On Screen On Page: July 6, 2024
A thriller and mysteries; Richard Powers and Colm Toibin; an Arthurian novel; the price of a life; Season 3 of The Bear.
Onto my Shopping List
Steve Hamilton has not been prolific lately but I used to relish his plot-driven, smart mysteries and thrillers. I’m uncertain about An Honorable Assassin. The blurb and cover signal generic superlative agent shit.
The blurb for Rodney Hall’s latest novel (he’s nearly 90 years old), out in August, is mysterious enough to pique my interest: “It is 1954, but not the same way the history books would have it. Events and characters swirl in a vortex of fragments and chance connections. Brisbane celebrates the young Queen Elizabeth II's arrival on her first royal tour of the commonwealth. Meanwhile the future is being shaped behind closed doors, laying the foundations for the 21st century... A magisterial historical novel resonant with contemporary concerns, by one of Australia's foremost authors writing at the height of his ambition.” Its title is Vortex.
David Rowell’s November book, The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Threat to New Music, seems, on the face of it, to be a litany of woes about rock music. I often puzzle over why I’ve stopped listening. Might this offer some form of explanation?
Tim Goodman recommends Jim Henson: Idea Man on Disney+. I’m torn. I’ve never been interested in the muppet guy but Goodman considers this a terrific window into creativity.
Richard Powers is one of my favorite novelists, cerebral yet powerful, even if sometimes his books cross the line into “fascinating but no, it didn’t snare me.” Playground (October) has a fascinating blurb.
I vaguely recall the Judge Dee mysteries from my youth as a set of books I’d never touch, but this Chinese-language Netflix series, Judge Dee’s Mystery, with 32 episodes already dropped, is a viewing possibility.
The New York Time Book Review podcast is a trove of reading suggestions. Their “10 books to check out this summer” episode yields a couple of possibilities. One is Farewell, Amethystine, the 17th Easy Rawlins mystery by Walter Mosley, published last month. The other is The Bright Sword, a hefty Arthurian novel by Lev Grossman, out in a fortnight.
I never read a good cosy mystery until I had the pleasure with Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series. Now he has a standalone, We Solve Murders, coming in September.
Jenny Kleeman’s new book, The Price of Life: In Search of What We're Worth and Who Decides, is grist for the mill of an actuary like me. However, right now I might judge it as tedious. Yes? No? Who knows.
Onto Bedside Table
Back in Australia and I immediately sign up for however many months are needed to watch Season 3 of The Bear. Seasons 1 and 2 were indispensable, I hope the new episodes are as good.
Colm Toibin’s Long Island is a sequel to the wonderful Brooklyn. Nevertheless I shied away from it. Fortunately it’s now a book club must-read.
Into Reject Bin
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
Anne Applebaum’s Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.
Teddy Wayne’s The Winner.
Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring It Back by Sophie Yeo.
Just last week I reserved Rachel Cusk’s Parade from the library down the road. Now I read the review undertaken by Dwight Garner, a New York Times critic I seem to line up with. He describes Parade as “sterile, ostentatious, and essentially plotless.” Of course one review need not tilt one’s judgement but my reading is beleaguered with volume at the moment, so I cancel my library reservation.
I want to watch Richard Gadd’s stalking streamer, Baby Reindeer, I do, but other shows call more loudly.
The Cuillin Dead by J.M. Dalgliesh: another source of guilt. I enjoy his mysteries but he produces so many, they swamp me.