Still dealing with a cold. Steve is experiencing the symptoms now as well. I foresee naps in our future today.
I'm doing clothes laundry and still have to vacuum at some point.
TV: Will try to remember to watch Masterpiece Theatre as they are showing a new Inspector Lynley episode. Interestingly, though the tv series veered away from the books they've included the death of Lady Helen and this show is touching upon the aftermath. Worth looking at. Watched the Cowboys play exhibition football a little bit last night. Couldn't watch much because they sucked against the Chargers. Thank goodness it's pre-season. They were so good last year I hope this is just the third-stringers and not indicative of the whole team.
Reading. Finished BLACK AND WHITE AND DEAD ALL OVER. I wound up skim reading the last part as the tone was getting a little wearing after a while. The killer was who I thought it was the instant he was introduced. Ah well. Now I'm reading the first Deborah Crombie A SHARE IN DEATH; the first novel of a series of twelve as of this year. I think I might have read this one many many many years ago but don't remember the details. I've pretty much ignored this series perhaps until now. The first line reads: "Duncan Kincaid's holiday began well." Here's the blurb:
Det. Supt. Duncan Kincaid, spending his vacation from Scotland Yard at a Yorkshire time-share along with several other guests, finds his holiday anything but relaxing. Immediately after he arrives at the elegant estate, he overhears a heated argument between the snobbish caretaker and her sarcastic assistant manager. Late that evening, the assistant is electrocuted in the Jacuzzi. To the consternation of Yorkshire police, Kincaid assumes an active role in the investigation, which becomes more urgent after two more deaths. Meanwhile, Sgt. Gemma James, a pragmatic single mother charmed by Kincaid's unpretentious demeanor and bachelor status, digs for additional clues in London.
The older stuff becomes the only TBR to pull from when confronted with so much ... "mediocrity" I guess may be the term. One has to find new authors of course (Samson and Franklin and Cain and other are very good and I'm so glad I found them) but sometimes you have to wade through a lotof dreck and I hate wasting time. Some authors last for a reason; they're good. So I'm reading Reginald Hill, Ian Rankin, Bill Pronzini, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Jonathan Kellerman, Ed McBain, Lawrence Block, Jane Haddam, Lindsey Davis, Archer Mayor, Rex Stout, Ellory Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner, Dorothy Sayer, Agatha Christie, and all my historicals, etc. Two wonderful things about reading these authors is that that they are great reads and there is a large back log of books. I could concentrate solely on this list and never run out of things to read for a long time. And then there is a list of not brand new but getting established new-ish authors that I need to get going on such as Michael Robotham, David Housewright and Marcus Sakey and all the Scandanavians. I could read more of the Robert Crais series for goodness sake, and the back list of Michael Connelly, Peter Robinson, John Harvey, Stuart Pawson, Christopher Brookmyre, Christopher Fowler, and probably now Deborah Crombie. And then there's the list of authors that I need to get caught up on and haven't read in a long time: Elizabeth Peters, Martha Grimes, Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, Jan Burke all come to mind immediately. I could ignore all new releases and not want for reading material.
Here's the books I currently have on hold at the library:
BLACK TOWER by Bayard, Louis
COMPANY OF LIARS by Maitland, Karen
DEATH'S HALF ACRE by Maron, Margaret
DEVIL'S BROOD by Penman, Sharon Kay
FIFTH FLOOR by Harvey, Michael
GIVEN DAY by Lehane, Dennis
KEEPSAKE by Gerritsen, Tess
RED KNIFE: A CORK O'CONNOR MYSTERY by Krueger, William
SWEETHEART by Cain, Chelsea
TRIGGER CITY by Chercover, Sean
I took off the new Alafair Burke. Her last book disappointed me so I'm not in a rush for this one. Maybe I'll get to it eventually.
I remembered another one of my favorite quirky movies: Local Hero. Fabulous. So the list continues:
Local Hero
Lost in Translation
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Strictly Ballroom
Brazil
Fargo
Gosford Park
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
