Book Blogger Hop
This prompt was submitted by Elizabeteh @ Silver’s Reviews:
Well, as of last night, I’ve read and/or listened to…
290
books in 2021 but I’ve got another 15 days, so I’ll probably work in a few more.
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We Had a Little Real Estate Problem:
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This book sketches a broad history—roughly from the end of the 19th Century to the present—of Native Americans in comedy. He starts with things like wild west shows and circuses—where people like P. T. Barnum presented “authentic Indian” practices, but would define what was authentic for the people who’d do the performing, and would punish them if they did anything actually authentic. So right away, you know this is going to be a feel-good story.
In the early days of Movies and TV, it’s not much better for most—Indians were stereotyped and usually played by Whites. Sure, you’d get occasional people like Will Rogers as the exception. Nesteroff chronicles the struggles for representation from then up to “Iron Eyes” Cody (and beyond, I’m sure).
Then he sketches out the bright spots for Native Americans in the contemporary comedy scene, from stand-up to theater to TV writing. Nesteroff spent a lot of time on Charlie Hill’s life, career, and legacy—who made a lot of the contemporary advances possible. Frankly, he could’ve spent more time on it and kept me interested (although what he gave was sufficient). His interactions with Richard Pryor was fascinating.
Interspersed with the history are brief profiles of individual comedians/teams and their careers. So it’s not just a history of the industry, but we get spotlights on individuals, too. They were definitely the highlights of the book for me.
Nesteroff kept the narration restrained—he’s a stand-up, so I’m sure his instincts were to perform (at least) a bit more than he did. But he read it the same way you’d read a book about productivity. I’d think that would be particularly difficult when he read a transcript or script from a comedy piece/interview. But even then—the material shone through and I found myself audibly chuckling frequently. Funny stuff is funny (would’ve been funnier in the original, I’m sure, but getting permissions necessary to do that would’ve made this audiobook too expensive to produce)
I heard Marc Maron talk about this book a little on his podcast (but I haven’t gotten around to any of the episodes with the author), and it seemed like it’d be up my alley. I love hearing about the business of comedy and the people that are behind it. Focusing on this one story? Sounded like a great idea. And I think Nesteroff pulled it off.
I guess I would think as a history, it’s probably incomplete—but I’m not sure how you can do a comprehensive history of something like this.
I think the central premise of this—media depictions of Native Americans makes them conform too much to a stolid, serious, stoic type—or a tragic one. It’s hard to believe that encompasses any culture—much less the great number of Native American cultures in North America. To promote understanding between cultures in the US and Canada, we ought to see all aspects of them.
The profiles—either brief or extended (like Charlie Hill and Will Rogers)—were interesting enough to make me go check out samples (and sometimes more) of the work. The overall narrative was interesting and optimistic.
I think the book worked—if you’re at all interested in the behind-the-scenes of comedy, about those who make the movies/shows/stand-up you enjoy, you’ll probably think so, too.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
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Leaving the LAWby Robert Germaux Kindle Edition, 208 pg. Read: November 25-26, 2021 |
As I drove away from the center, I thought about Asaan and Anthony and Franklin High School and the gangs. And scones. Food is never far from my mind, and I didn’t have anything else to do at the moment, so I drove home and parked the Camry in my driveway and walked to Starbucks. I can think and eat at the same time, a skill that I have demonstrated on numerous occasions. No need not to do so again.
Before Jeremy Barnes became a P.I., he was a teacher—a dedicated and idealistic one. Which is largely why he left the profession. The American education system is not a place for idealists. One student that he made an impact on comes back into his life fifteen years later.
Laretta Warren is now a single mother, doing her best. Laretta’s son, Anthony, is in a gang and is in real danger of legal problems if he doesn’t change direction. He’s also in real danger period. Laretta remembered how JB inspired her to keep going—now she wants him to inspire her son to get out of the gang and get on a better path.
JB has no illusions that he’s going to be able to make any difference. But he remembers Laretta’s spirit. He respects that, he wants to honor her wishes, and do what he can for her. Even if it’s to take on a Quixotic task.
While he tries to talk Anthony into wanting to leave, he knows it’ll take more than gaining his trust and then convincing him. So he sets out to gain leverage against the leader of the gang. As difficult as it will be to get Anthony to want to leave, that’s simpler than getting him out. He also needs to understand the gangs better—the landscape has changed a lot in the years since he taught high school.
This leads him to reconnect with the school’s Vice Principal, and his friends in the police department connect him with the officer who’ll be the most helpful—both the V.P. and police lead him to a community activist who is instrumental in keeping the peace between rival gangs in the area. JB learns a good deal about them and the way the leadership thinks—now, will it be enough?
So, if you read this in order of publication, you already know where the relationship between JB and Laura is going—if you’re reading this chronologically, you met her in the previous book, and have a pretty good idea where it’s going.
Either way, their relationship is beyond the establishment stage, but they’re still figuring themselves out as a unit. One of the biggest things for Laura to reckon with is the violence that JB occasionally runs into. Is she prepared to deal with the stress and worry? Is it worth it? She’s still working her way through that—and it should take a little while.
Laura doesn’t often remind me of Susan Silverman (unlike JB, who constantly reminds me of Spenser), but she really does sound like her as she works her way through the danger inherent in JB’s work with Anthony. For what it’s worth, I think Laura deals with it a little better than Susan does early on, but it’s obviously a struggle for her.
Once again, Germaux has delivered a thoroughly entertaining PI novel. Spending time in a Germaux novel (Jeremy Barnes or Daniel Hays) is a guaranteed good time with characters you can’t help but like.
I enjoyed getting more of a glimpse into JB”s past than we’ve gotten before—and the way he reacts to Laretta (both as he remembers her and as he observes her) is exactly how you want a teacher to respond to a student. It just makes a PI you already were invested in and was rooting for all the more likable.
I halfway expected the final reveal—but that didn’t stop it from being effective, it just made the most dramatic sense. I’d much rather a scene to be justified and successful than an out-of-blue surprise, anyway. Germaux satisfied that preference while delivering what I expected with a motivation that I didn’t expect.
I had a lot of fun with this book—good characters and prose that’s just smooth and easy reading. I’m about done with Germaux’s detective fiction—while I’m all for being a completionist, I’m not crazy about crossing that last one off my list. Thankfully, I have a few other books by him to get to.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
I’ve been feeling super-productive this week, at least in a quantity-over-quality way. I don’t get weeks like this very often, so I’m trying to take full advantage of it (and need to remember it will end, so I don’t get too annoyed with myself when it does). This week’s WWW Wednesday shows that the Down the TBR posts (and my reading challenges for the year) are helping—you’ll see more of that next week, too.
This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Easy enough, right?
I’m reading (finally—and, yes, the disciplinary paperwork has been sent to HR) Risen by Benedict Jacka, and Jacka is holding nothing back for this end to the series. I’m also listening to A Private Investigation by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator) on audiobook, which is sort of a series end, but thankfully isn’t.
I just finished the grin-inducing Cherie Priest’s Grave Reservations and the impressive A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry on audio.
My next book should be A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds and my next audiobook should be Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Hartford, Nicholas Guy Smith (Narrator). Ooh, two non-fiction works at the same time, I don’t do that often.
What have you been up to lately?
When I wrapped things up back in May, I’d trimmed the Want-to-Read list down to 132, and it’s at 154 right now. That’s not bad—I read a couple from the list, added a few more. But, in keeping with the aim of this project, let’s see if I can trim a little fat to go into the New Year not needing a diet. I didn’t quite get to too many from this list in the ensuing months…which does make me wonder (again) about the efficacy of this list. But that’s for another time—or maybe a therapist.
This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.
The Rules are simple:
What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?
(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)
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Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Harford Blurb: “celebrates the benefits that messiness has in our lives: why it’s important, why we resist it, and why we should embrace it instead. Using research from neuroscience, psychology, social science, as well as tales of inspiring people doing extraordinary things, I explain that the human qualities we value – creativity, responsiveness, resilience – are integral to the disorder, confusion, and disarray that produce them.” My Thoughts: Oh sweet—a justification for my lifestyle! Gotta get this as ammunition to use against my wife. Verdict:  |
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My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows Blurb: Mary, Queen of Scots, in the court of France, trying to hide that she shapeshifts into mice. My Thoughts: So they’ve run out of Janes and have turned to Marys? Huh. Sure, why not? Verdict: |
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Darling at the Campsite by Andy Abramowitz Blurb: “Rowan Darling, an adrift thirty-three-year-old, owns a record store on a run-down block in Philadelphia. Then news of his estranged brother’s death forces a return to Maybee, Illinois, the hometown Rowan left in the dust years ago. Rowan’s plan? Dart in for the funeral, support his mother, then disappear just as quickly. Things to avoid? Margot Beckett, his childhood sweetheart, and Skid Hall, his former best friend who stole Margot and married her. Together, they’ve become the town’s ‘it’ couple.” My Thoughts: It’s Andy Abramowitz, I’ll likely enjoy it. But first I’ll leave it on the Want-to-Read list until his next book comes out… Verdict: |
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Questland by Carrie Vaughn Blurb: Jurassic Park but instead of cloned Dinosaurs, it’s “a convincing, high-tech-powered fantasy-world experience, complete with dragons, unicorns, and, yes, magic.” My Thoughts: I have the paperback sitting on my TBR shelf about 2 feet from me. Just need to get around to it. Verdict: |
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Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks Blurb: “When Cisco Collins returns to his home town thirty years after saving it from being swallowed by a hell mouth opened by an ancient pirate ghost, he realises that being a childhood hero isn’t like it was in the movies. Especially when nobody remembers the heroic bits – even the friends who once fought alongside him.” Verdict: I really like the sound of this. I actually thought I bought it already. |
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The 13th Witch by Mark Hayden Blurb: “Odin has a challenge for Conrad: sign up to protect England from wild magick and get a commission in the King’s Watch…Conrad never could resist a challenge. Before you can say “Ragnarok”, he’s plunged into a world of gods, mages, witches, dwarves and one very aggressive giant mole….Armed with nothing but a sense of humour and a willingness to cheat, Conrad has to find the Witch and save his life.” Verdict: |
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Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest Blurb: A travel agent who’s an inconsistent psychic saves the life of a Seattle PD Detective. Desperate for a break in a cold case, he hires her to consult on it. Verdict: By the time this posts, I’ll be done with the book, so, yeah, cut this from the list.  |
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Faycalibur by Liam Perrin Blurb: “When five armies attack England, everyone on the Round Table is too busy to track down the missing court wizard. Seizing the opportunity to shine a light on the Less Valued, Thomas vows to rescue Merlin and sets himself on a collision course with a talented but overconfident rookie sorceress, a lizard with delusions of grandeur, and one rather unfortunate pigeon.” My Thoughts: The first book in the series was nice, I want to see him go on. There was an optimistic sweetness to it, and want to see Perrin try it again. Verdict: |
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Ghost of a Chance by Dan Willis My Thoughts: I’d expected to get through book 3 by this point in the year, which obviously didn’t happen. Still, that means book 2 needs to stay on the list. Verdict: |
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Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson Blurb: “Miss Mildred Percy is a spinster. She does not dance, she has long stopped dreaming, and she certainly does not have adventures. That is, until her great uncle has the audacity to leave her an inheritance, one that includes a dragon’s egg. The egg – as eggs are wont to do—decides to hatch, and Miss Mildred Percy is suddenly thrust out of the role of ‘spinster and general wallflower’ and into the unprecedented position of ‘spinster and keeper of dragons.’” My Thoughts: I can tell from the description that this is going to be something I love or I’ll be turned off within 50 pages…I’m on the border with it. I don’t know that I’m going to end up reading this, but I want to keep it on my radar for a little bit longer. Verdict: |
Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?
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Grave Reservationsby Cherie Priest Hardcover, 289 pg. Read: December 10-13 |
“I’m not looking for a séance, Ms. Foley. I’m just telling you that I know there’s more to the world than what we can always see right in front of us. And I believe you when you tell me that you had a premonition, or a bad feeling, or a bad certainty—if that’s more like it. I believe you saved my life. Saved me a hell of a story and some smoke inhalation, that’s for damn sure. And now I want to hire you. Not to book any travel, and not to talk to my dead mother. I’ve got a case I’ve been beating my head against for a couple of years, and I’m all out of leads. I’m ready to try anything, which means I’m willing to try a psychic, Ms. Foley, I want you to help me solve a murder.”
It’s pretty much about that quotation—Leda Foley is a travel agent* and self-described “inconsistent psychic.” Her intuition (or whatever you want to call it) leads her into changing the flight of a Seattle PD detective which prevents him from ending up in a plane that skidded off the runway during takeoff. Now he’s back in Seattle, grateful, and wants to use Leda to help him get a break on a cold case. Det. Grady isn’t that convinced this is going to work (Leda’s sure it won’t), but he doesn’t know what else to try.
* I’m as surprised as you to learn they still exist.
She agrees—not just because her agency is struggling and she needs pretty much any money she can earn, but because she wants to get on Det. Grady’s good side, because she wants his help on a cold case of her own—her fiancé was murdered and the police got nowhere with that investigation.
So, Leda, her bartender best friend, and Detective Gracy set out to see if her psychic abilities are at least a little more consistent than she thinks.
Leda’s had a large number of day jobs, none of which worked out for long. Her travel agency, Foley’s Far-Fetched Flights of Fancy, is an effort to make it on her own—and it’s pretty shaky. Leda also wants to strengthen and improve her psychic skills, so she gets on stage at a local bar for what she calls klairvoyant karaoke, but the bar’s owner prefers calling her a psychic psongstress.
Basically, she gets on stage, holds an object given to her by an audience member, and uses the impressions her abilities give her about the owner to sing a song that will be meaningful to the owner. In exchange, she gets free drinks. She’s gaining a little notoriety from this and the bar is having its most successful nights ever.
This is not your typical murder mystery, that’s probably pretty clear. In her acknowledgments, Priest says she was aiming at “something lighter and funnier than my usual fare.” She hit what she aimed for. It’s comedic (sometimes very comedic), but not at a goofball level. It’s closer to Castle at its best. Or to stick to novel comparisons, think The Spellman Files (especially the slightly more serious last couple), Max Wirestone’s Dahlia Moss books or David Ahern’s Madam Tulip books. The latter is the best comparison (not just because Leda’s psychic abilities made me think of Derry more than a few times), but Leda’s friends remind me of Derry’s—but I threw in the others because too few people know anything about Madam Tulip.
Back to Grave Reservations—Priest walks the tightrope between too silly for a mystery and too serious for a story about a travel agent/inconsistent psychic–—which cannot be anywhere as easy as she makes it look. With all of the above comparisons, I occasionally wasn’t sure about the consistency of the tone (or the appropriateness of it when the creators weren’t on the top of their game). Priest didn’t have that problem at all. Which is a tribute to her skill.
I don’t have a lot to say here–it’s really good. Priest surrounds Leda and Det. Grady with a bunch of characters that bring the comedy on the personal side and suspects, victims, and witnesses that keep the serious side of the story working. Either set of characters make this a fun read—put them together and you have something special.
The mystery itself was pretty good—and having Leda’s abilities providing the leaps of logic that allow Grady to start looking in the right places is a great idea. Priest doesn’t have to “play fair” like most mystery novelists and she can just wave the Psychic ex Machina wand to get her out of tricky places.
Grave Reservations is a great bit of light escapist reading—and the way Priest set it up for a series suggests that we’ll be able to escape into this world for a little while longer. And we all could use something like that right now, can’t we?
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
What are some of your favorite covers that you have seen this year? Maybe these were reprints, redesigns, or alternate covers that came out this year, or maybe they are brand new books. Whatever they are, tell us all the pretties you have been coveting.
A good number of the covers that I’d put down as candidates ended up being from 2020 once I started putting this list together, which doesn’t say wonderful things about my memory. I really, really wish that there were listings available for the brains and hands behind these designs so I could credit them, because they really deserve a round of applause.
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 The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter by Aaron Reynolds There are any number of things I liked about this cover–it’s a little creepy, it’s screams goofy and playful, and it grabs your eye. It’s a perfect fit for the book. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book behind the cover, click here. |
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 Pug Actually by Matt Dunn I came close to doing an increasingly brand-specific Best Covers featuring Dogs of 2020, but I’d have had to cut some dog photos, and I’m not strong enough for that. So, we’ll just go with this attention-grabbing cover. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book behind the cover, click here. |
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 Holier Than Thou by Jackie Hill Perry I think I actually mentioned in my review-ish post about the book that I love this cover–it looks worn, beaten up, well-used and yet attractive. Which ties in to how Perry describes the believer’s holiness. Clever people involved in that. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book behind the cover, click here. |
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 The Case of the Missing Firefly by Chris McDonald I’ve done cover reveals for most of this series over the last year, and they’re all just great. I hemmed and hawed over which one to use, but I think the colors on this one put it over the top. Eye of the beholder and all that, but those colors just grab me. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book behind the cover, click here. |
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 Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events by Brent Spiner So you’ve got the Data thing, you’ve got a real “clipping words/images out of magazines” stalker-vibe, colors that pop, a slightly chaotic feel…it all works really well to communicate the feel of the book and draw you in. The worse “Brent Spiner” don’t hurt, either. In case you’re curious about what I said about the book behind the cover, click here. |
What were some of your favorites of 2021?
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OCDanielby Wesley King, Ramón De Ocampo (Narrator) Unabridged Audiobook, 7 hrs., 4 min. Read: June 29-30, 2021 |
I found myself saying way too much about this book—I’ve taken two attempts at this part of the post, and each gets too detailed. It’s hard to stop talking about this, apparently.
So let me fall back on the tried-but-true (albeit lazy) method of borrowing the description from the Publisher’s website:
Daniel is the back-up punter for the Erie Hills Elephants. Which really means he’s the water boy. He spends football practice perfectly arranging water cups—and hoping no one notices. Actually, he spends most of his time hoping no one notices his strange habits—he calls them Zaps: avoiding writing the number four, for example, or flipping a light switch on and off dozens of times over. He hopes no one notices that he’s crazy, especially his best friend Max, and Raya, the prettiest girl in school. His life gets weirder when another girl at school, who is unkindly nicknamed Psycho Sara, notices him for the first time. She doesn’t just notice him: she seems to peer through him.
Then Daniel gets a note: “I need your help,” it says, signed, Fellow Star Child—whatever that means. And suddenly Daniel, a total no one at school, is swept up in a mystery that might change everything for him.
I didn’t note how far into the novel we are before someone uses either “OCD” or “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” but I’d be willing to guess it’s the latter third. Obviously, for anyone who even glanced at the title, they know what’s going on—but this novel isn’t about OCD per se.
It’s a novel about a kid who doesn’t understand himself, who doesn’t realize what’s going on with his brain, and who’s scared to talk to anyone about it. He loves his parents—and there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t be supportive and would help him to find the tools he needs. But he doesn’t want to be “weird,” he doesn’t really want to admit to it to anyone other than himself.
Sarah has her own struggles and isn’t afraid to let Daniel see them—and she sees his at least as clearly as Daniel’s. So he can open up to her.
This is based on King’s own experiences, his own OCD, practically ensuring that it’s a sensitive and sympathetic portrayal. At the same time, it does as good a job as any that I’ve come across in communicating what it’s like to those who’ve never experienced it. I’d recommend it to anyone in whatever age range just for that alone.
That doesn’t mean that King doesn’t have some fun with it, he takes opportunities for small and large comedic moments brought on by Daniel’s OCD. But it’s never mean-spirited, and the reader laughs while feeling sympathy (maybe even empathy).
De Ocampo is a pretty versatile narrator—I’ve previously listened to his work on Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tropper’s This is Where I Leave You. He’s able to hit all the right notes here—the comedy, the uncertainty, the tension—Daniel’s “zap”s—the whole kit and caboodle.
I was pretty impressed—moreso when I looked him up and saw that I’d heard his work before. He did a good job here and did so in a way that didn’t make me think of the others I’d heard.
I thought the whole mystery thing was a bit far-fetched, especially the way it resolved. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun—and the rest of the novel more than made up for the bits of the story that induced a bit of eye-rolling.
It was an entertaining and enlightening novel—great for the upper MG/lower YA crowd, but a solid enough work for older audiences, too.
Give this a read, or a listen—you’ll be glad you did.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
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Better Off Deadby Lee Child and Andrew Child Hardcover, 325 pg. Read: December 7-9, 2021 |
Continuing the westward journey he started back in Past Tense, Reacher finds himself about as close to the US/Mexican border as you can get in one of the smallest towns we’ve seen him in.
He encounters an Army vet hunting for her twin—who has gotten himself mixed up with some sort of smuggling operation—that might be getting into something more serious. Michaela Fenton gets Reacher to help out with a scheme to put her face-to-face with the head of the operation.
Things go south, and before you know it, it’s Reacher against this shadowy organization trying to save the Fenton twins and put an end to a plot that’s either an act of political protest or deadly attack (Reacher’s assuming the latter).
That doesn’t make a lot of sense—but trust me, something as convoluted as this plot doesn’t make it easy to summarize in a coherent fashion.
I strongly considered listing all my problems with this—but why bother? Venting my spleen might make me feel better, but I don’t want to spend the energy on it.
Let me try to be concise—it was a giant, implausible, mess. The original plan that Reacher and Fenton come up with to take down the bad guy makes every single machine that Rube Goldberg drew seem efficient and straightforward. I couldn’t believe that Reacher would sign on to it—and even after he started voicing concerns, he still went along with it. Reacher’s known for his brawn, but his brain has always been—up to this point, anyway–just as important (if not more so). This was just dumb.
I was annoyed very early on, texting a friend, “Worst.Reacher.Ever.” Although I noted that the Child brothers had 250 or so pages to make me change my mind. I really wanted them to. But man, those short stories about pre-teen/teenager Reacher in New York City or Okinawa look really good to me now.
The least troublesome part for me was the voice—Lee Child tended toward the third-person, but occasionally used first to great effect. This time, first-person didn’t help matter—and while I haven’t read any readers complain about it, a lot of what I have seen people complain about I think would’ve worked if it was in the third-person (and/or wouldn’t have been part of a third-person narration).
There were some good scenes, a handful of chapters that worked for me, in fact.* But they were a distinct minority. Still, in trying to be fair, I’d say if this was a thriller by a relative newcomer? I’d be more positive about it (not much more, but more). But Andrew Child (née Grant) has a dozen novels under his belt and Lee Child has twice that—also this is a Jack Reacher novel. There are standards that must be upheld.
*I’d planned on talking about some of those, but this post is longer than I’d intended it to be already, so let’s leave it at “the whole thing wasn’t a dumpster fire.”
I knew that there’s be some growing pains as Lee backed off to let Andrew take over, but this was worse than that. The Sentinel wasn’t perfect, but it was something to work from. Better Off Dead was a major setback and will take some work to recover from. Sadly, I bet that no one’s going to make Andrew buckle down and do that work (please, please, someone prove me wrong).
I walked away from the interview I heard with them a few weeks ago with the impression that Andrew doesn’t typically work with the “no outline” approach of Lee—maybe if he didn’t try to ape that style, he’d be better off. There were a few times in my notes I wondered if they’d changed their minds about where the plot was going.
Give this one a pass—go back and read/reread 61 Hours, Nothing to Lose, Personal, or…you know what? Anything from The Midnight Line or earlier. It’ll be time better spent.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
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A Christmas Carol:
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Yeah, just kidding. We all know.
Really, all this post needs to be is: “Tim Curry read A Christmas Carol” and include a link to purchase. What else do you need? That’s pretty much all I needed to read from this post by Bookstooge.
But let me say something about the narration—it’s good, it’s really good. It’s also not what I expected, at least not fully.
I think I went into it anticipating an almost-over-the-top performance, whatever the audio-equivalent of a scenery-chewing showcase of Tim Curry excess. Which would have been delightful, make no mistake. Curry’s got one of those voices that would’ve lent itself to such a thing and I’d have made it an annual listen.
But no, Curry’s a pro. And he shows that here. He treats the material with respect and gives just the right emotional weight, sentimentality, personality, and life that the text and characters call for.
One line reading, in particular, made me chuckle (and came as close to what I anticipated as anything does):
“You will be haunted,” resumed the Ghost, “by Three Spirits.”
Scrooge’s countenance fell almost as low as the Ghost’s had done.
“Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?” he demanded, in a faltering voice.
“It is.”“I—I think I’d rather not,” said Scrooge.
I chuckled at that last line and went back to listen to it a couple of times.
This is just what I needed—did it make my heart grow three sizes that day? Nope. Too much of that moralism-disguised-as-Christianity so typical of Dickens and his era, this work will never have that effect on me. But it’s a nice dollop of holiday spirit, and sure to entertain anyone who gives it a listen.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
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