sarahmatthews

sarahmatthews , 2 days ago to bookstodon group

#BookReview Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers
Read on audio
Narrator: Stephen Jack for RNIB
Pub. 1932, 499pp
Victor Gollancz

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I picked up this novel for the continuation of the relationship between private detective Lord Peter and novelist Harriet Vane that started in Strong Poison, and I’m looking forward to going on to her famous novel Gaudy Night after this one as they appear together again there.
This novel has a grisly murder (or was it suicide?) centred around a seaside town that Harriet’s visiting. She discovers the body on the beach and Lord Peter hot foots it down to help her try to figure out the details and ensure she’s not considered a suspect. Throughout the mystery Lord Peter and Harriet seem to have more creative ideas than the local police and Harriet even moves into the victim’s old lodgings!
The victim, Alexis, was a dancer at a large hotel and had been engaged to be married to one of the wealthy guests, and the mystery concerns the question of why would he have contemplated suicide when he had a secure life ahead of him?
There are so many quirky little moments to lighten the mood as things progress, such as this description of a policeman taking notes during an interview:
“The pencil happened to be an indelible one and had left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.he passed a pink tongue along his purple stained lips, looking to Mr Perkins’s goblin-haunted imagination like a very large dog savouring a juicy bone .”
Lord Peter continues to try to romance Harriet and she is still not having any of it, resulting in some amusing exchanges between them and this book is strongest when they’re interacting.
I also enjoyed the description of Harriet reading through the books on the victim’s shelves as she tried to jog her subconscious for her detective novel, then turning to crosswords to try to get her writing going again.
The eventual solution was rather long winded with an overlong description of solving a cipher (which was tedious on audio), but otherwise entertaining. It took me a long time to read and the ending was rather abrupt, with Lord Peter and Harriet solving the mystery then speeding off to London to go out to lunch! A good read but not my favourite of hers so far.
#bookstodon #audiobook #AmReading @bookstodon

sarahmatthews , 5 days ago to bookstodon group

Love this! via The Publishing Post |“Emerge, Return, one of the band’s darker albums, embodies the response of two songwriters triggered by the books they have read. These songs have been described by him as inseparable synergy between the story and its reader along with being steered by the journey of the band.

The Bookshop Band was formed when a group of musicians and Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath got together. They respond to the books they read by writing songs and performing for bookshop audiences”

#bookstodon #publishing #music #books @bookstodon

https://www.thepublishingpost.com/post/the-bookshop-band-s-new-album-a-beautiful-blend-of-music-and-books

sarahmatthews , 8 days ago to bookstodon group

I’ve written some thoughts on Blind Spot: Exploring and Educating on Blindness by Maud Rowell, a short book that packs a punch! These essays are so insightful, writing about issues I’ve been thinking about recently in a far more eloquent way than I could ever manage #blind #Braille #Disability #accessibility #art #museums #bookstodon#BookReview #Storygraph @bookstodon @disability
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/84af5c9d-cede-4358-9941-9651cc1497c9

sarahmatthews , 20 days ago to bookstodon group

Ooh exciting news! I loved Olive Kitteridge, The Burgess Boys and My Name is Lucy Barton and this new one sounds like they’re all coming together, what a treat! New Elizabeth Strout out in September #bookstodon @bookstodon https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b7bd5236-9356-4df8-aa6c-f3804f00defe

sarahmatthews , 1 month ago to bookstodon group

When I couldn’t sleep last night I read one of the stories by Alice Munro Granta have unlocked on their website in her memory, A Queer Streak. As with all her stories you really have to read it twice! It was published in two parts, here are the links:
Part 1- Anonymous Letters https://granta.com/a-queer-streak-part-one-anonymous-letters/
Part 2 - Possession https://granta.com/a-queer-streak-part-two-possession/

#bookstodon #AmReading #AliceMunro @bookstodon

sarahmatthews , 1 month ago to bookstodon group

I’ve just finished The Next Big Thing by Anita Brookner which was a great and sometimes difficult read. It’s about Julius who’s in his 70s and is now retired. His parents and brother have died and his wife has left him. He’s living alone in central London, his adopted city after his family fled from Nazi Germany. He’s looking for the next big thing in his life, pondering his past and feeling concern for his failing health. Sounds gloomy, right?! Well, the insightful writing just carries you along and pulls you in before you know it and you’re hooked on this story of loneliness and regret in later life. I found myself, like I often do with Anita Brookner, rereading sections due to the beautiful prose. Here’s an example to give you a flavour:
“He raised his eyes to a rooffline bristling with television aerials , lowered them again to windows still blank before the evening lights were lit. The sky was already darkening; signs of spring were absent, and yet the chilly damp held a promise of greenness, of new life only just in abeyance. it was even possible to appreciate that sky; its opaque blue reminded him of certain pictures, though no picture could compete with this strange sense of immanence. With the crust of the earth ready to break into life, the roots expanding to disclose flowers, the trees graciously putting forth leaves. The impassivity of nature never ceased to amaze him. This awakening process was surely superior to anything captured on canvas, yet art made all phenomena its province.in its unceasing war with the effort of capturing moments of time art won this unequal contest, but only just. The majestic indifference of nature was there to remind one of ones place, and no doubt to serve as a corrective to the artist’s ambition. When the canvas was finished it was already a relic, outside change. And surely change was primordial; all must obey it. To ignore the process was to ignore the evidence of one’s own evolutionary cycle.’
Haunting, introspective and with a hint of dark comedy this was so good, just maybe one to approach with caution if yu’re about to retire! This novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002.
#bookstodon #AmReading #Braille #BookReview #nature @bookstodon

sarahmatthews , 1 month ago to bookstodon group

I had a sudden craving for Barbara Pym last week and thoroughly enjoyed rereading A Glass of Blessings, 1958, in which we follow Wilmet’s life in her suburban London parish. Full of quirky characters, it’s a great read! #bookstodon #BookReview #Storygraph @bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e7b574c0-ecaf-4a84-a30f-d3021490ad35

sarahmatthews , 1 month ago to bookstodon group

ElevenLabs are getting in on #audiobooks uh oh via The Publishing Post | “Amidst widespread fears, in the publishing sector and beyond, about the prospect of a future labour market with jobs lost to generative AI, the collaboration has been met with scepticism.”
#bookstodon #publishing @bookstodon https://www.thepublishingpost.com/post/harpercollins-to-use-ai-narration-in-non-english-audiobooks

sarahmatthews , 2 months ago to bookstodon group

The #WomensPrize shortlist for 2024 has just been announced! I’ve not read any of them yet but a couple are tempting - The Wren, The Wren and Restless Dolly Maunder. Shame Western Lane didn’t make it #bookstodon #publishing #reading #books @bookstodon Announcing the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist! - Women's Prize : Women's Prize https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist/