT her not WITH her and it is all appalling.

All the forums and message boards are full of complaints about the BBC asking her on in the first place - we all know why they did it - ratings, and outrage that good dancers are being knocked out while she is still there.  I could put up with that, it has happened in the past, but what makes me, and others, so angry is that she is making no effort at all to learn to dance.  The other dancers on the show are putting the hours in, working their butts off and have to watch her get through week after week.

As the numbers of dancers in the show diminish the votes will not be spread out so thinly and, hopefully, she will get her conge soon, but I have a feeling that the Great British Public are on a campaign to keep her in, out of pure devilment.   I always watch the Final with my friend Rosemary and we have a nice meal and a glass of wine while we watch, shout, yell and applaud but if Miss W gets through I will not be looking at it.

OK rant over.  Going to bed now...

Murder at Mansfield Park - Lynn Shepherd Winners of the Draw!

Thank you all for taking part in this draw and my thanks to Lynn Shepherd for offering two copies as prizes. I have drawn the names out of a hat and the two winners are:

Lizzy Siddall and Rhonda

Congratulations to you both and if you can please email me off blog with your mailing address I will forward these to the Esteemed Author.

Crime Round Up

I have recently re-read The Private Patient by PD James and decided to take a look at some of her earlier works written back in the 1970s and though monetary values and technology has made these rather dated the narrative drive and excellence of the writing remain.   So I picked up The Black Tower and settled down for a quiet afternoon on the sofa with the rain and wind outside and me nice and warm inside. Bliss.

At the start of this book Adam Dalgliesh is recuperating from a serious illness when he receives a call for advice from an elderly friend who works as a chaplain in a home for the disabled on the Dorset Coast.  When he arrives it is only to discover that his friend has died as has one of the patients at Toynton Grange who committed suicide by hurling his wheelchair over a cliff.  Or did he?  The Grange is not the caring house one would hope to find and there is obviously evil lurking underneath the surface.  Had forgotten most of it so it was almost like reading a new PDJ.  On the cover of the book there is a quote from The Times:  'She writes like an angel. Every character is clearly drawn. Her atmosphere is unerringly, chillingly convincing'.   Not going to argue with that.

I then turned to another book I had brought home from the library, mistakenly thinking it was another PDJ only to find it wasn't. It was by an author Peter James who has the fortune or misfortune, not sure which, of being shelved next to the Baroness in the library.   I thought I would give it a whirl and then found myself engrossed in a cracking good thriller.   Our hero is Inspector Roy Grace and true to the genre he has marriage problems.  Not a widower or a divorcee this time, just for a change his wife went missing nine years ago, walked out one day and never came back.  This is a new departure from the normal maverick/miserable detective we are usually given and the first title I read, Looking Good Dead, is further on in the series and he seems to be moving on and finding a new love in his life, so fingers crossed it doesn't go tits up.  Bet it will though.

Series set in Brighton, well plotted and well written. This particular story featuring the making of snuff movies and all rather unpleasant but dealt with in a straightforward manner and no over the top gratuitous details given and I thought I would read more of this author.   Great I thought now I have another name to add to my list of crime writers to read, went into the library and borrowed another and then picked up two in a charity shop so I am good to go.

Then I read the latest Tess Gerritsen - The Killing Place.   This is another author I only recently discovered and in my usual manner read the lot in one huge splurge.   Her earlier novels are more romantic thrillers than anything else, pacy and enjoyable but once she decided to create Detective Jane Rizzoli and Dr Maura Isles, the cirminal pathologist, then she ups her game and the writing, plotting and narrative are so much better.   In The Killing Place, Maura is attending a conference in Wyoming where she bumps into an old colleague and his friends and on an impulse decides to take up their offer of a place on a road trip they are planning.  It is snowing and cold and when the car gets stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere all looks bleak until they spot a private road leading to the village of Kingdom Come.   But when they arrive the village is deserted, half eaten meals are discovered on the tables, the windows are open, a dead dog lies in the back yard, cars are left in the garages and it is clear something mysterious and horrible has happened.   As they seek overnight shelter in one of the empty houses Maura becomes aware that something or someone is lurking in the dark woods.

This is a terrifically enjoyable read, creepy and scary and kept me up late one night (probably not the best time to read it) until I had come to the last page.  I really do like this lady's writing and, as I discovered this week, does Simon over on Savidge Reads.  He has an interview with Tess Gerritsen so please do nip over and take a look.  

I am also reading some of the early Reginald Hill oeuvre which I seem to have missed or forgotten when I discovered them several years ago, and enjoying them too.  Sometimes it is good to have a binge and race through an author's output as I then re-read them a few years later and enjoy them all over again.  I call it literary recycling.

And in the midst of all the crime I took time out to take a second look at Down Under by Bill Bryson which I read years ago, but in view of my upcoming visit, decided to read again.   As always, BB reduced me to helpless laughter with his laid back style and his humour, but what I love about him is his simple and unalloyed enjoyment when he comes across something that really takes his fancy. It is usually something small and silly but he makes no bones about how he feels and that is what makes his books not only historically interesting, but also endearing.

Not been too well this week so these books have helped take my mind off things. Tomorrow I may let rip at Strictly Come Dancing.   Bet you can't wait........

I Love Mills and Boon!

Yes I do.  I once wrote an article on Guilty Pleasures and it was all about Mills & Boon and yet I now think this was a misnomer and I don't feel any guilt at all about curling up on the sofa and passing an hour or two with a M&B.   The popularity of these books and their sheer volume of titles never fails to amaze.  Very easy to sneer at these stories (I have done so in the past) but their phenomenal success over the last 60 years and the continuing sales figures must be the source of envy to many a publishing house.

The joy of these books is their inevitability.  Boy meets girl, they fall in love, misunderstanding occurs, boy and girl separate, misunderstanding cleared up after period of heartbreak and all ends happily. Goes without saying, naturally, that they hated each other on first sight as well.  This storyline is timeless, think Jane Eyre, think Pride and Prejudice which surely must be THE original Mills & Boon with its alpha male hero and feisty heroine.

There are certain criteria to be borne in mind when reading an M&B.  Never, but never, trust a red haired man, he is usually weak and ineffective.  Should the hero have red hair, it will be russet with gold streaks, never plain red.  On the whole my impression is that fair haired men seem to suffer pretty badly too, being weak and usually treacherous.  And beware if they are called Derek, he is always to be avoided.

The hero is tall and dark.  Not conventionally handsome but fascinating and sexy with a hawk like nose and high cheekbones.  He is slim hipped and wears his clothes with a rangy grace and is particularly attractive in chinos and a linen jacket.  His names is short and strong - Jed or Brett, never Keith or Kevin.  He is successful in what he does and over the last two years Mills & Boon have become obsessed with millionaires and are now producing titles along the lines of The Greek  Millionaire's Mistress and The Tycoon's Virgin Wife which I think are really rather clumsy and unappealing. 

Nowadays, most heroines are strong willed woman who hold down good jobs in a male environment. They are always glamorous, slim and elegant, but whether they run a team or a hedge fund are always happy to abandon this when they meet Alpha Male and sink quivering into his arms by the final page.  In M&B feminism only goes so far....

Sex now plays a very graphic part in these novels.  Some of the descriptions could easily win the Bad Sex Award every year for some of the more lurid passages.  When I first started reading them some thirty years ago now, Women's Lib was still very much in its early stages, women knew their place and were virgins until they married (only in these pages I hasten to add). If there was any sex at all it was hinted at and the old fashioned row of *********** was employed at the end of a chapter so you could guess what was going on.

It is still easy to scoff at M&B and look down upon their stable of authors, yet how many writers could produce a book every two months as regular as clockwork?  Not many I would think.  One of their writers, Betty Neels, was producing a book every twelve weeks or so right up to her death a couple of years ago at the age of 90+. Formulaic they most definitely are, but there are some pretty good writers lurking in their who will probably never be taken seriously and remain categoriesed as Writers of Romantic Fiction and despised by the glitterati for the rest of their days.

I mentioned the latest trend in having Billionaire of Tycoon or Millionaire in most of the titles we see now.  I find these very off putting but apparently they sell in  droves and are hugely popular so what do I know?  They have also jumped onto the Twilight bandwagon and now have Vampire romances as well, to sit alongside their Medical section (handsome doctors marry pretty nurses), their Regency romances and many other genres that they now produce.   When I first started reading these back in the 1970s, picked one up in a charity shop and have never looked back, they were so pure and so naive and the attitude towards women would make your hair curl.  I recently read one such vintage book by Kay Thorpe called Not Wanted on Voyage which has been doing the rounds of my reading group and it recently arrived through my letter box all the way from the States.  I make it quite clear now that we are reading this book in a spirit of total hilarity as the story line is really unbelievable.  

We start off with a young woman doctor who has left her last job (she has fallen in love with a married man and is fleeing temptation) and takes the post of a ship's doctor on board a cruise ship.   Please bear in mind that this doctor has presumably studied in medicine for several years, is not a teenager and one assumes is intelligent.  So what does she do?  She turns up late at night to take up her post, it is dark and foggy when she arrives at the docks and can only catch a glimpse of part of the name of the ship and on board she goes.  It appears a doctor is expected but the crew are surprised to see a woman as the captain is a woman hater.  Ok I can see you sniggering already and saying I know what is going to happen and you would be right. BUT there is a twist.   No surprise to find out next morning that she has boarded the wrong ship and this is not discovered until she is out at sea. And here is the twist - she is not aboard a cruise ship, she is on board a whaling ship. Yep that's right - a whaling ship.   OK, now you would have thought when boarding such a vessel that the lack of amenities, the lack of lights, bars, dancing and merriment, let alone sailors in uniform would have made her stop and think.  I don't suppose a whaling ship has much in the way of ship board entertainment and, last but not least, surely the SMELL would have given it away?

This book is quite quite wonderful but also so politically incorrect is is hard to believe.  We are given a pretty detailed account of actually catching a whale which I cannot imagine would pass muster in 2010 and everyone, including our heroine, seem to light up a fag at the drop of a, well, match.  In the end of course she is clasped to the captain's manly chest after she has demonstrated how wonderful and courageous she is by being swung across to another ship to aid an injured member of the crew and all the time a storm is raging and the seas are churning away beneath her.

The whole thing is simply GLORIOUS.

But we must not forget that when Mills & Boon started out they published school text books and other learned tomes for many years and were the publishers of Jack London (Call of the Wild) before turning to romance when they discovered they were onto a winner.

Not many people know that............

Murder at Mansfield Park - Lynn Shepherd

Before I say anything about this book, I just want to say that I like Fanny Price.  I know most people find her an irritating prig but I do not.   Thrust into a family who don't want her in a house which is totally alien to her way of living, disliked and put upon by everyone, with the exception of Edmund, she manages to keep her true self through all trials and tribulations until her worth is finally realised.  She is a good person and, I suspect, goodness in a novel is boring.

So if you are one of the multitude who really dislike her then you are going to love this book as Fanny meets a sticky end. She is murdered.  Yes, shock horror!

The wittiest thing about Murder at Mansfield Park is the way the character's dispositions have been swapped around.  Far from being poor, despised and retiring Fanny is a rich heiress, queening it at Mansfield Park and positively sucked up to by Aunt Norris who wishes her to marry her son and gain her fortune.  In this book, her son is Edmund who is just as shy and boring as he is in Jane Austen's novel. I will admit here that I always want to shake Edmund for his sometimes wilful blindness to what goes on around him and wonder what Fanny sees in him.  Anyway, apart from Edmund's change of position, we find that Fanny has all the arrogance and conceit which JA gives to Maria Bertram;  her younger sister Julia is shy, retiring and put upon by Aunt Norris and is now Fanny;  she is very close to her brother, William who has just gone off to sea.  Tom Bertram seems essentially the same as in the original.

Now we come to the Crawfords.  I am well aware that Mary C has far more supporters and admirers than Fanny P and I sometimes wonder when reading Mansfield Park if Jane Austen secretly longed to marry her off to Edmund (she would certainly have gingered him up a bit), as she goes out of her way to make us like Mary.   There are many admirable things about her. She loves her brother, is kind to Fanny and befriends her, putting Aunt Norris in her place on one occasion, and I am never sure if she is as calculating as we are supposed to think she is.  Ditto Henry.   In Mansfield Park Revisited by Joan Aiken, Mary is now a dying heroine loved by all and we find that her brother Henry was more sinned against than sinning in his involvement with Mrs Rushworth.   In Murder at Mansfield Park Lynn Shepherd rehabilitates her even more thoroughly by making her clear thinking, affectionate, sensible and clear headed.  There is even a quote ascribed to Anne Eliot 'none so capable as Anne' in Persuasion which is reused here when speaking of Mary.

Henry has the misfortune to fall in love with Fanny and they elope and marry as she is tired of her engagement to Edmund and wishes to shock and upset her family who she despises.   Within days of this marriage Henry realises her true nature and knows he has made a dreadful mistake. She then disappears and nobody can find her until she turns up dead at the bottom of a ditch being dug at Mansfield Park where improvements are being undertaken.  So a 'thief finder' is called in to solve the mystery and we are introduced to Charles Maddox who sets about finding the murderer.   The rest of the book is taken up with his investigation and his relationships with the family and, in particular, with Mary who he finds fascinating and intelligent and he gradually falls in love with her. 

I guessed who the murderer was with very little difficulty by a process of elimination and getting rid of those suspects who I knew could not possibly be cast as the culprit and I daresay others will as well, but for me the main delight and enjoyment I took from this book was not the solving of the mystery, but the usage of the original story and characters who have been turned on their heads.  I found this engaging, witty and amusing and great fun.   Lynn Shepherd has the right turn of phrase and sounds positively Janeite and, while there are many other sequels, prequels etc linked to Jane Austen's novels, most of which I dislike, this is not one of them.

Great STUFF and a good read. I gather this is Lynn's first novel so I wonder what she will do next?  How about bumping off Sir Walter Elliot or, even better, Lady Catherine du Burgh?   Now there is a thought.....

STOP PRESS - Lynn has very kindly offered two copies of Murder at Mansfield Park as a give away so please just leave your name in the comments section and I will choose the lucky winner at end of week

Quiet Random thoughts

Yes I have been quiet this week - have not bombed up to London or done anything at all which is stressful or busy.  After October, when I did not know if I was on my head or my heels, the last ten days has been wonderful.  I have slept in a lot in the mornings, sat up late at night playing daft games on the computer, watched a lot of DVDs (House Series 6 is my favourite at the moment), listened to music, done some walking, exercised at home and also spent time in the kitchen cooking.  The results of this repose in my freezer at the moment:  Chicken and leek casserole, pork chops and peppers, braised steak and onions and a beef casserole.   I have enough meals in there for at least another week so in the morning I just haul one out and leave it to defrost.  I used to do this years ago and such a joy to have time in the kitchen nowadays and I am really enjoying it.   At the moment I have the fruit for my Christmas pudding soaking in rum and tomorrow I will be making about three or four for myself, family and friends.  Not going to bother with a cake this year though, it hangs around too long.

I have been on line and done most of my Christmas shopping and it took me precisely one hour.  There are a few odds and ends to get but they can be picked up easily over the next week or so and then I am done. Have to get a parcel off to Australia by 4 December which is the final posting date, by air mail, and am getting that together for Kathryn.  Christmas is going to be such a change this year.  First time I won't be with Kathryn, first time I won't have my mother and first time with Florence so very much mixed feelings at the moment.

Have been reading a mixture this week - I re-read A Private Patient by PD James last week and nipped into the library the other day and came across one of hers I had not read. Oh great I thought and then when I got home realised it was by Peter James who, of course, is next along the shelf.  I was a bit annoyed and then decided to sit and read it and found I thoroughly enjoyed it so in town today I popped in and found another one so will post about those in due course.

Then read Death at Mansfield Park which the author Lynn Shepherd kindly sent to me and really enjoyed that too and will also be posting later on.

The highlight of my week, if I can call it that, was filling in an income tax form ONLINE.  Because I worked for a few months in the last financial year the Inland Revenue told me I had to fill in a tax return.  Before I could get on line I had to register which appears to be straightforward and simple.  Nothing is simple with the IR and after it refused to recognise that I existed, even after filling in all the details and giving them my National Insurance number etc etc I ended up ringing the so called Help Line.  The lady I spoke to took me through the entire thing all over again as she did not believe I had done it properly, I could tell by the tone of her voice, and so I was quite pleased when I had done it under her supervision and the end result was the same.  Oh she said I can't understand it....

In the end it seemed my postal code was throwing the system as it did not recognise it. Heaven knows why.  I registered and wanted to get cracking but oh no I had to wait for my ID number to be sent to me in the post and my activation code.  About three days later they arrived and I finally got on line again, did the necessary, and then sat down to fill in the form.

I am not stupid but I really had to concentrate to fill it in and then I got to a page where it said 'Please fill in more details about your employment in the box below' so I did, pressed enter and then it came up in red that I could not use certain letters and numbers and it was invalid. Tried again, nada, so in the end I thought Sod it and deleted it all and went on.

Upshot was that they did my tax calculation and told me I owed them over £2,000 at which I nearly had a caniption and fell off my chair. I then went back to double check everything and found an extra figure had crept in one of the entries by mistake so deleted it and then it was recalculated.   I then found to my delight that they owed me a tax rebate.  I was thrilled to bits and had visions of all sorts of lovely things and then up came the amount.....£21.60.   Better than a kick in the teeth I suppose. Wonder what I can spend it on?

Off now for cup of tea and my re-read of Bill Bryson's book Down Under which I feel is obligatory reading prior to my trip, have also borrowed guide books from the library and will be doing a bit of research. Then I will be watching Strictly Come Dancing later on and will give you my elevated thoughts on same tomorrow.

Have a good weekend everyone.