OK it is currently tennis and cricket season and I have spent most of the last month glued to the tv. As the weather was incredibly cold and chilly this was no hardship. In between all this sport watching I have been reading rather a lot of romance, light fiction and 'cosy' mysteries. I have been pondering on the use of the word 'cosy' and will be posting my thoughts soon.
So yes I am here and apologies again for the lapse in time since my last post. As you know I have been contemplating packing it all in but though I now am much lower profile I still enjoy Random so I will be carrying on, albeit a little less regularly. As always I am heartened and grateful for all the lovely comments I receive assuring me that you wish me to carry on. It is much appreciated.
Right - onwards.
Three books I have really enjoyed in the last ten days.
Firstly, The Happiest Ever After by Milly Johnson. I do love her books. She writes so well and with such conviction and her characters are real and likeable. In this case our heroine (am I allowed to say that these days or should it be hero?) is Polly Potter, living with Chris who strikes me as being boring and selfish, also unfaithful. She has a job she loves but her thunder is being stolen by her boss.
Polly is in a car accident and finds that her memory of her previous life has vanished. She had been attending a writing course and was in the throes of writing a novel all about Sabrina. In her confusion she believes she is Sabrina and embarks on her new life.
Great fun and, as I said, well written and humourous and full of understanding. I loved it. When I came across this author a couple of years ago I then went on a full on binge (as you do) and read all of her back list in three weeks. Then of course, I had to wait for the next book and then another wait for the next one. They are always worth waiting for.
Secondly, An Ideal Husband by Erica James. Another author I discovered a few years back and binged on and now await each title with eagerness. Of course, the title is a give away as the husband in question is anything but ideal infoming his wife of 30 odd years, on Boxing Day of all days (presumably he balked at telling her on Christmas Day) that he did not love her any more and was leaving her for a younger woman.
Erica James always pulls you in to the dilemmas and actions of her characters and you feel for them. In this case I rather felt that the erring husband seemed to be treated with more understanding that he deserved. Yes, his wife and children are devestated but in the end they forgive him and despite behaving in a totally cowardly way when he discovers his lover is pregnant and he cannot cope with it, all ends happily with him. My feeling, much though I loved this book, was that he got away with an awful lot. Throughout the entire book I was thinking how much I would love to have decked him one.
Close to Death - Anthony Horowitz.I have long been an admirer of Horowitz as he created the series Foyles War which I still think is one of the best tv series ever and the company who decided to end it needs their corporate heads examing. As well as producing the Alex Rider children's books, plus James Bond and Sherlock Holmes stories, he has created a wonderful series in which he, Anthony, partners up with a former detective Daniel Hawthorne to solve murders and then produce a book about the same. It can be slightly confusing as the author is, as we know, a real life person and Hawthorne is not and the dynamic between the two is so real that the reader has to keep reminding themselves that though the narrative is in the first person and features Horowitz, it is not really happening.
But the books are just so good and so well written and this one had me pinned to my sofa for an afternoon (I even ignored the cricket). The story is set in Riverview Close, a quiet gated community in Richmond, London. A new neighbour moves in. He is vulgar, noisy with badly behaved children and antagonises everyone in the Close. Kenworthy, the neighbour in question, is found dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck. Seems a bit extreme and it is difficult to pin the crime on one person when everybody in the close has the same motive. Intriguing and full of twists I was totally gripped and the ending took me totally by surprise.
As I write this I have one eye on the tv as tennis is on from Rome so after logging off it is back to the game.
I have already mentioned above how glad I am you are still here and, once again, my thanks for your companionship and kind thoughts.
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