• The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton [read by Jot Davies]
  I was expecting a conventional murder mystery, but what an extraordinary book this turned out to be. Compelling from the opening chapter, it's not only fascinating but a very clever book, dealing as it does with different timelines throughout. The protagonist, Aiden (or is he?), seems to be in a kind of limbo - as in: an existence between life and death (or heaven and hell) - and, weirder still, inhabits the bodies of a number of different characters, reliving the day of the eponymous death over and over again. Despite the obvious possibility of confusion for the reader, (especially in an audio book format!), it was pretty clearly explained throughout - since the protagonist was definitely more confused by his circumstances than any reader.
  I would categorise this as fantasy, sci-fi, maybe gothic horror, so if you hate those, maybe this book won't appeal - but ... I can only repeat: what an extraordinary book.


• Fair Warning Michael Connelly [read by Peter Giles and Zach Villa]
  Of all of Connelly's creations I believe I like Jack McEvoy the very best.
  The Scarecrow scared me half to death - and I'm not even a crow! So I've been greatly looking forward to this book - and it was as excellent. Luckily it did not scare me quite so much (maybe because I don't meet the profile of the victims) but the mystery, detection, and research were as intriguing as ever.
  We see Jack now working as a journalist for an online consumer website (Fair Warning) getting sucked into a murder investigation. He starts looking into the safety protocols (and there are virtually none) for consumers who voluntarily submit their samples to DNA labs for analysis, and uncovers a network of sexual predators illegally tapping into this source of information.
  Fair Warning is/was a real on-line website, which is made clear at the end, where - being an audio book - Connelly interviews its erstwhile editor. I say "ertstwhile" because when I went to view the site, I find it has since been forced to close. Even though it was aimed at American consumers/workers I was very sad to see that the closure was seemingly caused by on-line trolling through social media. I'm not offering an opinion on the accusations but it seems to me that the overall aims and objectives of such a site can only be seen as a "Good Thing". And the result is not "changes for the better", but - as with some other websites for rather less noble causes [MagKnits] - total shut down. The people running these enterprises, being of an age, decide it's simpler to retire, rather than to fight to continue a non-profit site.
  

Posted by Christina at 10:20 am | Category: Art and Culture, Books of the Month | Permalink

This was a lot of fun; the cast were delightful and their exuberance was contagious. I don't remember there being quite so many Malapropisms in the Rivals itself (upon which this production is based) but... Overall a very good evening.
I had read a rather lukewarm review prior to seeing it - maybe the bar was set impossibly high by One Man, Two Guvnors. However, part of me wonders if the reviewer left early, as all the things he quoted and picked at appeared in the first 10 minutes, and I think you certainly needed to warm up with the characters - and the style - as the play went along.

Posted by Christina at 11:42 pm | Category: Art and Culture | Permalink

Jodie Comer has come to the local Everyman as part of the NT Live Programme. Very popular - I think we got the last 2 tickets (which are in the front row).

Posted by Christina at 11:35 pm | Category: Art and Culture | Permalink