WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
It’s been a while since I last did a WWW Wednesday post!
Currently I’m reading Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It by Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea, to be published on 22 October. I’m loving this book so far. It’s written in the same style as Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent.
Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea take us on a heartfelt and hilarious tour of her extraordinary life and career. From growing up in York and being miffed at not getting the part of Mary in the school Nativity play, to playing before sold-out houses on Broadway and in London’s West End, she’s done it all. She walked the red carpets of Hollywood, turned James Bond’s M into the most astute, unflinching Head of MI6 anyone could ever have imagined, and won an Oscar, a Tony, Golden Globes, Oliviers, and BAFTAs along the way.
The last book I read was Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George, the 6th Inspector Lynley book. I hadn’t read any of the Inspector Lynley novels, although I’ve watched the TV adaptation. It does fill in some of the background of the main characters, so it did work reasonably well as a standalone.
There are several strands to the book which I did find somewhat confusing at times. The main one is the mystery surrounding the death the story of an Anglican priest, Robin Sage, who apparently died as a result of accidental poisoning. Deborah and her husband, Simon, turn to their old friend, Inspector Lynley to solve it.
However, there’s too much description for me (and I do like description) of everything with too much detail about small things that have nothing to do with the plot, and too many minor characters. The main story doesn’t really get anywhere until the last third, or so, of the book. There’s also too much detail about teenage sex and also a particularly nasty rape scene, that didn’t have much, if any, relevance to the plot. Inspector Lynley only has a minor role and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers has an even smaller role. The main theme is about children, mothers desperate to have a baby, and relationships between parents and children.
Overall I was a bit disappointed, although I kept reading because I wanted to know why and how Sage died.
What will I read next? I’m not sure, but it could be Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey, a Golden Age crime mystery novel.
A stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family’s sizeable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick’s mannerisms, appearance and every significant detail of Patrick’s early life, up to his thirteenth year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself.
It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible deception until old secrets emerge that threaten to jeopardise the imposter’s plan and his very life…
