Books and telly

I've now had two of the three books on my library waiting list (outstanding is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and I'm working my way up that queue).

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer at first made me laugh quite a lot, then made me cry, and it's been a while since a book did that. It's a lot darker than I'd expected in a couple of places (and even darker than the Enemy at the Door series about the Guernsey occupation. I was also amazed that an American author wrote a book so flawlessly English; it's beautifully done, and it's a pity she didn't live to see how popular it is. I do highly rec this one: the characters are vivid, eccentric, and loveable, and all write in different style. It also actually made me want to read some of the authors mentioned.

I just finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. Flavia de Luce is a fun narrator, but though I can believe she'd have an extensive chemical knowledge given her private lab, her obsession with the subject, and no apparent need to go to school, I can't believe an 11-year-old would have that sort of vocabulary and writing style. Also, unlike Shaffer, Bradley didn't bother to get his text Brit-picked, so he has a lot of North American intrusions into his 50s England, like poison ivy, tobogganing, and pigtails (I'm sure Bradley meant plaits) and several stray gottens. Also, Flavia would not refer to an object as cunning, nor would Dogger, a British ex-soldier, ever use "copacetic", an odd American word I had to look up a few months ago. It's a pity, because those slips threw me out of the narrative--and I'm not even British. Apart from that though, it's a fun story, well told. I decided that Flavia grew up and emigrated to Canada, and wrote using her adult vocabulary. :-P

In other news, since reccer sallymn probably didn't read my last post, I've finally seen an ep of Inspector Montalbano. I like him! I'll have to see if I can buy the season 2 DVDs. I also saw New Tricks. I do love those old guys.

Day 10 - Glazed Cats

Today's naarmamo art is a quick one of a pair of cat ornaments (since my attempt to draw some flowers in the garden didn't work out). These little guys are matt white with a partial multi-coloured glaze, and sit on my filing cabinet. I bought them at a craft market, seduced by their sweet faces and pretty colours.

( Glazed Cats )