|
Post by wickedkittiesmom on Jun 21, 2022 20:27:31 GMT
I have started to reread the Leaphorn and Chee series by Tony Hillerman. I've watched the first 2 episodes of Dark Winds on AMC which is based on this series and I also miss New Mexico where we lived for 10 years before moving to Alabama (husband's job). Tony Hillerman's daughter Anne continued the series after his death but I have never read the books she wrote.
|
|
|
Post by Zos on Jun 25, 2022 10:20:22 GMT
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Jun 26, 2022 14:21:01 GMT
|
|
|
Post by moviebuffbrad on Jun 27, 2022 4:53:19 GMT
"Men, Women and Chainsaws" by Carol Glover.
|
|
|
Post by SuperDevilDoctor on Jun 27, 2022 14:02:16 GMT
|
|
|
Post by CrepedCrusader on Jul 1, 2022 3:41:07 GMT
Darkness by John Saul
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Jul 1, 2022 11:43:16 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jul 1, 2022 19:17:19 GMT
I have a few books out of the library right now, but the one I finished last night is Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery (1964). (That cover is great but doesn’t fit the book, which doesn’t have a cruise ship in it!) This is one of those Christies I think I paged through when I was a kid but couldn’t remember much of. And it’s really good. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite Miss Marple—I still think Christie never bettered Miss M’s characterization in her début, The Murder at the Vicarage—but it’s high up there. Surprised that this hasn’t gotten a big-budget movie adaptation (it has had two TV adaptations): As with Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, it’s got the cut-off, exotic location, the visual clues, the kooky characters whom actors could sink their teeth into (Mr. Rafiel is one of Christie’s best). Its hook is even visual! Christie in the ’60s must have been reading or rereading fellow mystery writer John Dickson Carr’s books: ’61’s The Pale Horse is virtually a Carr pastiche, ’63’s The Clocks namedrops Carr, and this book borrows a minor plot point from Carr’s The Crooked Hinge and chooses a culprit similar to that in Carr’s The Burning Court. But Christie makes these Carrian elements her own, imbuing them with her favorite theme, the love triangle. Miss Marple here is a delight as a sleuth—less doddery and a bit sharper-tongued, as she was in her original appearance. (Such a shame the mischievous Geraldine McEwan—by far my favorite Marple portrayer—wasn’t in the TV adaptation of this.) The clues aren’t many but definitely are there; one in particular is a real “d’oh, how did I not get that?” clue. I’m usually good at guessing Christie killers, but here she had me floundering right before the solution, alternating between two or three people. To wit, I fell for the red herrings, which I noticed, thought over, and ended up thinking they were not red herrings. While the killer was on my shortlist, this person’s identity was satisfying, a bunch of clues sailed past my noticing, and I didn’t guess the accomplice or the motive. Also, Christie would never win any awards for prose style, but I have always thought she’s a much better writer than she gets credit for. Her ability to make the prose seem so easy, so readable, is underrated. This passage stood out:That’s effective scene setting—and atmosphere building—with an economy of words. This isn’t perfect: For one thing, only Miss Marple and Mr. Rafiel really seem to come alive, the other characters are types, more so than Christie’s usual. I got confused on who was who among the two vacationing couples. And the police seem superfluous, significantly not playing a role in the solution. But while this isn’t A-quality Christie, it’s a very good B+. Some producer should do this as a movie, change the title (but to what?), not advertise it as a “Miss Marple Mystery,” and surprise the audience when they find out the little old lady is actually a super-sleuth.
|
|
|
Post by gspdude on Jul 2, 2022 11:46:55 GMT
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Jul 2, 2022 21:07:17 GMT
I have a few books out of the library right now, but the one I finished last night is Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery (1964). Surprised that this hasn’t gotten a big-budget movie adaptation (it has had two TV adaptations): As with Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, it’s got the cut-off, exotic location, the visual clues, the kooky characters whom actors could sink their teeth into (Mr. Rafiel is one of Christie’s best). Its hook is even visual! There were actually 4 TV adaptations! There is one from 1983 with Helen Hayes as Miss Marple and it was also adapted for the French series The Little Murders of Agatha Christie, although this one bears little resemblance to the source material, since the episode is not set in the Caribbean, but in a French hospital, and there's no Marple either.
I read this a very long time ago and didn't find the plot that memorable, but I really enjoyed the TV adaptation with Julia McKenzie and also liked the French one, although it might be a bit of an acquired taste.
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jul 3, 2022 14:49:27 GMT
I have a few books out of the library right now, but the one I finished last night is Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery (1964). Surprised that this hasn’t gotten a big-budget movie adaptation (it has had two TV adaptations): As with Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, it’s got the cut-off, exotic location, the visual clues, the kooky characters whom actors could sink their teeth into (Mr. Rafiel is one of Christie’s best). Its hook is even visual! There were actually 4 TV adaptations! There is one from 1983 with Helen Hayes as Miss Marple and it was also adapted for the French series The Little Murders of Agatha Christie, although this one bears little resemblance to the source material, since the episode is not set in the Caribbean, but in a French hospital, and there's no Marple either.
I read this a very long time ago and didn't find the plot that memorable, but I really enjoyed the TV adaptation with Julia McKenzie and also liked the French one, although it might be a bit of an acquired taste.
Ha! Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll take a look at the Julia McKenzie adaptation, though of what I’ve seen McKenzie’s Marple is just too sweet for my tastes. (And Joan Hickson’s Marple, who seems to be a favorite of most Christie fans, too much of a humorless bluenose.) I’ve seen and enjoyed a few episodes of Les petits meurtres, though (as you say) it’s far from faithful to Christie, but I didn’t like the last ep I saw (a very loose adaptation of, I think, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas set in a department store).
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Jul 4, 2022 11:16:45 GMT
There were actually 4 TV adaptations! There is one from 1983 with Helen Hayes as Miss Marple and it was also adapted for the French series The Little Murders of Agatha Christie, although this one bears little resemblance to the source material, since the episode is not set in the Caribbean, but in a French hospital, and there's no Marple either.
I read this a very long time ago and didn't find the plot that memorable, but I really enjoyed the TV adaptation with Julia McKenzie and also liked the French one, although it might be a bit of an acquired taste.
Ha! Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll take a look at the Julia McKenzie adaptation, though of what I’ve seen McKenzie’s Marple is just too sweet for my tastes. (And Joan Hickson’s Marple, who seems to be a favorite of most Christie fans, too much of a humorless bluenose.) I’ve seen and enjoyed a few episodes of Les petits meurtres, though (as you say) it’s far from faithful to Christie, but I didn’t like the last ep I saw (a very loose adaptation of, I think, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas set in a department store). I never really cared for Joan Hickson’s Marple either, as you say, she was a bit dull and humourless. I also thought some of the episodes suffered from being almost too faithful to the source material. The three-part adaptation of The Moving Finger was just tedious.
I didn't like the Hercule Poirot’s Christmas episode either. Had I not known, I wouldn't have even noticed that it was meant to be an adaptation of Poirot's Christmas. I think some of the later episodes made the mistake of focusing too much on the interpersonal relationships between the characters and treating the crime plot as something of minor importance.
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jul 5, 2022 15:59:31 GMT
The Flanders Panel ( La tabla de Flandes), 1990, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, trans. Margaret Jull Costa. This has such a fantastic, and audacious, premise: Art restorer discovers a hidden message in a 15th-century Flemish masterpiece that starts her on a quest to solve a centuries-old murder mystery—just as a modern-day killer starts murdering the art restorer’s friends based on a game of chess depicted in the painting. Whew. I read The Flanders Panel in translation, which always brings up the how-much-of-the-writer’s-writing-is-actually-getting-through question. But I’ll say that, based on Costa’s translation, Pérez-Reverte is a great writer—line after line, paragraph after paragraph, in this book is ornate without seeming effortful or pretentious. Some lines at random:Also, I loved the experience of reading this. It feels like a Da Vinci Code written by a grown-up interested in human relations and culture and art and history and mathematics and philosophy. (I don’t even hate Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown as some people do, but his cultural and scientific interests seem limited to what works for his plot.) With all that, though, Pérez-Reverte’s writing is so well paced that I finished the book (which is admittedly short) in a day. And yet—the book doesn’t work either as a novel or a mystery. Most of the characters seem like types: César (as fun as he is) of the old gay man, Muñoz of the Bobby Fischer-esque chess master, Menchu of the middle-aged woman trying to relive her youth. Only the art restorer, Julia, seems like a genuine person, and I really loved her. (I found her so appealing and—as funny as it is to say this about a book character—attractive. And I share many of her interests, which seem real to her, not plot-forced.) Unfortunately, Pérez-Reverte can’t figure out how she fits into her own book: She ends up being more or less unnecessary to the plot. As a mystery, it’s kind of a mess. The villain’s identity is a huge banality—a hoary thriller cliché you and I have seen a million times. The explanation of the solution goes on for pages, but at no point does the sleuth explain a single definitive clue, as far as I remember. I’m unsure whether one thing was intended as a clue or not, but either way it’s a major flaw that, somehow, neither Pérez-Reverte nor his editor caught. Also, I never could figure out the killer’s motive, despite all those pages of explanation, or how this person did all these things. And Pérez-Reverte knows how to write a mystery, which somehow makes the book even worse: The historical mystery gets a surprising, fairly clued explanation. Just such a bummer. About halfway though I thought I was going to love this.
|
|
|
Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Jul 8, 2022 23:38:34 GMT
a german comedic novel, funny:
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Jul 9, 2022 13:34:53 GMT
The Flanders Panel ( La tabla de Flandes), 1990, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, trans. Margaret Jull Costa. This has such a fantastic, and audacious, premise: Art restorer discovers a hidden message in a 15th-century Flemish masterpiece that starts her on a quest to solve a centuries-old murder mystery—just as a modern-day killer starts murdering the art restorer’s friends based on a game of chess depicted in the painting. Whew. I read The Flanders Panel in translation, which always brings up the how-much-of-the-writer’s-writing-is-actually-getting-through question. But I’ll say that, based on Costa’s translation, Pérez-Reverte is a great writer—line after line, paragraph after paragraph, in this book is ornate without seeming effortful or pretentious. Some lines at random:Also, I loved the experience of reading this. It feels like a Da Vinci Code written by a grown-up interested in human relations and culture and art and history and mathematics and philosophy. (I don’t even hate Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown as some people do, but his cultural and scientific interests seem limited to what works for his plot.) With all that, though, Pérez-Reverte’s writing is so well paced that I finished the book (which is admittedly short) in a day. And yet—the book doesn’t work either as a novel or a mystery. Most of the characters seem like types: César (as fun as he is) of the old gay man, Muñoz of the Bobby Fischer-esque chess master, Menchu of the middle-aged woman trying to relive her youth. Only the art restorer, Julia, seems like a genuine person, and I really loved her. (I found her so appealing and—as funny as it is to say this about a book character—attractive. And I share many of her interests, which seem real to her, not plot-forced.) Unfortunately, Pérez-Reverte can’t figure out how she fits into her own book: She ends up being more or less unnecessary to the plot. As a mystery, it’s kind of a mess. The villain’s identity is a huge banality—a hoary thriller cliché you and I have seen a million times. The explanation of the solution goes on for pages, but at no point does the sleuth explain a single definitive clue, as far as I remember. I’m unsure whether one thing was intended as a clue or not, but either way it’s a major flaw that, somehow, neither Pérez-Reverte nor his editor caught. Also, I never could figure out the killer’s motive, despite all those pages of explanation, or how this person did all these things. And Pérez-Reverte knows how to write a mystery, which somehow makes the book even worse: The historical mystery gets a surprising, fairly clued explanation. Just such a bummer. About halfway though I thought I was going to love this. I remember this was the first book by Pérez-Reverte I ever read, and I enjoyed it very much on my first read, although I could've only been about 14-15 at that time and I hadn't much experience yet with mystery novels. A couple of years of ago, at a time when I had run out of things to read I thought I would revisit this one, but somehow this time around I didn't like it that much any more. I noticed too many flaws about the plot. Pérez-Reverte is a very capable writer though, his Club Dumas is still a firm favourite of mine, although as a pure mystery novel it may be rather flawed.
By the way, if you are thinking of checking out Uncovered (1994), the movie adaptation of The Flanders Panel, I would advise against it. It's such an amateurish, almost laughably inane production; they also made some bewildering changes to the source material (for some reason the chess expert is a young surfer dude in the movie) and has none of the rich atmosphere and class of the novel. Kate Beckinsale's short topless scene is about the only memorable moment in it.
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jul 10, 2022 2:33:23 GMT
I remember this was the first book by Pérez-Reverte I ever read, and I enjoyed it very much on my first read, although I could've only been about 14-15 at that time and I hadn't much experience yet with mystery novels. A couple of years of ago, at a time when I had run out of things to read I thought I would revisit this one, but somehow this time around I didn't like it that much any more. I noticed too many flaws about the plot. Pérez-Reverte is a very capable writer though, his Club Dumas is still a firm favourite of mine, although as a pure mystery novel it may be rather flawed. The Club Dumas may be the next Pérez-Reverte I read—I loved The Ninth Gate and I’m a Dumas fan.I was interested in seeing Uncovered… but I wasn’t able to find it through interlibrary loan and didn’t want to pay for it. But then I read tons of reviews that said the same thing you wrote, so I guess I’m glad interlibrary loan wasn’t able to find it! What’s too bad is that I can see Beckinsale as Julia.
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Jul 10, 2022 3:08:54 GMT
Discovered, picked up, and finished Mark Siegel’s Sailor Twain (2012), all in one day. First things first: This is a comic book/graphic novel (which is how I could finish it so quickly). Because of the U.S. publishing industry’s still-inexplicable-to-me prejudice against comic books, Sailor Twain’s cover never says it’s a graphic novel and in fact leads the reader to think otherwise (the John Irving blurb proclaims it “a gripping novel”). A back-cover blurb, meanwhile, makes the breathless claim that it “pushes the graphic novel well beyond its previous limits.” No, it doesn’t. The blurb just says that because the blurber, the late columnist Pete Hamill, probably didn’t read many graphic novels and so thought any comic book with sex, swearing, developed characters, and complex plotting is pushing the limits. Hamill wouldn’t have written that if he’d read writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell’s From Hell, which really does push “the graphic novel well beyond its previous limits.” Sailor Twain is a good, perhaps even great, graphic novel, but (this always bears repeating) greatness need not be envelope-pushing. Sorry for the digression, I just had to get that off my chest. All that said, Sailor Twain is a good book. It’s a nicely written, smart fantasy with a great setting—a steamboat on the Hudson in the late 1800s—and lots of plot twists that I didn’t see coming. The characters are rather loosely sketched (pun unintended, but ehh, there it is), but the plot is a joy. And it would make a fantastic film: In fact, I’m kind of shocked it hasn’t already been adapted for the movies. Hollywood, you’re slacking! (Quelle surprise.) If I’m not totally in love with the book, that has nothing to do with the narrative but rather the art. Siegel’s people are far too cartoony—and they look even worse when juxtaposed against his lovely backgrounds and serious themes. Seriously, this has no business being in the same book with a panel like this. Still, it’s worth reading; I’m delighted that fantasies like this are still being written. (I’ve always far preferred fantasies in which the fantastical elements seep into the real world as opposed to those set in other worlds.) And what a movie this could make.
|
|
|
Post by Feologild Oakes on Jul 10, 2022 15:41:41 GMT
I decided to actually give Harry Potter a try
So far its a little boring.
|
|
|
Post by SuperDevilDoctor on Jul 13, 2022 20:28:12 GMT
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Jul 15, 2022 15:21:00 GMT
|
|