riotheclown

Mysteries by Charles Finch:  A Beautiful Blue Death, The September Society, The Fleet Street Murders - These are very pleasant cozy mysteries set in Victorian London where Lord Lennox reads a lot of books and solves mysteries as a hobby. In the last one I read he has married and been elected to Parliament which are both interfering with his mystery solving, much to his consternation. There is a certain amount of flustering over the servant problem as the servants keep insisting on behaving like real people, which Liberal Lord Lennox admits they are but you know society has a structure for a reason. Very charming and entertaining. Originally these were a recommendation from my sister and believe me, if my sister and I both like something, it’s very broadly attractive. I think the other thing we agree is good is Keanu Reeves LOL

Obery M. Hendricks, Jr, Christians Against Christianity - A justified screed on why conservative/evangelical Christians are wrong to support Trump and Christian nationalism.

Tom Bower, Revenge. Scandalous royal family gossip about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As an American, I enjoy British Royal Family gossip as a soap opera distraction. It’s entertaining to read about PROTOCOL and TRADITION and TASTE and TACKY when it has nothing to do with me. So I read this gossip book from the library during a terrible brain melting heatwave and it distracted me from how hot it was. 

Lynette Eason, Too Close to Home and Don’t Look Back. These are from the Women of Justice series of Christian mysteries by Eason. In each one a woman law enforcement officer solves crimes and falls in love with another LEO, often having to lead him first to church and/or Christ. Eason is good at creating genuinely scary situations that keep you in there, and her characters are likable and relatable. The villains are a little wildly over the top and I guessed who the second one was about a quarter of the way through, but I didn’t get bored listening. So I endorse these if you like Christian mysteries. If not, the proselytizing might put you off. Currently listening to the 3rd one which is A Killer Among Us. Oh, did I mention that all the main character women are sisters? So you hear about what’s happening with the other sisters as you move through the series. Another thing these books lean into is the danger of stalkers and women’s safety of movement. I would like to dismiss this as paranoia but it’s really not. I follow a discussion group about walking and people are always sharing their playlists and books for listening to while walking to prevent boredom. I’m always a bit amazed because I never listen to headphones when I’m walking because I need to listen to what’s going on around me to stay safe. I can’t even say this is just a woman’s issue: No one should be so lost in the clouds while they’re walking around in public. Perhaps this comes from living in a city my whole life. But I think even in the country I would listen for bears or something. OK, this is a tangent. 

Loves of His Life - Lesley Ann Jones - this is an older rehash/update of her Freddie Mercury biography focusing on his relationships. I pre-ordered her dubious book about his alleged secret daughter, which is releasing on his birthday, but in the process of doing so I found this unread and lurking on my Kindle. Main new contribution is a theory that Freddie was more traumatized by the Zanzibar revolution and the income extremes around Mumbai than he liked to discuss and that trauma explains his avoidance of Africa and India for the rest of his life. (I don’t totally dismiss this theory and add that the one time he did return to Africa — to shamefully perform at Sun City during the boycott — he lost his voice, which sounds psychosomatic as heck.)

Currently: Alaska Twilight by Colleen Coble.  Another Christian one that’s not even the beginning of the series. It’s about a wildlife photographer traveling in Alaska to film a guy who gets too close to bears. She has brought a dachshund into the Alaskan wilderness and if that little dog is eaten by a bear I will stop listening. Listening to it because it reminds me of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man documentary and because other things I have on hold have not arrived yet. Still have not finished Herland and have de-emphasized it in favor of writing my fall syllabi.