One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis

I finished this one last night, and I thought it was one of the best Falco novels. Mr F wants me to read another Christopher Brookmyre next, so I could give that a go if my DVD hasn't come yet! Surely it will ...

Day 188; Book 185

Year of Reading Dangerously Passes the 6-month Mark

And I have to admit I am flagging!

I've got a new Marcus Didius Falco on the go though, and I really like this one. Lindsey Davis never seems to run out of ideas for her Roman detective series. Each one has a really different angle. I'll enter the title details of this one when I've finished it.

I may have to resort to shorter books for a while now. I'm at the half-way point on my marathon and I need cheering crowds and virtual drinks of water to be thrust at me. Phew!

Oh, and I ordered a dvd which hopefully will come today. It's the Inbetweeners, a group of foul-mouthed and filthy-minded teenagers which has had me in fits of laughter. Can I finish my book and watch an entire sitcom series? Probably not!

In other news: I weeded the garden ...

and it looks really good! (Or at least half of it does. The other half was scarily weedy and I went back indoors).

When not weeding, I was reading ...

First I read Anne Perry's Christmas Secret. Yes, I know it was actually Easter but I liked the look of this one in the library. It was pretty good - a Victorian mystery, set at Christmas. There's 13 of these in the series, so I must remember them and read them in the appropriate season. They are quite short, only about 160 pages.

Next up was Miss Read's Village Affairs. This is part of the long-running series which began with Village School. They are gentle tales of a teacher's life in a country primary school. The earlier ones are the best, I think, because they are set in the 1950s (or thereabouts) and written at about that time too). In the later ones modern life is intruding too much. They are amusing too, with Miss Read's battles with the fearsome Mrs Pringle the caretaker.

Schools of the type which would have horrified Miss Read are featured in Sugar Rush, which is about a teenager's rites of passage in contemporary Brighton. Apparently this is a book for teenagers but it is really well written and funny too. These teenagers are terrifying, but our heroine learns a lot about herself and her family.

Finally I read a little book of three short stories by Agatha Christie. This author can sometimes seem very dated (see Why Didn't they Ask Evans?) but this collection was surprisingly modern, with some good twists.

Day 186; Book 184

Equus by Peter Shaffer

I read the script for this play last night. I had a vague idea what it was about but deliberately didn't read any more about it so I came to it fresh. It was a very powerful piece of work which I would like to see performed, but even as a written piece it was shocking. It appears dated at times (I wonder if they update the references for performances?) and some of the revelations were too-clearly signalled. However, it had a fascinating conclusion both to the mystery involved and to the play itself. It raises huge issues about normality and spirituality. I see there is a film of the play although this is not without its detractors. Here is a link to the Broadway version of the play (with Daniel Radcliffe).

Day 183; Book 180

Trinny and Susannah

I discovered What Not to Wear 2 and What you Wear can Change Your Life on my bookshelves so decided to read them again. It's been a while since we've seen poshos Trinny and Susannah on TV manipulating people's unwilling body parts and bossing them into more flattering outfits. Their points all make sense though such as not wearing something baggy if you are rather tubby: you will look even bigger, as if you were actually the size of the tent you were wearing. Wear something fitted instead (although not sausage-skin tight). I enjoyed these so I must look for What Not to Wear 1. No doubt it is out of print but you can still find these on Amazon on Abe Books.

Day 182; Book 179

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

I read this the other night and can highly recommend it. It's funny and touching and really gives the flavour of the heroine's upbringing in a strictly religious and evangelical home. Some people have read it as being about her rebellion against this strict religion, but really it is about her rebellion against one aspect of it, and then her cruel eviction from everything she had held dear. I took against the author herself in her introduction though when she praised her own work so highly...

Day 181; Book 177

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

I started another Christopher Brookmyre but wasn't really getting into it and then I came across this one in the bookshop. I think it's the latest of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series; I hadn't read it before anyway. Right from the first page I was back in McCall Smith's charming Botswana. This series is on TV at the moment but I haven't wanted to watch in case it doesn't live up to the books (also, Mr F watches Lost at the same time). The humour is gentle, the writing is perceptive and the whole thing reveals what must be the author's essential humanity. The books have been criticised for not mentioning the AIDS crisis, but they do mention it in a subtle way. Anyway, why should a whole country be defined by a terrible illness rather than by these inspiring characters? It's not as though tragedy of other kinds is never experienced (even by the heroine, Mma Ramotswe).

As a complete contrast, I started reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. I've made hardly any progress as so far I've absolutely hated it! Withnail and I does the whole drug scene so much better - with humour. Perhaps if I read on I'll get into this book, however. It deserves credit for the title alone.

Day 179; Book 176