Mysteries & Music – Arthur Conan Doyle

I was in my early teens when I started reading Sherlock Holmes books and stories. I loved them with a passion, and have them all. I had seen pictures of Basil Rathbone portraying him, so I already had a mental picture to work with. And physically, Rathbone was good. But he smiled far too much when I viewed some of these old movies.

As with some of the other actors I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, Jeremy Brett was BORN to do this role. He IS Sherlock Holmes, and all others will be compared to Brett. Robert Downey Jr. is good, don’t get me wrong, but Brett was the best. Absolutely brilliant. His death was almost a personal loss.

The theme was written by Patrick Gowers. Lovely and poignant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFZHLr5pxA8

Mysteries & Music – Colin Dexter

I had never read any of Dexter’s “Inspector Morse” books, but liked the actor John Thaw. As a book, this isn’t really my type of mystery. I tried a couple of the books, but much preferred the series.

Thaw is a wonderful Morse. Very complex character. I enjoyed the back and forth between him and his junior, Lewis. When Dexter killed Morse off, and they dealt with this on the show, I was devastated. When Lewis viewed Morse’s body in the morgue and said, “Good-bye, Inspector” and kissed him on the temple, I cried. Sadly, John Thaw died not too long afterward of cancer.

The theme music is outstanding. Written by Barrington Pheloung. I didn’t know until I looked it up on youtube that the pulse notes at the very beginning are Morse code for the name, Morse. Kinda neat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okafNPLStwU

February 2015 Book Report

By Rebecca M. Hale: How to Wash a Cat (2010)

                                    Nine Lives Last Forever (2010)

This is a delightful new series. Very breezy and light hearted. A woman inherits an antique store in San Francisco from her late uncle and relocates to the apartment above the store. Along with her cats Rupert and Isabella, she finds clues from her uncle about hidden treasures dealing with the Gold Rush period when San Francisco was new.

I love early California history, and there is plenty of it mixed in with the shenanigans that go on. These are the first two books in the series. I have the third one on my shelf to read next, and I think there are a couple more after that. Love it!

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China to Me (1944) by Emily Hahn

Fascinating autobiography. Ms. Hahn was a reporter living in Japan-occupied Hong Kong during WWII. Great writing and very interesting story. I would really like to read more of her books if I can find them. This book doesn’t really have an ending, as she managed to get out of Hong Kong with her daughter before the actual end of the war. Her husband remained behind in a concentration camp.

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The Hell-Cat and the King (1977) by Barbara Cartland

Usual love story, but I always enjoy them. And there is some early Brit history in this as well. Ms. Cartland always did her research. Princess Zenka is promised to the King of Karanya by Queen Victoria. Zenka doesn’t like the arrangement, but you do NOT disobey the Queen!

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Seven for a Secret (1992) by Victoria Holt

 I’ve read a LOT of Holt. They are usually so melodramatic I tend to lose interest and skip to the end. This one was different. It was one of the much later ones she wrote. Maybe she had gotten tired of melodrama. At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and read it to the end and decided to keep it in my library. Frederica is penniless, but able to be tutored with the local rich girl. She falls in love with the older brother, but he has a dark secret. Then there are the odd spinster sisters. What is their secret?

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Suds in Your Eye (1942) by Mary Lasswell

OMG!! What a fun read! And great illustrations. This was the first of a series of books about 3 older ladies that decide to live together to save money. And these ladies were a REAL HOOT! They are what *I* aspire to be when I’m old(er). They come up with some real clever schemes to pinch those pennies while still being able to buy their beloved beer. And they REALLY love their beer!! I MUST find more of these books!

Mysteries & Music – Agatha Christie - part two

As far as I’m concerned, David Suchet was BORN to portray Hercule Poirot. I’ve seen a lot of Poirots in my time, and none of them even came close. Suchet nailed it. There is not a whole lot more I can say about him or this series. Marvelous. Wish I had the funds to own them all.

The theme is magnificent. Written by Christopher Gunning. There are various versions of it on youtube. All of them are great, but this is my favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmsV5caLzqM

Mysteries & Music – Agatha Christie - part one

By far, my all-time favorite mystery writer is Agatha Christie. I have ALL her books. I can read them over and over and still get a great deal out of them. Same with the televised mysteries.

For the Jane Marple stories, I already had a pretty clear mental picture of what she might look like. Of the various actresses, Joan Hickson WAS Jane Marple, as far as I was concerned. And the theme music for those episodes was my favorite as well. Written by Ron Howard. NOT of “Opie” fame…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5wSGzqNmPU

The other Marple was played by Geraldine McEwan and she was OK. She was a lot more physically spunky than Ms. Hickson, but I’ve never thought of Miss Marple as being very physical. Gutsy, yes, but in a much quieter manner. Always soft-spoken. The theme music for these episodes was good too, but I still prefer the first one. This one is by Dominik Scherrer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN7eUnvCBS4

January 2015 Book Report

When I saw the blurbs for the movie The Giver, I was greatly interested. I love Jeff Bridges. I made some kind of comment on Facebook, and a friend just raved about the books by Lois Lowry. So I decided to get The Giver Quartet and read all 4 of them before seeing the movie. The movie really only deals with the first book, but once I had started, I COULD NOT STOP READING! Awesome books! I highly recommend reading them and THEN see the movie. I’m glad I did. The movie took some real liberties, as usually is the case. Purists will boo. But I still think the movie has value. I enjoyed seeing The Community, even though it was a bit different from the one I pictured in my mind. And as I said before, I love Jeff Bridges. If you’ve already seen the movie, that’s OK. Get the books and read them anyway!! I really hope that they bring the other books to the big screen.

I really don’t want to give much away in a review. I don’t want to spoil it for readers who have not experienced the books yet. All I can do is tell you to read them. You will be better for it. I was fortunate to get the Quartet on Barnes and Noble online with a coupon. Here are the titles in order:

By Lois Lowry -

The Giver (1993)

Gathering Blue (2000)

Messenger (2004)

Son (2012)   

I was talking to my sister-in-law about how much I liked the movie, even though I had read the books. She was surprised, because she had not seen the movie, but had read the first book and didn’t care for it. It does have a very ambiguous ending, and can be a bit of a downer. I told her to read the other books as well. It completes the story.

                    

Body And Mind Have Reunited…For Now

OK. I’m back. Some days that’s about as far as I go. Many mornings I wake up and just lay there praying for the mental wherewithal to fling back those covers. Doing better, though.

Christmas was nice with Sarah and Lia (and Diva) here. Did some crafts with Lia that were fun. Just wish I had more time with her.

Since Tuesday was Epiphany, we dismantled the tree. The tree is now in the attic, but until yesterday afternoon the ornaments were still all over the kitchen table waiting for me to box them up. This year I didn’t put many ornaments at all on the tree, and was amazed at how nice it still looked. My first priority was getting the ornaments that used to belong to Marv’s mom and put them on the tree. I still miss her so much. Marv and I had debated about getting a smaller tree next year and giving this one to Sarah. As were getting ready to pack it up, though, we realized this is really a NICE tree. And the fact that I hadn’t put many ornaments on did not take away from it. So we might end up keeping it. Sorry, Sarah…

Marv FINALLY got his CPAP machine right after Christmas, and I was amazed at how quiet it is! The oxygen concentrator was pretty darn loud, but I got used to it. This thing is wonderful, though. I have to admit it creeps me out a bit to see him lying there with the mask on, but I will probably be ending up with one as well.

Since getting our Smart TV with the ability to watch youtube on it, we’ve been having a great time watching old TV shows. Marv really likes the Combat episodes. My brother and I watched that show growing up. Also The Rebel was another good old show. For New Year’s Eve, we watched Alfred Hitchcock Hour episodes until midnight. Tons of fun! Discovered some new authors as well, as most of those episodes were based on books or stories by mystery writers.

So the New Year has begun. And we carry on.