Well, it's been a funny old week. Self-isolating because a close relative, that we'd been in close contact with the day before, tested positive for Covid, might not seem like the ideal way to spend a week, and indeed it has been slightly worrying. But for us it's just meant hibernating a bit more seriously than we usually do in winter and not going out at all. In fact my husband and I both tested negative yesterday, day 5, so it looks like we'll be fine but we'll test again on Saturday and will be able to see what's what a bit more clearly. The fact that we've both had mild symptoms is not helping our confusion but hey-ho, I'm sure it'll work out one way or another.
So, books have been my haven, as always, and I've whizzed through two books this week and am half-way through another. First up, The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upson.
So, this is book 9 in the author's 'Josephine Tey' books, a series in which she features a real-life crime writer, solving crimes. I read books 1 and 2 way back when and then lost track of the series. Then a cousin gave me a lovely hardback copy of this one recently, that she'd read and loved, so I hoped it wouldn't matter that I hadn't read the intervening books and plunged in.
It's 1938 and Josephine Tey and Archie Penrose (a police officer with the Met) are heading to St. Michael's Mount for Christmas, a house party sort of thing although the daughter of the owner is doing it for charity. The book opens with a murder on The Mount, so you know who did that deed and how. That happens before the guests arrive. Further into the book there's another one and the solution to that is unknown. It's a 'people cut off from civilisation' trope, not sure what the proper name for that is, but rough weather, storms and snow, have meant it's impossible to get across the causeway to the mainland or even get a boat across. Communications are down too. You get to know the group of people stranded rather well and of course they're a motley crew and include a famous Hollywood actress. A sort of cold-case of Archie's plays a role too. There had been some character development since I last touched base with Archie and Josephine but it's easy to grasp what, though I'm now very curious to see how it happened. I romped through this, loving it all the way. It helps that I know St. Michael's Mount of course, I grew up a mere 5 miles or so away, so it was a constant presence during my childhood. But I liked how the plot twisted and turned until you weren't quite sure who could have done what to whom and why. And The Mount is 'such' a gorgeous setting, very moody and sort of 'looming'. Great stuff and I'll be going back and catching up with the other books soon.
And lastly, Wintering by Katherine May, a non-fiction offering that I read as one of my books for the Book Voyage challenge I'm doing, covering the category of Western Europe. (Planning to read at least one other book for this, maybe two.)
I was intrigued by the title of this as I'd assumed it would be a simple book about how people retire indoors for the winter in that Danish Hygge sort of way. And it 'is' about that but it's a lot of other things too. The author's husband gets sick and she describes the way in which the outside world retreats and you find yourself in a sort of bubble as another form of 'Wintering'. I get that, especially this week! And we've all been there with either our own illnesses or that of loved ones when absolutely everything else becomes unimportant and your focus is on living through what's happening and just surviving really. The book covers all kinds of topics, coping with depression, walking, swimming, the aurora borealis, Stonehenge, SAD, robins, bees, she even goes to Iceland to seek out more information. I enjoyed it but it was lacking something for me. I don't think I quite connected with the author even though I found some of the various topics interesting, especially the bees. It was one of those 3.5 star reads on Goodreads that you have round up or round down, which I find rather frustrating. Pleased I read it but I think it might end up being a bit forgettable. 'Your Mileage May Vary' of course and I hope it does.
My current read is this:
Absolutely 'loving' it. I'm not sure how a book based during WW2 can be so funny but it is. The main character, Emmy, is reminding me so strongly of Sam, Foyle's driver in the wonderful TV crime series, Foyle's War, also set in WW2, that I'm finding myself reading it in her voice.
I hope you're all keeping well and staying safe.
18 comments:
I have never read any Nicola Upson books, so I was quite pleased that you seemed to manage book #9 as a stand alone story without any major issues. These sound like my kind of storylines, because the idea that I am ever going to read a series without missing out some of the books, is not very likely! I am also quite 'into' The Golden Age mysteries at the moment. I see that book #10 comes out in the spring, just to add to your already toppling pile!
I guess it is inevitable that we are all going to get a dose of Covid at some point, now that all the restrictions have been lifted and people seem hell bent on not wearing masks any more, although we both continue to mask up in any enclosed spaces. The test results do seem to be a little erratic, if what my family tell me is anything to go by and the amount of time employers are allowing off work when they test positive varies considerably. My nephew is still testing positive after three weeks, but his employer told him to go into work after ten days and he works in close facial contact with people!!!
I do hope that you both continue to stay well and if you do fall foul to the big ‘C’, that you only have mild symptoms. Take Care and enjoy your weekend! 🙂
Yvonne: I'm starting to get into the mindset of not always making myself go to the beginning of a series. My husband 'never' does, just reads what he comes across. I'm so pedantic though. But this Nicola Upson book proved that I should stop that as it read perfectly well even though I'd clearly missed a major development in JT's life. I didn't need to be genius to get a grip on what had happened though. LOL
Yes, funnily enough I did say exactly that to Peter last week, that I thought we were all going to get it at some stage. We still mask up too when going into shops or supermarkets, but at my daughters of course, we didn't. I'm still shocked at getting negative test results and intend to ignore it and continue to isolate for at least another few days. Interesting about your nephew... to be honest that's actually quite shocking.
Thank you. You take care too and have a good weekend.
Dear Mrs. Bird is the best! I love that book and need to read the sequel. And hibernating right about now sounds kind of nice. Not for covid reasons, though. Glad your one test was negative. Hopefully that means you won't get it? Or if you do, hopefully your symptoms will be VERY mild. Wishing you all the best!
That was EXACTLY my reaction to DEAR MRS. BIRD, too! How can a book about war be this hilarious? But it totally is. I'm glad you're enjoying it so much.
I've never read anything by Josephine Tey. I like the sound of a mystery series based on her, though. Sounds fun.
All of your thoughts on the book by Upson were interesting. I will have to make more of an effort to jump into series later, or jump around, just to see how it works for me. In some ways (and in some cases) it should not make much difference since I often wait years to read the subsequent book. My problem with the first book was that I could not separate what Josephine Tey was really like (based on the little we know) vs. this persona used in the book. I don't really think that should make a difference to enjoyment of the books but for some reason it did for me a bit. But I have two more in the series and the 4th book includes Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma so I may continue.
Both Wintering and Dear Mrs. Bird sound good, although I am more likely to get to Dear Mrs. Bird some day.
I hope your possible symptoms don't develop into anything more serious, and that you don't have to self-isolate too long.
I hope you're both OK by now! It's a worry - we're still mainly staying at home and wearing masks when we go out. It now feels like it did at the beginning - feeling self-conscious wearing a mask when others aren't.
I don't really want to write reviews at the moment, although I read as much as before. I've read some of Tey's books, but not that one. Overall, I enjoyed Dear Mrs Bird and think it gives a good sense of the times and the realities of the war for the ordinary people at home. But I also found it a bit irritating, too breezy and clichéd in a ‘jolly hockey sticks’ style with an over-use of capital letters For Emphasis in parts.
Lark: I've just finished Dear Mrs. Bird and have absolutely 'loved' it. Fun but really sad in parts. I loved Emmy!
Thanks for your best wishes. We did a second test this morning and that too was negative. After seven days I'm hoping we can say that that is that now. *Fingers crossed*!
Susan: I've just finished Dear Mrs. Bird. What a ride, the blitz details were frightening and heartbreaking but I loved the book very much.
Josephine Tey was an amazing author, her murder mysteries were 'so' good.
Tracy: Yes, I need to not be quite so scared of jumping into a series in the middle too. I don't like the fact that I'm so pedantic about this.
At the time the first of Nicola Upson's 'Josephine Tey' books came out there was quite a hoo-ha about the use of a real person in fiction. Since then it's been done quite a lot but like you I have to admit to feeling slightly weird about it. I deal with this by treating them as two separate things and don't fool myself into thinking that JT was really doing the things in the book. I do wonder though what JT would say about it. I didn't know that one of them has Alfred Hitchcock as a character, that may be where something notable in book 9 originates.
At the moment we're fine thanks and tested negative again today.
Margaret: We tested negative again today so I hope that's that now. Day 7, so it ought to be. Like you, we're also masking up when we go into shops, many people around here still are so I don't think you should feel self-conscious. I don't feel that it's anyone else's business to be honest.
Yes, 'Jolly hockey sticks' was the term that occurred to me too when I was reading Dear Mrs. Bird. Unlike you it didn't bother me though and Emmy certainly lost some of that later in the book when things started to go seriously wrong.
So happy, Cath, to see that you both seem to be in the clear now that you've tested negative for the second time. What a perfect time to read a book like Wintering; I think maybe I need to get my hands on that one, too.
Haven't read any of the Josephine Tey series you mention here, but the construct is one that sounds like fun. I will put the series down on my special list of the ones I want to sample soon. I've just done that with Lynda La Plante's Tennison series, and I'm really loving my first look at her work. I was, of course, familiar with the character already because of the television shows, and that helped me to jump comfortably into the series even though this first books is a flashback to Tennison's early days (now I want to watch those shows next).
Stay well...I'm enjoying the rugby Six Nations matches from afar again this year, but am finding it more difficult than ever to find them on television here. So far, no joy, but ESPN is keeping me afloat with live commentary of the matches.
Hello Cath, hope you stay negative. Your thoughts on Nicola Upson's novel, have persuaded me to give her a go. I like the sound of this one. I tried to read Mrs Bird but couldn't get on with it.
Fingers crossed you remain negative - and I hope the family member who tested positive only had mild symptoms.
The Wintering sounds like it could be interesting, but I'm not sure if it's a little too on the nose for me to read in the current climate.
Sam: Thank you. Yes, I do think we're in the clear now. Dodged a very nasty bullet I suspect! Wintering is one of those 'books of the moment' that a lot of people seem to be reading and it does make for quite an interesting read in many respects.
I haven't read any of Lynda La Plante's books but I have watched a lot of her TV output, a few years ago now. Even 'before' the Jane Tennison series. That ages me. LOL!
I'm not into The Six Nations rugby tourament but did feel quite sad that England lost on Saturday. Good luck finding it on the TV.
Nicola: Thank you. We've been fine to be honest, luckily.
I think you could probably read this Nicola Upson book as a standalone to be honest. Especially as I think it's better than the first two books. I think Dear Mrs. Bird is probably one of those Marmite books. LOL
Cassie: Thank you, yes we're still negative and my daughter who tested positive has had hardly any symptoms at all.
Bits of Wintering were very interesting but it could well be a little on the nose currently. I myself did have a few reservations about it.
Thanks for stopping by to comment!
Glad you are still testing negative. I think we get to the point where every sniffle seems to portend doom but sometimes a winter sniffle is quite ordinary! I just got back from four days in NY visiting my sister and that involved the trains and subways I had been avoiding for two years. Also, a musical featuring 12-14 year olds and their germy families (one of whom was my niece). I admired my sister for going four times.
So glad you loved Mrs. Bird! I think the really impressive thing about that book was how convincing and real she made Emmy feel (despite her schoolgirl slang) and how well she blended the humor and the serious elements toward the end (did you cry? I did! several times). I got it from the library but need to own my own copy at some point.
I read the first Nicola Upson and liked it but I did feel a bit guilty because I think JT would have been affronted! But I meant to continue and will do so the next time I think of it.
Constance: To be honest I think we dodged a bullet and still have no idea how.
I didn't actually cry but really felt her pain when things were going so wrong and after the terrible events of the second half of the book. And then the stuff with Bunty. Poor Emmy. I read it on my Kindle so can go back and read it whenever I want. I'm just waiting for the Kindle price of book 2 to come down a bit before I buy it.
I must admit I did wonder what JT would've thought of her person being appropriated as the main character of a crime series. I bet she didn't envisage 'that' when she was alive.
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