Books: Thursday murder club (R Osman)

'Dwell' by the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, will take you about ten minutes to read, but it's worth every second! It's a set of poems based around his visits to the 'Lost' Gardens of Heligan, where he reimagined all the homes - dwellings, if you like - of all the creatures who live there.
It's a gem, if you like poetry, and care about the natural world.

 

Was up till 02.15 this morning, reading the new Joanne Harris book, 'Vianne', just out in hardback. It's a kind of prequel to 'Chocolat', and thus far it's proving to be of her usual high standard. Years ago I'd have stayed up all night to finish it, but I reluctantly had to put it down and try to get some sleep!

 

I’ve just finished reading “Raising Hare” by Chloe Dalton and it is an interesting observation on the lives of hares, their capacity to exist in a cruel world and her own surprise at their trust in humans.

 

‘Raising Hare’ sounds as if it might be upsetting in parts? I do read to be entertained, rather than educated, and tend to get very negatively affected by anything cruel.
Why I try not to watch, listen to, or read the news, as some things stay in my memory and subconscious for years, only popping out at night to ruin my sleep.
It was a day to remember when I happened to come across an interview with the little girl who featured on the front of Time magazine, burnt by napalm in the Vietnam war. That picture haunted me for years, and I was so happy to read that she had survived, and was grown up with a family, and, ironically, living in America.
I’ve just finished a series of books set in 1850s Wales. By Alis Hawkins, they follow the cases of the Teifi Valley coroner, starting with ‘None So Blind’. I really enjoyed them.

 

No, it’s no more upsetting than real life. She is a busy city worker who finds herself living in her run down, being done up, old barn in the country during lockdown. She finds a days-old leveret on a path and faces her first dilemma - does she try to help it? The book is a series of dilemmas, given that she discovers that throughout history almost nothing has been written about hares and their lives. Plenty of books on how to hunt them, kill them, cook them and eat them. Plenty of books on hares and witchcraft. Plenty written about superstition and hares. But she is driven to study them, literally face to face at times, in order to help this tiny animal. In passing, she notes the destruction of hedgerows, the introduction of machinery into farming and the loss of the things that hares need in order to survive in the modern world. Yes, that part is sad, but nothing that we aren’t sad about already if we care about the environment.

 

I have just finished Osman's latest, the Impossible Fortune.

It was nice, but focused too much on the plot rather than the people. It also lacked the hilarious unexpected things, like Joyce wanting to swim in an infinity pool across two London scyscraper flats or elderly people and a shady Polish builder/ hitman digging in graveyards. I enjoyed the slapstick absurdness

Osman is at his best when writing about very sad things I think. Stephen's story in earlier books was beautiful.

Anyways, well worth a read, The Works has the book at £11 and Amazon had a return copy without the dust jacket at £9, a nice treat for myself.

Has anyone seen the film? I'm very surprised to read Pierce Brosnan cast as Ron... though Ron would probably appreciate it

 

Yes, @Selleri, I picked up a copy in The Works last week, and read it this week. I really enjoyed it, but as you say, it didn’t have as many of those unexpected throwaway lines that made me laugh out loud in the other books. Still very good though.
I’ve started two books, chosen at random on BorrowBox that really didn’t appeal, and didn’t get even a third of the way through. In the past, I’d have battled on to the bitter end in the hope it would improve ( luckily I read quite quickly) but I’ve decided that life is too short. I still manage to feel guilty though!
There is a new Jack Reacher due out, a guilty pleasure of mine. Unfortunately, now that the books are co-authored by Lee Child and his brother, they are definitely not up to the previous standard. I’ll probably buy it anyway as long as I can pick up a half price copy.

 

Ron would indeed have been well chuffed, @Selleri. I am on the library waiting list for a copy, currently No.105 in the queue. As they have 50 copies in circulation, that is not as bad as it sounds.

 

I picked up RO latest book recently too but from the SM. It’s for Christmas though so won’t be reading it until after New Year. No spoilers please!
I tried watching the TV programme but gave up very quickly as the actors don’t really fit my mental image of the characters and would prefer to stick my own impressions of them. Pierce Brosnan Ron is not!

 

The Hare and the bird books sound interesting so now on my list - many thanks.
Re books transferred to TV - I've always liked Reginald Hill's "Dalziel and Pascoe" books and to my mind, the TV series couldn't have chosen a better Dalziel than Warren Clarke - a perfect fit.

 

I read also the non- Thursday club book from R Osman (We solve murders), and it was a disappointment. The Child said it well, the characters were not relatable at all.

The Child hardly relates personally to the oldies in the Thursday series, but does understand the characters and cares about them.

I think the plot is not very important in books, it's the description of what the book is really about, may it be people, or time, or something else. I mean, who remembers the plot in Enid Blyton's books, but everyone has wanted to have a meal outside pulling out from the basket half a ham, fruit cake, tins of various sorts, and ginger beer The first Thursday books were brilliant at that, but the later ones a bit bland.

 

I've had a couple of goes at reading it ( several months apart) . Both times, I didn't get past the first two chapters. I can't remember why and that probably says it all.

 

I agree about We Solve Murders, @Selleri. Instantly forgettable characters and plot.

 

I too wasn’t so enamoured by ‘We solve Murders’, the characters were very difficult to relate to. I did read it again ( Sometimes a bit desperate for something to read!) and it was certainly better the second time.
I too have hankerings for picnics with ginger beer ‘and a slab of chocolate’s to finish. Anyone else remember the midnight feasts in Blytons school books, sardines and tinned milk always featured? And the Christmas boxes delivered in What Katy did at school, with sugared plums and fruit cake!
Has anyone read the detective books by Tim Sullivan? Set in Bristol ( so many of the neighbourhoods are familiar to me) with a police detective on the autistic spectrum, and his initially reluctant colleague. Best to read in order of publication as the pair develop their working relationship.

 

I loved Blyton's 'St Clare's' books, with those midnight feasts in the dorm! Yes, always sardines, tinned milk and occasionally pineapple, often all eaten together. Not anything I could personally relate to, the public school, but the grub at least was familiar!
Didn't she also write a series of fee-paying school books about Mallory Towers, or am I mis-remembering?