Someone To Manage Your Affairs? Someone To Handle Your Business? Someone To Take The Dog For A Run? Someone To Assasinate Your Aunt? PSMITH WILL DO IT

Greetings!

Been doing a lot of reading lately and very little writing... lemme see...

Read:


The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer - this was a bit more romance-y than the other Heyer books I've devoured (any book with the sentence 'He kissed her ruthlessly.' will set my teeth on edge a little; fortunately kissing is as far as it goes!), but still amusing. More than a teensy bit implausible - the 'masqueraders' of the title are a brother and sister who swap clothes for almost the entire novel, and only one man figures it out! Very fun, silly sort of book. Think The Scarlet Pimpernel, just a little less brilliant.


Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding. If reading Jane Austen is like eating a delicious five course dinner then reading Bridget Jones is like eating a packet of chips. A guilty pleasure that doesn't do you any good, (My inner monologue always takes on the style of whatever I'm reading until I finish it... can get 'v.' annoying with some books) but you can't put it down. The storyline is much more closely based on Jane Austen's Persuasion than the previous book was based on Pride and Prejudice.

In my impatience for the next series of Sherlock I've started re-reading Arthur Conan Doyle's original classics. Awesome stuff. Definitely recommend it. Finished A Study in Scarlet - I'm moving on to The Sign of the Four now.







Leave it to Psmith and Ukridge by P. G. Wodehouse... how can I express the affection I feel for Wodehouse's characters and stories? I can't. Not a bit. I adored Ukridge with his dodgy money-making schemes and mustard yellow macintosh almost as much as I loved Psmith with his suavity, wit and monocle. I can only say, go! Get your mitts on a Wodehouse! Revel in the golden goodness of his magical prose and delicious, delightful plotting!

Bought:






















Yesterday I purchased these two books, neither of which I have read. The Iron Man I acquired because I recently saw The Iron Giant, which is based on the above novelette. (The Iron Giant is a gorgeous little movie, by the way - very much recommended!) I have never heard of or read any of the four books that make up The Diary of a Provincial Lady (which, according to the cover and introduction, is about the ups and downs of being a housewife in the 1930s): it seems like my kind of book and I bought it on a hunch. Hope it's good!

A-and perhaps you could become used to my eyebrows?

I know I have neglected this blog shamefully of late, but I have not had anything new to read, apart from Agatha Christie - and reviewing Agatha Christie or talking about her books is rather a pointless exercise, for one cannot say much without giving away the ending. But yesterday there was a fete on at my church and secondhand books were 3 for $1! So I have splurged. I bought The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit, The Ordinary Princess (which I happen to own a copy of already - but it is a dear little book!), George's Marvellous Medicine, Stories by O. Henry, and six (count 'em, my loves, six!) Georgette Heyers. I know that Georgette Heyer's books look like Mills and Boons, but really! Do you think I would waste $2 on a set of romance novels? Romance novels forsooth! These are fun, light little period novels and I'm already halfway through The Convenient Marriage. Enjoying myself highly.
More to follow at a later date, I hope!

Anyone with the veriest speck of sensibility would feel for my plight! I am escaping from the most odious persecution

Finished The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer last night. It was delightful. The plot was a little convoluted, particularly towards the end, and Heyer's style could use some editing here and there, but on the whole I really enjoyed this book. If you like Georgian England, madcap escapades, brigands, tomboys, and a Percy Blakeney-esque hero, look no further. Heaps of fun. I certainly recommend this book.

"When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it...

Currently reading:

Jane Austen for Dummies - very interesting so far; I quite like the more obscure 'For Dummies' books. I already own Tolkien's Middle Earth for Dummies, which I recommend to any real fan of Tolkien and his amazing world.

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith, who, incidentally, wrote the original book of 101 Dalmatians - there's some trivia for you! I saw the movie of this a while ago - I must have been housesitting for my grandparents (not the ones I live with - the other set!) at the time, because I was alone at their house when I watched it. Such a disappointing film: if it had been less pretty I would be less torn about how little I enjoyed the story and how frustrating I found it. So far, the book is beautifully written - really enjoying it, though I dread the plot kicking in.

The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer - I've only read about eight pages of this one; so far it's shaping up to be exactly like the other Georgette Heyer Regency novels I have read. Which isn't such a bad thing. I like her snarky dandified heroes; her silly young Lydia-Bennet type ladies; her sensible governess types and helpless male wannabes. Fun reading.