Classic – Page 5 – Carol's Notebook

A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell

August 13, 2018August 13, 2018 by Carol2 Comments

A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell shows up on several "best mysteries" lists, which is why I added it to my to-read list. I had read several of her Inspector Wexford series, but none of her stand-alone novels. And then it was my Classic Club Spin book for the month, which pushed it to the top of my stack. From the opening sentences, the book had my attention. "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write. There was no real motive and no premeditation; no money was gained and no security." We know from the first chapter, which is only two pages long, who was killed, when they were killed, and who the murderers were. The rest of the book relates what led up to the crime and the aftermath. Eunice Parchman is illiterate, a fact that she is desperate to keep secret. The Coverdales are a decent enough family, intelligent, a little snobby, but overall well-meaning....

The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

July 5, 2018May 5, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

I read a lot of crime fiction and mystery stories, both modern and classic, but somehow I've skipped over Philip Marlowe. In this introduction to Marlowe, a dying millionaire hires him to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in. As the annotations show, even though this is the first in the series, it's not really the first time we may have met Marlowe, although under other names. Chandler apparently often took earlier short stories he had written for pulp magazines like Black Mask, and combined and expanded them into the Marlowe novels. The Big Sleep is a complicated story, set in 1930s Los Angeles, involving blackmail and a bookstore that is a rental library for pornography. The annotations provide lots of information about the time period, about Chandler's writing, and about some of...

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

June 27, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

Apparently I had no idea what The Time Machine was about, aside from the obvious of course. The Time Traveler has invented a machine that can go into the past or travel into the future, but of course his friends, who he has dinner with weekly, don't believe him. However, the next week, he shows up late to his own dinner party looking ragged and disheveled and tells his friends an incredible story of traveling into the distant future. There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well. He also tells of going even farther and seeing the dying planet. On the one hand, it's an interesting exploration of class and societal evolution. It's the first story to popularize time travel and the image of the dying earth, not the one of the Eloi and Morlocks, but of the...

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

https://twitter.com/carolsnotebook/status/992475284963233793 I don't usually notice who narrates the audiobooks I pick up, especially those from the library, so I didn't realize Ralph Cosham was the narrator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, until he said "Armand," and then I was like "oh, yeah." His narration here was as good as I remembered. He does a wonderful job with both the British and French characters. The Scarlet Pimpernel is just a fun adventure/romance story. The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of the first heroes with a secret identity, kind of like Batman. Sir Percy Blakeney is an English dandy, concerned with dressing well, being amusing, but not incredible bright. That's just a disguise he's cultivated to cover his secret identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel, the leader of a group of daring Englishmen who rescue French nobility headed toward the guillotine. But his wife doesn't know about his secret - and ends up putting him in grave danger. But I'm sure it's not spoiling anything to say that...

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

May 4, 2018May 10, 2018 by Carol7 Comments

In 1866, Mark Twain was a travelling correspondent for the San Francisco Daily Alta California and he convince them in early 1967, to provide $1250 to pay his fare on the Quaker City tour of Europe and the Middle East. Throughout the five-month trip, Twain sent 51 letters to the Alta for which he was paid an addiationa $1200. The paper published between August 2, 1867 and January 8, 1868 under the running heading: "The Holy Land Excursion. Letter from 'Mark Twain.' Special Travelling Correspondent of the Alta." These letters, together with seven printed in two New York papers, became the basis for Innocents Abroad, written during the first half of 1868. First, you have to see the route this trip took. It looks like such an amazing trip and hits most of the spots I would love to see one day. I don't think I would want to visit with Twain though. While he is funny in a snarky way and full of historical tidbits, he's...

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

March 22, 2018March 22, 2018 by Carol11 Comments

A Wrinkle in Time was a re-read for me, but I read it first back when I was like 10 or so and remembered absolutely nothing about it. I've been seeing the commercials for the new Disney movie too, but they're not really a good representation of the book. Meg is a smart kid, but has trouble fitting in at school. Everyone thinks Charles Wallace, her little brother is dumb, but really he knows so much more than anyone. Calvin is a popular kid in school who never feels like he fits in, but he fakes "normal" well enough. The three of them go on a mission to save Meg's dad, a scientist who went missing, with the help of a trio of beings, Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which. This is a middle school book that deals with physics and religion, belief and identity, but it does so lightly. It's a fantasy/sci-fi story and the three kids have been thrust into...