I was beginning to think that November would pass and I wouldn't have finished any books. But I surged forward recently, finishing these three books. I've been reading mostly library books lately. You know how it goes: you read about a book that sounds interesting, you put it on hold at the library, you wait and wait, and then all six books you put on hold are available at the same time.
My Brilliant Friend and the other three books in this series are enjoying a recent boom. MBF was published in the US in 2012 and, apparently, went pretty much unnoticed. I was excited about this book, the story of two girls growing up in Naples, and although I enjoyed it, I don't think I'll bother to read the others. The characters didn't come alive for me. There wasn't a whole lot happening, just the progression of life. Not that that can't be interesting. It just wasn't for me.
Undermajordomo Minor was a delight! I heard it discussed on a video podcast about books that is one of my favorites. The Book Club (which used to be The First Tuesday Book Club) from Australia read it. I love quirky books and that's the best word I can find to describe it. It reminded me of Titus Groan, Alice in Wonderland, the film The Grand Budapest Hotel, and some campy 1960s things. A young man, Lucien, a.k.a. Lucy, is ill and is visited by a man who may be God, or may be a local beggar. Lucy is cured and goes off to find a new life, since his girlfriend dumped him. He gets more than he bargained for when he takes a job as an 'under majordomo' in the castle of a mad baron. It's a madcap adventure and I loved it.
I was looking forward to the next Elvis Cole / Joe Pike mystery, so I was excited when I sat down with The Promise. But I ended up being disappointed. I love Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, but there wasn't enough of either of them in this book. Joe barely appears, does almost nothing, and then disappears. There are some other interesting characters in the book, Scott James and his K-9 dog Maggie. Maggie is an ex-Marine bomb sniffing dog who has been wounded in battle. She could have her own book and is the real hero in this one. I hope there will be more Elvis Cole / Joe Pike books, but I hope they're more enthusiastic in them than I am about this one.
I guess I haven't done too badly in November so far. I have a few more library books sitting around .... and some more on hold.
Not bad at all! And November isn't over yet! :)
ReplyDeleteI suppose so far, so good. My life just seems so chaotic lately. It's hard to concentrate on reading. I've been watching far too much television.
DeleteTomorrow I'm making the mushroom gravy my family has requested for Thanksgiving. You'll like this, Stefanie. A few years ago, I made a small batch of vegan mushroom gravy for my vegetarian niece Amy and I so we could have gravy at Thanksgiving, too. My non-veg family ate it all rather than the turkey gravy! Since then, my mushroom gravy has been requested at Thanksgiving. If I could only get them to leave the turkey off the menu!
I've been reading Robert Crais for a long long time. I've followed several authors for some time now (Mr. Crais, John Sanford, John Grisham, Michael Connelly, and some others) and I've noticed their books seem to follow a sort of trajectory. The first few are good with some flaws and then they seem to hit their stride and they turn out some excellent work and then they seem to get tired or bored or something and their work starts to not be quite as delicious as were their middle efforts. I discovered Ian Fleming before the James Bond character became popular and noticed the same thing in his work as well as the work of John MacDonald (the Travis Mcgee series).
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about it I speculate that they started writing for fun...and then it became for money and when it did it started losing whatever it was that got them going in the first place. At least, that's what I've hypothesized anyway.
One nice thing about being old, for me, is my memory fades so..I can go back and read the early works of folks (when they were hitting on all cylinders) and it's like reading them for the first time. Who says that getting ancient is all bad? :-) Ya gotta take your positives where you can find them, eh? I'm reading an early John Grisham right now and it is terrific. :-)
If your memory is as weak as mine, you might try re-reading some books you haven't read in a long time and see if it works for you.
I think you're absolutely correct about what happens to many successful writers. Once you realize that, you start to get nervous, waiting for the let down. My memory is as bad as yours! I joke that some day I'll only need ten books. By the time I finish the tenth one, I can go back and read the first one again and not remember having read it before.
DeleteI think I would like major domo. I'll look for it at the library.
ReplyDeleteI want to read some of deWitt's other books to see if they're like this one.
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