Catching up and currently reading

Well, I'm several books behind when it comes to reviewing. The lockdown hasn't slowed my reading very much but this time of year there are other things that need attending to, like the garden, plus I seem to be nattering more on the phone or using Google Duo. In other words I seem to have a little 'less' time to read that usual.

Anyway, first up, The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home, this is book three in the author's 'Sea Detective' series.

Thirteen year old Max Wheeler was on a yachting holiday in Scotland with his father and sisters when he disappeared. He had decided to camp alone on Priest's Island just off the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. When the family awoke the next morning he was gone. Since then the father has hired someone to investigate every year on the aniversary of the disappearance, not one of them has been able to discover the fate of young Max. This year it's the turn of Cal McGill, the so-called 'sea detective', whose knowledge of tides and of the ways of the ocean mean he's probably the number one expert. But number one expert or no, Cal has his work cut out dealing with the alienated population of the nearby village and the unexplained antagonistic attitude of the family themselves. This was excellent. Such good writing and a beautiful sense of island living and of the moods of the Atlantic ocean. I find Cal a bit difficult to identify with as he's rather odd, almost itinerant in his lifestyle, but that's fine, I don't need to actually love a detective in order to appreciate a series. The author does 'Scotland' very well indeed and that will keep me coming back for more.

Next, Pole to Pole by Michael Palin. This is my 5th. book for Bev's Mount TBR 2020.

Pole to Pole, which he did in 1991, was Michael Palin's 2nd. TV series after the massively popular Around the World in 80 Days (1988). On this journey Palin travels from the North Pole to the South following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude. This takes him through Norway, Russia, on down into the Balkans and thus through Turkey and the Middle East into Africa. For me this was a book about Africa more than anything else. The trials and tribulations of travelling across that continent made for fascinating reading. He sails down the Nile to the Sudan which was an incredibly dangerous country (and still is) and had to divert into Ethiopia in order to get across any border at all and get back on track to Tanzania. Beautiful descriptions of the National Parks follow, the people who run them, and how they look after the animals and deal with the massive influx of tourists. Really fascinating stuff. Oddly enough, I didn't find his actual arrival at the South Pole as interesting as Africa. Bit of an anti-climax I suppose. But overall, if you enjoy reading about Africa, this would be a good book to read.

Last but not least, The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E.M. Delafield.

It's many years since I read the first book in the Provincial Lady series, The Diary of a Provincial Lady. It was such an enjoyable read, quite funny in the manner in which you could easily identify with her and her troubles despite the fact that it was written in the 1930s. The books are written in diary form and in the first one she describes how writes a book about her day to day life. This turns out to be massively and unexpectedly successful and her publisher, naturally, wants a second. But the writer is more inclined to enjoy the fruits of her labour and buys a flat in London (an alternative title for this book is, The Provincial Lady in London) and sets about enjoying a literary, social whirl. It's huge fun, I laughed a lot as the writing style is sarcastically funny, mainly at her own expense. The omnibus I own has two more titles in it, The Provincial Lady in America and 'In Wartime' and I will happily read both soon.


So, I'm currently reading these two:


A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie is the first book in the 'Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James' series. I've had this on my Kindle for a while and not got to it, then recently several bloggers have mentioned this series as being one of their favourites so I thought I'd give it a go. Enjoying it very much so far.

Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes charts the writer's journeys around the country in the footsteps of the likes of Wilkie Collins, Enid Blyton, Dickens, Beryl Bainbridge, Celia Fiennes etc. What I'm enjoying most of all in this is Fiennes's commentary as he covers all kinds of bits of history, current opinions, biographical material and descriptions of the countryside and coast. It really is a complete gem.

So that's me up to date... for five minutes anyway. I hope you're all finding something satisfying to read in these strange days.

~~~oOo~~~