Yesterday was all about the Baileys Longlist and today is all about (or the topics that strike my fancy at the moment) everything else. Should I preface this post with a 'if you could see my night table right now your jaw would drop'? No, best not. You probably already know my indulgent reading style. I thought this year would be different but if anything it seems worse. But why not be surrounded by good stories? Even if there are a lot of them, that's not a bad thing, right?
The newest Maisie Dobbs mystery, A Dangerous Place, is out and in my hot little hands. I was going to wait and borrow it from the library, but I caved into temptation. We are talking Maisie Dobbs here, one of my favorite female sleuths. But then, she is not at all your traditional sleuth, and I think that is why I like her so much. I am already engrossed in the story, and it is a doozy. Leaving Everything Most Loved was the last Maisie novel back in 2013, and it was quite a game changer. It's going to be hard writing about this newest book without giving away plot spoilers, so that will be a creative post to write when I get to it. I will only say that Maisie is in Gibraltar, Spain is fighting their Civil War and things are once again changing for Maisie. The series is taking a decidedly different turn, but then it was obvious Jacqueline Winspear was going to move the story in a new direction.
Before I started the newest Maisie Dobbs, the urge was striking to pick up a nice cozy mystery, so I decided it had been far too long since I had last met up with the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple. Has it really been five years since I read Styx and Stones? Time flies. These cozies by Carola Dunn are breezy, entertaining stories with likable characters. Pure unadulterated escapism. Just what I need at the moment. Rattle His Bones takes place in the Natural History Museum in London and the year is 1923. Daisy is planning a wedding to her very attractive detective inspector, Alec Fletcher. She has just stumbled over a body (as she is wont to do) so the story is just about to really take off. I think Daisy is an absolute delight and I don't want so much time to pass before I pick up more of her adventures. I seem to be reaching quite often these days for mysteries and crime novels. An unplanned binge, it seems.
Remember when I was soliciting opinions on which classic to choose, would you believe I never did start any of them? I had Dumas in hand, but I was a little afraid of the sheer size of the book (actually I had started reading but was a little afraid I was getting bogged down in that introductory bit about the politics of the era which was helping set the scene). Over 800 pages, but then with Dumas, does it ever feel like so many pages? Mostly it's a matter of not wanting the story to end. So I have been without a classic, and now I am reconsidering Dumas. (Though after this weekend's short story, Edith Wharton has been hanging out on the edge of my thinking). So, a dilemma. Dumas or Wharton?
I have just started watching the first season of BBC's The Musketeers. It is quite addicting. I am pretty particular when it comes to film adaptations of Dumas's work. Usually I don't like it (they never seem to get it right), but I haven been glued to the TV this past weekend watching the series on DVD (I wish I had BBC America and could see the new season, which I think is airing now . . .). There are some definite liberties taken with the story, but I think it captures the spirit of the books nicely.
I watched the spring preview of shows for PBS's upcoming season and there is going to be lots of good things to watch. Wolf Hall (which I have not yet read) is going to air next month. I tend to like to read the book before watching the film adaptation, but in this case I think I will read the book later. This summer The Crimson Field will air and it looks very promising, too. But it is Poldark (from the novels by Winston Graham) that I am most looking forward to in June. I have not read the novels, but I do have the first, Poldark, already pulled from my bookshelves and waiting for me at my bedside. The series is based on the first two novels, so I will have to find a copy of Demelza soon, too.
Needless to say I feel fortunate to have such a most excellent pile of reading material so close at hand. I won't even complain about a lack of enough reading time (because there never is enough, is there . . .).